ic House of L: Wake-Up Call (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

A wall of black, whirling dots of ink exploded over everything, battering through James' dimensional barrier an instant after sweeping away the whole world around it. And then...

-

James Prophet woke up to the gentle beeping of his compu-alarm, the whirring of his electro-bed a gentle reminder of the very pleasant way he'd fallen asleep. He sat up wearily, listening to the hum of the stabilizers that kept his flying saucer in orbit of Earth. Rising to his feet, he caught sight of his face in a reflective surface of polished metal and paused. Wasn't that right? He was Hell-Ion, the half-blooded son of the crown prince of Lucifer-1, the biggest planet in the Antares system whose inhabitants had evolved red skin and ionic-wielding powers to protect themselves from the sun's red radiation. But he'd sided with his mother's people, not his father's, and become the guardian of the planet he'd once hoped to invade.

Was that right? No. No, because when he looked in the mirror, he saw who he was. He was James Prophet, prince of Hell. This other life was patchy, with elements of his backstory hard to recall exactly, as if no one had ever bothered to write the story down completely, but he could remember his lives enough to know which one was real.

-

"Raven." Chris Kenzie woke up in a sitting position, peering through his mask at a very familiar face. His adopted father, Duncan Summers, was looking down at him with one of his characteristic indulgent smiles. "You fell asleep in costume again." Poking him lightly with his cane, he said, "Get upstairs and get some breakfast before your mother has my hide." The laughing acrobat was soon on his feet, running up the steps of the Ravencave to join his adopted mother, Jasmine Summers, for a hearty bacon and eggs breakfast. It was over breakfast, sitting with his new family and laughing and talking, that he caught sight of his face in one of Jasmine's highly polished plates.

And the new life suddenly half-melted, as fast as it had come. He could remember patches; his adoption, his home, his family with Duncan and Jasmine, but other things were less sure, as if they'd been changed in an awfully fast hurry. He was Chris Kenzie, Geckoman, and he remembered that much with perfect clarity.

-

Erin fell thirty feet, landing on her feet in a lush, luxurious lawn. Coming to her senses, she realized she was standing beside the old Freedom Hall, the massive old mansion that had stood there before the Terminus Invasion and had once been the headquarters of the Freedom League. The sound of traffic was loud in her ears. Peering through the giant hedge between her and the street, she saw a scene like something out of an old movie; classic cars, men in suits, and women in needleskirts and pillbox hats that reminded her of pictures of Jackie Kennedy. But she hadn't traveled in time, she saw, not when she saw a young man walking along and listening to his iPod. The last thing she remembered was the end of everything.

-

Trevor Hunter woke up with a feeling of great loss, the way he always did on the anniversary of his parents' deaths. But Travis was there to comfort and steady him, as always, the greying-haired champion of justice a rock as they carried flowers to the graves of Ted Hunter and Janet Pryce-Hunter. Behind them was Margery, his grandfather's never-failing secretary, who'd stayed young and vital as long as Travis had thanks to their infusions of the Infinity Formula Midnight had taken from Wilhelm Kantor. It was raining just a little, enough that the smooth, polished marble reflected Trevor's face back at him as he and his grandfather recited the oath they'd taken to avenge any unjust killings like those that had taken his father and Travis' son.

And it was then he remembered that his parents were alive. They'd abandoned him for Paris, left him in the care of an old man who lived alone, his favorite secretary long since dead. Patchy as the false life was, he could remember details of it, but there was no doubt in his mind about which story was which. He was Midnight II...but not this Midnight II.

-

Eve woke up as her cousin threw a pillow at her face. "Eeeeve! Wake up! Wake up you silly sleepyhead!" Faith gave her a big raspberry. "You'll be late for your recital!"

"Fine, fine," grumbled Eve, who'd never been a morning person. She slid out of bed, headed for the bathroom, and started brushing her teeth. She looked in the mirror, saw the toothbrush blocking her mouth, and remembered. She was the hottest teen musician in Freedom City, she was a powerful psychic teen hero, she had a cute boyfriend with a nice smile. But that was a lie, wasn't it? She was Sage, and she remembered everything.

