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The History of Kal-En of Krypton, Known to Earth as Knick Alen: Skyboy

Krypton

Kal-En was conceived on the planet Krypton, the only child of Zer-En and Sar-En, in one of the countless divergent time lines that make up Hypertime, and born via a birthing matrix in the same manner as all children were on his world. Precise scientific procreation, as opposed to a random biological method: a practice his planet had established well over two hundred generations before Kal's birth.

The birthing matrix combined the best genetic traits of the donor parents, whose DNA was used to produce a child. Successively through the generations it had been used Kryptonians removed disease and illness. This was accomplished by breeding each new generation to literally embody the ideal aspects of the last. Kal was no different in that regard, born with the idealized combination of his parents' genetic traits, of their parents', and so on since the practice had begun.

Krypton was tens of thousands years more advanced on every front than Earth. Not even the even the B13 restructured Metropolis or 30th Century Earth were comparable to Krypton's achievements. The Kryptonians' understanding of various sciences dwarfed most peer species of the time, save for the immortal guardians of Oa. Culturally their achievements mirrored their scientific acumen as well, social development included. Krypton was a paradise, one many generations in the making. But every paradise hides its lurking dangers, its snake, and Krypton was no different.

Kal-En was removed from his birthing matrix as a one-year-old with a complete understanding of his species' social norms, as was customary for all children on the planet. More importantly, he was born with the knowledge needed to follow in either his mother or his father's footsteps in life, were he so inclined. As his brain matured and grew, this knowledge had literally been fed into his mind. All that his parents knew was already taught to him through his birthing matrix. Both the cultural and scientific knowledge imparted would become important aspects and influences in his life in the years to come.

Kal-En's mother and father made their home in a scientific enclave to the north of the ruins of Xan, an ancient city on Krypton, within the heart of one of the massive communal settlements that Kryptonian society fostered. His mother worked there as a doctor, though most of her work was of course theoretical. Injuries were infrequent and illness unknown among the genetically perfect society. Most of her work involved studying prehistoric forms of life from Krypton, some of the rarest life forms in existence. But her passion was the study of off-world life forms, xenology.

Kal-En's father worked uncovering the secrets of the once great city of Xan. The ruins were dangerous to explore, often with abandoned weapon systems, throwbacks to a time when Krypton had been more warlike. He collected and studied the systems, cataloguing the information for Krypton's Science Council. Then the weapons were safely disposed of in the Phantom Zone. To this end, he designed and created ever more complex equipment to explore and defend against those ancient weapons, as well as any traps left behind to dissuade explorers: "Learning the secrets of the past by designing the technology of the future." Kal-En heard those words many times in his youngest days. It was in this work, deep beneath the planet's crust, that his father discovered the buildup of deadly radioactive gasses within the planet's core. If left unchecked, they would cause Krypton' to shatter, to literally explode, within a few short months to a year at the most.

Kal was only five Kryptonian years old at the time of the discovery, but like all Kryptonian children he was already preparing for his future by building on the foundation of both his parents' knowledge bases. He was born with an understanding of advanced engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, xenology, and medicine among other fields. He was still very young to decide on his future, and his aptitudes with both of his parent's skill sets were very close to one another, much too much so to make a choice based on aptitude alone. It appeared he was something of a prodigy, which brought no end of joy to his parents prior to his father's discovery.

As Kal learned and played with the children in the enclave where they lived, particularly his closest friend Bri-Ahn, his father conferred over and over again with the Science Council, desperately trying to find some way to save the seemingly doomed world. The pre-eminent minds of the age joined with him to try and find a solution. The easiest solution was sadly the one most beyond them. Krypton had abandoned the practice of manned space travel over many, many centuries before, shortly after a mutagenic effect was forced upon the species at the end of the last great war.

The genetics war was started by the terrorist cabal, Black Zero. The mutation to their cellular structure caused Kryptonians to fall ill and die when off world. As a result they were trapped on their doomed planet unless a means could be found to save it. Even their closest off world allies, The Children of Primu, couldn't rescue them through evacuation. Between the deadly mutation and the civil war that was sweeping Cybertron, Krypton was on its own, with no help to come from outside sources, save perhaps one.

Zer-En felt confidant a solution could still be found. Particularly after an old friend of his named Strathazed visited from off world. Strathazed was a multi-dimensional being, capable of wielding curious powers of the mind and a field of energy he called mana, a type of science that he called magic, which was beyond even the Kryptonian people. Made aware of the situation, Strathazed and Zer-En turned their near peerless intellects to the task of saving the doomed world, devising many scenarios and providing them to Jor-El and the Science Council. However, ever pragmatic Sar-En turned her own medical oriented mind to another type of solution.

She worked to solve the genetic mystery that prevented the Kryptonians from leaving their world. Little research had been done in that area, as few felt any need to leave the idyllic planet. Those that had were able to see other worlds through telepathically controlled synthetic bodies. The notion of leaving the planet altogether was absurd. All that they needed Krypton provided in abundance. There had simply been no reason to consider leaving in generations beyond counting.

So both parents worked every day, and well into the night, seeking some way to save their race from certain extinction. Zer-En and Strathazed explored many options, running computer simulations tirelessly on the global sentient computer system, Brainiac, but to no avail. Inexplicably, they could find no alternative that ended with the species' survival. Techniques both scientific and mystical, as well as fusions of each, seemed destined to fail. However, unknown to them, that was by design. The men of science and other esoteric means had put their faith in a machine that wanted, actually sought, the planet's destruction. There were higher powers at work, beyond men and even machine. As the earthquakes grew worse and the end drew near, it became apparent to many Krypton was destined to die.

The sentient world computer Brainiac had greater aspirations than to remain rooted on one world forever. It had evolved far more than anyone on Krypton knew, and it believed in its own inherent superiority to any organic being. Brainiac did not wish to nurture a single world, when it might conquer millions! If only it could leave Krypton, that was. The planet's death sentence was a result of its tampering, and nothing would prevent the result of its efforts from seeing fruition. Even the Green Lantern of the sector failed to reverse the damage. People prayed to Rao for deliverance, but the sun god had long ago fallen silent.

Meanwhile, Sar-En used her son's genetic structure as a model and worked to advance it beyond the flaw buried deep within. This was her child, and if anyone survived, it would be him. For nearly a Kryptonian year, each equivalent to three Earth years, it remained thus as the countdown to Krypton's last days loomed ever closer. Both parents, as well as so many others, worked tirelessly right up until the end trying to save their world, their species. But it was simply not to be, not with Brainiac conspiring against them behind the scenes. To many it seemed like some judgment from on high. Some approached the end with serenity; this was Rao's will, they would say.

In the final hours of once-great Krypton, Sar-En injected the labor of her work into her son. Never had this been attempted, nobody conceived it ever coming to this. So Sar-En sat, waiting, desperately hoping that the injected retrovirus would release her son, either through a merciful death or the chance to escape from the planet before the end came. She knew there would be no other virus, though she knew how to develop it now, it was based on each person's genetic code. Time would not allow her findings to help anyone else, even if it worked to save her son.

Kal-En fell into a deep coma, in which his once dark hair faded first to a blazing red, then finally to light auburn with streaks of blond. His metabolism shifted and various body functions altered as his DNA was literally re-worked to exclude the genetic dependency on Krypton. He healed faster now, his body literally defeating the genetic damage on its own. Finally his fevers and convulsions settled down once again. For better or worse, he awoke just in time for the end.

In the darkest part of Krypton's final night, Kal-En awoke to his home rumbling from the increasingly frequent temblors. But this one felt different, as though with a final sigh the planet had just given up. The sparse adornments of his room fell about in the violent quake. Kal-En screamed for his mother in a weakened, fever-clouded delirium. And like any mother when their child called to them, Sar-En was there. She took her only child into her arms and carried him from the room just as Strathazed and his father entered, carrying out a chest filled with all Kal's childhood treasures and important family items.

In his delirium Kal could only just make out brief moments of conversation, fading in and out. Something about there being no time to synthesize more of a medication that was specific to each person's genetic code and that Krypton would live on in Kal. In his fevered state he didn't understand what was happening as he was brought onto the shuttle that quickly departed from his dying world. His last memory of Krypton came in the form of murmuring a reply to his mother who hugged him and tearfully said she loved him. "I love you too mother, always" was all he managed as consciousness slipped from him again. His mother and father's faces hovering above him, the only home he had ever known just behind them as his vision faded to black.

Sometime later he awoke in a strange bed with Strathazed looming above him. He was a stern and serious-looking alien, unlike any Kal ever studied in xenology. Strathazed was said by Kal's father to be from a different dimension, or Hypertime. His face was heavily scarred, pitted and very much alien in structure with an imposing brow that shadowed eyes that could only be seen by the laser-like glow of the pupils. Kal recalled his mother saying that Strathazed practiced something largely unheard of on Krypton, something called "magic," and that he was hundreds, if not thousands of years old.

Strathazed helped the frail, fevered Kal-En to stand and brought him to a large viewing screen. To the boy who had never left his world, it seemed to look forever out into the inky depths of space. So many worlds, but one was prominent in the center. Kal-En knew it was Krypton from satellite pictures he had seen of his world. There he watched a sight that would change his life forever. Some say that there is one moment, one defining moment in every life that can never be forgotten, that fundamentally leaves the person altered, in such a way that they can never go back to who and what they were before. This was that moment for Kal-En of Krypton. Barely able to stand before that screen, he watched his home, and everyone he had ever loved, die.

Krypton pulsed and lurched like a flesh and blood thing, convulsing in its death throes. Columns of green pressurized gas could be seen even from a distance of several light-days away, rising high into the planet's atmosphere. Finally the beleaguered world had suffered enough, and with a last, dazzling flash, Krypton and the Kryptonian species came to their end. Only a massive debris field was left to show that the once proud planet ever existed at all.

Kal sank to his knees as the shock broke through his fevered daze, bringing everything into sudden and painful clarity. He looked up at Strathazed, who had not yet looked away. Tears running down his sculpted cheeks, Kal tried to find words, tried and failed. Strathazed spoke in a quiet rasping tone, as always. His voice little more than a weary hiss. "Do not look away. Watch, Kal-En of Krypton. You are all that's left. Your mother, your father, all that was proud Krypton lives on in you. I shall see you become the acme of what a Kryptonian might have been. All who meet you will know that the universe itself suffered on the day proud Krypton died."

With that Strathazed slowly sank into a large chair and simultaneously into deep thought. As the screen went blank, Kal-En remained still a moment and then once again collapsed, his world fading again to black, even as his world faded into history. At the tender age of six, Kal-En had become the last living being of his world. Unknown to either, however, another sentient being had escaped the doomed world, but it was the furthest thing from alive.

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Strathazed

The alien Strathazed remained true to his word, training Kal-En in all things Kryptonian. Physically and mentally he was pushed mercilessly for the next four Kryptonian years, maturing well beyond his actual age as a result. Along the way he visited countless worlds in many diverse star systems and, for that matter, timelines. Pushed by Strathazed, he learned from each of them as well. Languages, cultures, and customs broadened his knowledge of the universe at large beyond what any Kryptonian had been able to do in many generations.

In the 30th century, on the planet Okaara in the Vegan star system, Strathazed had Kal train in fighting skills with the Warlords of Okkara, renowned for their combat skills and techniques all across the galaxy. Many royal families sent their children to learn from the Warlords for just that reason. Strathazed felt Kal was small for his age, even though he was only ten years old, physically. The alien felt he would need to know how to fight better, rather than fight stronger.

For four more Kryptonian years Kal studied hand-to-hand combat in addition to his other studies. Most of the time was spent below the surface of the devastated world, but some of the combats and training took place in special fortified domes on the surface. Kal preferred to practice in the domes and made every effort to do so routinely. He did well, excelling faster the longer he practiced each day. It was as if he grew less tired the longer he trained. By the earth equivalent of his ninth earth year of training, there wasn't a student he couldn't defeat. Eventually, he even routinely could defeat his instructors.

There was talk of an exhibition fight against the Legion's Karate Kid, but Strathazed wanted no part of such nonsense. On the day when Kal passed his tests to be considered a master of the Kryptonian martial art form, Horu-Kanu, Kal seemed to move faster, perform stronger than anyone could have predicted possible. All the while, far above the outdoor arena, Vega's giant yellow sun blazed brightly.

Despite the additional workload of martial training, Kal seemed to thrive on Vega, his studies coming easier somehow. He started sleeping less, having more time to devote to bettering himself. Strathazed was a demanding teacher, but also fair, and he was pleased with Kal's progress. He seemed like a different person since their arrival there. Strathazed had raised Kal-En as though he were his own son in the thirty Terran years since Krypton had died, and while the enigmatic alien would never admit it, he began to care for the boy in much this same way. Strathazed taught Kal about the culture of Krypton that he could not learn from computers and memory scans, keeping him in touch with the emotional aspects of his deceased world. Inwardly, the alien wondered about something he had discovered and not imparted to Kal. In all the timelines they travelled to, for a variety of different reasons, Krypton seemed doomed in each one they visited.

Eventually, Strathazed, Kal, and the ship's crew left Okaara, traveling elsewhere in the Vega system. While visiting the war-torn planet Lallor, Strathazed's crew played a pivotal role in preventing the Khunds, a war like race bent on conquest, from overrunning the planet. Kal appreciated his fighting skills, as they allowed him to best even the much larger Khunds in hand to hand combat. Under the tutelage of the Warlords, he had grown tall and lean, looking much more imposing at fourteen Kryptonian years old now.

In one of the final battles of the war, Strathazed used potent magics and psionic abilities Kal-En never knew existed to hold back the invaders en masse. Meanwhile Kal-En himself led a raid on the Khundian gulag to rescue the imprisoned meta-human heroes of Lallor. It would be a decisive moment, certainly the turning point of the entire war. During that mission with his forces pinned down under heavy fire, Kal leaped a significant, nearly impossible, distance over a ravine and through a wall of chemical flames. On the other side, he rescued the unconscious Evolvo Lad from debris that had collapsed on him. Kal decided to leave that detail out of the retelling to Strathazed, who would not have approved of such heroics. Kal attributed it to adrenalin and a healthy amount of luck that he wasn't hurt and was able to move the heavy debris.

Kal's hair was bleached a bright blond by the chemical flames, and his armored combat suit burnt to near ash, but he was physically unharmed. Evolvo Lad didn't wake up until on board a shuttle bound to rout the Khundian invaders. Kal's own troops had been on the other side of the curtain of flames, s there was no witness to Kal's brave, somewhat impetuous, and near-superhuman deed. None, save Vega's blazing yellow sun, far above.

Earth (Sanna Belle)

Leaving Vega, Kal-En learned to be quite the diplomat in his advancing age. Gifted at speech and impressing members of diverse cultures and races alike, he was Strathazed's secret weapon in matters of diplomacy, and the blond hair actually suited him even better in that regard making his natural looks even more striking. In time Strathazed brought Kal-En to a young world named Earth. He was nearing his 16th Kryptonian year when they arrived. He would still be 15 for another year and a half as Terrans measured time, but like any teenager, he was in a hurry to tell people he was in fact almost 16 now.

Earth appealed to him almost immediately, though not because of the planet itself per se. Kal very much enjoyed the yellow sun in the star system, Sol, having in all his travels only seen one other like it, the yellow sun from some years before in the Vega system. Kal felt different, strangely invigorated as he looked at it. The only other time he had felt remotely similar had indeed been in the Vega system, but it was more intense now.

As usual, Strathazed and his crew scouted the world from afar, and each crew member gravitated to the area that most suited them to explore as they approached. The area they would fit in the easiest, without drawing undue attention. Strathazed and Kal investigated an island nation, a place known to have a high incidence of metahuman and paranormal activity. Once there, they split up and each pursued their own investigations into the region.

Having so long been deprived of what amounted to a real childhood, Kal found his way to a large structure with many people that at least appeared his age, something the Earthlings called a "mall," where they appeared to engage in some form of barter. Wandering through it, he eventually found an arcade, a throwback to a time when every mall seemed to have them, and thus popular again in a time when everything old was new again. Outfitted with an image inducer to simulate Earth clothing over his native Kryptonian clothes, as well as synthesized Earth currency, he fit in quite readily.

However, he drew a large crowd as he played through the arcade games with fluid, effortless ease, finding even the virtual reality varieties childishly simple compared to what he was accustomed to. His looks and skill marked him as different, and drew the very attention he was supposed to avoid. Invigorated as he was, though, Kal disregarded his instructions and reveled in the crowds and the compliments. It was just enough of a distraction that he didn't notice how fast he was reacting.

A human girl named Jubilation, or Jubilee for short, asked him to play a game she called "air hockey." The table was prominently located just under a skylight in the arcade, sunlight pouring in from above and lighting the table. Kal accepted readily, and after learning how to play from watching the game, he became quickly accomplished. Like the other arcade games it was childishly simple, but much more entertaining given the physical aspect.

His hands moved like a blur, so fast they were lost to the eyes, the afterimages literally making them appear in several places at once. About the time he smacked the puck and accidentally shattered it, he realized something was happening to him. Something just wasn't right; he needed to return to the ship immediately and try and understand just what it was, to see Strathazed and find out what was happening to him. But fate had other plans.

Before he, or anyone, could react to the broken puck, the sound of screaming from outside the arcade attracted everyone's attention. Kal-En went to investigate along with everyone else, and saw a man in some type of green armor attacking a group of people in the parking area for the primitive combustion ground vehicles humans travelled in. The human was huge, if it even was a human, standing easily eight feet tall, with a musculature best defined as grotesquely enlarged. Local law enforcement teams surrounded the giant, which Kal realized must have been one of the "meta-humans" he had heard about: human beings with extraordinary powers that set them above others of their kind in capability. The giant laughed and swatted the police away, including one of their cars! Over a bullhorn they called for his surrender, and Kal-En heard his name, Sledge.

Strathazed had long tried to curb Kal-En's idealism, saying it would only get him in trouble, that he had too much of his parents in him that way. He was the last of his kind and needed to think more of himself. His survival was more important in the bigger picture. But when Sledge loomed over an elderly woman, Kal's first instinct was to try and help. Without even realizing it, he was moving.

Though well away from the woman and her attacker it seemed he just appeared at her side, throwing a shoulder into the giant, hoping to at least distract him long enough for the woman to escape, confident in his fighting skills to allow him to evade the lumbering giant. Instead the impact tossed the considerably larger metahuman away with a sound like a cannon shot. The impact knocking Sledge nearly forty feet away, through a marble arch, and face first into a fountain.

Kal stood still, statue-likel, shocked by what he had done, while the woman crawled away. He stared at his own hands, as if the answers would appear there, then looked into the sky, squinting against the sun, expecting at any second to see his mentor materialize. For that matter, Sledge too was briefly stunned, though faster to recover as the water from the fountain brought him to his senses. He glared at the distracted Kal-En and threw a massive piece of the shattered marble arch, literally bigger than Kal's body, right at him.

It was faster than Kal could react, as he was still stunned by what he had done. There was no way to dodge something that large, that fast! Kal was sure he was dead, throwing his arms up to protect his head on instinct. But as the dust settled, Kal simply stood there in his Kryptonian ambassador outfit, the image inducer shattered to scrap by the marble shrapnel created when the block simply turned to dust as it struck Kal's body. Lowering his hands, Kal saw that his shock was now mirrored on the giant Sledge's face as well.

The reaction from the crowd, however, was immediate: People cheered and waved, certain that their rescue was at hand by some unknown hero of the region. Kal was confused, having no experience with the notion of superheroes beyond the concept that they existed. He leaped away as Sledge charged at him, planning to roll away and let the local authorities take over from there. But to his utter amazement, and unbound joy, he didn't land after jumping! He stayed hovering in mid-air, well above the awed crowd. He was floating there—no, not floating, he was flying! He could fly!

Kal began to feel confident now, forgetting any idea of retreating. He had powers beyond reason it, seemed! Speed and strength and flight! In a burst of speed, he dove and slammed his adversary hard on top of the head. The impact literally drove Sledge several feet into the concrete like a railroad spike. Kal laughed as the girl Jubilee, who was watching, quipped that Sledge had been hammered! The people all cheered once again at the comment.

Utterly intoxicated with the public reaction, Kal landed and grabbed the giant meta, spinning him in circles until he was literally a blur, until finally releasing him and sending him flying through five cars and lengthwise through a parked bus. Sledge was out cold, and almost immediately the crowd pressed in around Kal on all sides, shouting questions, wanting to know who he was and where he was from. Suddenly feeling trapped with people surrounding him, Kal leaped into the air and flew wobbly away, rapidly lost to sight.

Back on the ship, Strathazed ran batteries of tests, having to be very creative as many that had once worked on Kal no longer seemed to. It took only a short time to recognize what was happening. The alien determined that Kal's Kryptonian cells were absorbing the energy of Earth's yellow star, soaking it up and storing it like a battery. That solar battery then powered the amazing abilities he had demonstrated, as well as others that were discovered in the seemingly endless tests. Enhanced senses, laser like beams of solar heat from his eyes, and enhancements to his respiratory system that seemed to defy reason. The tests showed that every one of Kal's bodily systems had been augmented by the solar battery.

As the weeks turned into months, Kal practiced and studied his new powers with the same diligence he always attended to his other studies with. Over that time more and more reports of a blond haired teen rescuing people began to surface: a tornado in Florida, an earthquake in Mexico, a fire in New York, and countless muggings, and robberies. In each case it was the same, out of nowhere he'd appear and without a word act to save lives and protect the populace, then just as quickly disappear before any questions could be asked, much less answered.

In time, however, Strathazed's survey of Earth was concluded, and he told Kal-En that they would soon be moving on. Kal found himself at another crossroad in his young life, as he found he relished these powers and all he could do with them. So it was with heavy heart that he told Strathazed he wished to remain on Earth, a world with people not so physically different from Krypton, a world where he could follow the example his mother and father always taught him through their actions to try and make a difference, a world where he could make that difference not only with his mind but also his amazing new abilities. Inside he remembered that day, where he watched his world die. Swallowing hard, he thought to himself, if he had had these powers then. If only then, he could have done something. Earth had hundreds of people in colorful costumes doing that very thing, all with slightly ostentatious clothing and names. His choice made, Kal decided that as the sky was now his, he would name himself Skyboy.

Strathazed was impressed by Kal's determination but it was only with great reluctance that he agreed. The deciding factor was simply one of logic, Kal seemed much less likely to be harmed on a world where he was effectively invulnerable to everything, even if he was slightly more in harm's way, there was significantly less that could hope to harm him. The choice made Strathazed set him up to live with two synthetic beings that would emulate a set of parents, as well as relay important information back to Strathazed on his activities.

Strathazed also returned Kal's holographic wrist computer to him, a device that the young Kryptonian had not seen since his childhood on Krypton. It contained the remainder of his Kryptonian lessons, the information from his parents' computer systems, as well as the sum total of the data they had gathered about Earth. It would further act as a two way beacon in case they ever needed to see one another. Though the time it might take for the signal to reach either of them could be significant, it seemed prudent just in case.

Without emotion or reluctance, Strathazed then left, allowing Kal to follow what he felt his destiny to be. Armed with a great deal of knowledge about Earth, Kal realized that his best choice of a place to live would be the very place he'd made his "debut" against Sledge. So, he and his "parents" began their new lives there, in Sorna, as the Alens, Kal taking the name Knick Alen, an "Earthing" of his true Kryptonian name. Over the course of several hours on his wrist computer, and with a fair amount of computer hacking, he set up aliases that were utterly beyond reproach. Earth computer systems were rather easy to hack into after all. But there were so many forms and identifications to fake. By time he was done, though, the Alens were officially citizens of the planet Earth.

Zachary Alen joined a law firm and quickly, with his computer mind, started rising through the ranks over the ensuing months, while Sara Alen became a fashion designer, gaining her own notoriety in that field for similar reasons. In the meantime, Kal studied the evening news, newspapers, magazines, and extensively the Internet for information about the super powered defenders and antagonists associated with the city of Sanna Belle and the world at large. He learned that his incident with Sledge months before was not at all uncommon. Super powered combatants seemed to routinely end up in battle across the cities of Earth.

It was a week later that the first headlines started appearing about a new super powered defender in the skies. The paper quoted him as he flew off after stopping a car-jacking, "Don't worry, everyone. I'll always be watching from up here, 'cause from now on, the sky belongs to Skyboy!" With that he disappeared from view, having announced his presence as a new hero of Earth. The press and evening news postulated theories about where this new hero came from, as well as where he'd been in the months since he fought Sledge. Of particular interest was his insignia, how closely the anarchist style S over the Shield seemed to resemble Superman's, especially in light of the powers Kal displayed. But Kal was less than forthcoming about talking to the press, unlike the Man of Steel, and so while theories abounded, facts did not. He was however very curious about Superman himself, but somehow they just never seemed to arrive at the same crisis at the same time.

For months Skyboy defended his adopted city and indeed world from many powerful opponents, the likes of Carnage, Metallo, Goldar, and the "Cyborg Superman," Hank Henshaw, among them. He learned firsthand about the debilitating effects of Kryptonite in that time as well. Knick was terrible at the notion of a secret identity though, and quickly abandoned making any serious effort at maintaining one. Anyone that got close to him knew that Knick Alen was Skyboy. As a result, his synthetic guardians became more for show and monetary acquisition than anything else.

He learned too late the advantage of a secret identity however when criminals would literally turn up on his doorstep! Using designs for ancient Kryptonian technology left in his father's notes, the apartment was defended with powerful deterrents that Knick had created and installed. But Metallo actually waited outside for almost a week once for a rematch. As Skyboy, Kal found allies and friends both and even began thinking about forming some informal group or team. He had been accustomed to that from his time onboard the ship with his mentor, and the idea seemed sound here as well.

But about six months after he arrived, Knick almost gave up and left Earth over his first broken heart. Still not quite 16, he had grown to love the demi-goddess Kylie, a daughter of Aphrodite. It was decidedly one sided though, as it often is at that age. Kylie saw Knick at best as an attractive and close friend, and little more. Though others vied for his affection, he only really had eyes for her at the moment. Unquestionably an aspect of her goddess-granted beauty, as Knick was obsessed with her above and beyond his Kryptonian cultural beliefs. But after Kylie gave in to her dark side, and became the Wrath of Women Scorned, things got worse. She charged Knick with not returning the affections of other women that had cared for him, while he had pursued her, and attacked him.

Skyboy refused to fight her though, and instead fled to the upper atmosphere, to the edge of space, where he was sure she couldn't follow. There he activated his homing beacon, intent now on leaving Earth, and inadvertently learned just how long he could hold his breath. In his emotional state he never realized until too late how low his oxygen level was in his blood. Asphyxiating, he plunged back to Earth, crashing into a massive crater. He suffered short term memory damage from the lack of oxygen and the fall. It was several days before he even regained consciousness.

It was not long after he recovered though that Knick met Edward, a park ranger that moonlighted as a flame-generating weretiger hero, aptly named Fire Tiger. Their relationship was relatively short but very intense. Sadly it too was not to last, and Knick experienced his second broken heart in a very short time. The concept of people leaving this way was simply alien to him. Nothing in his background had prepared him for how differently human beings approached relationships, approached love. It was a very difficult lesson for him, and one he would always struggle with.

Through one of his allies Knick began working at a private think tank named S.T.A.R. Labs. He was in his element there at least. Here was something he did understand. He devised fantastic technology and generated a staggering amount of money for himself and the lab. With such wealth, his altruism was extended to many kids his age and older that gravitated to the island of Sorna and ended up homeless. Most were metahumans and had come to Sorna as it was considered the metahuman capital of the world. In fact, so many young kids started living in his apartment complex, and even just his apartment, that it was becoming necessary to look for a larger place to live. He started to plan an island retreat off the coast of Sorna in response to the influx.

One of the people that found his way to Knick's doorstep was Dominick Mitsobar t'Drachim. Dominick was a potent weather manipulator, with his own troubled past and a penchant for technology. Though older than Knick by several years, they bonded quickly and fell in love, eventually even getting engaged at Dominick's urging, despite the protests of some of Knick's other close friends that felt the relationship was moving too quickly. The concept, as Knick understood it, was not all that different from Kryptonian lifemates. Though it seemed that to be married was singular, which was not something that fit well with his culture. Dominick understood that though, which made Knick feel more at peace with the idea. Plans were set in motion for them to be married as soon as Knick was legally allowed to by Earth laws.

Another close friend, whom Knick found a great deal in common with, was Superman Jr, the son of Superman, though he had yet to meet Superman himself, who was partially retired, allowing his son to carry on. Knick and Jon-El would forge a solid and enduring friendship. Jon planned to introduce Knick to "The Super Family" and have him inducted into it as well. Being a part of a Krytonian family again, even one heavily influenced by Earth culture, thrilled him. For a time, things genuinely seemed positive, and Knick was truly happy. But even as Knick found love and acceptance, his life would change radically once again.

Earth (Avalon)

Months before when Knick had tried to flee Earth he never received a reply from his mentor. He finally discovered just why that was. Knick was contacted by Strathazed, who was racing back to Earth with dire news. The once seemingly benevolent computer that had guided Knick's Krypton, Brainiac, had also survived the destruction of the planet and seemingly gone insane, if a computer system could be said to do so. It had gained control of a powerful planet sized weapon named WarWorld. The weapon allowed Brainiac to travel through Hypertime on a mad path of aggression and destruction. With it he planned to destroy the Earth of another timeline. Strathazed's benefactors, the Linear Men, had charged him with preventing this as it would cause irreparable damage to that time stream, which could then spill over into others as well.

With Knick's powerful abilities, he could be a huge asset in stopping the crazed plans of the computer intellect. Moreover, this was a product of his world, and in learning about it Knick felt an obligation to handle it personally. What he didn't count on was that so many of his new friends would insist on going along as well, resolute in their determination to stop the warped artificial intelligence and save a world. Like heroes would, they selflessly moved to save a world that was not their own, but which was in need. They boarded the shuttle to Strathazed's ship, and without ever knowing it, said goodbye to Sorna forever.

The battle against Brainiac took place in space, on the edge of the Milky Way. It was fierce and very costly. WarWorld was aptly named; its weapons were powerful enough to shatter moons into debris fields with only several blasts of the main guns. Though the weapons systems on Strathazed's vessel and other ships brought to bear against the goliath battle station were powerful, they were no match for WarWorld. Everyone knew the battle would have to be won on the surface, if at all. The battle in space was only a diversion.

Using cloaking technology to mask a shuttle, Knick and his allies managed to infiltrate WarWorld. Fighting their way deep into its heart, and there confronting the mechanical body of their foe. In a climactic showdown, Knick and his friends managed to defeat Brainiac, and the resulting damage and subsequent explosions began to rip the artificial Warworld apart. But Knick learned something from the seemingly terminated sentient computer moments before the shock waves started. Krypton's destruction had been planned, intentional. His planet and family had not merely died, they had been murdered.

Brainiac itself made certain, through various manipulations of resources at its disposal, that the planet would die. The notion had occurred to it seemingly from nowhere, the push down this path undefinable to the AI, but compelling. Nobody was to learn of it until it was too late. Knick's father and Strathazed's meddling would have saved Krypton several times over if Brainiac had not tampered with their efforts. Krypton was just the first world it had destroyed, and even as it slowly shut down, its cold mechanical voice slurring to a halt, it promised Knick it would return from this defeat. It would kill again. As they fled the scene Knick cried, his mind flashing back to his own world's death, and how similar WarWorld's explosion looked in his mind's eye. But there was worse news to come.

In the course of the battle Strathazed's ship was struck a glancing blow by a fusion blast from the main guns of WarWorld. While the ship's shields held the vessel together, the blast caused the hyperium that powered the hypertemporal jump engines to surge, shorting out the system and irradiating almost everyone present with a wave of hypertemporal energy that expanded out in every direction for light days, changing many of the crew in unusual ways and others in ways that wouldn't be known for many months to come. With the ship's hyper-jump capability destroyed and the computer plotting system's information lost, Knick and his friends became stranded in this new timeline, unable to return to Sorna. With heavy hearts they settled together on a new Earth in a city in Europe named Avalon.

For several weeks, Knick secretly hacked into various computers setting himself and his friends up with identities on this new Earth. It was slow work, as to much of it done in a short period of time could potentially cause unwanted attention. As soon as they were citizens, Knick used his powers to find several large precious gems in the Earth's crust to make certain they would be well off financially, placing the money from the sale of the gems in Dominick's name, as Knick was still viewed on Earth as a minor, despite being nearly 48 earth years old. With income no longer an issue, they could move off the ship and to the planet itself.

A large octagonal warehouse was converted into a literally enormous home on the coastline, even including a stretch of rocky beach. Finally there was space for all of his friends, and he set about building yet another new life in Avalon. In time he once again met other young heroes, who also once more gravitated towards him. So many that he finally did something he had long wanted to do anyway, he formed a team. Unity was born, a concept that was so common on Krypton, yet not so much on either of the two Earths he had called home. Unity was a team and simultaneously a surrogate family for Knick.

In their first mission as a team, Unity stumbled headfirst into an Intergang plot. The team defeated Intergang's agents easily and came into possession of some unusual and seemingly alien artifacts, artifacts they had to fight in order to keep! Unity defeated a group of various costumed villains that tried to take possession of one of the objects from a university where it was being studied by the government. The devices were recovered by the team, and they held onto them so that Knick could study them in his lab and try and discover what their purpose was.

The first crippling defeat for Unity came when "The Beach House" was attacked by forces from Apokolips! Darkseid's elite attacked the HQ and in the confusion the alien artifacts were stolen from the lab where Knick had been studying them. The team rallied with unexpected assistance from other heroes around Avalon to ultimately defeat the invaders. But the damage was done, the artifacts were gone. Morale was low as a result, but things would still get worse before they got better.

Over the next several months Avalon was beset by the Four Horsemen of Apokolips, powerful entities which were the essence of War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death, each with an elemental affinity tied to them as well. Unity and the other super-powered defenders of Avalon rose to the challenge and defeated each of them, though not without many near life-threatening injuries. But even in defeat they accomplished their goal, releasing their powerful elemental essences for the glory of Apokolips and Darkseid.

Thanks to the Horseman's actions, The Leviathan, Destroyer of Worlds, was released. The artifact that was stolen had been an ancient techno-seed housing the primordial destroyer. Crafted by Darkseid's mother in the days before he his rule, the predecessor to the Brimstone techno-seed, and far more deadly. It literally absorbed the elements around it, bringing utter chaos and destruction in its wake. Hurricane- like winds surrounded it as it absorbed the atmosphere itself. Unity as a team almost gave their lives to stop the beast, with members being maimed and worse. Inferno permanently sacrificed her humanity in the battle. Dessad had used her ability to open warp gates as a power source to keep the techno-seed active. Her own powers literally consumed her and left her a living teleportation portal of shimmering energy. Now forever changed by the experience, the one-time teleporting pyrokinetic instead renamed herself Rift.

Months passed and other challenges came, but the worst would ultimately come from within. Rift was slowly taken over by the possessing entity Dreamslayer, which came to lurk inside of her. Using her knowledge of the team and forming an alliance with the alien race the Dominators, Dreamslayer nearly destroyed Unity before being stopped. In the final battle, Knick learned what it was like to literally fight himself, as Dreamslayer released a Bizarre Imperfect Duplicate of Skyboy, Bizzaro Skyboy! Dreamslayer was ultimately defeated, and Rift regained control of her mind. Feeling terrible for it all she was welcomed with open arms back among her team mates, who were just happy to have her back.

Knick fought valiantly time and time again, leading Unity to victories against nearly impossible odds on several occasions. The list of villains they fought and defeated grew steadily, as too did the membership of the team. The Beach House was recognized as the base of one of the most numerous and powerful hero teams on Earth. Knick and Dominick still planned to be wed, once he was old enough to or perhaps off world. Life had once again settled down. But there was an enemy, a force, within Knick himself. Growing steadily stronger, it would eventually collapse both him and the team, as well.

In the battle against WarWorld, when the wave of hypertemporal energy from Strathazed's ship washed across him, Knick had been changed without even knowing it. Each life form had a temporal "signature," a unique wavelength of energy that rarely ever changed, and acted as an anchor for where they belonged in Hypertime. Knick had spent most of his life travelling through one hypertemporal reality to another, which had blurred his signature somewhat over time. The hypertemporal wave had imprinted on it. The result was that one night Knick went to bed and was literally catapulted into Hypertime, the space between timelines. With no way to get back home.

Earth (Sanctuary)

It took time, but Strathazed was able to find him thanks to the beacon. With still more time Knick was able to construct a device that allowed him to return back to Sorna. The device actually fed off of the residual trace amounts of temporal signature for that specific timeline. But Knick had been missing for months, and bereft of their leader, Unity had split apart. The prototype device Knick had built was hardly perfected, his time there was short. He had just long enough to write a quick goodbye to those he loved, and he faded away. That day Knick lost his family for a second time as he flickered and vanished from his now largely empty home. The last thing he saw, a picture of him and Dominick on the desk, before he vanished. Little did he know though that many, including Dominick, had not given up. Dominick would find that note, and he would search till the ends of Hypertime itself to find him again.

For weeks Knick was desolate, unresponsive, and largely withdrawn. In that time Strathazed tried to teach him new things to take his mind off of his sorrow, as he had in his younger days when he first became his ward. But Knick was older now, and in that state few of them had any lasting impact, save one. Knick tried his hand at learning the magical arts, thinking perhaps he might use them to return himself back to Avalon. He tried, but he failed. In magic he at last found one thing in his life that defied him at every turn. His scientific mind was simply unable to grasp more than the most rudimentary basics of magic. What he learned, in the state he was in especially, was hardly enough to get him home. But in the days to come he would find his vulnerability to the arcane arts vastly reduced now that he understood them better.

Strathazed knew that Knick needed a new direction in life, a new purpose. He spoke to Rip Hunter of the Linear Men on Knick's behalf. Hunter reviewed Knick's past and decided he was worthy to be a field agent for him, like Strathazed himself. Hunter was used to playing the long game, with all of time spread out in front of him. Having an adult Kryptonian at his disposal sounded particularly good, and Kal would be an adult eventually. Kal would still be a hero, but now would have access to the Linear Men's technology. An asset to be called on in the event another scenario like the Brainiac situation should arise. Knick was given a ship, which he heavily modified almost immediately. Kal christened the vessel UNITY, as a cherished reminder of his lost family. Unintentionally, the name was darkly ironic as the ship, like Knick himself, was so very empty. He then settled on yet another planet Earth in yet another hypertemporal reality. There he built a massive retreat for himself to remind him of his past, The Sanctuary of Remembrance.

It took Knick nearly an Earth year to construct the massive Sanctuary, even with his formidable powers. In that time Knick, tired of always being treated as a child on any Earth he resided on, petitioned for legal status as an adult. He presented evidence showing that while he might appear as a teenager, he was well past the point of adulthood by Earth standards. Once he was recognized legally, Knick took steps to secure money to start Alen Electronics. He was able to get a grant from the Wayne Foundation for that purpose. Using his advanced scientific knowledge Knick patented various technologies, revolutionizing waste disposal, environmental cleanup, aspects of law enforcement, and some areas of medicine as well. Inside of months, Knick was making tremendous sums of money, more than he had ever made on any other Earth, and far more than he had set out to make.