[Electra]

Erin did a quick lap around the lawn, trying to find the rest of her team. Where were Faith and Eve and Chris, where was Trevor? Where was James, who'd been right next to her at the end? There was no sign of any of them, which made Erin's alarm ratchet up another notch. Rick had said he wanted to make everything the way it was supposed to be. This didn't seem to be time travel... could it be another universe? Where the Terminus had never invaded, where people had never stopped wearing weird grandma-clothes? Where had everyone else gone, then?

Heedless of the possibility of being noticed, she vaulted to the top of Freedom Hall, hoping to catch sight of any of her friends that way. James would be looking for her as soon as he realized what happened, she knew. He'd promised never to leave her stranded in another universe, and he wasn't the sort to break promises. If they were in the same universe, if he and the others were alive and okay, if they could find each other. If, if, if. The uncertainty made her decidedly nervous.

[Gizmo]

For a moment, Trevor stood perfectly still, rainwater trickling down his face. The the dark haired youth's eyes narrowed to slits, his mouth setting in a thin line and his hand clenching into white knuckled fist. Lucas. Pieces began to slide together despite the haze of memory. Reality had been reshaped, molded into this... farce. Lives returned or ripped away, rewritten to suit a mourning father's twisted sense of nostalgia.

If the pair standing behind him noticed his change in manner, they must have attributed it to grief, and their own lack of reaction told Trevor all he needed to know. They didn't remember the way things really were, or else they were mere constructs to begin with. He knew he needed to find anyone else who might have been shielded from the full extent of Lucas' powers, but the cold rage churning his stomach screamed for a different priority. "Grandad," he began without turning around, voice precise and drained of emotion, "do you still keep in touch with your old teammates and their families?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Raven." Chris Kenzie woke up in a sitting position, peering through his mask at a very familiar face. His adopted father, Duncan Summers, was looking down at him with one of his characteristic indulgent smiles. "You fell asleep in costume again." Poking him lightly with his cane, he said, "Get upstairs and get some breakfast before your mother has my hide." The laughing acrobat was soon on his feet, running up the steps of the Ravencave to join his adopted mother, Jasmine Summers, for a hearty bacon and eggs breakfast. It was over breakfast, sitting with his new family and laughing and talking, that he caught sight of his face in one of Jasmine's highly polished plates.

And the new life suddenly half-melted, as fast as it had come. He could remember patches; his adoption, his home, his family with Duncan and Jasmine, but other things were less sure, as if they'd been changed in an awfully fast hurry. He was Chris Kenzie, Geckoman, and he remembered that much with perfect clarity.

Breakfast was great, as usual. Mom was a great cook. And after a night of bashing the baddies, a hearty plate of waffles hit the spot! Then he saw his reflection and the memories started gushing back. Geckoman... I'm the Raven. Wait, no, I'm... He turned pale.

Ok, something's seriously wrong. Fake memories? One of Fear-Master's tricks?

"Dad, you ever hear of someone called... Geckoman?" It's worth a shot. I mean, he's happy now he's got me to be the Raven.

[Avenger Assembled]

From behind her, Erin felt more than heard the sudden woosh of air of a teleport. Spinning around, she saw a group of four young women in bizarrely colorful costumes greeting her. They didn't look very friendly. "Teen Freedom, go!" yelled a girl in a costume like a more form-fitting version of the Wicked Witch of the West's, right down to a pointy black hat on her head. She vaguely recognized Seven, Psyche's friend the spellcaster from school. "Let's get this trespasser!"

Suddenly, the girl in the rear leaped to the fore, her domino mask not hiding a very, very familiar face indeed. Pointing the weapon in her hands at Wander, which looked very much like some sort of giant baseball bat, she exclaimed. "Rednaw! Up to your old tricks again, I see! Well, you may have disguised yourself as Erin Keeley White, teen girl athlete, but you can't fool me and the rest of Teen Freedom!"

-

"You know I do," said Travis, walking up and putting a fatherly hand on his grandson's shoulder. "I've been friends with some of those people for sixty years. We have dinner with Siren and her husband tonight, remember?" He patted him lightly on the arm and said, "I know this is always a difficult day. The worst day any boy ever has to face. But think of how proud they'd be, knowing everything you've done."

-

"Geckoman? Hmm. Funny you should ask that, son. Look at today's Chronicle!" Duncan Summers held up a copy of the Chronicle, the most anti-super newspaper in the city. On the cover was a bizarre green figure, its skin warped and scaled like a lizard's, its eyes bulging wide. The headline said simply "Geckoman: Threat? Or Menace?"

"Word has it he's been seen with your old friend Spellbound." Jasmine gave her adopted boy an indulgent smile, one answered by a sad headshake from her husband.

"That poor girl. She wants to reform so much, but something happens every time. I really thought we had her last year, until that rock fell on her head and she went back to her old ways. It's a sad story, but that's what happens when you turn...to crime!"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Geckoman? Hmm. Funny you should ask that, son. Look at today's Chronicle!" Duncan Summers held up a copy of the Chronicle, the most anti-super newspaper in the city. On the cover was a bizarre green figure, its skin warped and scaled like a lizard's, its eyes bulging wide. The headline said simply "Geckoman: Threat? Or Menace!"

"Word has it he's been seen with your old friend Spellbound." Jasmine gave her adopted boy an indulgent smile, one answered by a sad headshake from her husband.

"That poor girl. She wants to reform so much, but something happens every time. I really thought we had her last year, until that rock fell on her head and she went back to her old ways. It's a sad story, but that's what happens when you turn...to crime!"

What? Spellb... Lizzie? Wait, who's Lizzie? "I guess she had her reasons, I still feel like it's my fault," said Chris sadly. Wait... what!? "But that Gecko Man looks scary. I might need to look into that."

"What've we got planned for today?" Chris asked, looking at his father. He's not... goddammit, what's in my- I said goddammit! That's... that's naughty!

[Gizmo]

Trevor paused as the painfully young Travis placed his hand on his shoulder. "...yes, of course," he answered after a long moment. Looking down at the gleaming headstone, it took every ounce of his brobdingnagian self-control not to lash out right then and there. "Would have meant the world to them." An eerie certainty that neither of his parents would have bothered themselves to care about his heroics for more than the length of an awkward phone call merely added insult to injury. "Something just occurred to me, is all. Could we stop at the Lucas' briefly on the way back?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Sure thing," said Travis affably, walking along with the kind of athleticism Trevor had only seen his grandfather show in old newsreels. He was no spring chicken, sure, but he didn't look a day over sixty. "Just don't you and Mark keep Jimmy up all night again," he warned teasingly. "He's not as young as he used to be. Not that any of us are." He laughed with an easy, warm cordiality.

[Electra]

Erin stared at herself in consternation, her body reacting faster than her mind as she drew out her baton. "What the hell?" she asked, pretty much rhetorically. "How did I end up a superhero here? Stand back!" she ordered the others, twirling the baton to give herself a little breathing room. "What's going on here, anyway? Who are you people? I mean, I know who you are, but what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Claremont?"

[Gizmo]

Trevor couldn't count the times he'd wished he could have seen his grandfather in action, really learned from him one on one instead of through mere instruction. His days as the original Midnight had been over long before Trevor was even born. To have that desire fulfilled like this, as a shoddily constructed excuse for a revisionist present, was agony. So consumed was he that he almost missed what Travis had said as they walked toward the car. The teenage hero had expected Mark's resurrection, of course, but Jimmy Lucas would have to be as old as his grandfather should have been, even if he hadn't died more than a decade earlier. Just how far had Rick gone to reshape the world in his own image?

[Cyroa]

James shook his head, trying to focus. "Ugh...got lucky," he said with wry chuckle, appreciating the irony in that statement. "Lucky...Probably, probability," he muttered as he wandered his space-born home aimlessly, trying to sort everything out. "Magic, right. If it isn't just a hallucination...it might be possible...If I did, then maybe the others exist too," he said, more certain now. He turned and headed for the controls and the sensors. If he was going to look for the others, it was a given where he would start. Erin. His vision and memories were stronger than the others. Time to see if could merge a little flying saucer knowledge with these fuzzy memories and find his friends. After that...well one problem at a time.