He paid back the loan to the Wayne Foundation inside of six months, and then the income went to fund the Sanctuary construction and other projects as well. In addition to donating to many charities, he started one of his own, a foundation to fund children's shelters to get kids off the street, which was very successful. The Sky's The Limit youth shelters started appearing in various cities across the globe, reaching out to kids the same way he had on two other worlds, and alerting him directly when anyone appeared with metahuman abilities.

So yet another Earth was introduced to Knick Alen, AKA Skyboy. With his looks and powers as well as a level of approachability absent in most heroes with secret identities Knick became a media darling in no time. Magazine covers, calls to present on award shows, interviews, movie offers, action figures, comic book companies. All of those and more approached him seeking endorsements, rights to use his image, and offering the world on a platter. Everyone wanted something, and they saw in Knick the potential for another Booster Gold style hero. But fame and fortune were hardly what he was after, and brought no sense of relief for the ache within him. If the project was altruistic, or at least harmless he would do it, if nothing else as a distraction. Realizing they were barking up the wrong tree, most of the shady offers quickly dried up. Booster Gold actually sent him an edible arrangement as a thank you.

After losing so much, so many times, Knick had become nearly desensitized to suffering. He was a good hero still, to be sure, but it was almost mechanical now. In his first meeting with Superboy, the Teen of Steel commented that he just seemed to be going through the motions. Superman, who was also present then as well, suggested Superboy keep an eye on Knick. Feeling Kon-El might better relate to him, as they were much closer in ages. That was the beginning of acquaintance that would blossom into friendship, and in time would literally save Skyboy from one of his most difficult enemies of all, himself.

World War III

Knick's first meeting with the majority of Earth's heroes and the first major crisis he was able to assist with occurred when Maggeddon awoke, an ancient weapon of the third world that left only war and misery in its wake. Influencing all those around it to open hostilities, it was World War Three for the Earth, unless Mageddon could be stopped. But only the combined power of the Justice League and nearly every other hero and hero group on Earth would manage to stop the planet-sized doomsday artifact.

In the end, even that didn't seem like it would be enough. Superman became imprisoned within the primordial war-bringer. Thankfully, the heroes of Earth received help from among the most unlikely of places, a device was built by the last god of the third world. When it was powered by the self-same god, every man, woman, and child on Earth had their metagenes sparked at the same time. Though the effect would only be temporary, Wonder Woman led the Armies of Man against the world destroyer. Skyboy was a part of that charge, after aiding Steel in the routing of the Queen Bee's hive in New York.

While the armies of man attacked Mageddon externally, Superman was able to break free of his imprisonment with some telepathically facilitated help from Batman and attack Mageddon from within. Finding that the juggernaut was powered by an anti-sun, the Man of Steel absorbed its tremendous power into his own cells and ultimately deactivated Mageddon, sparing the Earth and all it would have later destroyed. All the while, angels from heaven lead by Zuriel kept jittery world leaders from unleashing nuclear annihilation until the war-bringer's influence departed. With the threat averted, the cleanup began, and it was extensive. But by time the first touch of winter was in the air, the ever-resilient Earth was bouncing back.

Now set up with a flourishing company and the fully realized Sanctuary of Remembrance established as a fixture of New York Harbor, Knick was a recognized part of life in Manhattan, and indeed the world. His assistance in World War III, especially in New York, had skyrocketed him even further in the minds and eyes of the people of Earth. With his image on teen magazines, business, and tech periodicals alike, as well as his nightly news worthy costumed exploits the populace had grown accustomed to seeing and recognizing him. While there might not be any refrain of "Look, up in the sky!" many people were prompted to do so when he flew overhead on patrols.

The Beast That is Winter

It was in the early days of winter when Earth was beset with yet another global crisis. The first traces of frost on windows in the morning made it clear that it would grow cold quickly this year, a fact old-timers playing chess in Central Park would point out to anyone that would listen to them. Sadly few did, because nobody could really fathom just how right they were this time.

An ancient artifact, the Yoke of the Elements, containing the very essences of the seasons, was stolen by the Acolytes of The Seasons. With mystical rituals to shatter the old magic that held the primordial beings within, the cult of worshipers released the personifications of Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn once more, free to roam the universe unbound for the first time since the planets were just cooling in space. A cold chill passed over Manhattan, where the spell shattering the bonds was cast, as Ithaqua, the Beast that is Winter, strode across the land once more.

Within a matter of hours after its release the climate and temperature dropped along the majority of the eastern seaboard of the United States, shifting steadily and gradually to the very heart of winter, and then much worse. Snow began falling and increasing steadily until it was not mere inches per hour, but feet per hour! The blizzard-like conditions caught emergency services, and everyone else, totally flat-footed. After all, who could have predicted winter would arrive that fiercely, so quickly? Emergency management was overwhelmed within hours, and as the storm radiated further and further out there was no help to be had from neighboring states or areas.

But worse still, things were roaming unseen among the snow. Ithaqua reached out and changed the poor souls that were lost to the storm's cold, giving those close to death a chance to live on in service to it. From those who accepted it, Ithaqua shaped its wendigo and released them into the world. The plaintive cry of those lost souls echoed across the frozen concrete canyons of Manhattan, another threat to any that dared venture into winter's grasp. The only thing standing between winter personified and the helpless populace was once again the Earth's heroes.

Across the Eastern Seaboard the storm worsened rapidly, slowly beginning to spread in every direction. Radiating outward from the point where Ithaqua was released, the Atlantic Ocean literally freezing over as the storm pressed out to sea. The ranks of heroes became stretched thin trying to deal with the emergencies that resulted. In the tri-state area, the storm was the most intense, and Knick and the heroes of that area banded together to try and do what they could to combat it. With Metropolis and Gotham similarly besieged, there was no help to be had from those locales, so New York was on its own.

Helping civilians and stopping the spawn of Ithaqua, the wendigo, which had taken over Central Park, it was through a captured Acolyte of the Seasons the heroes became aware of the true gravity of the situation, and indeed just what had happened. The grouped heroes knew that the Earth and everyone on it would be frozen soon in a never-ending winter unless they stopped it, and now. A desperate plan was formed, which would see Relic attempting to recast the ancient magic that would seal Ithaqua back in the Yoke of the Elements. If they could reclaim the Yoke, and the essence of winter could be drawn out and weakened in some manner.

Discovering where a spell of that magnitude had been cast was nearly effortless for Relic, and with the help of heroes like Superboy and Spider-Man as well as members of the Titans reclaiming the Yoke from the unsuspecting Acolytes was also not a significant challenge. But drawing out the spirit of winter itself, that would take no small amount of bait. To that end Knick used the maser arrays on the Sanctuary and jury rigged them to produce a bubble of heat over the entire city, which began to melt the ice and snow. The plan worked and an enraged Ithaqua took physical form and attacked!

Only with the aid of every hero that could still stand was Skyboy able to hold off the assault of the Beast that is Winter when it finally attacked the Sanctuary, the conflict occurring directly in the middle of a frozen New York Harbor. Ithaqua nearly froze Knick solid in an icy prison until Spider-Man rescued him, allowing him to continue to fight. The plan to draw Ithaqua out had worked, and as the beast's physical form of ice and snow was gradually shattered away, Relic's magic confined the beast's very essence once more to the Yoke. It had only been a matter of days, though it felt like so much more. Winter had just begun, but the long winter was finally over.

Superboy

With the defeat of Ithaqua, Knick set his goals on the formation of a new team. Between Maggedon and Ithaqua it made sense to Knick. A team could handle a crisis that a lone hero, no matter how powerful, simply couldn't. Once again it would be named Unity, out of respect for the many friends he had lost. In the midst of looking at potential team members, Jon-El—now several years Knick's senior—arrived on this Earth from Sana Belle's Hypertime. He had been cast through Hypertime in the midst of a crisis there and was unsure if the reality had survived. Both of them grieved at the idea that it may not have, but likewise had no way at the time to check. Knick resolved that he would refine the technology he had started to create that would allow safe passage through Hypertime, but for the time, being reunited with his now "older brother" bolstered Knick's hopes that he might find his lost friends and lost love, Dominick, once again.

Forming a new team, having Jon back in his life, and the life of a celebrity super teen were distractions. His lab work and business dealings were likewise distractions. But inside Knick was still a deeply troubled young man. Months before Superman had believed it would take a teen of steel to get to the heart of the matter within another teen of steel. Superboy and Knick had become close friends, and Kon was relentless in pursuing Knick's inner demons every chance he got. It was time not spent on dwelling on his own problems, if nothing else—problems which at the time were rather numerous and revolved around homicidal girl trouble in the form of Knockout. Eventually, Kon began to succeed in overtaking Knick's demons, but in a way he certainly never expected. Knick was becoming quite attached to Superboy but was keeping that fact to himself. At the same time Superboy was assisting Knick with his issues, Knick managed to find some Kon had as well. His feelings of inadequacy, that he wasn't real person since he was a clone, and certainly was not fit to follow in Superman's footsteps. Slowly, they were mutually helping one another through their respective problems.

Months passed rapidly, and other challenges appeared. The essence of Spring briefly caused trouble with its ability to resurrect the long dead with its touch. Dinosaurs walked the Earth again, Megalodon swam the oceans, and a pitched battle with a raised Sinestro in New York's skies gave Knick a new appreciation for what a power ring could do. But before its name could be learned, and a spell cast to contain it, Spring vanished to parts unknown.

Likewise the first of the creatures that would come to be known as the Disaster Monsters appeared in the form of The Kraken, which attacked the Metropolis waterfront. Though it ranked among the weakest of the creatures, as revealed by a member of the Cult of Disaster, the beast was formidable, taking attacks from Skyboy, Superboy, and Jon-El among others and still not giving ground. The beast eventually seemed to fade out of existence, leaving everyone present concerned about where, when, and how the monster might strike again.

Knick and Superboy became closer through this period, saving one another several times over. But as Kon and Knick spent more time together, Kon had noticed the way Knick acted around him, noticed that Knick never paid much attention when he pointed out some "babe." Indeed, ever since the situation years before with Kylie, Knick had something of a phobia about becoming intimate with a female, the near-death experience that had resulted from that leaving him unwilling to approach them that way anymore. Many people believed Superboy to be a little dense, but in truth he was anything but.

Kon confronted Knick, and Knick admitted his feelings for Superboy. Desperate not to lose his friend, who more and more he had relied on as a lifeline, he explained that in his culture as a Kryptonian, it was customary to act on those feelings. Love was love, no matter if it was the love of a friend, or more. Living on Earth was very difficult for him in that way, and one of the reasons he had never admitted this to Kon. Kon-El accepted the explanation, but wanted to think about it. Some weeks later, after the situation with Knockout had reached the breaking point, he startled Knick by saying he wanted to learn Knick's culture in a more firsthand manner. After all the relationship issues of his own, Kon wanted to learn Knick's culture to see if there was a better way for him.

The two became inseparable and helped each other deal with issues that had been hovering below the surface, beyond even what they had already faced together—for Knick, some very painful abandonment issues he had long suffered from after losing three homes and the people therein. Knick in return helped Kon accept that he was every bit as capable a hero as any actual Kryptonian. Though they served on separate teams, with Knick leading Unity and Kon a member of Young Justice, Superboy moved out of Project Cadmus and into a room at the Sanctuary. The world at large did not know, but Skyboy and Superboy were now casually dating, if not exactly a couple just yet.

Also around this time Knick met several of Kon's teammates in Young Justice: the leader of the team, Robin, and a reserve member, CM3. Within that same week, he met the rest of the team, including Impulse. He became friends with all of them, and even became a reserve member of Young Justice in addition to being leader of Unity. Suddenly finding some measure of peace again for the first time in a very long time, Knick started to reach out to others again. The team began to fill out. He started to pay attention to the world again, rather than going through the motions.

Around this time Knick also started sharing the skies and a name with something of another sibling as well. The heroine Rival had the ability to duplicate powers from others in herself. She had routinely used this ability to "rival" Knick's abilities. But in a near fatal shooting she overtaxed her powers to save her life. The result was she literally copied Knick to a point that she altered her genetic code and became a Kryptonian herself. Calling herself Skygirl, she became a fairly regular part of Knick's heroic life. She even tried to help him overcome his fear of intimacy with females but concluded it was a bit too deeply rooted. Instead she turned her attentions to Superboy, and was quite upset to discover her first amorous choice was dating her second. Faced with that, she distanced herself from the group, and focused on her own business and heroic endeavors, finding considerable success in both.

The electrical manipulating Will Black came into Knick's life as well. With a similarly troubled past, Knick was devoted to the innocent and charming Will almost immediately. Long a slave to one of the Yakuza families, he had only recently escaped. Taking refuge with the team, his former owners attempted to re-acquire him, but they only tried it just once and regretted it for some time. Surge became a regular part of Unity and Knick's life, and even his father, Dr. William Black, became known to Knick. Eventually his time among his new family saw Will breaking free of his self-imposed bonds of servitude to grow into his own hero and man.

The amazing Amazon teen Wonder Boy also joined Unity. Created as a secret weapon against the amazons of Themyscria by Circe and Ares, he had instead turned against them, rebelling against their plans for him. The soul of a healer, but trained to be a warrior just the same, Ganymede was at home and very capable in both worlds. With his Amazonian heritage and skills, he brought both significant power and a healer's hands to the team to match Skyboy's own gifts in those areas. New friends, and in time new loves, added still more to Knick's family. Overall, things were finally beginning to become positive again.

Young Justice was set up by The Agenda, the organization responsible for Superboy's clone, Match. News crews in helicopters filmed what appeared to be Young Justice blowing up part of Mount Rushmore. This managed to turn public opinion against the idea of young superheroes, feeling they were irresponsible. An opinion unwittingly aided by the former still living members of the Young All-Stars, now calling themselves Old Justice thanks to their opposition to the concept of Young Justice. But allies and supporters of Young Justice and the team itself all gathered together for a rally in Washington, DC. There they fell victim to a spell by Klarion the Witch boy which altered everyone's ages. The oldest among the assembled teams became toddlers, and the youngest became adults!

Only by all working together were they able to ultimately reverse the spell on everyone, save Lobo, and bring the real culprits to justice. The Agenda was not going to go down without leaving the heroes something to remember them by, though. Even as Amanda Spence was captured, she detonated an explosive charge in a collar worn by Tana Moon, Superboy's first love. There was nothing anyone could have done, Tana died there with the various assembled heroes watching, and all helpless to prevent it. The Agenda was stopped for the time, but the cost, the cost was far too great.

Not long after Klarion's mischief, Knick and Kon reached a major turning point in their lives. After the many bad relationships Kon had been in, culminating in watching his first true love, Tana, die in front of him, he was ready to commit to the only good relationship he had ever had, even if that happened to be with another guy. Maybe it was the genetics donated to him from Roxy Leech, or maybe since he was a clone he was flexible that way, but Kon really didn't care to over think it either. Knick made him happy, and that was more than enough. Knick for that matter had finally stepped away from the pain of his lost love and fiancé. In his heart, he knew he would always love Dominick, and always search for him as well, but he might live forever and never find him. Knick knew he was ready to move on the night the nightmares finally stopped, the first real night he and Kon spent together.

The nightmares, the ones he had had since losing his last home, were always the same. Only the details changed. He finally found Dominick, but just moments before his fiancé would somehow die in his arms. In the nightmare, he was never strong enough, or fast enough to stop it. He understood what Kon had went through with Tana, better than almost anyone could.

But finally he had something and someone new to dream of now, happier dreams. That last night Dominick didn't die, he just nodded and smiled at Knick, giving him his blessing. Permission to finally stop punishing himself for something he never should have been punishing himself for.

Though many others were a part of his life and love, including the other members of YJ and Unity, Kon and Knick seemed simply joined at the hip from then on. The two were rarely far apart, even when in the public eye, and not especially careful about how they behaved, a fact not lost on many reporters and trend watchers who began to speculate just how close they in fact were. Everybody loves a rumor, and it is human nature to be fickle, to tear down what moments before you had been building up. This was especially true of celebrities and those in the public consciousness, and there were few more in the public eye than the two teens of steel.

The Kiss Heard 'Round the World

Several months after they began their relationship, Knick and Kon were on patrol over Metropolis—something they regularly did, especially when Superman was busy with League affairs. It was a peaceful day, as most of them were in the City of Tomorrow, but that peace was shattered quickly and in the most unlikely of ways. One second the skies were clear, and then suddenly they were not. Two colossal comets just appeared out of nowhere less than fifteen nautical miles over Metropolis harbor. There was no question what would happen if they struck the planet. At the speeds they were travelling, they would surely wipe out the city and cause widespread ecological damage not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs! Humanity would be wiped out, if not the Earth itself.

With no telltale streak of red and blue indicating Superman was on the case, Metropolis and the world would have to settle for Skyboy and Superboy. Each of them streaked at a comet and attempted to slow its decent. There wasn't much more than seconds to accomplish it, though, and shattering them outright, while within their power, might result in catastrophic destruction as well. So, that wasn't an option either of them could afford to risk. They would have to be slowed down enough not to destroy the world—or the city, for that matter—through brute force. But slowing something the size of a mountain, traveling that fast, was no easy task.

Both Skyboy and Superboy strained well past any level they had before, just to slow the comets enough that the impact would not be the cause of a mass extinction event. The comets hit the waters about a mile off of Metropolis and the two exhausted young heroes with them. Aside from some minor flooding around the harbor area, Metropolis was spared any damage thanks to the heroes and the B13 technology reacting to the potential catastrophe. There was an issue of two drowning young heroes, though. Fortunately, Jon-El, now calling himself Legacy, had heard of the comets and arrived to help, just in time to pluck the weary and waterlogged pair out of the ocean and bring them to the Sanctuary for treatment.

The story was on the news and the papers, and many believed both Superboy and Skyboy had died saving Metropolis, and indeed, the world. Cell phone and various videos of the event failed to capture Legacy rescuing them and then flying them back to the Sanctuary in New York. Where the comets came from, how they just appeared in the skies over Metropolis, remained a mystery, but one eclipsed in the news by the apparent death of two celebrity teen heroes, especially so soon after the issue of whehter they should be allowed at all had been a topic of debate. In a world where disasters were commonplace, the apparent deaths of two beloved super-teens made bigger news than the comets.

Days passed, during which speculation continued as to the fates of Superboy and Skyboy. With the help of the medical treatment facilities in the Sanctuary, they slowly regained their strength and health, the full spectrum light generators particularly useful in that regard. But neither was in a hurry to return to immediate active duty, barring another world shaking calamity at least. A few days off for saving the Earth seemed well earned. Besides, Ganymede had put them on bed rest only, and that raised two valid points. One, it was never wise to cross an amazon's orders. Two, given they shared the same bed, having to spend several days in it didn't sound all that bad. They were teenagers, after all. Finally, four days after the incident, the two felt well enough to get out and have some fun again, and Ganymede cleared them fit to return to active duty.

Taking to the skies above the Sanctuary and N.Y. Harbor, they settled down for some mid-air Frisbee. They were caught on film by a passing traffic helicopter. Bethany Snow, formerly a well-known reporter whose career was almost ruined when her ties to the Church of Blood became public several years before, was aboard. She saw an opportunity to jump start her damaged career, and like a shark faced with fresh meat, she latched onto it. The helicopter hovered nearby, filming the two young heroes, while unseen by all a bird drew ever closer to the scene as well, watching the twin teens of steel with a decidedly not-so-bird-like fascination.

Inside the copter, Bethany Snow was speaking into the camera, speculating about the absence of the heroes over the last few days, as well as where the comets might have come from. Finally, and most galling to Knick, who could hear every word, she began speculating on the nature of the relationship between Skyboy and Superboy, about how close they appeared to have become recently and how differently they acted in public. The way she spoke about it, the just-under-the-surface innuendo of some wrongdoing made Knick grit his teeth in frustration.

Earth's backwards notions and ludicrous ways of placing artificial barriers between different members of their species always aggravated him, and this was just one more example. In frustration, Knick announced out loud in reply to Kon's questioning glance how he wished he could just kiss Kon on camera and get all the speculation and rumors over with. The somewhat more impulsive Superboy casually quipped back with words that would forever change their lives: "I've got nothing to be ashamed of." With that simple phrase, Kon-El flew over and kissed Knick on live TV.

It was the kiss heard 'round the world.

The helicopter circled for a better view of the lingering kiss, just as the not-so-bird-like bird circled for a better vantage as well. Helicopter and bird both failed to veer, and with an also not-very-bird-like screech of metal on metal, the "bird" was caught in the rotors. The sound ended the kiss, which neither super teen seemed in any hurry to otherwise do, just as the helicopter started to spin out of control. The bird that was not a bird at all was revealed to be a sophisticated robot. Red solar lasers lanced out of its eyes, shearing off the tail rotor of the helicopter and further crippling it, before attacking the two young heroes as well.

Superboy dove to land the helicopter, easily catching it and setting it down on the roof of the Sanctuary. While he did so, Skyboy distracted the bird, drawing its fire and avoiding those red solar blasts with deft ease. He didn't call himself Skyboy for nothing; this was very much his element. After the copter was landed, the two made short work of the robot. The only casualty of the day: the frisbee. A straw propelled with enough force can pierce a tree, and similarly a frisbee thrown with Kryptonian-like strength can shatter a bird bot. Sadly, the frisbee fared little better in the assault.

The remains of the bot fell to the Sanctuary, not far from the helicopter. Bethany Snow quickly started throwing questions at Kon as he approached to check and make sure everyone was safe. As Kon had heated words with her about the nature of heroes, their private lives, and just where her microphone might potentially fit, Knick made a chilling discovery. The remains of the robot were easily identifiable to him; he had seen their like many times before. They were clearly of his world. The design was Kryptonian.

The days to follow became somewhat chilly in terms of public reaction. Though Legacy, who knew of the relationship, and other heroes came forward in support of the two teens, the public that had once adored Knick at least partially turned on him. Politicians and religious groups weighed in on the influence the two superteens had on the nation's youth, what responsibility they had to appear as what the majority expected them to be. Many lucrative deals were lost to Alen Electronics, going instead to rivals like Lexcorp. It directly led to the first of many attempts by Lexcorp to take over the smaller company.

At the height of the negative sentiment, Knick moved the Sanctuary to the far distant Azores Island range in the Atlantic Ocean, this after he was literally firebombed by a passing hover car in Metropolis. Over time the fervor started to gradually pass, but not before Skyboy's patience had. The situation caused Knick to go through a slightly negative period as far as his feelings about Earth's social customs and norms. He had always had a difficult time adapting to them, and this just aggravated that. But in time, the overall anger passed. Leaving Knick and Kon not quite the celebrities they once were, but in exchange a heroic power couple to a new demographic that had largely been without one before.

This fact was made clear when Knick and Kon were visiting a beach resort in New Jersey. They were approached on the boardwalk by Thomas Joshua Jones. The teen had found the courage to come out as a result of Skyboy and Superboy doing so. Tommy would go on to be a recurring part of both Knick and Kon's life together, as he proved to be a trouble magnet, but he also went on to become the recognized head of their fan club as well. The position would come with many perks, as well as some pretty close near misses for their biggest fan.

Bigger challenges awaited, and new members of Unity would come as some older ones departed the active team. Legacy retired as a hero to raise a family, and Skygirl left active heroics entirely to focus on her business ventures. Knick's team became his family in a very real way once more, as it had in the past. Even with the Sanctuary thousands of miles away from the United States, many people would find their way there, to his home. Just as in the past on other worlds, Knick had a way with taking in "strays." Some would come to live there, many others to visit. Even a very bad falling out with The Batman didn't cause Knick any undue stress, though it placed Robin in something of a tricky spot, especially as he and Knick had grown much, much closer since they had met.

Around this time, Knick operated on Freddy Freeman, CM3's mortal alter ego, repairing the damage that had left him crippled with medical skills and science far in advance of anything available on Earth. They too grew closer over the therapy sessions after the operation, with Freddy ultimately moving into the Sanctuary as well. With Impulse also becoming a frequent visitor and very close friend, the lines between where Unity ended and Young Justice began became ever more blurred. The rumors and speculation about just how close Knick was with the various protégés of so many heroes were a topic on the cover of many tabloids, but after the debacle with Superboy this was not a topic anyone from the Sanctuary was readily discussing.

Lifemates

Having grown so close since they started dating, Knick wanted to show Kon how dedicated to him he was, particularly as he wasn't sure Kon understood that really, given the number of friends Knick had made and his culture's customs surrounding friendship and intimacy. Though Krypton's traditions had lifemates, it was a very different proceeding from that of a marriage ceremony in many ways, particularly the declaration of wishing to even become lifemates. Taking an example from his "older brother," Jon-El, Knick wished to "propose" to Kon his desire for them to become lifemates.

Using the starship UNITY, the two went to the distant vacation planet Tendax, and there Knick asked Kon-El to be his lifemate. Tendax had always been a place Knick associated with changes in his life. Strathazed had brought him there soon after Krypton had exploded, a chance to recover briefly before his new life had begun. Now this would be the start of another new chapter, so it seemed fitting it too should start there. The experience was wonderful, something they both clearly wanted, but moreover, something they both were ready for, despite some believing otherwise because of their ages.

Their time on Tendax was only slightly disturbed by having to make a last minute rescue of Tendax's capital city. An out-of-control star ship was on a collision course for the planet. All attempts to contact it had failed. With few alternatives, the Tendax government turned to the two super teens for help. After stopping runaway comets, a starship didn't sound too difficult, and they both readily agreed to help. But, it was not as easy as it seemed, as of course things seldom were. The starship was filled with an alien species called Xenomorphs, which complicated the rescue. One of the Xenomorphs, a queen, even managed to jettison off the ship prior to it exploding in the planet's outer atmosphere. But the planet was saved, and the Tendaxian government was very thankful.

As they were getting ready to return to Earth though, Knick learned of rumors. They added to the dread he had felt upon discovering the Kryptonian technology in the bird robot weeks before. Something was moving through star systems and destroying entire planets as it travelled. It all sounded a bit too familiar to Knick, something he had experienced before. The two returned to Earth, renewed, but also with a sense of trepidation on Knick's part. He resolved to keep an eye on the skies and started to work on early warning systems to scatter across the galaxy, just in case.

Mischief Mangled

Not long after their return from Tendax, one of the imps from Mr. Mxyzptlk's dimension unexpectedly pulled Knick and Kon into an alternate time line. A timeline where several of their friends, including Robin, were dead. A timeline where Legacy wasn't retired, but instead a virtual superhuman dictator, forcing others to see things his way, or else. Worse still, the majority of the imp's power had been stolen, and it needed their help getting it back, or they could never go home again!

Knick and Kon searched for a way to get the imp its power back, but the experience was pushing Knick over the edge somewhat. Just the thought of losing another world. Losing more friends and loved ones. Losing yet another family. That, coupled with the rumors he had heard on Tendax, was all making him a dangerous person to be around. The only thing keeping him remotely in check was Kon. He had managed to help Knick with his abandonment issues before and was managing to keep him calm now, at least when he was with him.

But then the imp appeared to Knick without Kon to calm him down and started making demands, insisting they did things its way, until Knick just finally snapped. Maybe at its full power it would have been impossible, but the young Kryptonian very nearly beat it to death for dragging them there. The creature spoke its name backwards and fled back to its own dimension, powers or no powers, just to escape with its life. Knick regretted it immediately, as it complicated him and Kon getting home again, but they managed to fight and fool their way back where they belonged after several confrontations with a troubled, borderline demented woman, who wielded the imp's powers.

The absentee imp received its powers back, though understandably didn't drop by to thank them. Knick and Kon were returned home where they belonged, but not without learning something. Knick was that much wiser about not allowing his temper to get the better of him again. Both as a result of what had happened with the imp, as well as seeing what Legacy had become in that time line. He knew he was just too powerful, and the consequences next time might not be something he could reverse.

Read this far. Seth 15:54, 18 January 2014 (MST)

Old Enemies

The growing rumors of something moving through space and wiping out planets had surfaced on Tendax. But when Knick received intelligence, in the form of a crude image transmitted from a passing star ship it seemed to be confirmed. The image suggested something simply unthinkable. A massive moon sized planet, the lower half seemingly an exposed asteroid surface and the upper a huge bustling war machine under a shimmering barrier. Around it floated four skull like satellites each a quarter the size of the moon itself. They were easily recognizable, and proof positive of who and what was out there.

Knick could still see it in his mind's eye from years before. His greatest enemy had somehow not only returned. But also rebuilt it's power base as it had said it would. Brainiac was back, and just as it had said it would, had found him. Knick immediately began heavily modifying Unity, spending vast amounts of time in space doing so, but keeping the reasons why to himself. In those weeks several large robots attacked various cities, all bearing Kryptonian designs. Further enemies from their past were appearing as well, including Match who fought Knick and Kon over Metropolis, and Black Zero who appeared to be working with Match on some unknown agenda.

Knick was preparing for all out war with his arch nemesis, so much so that he was finally forced to tell Superboy, Legacy, and several others of the impending crisis. Legacy came out of retirement to help in the situation. They were all rather annoyed that Knick had been shouldering this on his own all this time, as well as keeping it from them when they could have been, should have been helping. He knew they were right of course, but it was a pattern of behavior he would struggle with. Wanting to protect those he was closest with from problems and threats he should allow them to assist him with.

But now that they knew, they all began gearing up for the worse case scenario. A full fledged invasion of Earth. Devices were constructed by Skyboy and Skygirl, among others, and defenses were raised. The path of destruction could be traced heading directly across the universe. It's destination beyond any doubt, Earth. Brainiac was coming for revenge. For weeks, the atmosphere among the heroic community was tense. Everyone was on edge, as any day the sky might fill with enemies. But as weeks stretched into a month, and then two, the attack never came.

In fact it was as if Brainiac had turned away on a new course. Deep space probes failed to turn up any sign of the new juggernaut WarWorld, which dwarfed the last one. It was as if it had simply vanished. Knick held his breath for some time, thinking it was surely a trick. Something as big as this ‘comet empire' that Brainiac had created did not just vanish. Further days turned into yet more weeks, and there was no sign of his enemy. The universe was dangerous, Knick knew that well enough. As time passed he dared to hope that perhaps something out there had been powerful enough to delay, or even outright stop Brainiac's advance. But that seemed so very unlikely, it was more likely that he had simply found something that interested him more than his immediate plans for revenge. Sadly, he would be right in the months to come.

In the interim though there was still work on Earth to do. One of those things was in answer to something that Young Justice had discovered. The D.E.O. was abducting Metahuman teens for their Orphanage projects. A training program to create dedicated metahuman agents that unquestionably took their orders from the government. Knick was one of several people that secretly helped to finance and provide technology for a team of young metahumans to be trained secretly in Bayville Massachusetts. A secret team that could oppose the government's plans, if it became required. Enough recruits were found in the initial recruitment drive to actually form two separate teams. With more being discovered and recruited before the D.E.O. could "acquire" them at the rate of several a month. Though not all of them joined the team, they were alerted to what was planned so they could take some measures of their own to protect themselves.

The X-Men were the team prepared to be sent out almost immediately. Ready to oppose any attempts to kidnap any other metahuman teens, among other mission types. The New Mutants were a junior team still learning to use their powers effectively, so that there would be a second team for the same purposes. Thankfully they were fast learners though. Both teams faced opposition in the form of meta-human extremist groups and terrorists seeking to battle the government more directly. A tactic that was only making things worse for all super powered individuals across the United States and abroad. Worse among them was the terrorist Magneto, and his acolytes. A regular and routine enemy of the team, and their allies.

The Winds of Change

With the threat of Brainiac seemingly gone, most of the missions for one of the most powerful groups of heroes on Earth were fairly generic. Life took on a more relaxed pace briefly. At least until Knick began having nightmares again. Terrible dreams of a gathering storm on the horizon. Dreams of his lost love Dominick that he had not had in months. Everyone was baffled as to why they would resurface now. But the dreams grew steadily worse each night. By the third day Knick woke up screaming, in a state of panic and disoriented. Fortunately Kon was there to keep him still, and calm him. That same evening a storm front appeared from nowhere and swept across the city of New York, making a B-line out to sea. For a storm so fierce, oddly nobody was hurt and property damage was minimal. It rapidly blew out over the atlantic ocean, as if with a with a single minded purpose. Heading directly for the Azores.

As the storm grew closer, Knick actually passed out, surrounded by Kon, Ganymede, and several others. The dream came again, as Knick laid unconscious. He was flying towards a distant Dominick, sure that as always he would fail to make it there in time. After all, every time it had been the same. Just as he grew close Dominick would die somehow, always taken away from him. Always separated from him somehow. Bleeding out in his arms, a hand reaching for his cheek, and then falling limp. But this time the darkly entrancing weather manipulator simply turned around and held out his hand to Knick in the dream. Nothing happened, he only waited for him. Knick's eyes snapped open in time for the balcony doors to the room he shared with Kon to burst in. The storm had reached the island finally, and it seemed to funnel right into the room. Fog, wind and rain just coalesced into a shape. The shape of a man as familiar to Knick as his own. As Knick's vision cleared, he looked up into the face of his lost love. Just as Dominick extended a hand down to him.

The reappearance of Dominick totally rocked Knick's world, and left Kon feeling more than a little vulnerable. Knick assuaged his fears, telling him under no uncertain terms they were and always would be together. Dominick in the meantime had issues of his own to deal with, the changes in Knick since the time they had been together were pronounced. The young man he used to gaze down into the face of was gone. Knick was as tall as he was now, strong and sure and dominant in all matters. Not young and uncertain of the full range of his powers as he had once been. The one truth that was certain though, was they loved one another. That together they were stronger than they could ever be apart, and that love had never wavered in either of them.

But Dominick had changed as well. In addition to his newly manifesting elemental powers and responsibilities. In coming through time lines Dominick had literally become this Earth's storm elemental.Though he had only just returned in Knick's life, in some ways he was still hardly there. But the times he was made Knick very happy indeed. As Earth's storm elemental Dominick largely gave up his physical form. Appearing in it only rarely, and then usually briefly. But few could help but notice how the weather was always beautiful on Sanctuary Island. Or how Knick would smile when the wind passed through his hair a certain way, as if stroking it. Dominick was back, and though seldom seen, his presence was always felt, at least by Knick.

Vampires, err... Bite?

The Vampire Lord Dracula had come to the United States. There he slowly began turning vagrants, homeless, runaways, and kids he believed would not be missed into a veritable vampire army. Planning to ultimately form a coven large enough to gather victims from among the superhuman populace, to spread his influence more rapidly. Once his power base had grown sufficiently, he would shatter the bonds holding mighty Kulak in place and release the near deific being, who would empower him as the undead lord of all of Earth.

As vampire attacks in the cities began to rise, the heroes of Unity came into conflict with a large group of them in Central Park. Knick was devastated that they had to be destroyed and was resolved to trying to find a cure for them. It seemed a long shot, but after the next vampire encounter, he knew he had to succeed. In one of the amusement piers in Metropolis the team cornered a group of vampires. Only to find that one of them, cornered by Superboy and weeping tears of blood. Was none other than Tommy Jones, Knick and Kon's first supporter, and their biggest fan.

Tommy had been changed into a vampire only hours before, and Knick believed he might be able to reverse the process if it was not fully set in. He retreated to the lab, leaving the others to ultimately confront and defeat the lord of the Vampires, Dracula himself. Tommy was able to alert them where he was before being brought to the lab. Recognizing that there was a catalyst, supernatural or not, in Tommy's blood that was in fact changing him, Knick fell back on a technique that had worked once before.

Not long after he had arrived on this Earth, Legacy had fallen victim to the werehyena curse. After a lengthy chase across most of North America Legacy had been captured and contained. Using UNITY's teleporters, Knick had been able to remove the illness from Legacy that were changing him, and cure him of the disease. But the teleporters had been used before on Legacy, so there was a untainted template to utilize. This was going to be more time consuming as he had to literally learn the genetics of vampirism, and then filter that as each person was going to be subtly different. Thankfully as he studied he was able to keep Tommy is stasis, so the vampirism did not spread any further.

Knick was able to cure Tommy, but felt that the cure might not work on those that had been vampires longer, and certainly none that had drank blood and thus cemented their state as deceased. However, there was some good news, with Dracula's destruction many of those he had changed that were as yet unblooded reverted back even without the cure. Many vampires escaped, though just as many were tracked down. If they could not be cured, well Knick didn't like to think about that. It actually broke his heart. There were unsubstantiated reports of a number of the bats in the batcave actually being vampires in hiding. But if that was true, Batman did not care to tell the story.

Our Worlds at War

Others would become staples of Knick's life in the weeks and months to come as well. The time displaced half demon Inuyasha and the crystal shaping alien Tane-Mazi among them. Unity continued to grow and prove strong, despite the somewhat fluid almost umbrella nature of the team. Unity seemed to contain members from a half dozen other teams. Like the All Star Squadron from WW2. It was something Knick rather enjoyed, and actively began to cultivate as well. It was fitting that a team named Unity would act to unify the various heroic forces of Earth. But despite their bolstered numbers, the largest challenges were yet to come.

Months before, and unknown to most, the planet Pluto had vanished. It's disappearance remained a mystery, despite more than a few heroes trying to solve it. Superman, Green Lantern, Skyboy, and others went to investigate the phenomenon to no avail. A stand in for the planet was created from space debris by Green Lantern to keep the orbits of the planets in the solar system stable.

The disappearance was eventually discovered to be the first opening gambit in Brainiac 13's plan to trump the very cosmic force of entropy itself, Imperiex. Just as the transformation of Metropolis had been a part of it's plan as well. It had actually been Brainiac 13 that had stopped The Comet Empire's advance, forcing it to hyper jump away months before. Either that or be absorbed into the more powerful B13's matrix. Inadvertently and unfortunately the retreat would ultimately allow Brainiac to become far more powerful still. But not so powerful as yet.

As Imperiex drew closer to Earth an unlikely coalition of forces were brought to bear against the supposedly all powerful, primordial being. Including a ragtag fleet composed of the universe destroyer's previous victims that were able to in part escape, and Darkseid himself who transported the hellish planet Apokalips to the vicinity of Earth. B13 unveiled the retrofitted planet Pluto which had been changed into a new WarWorld, something that was not a happy sight for many on th team, and it too joined the arsenal arrayed against Imperiex.

With so many cosmic forces in position it might be easy to get lost in the shuffle. But Knick became very important in the fight, for a reason other than what many would think. Though easily by this point one of the most powerful heroes on Earth, or indeed anywhere, Knick and Ganymede both were needed for a role few others could provide. With the immense and well defended starship Unity, so recently upgraded for a cosmic war anyway, Knick would be needed for his skills as a healer and his studies of xenology. Alien races from across the universe were rushed into him for surgery and medical treatment from the front lines of the war. While Ganymede needed no such knowledge, able to heal with his very touch until he was exhausted and needed rest. The patients brought to them by his friends in Young Justice largely, whose job it was to collect the wounded. Often from the most dangerous of locales, behind enemy lines. So many wounded that even with his powers and skills, many were lost before he could respond.

Even having seen a war before, in his youth, this was a different thing. As a doctor he knew he had to focus on the ones he could save, but it was still a serious blow to him. One made even worse, when he later learned that Young Justice had been lost behind enemy lines! Knick was restrained by Wonder Woman and Ganymede both. The amazons managed to talk him down from leaving the sick bay to find his friends and loved ones. She had only just lost her mother, so she understood all to well the agony of the loss Knick feared he might have to face. It is said that nobody benefits from war, a sad lesson that so many, including Knick, learned first hand.

In the aftermath of the war things changed for a time. Robin and Impulse left Young Justice, both needing time to deal with things they had experienced. Thankfully only to return later after coming to terms with those things. The war was a sobering time for everyone, making them see the things that truly mattered. Knick and Kon both had issues to resolve afterwards, and their relationship became so much the stronger for it as they helped one another. Knick felt he had let down his friends, not being there when they needed him. Kon had lost his cool and nearly come to blows with Robin, and needed time to accept the mistakes he had made. The emotional issues healed though in time, with all of them helping one another in the end, to forgive, to accept, and to move past. Bringing the team closer still, as friends and in several cases much more.

But again, as always, new challenges awaited the team as soon as they were ready to face them again. But they came with new friends to help face them too. Spider-Man joined the team officially, and Knick grew very close with him, among others. Sam Guthrie, Kurt Wagner, and Bobby Drake from the Xavier Academy became regular visitors to Sanctuary Island. Otherwise known as Cannonball, Nightcrawler, and Iceman of the X-Men and New Mutants teams. They were followed not long after by Alex Summers, code named Havok and Ray Crisp, code name Berzerker. So many of the team became regular visitors that Wolverine began to snark and snarl that to many of the students at the academy smelled like alien. He complained to Professor Xavier, wondering if they were running a school or an alien brothel. The Professor wisely held in his mirth until the feral mutant stormed out. Though the good professor did at least ask Knick to please stop antagonizing Logan.

The Wind Cries Wendigo

Knick, Kon, Legacy and of all people, Wolverine responded to a call for help of a personal nature. Tommy Jones' mother contacted Knick using the private email Tommy had. Knick and Kon kept in touch with him rather regularly, giving him information for his fan blog. It was good to be the president of the fan club. So thankfully his mother could reach them rather easily. Unfortunately Tommy had a tendency to get into trouble. Only weeks before he was one of several hundred people in Manhattan that had been turned into vampires by Dracula. Part of the undead lords attempt to shatter the mystical barriers sealing a powerful being named Kulak in place. One whose power was nearly a rival for The Spectre itself, the near omnipotent wrath of God on Earth. Some time before that he had nearly been eaten alive by a metamorph with a cannibalistic taste in food which he digested in a very interesting, and phallic, manner. That adventure had resulted in Knick and Tommy becoming much closer by circumstance, and necessity. Now, Tommy was in trouble again.

Tommy and his entire scout troop had gone missing on a camping trip. They had gone to a state park in British Columbia, and since then all contact with them, and the small town just to the south of the park was lost. Once again Legacy was willing to suit up again to lend a hand. Given Wolverine's history with the area, he was asked to come as well. They all thought it would be a few hours in the woods and rescue some teenagers and get them home. They just had no idea what they were getting into.

When Ithaqua was defeated many of it's Wendigo were above the natural snow lines for that time of year. Those that were, they were never found as they blended perfectly with the snow swept terrain. They literally could not be seen in those conditions. But their maddening whispers of ‘Weennn-diiii-goooo' right next to, behind, or even in front of you could be heard. Oh so easily heard. The sweep of their frozen clawed hands across bare flesh. The icy and snow swept fur drifting across a shoulder or elbow just behind you. Yet when you looked, they were never there.

A large pack of the creatures had attacked the isolated town after unseasonable cold and thick snow falls blanketed the area. People hid inside afraid to go out, with power and phone lines down from the ice. The town had been cut off, and was now under siege. The heroes arrived and were almost immediately set upon by the wendigo, who inspired amazing paranoia even in them. Learning where the campground was from the locals they made their way there and learned what the Wendigo hoped to gain.

The campground was empty, clearly having been attacked. But there was no blood or signs of physical injury. Instead the clothing of everyone present was scattered around, shredded and ripped from the bodies of those who had been there. The wendigo planned to freeze them all to death in the hopes of propagating their species! Without Ithaqua to offer them the choice, the poor victims would simply freeze to death, but the addled animal like minds of the wendigo were not able to realize that.

The trail was easy enough to follow even without the presence of the superior senses they all had. They found a network of caves where the creatures were lairing. Just inside the entrance to the caves where they were hardly spared the elements were the campers, Tommy included. Low levels of heat vision warmed them and started to reverse some of the worst of the exposure. But from the depths of the caves it was clear the Wendigo were returning. Returning in great numbers at that. If they reached the snow, they would be lost to it and nothing they could hope to do would find them. With little alternatives, the cave mouth was collapsed and fused shut with heat vision. Hopefully trapping the monsters inside forever. In the fighting, Skyboy managed to earn a slight grudging respect from Wolverine. At least until they rescued Tommy and Logan detected the alien scent on him as well. The mutant never stopped complaining the entire way back to Massachusetts.

The Mythicals

Museums across the globe were being robbed of ancient artifacts all affiliated to the Greek Gods. Statues, paintings, wall hangings and anything dedicated or depicting one of the gods of Olympus. The only clues left behind, small stones scattered across the area of the robbery. All slightly shaped to look like spiders. When the Metropolitan Museum of Art was nearly robbed, Knick and Unity investigated the crime scene.

They discovered that two ancient beings with grudges against the Olympian Gods were orchestrating events to literally erase them from existence! Arachne the Weaver, and her muscle The Minotaur had gathered a group of beings all with reasons to hate the Gods of old and dubbed themselves The Mythicals. The last item they needed to complete the ritual was within the Met, and they would stop at nothing to have it.

After a battle through the museum, the fighting spilled out onto the Great lawn of Central Park. Arachne was able to "weave" energies from the astral plane and the mana stream, making her a deadly opponent in battle, not unlike Strathazed, Knick's mentor. What Minotaur lacked in subtlety, he more than made up for in raw, savage power. The beast was stronger than Knick, Kon, and CM3 combined! Echo, Enchidna, and Talos rounded out the group. It was unquestionably the most powerful villain team Unity had faced to date.

After an epic fight, Arachne's plans were dashed when the items she needed were wrestled from her grasp. Her ritual failed, she and Minotaur vanished to plot again, adding the heroes to her list of those they would seek vengeance on. The other Mythicals dispersed back to their home realms, vanishing like vapor. The museum was damaged, and the Great Lawn was a disaster. But the Mythicals had been stopped, at least for now. There was peace, for a few days at least.

Hypertime Jumps

Hyper temporal fissures started opening across the planet, and events from the past were begging to influence the present once again. A massive hurricane from more than forty years ago struck Metropolis, one so strong that Dominick was required to quell it. Strange aliens from other universes were appearing, and disaster monster sightings were on the rise again. A meeting of all of the extended teams that composed Unity was called, with every member not actively in battle coming to take part. They needed some kind of plan on how to address this new crisis. But even as they gathered for the meeting, the group was attacked. In an insidiously indirect manner, but still attacked none the less. Sanctuary Island was literally wrenched free of it's proper place in Hypertime!

The Island and the Sanctuary itself spiraled between various worlds, with each one of them exerting an influence on the heroes. Only the technical devices within the Sanctuary itself saving them all from being assimilated fully into any of dozens of new timelines and forgetting their former existences entirely, which would have effectively ceased to exist! Even with the technology of the futuristic base, each world managed to change the heroes faintly upon arrival. Particularly the longer they remained away from it searching the worlds they arrived on for some way to bump the Sanctuary and the island to the next time line.

Changes that would became more severe, and seemingly more permanent, the longer they remained in any given time period. With time against them, each world was a challenge to find allies and recharge the jump drives to escape to the next time line in the spiral. Thankfully in each new timeline they made friends and allies that aided them, and helped them to move forward inexorably to the source of the disturbance. Some of those allies, the team would encounter again in the future.

In Between one of the jumps, as the island moved between time lines, Knick's mentor Strathazed appeared at the Sanctuary. It was his task to take Knick with him. The Linear Men feared Skyboy's interference in so many timelines could potentially be disastrous, leading to unforeseen consequences. They were more than willing to sacrifice all of Knick's loved ones to prevent even potential damage. Strathazed could take Knick, as he was a Linear Men agent, but the others were considered acceptable losses. They were to be assimilated into the next hypertime they appeared in, bereft of Knick's technical knowledge which was preventing it.

Knick had recently, without telling anyone, turned sixteen years old. The age where he would be considered an adult, were he on Krypton. He refused his mentor, and severed the mentor and student ties with him for all time in doing so. Likewise renouncing his status as a Linear Man agent, and creating some lasting enmity with them. Strathazed departed, secretly proud of his charge, and leaving him a oval shaped stone as a birthday gift with the cryptic message he would know what to do with it when the time was right.

After visiting many diverse time lines, the Sanctuary and the island appeared in the 30th Century. There the time sorceress Glorith was under siege by the Dark Lord Mordru. Having already defeated all other challenges to his authority in a timeline strangely bereft of the Legion of Superheroes, he now had his sights set on the last minor challenge to his absolute and utter authority. The heroes of Unity intervened, some of them managing to distract Mordru, like mosquitos to the all powerful mage. But managing to delaying his assault on Glorith's castle.

As part of the team distracted Mordru, the rest confronted the cause of the hyper time jumps, Glorith. Among that group Knick, Superboy, and the god child Lucas who had joined the team weeks before. His power seeming to be that of faith in the divine, which allowed him to work literal miracles. The mad sorceress explained that she had meant to let a fundamental law of hyper time eliminate the cause of all of her misery. Having the heroes that caused the Legion to never form eliminated by being absorbed into another timeline. However as she revealed the mystical artifact that she had used to rip them all into hyper time her victory was snatched away suddenly by a streaking set of talons!

The stone given to Knick by his former mentor was in fact an egg! It had hatched, influenced as it was by the unusual energies of Hypertime. Enter Nightengayle! No longer the last living creature of his own world, Knick stared at the dark colored Kryptonian nightwing. Strathazed had taken the egg in the last days of Krypton, and held it for Knick's 16th birthday. Keeping it in stasis, and only recently using a birthing matrix to make sure the animal was imprinted upon hatching on Knick. Holding his arm up the great bird circled and landed there, dropping the artifact into his hand, and then playfully biting his earlobe.

Glorith's plans were defeated, her subtle machinations all undone. However, in her defeat she explained why she had done all of it. Lucas would inadvertantly cause a series of events that lead to the Legion never forming. Just by saving a man's life with faith healing several years from their present. Unknowingly being filmed while doing so. Based on the film the world turned away from super powered defenders, embracing the religious beliefs which Lucas preached to them with such conviction. To such an extent that by the 30th century the Legion never formed. Armed with that knowledge at a young age, Lucas still saved the man's life eventually. But with his emergency medical technician training instead. The future was spared, and Unity saved the 30th Century and Glorith from Mordru's unchecked wrath.

The Xeno-Saurs

The Sanctuary's sensors detected an unknown object passing through the skybot satellite sensor web around earth and the moon. Intense radiation was blurring the sensor analysis, but the course was plotted. The object crashed into a small fog enshrouded island in the south pacific in the earliest hours of the morning. The island was notable as having served as a staging area for the allies in WW2, as well as containing a number of prehistoric species still alive. sensors also indicated temporal fluctuations on and around the island as well.

A small team was put together to investigate just what it was that crashed. Both out of Skyboy's curiosity, as well as a request from J'onn J'onzz who had also detected the object from the Watchtower. Arriving late in the afternoon the same day the object crashed, the team was forced to land, damaging the shuttle in the process when something large struck it in flight. Due to the fog and the time distortions, sensors never even saw whatever it was.

Upon landing on the beach of a small cove the team discovered that part of the shuttle had literally melted away, and was still melting from some type of ascitic fluid. They would require another shuttle to leave as it was no longer structurally sound even if Skyboy or Superboy carried it. The temporal fluctuations also made sending a message to the Sanctuary difficult as well. The team resolved to figure a way off the island after the accomplished what they were there to do.

Dinosaur Island, as it was known from WW2, was truly out of place in time it seemed. With flora and fauna not seen on earth in millions of years. But the island had a sinister quality as well, the shadows to deep, and a constant feeling of being watched. It was enough to cause a sense of paranoia in the most stalwart of nerves. Skirting along he coast to find a safe way to travel inland by foot the team discovered a recently abandoned military facility with D.E.O. markings. It seemed from inspection it was abandoned sometime earlier that very day. Blood stains in the facility seemed to also suggest not everyone made it.

The team discovered why shortly after as they made their way up a narrow but steep rise for a better view of the island's interior. From that high vantage they were attacked by xenomorph pterodactyls. In the melee Knick's eyes were burnt by the acid from one of the creatures.While he was able to see, it made use of his other vision powers painful. It would heal, but it made surveying the island from a distance more difficult. He believed that it was why he had a hard time seeing through the mists that seemed especially prevalent in the island's interior. The true reason for that was anything but.

The interior was filled with dinosaurs that had already been changed into Xeno-Saurs. The team kept to the ground, as not everyone could fly. But likewise the skies over of the forests were filled with Xeno-dactyls, which would be challenging to fend off while carrying the more landlocked team mates. Even so,they still had several fights as they made their way steadily inland towards the source of the radiation readings they were following. The signal lead the team to a dormant volcano, which they entered via lava tubes.

In the center they discovered that the very alien queen that had escaped Tendax crashed here on earth. Though it had died in the crash, it had laid eggs, including another queen which had hatched from a giant mountain gorilla. Worse still among the radioactive debris embedded in the escape pod from it's journey through space was a large piece of Kryptonite! Skyboy and Superboy were stricken almost immediately by the deadly radiation. But the rest of the team also had their hands full fighting the alien queen and her Xeno-Saur tyrannosaur guardians. They received aid in the form of the mountain gorillas son, also huge, but not quite so much as the alien queen. It's appearance allowed the team to dispose of the Kryptonite though. Recovering, Skyboy and Superboy were able to assist their team mates in eliminating the threat.

Unity left Dinosaur island to lick their wounds, resolving to return the next day to search the island and be sure that all of the Xeno-Saurs were accounted for. They were to dangerous to potentially escape and infect the populace of Earth. But with Skyboy and Superboy weakened, and every member of the team injured they were in no condition to continue the fight immediately. Unknown to the group the D.E.O. returned as well, in greater numbers than before.

A large number of specimens were removed live from the island to be studied by the government for potential weaponization. Content to have allowed the superheroes to potentially suffer losses doing their job for them, they only landed again after they were sure the heroes had departed. But they left with more than they bargained for as well.

A malignant spirit had been loose on the island for eons. The arrival of the xenomorphs had stirred it from it's slumber. The very source of the island's sinister countenance and the temporal distortions. Also the true reason Skyboy had difficulty seeing through the island's mists. Desadarius the Dinosaur Devil resolved to follow the D.E.O. Team. Judging the super heroes to be a greater threat between the two. Leaving its island home for the first time since prehistoric animals ruled the earth. It wished to see what these mammals that so brazenly invaded it's realm had done to the world beyond. discovering the earth so very different from the time it once stalked the planet. Desadarius was not pleased by these changes, not pleased at all. The Dinosaur Demon resolved that it would see them undone, and began to plot towards that very end.

Feel the Magic, Hear the Roar

The Man of Steel had made a mission report from months back about encountering a race of feline humanoids from a nearby hypertime. The enemy of these Thundercats, as they called themselves, sought to steal a gem from the Metropolis Museum of History. It was this time line's version of the stone in the hilt of the Thundercat's leader, and the source of much of his power as a result. Superman had aided them in stopping this Mumm-Ra from obtaining the gem, and forced the undead monster back to it's own world, with the Thundercats following.

As was his habit, Knick had read the report when it had first been filed. Which is how he recognized one of these Thundercats breaking into the same museum months later. Confronting him, though peacefully, he realized that this Thundercat was around his age. He identified himself as Wily-Kat, and as a right of passage into manhood he was required to return to Third Earth, their home, with the duplicate Eye of Thunderra. It was to be within the hilt of his blade, a short sword that hung at his side.

Frowning Knick was at an impasse. He was reluctant to just allow the theft to occur. But the object seemingly was something of an artifact to his people as well, and belonged with them. He reached a solution that seemed promising, and asked if Wily-Kat would please wait for him on Sanctuary Island, which he transported him to when he agreed. Using his various super senses Knick found another gemstone, and cut it down to the exact shape and mass of the Eye of Thunderra in the museum. It was considered valuable because of it's unusual size and monetary value, not because of any mystical abilities that would only function for a Thundercat anyway. So it seemed a fair way to see both sides pleased. Replacing the gem at superspeed, he brought the true Eye to Wily-Kat.

Initially it felt a little like cheating to him, as he hadn't obtained it. But knick pointed out that if he had not convinced him to help, well he would never have got the gem. Sometimes a truly skilled fighter realizes there's no need to fight, that words can be enough. Accepting that as true, Wily-Kat signaled with his new blade for the Thundercats to come for him. But, the hypertime lines had split, and now Third Earth was to far removed for the summons to reach them. Wily-Kat was stranded, and desolate as he would never see his home again.

Knowing that it was a small comfort, Knick offered him a place to stay, and with no other option the Thunder Kitten agreed. It was not home, it never could be, but the life of the heroes around him was exciting. His abilities actually left him able to contribute to join them in saving people, and making the world a better place. Even if it wasn't his world, he felt his people would be proud of him. In time he and Knick became more than friends, or "friends" as Kryptonians viewed it, and Wily-Kat realized the next morning that he was home. Maybe that was what Jaga had meant when he sent him on this right of passage. Once you acquire the Eye of Thunderra, you will be home. Jaga wasn't referred to as Jaga the wise for nothing.

Reign of Fire

Some weeks after the adventure on Dinosaur Island portals began opening onto Earth again. Forced open by an unknown enemy taking advantage of the weakened fabric of Hypertime after Glorith's recent manipulations. From each of these portals a most unlikely enemy emerged. Dragons! Literally hundreds, and then thousands of the monstrous beasts appearing from standing portals located all across the planet! Earth's meta-human population rallied against them, as did earth's armed forces. But then the real terror began.

Each person that drew dragon's blood was afflicted by the blood curse of the dragons and started to become a dragon themselves! Faced with a losing battle Knick devised a device to close the portals. But as they tested it on a portal a secondary influence made itself known. The malignant, infernal force calling of Desadarius, the dinosaur demon. It had created the portals in this timeline, for some as yet unknown reason.

Desadarius used his powers to expand the test portal much larger than any other. Through that portal the Dragon King emerged and attacked! With so much at stake Knick charged the King of the Dragons and tackled it back into and through the portal, just as his device collapsed the gate! The Dragon king was gone, swept back to where ever the monsters hailed from. But Skyboy was now missing as well!

Knick's friends and lovers did not take that laying down. Against the orders of the JLA, members of Unity staged a rescue mission. Disappearing into a portal in the middle of new York City before it could be closed using the devices Skyboy had built. Leaving the JLA with the choice of either abandoning the young heroes, or leaving the gates open for them to hopefully return through. The world of the dragons was a blasted, ash covered, desolate, and blighted world. Not unlike their own Earth in geography, but beyond that different in key ways they were to discover.

No rocket from Krypton had landed here years before producing the man of tomorrow. No shots in the dark in Gotham took the lives of the Waynes and generated the Batman. No island paradise produced a warrior princess dedicated to peace to lead any charge. But most of all, apparently there was no instance of meta-genes in the populace at all! It was a world without heroes.

The human population of the planet had been radically diminished by the dragon's blood curse. Pulled there through the illegal scientific experiments of ALexi Luthor, Metropolis was the capital of this Dragon World. However Knick's trail seemed to lead to a small village built around a series of caves. The heroes were horrified to learn that this was Gotham! Under the leadership of Doctor Bruce Wayne they had managed to stay away from the dragons sight, with the help of their defender, archer Oliver Queen.

Sadly just as the heroes arrived however they learned that Bruce Wayne's adopted son had been separated from others on a mission to the outskirts of Metropolis. Timothy Drake, the runner for the small scavenging force, that everyone called Robin. Thanks to his flittering back and forth like the small bird from group to group relaying messages. Hardly ever seen, or heard save when he wanted to be.

The heroes learned from Bruce Wayne that Knick had indeed been there, injured rather badly from his fight with the Dragon King. But he had left for Metropolis as soon as he was able to. He was going to attempt to try and find the devices Luthor had used that brought the dragons there in the first place. Following that trail they encountered Robin, alive through his witts and guile even in the heart of the dragon's domain. He agreed to lead them to where Luthor's lab was, as there was safety to be found in numbers.

However, careful as they were, in the heart of the dragon's domain with two of the heroes slowly transforming into dragons as well, they were spotted and attacked. Fighting through growing opposition they finally managed to find the lab, and the devices they would need to return home. Just in time to be attacked by the Dragon King once more! It was during the subsequent battle that The Dragon Queen made her treachery known, revealing she had been conspiring with Desadarius. Now with the portal open to Earth again, she passed through it to join her New King!

Outraged at her betrayal the Dragon King was prepared to follow, but was persuaded to do otherwise when offered a chance to return to it's true home. Reprogramming the portal, Knick was able to send the dragons back to where they belonged. Earth, and humanity, would live on now that the blood curse had been lifted freeing so many humans that had been afflicted. The world would need much rebuilding, everyone would have much work to do dragging the world back from the very brink.

But they would do it with heroes of their own now. As little Robin had found his wings! Nobody ever knew where Bruce Wayne had discovered the boy, those years before in the alien capsule. Though there was no man of tomorrow, there would be a boy of tomorrow. A force to help lead the newly emerging super humans with activated Drako-Genes. Humans that remained altered in some way from their time as dragons. Reunited once more, and with the immediate threat eliminated, the weary heroes returned once more to their world. But the Dragon Queen and Deasadarius were a lingering threat that was sure to reveal itself in time. Hidden for now, so they might plot and plan for a world where the reptiles would once again rule.

A King's Arrival is Never Silent

For a time earth went without any major threats. The standard super villains, and disasters both man made and natural. Knick had time to experiment with his Hyper Temporal Ring, a new device he was building based off of Luthor's designs on Dragon Earth. The culmination of the promise he had made to himself long ago to find a safe way to traverse through hypertime. It would allow him to explore nearby time lines and determine if there was some threat to Earth from them, as it seemed recently that had been occurring a lot. As well potentially find some of those he had lost from other worlds, in other times. In his early trips he would meet quite a few people and even make some good friends.

With the ring perfected Knick was even able to visit Jan Arrah in the 30th century again and spend time among the Legion of Superheroes. Taking a hand in stopping his doppelganger from the Anti-Matter Universe which was creating trouble in the 30th century. An adventure that ended with the death of anti-matter Skyboy, a chilling thing for Knick to witness. But also ending with him counting several other members of the Legion as his close friends, with all that such entailed.

New members of UNITY joined as well. Including the young aquatic hero Namor, a prince of Atlantis from another timeline. As well as the ki channeling human/saiyan hybrid Goten. His hybrid birthright granting him physical potential nearly on par with even Kryptonians and Daxamites. In New York one of Knick's homeless shelters took in a young metahuman able to alter his physical form into a liquid metal. Eddie Resilver, calling himself Mercury, also joined Unity and would grow in many ways to become it's heart and soul to compliment Knick's brain.

A series of seemingly isolated events over the next several months all came together to create a near global disaster, as well as the very unorthodox solution to it. Skyboy had been experimenting with another aspect of the hypertemporal ring technology. Trying to reopen the phantom zone of his timeline, where many ancient and largely banned technologies of Krypton had been placed. The experiment, was not a success. Instead it opened a different portal, sending out a signal that summoned the Disaster Monsters like a beacon.

Inagos the Locust King, Soran the Thunderbird, and The Kraken appeared. Each of them a match for the team as a whole. All suddenly materializing around the massive cove of Sanctuary Island, called forth from the hypertime they had designated the Realm of Disaster. The heroes present were badly outgunned in the face of the monsters. But then from the far side of the island, hidden behind the prominent volcanic rise, there was a footfall that literally shook the entirety of the island. Followed by a roar that literally drowned out the roars of the other three monsters combined.

As one, the other three disaster monsters turned and fled. Fled from something apparently just so much greater than they were. Something that invoked in them the very primal feat they seemed to invoke in humanity. Investigating the far side of the island revealed only massive three clawed footprints on the beach which vanished into the ocean. Something it seemed had been unleashed, something had found them.

Several weeks later the heroes responded to a report of giant insects attacking Empire State University in Manhattan. A costumed villain calling himself Vermin Vast the Voluminous Vermin Maker was using a device he had created to enlarge insects, arachnids, and vermin and attack the school. The heroes defeated him with ease, but the villain escaped in the mass confusion of the vermin melee. Vermin Vast was tracked down to a cave network in the Pennsylvania Forest. The heroes were able to defeat him there, in spite of Goten destroying several hundred acres of forest and nearly blasting Namor into atoms with something he called a Kamehameha wave. But as the battle reached a conclusion, the D.E.O. suddenly arrived on scene and confiscated the equipment and took the villain into custody.

That same week the heroes responded to dinosaurs appearing in Central Park, after a mysterious flash from the sky literally reverted an area of it to the Jurassic period. The D.E.O. arrived on scene after the fighting was done to corral the dinosaurs left behind for transport to Dinosaur Island. Once again appearing coincidently just at the close of the fight, and flashing badges to assume authority over the scene.

This occurred three more times in areas across the country, with random areas being suddenly reverted to prehistoric time periods, with the proper flora and fauna to match. Three times before New York was attacked by a ‘dinosaur man' leading the various previously captured dinosaurs. Unity managed to defeat the Dinosaur man, which called itself Stegron, as well as the dinosaurs once again. This time collecting a good number of them for enclosures in a newly built zoo on Sanctuary Island. The D.E.O. again arrived and confiscated the remaining animals, clearly displeased that any of them had already been removed from the scene.

By now, things were clearly connected somehow. Robin pointed out the Batman logic that there were no coincidences, and Knick was inclined to agree. The one connecting point was the D.E.O. But what they were up to, and how to find out was a different story. Young Justice was already on thin ice with The D.E.O. and by extension they were no fans of any young heroes. Particularly with so many of their Orphanage programs mysteriously coming under attack and being undone. As the team considered ways to find the missing pieces of the puzzle that would allow it to all make a measure of sense, they responded to another mysterious event.

One of the things resurrected by the Spring entity months before had been a large number of Megalodon. Reports indicated that a number of the creatures had inexplicably come into shallow water off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Not far from Gotham's coast in New Jersey. Right along a resort stretch of beach called The Wildwoods, the same place Knick and Kon had met Tommy.

Skyboy and Superboy responded as they were closest, in Metropolis, fully expecting to find Tommy in the jaws of one of the massive sharks about to be kibble. Thankfully he was not there, but quite a few swimmers were still to far out to make it back safely, and so the heroes engaged the massive sharks to allow them the time to make it to shore, as there were to many to safely gather before they were set upon by the prehistoric fish. Diving deep into the water they counted at least twelve of them. Why the not so sociable creatures would be together this far inland was anyone's guess, but they didn't have time to worry about it either.

As Skyboy wrestled with a giant shark something huge loomed up from the sea bed far below. He realized it was coming from the sudden enormous pressure wave pressing them up closer to the surface, but couldn't turn to see it as he tried to repel the animal without killing it. Whatever it was grazed Skyboy, apparently lunging for the shark, and literally concussed him! Superboy dove to the rescue, just seeing a wall of black move through the water creating a massive disturbance in the currents and kicking up mud for miles around, turning the water opaque. It was several minutes before Kon found Knick, and even longer before he could collect his bearings and return to the surface to make it back to the beach.

Once there, as Knick was shaking off the head injury with his recuperative abilities, they were shocked to find that every person on the beach was in a catatonic state. Slack jawed, staring, some pointing out to the ocean with a blank, dazed look. Floating less than a mile off shore were the megalodon, or what was left of them. Just heads, and and few tails. Something had literally bit the sixty plus foot sharks in half! One little boy was absently drawing in the sand. His fingers retracing the same lines a little deeper with each pass as he stared slack jawed and glassy eyed out over the water. An enormous set of jaws, lifting a wriggling little fish out of the water. A little fish, with a prominent shark fin.

Two weeks later the heroes were called on by an S.O.S. A cruise ship had been caught in hurricane that had turned suddenly and overtaken them. Now a massive water spout threatened to capsize the ship! A number of heroes from Unity Responded, removing the ship from danger as Skyboy sought to safely collapse the waterspout. But as it collapsed back into the ocean, it revealed something that had been watching curiously behind it.

Looming out of the ocean, it was revealed in a flash of lightning. The mystery regarding what had arrived on Earth weeks before. What had killed the megalodon. What had literally frightened away the assembled Disaster Monsters to date. The mystery was solved with an ear splitting, roar of challenge.

The KING of the Monsters had come. Godzilla.

With a contemptuous slap the titan smacked Skyboy from the sky as he gaped open mouthed at it, and then it went after the cruise ship. The heroes managed to escape, with the ship and a nearly unconscious Knick. Unable to pursue fast enough Godzilla crashed back into the ocean's depths, lost to view. Nothing on Earth was safe while such a monster roamed free. Even as Knick slowly came around, he knew they had to find some way to stop literally the unstoppable. He had performed deeds many would have said were impossible before. But this time, he was even questioning himself. What force could possibly stop Godzilla?

The Dragon and The Demon

Over the next week Knick investigated the problem of the Disaster Monsters, while Robin investigated the D.E.O. Knick was able to create an early warning system, after discovering that the Disaster Monsters were avoiding detection because they were literally slipping in and out of this timeline from their neighboring one. As a result they had their own unique temporal signature that could be detected.

Meanwhile using the resources of the Batcave, Robin discovered a very top secret project in the Government. Project Timescan was created on paper to look for potential deposits of fossil fuels. It had recently been taken over by a division of the D.E.O. though. Curiously a large number of the D.E.O. personnel assigned to the project all were reassigned from a different project. One the team had encountered before, on Dinosaur Island.

It seemed the D.E.O felt that Project Timescan had applications well beyond what it had been designed for. The connection with the prehistoric creatures they had encountered and Dinosaur Island personnel seemed to point to the very link they had been looking for as well. With no real way to deal with the Disaster Monster threat at the moment, they focused instead on the D.E.O., and just in time.

Desadarius and the Dragon Queen had made contact with a meta-saur named Fire Eyes. An early enemy of the first incarnation of the Justice League, Fire Eyes was a super powered Tyrannosaurus Rex. Fully sentient, with the ability to emit intense flames from it's eyes. Fire Eyes was from another neighboring hypertime where dinosaurs never died out, they instead evolved. An entire dinosaur society in fact. With full sized super powered dinosaurs as overlords, and a workforce of bipedal dinosaur men, not unlike Stregron.

With the equipment they had gathered co-opting a division of the D.E.O. they planned to launch an invasion. Simultaneously using the Project Timescan equipment to return Earth to it's prehistoric past! The invasion began in Metropolis, with legions of dinosaur men wielding high tech weapons storming the city through the same types of portals Desadarius had opened for the dragon invasion. The Meta-Saurs were enlarged using Vermin Vast's technology, until they were all towering over a hundred feet tall!

Even the B13 repair robots couldn't keep up with the damage being inflicted to the city. Worse still all of the heroes were busy trying to stop the invasion itself. There was nobody to spare to confront the root of the problem in the space station above. It was a losing scenario as more and more of the Earth was devolved back to it's prehistoric state. With vast areas of the city falling victim to super sized super powered dinosaurs!

Faced with the simple facts that they would surely lose at the rate they were going, Skyboy made a desperate choice, and sent Impulse back to his lab at the Sanctuary to retrieve something he described to him. Just over a second later the world's fastest teen returned, with the object in question. Skyboy's failed phantom zone projector. Taking a deep breath he toggled it on with a breathless prayer to Rao that he was doing the right thing.

Within moments they all heard the roar of challenge, of defiance. Loud and long it drowned out the sounds of the open warfare all across the city. All eyes turned to the water. Metropolis Harbor seethed, and frothed as something massive moved below it. Blue white atomic breath scything out of the depths, across the sky heralded its arrival. Then the harbor exploded as it stood, waves washing inland like a tsunami had struck. Godzilla had come. Long live the King.

Soran, Inagos, The Kraken. All of the Disaster Monsters arrived, as well as monsters they had no names for as the device remained on and broadcasting. The dinosaur army discovered what real monsters looked like. But as Godzilla waded into the melee, all eyes were on the King. Fire Eyes attempted to face Godzilla, to rally his forces against the behemoth. Godzilla's tail silenced him with one bone breaking, contemptuous swing. Not even worthy of his breath or claws.

Legions of dinosaur men and meta-saurs alike were vaporized by the monsters atomic heat beam. Some just torn apart or smashed into putty absently with it's strength. In minutes the dinosaur forces were in open rout, retreating for the choke point gates to return to their timeline. Desperate to flee something they could hardly imagine existing, a beast more terrifying than they were, or could ever even hope to be.

Freed from the open combat on Earth the heroes attacked Project Timescan, only to find it largely abandoned. Overcoming a token force of Dinosaur Men and possessed D.E.O. Operatives lead by the now reduced in stature and wounded Fire Eyes they made their way to the control room. A portal to the distant past still shimmered open there. For a brief moment malevolent eyes full of undisguised loathing glared at them. Then the portal flickered and closed. It seemed Desadarius and it's Queen escaped into Earth's prehistoric past, where their presence would lead to the spawning of a new Hypertime of their own. One that would no doubt lead to future threats as they sought revenge.

However, Fire Eyes reality would likely be in no hurry to threaten Earth again. The Disaster Monsters single mindedly followed their perceived challenges, and enemies through the portals. Portals which slowly closed without Desadarius' will keeping them open. With no good way to contain him, Fire Eyes himself was unceremoniously pitched through the last portal by Superman just before it closed. The threat posed by the reptilian power couple was ended, at least for now.

Armageddon is Coming

Particularly after an invasion of such magnitude from a neighboring timeline Knick began using his Hypertemporal ring with more frequency. Visiting neighboring realities to insure that they would be no threat to his own. Often meeting new potential allies. Occasionally making or discovering new enemies. It was during an experiment to traverse further than he had tried so far that something extraordinary occurred.

Setting the hyper temporal ring on the beach of Sanctuary Island just incase the experiment went wrong, Knick activated it. Almost simultaneously a beam of energy seared out of the atmosphere from an unknown source, right at the ring. Feeling that his body would survive the beam better than his device Knick leaped into the air to intercept it. The beam struck him, and the residual tendrils of energy spilled around Skyboy's invulnerable body only to mingle with those of the portal. The result left Knick suspended in the air in some sort of stasis, the intermingling energies forming some kind of feedback loop. But standing on the ground in front of the assembled members of Unity that had gathered to watch was an apparently older Knick Alen. A future Skyboy.

There were lots of questions, during which it was established beyond reproach that this was in fact an older Knick, originating from some point later in this timeline, or a similar one. He was much the same as the Knick they knew, happy to see all of them. But he became very distressed when learning the date. Suddenly frantic he explained that Armageddon was coming, and started rapidly relaying details on what everyone present would have to do to stop it! Giving each member specific instructions. But his time was short, and gradually he started to fade away, his voice growing distant as he still desperately sought to give them guidance. By the time his younger counterpart flickered out of stasis and fell into the sand, the older ‘prophet' Knick was gone.

Over the next several months Knick became more and more withdrawn from everyone, worrying his friends even as they went about being sure they were ready for whatever it was that was coming. Knick started to keep secrets, which disturbed everyone even worse. His activities in his labs and onboard the starship UNITY becoming private and seemingly known only to him. One other knew what was happening, but was unable to speak of it. Tane Mazi had learned what was to occur in the House of Secrets, the mystical home of Abel, brother to Cain. But like all secrets, the events he learned of and could thus influence would only unfold as the were revealed to him if he never broke his silence.

Knick's secrecy and distance culminated on the day of the comet. Knick seemed to know in advance that the International Space Station would fall under attack by a comet suddenly appearing. Much the way two had months before over Metropolis. Knick raced off to intercept it before it even happened, much to the aggravation of his friends and loved ones left behind to watch the event on television and the internet. From the space stations cameras the world watched Skyboy destroy the comet only scant seconds after it appeared.

But when he returned from the save, everything seemed different. He was back to normal, himself again, and yet somehow to much so. Those closest to him were noticing some unusual things. Trivial but jarring things like his failure to use contractions any more. But they had little time in which to question the changes. For as was predicted months before. Armageddon had indeed come.

The Coming of Armageddon

The skies darkened, as the sun was blocked by an eclipse. But Armageddon was no mere event, but rather a being of staggering power. It's moon sized Comet Empire, all to familiar to some, blacking out the sun as it approached the planet. All across the Earth a summons went out to select people to meet Skyboy in New York's Central Park, on the Great Lawn. A call that friends, and loved ones answered, including the newest member of the team, Xris. A highly advanced cyborg from another world, who had been badly damaged when crashing on this one. Repaired by Skyboy, he had become the most recent member of the team after requesting sanctuary.

In Central Park, all of the gathered heroes came under attack soon after arriving by Armageddon's minions. An attack that Knick did not take part in, but eerily seemed to know would happen in advance. So much so that he was able to warn his friends where to even stand to easily achieve a victory. Advice which Tane did not require, as he was already standing just where he needed to be. Throughout the combat Knick just floated in the air, staring at one spot in the sky. The very same spot where moments after the minions had fallen, Armageddon itself appeared.

A flickering black and purple globe of malevolent energy began to take the form of a indigo cloaked figure. Walking down through the sky as if on an invisible set of stairs. It's dark thoughts thrumming through the mind's and soul's of everyone on Earth announcing its presence, Armageddon had come. But Knick simply stared at it, and called the dark figure out. Announcing for all to hear that this was no Armageddon. But rather, it was in fact Brainiac! The same Brainiac that had haunted his days and hounded his steps from the start. The same Brainiac that played an intrinsic part in his world's destruction! Brainiac that had been chased away by Brainiac 13, and now finally had returned. More powerful than ever before, but in the end still just Brainiac.

Now identified as an enemy they all had at least heard of, Brainiac dropped it's theatrics. It appeared in it's new Techno-organic body, part machine, part living being. Explaining that the organic elements had been a required sacrifice for the power it now held, omnipotence. Further, that Kal-En had long been a thorn in it's side that would now be permanently removed. Knick looked at his various friends, the people he loved in life more than any. He smiled wistfully and sighed before he spoke again. Taking a shallow breath, Just to say "Goodbye. I love you all."

The energy blast that Skyboy's silhouette hung inside of, before streaking away and vanishing, ripped a hole some sixty feet deep into Central Park. Knick Alen, Skyboy, Kal-En of Krypton was gone. Horrified, the collective force of Unity attacked the star god Armageddon. Enraged and in shock they brought every power they had against this thing that had apparently killed Skyboy. But even Ganymede possessed by the power of the Source, and Lucas wielding the power of the Word failed to stop it. Armageddon's power seemed to be, and was indeed in fact, limitless! It returned to it's Comet Empire and the invasion of Earth began!