[Avenger Assembled]

"What's she saying?" asked a girl in the back, a confused look on her half-visible face. Erin didn't recognize the teenager in the bright red costume; either someone who didn't exist in her regular world, someone she hadn't met, or just one wearing a very different costume.

"Don't listen to her crazy Bizarro-talk!" said Erin's bizarrely primary-colored duplicate, whose costume was all sharply-defined blue against eye-popping yellow. "Everyone knows I became a superhero when I touched a mysterious asteroid that landed by my house in Seattle! She may be my exact opposite in every way, but she's still very sneaky!" She laughed. "Not a good disguise, though, Rednaw! Everyone knows teen girl athlete Erin White is too shy to be me! Even if we are friends, and that's why she followed me to Freedom City! Anyway, you'll never reveal _my_ secret identity! Teen Freedom, tell her who she was crazy enough to fight today!"

The girl in the rear, who on closer inspection was actually older than Erin had thought, jumped to the lead, her hands glowing with sparks of power. A Latina accent strong in her voice, she exclaimed "The Firecracker will put a stop to your crazy ways, Rednaw! My cherry bomb power will light you up like Cinco de Mayo!"

"Not if I get you first!" called the bizarre reflection of Seven in reply. "The Witchie-Girl won't stand for you smearing my friend's good name all over Freedom City!" She waved bizarre gestures in the air, glowing with her own brand of supernatural power. "I'll use my _good_ magic to keep you from doing _bad_ things!"

"Jill O'Matic'll give you a robo-punch!" promised the last stranger, her arms extending like a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em robot, revealing metal and steel underneath. "I may be just a girl's brain in a robot body, but even I know crazy talk when I hear it!" None of the girls had shown any interest in actually attacking Wander so far, instead posing like they were ready to spring into action without actually doing so.

[Electra]

"Yeah... you know what? I'm leaving. This is stupid." Erin executed a neat backflip off the roof, then took off running. Fighting with her more-stupid self and a bunch of girl-power anime rejects might have been entertaining in the Doom Room, but she had better things to do. She had to get to Mark's house. That was where everything had started, maybe there'd be some answers there. She realized suddenly that there might be an alive Mark in this universe too. That was weird and a little creepy to think about. She wondered if he'd be the same, given the changes to the rest of the universe.

[Avenger Assembled]

Hell-Ion's fingers moved like lightning over the spacecraft's controls, easily manipulating the super-sciencey craft with as much ease as Hellion would have worked a powerful magical artifact at home. He soon found that, as far as he could tell, that Rick Lucas' changes in the world were very profound. Everywhere, people were cheerful and happy, speaking in booming voices and smiling at each other, the world one of peace and order almost everywhere. Freedom City was especially a happy place, the skies bustling with brightly-colored superheroes doing their thing in style. Zooming in on Freedom Hall, which looked as it had in the history books he'd seen, he picked out a bizarre confrontation playing out on the building's rooftop. Just as he watched, his version of Erin jumped and ran, her bizarre double in hot pursuit.

[Avenger Assembled]

"...hey! She's not supposed to do that!" Most of Teen Freedom hesitated at 'Rednaw's' sudden retreat, but evidently Wander's reflexes and speed were something that crossed the barriers of causality. Wander soon found herself with her identical twin in hot pursuit, though she was gradually gaining ground thanks to the other-Wander's tendency to stop in the middle of a chase to shout "By the mighty mountains of Seattle!" every time she did something surprising. Still, even with her double's tendency to monologue, this was going to be a tough chase if she didn't get some help.