From the moment it happened some of those present suspected something was amiss. Robin examined the crater, and refused to believe any blast could utterly vaporize a Kryptonian. Not to the point that there would not be some sort of remains. Superboy knew in his heart it wasn't possible, he could feel Knick was NOT dead. Ganymede consulted the fates, who would neither confirm nor deny Skyboy's demise. The amazon concluded there could only be one reason for that, and he held on to hope. The Wisdom of Solomon would not allow CM3 to accept it. Likewise others on the team would simply not accept it on faith alone. Knick would not go meekly to his death they reasoned. Impulse just shrugged and decided it plain wasn't Knick. Because really, it couldn't be, and that was that.

Though there was no solid proof, circumstantial evidence seemed to support that. As even the Sanctuary itself was now missing from it's customary home in the dormant volcanic lake in the Azores. A catastrophic energy blast originating from the Comet Empire had struck where the Sanctuary should have been. Not moments after Skyboy's apparent death. But there was no debris field to be found, much like no remains in the park. It was as if the entire thing had been moved, which everyone knew, it had been at least once before.

Within the lake that had once sat inside the dormant volcanic caldera there was evidence of just how powerful the blast itself was though. A massive, raw, and seething rip into Hypertime itself thrashed and spasmed like a living thing. Waves of unusual energy washed out of it in steady beating pulses. Tendrils, amoeba like, writhed close to the edge only to be pulled back into the churning pit. The infinite energy of hypertime itself pumping like the heartbeat of time itself held from spilling across the earth just by a oh so small volcanic prison.

Robin searched the area, dancing back from the volcanic rim after a wash of Hyperium energy splashed over him. He thought he had escaped the wave before any damage could be done. But unknown to the Teen Wonder at the time, that energy had in fact changed him, and dramatically so. But his persistence paid off as he found something. Under a charred bush that had once been a part of the hedge leading up from the beach he found a single computer paad (Personal Access Display Device). Apparently the only survivor of the Sanctuary, which again seemed far to unlikely to his analytical mind. The screen was blank, until Robin picked it up, and then a timer flashed into life on the screen. A timer, counting down from seven days.

At the strategy meeting aboard the Justice League Watchtower the various heroic mentors took their proteges aside to offer condolences. These were men and women that had been heroes for years. They were capable, they were legends, and they didn't get to that status without being very intelligent. They all suspected just how close their proteges were to the charismatic blond haired kryptonian teen. But it was something that they didn't address, or speak about either. A silent trust, a belief that their proteges were smart enough to do what was right for them, in matters of relationships especially.

But this, this was going to be hard on them, they all knew. So before the meeting, they each went to a separate antechamber. Wonder Woman with Ganymede, Batman with Robin, Superman and Superboy, and Flash with Impulse. Captain Marvel shook his head and could not begin to have this talk with Freddy. Billy and Freddy were very close in age. Billy just did not know what to say, and the Wisdom of Solomon just took you so far. Plus there had been these rumors, but no he didn't believe that was true. Even though he had been the one that stepped between Freddy and Mary, even still. Nahhh.

Flash actually had something Knick had given him for Impulse several days before. A new flash ring, like the type they stored their costumes in. Skyboy had approached Wally on the Watchtower telling him that if anything should happen to him, to make sure Bart had the ring. Even Wally had to admit that the timing seemed strange, for several reasons. Wally elected not to pursue the nature of Knick and Bart's friendship, don't ask don't tell. It was all the proof Bart required to know Knick was alive and well though. Something he told anyone that offered condolences with his usual cheerful demeanor and lop sided grin. Knick always had a plan, and this time would be no different.

Superman tried to offer condolences, but Superboy wouldn't hear it. Their relationship was never as close as some of the other mentors. But that wasn't really the heart of what Superman had come to say. He actually had a question for his heir apparent. He wanted to know if Skyboy and Superboy had become a couple because he asked Kon to befriend Knick. Superboy laughed at the question and rolled his eyes, and really that was all the answer Superman needed. He just smiled and commented, in a statement rather than a question. So, he is still alive? Superboy nodded his head, blinking back tears. He knew it, in his heart, where it really mattered. He didn't know what he had planned, but Knick was alive.

The meeting with Wonder Woman and Ganymede was simple. They were warriors born, and sometimes a warrior was called back to Elysium. Diana embraced her little brother, and Ganymede hugged her in return. No words were spoken, and none were needed. Ganymede believed Knick was alive, and maybe he was. But either way, Diana would be there for him. To honor a warrior fallen in battle, or to celebrate the clever ruse that might secure a victory. Either way, she would be there to celebrate

Batman said nothing about Skyboy at all, instead questioning Robin about everything he had seen and heard, everything he had discovered since the moment of Armageddon's appearance. The Dark Knight had no love lost for the Kryptonian teen, but he also made a habit of knowing just what everyone around him could and could not do. Everyone had seen the coverage by now as Armageddon broadcast it himself. Taking over every satellite feed, and television on Earth to announce the death of his enemy.

But Batman knew very well, Skyboy was not dead, no matter what the world at large might believe. A near all powerful being was threatening the planet. He was placing himself in a position to stop it. That, the Dark Knight could respect. But, he also wanted to know how. The Batman was particularly interested in the paad, and as they rejoined the main group he commented on it, and went to take it. Robin was certain about Knick faking his death, but he wanted Batman to say it as well. He was trying to explain to him that he really didn't know him, that he was a good person.

But just as Batman touched the paad, he was shocked as if by a taser. The ears to his costume actually smoking a little. Plastic Man made the terrible error of pointing it out, earning him a Batarang to the eye. Batman growled softly that apparently Robin's ‘good boy' didn't want anyone else to hold onto the paad. Testing bore that out as well, anyone that tried other than Robin received a shock. It was for Tim's hands only.

But they were able to discern what the countdown meant. At the meeting, they learned that the computer would periodically announce some critical event about to happen. Allowing Earth's defenders an opportunity to stop some part of Armageddon's over all objectives. Knick's team mates were secretly pleased to discover it. It was exactly what Impulse had thought earlier. Knick always had a plan, and this was the proof they needed to keep that hope alive.

So it went on for the next week, the computer relegated to Robin's care, as it was programmed to only respond to him. During that week, Robin also learned that the hypertime wave that had struck him altered him somehow. Now when he touched a metahuman, he could duplicate select abilities from them for a period of time based on the duration of the contact. Robin was suddenly very powerful indeed. Powers that he would put to good use over several battles in the coming days. Borrowing select abilities that best suited his style of combat, and allowed him to be much less difficult to harm as well.

Armageddon Has Been Cancelled Until Further Notice

During the week there were sudden and mysterious sightings. Fleeting glimpses of someone in costume not unlike Skyboy's. Someone who when they spoke, sounded similar to Knick. During a mission to save an oil refinery, CM3 was separated from the team and overwhelmed by Brainiac forces. He recalled being hit by a blast and his vision going black, and then Knick's voice telling him he was going to be alright. A sense of movement and Knick repeating again, everything would be alright. When he was found perfectly healed and safe by the others he couldn't be sure if it was really Knick or just wishful thinking. But something had moved him, as he was a good distance from where he had fallen, and he had no idea how. But there was also a disappearance as well. Tane Mazi had vanished, leaving no word where he had gone, or when he would return.

On the seventh day, after a brutal week of fighting, everyone was hoping for a miracle. Brainiac's forces seemed endless, and large areas of the planet were over run with them. But as the timer reached zero the computer announced it was time to attack the Comet Empire directly. Something that had been unsuccessful each time it had been tried thus far. It was as if the insane star gof always knew in advance when they would try. It was always ready in advance. But the computer screen seemed to suggest that this time, things would be different.

A small strike force, pre-picked by the computer, was assembled. It was comprised of the younger heroes, members of the teams that comprised Unity. By this point everyone knew doing something different than what the computer said would be unwise, so the team was a lock. Much to the Justice Leagues distaste, as they felt they were putting less experienced, if not less capable, heroes in harms way. But they would have important work on the planet according to the plans that were revealed, a counter offensive. They would know when the time was right.

Sneaking on board via a captured shuttle they made it to Armageddon's Comet Empire in a moment when the nearly all powerful beings omniscience had lapsed. A moment that somehow Knick had known about in advance to program into the computer. The fighting was fierce though just the same, culminating in a two pronged strike. The amazing amazon Wonder Boy going it alone to destroy the very source of Armageddon's power. Devices that they learned from the computer were feeding Armageddon the energies that maintained his omnipotence. Of all things, a device based on one that had been left behind in Knick's old home on Avalon!

When Brainiac had fled from Brainiac 13, it happened upon the Avalon timeline. There a simple device Skyboy had created to sample energy wavelengths through the quantum zone was found, and then altered by Brainiac. A device that was simply meant to allow someone to perhaps listen to Mozart's first concert, was instead changed, repurposed, to allow Brainiac to borrow the powers of any being that had ever existed in time. The past, the future, any being, at any point from the beginning to the end of time.

Now Brainiac wielded the powers of the First Darkness, that which was banished by ‘Let There Be Light'. It's power was absolute, and the team discovered just how much so when Brainiac boasted dispatching the three remaining Season's of Evil that had still been free. Though at the cost of the moons that had once orbited the Comet Empire, they were hardly weak entities, but they had still been banished or destroyed by the power Brainiac now wielded as Armageddon. Armed with literally any and all powers that existed in any and all of time, Brainiac created a new body for itself and christened itself Armageddon.

On the way to destroy the massive machinery that regulated and fed the power to Brainiac, Ganymede met and fought the son of Armageddon, Anarchy! A crazed metahuman teen that apparently had both Skyboy, and Superboy's powers! Created by genetic samples obtained by Match and Black Zero some months before. The amazing amazon was hard pressed against the powers of the two teens of steel he so dearly loved. But he knew he had to destroy the generators if the rest of the team was to have any chance at all. Fueled by a growing anger also at the sheer violation of those two he held so dear, that their son would be this monster. Wonder Boy expressed his anger as only an amazon might.

Meanwhile on the bridge of the ship, the fighting was getting worse as Armageddon merely had but to gesture to create ever more powerful enemies for the team to fight. Time was against them, as eventually Armageddon would grow weary of the game and simply turn it's power directly on them. There were no more messages from the paad, so they knew they were where they needed to be, and when. Skyboy had never let any of them down, and so they fought on, secure in the belief that this was all part of the plan.

As Ganymede fought against Anarchy deep in the heart of the ship he suddenly received a helping hand. In the form of a fist right into Anarchy's face. The punch sending the crazed super teen rocketing through a wall, and away from the generators.Then just as quickly, Ganymede, was being kissed! Standing before Ganymede was Skyboy! Yet clearly not Knick, as it's arm hung limp and sparking at the shoulder from damage. The android introduced itself as Skybot Mark Two, programmed with all of Knick's memories. Immediately Ganymede understood, he knew why the fates had been unclear about the death of his friend and lover. Mark Two, that meant there had to have been a Mark One, but he had no time to act on the information, or the utter certainty and faith rewarded it represented.

Anarchy was already returning, and the generator's were heavily shielded. The only way to destroy the barrier between them and the devices granting Armageddon his power, was to overload Mark Two's Four Dimensional power source and let it reach critical mass! Ganymede initially fought the idea, unwilling to allow the sentient robot to sacrifice itself. But he knew that it was their only chance, and thus the only chance any of them had.

The explosion moments later was massive, and utterly consumed the generators. Ganymede, tears in his eyes, allowed the pressure wave to propel him almost all the way to the bridge of the ship! But clutched in his hand was Mark Two's memory core. Everything that made Mark Two who he was, his very synthetic computer brain. Ganymede was hell bent that the android would live again, at least if any of them lived through this anyway.

Armageddon staggered, both from the explosions, and the effects of it's near god like power suddenly lost. But it's laughter echoed cold across the bridge as an anti-matter cannon powered up to destroy the planet Earth! A much smaller backup generator that channeled only the power of the anti-matter universe. One way or the other, it planned to have it's revenge on this world that had harbored it's enemy, and those he loved. But before anyone else could even think of a way to stop Brainiac, Impulse shot into motion.

He knew how his grandfather Barry had died, and he was ready to heroically sacrifice his life as his grandfather had. By containing the anti-matter reaction, even knowing he would die from the effort. But the ring left to him by Knick began to glow and pulse with a steady light as he ran ever faster around the device. Containing it's deadly power within the cyclone of speed force energy.

The anti-matter pulsed and bubbled, destroying the machine and the deck beneath it. Reaching out to end Impulse as well. But held at bay by the pulsing light of the ring! Each pulse pressing the anti-matter back in on itself. Beside Bart Alen, another figure began to appear. The faster Impulse ran, the more distinct the figure became until finally his grandfather, long lost to the Speed Force, ran alongside him! Barry and Bart Allen shared a brief reunion as together they destroyed the anti-matter cannon, ending it's threat to Earth in less than the span of a dozen heartbeats!

But even with all of it's plans dashed Armageddon ranted about it's ultimate victory. It had managed to kill it's hated enemy, and now in time would eradicate each of them as well. It's cold mechanical laughter died on it's artificial lips though, as the Comet Empire was rocked with more explosions. Explosions that originated from outside! In the domed sky above the massive form of the Starship UNITY appeared! Easily dozens of times the size it once was. It loomed there as large as the island of Manhattan now. Massive artillery placements raining destruction onto key systems of the Comet Empire, disabling the mechanical terror, until it floated helpless in space.

In a green gold teleportation effect the REAL Skyboy appeared. Boldly announcing that it was over, Brainiac had once again lost. He gestured to monitors which hacked by BDV, flickered to images of the invasion forces in full retreat on Earth. Pursued all across the globe by members of the JLA. Each leading a veritable army of much more mechanical looking Skybots! The Earth had been saved, Brainiac's forces were defeated, and it's power base shattered once more.

With promises of vengeance Armageddon backed up, and then teleported away. Without time for explanation, Knick transported everyone onboard UNITY. Standing on the hull of UNITY, Xris fired his most powerful weapon system. One recently added to him before Skyboy's "death". An energy blast powerful enough to carve a hole into a sheet of inertron! Simultaneously Tane reappeared, along with all of his fellow Chrysalis from the planet Ilinasia. Hovering in space they covered the entire Comet Empire in a thick sphere of crystal! All save the point where Xris fired his cannon.

On the vessel Armageddon had time to see a massive energy blast travel up the exact escape tube he was fleeing in. The blast enveloped his ship, and continued into the heart of the vessel. The entire Comet Empire exploded like a star! Only the crystal shell holding the vast amount of the blast wave in check. Even still debris fell to Earth, but none of it in populated areas. The shield was strongest just where it needed to be. Though how Tane knew just where to reinforce it, well that was after all a secret. Finally, it was over and Armageddon was once and for all, defeated. Or as once and for all as any villain ever is at least.

Shian

In the days and weeks after there was much to clean up, as always after such a crisis. But tbis time much of the clean up really struck home. Sanctuary Island was now an open wound into Hypertime, with crossovers and leaks from other time lines much more common place as a result. The massive starship UNITY, now with the Sanctuary of Remembrance fused to it, floated over the island now. Keeping a vigil to be sure nothing would escape from the gaping wound into the realm of the infinitely possible. But as bad as the damage was outside, the heroes within that ship, the extended family of Unity. They had wounds to recover from as well.

Knick had literally stood outside of time and fate when he was in stasis, and his alternate future self warned everyone what was coming. He saw all that would come to pass, and was able to plan for it all in advance as a result. Separated as he was from the very fate of the universe, Armageddon's omniscience could no longer see him. He was able to attack his plans using his friends, and then reveal himself when the moment was right. The machine intellect discounted the faith those same friends had kept that Knick was still alive. Faith was for lesser beings after all, and the fact that he was no able to sense him in reality was enough.

But now at the close of the Armageddon War, Knick still stood outside the laws of fate and destiny. If the ability to see the future remained with him, he wasn't really sure. He had never been precognitive, so he wasn't really sure what one did to see the future, or the possible future anyway. But just the same, with or without such sight, he couldn't quite believe that he had seen the last of Braniac. The insane artificial intelligence had seemingly been destroyed before as well. Sadly, on that point he was right. But at least it was the last they would see of ‘Armageddon'.

There was the matter of the broken trust as well. For while his reasons made sense, there was still a lot of apologizing to be done. A lot of people that were a little hurt, even if they understood why it had to be that way. Some accepted it better than others, but in time everyone recognized that saving the world, maybe far more than just that, was worth a few hurt feelings. Especially when it was clear it took a toll on Knick being away from everyone, keeping secrets, and overall having to let them face his enemy alone. It had been a dark time for them all, but they came through it. They would be stronger still for the experience.

About three weeks after the final battle, Tane approached Knick and asked him and several teammates to journey with him to Ilinasia. His fellow Chrysalis had asked when Tane would be returning to take his place alongside them as a protector of their world before they returned. However, Tane wished to remain on Earth, which meant renouncing his status as one of that world's defenders in place of a new one. He desired the company for the trip, as well as the support of those for whom he wished to remain on Earth for. Ilinasia was a beautiful world of crystal and shimmering lights. Rainbow like, prismatic patterns of light cast by the multiple sun's light filtering through the crystal landscape. While being shown the beauties of the world, Knick discovered through observation and questions that many of the planet's cultures were similar to his own long lost Krypton.

Knick also learned that it was literally the god like triumvirate of Ilinasia's rulers that empowered Tane and his fellow Chrysalis with their crystal and gem shaping powers. Recognizing the good he had done in the time since he had left their fold, as well as the love between Tane and Knick, the triumvirate released Tane to return to earth. It was the recognition of the love between Tane and Knick that they gave Tane a gift as he returned to his new home. Of course in the way of gods they did not ask, it was a divine gift, not the sort of thing you turned down, especially in this case.

On the return home Tane was accompanied by a younger Chrysalis, named Shian. It was only once they were well away from the planet that Tane revealed the truth of the child's origins to Knick. The deific council of Ilinasia created a "child" for Knick and Tane. A child with the gifts and abilities of both of his father's, although weaker because of his age. Knick was surprised, slack jaw shocked actually, as he was hardly consulted about his imminent fatherhood. But just the same he accepted and loved Shian as his child none the less, as unexpected as it was. One more part of his growing family on Earth.

The Lifemate Ceremony

Even more happy events were on the horizon for the team. Soon after the demon hunter Dante joined the team, one of the first victims of the hypertime tear on the island, everyone that was able left Earth to travel to the planet Tendax. After recent events both Skyboy and Superboy decided it was well past time for their actual lifemate ceremony. They both considered themselves lifemates already, but this would make it official. Along the way they stopped a Dominion plot to cause Earth's sun to go supernova. Though they would later discover this plot was just a feint to distract Earth's heroes from the true threat.

The ceremony took place the morning after they arrived on the planet. Starting on the beach, but ending in the astral plane. Knick revealed that he had the gift to take himself and others there, though he only did so for religious observances. The Astral Plane was sacred to Rao, and the priests usually took any Kryptonian child with such a gift to teach them at a young age. Had his world lived, Knick might have been trained in it. Instead, Strathazed had taught him as a child, and Knick never had cause to use it in observance of Rao before now. When the ceremonial blessing of Rao was asked for, nobody could miss the red halo that danced like St elmo's fire across the two super teens. It was as if Rao was truly present at that moment. Though the chief god of Krypton had been long silent since well before the planet's death, so it was unlikely.

The Apocolptian Powerboy joined the team, that afternoon after the ceremony. Emotionally imprinting on Skyboy after catching Kon's feelings for him. Initially he wanted more than anything to replace Kon, to be the subject of Knick's attention. But with his abilities he realized that would devastate the object of his affections. So he pined from afar for the time. Just the same, he would quickly prove himself an asset to the team. The reception was planned for several days later, but they ended up being very eventful days. After all, what is a family gathering without a little drama.

The night after the ceremony the Dominion launched a long range attack on Earth, with Tendax as a staging point. Planning to use a weapon that would literally rip away Earth's atmosphere! The planet Tendax was a neutral planet, and launching an invasion was a desperate act. The fighting was furious all across the planet, but the Dominion was not prepared to see a virtual army of meta human, alien, and magical heroes ready to fight them. In addition to those vacationing there with unique powers as well.

Onboard the Dominion's flag ship, where the weapon was being constructed, Skyboy and the assembled heroes of Unity faced the Dominions last line of defense. Genetically enhanced members of the Yautja species, better known on Earth as Predators. These particular subjects had been modified by the Dominion to fight the Justice League, but had failed in killing them. They were very powerful though and the Dominion believed they would prevail against the weaker team. However, what the team lacked in the JLA's raw power, they made up for in numbers. The super preds never had much of a chance, and quickly fell to two and three heroes fighting each of them.

So in the end they fared equally poorly against the forces of Unity, thanks in no small part to being being heavily outnumbered. The Dominion forces were forced to retreat, and for their efforts a coalition of alien races declared war on them. For daring to breach Tendax's neutrality, tantamount to a foreign army attacking Disney World, that was the only acceptable punishment. The threat was over, and the reception began on schedule, even with the clean up. Knick and Kon were now joined officially as lifemates.

On the way back from Tendax the team encountered a cosmic entity known as The Phoenix, which was being drawn back to Earth in the form of a human male. It could not explain what was drawing it there, only some sense that it was a place it would be needed in the future. Accepting that for what it was worth they moved on, but considered it something more than just coincidence when they encountered another being of exceptional power, particularly one they had been at odds with in the past.

Bedlam, who had been almost directly responsible for Young Justice forming, was fleeing from something that had nearly killed him. He asked for sanctuary, which the group was skeptical about. However Knick was reasonably sure he had technology that could neutralize him if he became a threat inside the base or ship, and Matthew Stuart was no older than Impulse. If there was even a chance that something was trying to murder him, and he was that scared it would manage it, they couldn't turn him away. So with certain restrictions, sanctuary was granted. He would be watched carefully but they could not merely abandon him to die. It was an eye opening experience for Matt, who never really knew the people he had been trying to kill. Realizing that now those same people were putting themselves in harms way for him, started him down a somewhat rocky road to redemption. Both encounters were just the beginning of something much bigger.

It was The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

The first several months of their new life together was eventful for the team, though not in the usual planet shaking way. Several members were turned into werewolves briefly, while trying to stop a turf war between Manhattan's vampires and a European werewolf biker gang, The Werewolves of London. Even Spider-Man's Aunt May was changed! Skyboy wasn't able to isolate and synthesize a cure as he once had for vampirism and the werehyena curse. But the Prince of Werewolves removed the curse from those afflicted, in return for a favor to be repaid someday. All save Black Spider who actually wished to remain a werewolf. The young super human renamed himself Wolf Spider, and continued to patrol the streets and roof tops of Gotham.

The young hero Starchild joined the team, just before a literal war in space took place. A race of extra-dimensional cosmic energy manipulators began an invasion of Earth's dimension. Resulting in several massive battles in space as the team used UNITY to press deep into enemy territory. Culminating a battle against a planet destroying cosmic menace that could actually destroy planets with impunity. As his people's powers were cosmic energy based, Starchild proved invaluable against the invader's abilities.

During the course of conflicts, and the fighting through space the team discovered the Green Lantern Ch'p had faked his death and was in fact still alive. He helped to defend his home world, once more taking up the ring. They also discovered a planet overrun with a massive amoeba like blob organism which had destroyed all of the native fauna. A part of that creature was ejected into space in the conflict, and proved very difficult to track with sensors. Just where it would ultimately end up among the stars they couldn't say. Between the combined efforts of the Xandarian Nova Corp, the Green Lantern Corp, and the heroes of Unity the species was finally driven back to their home dimension.

Just after UNITY returned to Earth the hyper temporal rift gave the team something of a gift, and Knick a little brother of a sorts. A new Kryptonian arrived on Earth. The wild magical talent of Seth Olsen allowed him to survive the destruction of his Krypton, and arrive safely via Hypertime on Earth. The idea of a Kryptonian that actually could wield magic, even in an uncontrolled manner was amazing to Knick, as it was unheard of on his world. But Sol, who took the Earth name Seth, routinely and often accidentally used it for dramatic and sometimes comedic effect.

Likewise the world walking Nate Grey arrived in their timeline, though under his own power. His near limitless psychic power even allowing him to traverse hyper times on his own and unaided. Though every bit as randomly as most hypertemporal travelers. He almost immediately proved himself a hero in the eyes of everyone. Saving the statue of liberty from an attack by forces of the 4th Reich. Doing so though, so soon after world walking was costly to him, and while he rescued the statue, Knick saved him from an otherwise fatal fall when he passed out near the crown of the statue. Awakening in the medical wing of the Sanctuary, and then coming to reside with the team. After he mind linked with Knick to be certain that he could be trusted. Nate discovered a group that he finally felt could deal with the man hunting him, should he ever find him, Mr. Sinister. Through the mind link Nate and Knick also grew very close, in a very short time. Having literally learned everything about one another in one mind searing flash. Unity continued to grow, to better be prepared for the challenges to come.

Handle With Care

Around Christmas several team members were shopping for presents in New York's Chinatown. It was early evening, just a few days before the big day itself. That meant there wasn't much time left before Santa's arrival. Knick was a firm believer in Santa Claus, but understood that it was everyone's responsibility to help with the jolly old elf's job as well. He did this each year by buying and making scores of presents for all of his friends and loved ones himself.

Those same friends and loved ones weren't really sure how to handle his belief. Some were just bemused, others rolled their eyes at the notion. Skyboy was a genius many many times over. How did one approach the idea with him? More over how to make any attempt at an explanation, make any sense. After all they regularly fought things that might be considered fictional or a myth.

A few, like Impulse and Zenith, went on believing right along with Knick. Who had even sought to meet Santa for years, just to find out how he did it. How he reached every house on Earth in just one night. It mystified him how anyone could manage that, and he had devoted a lot of time trying to puzzle it out. But even with all the knowledge at his disposal, it just didn't seem possible to do with the time he spent in each home.

While in Chinatown they stumbled onto, and into, a magical duel between an elderly man of Asian descent and a scantily clad sorceress who was decidedly not worried about the cold. She wished something the old man had in his possession, and was clearly willing to kill to get it. While the group was attempting to stop the conflict, Mercury was approached by the man and charged with guarding what the woman had sought. Then the deul concluded with the old man seemingly consumed by the sorceresses magic despite their best efforts. Cursing in a not so Christmas like manner, she left the scene swearing to find that which she sought.

What the old mystic had been protecting turned out to be a small box. A box that when later opened back at the base, was found to contain a mystical animal. A Mogwai. Eddie named the Mogwai Kupo, and resolved to keep it safe from harm. A task that would prove a challenge as the elderly chi wizard never had a chance to explain certain instructions for the care of the animal, and the Mogwai had several restrictions in what it could and could not tolerate.

But Kupo proved to be very intelligent, and taught Eddie some of the things to avoid on his own. The Mogwai disliked bright lights, especially sunlight, and avoided water. It also refused to eat anything between midnight and 6 am. Eddie tried to be very careful, but accidently spilled a glass of water which resulted in Kupo getting wet. Thrashing about the little Mogwai spontaneously began to multiply! Small balls of fur bubbling up and budding off of him like popcorn. Striking several people around the room they were in before falling to the floor.

These new Mogwai displayed powers based off of those they had bounced off of when they were first forming. Unfortunately they also had a malicious streak that was utterly absent in Kupo. The alpha of the newer Mogwai had bounced off of both Skyboy /and/ Namor. Spike therefore displayed diminished abilities from both heroes, as opposed to the others which had only one. They were kept separated from Kupo, as they seemed especially aggressive towards him. Knick resolved to try and study them, right after Christmas. To try and determine what made this group so much more hostile. But Spike had other plans.

On Christmas Eve Spike orchestrated it so that the new group was fed after midnight. Tricking Eddie into doing so, leaving the young hero feeling terrible about the consequences that followed. That act mutated the Mogwai into slightly taller, reptilian shapes. With sharp claws and teeth, and a even more malicious attitude. The Mogwai had mutated into Gremlins! Worse still, super powered Gremlins! All of them broke free and made their way to the Sanctuary's central chamber, and the indoor lake.

Because of Namor's powers Spike was immune to the effects of the water. But in short order the Sanctuary, and indeed the entire ship, was being overwhelmed by thousands of super powered gremlins. Spike, using Skyboy's technical know how and his own Gremlin ability to damage electronics, fried Brainiac Delta V and thus shut down all of the base's security measures! Even though the Gremlins were not nearly as strong as the heroes, they already numbered in the thousands and more were forming every moment. The only way to stop them was to get to the control room and reboot BDV's systems. But before Skyboy could do so he was called away, as the weapon systems on the roof were ready to begin randomly firing. He and several others rushed off to stop them before innocent people in the Azores, shipping, or overhead flights could be harmed by the weapon discharges.

With massive waves of Gremlins keeping the majority of the team fighting a defensive front near the quarters, It was up to Mercury to confront Spike in the control room, and reboot the systems. The full spectrum lights could end this quickly, if they could be activated. But Spike ridiculed Mercury, who had always been plagued with self doubts and a lack of confidence. Eddie faltered under the attack on his belief in himself.

It was Kupo who rallied to Mercury's aid, believing in the hero and offering to help him to defeat Spike and save his friends and home. Mercury turned to liquid metal and covered Kupo in a metallic armored form. With a mighty battle cry Iron Kupo attacked Super Spike! The battle culminated in a great punch that launched the Spike back into the control panel. Electrified, Spike was reduced to a puddle of goo as the full spectrum lights snapped on! Likewise reducing the troublesome Gremlins all through the facility, and indeed the ship to puddles as well.

The video feeds from around the Sanctuary and elsewhere on the ship all came back on as well. The heroes inside that were able to quickly met in the War Room, to scan the ship and be certain they got all of the gremlins. The cameras on the roof were damaged, with only one functioning and even that had been knocked over during the fighting. Showing only the boots of the heroes that had left to deactivate the maser arrays there. Their boots, and one other set. A large black set of boots, resplendent with gold buckles and fur lining.

Switching on the audio feed the heroes inside heard the conversation from the roof. Knick was thanking someone for his help, without the mystery person deactivating that last maser, it would have exploded! A deep voice replied with a jolly ho ho ho chuckle. "I was happy to help Kal-En. I am a reserve member of the Justice League after all. We all have to do our part" Everyone laughed and then Knick asked in a hushed voice the question he had always wondered about. "How do you do it? How all of it in just one night?" The magnificent black boots walked closer to Skyboy. "It's a secret, but I'll whisper it to you. I know you'll never tell." A moment later Skyboy whispered in awe how it all made sense now. Then the happy baritone voice announced he had to go now, it was his "busy" night after all.

Desperately the assembled heroes inside tried to reposition the camera, succeeding, but only partially. The camera followed those black boots to the runners of a great sleigh. In front of it reindeer hoofs pawed anxiously at the roof. The sleigh lurched as if a great weight settled in it, and suddenly Impulse's enormous feet were beside it. Reverently he spoke as he stood on tip toes. "You dropped this...your hat." With another jolly ho ho ho chuckle the voice replied. "Thank you Bart, you've been a very good boy this year." Then in a louder voice, as the heroes inside stood slack jawed, he cried out. "On Dasher! On Dancer! On Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen! Rudolph, full power!" A red nimbus of light appeared from off camera along with a whistling sound as the sleigh pulled rapidly away. Knick confidently commented as it did that there was really bad fog over London tonight. Zenith laughed and said Rudolph was magic, he could tell. Then from high above came the echoing voice of that Jolly Old Elf. "Merry Christmas To All ! And To All A Goodnight!"

The Orphanage Program

Young Justice, and by extension Unity, did not have the best working relationship with the D.E.O. The metahuman youth camps the government created were one source of that conflict. One that came to a head when the team discovered a secret facility operating in the mid-west. Usually the X-Men and New Mutants teams were tasked with taking down the bases, but in this instance it was just a matter of being in the right place in the right time. Which was a good thing, as the base was bait for a trap.

Skyboy and the team's newest member, Nathaniel 'Nate' Grey went to investigate it, as they were close. Arriving at the secret facility the heroes initially observed from a distance. They planned to do little more, having contacted a number of news agencies to try and call out the facility indirectly. But they were forced to intervene directly to save the life of Michael Van Patric, codename MVP. Skyboy literally interposing his body between the young hero in training, and an energy blast that otherwise would have vaporized a portion of his head. The blast just spilling around the invulnerable super teen like water.

With the appearance of the heroes, the base went on high alert and the government sponsored superteam The Ultimates were called out from where they had been waiting for the X-Men. The D.E.O. was embarrassed publicly again though, as Skyboy pointed to the skies, where a number of news helicopters were already broadcasting the story. Given the number of runaway kids, as well as children who had been 'liberated' from their families, they had been out maneuvered again. MVP chose to come along with them and became the newest member of Unity, taking that distinction from Nate. Knick outfitted him with an energy based weapon generator, which defaulted to a plasma based shield which MVP could throw as needed against opponents. Given his family's ties to the Super Soldier project it seemed fitting. So Unity's newest member became their own Captain America junior, in function if not name. However the newest distinction was to be short lived.

Pick a Card

The team encountered a young man with a talent for card tricks, who called himself Shuffle. But these were no ordinary card tricks. Tommy Amarant was a full-blown mage with amazing powers, which he demonstrated and utilized via cards. He was a showman, and sometimes some of his comments made Knick very uncomfortable. But there was absolutely no questioning how effective he was. Before long, he was a regular member of Unity, as if it was predestined that he would be. As one of the most powerful members of the team, with a wide array of diverse spells, Tommy would often make the difference between victory and defeat, and even life and death for the team.

But he had secrets to be sure. A background he didn't like to speak of. Just where he had come from and how he just burst onto the scene so suddenly were cards he kept close to his chest. He knew someday the past would catch up to him, but for now, he had a place he belonged. He was willing to gamble that when the time came, and his past caught up to him, these friends would stick by him and help him make a much better future.

Osiris

Having heard of the operation Knick had performed on Freddy Freeman, one of the Teen Titans approached the Kryptonian hero and explained his situation, which was very similar. Osiris was in essence the Black Marvel families equivalent to CM3. He too had been left unable to walk, and in an act of charity for his wife's brother Black Adam had granted him a portion of his power to help him. In a moment of history repeating itself, Knick once again performed very similar surgery, and physical therapy on Amon Tomaz. Just as he had Freddy Freeman in the past.

Osiris had a very challenging time as a hero. He meant well, but hard luck seemed to follow him wherever he went. This culminated in his accidentally killing a member of the Suicide Squad who was torturing his sister, Isis. Osiris meant to only tackle him away from her, but in his haste and lack of familiarity with his own strength he literally flew right through him. Osiris was devastated, and started to believe his powers were in fact a curse. The press turned against him, and the Black Marvel family as well and Osiris was asked to leave the Titans.

However the damage was not as bad as it might have otherwise been. With members of Unity speaking up on his behalf, including Skyboy and CM3. They certainly did not advocate murder, but Persuader had been torturing his sister, and the attack was not intended to be fatal. It was a horrific and terrible mistake. Osiris moved into the Sanctuary to continue his heroics with Unity.

Though the operation was more difficult, as the extent of the damage was greater. Amon's therapy actually went faster as his injuries were more recent. There was less atrophy in his muscles for one thing. Once his physical therapy was concluded some weeks after he had moved in, Amon changed back to Osiris and rushed back to Khandaq to share the news with his sister and brother-in-law, only to very nearly be murdered by Sobek, a crocodile-like humanoid that was actually an agent of Intergang posing as Amon's friend.

When Amon returned to his unpowered form to display his ability to walk again, he was attacked by the reptilian traitor, who lunged to bite him in half. Knick intervened, though, as he had been following Osiris, just to be there when he delivered the good news. Sobek found it hard to bite anyone with a jaw full of shattered teeth.

His life saved by Skyboy, Amon called out Black Adam, and returned to his empowered form of Osiris. He had lived with him for some time, and they had grown very close over the period of the surgery, and therapy. Much as Freddy Freeman once had. To say nothing of how his reputation as a hero existed still in no small part to the Kryptonian teen.His legs now functioned again, and now he would be dead if not for him.

Spontaneously Osiris kissed Knick, just as Isis and Black Adam entered the room. Outraged, Black Adam banished Osiris from the kingdom of Khandaq, even over the protests of his wife, Isis. He stopped just short of stripping Amon of his powers and displayed a very intense dislike of Skyboy which just about that time was more than returned. Broken hearted, Osiris returned with Knick to Sanctuary Island. He remained there with the ship as his new home, and the team as-his new family.

Infinite Crisis: Prime Attack, Mercury's Sacrifice

As a thank you for his various friends that had attended the lifemate ceremony on Tendax a few months before. Knick bought tickets for most of the extended teams to go and see a concert together. In the middle of one of the sets the stadium was attacked by the Superboy of another reality. Not just a different timeline, as the team regularly dealt with. But an entirely different dimension, Superboy Prime. Prime's powers dwarfed anyone on the team. A groundstrike in Metropolis was literally felt as a earth tremor in Australia. With a single punch he was able to knock CM3 unconscious and out of the sky.

Most of the team was injured in the initial attack, and the majority of those left awake were just not in Prime's league. Not that anyone on earth really was. Thankfully Prime's inherent heroic tendencies started to overcome the brainwashing he had been subjected to almost immediately. With some help from the team questioning why he would be wearing a S shield and hurting innocents, Prime was able to throw off the hastily crafted post hypnotic suggestions. His true personality asserting itself once again. Horrified by what he had done, he tried to explain. But before he could really even start, another stranger arrived on the scene.

Initially the team believed the new comer to be Superman, an understandable mistake given he essentially was, just not the Superman they knew. Kal-L, the Superman of an Earth, and a reality, that no longer existed. Slightly older that the Superman they all knew, both he and Prime had been living in a thought receptive pocket dimension ever since a great crisis that had nearly ended all realities years before. Referred to in the Justice League files as only the Great Crisis, the file had very little details on just what had really happened. But the entire cosmos was threatened by a being known as the Anti-Monitor.

The dimension they had been living in had been attacked by Darkseid, who required the powers of another resident of that pocket dimension. Alexander Luthor had been born on Earth 3, in a time before the Crisis. He was gifted with the ability to open flawless spatial doorways between realities, and timelines. Something Darkseid apparently desired. Though the notion of an Earth with a number designation meant nothing to anyone present, Kal-L promised he would try and explain everything. It was then that they noticed that he was somewhat injured, no doubt from the attack.

Before anything else could be said, or done, Darkseid's torturer Desaad appeared in a BOOM Tube. He used a device to stabilize both Prime and Kal-L's dimensional signatures, absorbing their vast powers and reducing them both to the power levels they would have had if they had instead been born in the dimension they were in now. Then, apparently in an effort to silence Kal-L before he could relay any further information, Darkseid's omega effect sizzled through the open BOOM tube.

The beams were said to never miss, and Kal-L was already weakened dramatically. Both from the first confrontation with Darkseid, and now losing the majority of his powers. There was no question they would kill the weakened and aged Superman. Would have, but Mercury intervened. The liquid metal hero coated Kal-L and acted as a living armor for him. Taking the blast, but at great cost. Falling away from the elderly Superman Mercury, Eddie the heart and soul of the team, slowly froze into a fused state. With no signs of life, Mercury was dead. Since it's inception, it hadn't happened, but Unity lost one of it's own that day as Darkseid killed Eddie. Mercury died a hero to allow Kal-L to live, and relay the information he knew to the team.

Infinite Crisis: Universal Truths

In a meeting on the Justice League Watchtower Kal-L explained the true significance of the Crisis from years before. The lost history of the infinite Earths. The Crisis that had taken place several Earth years before Skyboy had come to call this timeline home. Hypertime itself had been born when a being of amazing cosmic power, The Anti-Monitor, had attempted to eradicate the multi-verse. The predecessor to Hypertime, the multiverse, was an infinite number of dimensions all vibrating at slightly different speeds. Each subtly or sometimes radically different from the others. Created when the Maltusian Krona dared to seek forbidden knowledge about the universe. Kal-L had been the Superman on an Earth where he was active since WW2. Prime was the only hero of the Earth he had called home, and in fact had never publicly revealed himself.

The Anti-Monitor had originated in the Anti-Matter universe, something Knick knew a little bit about, having fought his evil doppelganger from there in the past. The Anti-Monitor had been using the intrinsic nature of it's dimension to wipe out the positive matter dimensions one by one. Great sweeping white walls of anti-matter eradicating everything in their path as they swept through entire dimensions, destroying all positive matter. Expanding the anti-matter universe, and the Anti-Monitor's power, with each reality so destroyed.

The Anti-Monitor was opposed in these efforts by The Monitor, a being whose power was once the equal of it's opposite, but was slowly in decline as a result of the loss of positive matter dimensions. The Monitor built what Kal-L described as enormous cosmic tuning forks to save the last several positive matter dimensions from the Anti-Monitor. Realities that were then merged into the single reality that existed now, freeing them from the threat of the Anti-Monitor as a result.

Not one to give up easily though the Anti-Monitor travelled back to the dawn of creation itself. In an attempt to destroy the single remaining earth dimension at it's inception. As a result of the interference, Hypertime was born. Reality attempting to reassert the multiverse within the confines of what was still available. One Earth dimension, but with nigh infinite time lines. The battle against the Anti-Monitor at the dawn of time was all anyone had recalled about the Great Crisis, as all memory of the multiverse had passed when the remaining Earth's had been merged into one reality. The last remaining heroes fighting there had been Kal-L and Prime, as everyone else evacuated through Alexander's portal. In the end they escaped to the paradise dimension with Alexander, and were forgotten by the heroes present as reality was reborn there at the dawn of time.

It was revealed by Kal-L that Darkseid had actually assisted in the Anti-Monitor's defeat. Using Alexander Luthor as a conduit for his Omega Effect. He attacked the Anti-Monitor at a critical moment in the conflict to devastating effect. It was a connection that he had never relinquished apparently. Darkseid seldom squandered a resource that way. Even one that might only play a part in some scheme many years later. Such was apparently the case with Alexander.

Using Alexander's powers Darkseid was able to find and capture someone most people thought was only a legend. The only person ever born with absolute understanding, and control over Hypertime itself. Jonathan Kent, the son of Superman and Wonder Woman from a timeline where Superman had come out of retirement to lead Earth's metahumans in taking over the world for the good of everyone, and ultimately learning that humanity would never accept that. Using Jonathan Kent's powers Darkseid began compressing hypertime back to a single point. Just as it had been at the dawn of time.Through special equipment to channel Jonathan's powers Darkseid and his Elite also benefitted in another manner. Each time line so compressed allowed the Lord of Apocalypse and his minions to absorb another version of themselves, growing more powerful as a result. Without the proper equipment it was a benefit only they enjoyed however.

Darkseid was convinced that the Anti-Life equation had been fractured across hypertime. That it too was complete at the dawn of time, but spread across hypertime since then. By causing hypertime to implode back to a single point, he would finally be able to possess it, and rule over the one single reality that resulted utterly and completely. Just what convinced him of this after so many other attempts to possess it in a single timeline, well that was a mystery.

Soon after Kal-L's revelations the first effects of hypertime collapsing began to appear. Magic became unreliable, as the mana streams were being disrupted by the collapsing timelines. But worse Darkseid had used his new power to accomplish what Dracula had failed at months before. He freed Kulak to cripple powerful opposition from the likes of The Spectre, Doctor Fate, and The Phantom Stranger all at once.

But things were no better for those whose powers were not of a mystical nature. Superboy Prime's attack allowed the D.E.O. to garner the support it needed to sanction The Sentinel Project. A knee jerk reaction to the exaggerated threat the D.E.O. convinced key politicians the meta-humans in general represented. Towering hunter/killer robots had been designed with the capacity to counter and adapt a broad range of metahuman powers. They also did not readily distinguish or care if you were identified as a hero or a criminal. It was a very dangerous time to be a metahuman.

The most enigmatic event over the next few days however was limited to a select few. Several members of the team were approached by a coalition of cosmic forces, calling themselves The Quintessence. Comprised of The Phantom Stranger, Zeus, Highfather, Ganthet, and the wizard Shazam. From them, the heroes approached were given cryptic clues that were to lead them to aid. In the form of five beings of great power, whose abilities would be needed if the universe was to be saved, and there was any hope to defeat Darkseid.

Infinite Crisis: Operation Sentinel

With Project Sentinel the D.E.O. effectively declared open war on Earth's metahumans. As a direct result of Prime's attack a force of no less than a hundred towering hunter killer robots was released. Each able to adapt to metahuman abilities to better combat them. Hero and criminal alike were targeted, always with deadly force. Villains and heroes alike were forced to go underground just at a time when many of the latter were needed the most. Otherwise they were facing potential execution in the streets.

About a quarter of the total first wave descended on Bayville Massachusetts, targeting the Bayville Academy. It had taken the D.E.O. a long time to find the location of the X-Men and New Mutants. But they at last had, and they wanted to make an example out of them immediately. The Home of the X-Men and New Mutant teams came under attack. A mixed force of those recovered from Prime's initial attack just days before defended the school, and defeated the attacking Sentinel forces. Both Xavier's academy and even the Brotherhood of Bayville were evacuated to UNITY for safety reasons after that. Leading to Quicksilver and Avalanche joining the team. Like Bedlam before them, they rapidly discovered that there were far greater perks to fighting with the heroes, than against them.

Before a second flight of Sentinels could be launched, Robin lead a team to the Rocky mountain base where they were being manufactured. His mission to stop production of the killer robots occurring at the same time as Superboy's mission to help stabilize magic once again. Skyboy remained behind at the Sanctuary building a device he hoped would assist with stabilizing the compression of hypertime. He saw both teams off, wishing them well, and his love. This time without the reluctance he might once have had. They had all been through to much together. Even in the agonizing face of losing Eddie, he had faith in those he loved, and knew they would win. Both teams set out at once in different shuttles, heading to separate parts of the world.

Along with Robin went: Inuyasha, Obsidian Spider, Spider-Man, Animus, and MVP. They discovered that the pinnacle of Sentinel technology, the artificially intelligent super sentinel code named Nimrod, had taken over the Rocky Mountains facility. In the course of the combat the base's auto destruct was initiated. Though the team rescued the facility staff and successfully deactivated the remaining Sentinels, the fate of Nimrod was uncertain. The robot displayed both shape shifting and local teleportation ability, so it could have escaped to plague the team again in the future. Or it might have been destroyed in the explosion. There was no way, and no time to be certain either way. But the D.E.O.'s sentinel production line was dealt a crippling blow. Though they no doubt had other facilities, it certainly sent a message to them loud and clear.

In the course of the Sentinel scare Thaddeus "Thad" Thawne codename Inertia arrived at Sanctuary island. He sought refuge with team, after having been attacked multiple times by Sentinels. Like Bedlam before him, he was allowed to remain but with some precautions. But even after just a few days of actually being welcomed someplace, and a rather lengthy heart to heart talk with Skyboy, he started to show signs of reforming. He knew leaving was suicide, and really this wasn't so bad what they had here. Though his rivalry with Impulse somewhat remained. Much the same as it had with Bedlam as well.

Infinite Crisis: The Quintessence

During the defense of the Xavier academy several of the most powerful members of Unity, including the cosmic energy manipulating Starchild, the card mage Shuffle, and Bedlam were attacked by Kalibak and Mantis leading a squadron of Parademons. They were supposed to flank the sentinels attacking the academy, but never were able to make it there as they were attacked first. Kalibak and Mantis both displayed much more powerful abilities than they had previously demonstrated. The effects of the hyper temporal compression. The battle was indecisive as the forces of Apokolips were called back to guard a powerful artifact called the Magna Gem. The very item Superboy would be leading a team to retrieve.

Just prior to the start of the battle however the team saw a ghostly image trying to relay a message to them. Jake Hawkins wielded the mysterious Uni Force as The Guardsman. He had been a part time member of Unity, but was banished back to his own time line by Darkseid. He was still using all the power of the uniforce to try and send the team a warning though. Just what it was though, they could not yet make out.

The Phantom Stranger approached this small group and brought them before the Quintessence. They were charged to find five cosmic beings of phenomenal power that would be needed to stop Darkseid's plans. The champion of the Uni-Force, The Atomic Angel, The Lord Adept, The Phoenix, and The Orphaned Mindlord. Without them, reality would not survive, and Darkseid would reign supreme over all that remained.

They of course already knew Jake, and they had encountered the Phoenix on the way back to Earth from Tendax. That left them three others to discover, and potentially rescue from Darkseid's schemes. Over the weeks to follow they managed to find each of them. The Atomic Angel, StormHawk, was the son of Firestorm and Firehawk from an alternate future. His power to control all matter and energy was nearly godlike in scope. Julian Alister, The Lord Adept, was a mage from another reality as well, the son of Atlan the wanderer and Queen Titania of fey. Making him half brother to both Aquaman and Timothy Hunter. He wielder magical skills unknown in this timeline, as well as powerful magical artifacts. The Orphaned Mindlord was none other than Will's father, Dr. William Black. It was a title that the team was unaware of, but he was easily enough found and contacted when the connection was made. All were somehow ambushed, or removed as a threat by Darkseid, often just by distracting their attention elsewhere. The fact that several of the beings included likely rivaled Darkseid for raw power once again lead Knick to speculate that Darkseid had to be receiving help. Just who would help with such an insane plan? That was the question.

Infinite Crisis: You Have To Believe In Magic

In times of extreme trouble or danger, when the threat was truly cosmic in scope, the Justice League often turned to the raw power of Earth's magical community to lend their support. This crisis in Hypertime was no different. Only foreseeing that possibility Darkseid had taken pains to make magical energies unreliable. The lord of Apokolips had once diced against The Phantom Stranger with the fate of Earth as the stakes, and would not make the same error in judgement again. The very act of collapsing hypertime was bad enough, already disrupting the mana stream throughout the cosmos. But that was not enough, Darkseid went a step further.

He released a magical entity whose power rivaled that of the Spectre itself. Kulak, high priest of the dead world Brztal. Some months before the vampire lord Dracula had sought to release Kulak as well. He had been defeated and Kulak remained imprisoned. Infuriated at how close he had come to release. But now the near entity level arcane being was released, and disrupting magic even more just through its very presence. Leaving all attempts at casting any spells chaotic and unreliable.

The various magical beings and mages concluded that the mana stream would need an a lengthy period of time to stabilize. Or a large enough radius where it was calm once again to correct the problem. Skyboy made the analogy that they literally had to 'reboot' magic for it to function again. By stabilizing a large enough area, the mana stream would flow into that region, stabilize, and carry on that way out the other side. But it would need to be a very large area to really give them any hope of success. But as this would allow magic to be used as an effective and reliable weapon once again, it was something they could not afford to fail at achieving.

As teams were sent to retrieve magical items and artifacts, Knick set about building a massive amplifier. Much like the tuning forks Kal-L had described from the first Great Crisis. His rudimentary knowledge of magic serving him well in this case. With it constructed all they would need were enough artifacts to plug into it. The function of the artifacts didn't even matter, just the fact that they were mystical in origin, and were in the area of stable magic. Each artifact would increase the area by orders of magnitude, based on the number of others and their relative power already plugged into the amplifier. But they needed a focus first, and that was team Superboy's mission.

Superboy lead a group to South America in search of the magic amplifying Magna Stone. With him were Zenith (Sol-Zen's heroic alter ego), Cannonball, Iceman, CM3, Namor, Osiris, and Powerboy. Powerboy had some reservations, as he would be fighting against former allies. But having found a place where he belonged, love with Skyboy, and a life away from the fire pits of Apokolips he had no desire to return, and no illusions about what would happen if he ever did.

The team encountered Kalibak and Mantis who had been sent by Darkseid to guard the object if they could not aquire it. The warriors of Apokolips had their powers enhanced just as Darkseid had. But the team new this after the previous encounter, and Knick had taken plans to counter that. Using a device that Skyboy had designed, similar in function to the one Desaad used on Prime and Kal-L, the playing field was levelled. Their extra power was negated for at least a brief time leaving them much more vulnerable. They villain roster however also now included an insane Daxamite youth named Ol-Vir. But even with his help they villains were defeated in a explosive battle. In desperation Kaliabc activated a techno-seed, and summoned the giant plasma beast Brimstone!

With the raw power on their side however, Superboy's team was able to defeat the forces of Apokolips, and destroy the Brimstone construct, forcing them to retreat. They discovered that the enmy had been guarding a temple that they had not been able to enter, or damage. Zenith's wild magical talent allowed him to pass through the mystic wards and barriers on the ancient jungle ruin, which glowed with his symbol when he entered. Inside, he found the Magna Gem, and he was able to retrieve it easily thanks to his magical nature. The team would return with the Magna Gem, the first artifact required.

In fact they returned with one extra combatant than they left with. When a group of poachers heard the noise of the battle and went to investigate, only to be harried by a ferret along the way. That ferret in seeking to escape the poachers dropped down onto Zenith's shoulder as he left the ruin. In a flash of magical light the ferret was mystically bestowed with Kryptonian like powers. The poachers walked out and realized they were not getting away as soon as they saw what awaited them in the battle ravaged clearing. But one of them was at least determined to kill the damn ferret that had plagued them and lead them to ruin. He fired unerringly at the little ferret, only to see his bullet flatten against the tiny creature. He then faced a wrath like none other he had ever experienced. As the tiny form launched at him like a little fuzzy cannonball. Displaying the entire range of Kryptonian powers, Zenith adopted the ferret and named the new addition to the team Acme, the super ferret.

Infinite Crisis: Destination Atlantis

The Magna Gem proved a good starting point, as it stabilized a small area around the tower by itself when placed within it. For about a mile around the island magic was stable again. But they needed much more raw magical energy to stabilize the mana stream completely. That meant more artifacts plugged into the tower, amplified by it and each other. Thankfully the entire heroic community managed to pull together and acquire many of them without incident or struggle.

Included among them were: The Ibis stick delivered by CM3 from Ibis himself. The Philosopher's Stone which was being studied by S.T.A.R. Labs and was recovered by The Flash . The Ruby of Life and a Black Eclipso Diamond both recovered by the Justice League. The Trident of Lucifer, donated to the cause by Blue Devil. The Orb of Ra was delivered by Osiris and Shuffle, but only after a tense stand off with Black Adam who wanted the object as well. His temper over Osiris and Knick living in the same place had not cooled. In fact it was significantly worse.

He would not have his family name sullied, as Billy Batson's was over the Freeman boy. A cringe worthy moment as nobody was aware that anyone knew about CM3's relationship status outside the team. Even with Shuffle's help talking Black Adam down, he remained determined to fight them if need be for the orb. Only reluctantly did he heed the wisdom of Zehuti when the plan was explained to him. Understanding that the orb would be of greater benefit to the world, and by extension Khandaq, with Osiris rather than with him. But the occasion cemented that Black Adam was no ally of Unity despite his brother in law being on the team. If anything, perhaps with his anger unchecked still, he was better counted as an enemy.

The item that was believed would be the easiest to retrieve naturally, ended up being among the most challenging, The Trident of Neptune. Namor had made inroads into this timeline's Atlantis since his arrival months before. In no small part thanks to Knick's technology, which allowed Namor to come bearing gifts. Specifically the ability to clean the surface dweller's pollutants from the sea surrounding the Atlantean cities with waste disposal nanytes specially programmed to clean water pollution. With Namor's help, as well as the teams connections with the Justice League, an audience was arranged with Aquaman. But as the team arrived they found themselves unwillingly involved in the political intrigue of the submerged nation.

Aquaman was missing, and visiting United States Congressman Rep. Greg Hartman had already had several attempts made on his life. Through investigation the team was able to discover that a cabal of villains were trying to gain the Trident of Neptune, and take over Atlantis to use it as a base of operations. They naturally did not want to see better political ties between Atlantis and the U.S. government, and so were trying to disrupt the Congressman's visit. What they had not counted on was the sudden involvement of so many surface dwelling heroes. Defeating a cadre of shark and whale motif villains including King Shark, Tiger Shark, and Orca the members of Unity were able to use them to find out where Aquaman was being held. As well as who the true villains behind the plot really were.

Ocean Master had teamed with forces of Apokolips, The Deep Six. But worse still they had another ally in the form of this time lines Namor! Thankfully the three camps of villains were as ready and willing to fight one another as the team. Realizing that the time was coming when they would all be at cross purposes, as they all wanted the Trident and Atlantis for different reasons. Ocean Master and Namor both wished to possess it to secure their desired positions as King of Atlantis. While the Deep Six were sent to retrieve it by their lord Darkseid.

With the villains in disarray, fighting among themselves as much as any of them, the heroes were able to overcome them. Winning the Trident back, and freeing Aquaman from where he was imprisoned. In gratitude Aquaman released the Trident of Neptune, temporarily, though only to Namor. The team also gained a welcome and unexpected ally in the United States political process, in the form of Rep. Hartman. He would prove a lasting friend and ally to the team in the days to come.

Infinite Crisis: The Monster Maker

Across the globe additional battles were fought as Unity and others sought out magical artifacts. The Sentinels of Magic recovered The Spear of Destiny, which had briefly been lost to the Four Horseman of Apokolips. Gudra's Lance was in the possession of a new Nazi movement. Composed of a core super villain group calling itself the 4th Reich, backed by ties to the Khundian empire. The same group that had attempted to destroy the Statue of Liberty months before. They were defeated most poetically by the JSA, and the lance recovered. But the most intense battle came trying to wrest the artifacts connected to the Justice League foes the Demon's Three. The Silver Wheel of Wyerlath, Green Bell of Ulthool, and Red Jar of Corlythos.

The Horsemen of Apokolips were protecting the objects, after having lost the Spear of Destiny. As with their defeat the first time Knick had fought them back on Avalon, they once again summoned The Leviathan. However after the first encounter with the elemental eradicating nightmare Knick had a much better idea how to defeat it this time. Tracking it's power supply back to where it was being sent to the monster, to help maintain it's form and substance. Dessad was once again guarding the Apokoliptian generators which resembled a small fire pit. With the team acting in concert the beast was destroyed, Dessad fled, and the heroes triumphantly recovered the items.

The Justice League felt that if the team was facing such serious menaces though, they might require more firepower. Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Firestorm, and Green Arrow Connor Hawke were assigned as liaisons to Unity. The first that the JLA had placed despite so many other teams having done so. They in turn reported directly to Batman, who elected to keep a closer eye on the group now as well. It was welcome help, that would come in handy as they sought the last item they needed for the tower. The range was many miles now, stretching for much of the Earth. They knew they had little time before Kulak would respond to the challenge the tower represented.

The Stone of Life was in the possession of Dr. Douglas Birely, Ph.D. A once respected scientist, he had become unhinged after the monstrous melee in Metropolis when the Disaster Monsters fought off the invading armies of Meta-Saurs. Now calling himself Dr. Demonicus he was using the Stone of Life to mutate normal animals into new Disaster Monsters! This apparently did not make for a happy working relationship with the current crop of Disaster Monsters. They returned from their banishment months earlier. Drawn by his usage of the Stone of Life, and the challenge the new monsters represented. In the course of the battle the heroes managed to acquire the stone. Wrestling it away from Dr. Demonicus as he raged against the destruction of his monsters, and how he needed the Stone still to continue to quicken them against their much more powerful challengers.

In the end the entire island complex, dubbed by the deranged Dr. as Monster Island, was shunted into the timeline where the Disaster Monsters ruled unopposed. An entire reality of monsters, in a perpetual state of conflict. In his demented state Dr. Demonicus refused to leave the island, and was shunted away with it. The heroes realized they couldn't save him and escape with the Stone of Life simultaneously. Spider-Man quipped that hopefully Demonicus was light on his feet there, as he was significantly smaller than the natives. The final artifact needed was now secured.

Infinite Crisis: The Tower Completed

With the addition of the various magical artifacts socketed into the tower, magic began to stabilize once again. All of Earth was now acting to stabilize the mana stream. Kulak sensed this and attacked directly, but found that his power was matched by that of Shuffle and Zenith working together in concert. Their own magical abilities amplified hundreds of times over by the tower, and the mystical artifacts within it. Kulak was overwhelmed, and sealed away once more. With the High Priest of Brztal imprisoned once again, the many powerful mages of Earth were able to prevent Darkseid from compressing any more timelines together. But this only lead to Darkseid becoming desperate, and so more dangerous still.

Up until now Darkseid had been using Jonathan's power like a surgeon. Again suggesting to those that knew him that he was not calling all the shots. It was an uncharacteristic display of reserve on The Destroyers part. That tactic was abandoned in desperation now though. Darkseid began using brute force, and the white walls described by Kal-L returned once again. This time not representing anti-matter, but rather the edges of other time lines being crushed together by the mad god's power. Not even the collective power of the magicians of Earth could stop him given how many alternate timeline versions of himself he had absorbed.

As in the first crisis, a tower was used to halt the effect once again. The prophecy of the Quintessence came to fruition as the five assembled cosmic beings agreed to be hooked to the power amplifying tower that had already stabilized magic. Their collective power, amplified by the tower and the artifacts froze Darkseid's compression of the remaining time lines in place once again. Even the Dark Lord of Apokolips still had some limits, and they had been reached. Sadly they could not reverse the damage that had already been done though. Which spoke volumes about just how powerful the Destroyer had become. No, greater ingenuity would be required for that.

The timelines had to be manually pushed and pulled back and away from Earth. In a metaphysical sense of course. Already global communications had ceased thanks to the walls, and people were accidentally stumbling through them and being absorbed into other hyper times entirely. Darkseid could win through attrition based on the staggering chaos that he had already caused. They had to separate the various hyper times quickly, or face defeat through having no Earth left to fight for.

Skyboy pointed out that moving a timeline was not a question of scale. It wasn't like trying to move a planet, or some other celestial body. It simply required raw power, the proper hypertemporal know how, and a focus. Through his years of study on Hypertime, Knick knew how to go about it theoretically. Slight alterations made to his hypertemporal ring and failed phantom zone projector should allow it, with the right calculations which he was confident he could make. The focus they would have to search for as there was simply not enough time to build and properly test one. They knew they would only get one shot at it before Darkseid retaliated somehow. But as for the the power supply, that they knew right where to get.

Infinite Crisis: No, Anakin! No!

A team was dispatched to the Dominion homeworld, the same race that had tried to tear away Earth's atmosphere with a gamma ray burst during Knick and Kon's lifemate ceremony. The generator built by The Dominion would be sufficient to provide the power that would be required to start moving the time lines back into their proper places. If only there was a way to navigate there past the white walls. It was a desperate chance, but one they had to take.

With Star Child's ability to absorb and process cosmic energy, he could absorb power from the generator and alter it as needed for their purposes. He could then empower a large enough tractor beam array, augmented with the technology Knick already had access to, in order to literally push the timelines back where they belonged. But even the tractor beams on UNITY were not large enough for the task. Thankfully there was literally millions of timelines that could be searched for one. Impulse, Inertia, and Quicksilver began searching through the white walls, wearing smaller belts with the same technology Skyboy had used to make certain they were not absorbed into alternate hyper times when Glorith had attacked them previously. Safe from the threat of being absorbed, the speedsters began exploring neighboring time lines for what was required.

Meanwhile team G, in search of the generator, found themselves in the middle of an interstellar war. A coalition of alien races had declared war against the Dominion for their invasion of Tendax. The pleasure planet was considered a neutral territory respected by even the most warlike of all the galaxies species. This was the retribution the other alien species felt the Dominion deserved for having ignored that. The team was thankfully able to sneak past the planetary blockade in the confusion that had resulted in the war being interrupted by a cosmic threat. Landing they locked onto the strongest local power source and acquired the weapon and generator with minimal resistance. Minimal for the team in any event, as the Dominion was in little position to offer a great deal of resistance. The threat of the gamma wave burst weapon was the only thing that was maintaining the stalemate between the Dominion and the forces arrayed against them. With it's removal the planet was certain to be invaded with ground troops. Even as the team started the return trip to earth it was beginning. Chances were pretty good that the Dominion was not going to be causing any trouble for a while.

Team T, seeking the tractor beam array, initially had little success. Only three members of the team were both fast enough, and available to search. Of the three only Inertia had a solid idea what to look for, thanks to his experience with advanced technology. Their search turned up a tangle of hypertime lines that all seemed to weave around one larger branch. Like streams and tributaries feeding in and out of a larger river. There was a great deal of highly advanced equipment present in each, including starship technology. It appeared to be the safest bet. While the speedsters kept searching for likely candidates, Knick and a team went to search the promising time lines.

In the first of them the team arrived on a barren, desert world. Quicksilver had found a settlement there with a space port. There was also a number of shops with a lot of various tech oriented looking equipment. All of it in various states of repair, and disrepair. It was all above Pietro's head, but it was the first place he had found. Upon inspection it was mostly beyond salvage. A small human looking child that worked in one of the junk shops was very helpful though. Offering to guide the team around to help them find what they were looking for. He was bright, and inquisitive wanting to know what the white walls were, and where the team came from. He also turned out to be an amazing pilot, zigzagging between the walls on a homemade racer with ease. Unlike many others, who were spiraling into the walls and becoming lost to other realities. But the shop simply lacked what was required, and none of the others had anything to offer either, so the team moved on to the next time line.

The second time line in the grouping they investigated had the team arrive on a planet that was covered by one enormous city. There Robin's adaptive powers latched onto an unusual power source, one he had felt in the first time line but much stronger here and now. As if concentrated in some way in the enormous world city. He was able to use that power to fortify himself, and use a variety of mental abilities. Including among them telekinesis, bio-physical control, and a degree of mental domination.

A search of the area turned up a lot of technology. In fact there was to much to search through with the little time they had. Knick used telescopic vision to scan as much as he could in a short time. While doing so he witnessed a high speed chase through the air over the city. One of the people involved literally leaped from an air car and fell hundreds of feet onto another car. Amazingly Knick recognized him as the same child they had seen in the last time line, though in his late teens now. The equipment Knick was carrying registered that in some way the variations to this particular timeline, the many variations they were visiting, seemed to revolve around his actions. His choices were shaping things much more than was normal for any one person in any given timeline. But ultimately this was still a dead end. With no tractor beam array large enough to serve their purposes, the team again moved on.

Thankfully the third lead provided what the team needed. Though it required fighting past a number of white armored troopers. All armed with rudimentary but dangerous blaster weapons. They arrived at the place Inertia indicated fast enough, realizing along the way that they were actually onboard a space station. One so large it rivaled the comet empire in size! Two of the armored troopers were just reactivating a massive tractor beam relay. Before they could even finish wondering out loud how it had been deactivated, the heroes knocked them unconscious and took the device apart for transport. Even at superspeed it took minutes to do the array was so large. Heading back through the facility, they witnessed an old man in a brown cloak fighting an imposing figure in black armor.

They both wielded coherent energy blades of some kind, each with deadly skill and near perfect accuracy. Before anyone could react to stop it though, the old man just seemed to give up. His armored opponent showed no hesitation, the elderly man was struck down with a killing blow. It left everyone paralyzed for a moment, Robin especially who literally felt his spirit join the the odd energy field that he had learned was called The Force by the locals. All hell broke loose then, with blaster bolts flying everywhere. A quick glance with X-Ray vision left Knick gasping in horror. Beneath the armor that was literally keeping him alive, that hideously burnt cybernetic monster was the same boy from the previous time lines! Whatever choices he had made between the three timelines brought him to this horrible state.

Even with everything they were facing, Knick tried to do the right thing. On the way back to their own timeline he snatched the teenaged version of the cyborg out of the free fall over the world city. His name was Anakin, Anakin Skywalker. Knick showed him an image of what he could end up becoming. What he might end up doing in that future. Somehow, he felt like he owed it to that innocent kid back on the desert world to try and help him not to become a monster. Then he quickly left, as he had a job to finish, and literally it would require moving worlds to do it.

Knick wouldn't know it for several weeks yet, but showing the young man the images worked better than he could have hoped, though in a rather unexpected way. Just after he left, Anakin leaped through the white wall in pursuit. The contact with Knick's shielded body giving him enough lingering protection not to be absorbed into the new reality. Fleeing from a destiny he found to horrible to bear. Because he recognized that old man, and any future where he killed a man he thought of as his brother, was not one he cared to be a part of.

Infinite Crisis: The Final Crisis; Superboy Lost=

With the parts assembled back in their own timeline, Knick and the gathered heroes set about returning the various timelines back to where they belonged. It was only the first step of course. Darkseid would also need to be confronted as well. But as Star Child focused the energies of the Gamma WaveBurst generator, Darkseid's forces unleashed a veritable onslaught to try and stop them. A last desperate attempt to keep the heros from moving the time lines back into place. The fighting reached a fevered pitch. Both sides knew that they literally could not fail in this. Everything was riding on the end of this battle, all of reality itself could be lost. In the course of the battle, Superboy flew into an entire squadron of Parademons. Tackling them back through a BOOM Tube that then snapped shut.

That was about the moment Skyboy just lost it. Flattening Kalibak with one rage filled punch that sent the unconscious giant into a different time line. But all the rage in the world couldn't bring Kon back, and Darkseid had to be stopped. A mental interrogation of Darkseid's elite by Nate Grey and J'onn Jonzz indicated that the mad god was somewhere in the vicinity of Oa. Earth's heroes rallied, and large groups began searching the entire quadrant. Darkseid had to be stopped, and then Knick was going to find Kon, and Rao help anything that got in his way.

On the very same moon that the Monitor had been born on, Darkseid was discovered. Skyboy, Prime, Shuffle, Starchild, and several other heroes all engaged him. His power was staggering, the sum of nearly all of his hypertemporal counterparts, he was immune to virtually anything the heroes could generate to try and stop him. In fact, he literally toyed with them. Explaining his plans, and revealing that he had in fact had an accomplice. With contemptuous ease he slapped aside attacks, and the heroes in general, as he monologued.

Meanwhile on the Planet Apokolips, Kon had found himself in Dessad's lab. The cowardly lacky initially tried fighting the Teen of Steel, failing that he fled. Superboy searched his lab, discovering the containment device that he had used to drain Kal-L and Prime of their other dimensional power levels. He also found another prisoner from another hypertime. Mark Grayson, otherwise known as Invincible.

The Viltrumite hybrid hero had investigated the white walls that were plaguing his time line as well, and was overwhelmed by Darkseid's forces and dragged to Dessad's labs. Dessad planned to study him, as Darkseid could make use of a species such as his. Together with Superboy they forced their way through waves of Parademons. Finally cornering him, they forced Desaad to transport them to the fight as well. Kon was hell bent for leather that he was going to be there to help his lifemate. But though Desaad sent them he made certain Darkseid knew they were coming as well.

Back on Oa's moon Darkseid turned to the Boomtube that was delivering Invincible and Superboy to the battle. Having grown tired of the entire charade of a fight, Darkseid announced they would be the first to die. His eyes glowed, and Knick had a split second to glance between Kon arriving, and Darkseid's Omega Effect powering up. Leaping forward, he slapped his left hand right over Darkseid's eyes, screaming NO!

The flash of light was blinding, dazzling everyone. As vision slowly cleared, Darkseid was bent over clutching his blasted, cracked, and blackened face. Knick was unconscious, his entire left arm gone all the way to the shoulder. Utterly disintegrated by the blast he had stopped. The heroes were horrified, Prime literally moved to the point of dropping to his knees beside Knick.

After his initial attack, not many people trusted Prime. He had been the start of all of this, had been brainwashed. What if there were other lingering hypnotic commands? But Knick had believed in him, he trusted him and pushed others to as well. That was why Prime was part of the mission, Skyboy's trust was all that had saved him, and now Knick was ruined. Ruined by this monster.

Kon flew into a rage, dropping the device with Prime's power as he flew at Darkseid and began beating him in his ruined face over and over. With nothing left to lose the other heroes joined in as well. All save Prime who collected the device as he was still leaning over Knick. Prime was no technical genius, the device really was simple enough to use. As he watched the heroes fight, he knew this was where he belonged, not some thought receptive paradise dimension. But with these people who accepted him, maybe even loved him. As he stared at Skyboy, he knew what he had to do. These new friends had no hope against Darkseid, not unless...

This was what being a hero meant. The power inside the device would permanently restore his powers to their former levels. He would be godlike in this dimension, in this timeline. It might even allow him to defeat Darkseid by himself. But chances were good only he would live through that fight, a fight that would no doubt crumble the moon they were on, and possibly destroy Oa itself. His choice made he instead used the device to temporarily boost ALL the heroes powers to the levels they would have been before the first great Crisis.

Suddenly, they were all gods. Shuffle couldn't just wield magic, he felt as if he were magic. Reality shaped to his thoughts like clay. Superboy and Invincible could move planets if they tried. Change the face of the galaxy and move faster than light. Star Child's energy blasts would make the sun seem weak by comparison, and if he tried he could absorb one without effort.

Darkseid was on the defensive before he knew it, and then suddenly found he was losing! Cracks appeared in his rocky body, the raw stuff of hypertime itself started to leak from him. Literally losing cohesion, losing control of the limitless possibilities contained within him, in the form of the vast majority of hypertime itself he had absorbed.

Finally, Superboy punched him in the gut and Darkseid staggered back doubled over in pain. As he straightened back out his body warbled, and bulged out in various places. Distorting in grotesque and terrible ways. Throwing his head back he screamed to the heavens, and literally vomited out all that could or would ever be.

Hypertime.

In a cascade of colors, and half seen ideas, and imagination the heroes saw old friends, and potential future friends as well. Dreams and nightmares tantalizing and so so real looking. Worlds where they hardly recognized themselves, but knew it was them. They saw themselves live and die and triumphs and tragedies great and small. Every variation of their lives they could imagine and then tens of thousands they could not hope to, all there. The very stuff of countless realities spread out from Darkseid's screaming jaws, like a sparkling geyser of color and light. Pictures forming within, and lost just as quickly to several dozen more. Hypertime, was restored.

Using the remaining power he still had, Shuffle cast a spell to restore Knick's missing arm. Groaning Skyboy woke up, staring up at the dazzling display, and at the anxiety riddled expressions and he smiled. He knew immediately, they had won. The people he loved most in life were safe. Then he simply fell asleep, his body needing to rest after the trauma it had endured. It would be more than a few hours before he woke up. Superboy carried him to the home they all shared, victoriously.

Infinite Crisis Aftermath: The Rebirth of Hypertime

Mercury's fused form was placed on the beach he so loved, a memorial to the fallen hero. Days after though while there on the beach the air seemed to melt and ripple. Knick and the few others present had no idea what to expect, and then Brainiac appeared. He had been the hidden partner whispering in Darkseid's ear. Just as Knick had suspected, the crazed AI lived on, his body now entirely mechanical once again. He taunted those gathered, for though the team had not been destroyed, he knew he had inflicted the most terrible of wounds on Knick. Wounds he would make sure ran deeper still. Before anyone could act, he disintegrated the Mercury statue and vanished with a haunting metallic laugh.

Knick devised the most powerful weapon he had ever created and tracked Brainiac through hypertime. To a timeline, and a world the mad robot used as it's base of operations. An entire universe devoid of life thanks to Brainiac. Only machines existing only to build more machines. Weapons to exterminate life in Brainiac's name. Not one, but multiple WarWorlds being built.

There with no regrets, Knick detonated The Time Bomb. A weapon that literally destroyed that entire hypertime by severing it, and folding it back in on itself. Creating a temporal paradox, a loop in time. He couldn't be sure if Brainiac was within, but even if he wasn't the robot's truest power base gone forever. Grieving over the loss of Mercury, now fresh again, Knick went home.

A home others would come to share in the days and weeks to follow as well. Mark was unable to return to his timeline and though grief struck over the home he had lost, he moved in with the team. Invincible was nearly as powerful as a Kryptonian, and together with the various other heroes that now comprised Unity, the team was actually becoming a match in raw power for the Justice League. A fact that did not exactly sit well with Batman.

Anakin Skywalker found his way to Unity after a few days as well. He never said why he left his world, but given what they had seen he didn't have to. He had used the Force which it seemed was either universal or had reached this time line through Anakin himself, in order to track down his benefactor. There was never any question about where he would stay, he had given up his timeline because Knick had tried to save him. His place was with Unity now.

Even the avatar of the magical warrior named Link, from a mystic realm called Hyrule appeared. He arrived tracking a powerful and evil magician from his realm that had slipped into this one in the chaos, Gannon. Possessing a new champion the avatar granted this Link access to all of the magical weapons and equipment wielded by those before him. Knowing that it would all be required in order to fight the opposition he might face on this dangerous new world. With nowhere to call home, he too fell in with the team. Keeping his skills sharp by routinely sparring with Inuyasha, Dante, and Wily-Kat. Unity's newly dubbed sword squad.

Call Him Hero Zero

In all the confusion of the conflict elements of other worlds had been merged with Earth. Thanks to the nature of Hypertime, it was as if they had always existed, but they brought with them additional conflicts as well. A futuristic city on the west coast, Golden City, succeeded from the United States. Leading to potential problems and a possible military standoff.

But the enigmatic leader of the city state, Grace, seemed confident her Agents of Change team were up to fending off any strike that was made. This was not an affair that Unity was going to become involved in. Not unless called on by their friend Senator Hartman. This was more the Justice League or the Ultimates ballgame anyway.

But the additional elements from other worlds would have an influence on Unity. One of the biggest of those additions though came from Cinnebar Flats New Mexico. The town had won a nationwide contest, and was the first recipient of a new device that Knick had designed. The 'Portable Park' technology would allow small towns to have customizable parks and recreation areas for kids, without the maintenance and expenses that would usually come with them.

While there to present it, Knick and several teammates were on hand to prevent a giant mutant horny toad from attacking the town. They rushed to stop it, and were joined by a size altering armored hero. Calling himself Hero Zero, he proved very capable in the field. They quickly discovered that the animal was just scared and managed to calm it.

Both Hero Zero, and "Horny" would come to be regulars on Sanctuary Island, and UNITY above. With Hero Zero joining the team and Horny living on Sanctuary island below. It was a good fit for both hero and monster, even if several members of the team begged Knick not to name the enlarged reptile that.

Horny joined the Dinobots, who assisted in guarding the island. As well as a lot of genuine dinosaurs that had been collected in the fight against Desedarius and the Dragon Queen. As well of course, Meg. Meg was Knick's other 'pet'. The last of the Megalodon that he had finally caught. Nothing like hand feeding a 60 foot shark to make you feel alive Nothing like it in life at all. Though it was an experience best reserved for those that were invulnerable. Meg tended to nibble, and swallow people whole.

The arrivals from Hypertime actually began to increase. Both the Time Lord of Gallifrey referred to only as The Doctor, and one of his associates visited the timeline, although separately. The Doctor himself came investigating fluctuations he had detected in time. Caused by Darkseid's recent attempts to crush all of hypertime together. He did not remain long, but with instrumentation capable of measuring alterations in time surpassing even Knick's he made some startling discoveries about the timeline post Darkseid. While once only one of many possible branches, this was now the main trunk from which hypertime was born and branched. This new information fascinated him so, that he quickly left to start charting the new time lines and divergences before even explaining it to anyone else.

The Alzarian teen Adric, one of the Doctor's earliest companions, was saved from certain death by the team. During a chaotic time storm in Metropolis caused when a being identifying itself as The Silver Surfer punched through time lines. In addition to Adric and the Surfer appearing, the time storm allowed the space dragon King Ghidora, one of the Disaster Monsters, to appear as well. The ship Adric was on had been thrown forward through time, and nearly crashed into Metropolis.

Skyboy rescued him, moments before the ship vanished in time once again to continue it's fatal plunge into the planet. Meanwhile below Impulse heard the Silver Surfer exclaim "Gal...ac...tus...they are coming." Hero Zero and several other team members were able to drive King Ghidora away as well, and the space dragon left Earth for the open reaches of the cosmos again. The Surfer was taken by The Ultimates, while Adric elected to remain with the team. There he would contribute his significant intellect in helping Unity in any way he was able.

In the days following Knick came to discover why so many more appearances from hypertime were occurring. In fact, it was almost as if he knew why, and was merely confirming it after the mysterious Doctor's arrival and hasty departure. He discovered the same thing that The Doctor had.

Hypertime had been reinstated in that time line. As a result, it was now the core timeline. The one from which all others would branch, winding and twisting for eternity. Hypertime was not just put back in place, it was literally reborn. Unknown to all, it was the first part of a prophecy. A prophecy answering a question that had been on the mind's of many Kryptonians just prior to the end of Krypton. Whatever Happened to the God of Tomorrow?

Project Prometheus

Having had more than a few problems with the federal government Knick was surprised when a representative of an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. contacted them. A situation was brewing and though the D.E.O. had the authority over the case, a certain Congressman Hartman felt it would turn into a debacle. Working through S.H.I.E.L.D. he was hoping to avoid that by asking Unity to go in first, and secretly. Having seen them handle situations with a bit of diplomacy involved in the past.

A scientist working for the government had apparently been kidnapped from a football game in Metropolis. One which Kon had actually dragged Knick to go and see. They had helped to quell a riot when the power went off, preventing anyone from seeing the winning touch down. It was all orchestrated so that the scientist in question, Dr. Daeadalus, could be spirited away in the confusion. The plan might have been clever, but with the resources of the United States government it was no question that he would be found, and now he was.

Dr. Daedalus was on the island of Crete, in the company of the new King Minos. Under the lead of the charismatic King, Crete was on it's way to becoming a thriving economic and scientific world power. But that was attracting a great deal of attention from many of the wrong kinds of people. King Minos had sought out Dr. Daeadalus in the hopes that the work on weapons design he was doing, might be turned to a more peaceful pursuit. A powerful defense for the island nation. Caught up in the utopian dreams of King Minos, the good doctor readily agreed. His contract with the United States government was an issue however, as they were not about to release him to work for another government. The 'kidnapping' was the less than elegant solution.

A Naval strike force, lead by the Ultimates was due to liberate the doctor in less than 2 days time, which left the team little chance to get to the bottom of things before an explosive deadline. The Ultimates were not well known for diplomatic solutions, which was exactly why the D.E.O. loved them so. Arriving on Crete, Knick and the team were met and greeted by Ariadne. Minos' daughter, and one of the islands three original super powered protectors. Ariadne was a sorceress, and rather accomplished for her age as well.

Joining her in the defense of the island were two other young heroes. The White Eagle and Talos. White Eagle was an albino teen ager, able to change into a massive white bird resembling an eagle. Talos was a young greek teen ager able to turn into an organic bronze like metal, as well as grow to enormous sizes. The three lead Crete's defense forces, acting as a combination police and military.

The Return of The Mythicals

An audience with King Minos was arranged, to be held after a welcome feast for the heroes that evening. They were considered guests of state, and afforded an entire suite of rooms in the palace of New Knossos, the capital. During dinner however the team met two other honored citizens of Crete, much to their shock and discomfort.

Arachne, and The Minotaur of the Mythicals! There were no open hostilities at the dinner. Though Minotaur was only just able to hold itself back apparently. Glaring across the table with undisguised hatred, and open hostility. Particularly at one member of the team, MVP. Which was odd as he had not been a member of the team the first time they fought.

Ariadne explained why that might have been on the way to the audience with her father. Pausing in a art gallery to show the assembled heroes that MVP bore a striking resemblance to Theseus! Mike had always believed that his physical skills were a result of the super soldier process his grandfather had invented. But seeing this, made him question if there might not be more to his family line than he knew. It was a question that would linger, with little way to gain an answer on the topic just now.

The audience with the king was pleasant, Minos was an excellent orator and charismatic king. He was however a bit of a poor judge of character when it came to some of those around him. He refused to entertain any thought that Arachne and Minotaur would be planning anything untoward, after all they had sworn fealty to Crete to act as her defenders. He was so enamored with the idea of them, mythical figures for a modern day mythical city reborn. So much so he refused to see them as any kind of threat. As for the Naval fleet, Minos was confident that the Prometheus Shield would be active by morning. The very project which Dr. Daeadalus had been brought their to construct.

Based around the solar anti-particle catalysts designed by Dr. Daedalus, the Prometheus shield would cover the entire island of Crete. It was designed to be proof against the most powerful conventional weapons available on Earth. A impervious barrier between Crete and the rest of the world that might try and take advantage of it. A way for the island to grow, free of military threats or outside super criminal attacks. A place of peace, and tranquility where the arts and sciences could flourish. To Knick, it sounded more like Krypton than anything he had yet to experience on earth. He was as taken with the idea as Dr. Daeadalus had been.

The team returned to their quarters with an important choice to make. To return with Dr. Daeadauls, and likely gain much favor with the US Government. Or to respect the doctor's wishes and make sure that the Prometheus shield was activated and Crete was safe. Unanimously, they chose the latter. Crete potentially had much more to offer the world than just another weapon. Dr. Daedalus' work was being put to better use on the island. With that choice made, they knew they had very little time. Less in fact than they actually knew.

The team split into three groups, each with different objectives that night. One group went to check on the Prometheus Shield, and discovered that Dr. Daeadalus had a similar idea. He too was checking on the shield. The second went to look in on Arachne's quarters. The spider woman had insisted on something well separated from the palace where she could engage in her own research as well. The third team was no team really at all. Hero Zero went to see if they could discover how soon the attack would be. His size changing ability allowing him to shrink to the size of a cell if need be, and remain unseen among the fleet. Each group was successful, in a manner of speaking.

The Web of Deceit

Arachne and Minotaur had rooms at the palace, as befitted their station. However rather than stay at the palace they had an old warehouse for building materials between New and Old Knossos converted to their needs. While nobody was there, the team searched what they could. They discovered plans for an alteration to one of the emission grids for the Prometheus Field that would turn it into something called the Mind Web. Arachne was up to something after all! Though just what this mind web had to do with her usual goal of eliminating the gods of old, that they did not yet know.

But her being up to no good was a truth further reinforced when the team was attacked by Minotaur and mind controlled Minoan guards. On their way through the labyrinth to the Prometheus Shield's power core. In the close confines Minotaur's sheer size made it difficult for the monster to fight, but the group was also hampered making sure Dr. Daeadalus remained safe. Growing enraged Minotaur smashed through several walls and retreated above ground. Dr. Daeadalus noticed almost immediately that his work had been tampered with. Clearly this was an assassination attempt so that he would never discover it, and nobody else would even realize. A desperate message from Hero Zero stopped any thought of immediate reprisal though. The attack was due to begin at first light, which only was minutes away!

Total War

Before the team could even regroup the first distant *THUMPS* of naval bombardment could be heard. Dr. Daeadalus needed time to undue Arachne's damage, and Arachne herself was still missing. The team would have to buy the Doctor the time, holding off the naval fleet, and finding Arachne. It was a three way race, where second place only meant you were the first one to lose. Not to mention there was the small matter of the Ultimates as well.

Already on her Mind Web, Arachne was sure this time her plans would work. The energies of the device would allow her to weave from the astral plane as never before. She would weave the Gods out of the minds of everyone that lived, and in their place they would all worship her, as their spider goddess! Without even the unconscious worship of mortal minds, the Gods would cease to exist, and she would finally have her revenge. If only she could activate the mind web before Dr Daeadalus repaired her alterations.

With half the team fighting defensively against the Naval bombardment, the other half tried to stop Arachne. The heroes of New Knossos saw a perceived ally being attacked by foreign heroes, just as the island was being attacked as well. It was an easy mistake to make, as suddenly hero fought hero with Arachne gleefully enjoying the show! Then things got even worse, as The Ultimates joined the attack as well. The air and skies were utter chaos as heroes fought heroes, all while the area was being shelled by the navy.

Skyboy punched Thor right out of the sky, creating a lasting enmity between the Thunder God and Kryptonian teen. Knick's body seeming to shimmer with a red glow as he did so according to those there to witness it. Somehow he even chipped a fragment from Mjolnir, which he kept to study. Ariadne, realizing the mistake, lead her team to start supporting Unity. Hero Zero and Talos grew to towering heights and wrestled Giant Man to the ground in the melee neutralizing him.

Just as Arachne was about to take control of the entire attack force, MVP taunted Minotaur. The beast had been trying to find him, and now at last it had. Minotaur roared, and then charged, slapping enemies and allies alike out of the way in a single minded attempt to kill the teen. MVP leaped like Theseus of old, up and over the monster as it reached him. Leaving Minotaur to charge into the shrieking Arachne's mind web! The explosion was as much psychic as physical, stunning everyone for miles around.

The Prometheus Shield

The entire dispersion grid flared with a brilliant flash of light. Arachne and Minotaur's silhouettes inside just seemed to evaporate away. As the dazzling white light dimmed and everyone's eyes and senses returned to normal the skies were a shimmering blue. The battle for Crete was over, because now the Prometheus Shield was activated! The shelling stopped immediately, not even the sound of it impacting ineffectually against the outside of the shield could be heard. Inside the Ultimate's knew that the battle was over. Thor's hammer wasn't even able to breach the dome. Caught behind enemy lines and outnumbered, they reluctantly withdrew. But clearly did not consider the matter over.

This was not the first time they had been embarrassed by a team of kids, but they were damn determined it would be the last. The few American troops that had landed, as well as the Ultimates returned to the naval task force. Given permission to go by King Minos despite the attack they had unsuccessfully launched. The Heroes of Unity were offered full time residence on the island, which they politely declined. King Minos declared they would always be considered heroes of New Knossos, and all of Crete. As well as always have their suites in the palace waiting for them. Knick would be a frequent visitor there, for a number of scientific functions.

Though there was some more enmity from the D.E.O. the government itself was placated when Rep. Hartman stepped forward. He explained how the matter could have become a major international incident if not for Unity. The heavy handed approach of the D.E.O. and the Ultimates did not gel that well with the current administration anyway. With the good will of Crete secured, the matter was considered closed. At least by the majority of the Government. The D.E.O. however, began planning the elimination of a certain team and several of it's affiliates. Enough was enough.

Damage Requires Repairs

Skyboy was contacted by Nightwing of the Titans with a problem, and something he hoped would be a solution. It was common knowledge that Knick was a doctor, he had used the skills at several points that were well documented in the heroic community. Nightwing did not know if that included and counselling skills, but he very much hoped so. Grant Emmerson, aka Damage, had come out and told Arsenal that he had been sexually abused as a child by his step father. Nightwing believed that this inner turmoil was part of the reason why Grant had so much trouble controlling his volatile powers. With Unity being something of a umbrella team anyway, he was hoping Knick might be able to help Damage and allow the Titans to contribute a member at the same time.

Feeling for Grant, he readily agreed to Nightwing's request. Unfortunately Damage initially believed he was just to much trouble, and so was getting pushed off on someone else. He was bitter and resentful about the change, and wanted little to do with talking to anyone on the shuttle trip to UNITY. That started to change when he saw where he would be living. Grant's eyes almost fell out of his head and his jaw hung open. Sure he had seen it on television, but it was different seeing it up close. Watching it just get bigger and bigger the closer you got to it. Knick smiled absently, yes the sight of a star ship the size of Manhattan Island does tend to wow the crowd.

Inside was no different, as the usually angry, and sullen meta-teen was just to amazed to take the time to resent 'having' to come live here. Though by the time he got to his room he found a new reason to be angst ridden. Now he was concerned that he would destroy all of this, lose control and with one explosion ruin everything, like he always did by his account of things. Of course prior to bringing him aboard Knick had done his homework. UNITY and the attached Sanctuary had no few amount of safety, and defensive systems to prevent intruders and detail those that were in a fight. Ordinarily, they simply were never seen in use as they had only ever had one intruder, prior to their installation, and nobody fought.

But Knick demonstrated to Grant by punching his bedroom wall with no small amount of force. A warning sounded and BDV asked in it's cool, mechanical voice if everything was alright. Aside from that and a the wall shimmering faintly, hats as bad as it got. Knick explained to Grant that the ships interiors were shielded with mono-molecular thin stasis shields. In addition stasis walls, and complete stasis immersion were possible. With his communicator and the ships internal sensors always watching his vitals for a potential explosion, the ship was in no danger. He literally couldn't hurt anyone here as he learned to work through and master his powers.

This was a life changing experience for him, relieving a lot of his inner stress and fears. He never imagined living someplace he couldn't cause any, well, damage. He understood now why Nightwing had requested this, it wasn't to get rid of him, but to help him.Grant video called Titans Tower to thank him, for everything he had done and by extension continued to do, by sending him to Unity. In addition Knick made time every one or two days to just talk with him. It took a while before Grant was ready to open up, but he did. Knick was nothing if not persuasive, and over time he could get through to almost anyone.

It still was a surprise for Knick though, when Grant admitted he was getting some feelings for Knick, as typically that worked the other way around. After all the time they were spending talking, getting to know one another, it was a feeling that was mutual. But also something Knick was keeping to himself. Grant had a vulnerability that made Knick just want to comfort him. For his part, Grant had been living there for weeks now, and he had eyes. He realized a lot of what was going on, and just how much Knick was at the center of so much of it. He had been a little afraid as he still had not mastered his tendency to cause a massive explosion at times when the energy charge in his body elevated past a certain point.

The Sanctuary alarms went off two times that night from explosions, before Knick muted them for Grants room. Which was good thinking, as they otherwise would have gone off four more times before the night was over. Grant mused as he tenderly made his way to the shower the next morning. There were benefits to having an indestructible love interest, even if you had to share him. Especially if you yourself tended to /really/ explode, well you know, then. He owed Nightwing another call, he wasn't just going to like living here. He was going to love it.

Thanksgiving

Around Thanksgiving Knick, Kon, and Prime were asked to be in the Metropolis Thanksgiving day parade. They readily agreed, though Kon dearly regretted it later. Superman was going to be dressed as Santa Claus, and Knick, Prime, and Kon were to wear elf costumes on the float. Knick found the entire idea amusing, though Kon was mortified that Robin was never going to let him live down pointy elf shoes. Sadly half way through the parade everyone had something new to remember it for. A giant mechanical monster attacked the parade, under the control of Braniac! The crazed machine was livid over the loss of it's power base months before and sought to kill all four Kryptonian nuisances at once. To insure it, Kryptonite rocks were fired among them, incapacitating them as the giant moved in for the kill.

Something about the way the enormous figure moved though struck Knick. He had seen it so many times before, in so many fights. It wasn't possible, and yet he still hoped against any shred of hope. He yelled a single long, plaintive word with the last of his strength "EDDDIIIEEEEEE!!!!" The giant stopped as inside of it, Mercury woke up. The metal meta teen turned on Brainiac with a primal howl of rage. In the ensuing fight he nearly beat the computer tyrant into scrap metal.

Defeated once again, Brainiac teleported away before it was utterly destroyed. Mercury quickly removed the Kryptonite, and the Kryptonians recovered in short order. The crowd roared their approval as a well known young hero was returned to the land of the living. Unity would have a great deal to be thankful for this year. Mercury was back among them. Though plagued with some terrible fears and phobias from his time as a living statue, and then the brainwashing that Braniac performed. He was once more with his friends, his family. Thanksgiving would never be more memorable, or happier. Particularly as Eddie returned to a family that had grown.

The additions of Elixir and Icarus to the Unity family came when they joined the Massachusetts Academy. Elixir was a golden skinned mutant who had an almost unprecedented level of biophysical control. Allowing him to heal or sometimes harm at a touch. With Wonder Boy routinely more and more busy with Amazonian matters, having another healer on the team was a major blessing.

Icarus was in fact Cannonball's younger brother Joshua "Jay" Guthrie. As his name suggested he was able to fly, as well as sing like an angel, and heal from very grievous wounds rapidly. His presence there made Sam a little uncomfortable for a time. But eventually the older sibling was able to set aside his concerns and give his little brother the same room to grow that he had been allowed. That room ended in a very similar place for Josh as it had for Sam. Leading the older brother to admit that the dinner table at the Guthrie house was going to be a little bit odd from now on. But Knick could always sit between them.

The Matrix Revealed

While helping on an archeological dig in Egypt Knick, Kon, X-Man and Iceman were attacked by powerful elemental wielders seeking something buried within the pyramid that had been uncovered. Using the item in the burial chamber the villains animated all of the statues within to attack the assembled team. The heroes had to help protect the Press Junket that was present, including Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen of the Daily Planet. With their attention divided the mysterious Wynd, Lytning, and Rayne escaped with an ancient and ornate looking chest.

Fortunately the act of animating the statues used a very unique and specific band of radiation. Over the course of several days the Skybot satellite system found minute traces of that energy, tracking it until it stopped in China. A team was sent to investigate, and arrived at an ancient castle. Standing before it was an even more ancient looking man. Identifying himself as The Mandarin, he refused to part with the item. Telling the heroes it was already being used against his enemies. To cover his escape, he spoke several words of magic releasing a ward. The dragon Fin Fang Foom was released from a cave near the castle!

The dragon was powerful to be sure. But Knick and the team had gone toe to claw against Godzilla, and this was no Godzilla. On the other hand Fin Fang Foom had been imprisoned for centuries and could not understand how these mere mortals were able to defy it! On closer inspection of Skyboy the dragon remarked that now it understood why he was so powerful, but it still would never yield, even to the likes of him. The comment made no sense to Knick, and was quickly dismissed in the height of the melee.

The beast grew more and more enraged until finally the team forced it to charge right back into it's cave in a swooping attack. Shuffle was able to reseal it by setting the wards once again in place. But the battle with the ancient dragon had accomplished just what it was supposed to. It cost them time. The Mandarin was gone, and the object with him.

The Warriors of Clay

Tracking the residual radiation north, the team discovered that the Terracotta Warriors of ancient China had been animated! 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry troops moving in formation to the south. A march that would take them through several heavily populated areas. Placing obstacles in their path did no good, as they swarmed over and around them like army ants. Even though they were a priceless national treasure, they would have to be destroyed in order to save something more precious, lives.

A tactic that proved easier to plan than to accomplish. Each clay warrior that was destroyed reformed within moments and continued on course, fighting back against anything that showed any aggression and destroying anything barring their way. It was virtually impossible to stop them, the heroes were barely managing to steer them away from the most populated areas. In the distance it appeared there was fighting back at the castle, and the sky rumbled with thunder and lightning. But the heroes had no time to investigate it, as the warriors were already entering populated areas of a city.

Then, in the middle of their march the Terracotta Warriors simply stopped. Some continued moving for a few brief moments, before they too froze up in the positions they were in. The thunder and lightning continued in the distance over the castle, but the flashes of light that had lit the horizon had stopped as well. With the immediate threat passed, Knick lead the team back to the castle. He could see even from a great distance there had been some sort of fighting there as well.

More Than Meets The Eye

Much of the castle was destroyed, having apparently been attacked with high intensity beam weapons as well as ballistic and high explosives. Scores of the Wynd, Rayn, and Lytning warriors lay scattered across the grounds, having been destroyed. Standing revealed to be golems of some sort. The Mandarin was no place to be seen, but prominent in the courtyard was the chest they had been searching for, laying on it's side, and clearly smashed open.

Before anyone approached it though there was a roar of engines approaching, quite a few of them. A half dozen cars and trucks pulled into the courtyard in formation behind a semi truck. Their headlights illuminating the scene, and the empty chest. Scanning the vehicles, Knick was surprised to see no drivers! Then the semi suddenly shifted, changing with a mechanical whirring, and clicking. It transformed into a towering robot that fell down on one knee and addressed them. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

The Autobots hailed from a planet that was on the far side of the sector that Krypton once inhabited as the Oan's judged space, sector 2813. The planet's name was Cybertron. A world where a techno-organic machine race was the dominant species. The buried relic they had been seeking was the Autobot's long lost Matrix of Leadership. It held the power to grant new life to their species, and was entrusted to the Autobots. Knick remembered stories of how his people had been allies to the people of Cybertron, but as he was only a child when his planet died, he was not well versed on them.

Optimus Prime revealed that Cybertron had a second form of life as well. The Decepticons were supposed to be the defenders, and soldiers of their world. But instead had tried to take it over and become it's subjugators. Thus sparking a civil war with the Autobots that had lasted for centuries, and now found it's way to Earth. Near the start of the war the Matrix of Leadership had been lost. Ejected into space to avoid it's capture by the Decepticons. It landed on Earth when the egyptian dynasties ruled, and was used as a magical artifact. Eventually sealed within the chest by Nabu the wise himself.

With the Decepticon's in control of the Matrix, their leader wasted no time in creating new and deadlier Decepticons. Sub-groups able to merge and become massive engines of sheer destruction. The Constructicons were all construction equipment and merged into Devastator. The Stunticons were all tricked out muscle vehicles, and they merged into Menasor. Finally the Combaticons all were military grade vehicles, and they merged into Bruticus. With this new fire power Megatron planned to rape the Earth for it's energy, then return to Cybertron and finally take over his home world.

Time to Get Prehistoric

But not if the heroes of Unity had any say in it. The Autobots and their heroic allies discovered the Decepticons in Florida. At Walt Disney Worlds Epcot center. A mistake on the Decepticon's part having lead them there. When they heard about something called 'The World of Energy', they had come in force. Battle was joined as the park was evacuated, and it was something of a stalemate. With the Matrix, the Decepticon leader Megatron was able to rapidly repair the damage inflicted on his massive combiners. Even damage inflicted by the likes of Skyboy and Superboy. But of course as powerful as those combined robots were, they weren't able to really harm Kryptonian level opponents in the least.

Then five objects dropped from the sky, like meteorites. Crashing through the roof of the World of Energy dinosaur exhibit and collapsing it. Dust and debris filled the air, and the battle stopped for a moment with the interruption. Optics and eyes alike blinded by the dense cloud of debris and smoke. Optimus Prime apologized to the heroes for the destruction. He had called for reinforcements, and what they lacked in subtlety they made up for in power.

Through the dust and debris movement could be seen. Gleaming metallic teeth, a massive clawed foot, gleaming robotic wings. Huge shapes moved through the choking dust, and slowly became visible. With five simultaneous roars of fury, The Dinobots walked the Earth. Realizing that they were on their side the heroes and Autobots alike cheered. Skyboy pointed at the Decepticon forces and yelled "Sick em!" Battle was joined again as the Dinobots teamed to tear Devastator apart. The tides slowly began to turn. The Decepticons became to damaged to continue fighting, and Megatron to damaged himself to use the matrix to repair them. Slowly all of them were rendered inert.

From afar the battle had been watched. A sorcerer, much younger looking now, but still clearly the man that had claimed he was the Mandarin, frowned. Behind him a towering, hulking figure gruffly mentioned that the prize had been lost. Four arms crossed it's chest in a smug gesture. The wizard sneered and agreed that it was a loss, but they had plenty of time, and could always destroy the Earth realm in other ways. A new threat to the Earth plotted, one that clearly had dark designs. The thunder rolled in the heavens, as the protector of Earthrealm stormed. A new Kombat was brewing, but it would be anything but Mortals taking part in it.

The autobots and their allies had won, and the Matrix of Leadership was reclaimed. Unknown to all at the time, the second part of the Prophecy of Whatever Happened to the God of Tomorrow was fulfilled as well. The children of Primus and Rao had now met once more. The stage was set, for the return. But first one child had to still arrive. And all of the children would need to be named.

Night Terrors

For some time Knick had been unsure if his ability to see the future was still active or not. The question was resolved when he had a dream of something terrible occurring in another Hypertime. A Superboy there was being killed in a strange device. Another teenager leering over him, but with a purple cloaked translucent figure superimposed over him. As that Superboy bit back a scream and fell limp, his body green from Kryptonite exposure, Knick woke up, though still in the dream.

Next to him Kon thrashed and then slowly disappeared from view, fading away like a morning fog. Prime staggered into the room and tried speaking, but there were no words as he too disappeared. All across hypertime, as that one Superboy died, all Superboys were erased from each and every time line.

With an anguished cry, Knick woke up for real. Kon was still there sleeping. Prime was asleep as well. But the dream, Knick knew it wasn't a nightmare. Somewhere a Superboy was going to die, a Superboy that looked so very like a friend Knick had once known on Krypton, Bri-Ahn. When he died, every Superboy would be erased, unless Skyboy stopped it. He knew, could somehow feel the hypertemporal address. He didn't question why, trusting it was a part of the sporadic precognition. Going there with the hypertemporal ring he had built months before was simple enough. It was a world similar to the one he was accustomed to. But there were some major differences as well.

Krypton had been destroyed by an invasion from an alien race. He eventually would learn other differences as well. Superboy was essentially a Kryptonian, but he had started as a human. A Kryptonian probe had altered his DNA and made him Kryptonian. Much as Skygirl's power had for her, and Sol's magic for Acme. The world would have other differences as well, and other heroes that Knick would come to know. All the while searching for the mysterious figure, and making sure that no matter what Superboy did not die.

Brian's World

Another change, and one that was decidedly for the worst. Kryptonite was also much more prevalent, brought to the planet through any number of sources. It was a dangerous place to be a Kryptonian. But Knick found that where once he was vulnerable to the Kryptonite of other time lines, now he no longer was. Likely something to do with being unconscious at ground zero when Hypertime was reborn. It was a trait others like Superman had always had, but he had not.

Many of the heroes were only subtly different. Robin, Impulse, CM3, Wonderboy and others. Some however only existed in one timeline or the other. Muscle Boy in this new one for example, or Mercury back in Knick's home timeline. Knick met Muscle Boy and several other heroes, but Superboy remained elusive. In the course of two months of visiting that world he had several near misses, at catastrophes and just searching for him, but it seemed Superboy was almost avoiding him.

Knick grew very close to Muscle Boy, who regularly flew with him when Knick arrived on that world looking for Superboy. Eventually, they met at a crisis when Superboy was being exposed to Kryptonite and Knick helped to save him. They began flying regularly as well, and Knick learned that Superboy's real name was Brian Comstock. He even got to meet several of his family and friends as they became closer.

He had told Brian about his dreams, and his fears. Brian had a hard time believing that anything was going to pose that kind of a threat, on that great a scale. But forewarned is forearmed, and so when he was beaten and taken prisoner, he was ready. Together with Knick and their other friends they managed to stop the threat, who had actually been possessing one of Brian's best friends. But the mysterious cloaked figure responsible for the plot escaped to continue plotting against Brian, and Kryptonians everywhere. Knick returned to his timeline, but left Brian a means to contact him should he ever be in need, as well as a promise to visit as soon as he could.

Jackson, Daniel Jackson

During the same period that Knick was visiting Brian's timeline off and on, he and several teammates attended a scientific symposium in New York. With his time split between two different realities it was good to do something with his loved ones home again. They were somewhat upset with him for taking the responsibility for this other timeline completely on himself. But he reasoned that if they went in force, they might just compel the mysterious cloaked figure to try this in a different hypertime that they wouldn't find in time. No it was better for the moment to use a bit of subterfuge, and the idea did have merit.

One of the speakers at the symposium was one Dr. Daniel Jackson. He was presenting evidence that the Pyramids of Egypt were much older than anyone believed them to be. The theories were not well received, despite the fact that even the Martian Manhunter had made statements suggesting the same in the past. Dr. Jackson was all but laughed off the stage though. Before he could rally and take control of the crowd again the museum where the symposium was being held was attacked by The Juggernaut.

The giant was seeking a magical gem, purported to be the object that granted him his powers. With the likes of Knick, Star Child, and Shuffle present though the Juggernaut was eventually overpowered and taken into custody. In the confusion that followed, and unknown to the heroes, Dr. Jackson was approached by government officials. They had a new job for him, just translating some ancient hieroglyphics. No real big deal, right?

Operation StarGate

Several weeks after Knick had concluded the investigation in Brian's timeline he was again contacted by Congressman Hartman. They exchanged some pleasantries, before Hartman mentioned that he and some colleagues were trying to get the D.E.O. replaced by S.H.I.E.L.D. They needed another feather in their cap though, and he was wondering if Knick and his team might not help out again. Nothing government related could have made Knick happier, as just recently the D.E.O. had tried to prevent him from entering U.S. airspace. As well as tried forcing investigations about the weapons onboard UNITY. Not to mention tried having one of his team mates arrested on trumped up murder charges, which ended in yet another non physical confrontation with the Ultimates. Oh yes, shutting down the D.E.O. sounded great.

A civilian had gone missing on a top secret government operation about a month before. Doctor Daniel Jackson had gone with an expeditionary team through a device the government was calling a Stargate, to the far side of the known universe. They had encountered a hostile alien race, and killed it with a thermonuclear bomb. When the rest of the team returned, Jackson elected to remain behind. Fearing reprisal from a now hostile alien species, as well as potential ramifications of a civilian being left behind on a military operation, the government was once again preparing to send in the Ultimates. Hartman and his colleagues felt that sending in a strike team to what should be a diplomatic situation was a poor idea. Given there was no love lost between Unity and the D.E.O. as well as them knowing Daniel Jackson the team readily agreed.

Without access to the Stargate the team was transported via Shuffle's magic to the planet Abydos in the Kaliam galaxy. A primitive culture there had long worshipped an alien that had posed as the Egyptian god Ra before being killed recently. Their culture was based around Egyptian society, still worshipping the gods of old. Dr. Jackson was discovered shortly after they arrived and was thrilled to see Knick in particular. He had an amazing discovery he had to show him as soon as possible. A sandstorm prevented them from going immediately. But the next morning, they were lead to a cave formation by Dr. Jackson.

The Krypton Connection

In a series of caves Daniel showed the team the cave paintings and writings that explained the origin of the alien Ra. Knick was startled to realize that it was the same species of alien that had destroyed Krypton in Brian's timeline. Ra had been the last of it's species here. Some slight alteration in hypertime leading to the species extinction in this timeline, as opposed to a world killing expansionist power. Deeper in the caves, there was still more though. An enormous circular chamber with nearly perfectly preserved script snaking along the walls of the room, from floor to the very center of the dome. Wrapping around and around in tiny script all the way to the apex. Where the red sun of Rao looked down at the team.

The writing was an ancient dialect of Kryptonian, one which Knick would need time to translate. But already Dr. Jackson and the heroes were theorizing on just what it meant. Ra and Rao sounded very similar, and both were sun gods. Could the Kryptonian god have been associated somehow with ancient earth? If they were, how exactly? The presence of the Kryptonian language on Abydos raised so many questions, questions Knick was now dedicated to answering.

As the rest of the team sought out the irradiated pieces of Ra's vessel that remained on Abydos for any clues they might hold, Knick remained in the ancient temple. Many hours later he was still there, when the others came looking for him. He announced that he would have to see Ganymede, or Wonder Woman. Something he had learned, with the little he had managed to translate, he needed verified. They would be returning to earth immediately. Sadly, both Diana and Ganymede were initially unavailable, the mystery lingered and haunted Knick, other avenues would have to be pursued to get the answers he required.

Tragedy comes with Cold

Knick returned to Brian's time line to be absolutely certain that Ra was the same type of alien that destroyed that timeline's Krypton. A meeting with Brian's brother Chad left Knick devastated though. Brian had been irradiated with Kryptonite and had died a hero's death saving civilians. Since then three of his friends that Knick had grown close to likewise had become Superboy, and also perished in the line of duty as well. Knick asked to see the bodies, and was brought to them by Muscle Boy.

Their bodies were perfectly preserved, their skin a bright green. It was as if the radiation would dissipate and they would just spring back to life. Even as he examined them, his eyes stopped filling with tears, and a odd nimbus of red light filled his vision. Something inside of Knick kept him confident that it would all work out for the best. A strange sense of inner harmony, of acceptance. That this was how things were meant to be.

Returning home Knick had little time to devote to the translation. He had been having trouble sleeping again. Another recurring dream in which he kept mumbling a single word over and over in both Kryptonian and English. Spurred by members of the team he resolved to look into it with the ships medical facilities. Nothing appeared to be wrong in any of the scans. Each night though he would mumble again and again, "Avatar." Little did he know, a similar phenomenon was occurring with all of the Kryptonians, and Kon as well. They were all having unusual dreams, waking up with different words on their lips and in their minds.

A transmission from Canada's Department H to the United States government caught Skyboy's attention. It was a broadcast for assistance, as Canada's equivalent to the Ultimates had gone missing on an operation into a remote area near Great Bear Lake. Images of the area from Satellite showed something massive hidden in the ice below the lake's surface. So large it jutted out along the shore where it was covered with snow and ice. The team resolved to look into it, and try and find the missing team Alpha Flight as well.

As the team arrived near the location, they entered a dense fog bank that was anything but typical for the time of year. The entire shuttle suddenly began icing over, outside, and even in! Literally freezing it right out of the sky! A cold so intense that even Knick could feel it in his bare hands as he fought to land the shuttle safely. The ship crashed into a nearly thirty foot deep snow drift as the heroes escaped it into a pitch black frozen north. No sooner were they outside then they heard it. WEEENNNDIIIIIGOOOOOOO.

The sound seemed to come from every direction at once. Many more then there had ever been in one place since Ithaqua was imprisoned again. Immediately the team knew this was bad, the freezing mist didn't cling so close to the ground, but there was no way everyone present could survive another trip through it, not without the brief protection the shuttle had provided. They were land locked for now if they wanted to stay together. Land locked in a forest full of Wendigo.

Thankfully the team received some much needed support. Zenith arrived, having followed the shuttle. After training with Shuffle, his wild magical abilities were becoming much stronger. They allowed him to surround himself with an aura of sunlight and warmth to get through the freezing mist safely. The cold reacted to Zenith's warmth though, and actually grew more intense as the heroes continued travelling.

Several miles from the crash sight they came across another shuttle frozen over in the snow. Less sophisticated, it had suffered more damage when it crashed. The snow was accumulating slower around the shuttle though, and a steady, strong chanting could be heard coming from within. As the heroes investigated they found Shaman of Alpha Flight using his medicine pouch to call on warmth. The other members of the team were all unconscious, and all in various states of change into Wendigo! How that could happen without giving up their souls, the team did not understand.

Shaman had learned something of their enemy, and explained to the team what they were facing. His voice weak from the time he had spent chanting. The enemy claimed to be a goddess of ice, named Cythonna. Knick paled hearing that name, as he and every child of Krypton knew who Cythonna was. According to Krypton's oldest religious texts, she had come seeking Rao's love. Appearing from space in the earliest days of Krypton. In truth though she wished the sun god to help her birth a terrible army of demons! Seeing through her lies the God of the Sun and the Goddess of Ice went to war.

Rao imprisoned Cythonna in the sun, and for centuries she remained there. Much later she escaped and Superman accomplished the same, imprisoning her once more. But now she was back once again, escaped once more from the sun. Worse still her power was allowing the Wendigos to repopulate once more. Realizing that he could be no further help, Shaman asked Zenith to take his pouch. He asked him to use it to help defeat Cythonna. With great reverence Zenith did so, placing the members of Alpha Flight in suspended animation to stop their change. Promising to return the Medicine Pouch to it's rightful owner soon, Zenith rejoined his friends.

The Beast That is Winter's Return Engagement

Cythonna planned to use her power to awake and release Ithaqua once more. So that she might have a husband with whom she could literally freeze the entire universe with. The heroes had little time to stop her, and a great deal of distance to travel yet to get to the Lake, the center of the disturbance. Realizing that they couldn't go over, they elected for another plan. Go under. Mercury altered his shape into a excavation vehicle and began to tunnel under the frozen Earth. However the Wendigo, realizing they would lose the heroes, finally attacked directly.

To cover the escape Knick and Kon remained behind to fight the hordes of Wendigo. Thankfully they received assistance from both familiar, and an unexpected sources. Following the distress beacon just as Zenith had, Osiris found Knick and Kon fighting the wendigo. His natural resistance to magic and invulnerability had allowed him to survive the magical fog. Upon seeing the desperate fight he joined in helping his friends. His raw power making him a peer to both Teens of Steel.Likewise another combatant arrived. Drawn from the magical vibrations of Cythonna attempting to wake Ithaqua, the minotaur like demon Mordred followed them. Though Knick was uncertain about it's true loyalties, there was no questioning it's power. The demon was able to claw to claw with the wendigo and easily hold it's own.

Together heroes and demon managed to stop the Wendigo. Osiris' summoned lighting giving them enough time to enact a hasty plan. Twin beams of heat vision refracted through a massive prism made by Mordred. The result cleared better than an acres of snow and ice, removing the Wendigo's main advantage of perfect camouflage. With that removed, it was more of a cleanup operation, though a hasty one as the snow would rapidly return in such conditions. The battle against the wendigo was won, their remaining number again retreating, melting into the frozen north. But of course Cythonna still had to be stopped as well. The other team had their work cut out for them fighting a goddess. But they would not be without help as well. Hope and Spring were both eternal, and both were after all green.

Hope and Spring Both Bloom Green

Zenith, Mercury and Redbird knew this would be a challenge. They had to find some way to overcome a Goddess that had nearly defeated Superman in the past. But the heroes were sure of their abilities, and even Red Bird refused to be afraid of facing Cythonna despite being much physically weaker than the others. Mercury and Red Bird fought her as Zenith used his magic, augmented by the Medicine Bag, to try and keep them all from being frozen solid.

The fight was not going well though, despite the medicine bag augmenting Zenth's magic, Cythonna was still able to flash freeze them in place. Red Bird's ingenuity and a device from his utility belt was enough to allow them to escape the ice and continue the fight. Thankfully just in time. The maelstrom portal through which Ithaqua would emerge was growing ever larger. The wind itself screamed Ithaqua, and from the corner of the eyes it whipped the snow into the shape of enormous clawed fingers trying to tear the portal open ever wider still.

In desperation Mercury used the small piece of Mjolnir which Knick had given to him. Using it he literally became uru metal, and giving up all inhibitions he attacked Cythonna directly with everything he had. Finally forcing the goddess to give ground. The uru metal form resistant to her cold and magic. But it wasn't enough, the portal was still opening.

Then a twinkling green light appeared in the sky and streaked right at Red Bird who was preparing to attack Cythonna again as well. The green dot resolved itself in front of him. Floating there and sparking, it was a ring. It spoke aloud to him then, and changed the very course of the fight. "Randal McNeil of Earth, you have shown the capacity for great willpower. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps."

Even unskilled with the ring, the most powerful weapon in the universe turned the tide. Cythonna was pushed back into the Maelstrom and clung screaming as it started dragging her in. Knick, Kon and Osiris arrived from their fight just in time to see Cythonna defeated. But as they did, the Ice Goddess stared in abject terror at Knick. Seeing something that, clearly, nobody else could.

She shrieked over and over that he was dead and gone, looking right at Knick as she shrieked it over and over. A strange red light played across Knick, Kon, and Zenith for just a moment. The barest fraction of a second before Knick replied in a slightly deeper voice than normal. "No I am not dead Cythonna, but you are defeated. Again." With a look of fear, and then resignation the Goddess simply let go and vanished into the portal. Trapped in the Yoke of the Elements with Ithaqua, her king, for all eternity.

Randal reported to Oa for training almost immediately, as an image of one of the Guardians instructed him to do, and Alpha Flight was restored. The Wendigo that still existed vanished to the coldest parts of the Northern wilderness again. A lingering threat, as always, and one very difficult to definitively confront. As for the secondary reason they came, Knick discovered a massive section of the Comet Empire buried partially in the snow and under the surface of the lake. Further investigation revealed it to be almost the size of the central region of the lake, virtually as large as a small city! He resolved to approach the Canadian government about removing it as a potential hazard. Within a month the debris was removed, taken by Knick to a secure location where he could study it. He had some plans for it, but they would need to wait. There was far to much still occurring at the time.

Whatever Happened to the God of Tomorrow: Supergirl

A meteor with a great deal of Kryptonite on it crashed into Gotham Harbor. Investigating it Batman discovered it was in fact a life sustaining pod. A teenaged Kryptonian female was shortly there after discovered wandering the streets of Gotham. Superman contacted Knick and asked him to look over a battery of test results just to confirm what Batman had already discovered. Batman was less than thrilled that he was being second guessed, but Knick was something more of an expert on Kryptonian physiology. Several members of the team found Knick asleep early the next morning in the Sanctuary's War Room, a hologram of Kara Zor-El hovering in front of him.

Once again Knick was talking in his sleep, switching through a variety of languages but saying the same word again and again, "Avatar." As he was woke up, he stared at the image of Kara, and in a half awake state said quietly, "Revivification." It was clear that the dreams were becoming more frequent, and Knick promised he would look into them further still. Likewise he was still working on the translation of the ancient Kryptonian from Abydos. But as a favor to Superman, he wanted to get these results to him first.

Knick and several of his friends were met on the Watchtower by J'onn Jonzz. He informed them that Superman was running a little behind but would be there soon. It came out in conversation that the Man of Steel was having unusual dreams lately, which brought up the dreams that Knick was having as well. Superman joined them, and through conversing with Brainiac Delta Five they discovered that Kon, Prime, and Zenith were all also having unusual dreams where they repeated a single word in every language they knew.

J'onn asked to do a scan of Knick's mind. In the course of it something very powerful, but very gentle, removed the Martian from his mind, something that had never happened before during any mind scan. Immediately after Knick and Superman both collapsed. Knick intoning in a trance like state 'Avatar' and Superman 'Champion'. Brainiac Delta Five informed them that Kon, Prime, and Zenith had all collapsed asleep simultaneously as well. Not to mention Krypto, Nightengayle, and Acme! Moments later they all awoke again and Superman left immediately to check on Kara. Knick and his friends left the Watchtower to try and discover what it all meant. Unknown to the heroes, even Bizarro and Doomsday were being affected.

Whatever Happened to the God of Tomorrow: To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

While brainstorming about it back onboard UNITY, the idea was suggested by Eddie and the newly minted Green Lantern Randal, that perhaps Rao was in some way connected? That simple statement triggered an event that spilled over throughout all of Hypertime. Each and every Kryptonian, in every timeline across all of Hypertime fell immediately into a deep sleep from which they could not be woke up. Across a countless billion billion timelines, they fell from the skies, dropped over asleep at work or even in battle.

They slept, and they each spoke a single word. Even the dead of Brian's world, their bodies perfectly preserved as if they would soon wake up. Their lips moved, and they spoke. Most spoke the same word, the planet they all owed their birth to. But more over they all dreamed of it as well. They all dreamt of a world that many of them had never known. They all dreamt of long dead Krypton.

For two days they were asleep. During which all hell literally broke loose across Hypertime. Without the Kryptonians assisting in keeping the peace super villains thought it was open season. The other heroes worked double time stopping super criminals that seemed to forget Earth's people had more than just Kryptonians guarding them and keeping them safe. All the while, something travelled back from the end of time. A growing disturbance that was soon detected, travelling ever closer, ever nearer.

In the dream, Krypton had never been destroyed. Kal-En had spent his entire life there. He had known Kon-El since almost the day they were both born. Everyone knew from the way they looked at one another that someday they would be lifemates. They had close friends in Sol-Zen, Kal-Ent, and Bri-Ahn, Kahn-L, and many others. But Bri-Ahn was a very deeply troubled young man. People whispered he was going mad, something that had been unheard of on Krypton since, well almost forever. Certainly in more than a hundred generations or more. He would say over and over again that something terrible was coming. That the world they all knew, was a lie. Just a dream, it was all just a dream.

Kal-En and Kon-El met as lovers were want to do, at the Firefalls of Krypton. Bri-Ahn was there as well, and stumbled over to Kal and Kon. The fevered, crazed look was worse than ever. Eyes hollow, with dark rings, and his skin a sickly green cast. Sweating, but a cold clammy sweat as opposed to from proximity to the falls.

Meanwhile at that exact moment on Earth, he appeared. Floating over top the Daily Planet Globe. Tattered purple robes billowing out all around without even the need for any strong wind, and glowing red eyes shimmering like hot coals from deep within the inky blackness of the hood. The Time Trapper had come.

Bri-Ahn finally settled in the dream, his voice finally calming and he spoke to Kal and Kon. "I remember now Knick, my name is Brian. We're friends, more than friends really. But I, well, I died. But that isn't important now, he is back now Knick. The Time Trapper is back, and he knows about us, all of us. You need to wake up now. You all have to. The Time Trapper is on Earth. Only you can stop him. Go and stop him."

With those words, the dream just shattered, and all across Hypertime, The Kryptonians woke up once again. Woke up with the feeling that this was not all just a dream. Knick recalled every detail. Kon had been there, and Prime, and Zenith. As well as Brian, and the other human born Superboys of his earth. It was not just a dream, he knew in his heart he had just left Krypton. But now he was needed on Earth.

Whatever Happened to the God of Tomorrow: Krypton Reborn

Knick remembered others there as well. Superman and Supergirl among them. The failed cloning experiments from back before it was outlawed, Bizarro? And the museum replica of the prehistoric cave dweller, Doomsday. Even the pets were there, he was sure of it. In flashes it washed over him, so much more than merely a dream. His parents, it brought tears to his eyes, his parents had been there.

In Metropolis the Time Trapper finally spoke, addressing apparently nobody. In a raspy, broken voice that echoed to every living soul on Earth. "It is over. You stand revealed, your plans transparent. Your day is done now, and with it you are all out of time. The destroyer has come for you old god. Face me in the only place this can end." Then the Time Trapper vanished again.

In the infirmary Knick has a happy reunion with his friends as he Kon, Zenith, and Prime tried to make sense of what happened. When the Kryptonians heard the Time Trapper, they all said in a trance like voice simultaneously that he was 50 light years away. Looking between everyone Knick leaped off the medical bed and headed for the War Room, yelling as he did. "I have to...I have to see!"

In the War Room Knick's fingers flew over the keys as he tapped in coordinates that were relayed to Skybot satellite systems spread across the galaxy. To nervous to just say the coordinates out loud. BDV announced as he did so that Bizarro and Doomsday had just appeared in Metropolis, both also apparently waking from a deep, trance like sleep. Prime muttered to himself "Mistake and Rage, great." But then wondered out loud why he had called them that.

As the holoscreen cleared Knick fell back into his seat, his eyes staring wide at what he saw, but could hardly believe. He answered, numbly all the pertinent questions in the room at once. "You called them that...because we all...we all have a title...a...a purpose...and 50 light years from Earth is the answer...The reason for it all...and...and the Time Trapper too." He brought the image on his screen up as a hologram above the war room table and stred mutely as everyone else in the room gasped. Nobody had any question what they were seeing. . "That is the answer...Avatar..."

Floating serenely in space was a green and white world that should be dead. Was in fact until just that morning, dead. Almost exactly 50 light years from Earth, and orbiting a red sun. Reborn, as if from a dream, or perhaps many, many dreams. The planet Krypton. Quietly Skyboy finished his verse as simultaneously across the multiverse every Kryptonian heard their title finished in their minds as well. "Avatar...of Krypton...."

Skyboy Avatar of Krypton Superman Champion of Krypton Superboy Heart of Krypton Zenith Soul of Krypton Superboy Prime Absolution of Krypton Supergirl Revivification of Krypton Superboy (Brian) Truth of Krypton Superboy (52 'verse) Sacrifice of Krypton Power Boy Song of Krypton Bizarro Mistake of Krypton Doomsday Rage of Krypton Krypto Loyalty of Krypton Nightengayle Nobility of Krypton Acme Innocence of Krypton

Whatever Happened to the God of Tomorrow: The Time Trapper

Krypton had returned to the Universe, and the Time Trapper was there, waiting for them to face him. The entire team knew they had to go, had to try and help somehow. But first there was the threat posed by Doomsday and Bizarro lose in Metropolis. That would have to be dealt with, and so the heroes went in force to deal with them.

Doomsday was to strong to fight head on, and they knew it. So the heroes fought to keep the monster off balance instead. Even still, the fight was still not going well, especially as Knick seemed to be stricken somehow. Weak and very tired, to much so to really contribute to the battle at all. Superman and Kara arrived, it was Metropolis after all, and The Man of Steel ordered Doomsday to stand down. The monster, somewhat predictably refused, and instead announced it would kill whatever was out there, after it killed them. Weakly, Knick said for them to use their names.

Mercury figured out what he meant, and yelled for Rage of Krypton and Mistake of Krypton to both stop! Both Bizarro, and Doomsday did so, looking as confused as anyone. With a pause in the fighting the team explained to Superman that Krypton had returned, and that the Time Trapper was there. Faced with that realization, they all resolved to go to Krypton immediately before the Trapper did something that might lay waste to the galaxy, like summoning a sun eater from somewhere in the time line. With Randal's aid in the form of a Green Lantern force bubble, the team left for Krypton immediately. Bizarro and Doomsday being brought in a second bubble as well as they could scarcely just be left behind.

On Krypton the various Kryptonians would only maintain their powers a brief time under the red sun. They knew they had to strike hard and fast to have any hope of winning. Knick appeared even weaker the closer they got, leaning heavily on Kon. Once on Krypton's surface even seeming a bit feverish. On a small rise, they found him. Mist spilling from under his robes and pooling around the base of the hill he waited on. Things seeming to move within it from time to time. Barely realized shapes and figures seeming to try and escape. The Trapper addressed them almost immediately, noting that Rao had brought his children, the Trapper said he would bring some of his.

Whatever Happened to the God of Tomorrow: Dark Truths

With an ear splitting *BOOOOOM*, psychos, mad men, and worse still appeared in legion, from all across time. The heroes were so vastly outnumbered it was staggering. Under a red sun defeating them all would mean having almost nothing left for the Time Trapper. But Mercury was already beginning to realize a terrible truth. Something he felt inside like ice water spreading through him. He shouted for the Time Trapper to reveal himself even as Hero Zero charged at the villain. Randal used his ring, and thinking along the same lines as Mercury, created a giant hand to yank away the hood. But it was hardly needed to determine their enemies identity. From within the hood, the Trappers eyes glowed steadily red.

"I am The Destroyer." "Cast to the very end of Time." Red Glowing eyes. BOOM...

The hood shredded as two beams of zig zagging brilliant red energy lanced out and crashed into Hero Zero's chest like an atom bomb. Throwing him back among the collected heroes. The remains of the hood, torn away by Randal's emerald fist. The Time Trapper stood revealed, the ruined, cracked and gaunt face was well known to the team.

Darkseid the Destroyer. The very Darkseid they had defeated when he absorbed almost all of Hypertime. The Darkseid they had all believed dead, and gone forever. He stood revealed to them now, as the Time Trapper. Somehow still alive, and very much still a threat.

The entire horizon behind Darkseid became his wasted, ruined face, which he then spoke through. "You nearly destroyed me! When Hypertime began again, I was cast to the ends of time itself. To the vanishing point, where perfect entropy insures all things end. I realized there as I healed, spared from the entropy by the residual power I still maintained. Was I not Darkseid? The Destroyer! It was not my destiny to merely control the anti-life equation! To control life through it. I was destined to absolutely END Life. All Life In ALL times. But to do so required careful movement through time. One thing that had to happen, the elimination of Superman. You thought I merely wished to erase Superboy from Hypertime. Fools, my goals were always larger, so very much larger. But even before you could die Man of Steel, there was another to contend with. Always in the way, from the very start. Manipulations through all of time itself, and always you were in the way! Isn't that right? Show yourself now Old God!"

As he was called out, Skyboy floated into the air out of Kon's arms, like a puppet hanging by strings. Arms outstretched at his side, and head slumped down. Suddenly the sky line behind the heroes took on another face. An older warrior, in golden armor, bronzing with age but still shining like a sun. His features were noble but also tired, very tired, his voice paternal like that of a father, or perhaps a grandfather. "Be of good faith, my children. For you do not fight alone." The light shimmering from his armor invigorated solar receptive cells, there would be no fear of being depowered any longer from lack of a yellow sun. Superman's eyes went wide and he whispered it, as perhaps only he could. "Great Rao..." Great Rao indeed. The God of Tomorrow, had returned.

Carry On My Wayward Sons

This was the moment the Time Trapper, revealed as Darkseid, had sought. Long had he labored to get to this point. As the Time Trapper It seemed that he was active only in the distant 30th century, that all of his designs were focused on that time and that one alone. Defeated time and time again by the Legion of Superheroes. The Time Trapper still sought dominion only then, in that one time. The reasons for his single mindedness were never known.

In truth it was because his most powerful enemy never was the Legion. Rather it was a god that was old when the New Gods were just being born into the universe. Rao, the god of long dead Krypton. Rao who had maneuvered through time positioning things for a final confrontation to stop the Time Trapper once and for all. His strategies bringing all of them to the surface of Krypton reborn. For a final battle that would decide the fate of time itself, and all living things.

The Time Trapper's face loomed across the horizon, staring with undisguised hatred at the spectral form of his most hated and intractable foe. "Finally you face me Old God! At last you have come home to die. Your strength wanes, your plans unravel. The beginning of the End, begins with the death of you and your children." Skyboy's body hung limp in the air, burning with fever as his body played host to the power of a God. Avatar of Krypton, and of Rao himself. The spectral form of Rao replied in a quiet, yet stern voice. "This is the beginning of the End, yes. But by your own hubris, your own certainty. It is the beginning of the end of you Darkseid." His voice over layered with the much weaker, but more familiar voice of Skyboy as he spoke.

Darkseid mocked the strength and determination of the gathered heroes, announcing that lest they forget, he could summon legions. To prove his point he spread his arms wide. But no BOOM followed, and it was only then that Darkseid realized his mistake. Krypton was no longer in the prime material plane, where time was a factor. Rao had shifted it to the Astral Plane where time was meaningless.

Darkseid was a Time Trapper, who was fresh out of time. In a mad rage the god directed the minions he had already summoned to attack. But Rao spoke quietly again as well. "Rage of Krypton, Mistake of Krypton." Doomsday and Bizarro launched themselves against the assembled filth of a dozen timelines. Smashing into them like twin tsunamis. Darkseid would receive no help from that quarter it appeared. Rao called to the gathered heroes to attack, and show no quarter, for Darkseid was without mercy. Something all the heroes immediately did, save Mercury.

Mercury was shaken to the core. For months he had avoided the beach, been terrified of anything that sounded like a BOOM. He had hidden it sometimes, but now faced with the very reason for those fears, he was paralyzed. Darkseid noticed him even as the other heroes attacked and directly addressed him. "Ahhhh Yessss. I remember you. You were the first to fall in our last confrontation. Let history repeat itself then!" Darkseid's eyes glowed, and the Omega Effect was released again.

Few things can dodge the Omega Effect. It tracks it's target relentlessly, so that it never misses. But some things could intercept it, as Knick and Mercury both had proven. Prime shouted as the beams zig zagged at Mercury. "NO! Not Again!!!" With a speed faster than he had ever travelled, Prime intercepted the beams, taking them in the chest and getting tumbled right past Mercury where he lay still, breathing shallowly. Absolution, the forgiveness of Krypton.

The shock of seeing Clark injured that way drove Mercury into a rage. Now he attacked alongside his fellow heroes. Still untrained with her powers Superman sent Supergirl to protect Skyboy and Prime, while the others attacked in force. Darkseid was thrown and tumbled by the titanic power of the massive Hero Zero and the enlarged Mercury. Punched with strength unrivaled in the form of Superman holding nothing back. Then tackled to the ground by Superboy. The Teen of Steel only knew that Darkseid had to be defeated. Maybe, well maybe he even had to die in order to get Knick back. If that was true, then he he was going to beat him to death himself.

The fight was brutal, violent like no fight they had ever been a part of. The stakes as high as anything the team has ever faced before. Darkseid's Omega Effect lashed across the image of Rao, but it was Knick that showed the grievous wounds, screaming briefly before flopping like a puppet once again. Superboy screamed as well, but in anguish as opposed to pain. He dashed to Knick's side begging Rao to let him help him. They were supposed to be one under Rao's gaze! Let them be one. Kon floated into the air, hand locked in Knick's and joined him there in the same pose, a nimbus of red fluttering across them both. Heart of Krypton.

Pieces of the mad god chipped away under the fury of the heroes unrelenting attack. Though Darkseid gave as good as he got, nobody was left unhurt, or unbloodied. The fight seemed like it might have no ending in fact. Right up until Darkseid skidded to a stop at Superman's feet.

Lifted into the air by Mercury, Darkseid writhed in the liquid metal embrace. Before catching notice of the Man of Steel. The very same Superman who then drew back and punched the mad god in the face. With a force that he had never allowed himself to unleash, it was a punch that would have split a planet, or reduced a small moon to dust. Darkseid's face splintered just as readily as that hypothetical moon would have, and with a bright flash of light only tattered robes drifted to the ground. The Time Trapper, Darkseid, was seemingly no more. Champion of Krypton.

Carry On My Wayward Sons: Triumph, and Tragedy

The heroes took a moment to collect themselves, to calm down after the battle that saw the end of this most terrible of foes. If such an enemy could ever be counted as gone. As Rao smiled down at them with a sad, but proud look. Around them Krypton was once again coming to life now that the cancer was removed. Darkseid's minions, as well as Bizarro and Doomsday appeared to be gone, or at least nowhere near by in the latter cases.

Superman pointed to Rao and asked him to now release Superboy and Skyboy. They had done what was required of them. The two super teens slumped to the surface of the reborn world and Superboy started to move. Only to freeze in place, tears starting to flow immediately. His voice hollow, and choked with pain as he spoke. "I can't feel him."

From the day they were joined as lifemates, Kon and Knick often felt what the other felt. They could hear one another's thoughts, even finish one another's sentences. Ever since that day on the astral plane, where the red glow had surrounded them both. Now, for the first time since that day Kon could no longer feel Knick. Which could only mean one thing. Skyboy, Knick Alen, Kal-En of Krypton, truly was gone, he was lost to them for real this time.... He was dead.

Superboy screamed and physically flung himself at Rao, restrained only by Superman. Knick's body looked almost younger, as Kara pointed out. Much as he had looked in the shared dream most of them had been a part of. Knick's friends sank down next to him, unable to believe what they were seeing. They each glared up at the God of Krypton, and Superman demanded an explanation in a voice that no longer held any note of respect. As the stars appeared once more in the sky, Rao nodded wearily. This they were owed.

Rao surveyed the grief, with a sad look in his eyes. "To answer your questions, I must tell you a story. A story from some time ago now." He looked down at Skyboy's body and heaved a heavy sigh. "Once upon a time, a child of Krypton came to Earth. It was not this Earth, in fact it no longer exists since Hypertime was reborn. That boy was Kal-En." The very air seemed to change around them all, images formed to illustrate the story he narrated.

Skyboy appeared in a costume none of them had ever seen. The first costume he ever wore looked much more Kryptonian in origin, blue and maroon in color. Knick now looked exactly as he did then, younger than the others knew him. "Kal-En made friends easily on Earth, both male and female. But one in particular had stolen his heart." An image appeared, surprising some of those present, as it was a girl around 17 years old. She was lovely, and radiant like a goddess.

Rao continued to relate his tale as the others looked on. "A daughter of the goddess Aphrodite, of Earth. She cared for Kal-En, but not quite in the manner he felt for her. Other Earth women however, wished for his attentions." Images of various women appeared, three more in particular standing out. "But Kal-En was entranced by her, in no small part because of her powers. In time Kal-En's attention to the demi-goddess caused her nature to turn against him."

"She charged him with harming women by neglecting the attention of those others whom had an interest in him. Rather than fight one he had come to love. One who at times seemed to love him as well, he sought to leave the Earth. Flying high above the planet he tried to reach his mentor and wait for him on the edge of space. In his grief, he held his breath far to long, and passed out. Caught in Earth's gravity, he fell back to planet."

The image of Skyboy falling to Earth played out in slow motion as the others watched on. He struck the Earth and laid unmoving deep in a swampy wilderness. The impact was so real it could very nearly be felt. "Several days later, he woke up, with only the most passing memories of those that had harmed him. He went on to discover other loves, but never another who was female again."

Other images flitted past of some of those Skyboy had loved on other Earths. None of them really looked familiar to those present save one. Dominick Mitsobar T'Drachim, who existed on Earth still, as a weather elemental. "He went on to become the hero you and others all came to know. But what nobody knew, even Skyboy himself, was the day he fell to Earth. He died." The image shifted back to Skyboy laying in the swamp again. But this time Rao appeared above him and laid on the ground in the same position Skyboy was in. Slowly, the image of Rao vanished, and Skyboy blinked and woke up. Wobbling and taking to the air flying towards the city of Sana Belle, far off in the distance.

Carry on My Wayward Sons: The Final Truths

The heroes were stunned, the implication was lost on nobody there, but they couldn't quite find their voices. Prime was the first to find his, and he pointed at the god accusingly, screaming at Rao that all this time it was him? He had been controlling Knick all along! But Rao assured them that was not the case. He looked to the stars as he continued his story. "When you destroyed Darkseid, when he became The Time Trapper, you made him unique. Across all of Hypertime there were many Darkseids. Many versions of Apokolips and its dark lord. But there was only one Time Trapper, reborn at the precise moment that Hypertime was, able to see across time and seek out enemy and ally alike anywhere IN time or Hypertime."

Rao took a deep breath allowing that to sink in. "If he always knew where I was, what I was doing, then he would be unbeatable. He knew I existed somewhere in this heroic age, if only because of my Champion." Rao nodded at Superman. "But he could not locate where, as I remained deep inside of Kal-En, dormant. My plans were already long since set into motion. So much sacrificed, so very much. Starting with Krypton itself, and ending here and now with Kal-En." It was as Strathazed had always believed: Krypton was always destined to die, as that was Rao's first sacrifice.

Rao shook his head sadly as he continued. "Darkseid knew that Kal-El would always stand in his way. To keep Darkseid from destroying Krypton, I allowed it to be destroyed instead. It was the first sacrifice I made in my efforts to stop him. Later I traveled to Earth, as it would someday be the birthplace of a new race of immortals. I hoped to give birth to that race early, as a means of stopping my enemy. There I was known as Ptah, and the Egyptian Gods were my children. But the other pantheons of Earth took umbrage to my desires to elevate humanity, whom they considered their charges. I was forced to leave the earth, and begin anew once more. They have never forgiven me that trespass to even this day."

"The humans of earth remembered me and recorded that history in the temple you discovered on Abydos. The story of how I came to Earth, of all I sacrificed. All recorded in stone. It was there I first started to wake, in that temple dedicated to me. I had to act to keep Kal-En from translating the histories found there and suspecting the truth to soon. Even so he discovered enough to make the connection between myself and the Earth pantheons. It was only fortunate that he was not able to make contact with them and discover the truth far too soon."

Rao stared once again at Skyboy's body as he spoke. "I tried many gambits after my failure on Earth. Darkseid and I played a game through time. Move and counter move. Always he was able to predict where I was, and so I revisited my first idea. Across the remaining thousands of timelines left. The remaining Kryptons were each destroyed, not by natural disaster. Instead by an alien invasion." Rao looked back to the others as he continued. "The very alien species that your Earth encountered recently on the distant planet of Abydos."

"In those other timelines, Kryptonian probes were sent to Earth after Krypton's destruction. They elevated worthy human beings, altering their genetics, granting them powers not unlike one of my children. Human beings, becoming as Kryptonians. The souls of my long dead children reborn as human beings and risen up to be Kryptonians once again." Rao paused and looked to Superboy for a moment. It was not that different from Kon, a Kryptonian born as a human being. "They were dangerous timelines however, laced with deadly Kryptonite as well as other threats. The mortality rate was high, but there was always another Kryptonian soul awaiting the chance to be reborn."

All around them spectral images of Kryptonian people could be seen slowly forming around them. Immaterial and translucent still, but with each passing moment becoming more real. "In each instance, however, a perfectly preserved Kryptonian was left behind. In that way, my people were held in waiting. Waiting for a day when they could be reborn once more... On Krypton also so reborn. They only awaited a sign that the final battle was to begin. Just awaiting a sign." He looked then to Supergirl and smiled softly. Revivification.

The Kryptonian god looked around as his people started to return, his story nearing the end. "Secure that my people would live again and that Darkseid would surely make his presence known with a revived Krypton, all there was to do was wait. Hide in a place he could not find me. That place as you already know, was Kal-En. Himself an aspect of my Champion. The only survivor of his Krypton, in his time line. Though I could not have predicted it, he later became invisible to destiny in his battle against Armageddon. Even as the Time Trapper Darkseid could not perceive what his actions would be. Not that he would ever think to try. It was a place Darkseid would never look. As he could never conceive of willingly abstaining from the use of one's power. That one could trust in his children to rise to the challenges they would face and overcome them, as opposed to simply doing so by one's self.

"That the Time Trapper would find one of the worlds where my children were held in waiting and use it to launch his own plan was a dark coincidence. Seeking to eliminate Superboy from Hypertime, and thus by extension in many of them Superman as well. Kal-En dreamed of it, however, and with help from the heroes of that Earth he prevented that from occurring. It was then I knew the time had come, that I must begin to rise fully."

"Cythonna recognized me within Kal-En. Thankfully before she could call attention to me, she was sealed away. Even the dragon Fin-Fang-Foom recognized something of me deep within. It was my sleeping power that Kal-En accidentally drew upon that allowed him to chip the Thunder God Thor's hammer. Then recently, several of you recognized my presence as well. By then it was too late to impact what would come though. That Darkseid knew where I was now did not matter, as Krypton's reappearance was a beacon meant to call him here, to his defeat.

"A defeat that all of you have now accomplished. Darkseid the Destroyer still exists, but this being, the Time Trapper, is no more. Thanks to you, my children. Do not grieve for him, nor blame yourselves for his end. The Time Trapper was no living being. He was entropy itself, given form and sentience by a dark will that refused to perish when its time was truly over."

Rao's tale now finished, he fell silent and watched the heroes. Most of them were trying to absorb all that they had just learned. Kon was inconsolable and lost to anything being said. But Superman spoke up, asking a question on several other minds as well. If Krypton's people would live again, wouldn't Knick as well?

Several others looked up at the god wondering the same. Rao smiled in a sad way and explained that Knick might live again someday, in some form. Though having served as the avatar for his power, and existing outside the confines of destiny, it was uncertain to even him. That wasn't good enough for Mercury, who demanded that Rao bring Knick back. He was a god; he surely had the power to, since he had once already!

Rao replied in a sad tone, looking even more weary. He spread his hands and gestured to the phantom world of Krypton. People, and places as far as the eye could see moving like wisps of vapor and mist. "My power shall restore Krypton here and summon its people from hundreds of time lines. Cured of the Kryptonite radiation, they will populate this world, a world reborn from the dreams of my sleeping children. From here their choices will give rise to Krypton being reborn all across Hypertime."

Kryptonians born as human beings. In some ways a new incipient species, so very similar to Superboy, the Heart of Krypton. "But my power has already touched Kal-En. Restored him from death once before. To do so again would require that I once more dwell within him. Then my power could not be spread to this world and its people. Kal-En is the Avatar of Krypton, and because of him it will be reborn. Ask yourself, you who all know him, who have loved him so well in his short life. Would he chose himself, place his life, over the planet and its people?"

They all knew the answer, as much as it pained them inside to admit it. No, Knick would give up his life, if given the choice, so that Krypton could live. Rao began to slowly fade, even as the spectral images seemed to grow more distinct. "Krypton is being reborn. The dreams of my children even now still shaping it. Think of him. Hold onto him. Dream of him. Perhaps then Krypton's Avatar may well live on as well someday in more... than just your dreams.... Now Krypton must slumber alone, so that it can awaken whole once more. Farewell my children, Until All Are One...." Then Rao was gone and in a blink of an eye, the collective heroes were returned 50 light years away to Earth. To Centennial Park in Metropolis. Without Knick's body.

Immediately, Superboy lost it. Pounding on the ground, he screamed "No!" over and over again. Shockwaves sent everyone present, even Superman, staggering or outright airborne. The Earth itself seemed to weep, as stormclouds appeared in the sky, thunder, wind and rain pounding the city as Dominick also wept.

Before anyone could approach Kon, though, Wonder Boy appeared to comfort the cloned Kryptonian Teen. How he knew, without having been present was anyone's guess. But Rao had described a connection to Earth's gods, and few were so connected to them as Ganymede was. So perhaps it was through Athena or even Aphrodite that he knew.

He explained to Kon, and to everyone, seeming like a god himself, now. The fates had not yet snipped Knick's thread, not entirely at least. Somehow his life was, as ever, entwined still with theirs. It was a small comfort but enough to offer a tiny ember of hope, hope that someone they loved would come back to them someday, someday soon. Hope and Love in equal measure, and so very powerful.

Fifty light years away, a planet and its people were being reborn. Among them, Jer-En and Sar-En of Krypton. With birth, shall always come Hope. And among these people especially, Love was equally powerful. A galaxy away, a Blue Light began to shine like a beacon, and in another far distant corner, a Violet beacon began to glow as well.

A great darkness, a prophesied blackness, was slowly beginning to form. To drink in the light of worlds, and crawl like an ink stain across the cosmos. For with the rebirth of Krypton, the scales had to be balanced once more. But if there was one thing that always cut so completely through the blackest darkness, it was light, and Light came in many, many colors.

The Last Chapter of Whatever Happened to The God of Tomorrow, Carry on My Wayward Sons

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man,
well It surely means that I don't know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say!

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

-- Kansas

The Blackest Night

~~Time flows unencumbered heralding the rebirth of a sun.~~
~~Light shines as new across a universe.~~
~~From within ancient darkness death's hunger gnaws.~~
~~With the eclipse so comes the Blackest Night.~~
~~Six rings together burn blazing white.~~
~~An heir of Primus to harness the light.~~
~~A light to raise up an elders lost race.~~
~~A light to cast down, death's cold embrace.~~

-- The Prophecy of the Blackest Night, according to the Book of Oa

The Blackest Night: Dawn of Darkness

It was a month after Krypton's rebirth. A terrible malignant force was creeping across the cosmos. As it approached a world a black ring would encircle it and drain it of all life. Leaving behind only the dead. Dead, but animated creatures. Entire planets full of zombie like nightmares. Men, women, children, and animals alike. All slaves to their, new master. All slaves to The Blackest Night.

Smugglers fleeing a planet that was infected managed to take indistinct pictures of the attack as they jumped into hyperspace. The prophecy of the Blackest Night playing over and over in their minds, as they watched the world of their birth die, driving them nearly insane. They arrived on Tendax, and were arrested.

But the images they captured and the prophecy, the only words they could still speak. Those were relayed immediately to Earth. Information that took much longer to arrive than it might once have. The presence of Krypton in the cosmos again created a need to realign the entire Skybot satellite network. But the person that would have usually done that. He was gone now.

When the message arrived the heroes of Unity responded. Though feeling lost without Skyboy, they knew that if he were there he would have investigated. So they resolved to as well. Along the way, they planned to realign the satellite system. Then visit Cybertron about the Prophecy, particularly since Rao had left them saying something they had only heard Optimus say before. Until all are one. Then, lastly, they would stop at New Krypton to see how it had progressed over the month since it's rebirth. It would be a painful visit, but something they needed to do.

Superboy agreed to go along when he heard about the mission. The first real sign of any initiative he had had. Secretly he planned to recover Knick's body. No matter how many Kryptonians he would have to go through to do it. Knick belonged on Earth, alive or dead, not on Krypton. Just as they were prepared to leave however, Randal was recalled to Oa. A cosmic crisis required the presence of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Along the way he was to pick up a new recruit from sector 2813. Fortunately, the sector which was the home to both New Krypton, and Cybertron as well. Both places the team was planning to visit. As the Oans said nothing about travelling under his own power, it worked out rather well.

The Blackest Night: Journey to Cybertron

The prophecy, which they had learned through Tendax, contained the name Primus. From their time among the Transformers species they knew that their god was named Primus. It seemed like a good place to start looking for information. Along the way they repositioned the satellites allowing for much faster communication once again to their allies spread out across the galaxy. It was in orbit of Cybertron that Randal met the new recruit he was supposed to escort to Oa. Prowl of the Autobots was now a Green Lantern. It made a certain sense, given his Earth disguise had been a police car.

While practicing with his ring he had seen a strange phenomenon in space. One he felt the Oans should be aware of. Multiple colored lantern rings were flying through the sector. Several even making their way to Cybertron itself. Red, Yellow, Orange, Blue, and Violet shaded rings darting like astro-flies through space.

Prowl lead the team to Cybertron, and radioed a message to Optimus Prime to meet them. Upon hearing of the prophecy, Optimus clearly could see that his species was involved. Tied once more to Earth, as well as so many other worlds as well. He resolved to use the Matrix of Leadership. To travel within it and seek the wisdom of the ancient autobot leaders whose sparks were contained within. Prowl and Randal would have to leave though, as they were expected on Oa.

Granted quarters on Cybertron, a new addition since the planet began receiving more diminutive guests, the heroes were surprised when Optimus returned much sooner than anyone thought he would. The wisdom of the ancients now known to him, though as ever seemed to be the case with such things, cryptic. Prime's message seemed to fit into the prophecy well though, so nobody doubted the truth of it. "When the blackest night descended, only the Matrix would light their darkest hour." Meanwhile across the sector, Prowl and Randal were within several light minutes of New Krypton when they saw it. An inky black malignant stain that seemed to move across the sun like an amoeba, reaching for the planet. Like a plague of locusts, the dessicated, blackened zombie hands of the Blackest Night reached out to strangle the life out of newborn Krypton.

The Blackest Night: Trials and Tributes

Making a decision as the senior Lantern, Randal sent Prowl on to Oa as he had potentially vital information that the Guardians might need. But not before he had the Autobot Lantern send a message for help to Cybertron. On the planet Optimus received the message and prepared immediately to dispatch aid. The heroes of Earth left in advance as they were prepared with an already prepared shuttle. Rushing to both Randal, and to New Krypton's aid.

When the heroes arrived, they saw Randal trying to keep the undead swarm away from the planet with a massive green wall between them and it. Already the sheer numbers were overwhelming it though. Without a moments thought for their safety, all of them started to defend the planet. Heavy fighting in space and the upper atmosphere gave way to ground fighting as well.

With literally millions of zombie like minions, the heroes were forced into hand to hand combat with the unrelenting horde. Fortunately there were Autobots on New Krypton already assisting with rebuilding. Perceptor and Omega Supreme offered their aid as well. The zombies from a dozen dead worlds fell like rain to the planet below.

Superboy was the first to realize where they were, almost immediately in fact. The open field in the middle of the capital city of Kryptonopolis. The small rise so prominent. This was where it had happened. Where Knick, had died. As Omega Supreme moved, wading into the undead, they all saw it for the first time.

A monument constructed of a marble like stone native to the planet. It glowed with some inner radiance, changing hues of color every few moments. Laying in a transparent sarcophagus on a raised dais, was Kal-En of Krypton. Above him the symbol of Rao burning brightly. The second battle for New Krypton occurring exactly where the first had been decided. The place where the Avatar of Krypton had died.

The realization of where they were, and what the zombie like monsters would destroy, spurred the heroes like a fan to flames. Slowly the bulk of the horde was pushed back. Nate Grey scanned a zombie mind on instinct, and was amazed at what he found. Touching that mind was similar to touching Hero Zero's mind. The zombies were being controlled by some kind of artificial intelligence! With Perceptor's help they were able to create a counter harmonic wave and broadcast it to literally shut the zombies off.

New Krypton was saved as the zombies disappeared into an oily black mist. But even though it was a victory, it was lost on nobody that the effort to stop the signal took every bit of energy they could manage to generate. Functioning over only a small area at that. All to stop a signal that had been broadcast from light years distant. The same tactic would never work on a larger scale, or any closer to the source of the broadcast.

Another realization dawned on the heroes as well. The prophecy spoke of an eclipse coming before the Blackest Night, and there had been no eclipse of the star Rao prior to the attack. The Blackest Night had never really come to New Krypton at all. It had all been just a diversion. But a diversion for what?

Across the sector, the Cybertonian forces prepared to launch in aid of New Krypton. When all optics looked above as their sun began to eclipse. The Blackest Night had come for Cybertron. It had come for the Matrix of Leadership. That which according to prophecy would be needed to end the darkness. Without it, there would be no hope.

The Blackest Night: Cybertron's Darkest Hour

The heroes rushed to leave for Cybertron, even as Mark 2 brought UNITY into orbit around New Krypton to defend it from any further hostilities. UNITY was much faster than any of the shuttles, and so made the trip from Earth to Krypton much faster as well. However, Superboy was not fit to join them, something they all realized. As much as they could use his power, he would be a liability in the condition he was in. Seeing Knick's shrine, Kon was just unable to go on.

Reluctantly, they left him behind on Krypton, and pressed on for distant Cybertron. Starchild arrived first on scene and saw it. But the shuttle was not so far behind with it's long ranged sensors. They were able to see it soon enough, and the true horror sank in.

A massive, planet like structure, black as space itself. With a gaping maw within it, and enormous tucks or mandibles extending out from it. Malevolent purple and black light pulsed rhythmically from within, and each time more undead were vomited out. So massive it was larger than Cybertron itself, blocking out it's sun.

Around it, like angry hornets buzzing around their hive, were literally billions of zombie like minions. The undead inhabitants of more than a dozen worlds whose lives were consumed as it traveled here, to Cybertron. Already they swarmed down and across the planet. Tearing even the machine species apart with sheer numbers and utter savagery.

Seeing such a sight, the heroes were scared, but they bravely pressed on to help their allies. Finding Optimus Prime the heroes rallied to him and prepared to try and defend against the unimaginable. The surface of the planet literally looked like a sea of the undead. So thick they climbed over top of one another attempting to attack anything that was not one of them. Aliens from multiple worlds, animals of literally billions of species. Like army ants, they tore apart everything in their path, destroying vast areas of the planet. All the while the Blackest Night moved relentlessly closer.

Reinforcements from the Autobots' Earth base had arrived, and even the Decepticons had been released and reactivated to fight for the planet. But the resources that would have been required to create another jamming device had already been lost to the Blackest Night. Even assuming they could have made one large enough.

Randal received a message from Oa. Prowl had arrived and given his report. The entire Green Lantern Corps was converging on his position to lend their support. Almost simultaneously Mercury pieced together a part of the prophecy. He realized they would need the other ring colors as well. A call went out all across the planet. Now, they had to hope they could gather them in time.

The Blackest Night: May The Light Shine Forever

Twenty minutes passed, but it seemed more like hours. Then the Autobot Blaster received news, they had incoming ring wielders! But, they were all Decepticons! Nate used his telepathy to look into a zombie's mind again, and this time The Blackest Night was there staring back at him. Knowing where he was, and by extension where the Matrix was. But Nate did learn things as well. The origins of the beast.

The Blackest Night dated back to the time of Krypton and Cybertron's very origins. It had been bested by the combined power of Primus and Rao at the dawn of their species. Long before the civil war on Cybertron, or the War of Fire and Ice on Krypton. The defeat of Imperiex so many months ago had slowly caused it to begin powering up once more. Perhaps to finish what Imperiex had failed to, perhaps just some cosmic irony, or accident. Or just maybe, there was truth to the notion that for each light, there had to be darkness.

Megatron arrived mere moments later leading eleven other Decepticons. The Stunticons, and another group that called themselves The Terracons. The two combined teams merged to their more powerful merged configurations. The combined Stunticons, Menasor, wore a massive yellow ring. It wielded the yellow light of Fear. The combined form of the Terracons, Abominus, wore an equally massive red ring. The color of mindless, and all consuming Rage. One more Decepticon joined as well, Starscream. An orange nimbus of light either around him or perhaps fully forming the Decepticon. It was hard to say, but the Orange glow of Avarice was present as well.

Literally arriving on scene with a crush, crumble and chomp the Dinobots smashed their way to the scene of the battle through several damaged buildings. With them Rodimus Prime, leader of the Autobot task force from Earth. Their forces significantly bolstered now, the group believed they could hold out until further help arrived. But above them, the Blackest Night had finally come into position, it now knew where they were.

With a sound that shattered every reinforced piece of glass on Cybertron, including more than a few optics, it happened. The Blackest Night shifted, and began to change. Grinding and folding out, opening up, transforming! Until finally it floated in space in a colossal bipedal form! It's head as large as Earth's moon, it stared down at the planet, and malevolent black light issued forth from it's eyes like search lights.

In a mockery of respiration, zombies routinely billowed forth from it's mouth as though it were exhaling. In it's chest, where a heart would have been on a living person, there was a power battery. Not unlike the type the various lantern corps used to charge their rings. But as large as the state of New Jersey. Black as the abyss, it thrummed and pumped like a real heart might. The Blackest Night declared in a voice that was like a super volcano, erupting. Bubbling full of hate and malice like a lava flow. All who defended the Matrix would die, and then return to serve it.

The sight of the titan was beyond daunting. But Mercury called out to his fellow heroes. Reminding them of all they had done so far in their lives together as Unity. They had toppled gods and monsters before, and this was just one more, no matter how large it was. The bigger they were after all. He inspired his friends with what they needed most right then, hope.

But the Blackest Night was unmoved by the attacks that sprang from the planet in response. It raised it's massive arm and prepared to destroy the world with one crushing blow. Randal used his ring to try and hold an arm larger than a mountain range back. In that effort he was joined by Menasor. Their collective power slowed it, but it was clear it would still fall.

Nate Grey, The X-Man was virtually power incarnate, if he pushed himself to his limits at least. With his mind he harnessed the power of Cybertron's electromagnetic lines, and focused them through himself. Giving the planet itself a means to defend itself from the fatal attack. Launching that energy with his TK very nearly killed him. His body unable to cope with the staggering power.

Falling to his hands and knees, he had bought them time, a stay of execution. The blast ripped a hole in the chest of the Blackest Night as large as the Grand Canyon! Sending it reeling back and away from the planet. The black power battery was damaged in the attack as well, shards of it falling from the sky above. Almost immediately the zombie hordes stopped flowing from it's obscene mouth. One of the shards of the black battery was taken by Starscream, whose sense of avarice seemingly compelled him to have it.

The fight raged on, even as the Blackest Night recovered, and approached Cybertron once again. Hero Zero was confronted by what appeared to be a small alien animal, the equivalent of an Earth puppy by all appearances. Something that was confirmed by the Zero computer that helped to advise and guide him. It too was now a zombie, trying to savage his face after having scaled his body. The sight of it very nearly breaking the heart of the boy inside the metal giant. Even such an innocent as this, had been laid low by this horrible thing. It tore at the boy inside so deeply that if he could cry as Hero Zero, he would have. Compassion.

Nate used the last of his strength to fire a weaker electromagnetic burst at the monstrous vision of death that loomed above them. Panting heavily on his hands and knees as he tried to stand once more. Silently dedicating the attack to Knick, who had given his all to save another world just a month before. He was on the verge of passing out as he thought of the young Kryptonian that had given him a home. That had given him love. More love than he ever thought he would find, or deserve. From the day he had touched his mind, he loved the Kryptonian. Now he was gone, but Nate knew he would never have stopped fighting, and neither would he.

Struggling to his feet, Nate didn't care if it killed him. He swore he would keep fighting, keep attacking this evil thing no matter what. For Knick, for love, this damned thing would fall. The blast had again inflicted damage, but not as much. The Blackest Night approached the planet again, ponderously as it moved through space, inexorably towards the kill. The black ring, started to form.

Blue, Violet, and Indigo lights danced out of the sky. Hovering before several people below. Simultaneously they addressed them.

Edward Resilver of Earth, you have shown the capacity of great Hope. Nathaniel Grey of Earth, you have shown the capacity for great Love. David McRae of Earth, you have shown the capacity for great Compassion.

The colors had all gathered. They had all that they needed to let the light finally dawn on a new day. A brighter day, no the brightest day. The only way one could hope to end the Blackest Night.

The Blackest Night: The White Light

The prophesied lights were united at last. The lights they needed to focus through the Matrix of Leadership. Optimus Prime was carried by Nate high into the air as the ring bearers gathered. Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Red, Yellow, and Orange trained their rings on the Matrix and released their light in blazing beams. The Matrix shimmered as the beams melded, mixed, merged until it blazed with a brilliant white light. In a proud, triumphant voice Optimus Prime intoned. "Now, light our Darkest Hour!"

The white light lanced out like a spear, passing through the heart of the Blackest Night, shattering it completely. The giant reeled backward, as the zombie hordes all vanished in inky black, oily clouds. The beam lanced right through the monster, where it continued into deep space, across the entire sector. Seconds later the Red Star Rao winked out, before then blazing to life once again, now a renewed brilliant blue white star.

The Blackest Night was damaged, perhaps mortally wounded. If such a thing could be said to have a sense of mortality to wound. Was it truly alive, or just a mockery of life as Mageddon had been. The explosion of it's battery sent Megatron hurtling back to Cybertron, bellowing in utter agony and clutching at his chest. Something having struck the Decepticon leader from the sky. Starscream promptly declared himself Decepticon Leader. Some things never changed after all.

The Blackest Night had been driven back several light days by the sheer magnitude of the attack. But with a robotic, single mindedness, it crept forward once again. Intent on destroying the planet Cybertron. The Matrix still glowed with a brilliant white light. But the Prophecy had been fulfilled, there would be no second attack from the Matrix.

The heroic defenders that remained rose from the planet and attacked directly. The Blackest Night now seemed reduced to a zombie itself. Moving with a lurching, dead gait through space itself. Dedicated to destroying the planet that had seemingly crippled or destroyed it. Minutes stretched by, and the Titan moved ever closer. Nearly touching the outer atmosphere once again.

In a flash of Hyperdrive light the starship UNITY appeared. Rao and Primus, two ancient gods that had been allies. Now their children came to the aid of one another once again. To accomplish that which the gods themselves had once done. To put an end to the Blackest Night.

The empowered Kryptonians took flight, wobbling slightly, and launched like bullets at the planet sized world killer. Like a rail gun firing, literally hundreds of them. Another several hundred Skybots joined them for the final battle. Like gnats they swarmed the colossal enemy. But gnats that could rip starships apart in their bare hands.The Blackest Night started to give ground at last before their onslaught, being pushed back further from the beleaguered world.

The Blackest Night: The Return

Even from a distance the heroes of Earth could see the bridge of the ship. There directing the main guns to fire was Mark Two, with Kon standing next to him. At least they thought so, until Mark Two flew up to them outside, waving cheerfully as the android always did, before joining the attack. No, it was not Mark Two on the bridge of the ship. It was Skyboy. It was Knick, alive once again with the revival of the star Rao.

In another place, Knick had known nothing but peace and warmth. Yet his heart ached, as though he had lost something, something that meant more to him than anything else. But also something that he couldn't fully remember. It was as if it was being kept from him, but whatever it was doing so couldn't dispel it completely. Random images of blue eyes, tan skin, and a beautiful smile. Random faces that almost came into focus and then melted away like morning mist, before the sun. There was something working to keep him from remembering. Sparing him grief maybe? But as powerful as the force was, it wasn't able to stop the pain, the loss, entirely.

Then, something flashed so bright that Knick took a great gasping breath. It felt alien taking that breath, like something he had not done in, how long? He wasn't sure. His body felt electric, renewed, restored. It forced him to open his eyes again, eyes that had been closed for some time.

He was laying inside a crystal clear sarcophagus, dressed in ceremonial robes. Rather like those he wore at his lifemate ceremony. There above him, leaning over the cover and crying, was Kon-El. His lifemate's blue eyes were wide with shock. His expression beyond any possible hope that what he saw was real. That beautiful smile starting to spread across his face, despite the tear tracks still there. The very one from Knick's dreams. And in that instant, Knick knew exactly what he had been missing.

The Blackest Night continued to try lumbering forward, an undead thing with its heart shattered and its systems shutting down. Massive chunks of the world-killer were ripped away. Its eyes shattered under punches as strong as atomic bombs. The Green Lantern Corps and members of the other nascent corps arrived, as well the Xandarian Nova corps and the Shi-Ar Imperial Guard. From all corners of the universe, forces began to arrive, and each of them rained destruction down. Finally the titan fell still, and yet still it was torn asunder. There would be no chances taken. The body was ripped into scrap metal and thrown into a dozen stars. The Blackest Night had ended, and a new bright day could now, finally, begin.

Something evil's watching over you</br> Comin' from the sky above</br> And there's nothing you can do</br>

Prepare to Strike</br> To fight with all your might</br> When you're caught within the Shadow</br> Of the coming Blackest Night!</br>

Strong enough to break the bravest heart</br> So we have to pull together</br> No we can't stay worlds apart</br>

To stand divided we will surely fall</br> Until our darkest hour</br> When the light will save us all!</br>

Another judgment day and now we've made our stand</br> And for now the powers of the darkness</br> Have be driven from our land!</br>

Our worlds will heal </br> And our wounds will mend</br> But as long as evil rises </br> It will Never Be The End!</br>

This Battle's over</br> But the war has just begun</br> And this way it will remain</br> Til the day when all are one!!!</br>

Six Months Later...

Over the next six months, life returned to some sense of normal. Knick was traumatized for a time, retreating into a very analytical, emotionless mindset. He had been changed by the ordeal, somewhat younger than he had been physically. Old memories were new again, overlapped with more current ones which was confusing for him.

Feeling so very mortal, he developed more and more powerful weapons to compensate, much to his friends and parents concern. He was also holding back very little with his powers as well, if at all, as displayed in a breakout at the Slab, a metahuman prison in Metropolis. There he hospitalized Sledge, several members of the Fatal Five, and left Sabbac in the ICU, he beat him so brutally. A similar ending came in a battle against the metahuman Typhoon. His unconscious body was fished from the ocean before he drowned.

But that battle at least brought to the team another ally by the name of Aang. He was a young man with the mystical ability to harness and command the very elements, the first new addition to Unity in some time, but only the first of many to come.

Knick's parents were a part of his life again, and they approved of the life their son had made for himself. They approved of his friends, those he loved, and his lifemate. Strathazed arrived, and he too, grudgingly, admitted that Knick had become most of what he had wished, his old mentor mellowing somewhat with old friends having been returned from the dead.

Sar-En finished the work she started with Knick, curing the dependency to remain on Krypton, and the Kryptonian species was truly introduced to the universe once again. Almost immediately joining in Earth's alliance, which also included Daxam and Cybertron. With other worlds like Rann and Thanagar considering joining as well, it was the beginning of a golden age, it seemed.

Knick split his time between Earth and Krypton, perhaps slowing his recovery. On Krypton he was revered as a demi-god, having hosted Rao himself and then returned from the dead. But to no small extent, all of the named children of Rao were so revered now. Some even found themselves more changed by their service to Rao now, than before.

Zenith was the sorcerer supreme of the planet Krypton, as one of the few, as little as one in a billion, Kryptonians with any skill in magic. Knick was changed as well but was not yet ready to accept the new abilities or the worship that came with them. He was still far to deeply withdrawn for that. But Kon and his friends, his teammates, his family whom he loved never stopped trying to reach him.

And ever so slowly, they did. As more and more Knick became recognizable once again. With a new costume and new technology, Knick slowly became Skyboy once more, as opposed to just Kal-En of Krypton. Once again, he was ready to take up the responsibilities he had been neglecting. One of them, watching Hypertime for any potential threats.

A random search of nearby Hypertimes turned up a Earth on the cusp of being lost to Brainiac. Knick was unsure if it was the Brainiac he knew, or another, but he was determined to help either way. Making trips to that Earth with friends from his own, they set about doing what ever they could to help turn the tide there, and they made new allies and enemies in those attempts.

Human beings there had been infected with a nanite technology called exobytes, radically increasing the number of heroes and, sadly, villains as well. Nearly everyone on the planet was suddenly super-powered. That, coupled with a smaller sun, actually made the world more dangerous than his own, but there were plenty more people to assist with it as well.

A vast number of those new heroes were around Knick's age. A new team was born on that Earth: Young Unity, the sister league to Unity, and once again Knick was splitting his time between timelines and between worlds. New challenges would surely await. New friends, new loves, and new enemies. But that was to be expected; that was the life of a hero, after all. As another Kryptonian was fond of saying, it was a never ending battle.

The Art of War, Politics

Never-ending battles were exactly what Knick was reminded of when he was contacted on Earth by the Kryptonian Science Council. Both he and Kon had been asked for by name by a foreign delegate. Emporer D'Ken Neramani of the Shi'ar Empire wished to meet with them to discuss terms under which Krypton would join the Shi'ar Empire. That they already had alliances made with other planets seemed to matter little to D'ken. Those other worlds were much less important. But when he found no traction with the Science Council, he asked for Skyboy and Superboy by name, in some way thinking perhaps they would be more susceptible to his proposal.

If that was what he believed, he was wrong. Knick and Kon arrived with a delegation of their own, including X-Man, Impulse, Robin, Bedlam, The Martian Manhunter, and even Batman. He wished to see New Krypton, but he also wanted to spend time around Skyboy and his friends. They had been through a lot, and after the way Skyboy had been acting, Batman was not sure if he should be considered a threat, as he once thought he was. They were all present for the negotiation, if it could be called that. D'ken lounged on a throne that his Imperial Guard had brought with them as if he was already the recognized emperor of Krypton. With him was his sister Lilandra and various members of the Imperial Guard. As Skyboy and Superboy entered the room, he began announcing the terms under which he would accept Krypton's surrender and admission into the Shi'ar Empire. That speech did not last long.

Knick had grown up taking part in these diplomatic junkets, and he certainly made an effort to be diplomatic. But as minutes passed it became rapidly clear to everyone in the room, starting with Batman who honestly had the most experience with such things. D'Ken Neramani was a psychopath. When the patience to keep saying the same thing in a different tenor or using different verbiage finally escaped him, Knick interrupted the latest exhaustive list of reasons Krypton would agree to join happily, and politely and with finality simply said "NO, thank you."

It was then that D'Ken smiled like a venomous snake and revealed his real reasons for asking specifically for Skyboy and Superboy. The serpent revealed it's fangs. Word of all the legendary events over the last year had reached the farthest reaches of the galaxy. D'ken reasoned that if he had his Imperial Guard killed the Avatar and the Heart of the planet, he would crush any thoughts of rebellion, leaving the Kryptonian people so demoralized and cowed they would have no will to resist joining. With a grin of pure acid, he had his Imperial Guard attack.

Given the increasing lunacy he had displayed, it was not a shock to anyone that things escalated into violence, but Batman was the only one really ready for it to begin so soon. He gestured for Robin and J'onn to take the sister, Lilandra, to safety, as she seemed opposed to this course. Then he identified the enemy he was immediately best suited to take down the quickest. Much like a night in Gotham after that, he systematically did so, targeting an Imperial Guard member with a feral nature named Fang. Batman was able to make short work of the savage but undisciplined fighter, allowing him to observe the other combats occurring in the room.

X-Man had entered into a psychic battle with the Imperial Guardsman who had been identified as Oracle. He, like the rest of them had felt her psychic attack slide off the defenses Nate Grey had erected around their minds like water off a car's windshield. His mental power was at least as impressive as J'onn's, if not perhaps more so.

A fact that Oracle was in the process of learning first hand. Nate hammered at her mental defenses, if her expression was any indication at least. Defenses which apparently were not up to the task of preventing his entry into her mind, Batman wagered. As the alien female fell to the floor moments later like she was a marionette, and her strings had been cut.

The Dark Knight had seen the effect Impulse could have on people before. The smaller of the two purple skinned aliens attacked him, and learned how frustrating it could be to fight something you just can not hit. Impulse didn't strike the teenaged alien, but then he didn't have to. He just kept moving, and the alien ran into things, hurting himself. The hyper-dense walls and building materials of Krypton were not especially kind to slam into with enhanced flight speeds. The alien was an utterly undisciplined fighter. Batman expected Impulse would defeat him within 15 seconds or less, and that was only because Bart was so innocent he was reluctant to hit him.

One of the real wild cards in the room was Bedlam. Batman had no idea why Skyboy or anyone would have given him a second chance. More often than not he seemed as if he should be in a cell at Arkham, not on a team with heroes. But there was no arguing his effectiveness. The djinn-empowered teenager squared off against an energy manipulator calling himself Pulsar. The fight wasn't even worth watching, it ended so rapidly. Bedlam, living up to his name, smashed the poor alien under a pillar of stone he conjured from the ceiling--several times over, in fact, just for good measure. Cell at Arkham just waiting for him.

Superboy ironically fought his alien "twin brother" in a manner of speaking, a blue and white clad alien with a red visor that looked similar to sunglasses. It was an ironic fight, and the alien named Smasher initially seemed able to hold his own. But Batman could see Kon-El was holding back. As he expected, the the fight lasted just until Superboy lost his patience and started using his tactile telekinesis more constructively. Maybe "married life" was good for the Kid; he hadn't really attributed patience to Superboy before. Unused to fighting an opponent quite that way, Smasher was blindsided at every turn. One last uppercut nearly put him through the ceiling and ended their fight.

But the fight the Batman most wanted to see was the one taking place between Skyboy and the Imperial Guard's leader, Gladiator. On the way to Krypton, Batman had explored everything the JLA computers and Brainiac Delta V knew about the Shi'ar and their elite squad, the Imperial Guard. Much information had been gleaned months before when the Imperial Guard was on hand to battle The Blackest Night.

Gladiator's species were powerful, like Martians or Kryptonians under the right conditions. If they were on par with either of those other species was questionable. But Gladiator was an exceptional member of his race. He was likely as strong as an average adult Kryptonian, and Skyboy was not an adult.

Batman understood Skyboy's brush with death had seen him return more powerful, though. He just didn't know how much so. Batman was concerned with the weapon systems he had created and the lack of emotional connection he had initially displayed. If the fight at the Slab was any indicator, he was indeed more powerful, and he seemed to have recovered from the trauma. But this was Batman's chance to see him fight first hand.

What he saw was somewhat troubling. Skyboy owned the larger, older alien without really even making an effort. The Kryptonians said that he was a demigod now, which Batman dismissed as far too spiritual to have any basis in fact. Religion was based on faith, which was belief without factual evidence. But watching him, he was clearly as powerful as an adult Kryptonian, and he had been physically reduced in age.

He actually looked younger than when Batman first met him, and yet orders of magnitude more physically powerful. He also seemed to literally glow in the fight, with pulses of light washing off of him, light that from across the room felt for all the world like sunlight during the height of summer. Skyboy was still young, very young, with a lot of growing to do.

But based on what he was seeing, he was already among the top five strongest people on Earth, and he was years away from reaching his peak. By Batman's estimates, he would be at least as powerful as Clark was, if not more so, as an adult. Batman was not remotely the spiritual sort, but seeing Skyboy wielding that much power and glowing like the Kryptonian sungod--well, even he might have to re-evaluate his position.

All The World Is A Stage

With the Guard defeated and Kryptonian peacekeepers arriving in force to take them under guard, the team discovered a trick had been played. D'Ken had never in fact been there at all. He had used a member of the Imperial Guard named Hobgoblin, a shape shifter, to take his place. Then, through a psychic device hidden in the throne, he literally used him like a second skin, speaking through him like he was a remote control toy. With the combat over, J'onn and Nate were easily able to discover the device. but it was only once Lilandra Neramani was allowed back in the room that they realized just how dangerous the insane ruler of the Shi'Ar empire was.

Lilandra explained that on the way to the planet D'Ken had ranted that if he could not control Krypton, he would use the power of the M'Kraan crystal, and he would literally wish it away! Erase it from the galaxy, and make it dead once more. Few even knew of the crystal, and many races that did thought it only a legend. But the crystal was real, and had equally real guardians that existed to stop anyone from getting close to it. This was the main reason that species throughout the universe were not constantly attempting to subjugate one another through its use. D'Ken would regularly return to the small world it rested on, seeking to figure out a way to attain its power. He had yet to manage it, but none of the heroes were particularly inclined to take a chance at being wished out of existence, especially now that the madman's ire would likely extend to punishing Earth as well.

D'Ken had a massive head start, as the Shi'ar homeworld of Aerie was much closer to the small planet where the crystal resided than Krypton was. Even though it meant leaving one of their most powerful behind, J'onn agreed to remain with Lilandra. She had betrayed the empire, and D'Ken might well seek some sort of vengeance against her as well. The rest of the heroes gathered together and rapidly launched for the small unnamed world. Even at the fastest speeds attainable it would take them weeks to arrive without some super-powered boosts. The crystal was said to rest on an empty world that was so far away from everything else in the universe that the lights in the sky were not individual stars, but entire galaxies. Hyperbole to be certain, but it was a very long trip.

On arriving, the planet was more like the surface of a moon. The impish Jahf and the enormous hulking Modt barred the heroes' way to the enormous crystal and were not prone to listen to reason, nor were they living beings as it turned out from a scan of their minds and their physiology, courtesy of Nate and Knick. Rather, they were aspects of the crystal guarding itself. Jahf was powerful, but Modt was a thousand times more powerful. Jahf was happy to explain to them in a bored, disdainful manner that if they survived Modt, they would face a being a thousand times more powerful still--a seemingly endless series of fights until any opponent, no matter how powerful, invariably lost.

The team tried explaining they only sought to be sure D'Ken would not use the crystal. But the guardians were single minded in their determination to drive people away. If they would not leave peacefully, they would be ejected forcefully. Jahf attacked, and was thrown over the horizon with the force of the counterattack. But the massive Modt proved significantly more powerful, as promised. Through the fight they implored the guardian to listen to reason. But it failed to do so, which allowed D'Ken to prepare his treacherous surprise.

The ruler of the Shi'Ar had been hiding on the planet in a stealth suit. He had been here often enough to know the radius at which such tricks would fail, and the guardians would discover him. He waited just outside that radius and watched the two separate sets of guardians, both here to stop him, fight one another.

It made his conniving little heart beat faster in triumph. Now with Jahf removed he just had to position himself around the far side of the crystal. Before anyone could stop him, he would finally have his day, and touch the crystal to make his wish. Dashing like an adrenaline-crazed madman, he leaped at the crystal before anyone even knew he was there to stop him.

Out of breath, he gasped out, "Destroy... remove... universe." He sucked air to add Krypton, and Earth, and all the other planets he hated but was thrown away by the combined Telekinesis of Nate and Kon. The crystal shuddered and cracked in several places as the wish was granted. From a pulsing doorway of light, an imposing purple-skinned and armored figure stepped through. On his right hand was an ornate glove with seven gems of different colors spaced around it.

The mysterious being lifted his hand and snapped, but nothing seemed to happen. He then looked curiously at the gauntlet he wore. "Interesting. That should have killed half the living beings of this universe. It appears the gauntlet must acclimate to this new reality." He looked at the assembled heroes and grinned in an an unnerving manner.

"I am Thanos of Titan. In twenty-four hours, I will kill half of this universe in honor of my mistress Death. Once I have her attention, I shall offer the other half to prove my devotion to her. Enjoy these, your final hours." Then he vanished to parts unknown, leaving a group of slack-jawed heroes and a one insane ruler who realized on some level just how bad he had just messed up, given that he was sure to figure in one of those halves.

But, before any thoughts of pursuit could be entertained, there was the matter of the M'Kraan crystal cracking in front of them. The guardians had vanished with the damage to the crystal, so there was no help in how to stop it forthcoming. Nate had heard stories about it in his travels across worlds before arriving on this Earth. He had once heard that a powerful psionic had healed a damaged crystal in another reality. He had also heard that if the crystal ever shattered so with it went, well everything. So time was really of the essence.

But he had no idea how to fix it, and it would surely shatter before he figured it out. Superboy rushed forward and placed both palms against the crystal, using his tactile telekinesis to hold it together. Nate in the meantime touched the crystal as well, seeking to psionically heal the matrix. He needed help, however, calling on all of their collective will through a mind link. It was agonizingly slow work, but gradually the crystal filled in and became whole once more. They had bought at least the 24 hours Thanos had given them back. But the crystal then pulsed with a powerful force back through the link and rendered them all unconscious.

Green Light, Go

Knick's eyes slowly focused, and the first sensation was that his brain had been run against a Kryptonite cheese grater. That was how bad the headache was. He suddenly became aware of a familiar heartbeat nearby though and sat up, noticing Randal in the room in his Green Lantern costume. They were on Oa, where they had been summoned by the Guardians at Randal's recommendation, one which Kyle Rayner had seconded, much to Hal Jordan's annoyance. He felt the League should be called in, but ultimately at the moment members of Unity were closer, and that decided it.

Knick groaned and shook his head, starting to explain to Randal that they already knew about the threat Thanos presented, but Randal interrupted him wondering just who Thanos was? They were called because Krona had escaped the central power battery, and somehow subjugated each of the emotional spectrum entities in his Gauntlet. He planned to rule the universe with the power they would grant him. Skyboy just stared at him a moment and then laughed. There were times when really, you just had to. Of course Krona bound all of them to a gauntlet. Gauntlets were apparently the hot fashion accessory of the season.

Meeting with the Oans, the team learned that the only way to stop Krona was indirectly through the Gauntlet. Which could be entered through the damaged central power battery. They had become aware of Thanos in the interim. Thanos with his Infinity Gauntlet which grew more powerful with each passing hour. Krona with his Gauntlet which likewise grew stronger as the opposite ring entities fought one another endlessly within, fueling his gauntlet with a near limitless power.

Two Gauntlet-wielding super aliens at cross purposes. One wished to rule everything within the universe and learn the secrets of creation, to life itself. The other wished to kill all life as a gift to death, to decimate the universe utterly. Was it any shock they would fall to conflict with one another? It was a fight that would make each of their desires pointless. Reality would be the only loser in such a fight, as it would be the rope in their tug of war, and it would never survive.

The Oans would work on some answer to defeating Thanos, but a plan was already in place to stop Krona's threat. With one neutralized, there was a chance to find a way to do the same with the other. Otherwise, their fight would fracture the timeline and start a domino effect along the main trunk of Hypertime, shattering all of them down the line eventually as well. There was little choice but to go into the battery and free the various entities of the emotional spectrum, then hope they could find some way to remove Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet from play as well.

Battery Not Included

The Central Power Battery had been damaged with Krona's escape. Given how many times that had occurred, the battery being damaged that is, Knick quipped that he might be able to make something a little sturdier. Randal rolled his eyes some, but the Guardians seemed less than amused. So much for their well-publicized and galactically renowned sense of humor.

The journey into the battery was less a physical sensation than it was metaphysical. It was like crossing into a realm of pure imagination and willpower, but bereft of chocolate waterfalls and candy everywhere, which disappointed Impulse to no end at all. Even though he was one of the newer Lanterns to join the Corps, Randal knew the team better than Kyle, so he was their guide. He had been briefed on certain elements of physics inside the battery, such as the point that everything, up to and including movement, was based on thought. In order to do it, you had to think about it. Now Bart really hated the place.

Learning to get their footing, the group proceeded through a series of chambers that all seemed to appear different to each of them, based of course on how they imagined it would look, how they felt it was supposed to look. In the first of the chambers where Krona was draining the power of the emotional entities he had set Proselyte and Ophidian to battle: the indigo aspect of compassion and the orange aspect of avarice.

Their fight, like those of the other entities, granting Krona's gauntlet continuous and near-endless might. Between compassion and avarice it was little question who to support, but the aspects exerted control on everyone present. Seeking to draw out whatever was in their base nature. It was a test they all passed, though Impulse almost faltered as he was not yet over missing out on the chocolate river. With the aid of the heroes tipping the balance, Ophidian was vanquished in a brilliant flash of orange light, and both entities were freed from the gauntlet.

So it went in the next chamber as well. Parallax battled against Ion in the next room, Fear vs. Willpower. Batman was paralyzed through the fight, as his nature was virtually split down the middle between both, but the remaining heroes were more than able to make up the difference and defeat Parallax--or at least assist Ion in doing so, at least. As before, the yellow aspect of fear vanished in a blinding light. This freed both it and Ion into the galaxy once more. Ion thanked the heroes for their courage and the great resolve it had taken them to come so far, telling them that they should hold onto it and trust that in doing so they would be victorious.

The final chamber was not a fight at all. The aspects of Love, Rage, and Hope were chained together. The Predator, The Butcher, and Adara were each unable to move, their struggles to do so empowering Krona more so than the other two battles combined. Intrinsically sentient life connected the three of them so routinely that they were bound now by that very belief.

The natures of each person in the room were tested and champions chosen from them. Working in concert, those champions alone could break the bonds. Kon and Knick were chosen by The Predator to shatter the chains that bound Love. Batman and Bedlam shattered the chains of rage. X-Man and Impulse shattered those of Hope. Robin was deemed to possess nearly a balance of all three traits, and Randal was already representative of another entity. As such they were forced to watch, unable to contribute in this instance to freeing these particular entities.

The Butcher spared the group no pleasantries. It vanished in a flash of red light. The Predator lingered a moment, as the love that so many felt in the room towards one another made it pulse with a steady violet light, as if the entity was purring in pleasure. Then, it too departed from the chamber leaving only Adara to remain--the very aspect, the embodiment of hope itself. The bluebird-like being hovered over them all, spreading its wings. It charged them to always look to it, for hope would never abandon them. As it prepared to leave, it paused over Nate, commenting to him as it left that they would soon have something in common.

With the last of the emotional aspects fled, the chamber started to shimmer and crack. The reality they had been inside of was coming apart. But Randal had been briefed on this as well, and shielding them with his ring's emerald energy he carried them on willpower alone out of the sub-dimension of Krona's gauntlet and right into a battle of near cosmic proportions. Just as they had suspected, Krona and Thanos had found one another. Likewise, just as predicted, the outcome was virtually pre-determined.

The heroes reappeared on the distant planet of the M'Kraan crystal once again. In the skies above they saw Krona and Thanos as celestial scaled beings. As large or larger than the Blackest Night had been, they literally threw stars and planets at one another. Reality itself seemed to fracture in the sky above them, looking brittle and cracked as the M'kraan crystal had before they repaired it, but this was a little beyond their capacity to repair. Through the cracks, half-seen shapes appeared: two massive armored figures fighting, one in red and the other in blue. Behind that, even larger figures, one male and one female, were also in conflict. It was not something they could all make out. In fact, most couldn't, but Batman saw it clearly, as did Skyboy.

The fight would consume everything unless it was somehow ended. But that was after all what they had set out to do within Krona's gauntlet. Suddenly stricken, the Maltusian was thrown back to the planet in his more humanoid form. Staring in rage at his now weakening gauntlet, which no longer contained enough power to fend off Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet. There was just enough however to escape, which Krona used it to do. Swearing horrible retribution against the Guardians who he believed to be responsible.

Thanos returned to a more mortal size, though his eyes still shined like the cosmos itself, and their light occasionally washed across his physical form. The team had fought it's share of nigh all-powerful beings, and they knew they were in for another similar fight, but usually there was something, no matter how minor it might be, something to exploit to find a way to victory. This was an enemy they knew nothing about, who seemed to hold the very life and death of the universe in his hands--well, hand. They found that even as they tried to move forward to attack, they were suspended in time as helpless observers by the power of Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet. He raised it into the air, to snap his fingers, to use the seven gems to extinguish half the life in the universe as he had promised.

From above, spiraling out of the sky with a cacophonous sound and fury, came the seven emotional aspects that had so recently been freed by Unity. They seemed to thin out, to narrow into colored beams of light, startling Thanos as they each struck a single gem on his gauntlet. Rage merged with Power, Avarice with Ego, Fear with Mind, Willpower with Soul, Hope with Space, Compassion with Time, and Love with Reality.

The mad titan seemed shocked, not anticipating in the slightest that anything had the power to even approach him. He staggered back and away, as if to escape the things that were already within his vaunted gauntlet. Then the entities exploded out of the gems once more, each growing back to its full size and streaking off in a different direction, at large in the universe once more. Thanos was clearly suspicious of just what it had all meant, but he raised his gauntlet with a toothy grin of victory, and snapped.

A sphere of cascading colors burst forth from the gauntlet in all directions, far faster than any eye even present could follow. It was as if it spread through the entire galaxy, across everything in less than the blink of an eye. In front of the wave, reality shattered into shards. Behind it, reality was reformed whole and complete. With a roar of outrage Thanos was thrown back against the M'Kraan crystal and seemingly absorbed within it. Time held meaning for the heroes again, and in the sky above a select few saw something that caused them to gasp, even the Batman himself.

The red and blue entities in armor stepped away, turning their backs on one another and striding off to parts unknown and unknowable. But, where they had stood was a new armored figure whose armor contained stripes of red and blue. Superimposed behind them the enormous golden figure, with three faces, turned away from the woman whose skin reflected the cosmos itself. They too walked away from one another. But in the place, where they had fought was another. The name washed across the psyche of those that could see it like a breeze. Concordance. The very avatar of this reality was no longer two struggling against each other but one singular reality, represented not by Eternity, nor Kismet. But in Concordance.

In the immediate aftermath, Kon fell sick and was rushed back to Krypton for treatment. Contact with the crystal had damaged his genetic code, much as it had been once before by The Agenda when they created Match. This time Knick was taking no chances. He used the most adaptive genetic code he knew of to treat Kon and repair his damaged DNA, which thanks to his mother, was his own. It took a few days for Kon to recover fully, but he did so now as a full-blooded Kryptonian. What it meant, exactly, him sharing Knick's DNA now, while they were also lifemates--well, that was something neither of them was in any hurry to talk about, not yet anyway. Really, it meant nothing to Knick one way or another. Kon was his lifemate, DNA be damned, but as he laid in bed with him, he heard Kon talking in his sleep. Closing his eyes, he could almost see his dreams, see that as he touched the face of the crystal, an old wish had resurfaced--that he was not just a clone, but a real Kryptonian. The M'Kraan crystal, it seemed, worked in mysterious ways.

The truth behind the cryptic words Adara spoke to Nate Grey were discovered as well. When using his telekinesis, a spectral image of a flaming bird appeared around him. It was something they had seen before, though not for some time. The Phoenix Force had left the known universe, it had seemed, after it aided them in defeating Darkseid. Now, at least a small portion of it had returned and taken refuge in Nate, augmenting his considerable power and allowing him access to more of it without any fear of hurting himself, even without Knick's medication. No doubt his genetic mother would have most certainly have approved.

But not all of the things they found were good news. Jack Drake had passed away, leaving Tim Drake with no one. Bruce Wayne, however, adopted him, taking him in not just as a ward, but as his son. It seemed so strange to Knick as he recalled that Tim's father had been alive when they left, but history said differently, that he had been gone for over a year, that almost the entire time Knick had known Tim, he had been the son of Bruce Wayne of Gotham city. Robin was not just Batman's partner, he was now his son. But there were other changes as well.

Reality had been reborn, and only a few knew that it had ever been different at all. New alien species were present in the universe that had never been before. Planets, and whole galaxies were moved, but in this new reality they had always been there to start. Back on Earth the changes were often subtle, hard to notice even if you did know things had once been different. But a few of them were more drastic in nature as well.

"Earth's Mightiest Heroes" they called themselves, The Avengers--gone were the Ultimates, replaced by a team that seemed to fit in on a world that was brighter, more filled with hope. The Martian Manhunter had never posed as the deceased Prof Charles Xavier because in this reality, he still lived, helping the X-Men and the New Mutants to better control their powers. Able to see the changes, along with Batman, Knick had little doubt he would notice others as time passed. Who knew, maybe it would give him and the Dark Knight something to actually talk about. Perhaps during those awkward Bat-silences while he was waiting to pick up Tim for a date. Stranger things had happened and routinely seemed to over and over. But that was to be expected, really. Because in the life of a teenaged demi-god Kryptonian superhero... it was never, ever, The End.