-

"You, my boy, need to go to school," said Duncan, ruffling his son's hair affectionately. "You may be Raven by night, but by day you're still Chris Kenzie, honor roll student at Claremont High. It's Memorial Day, and that lady friend of yours with the beautiful voice will be there." He grinned. "After that, though, I do have some plans for some action." He leaned close as Jasmine cleared away the dishes. "I've got word that Fear-Master and his Circus of Crime are planning to hijack all the baseballs in Freedom to hold the pennant race hostage. If you can suit up after supper, I think we can make sure that the new Raven's on the scene to put a stop to them."

-

"Eeeeeve!" Faith called through the bathroom door. "I need a turn in there too! Are you talking to yourself again in there?"

-

The Hunters headed back to Midnight Manor, where Trevor had some time to himself to clean up and have lunch before their outing later in the day. It was a school holiday, after all, which meant more spare time. "Just make sure you're back from the Lucas house before eleven tonight," said Travis cheerily. "I've got a tip about Fear-Master that I think Midnight and Kid Midnight might want to do something about."

[April]

"Sorry!" Eve shouted, delighting in hearing her own voice again. Bursting from the bathroom with a wide smile on her face, Eve hugged her slightly taller cousin fiercly, lifting her up and twirling a bit, before dashing back to her room finish getting ready.

[Gizmo]

Seeing Travis and Margery so vital and alive tested Trevor's resolve, making him wonder if perhaps Rick Lucas hadn't crafted a better world after all. His grandfather's cheery sendoff confirmed his gut feeling however; this wasn't really the original Midnight, but a misremembered impostor. The real Travis Hunter would never have suggested putting off an investigation for a social visit, and he certainly wouldn't have allowed his protege to go by as jejune a moniker as 'Kid Midnight'. Suppressing a grimace at the saccharin name, a horrible thought dawned on the lanky teen. Fumbling about in his pocket for his keys, he sprinted toward the Manor's vehicle bay.

[Avenger Assembled]

Down below the Midnight Manor, Trevor found something so horrible it was tough to look at, even for a boy hardened by street-fighting and strong training. The Midnight Cycle's overall shape was the same, but all else was changed, even its size. In between the front headlights there gleamed a gigantic stylized clock twice the diameter of his own face, the welded-on hands pointing permanently to midnight. Other clocks were affixed to the rear, these made of a strange alien metal he didn't recognize, ticking away merrily as they showed the correct time, small radioactivity symbols visible just behind them on the Cycle's oversized chassis. On the motorcycle's huge handlebars, there were three big buttons labeled in big, easy-to-read type: Stealth Mode, Flight Mode, and Space Mode. All around him, the Midnight lair was changed in many other ways, the huge computer in the rear up to date, the trophies that his grandfather had long since donated to the Super-Museum sitting out in plain view, each one labeled for the inspection of any passing visitor.

[Gizmo]

Skidding to a halt, Trevor regarded the abomination before him with a slack, nonplussed expression. After a beat, he closed his eye tightly and rubbed the bridge of his nose roughly. Lucas, he groaned inwardly. Looking around, he spotted a row of lit display cases, each featuring a mannequin in a different variation of the Midnight costume. A blue and black number sported flippers and a pair air tanks, another covered in greyscale cameo had large flaps connecting the arms and legs for gliding. He paused briefly at a costume which seemed to be the traditional fedora and and trench coat... except that it was coloured with a rainbow of vertical bands across the spectrum.

Shaking his head, Trevor finally came to what he could only assume was the Kid Midnight costume. A black leotard was emblazoned with a stylized clock that matched the front of the reworked Night Cycle, while a yellow hood sat above a black domino mask set with inexplicably opaque white lenses. Both the gloves and boots had wide cuffs and the utility belt rested adjacent to yellow briefs on the outside of the pants. Looking it over, Trevor sighed. Not going to happen. Opening the case, he removed the mask and belt, fastening the latter around his black dress pants and affixing the former to his face, finding he was able to see through it as easily as through his usual red goggles. Undoing the top button of his dress shirt, he threw his tie to the lair's floor and rolled up his sleeves above the elbow.

Seeing his reflection in the case's glass, Trevor considered for a moment, then retrieved a fedora from his grandfather's costumes. Placing it upon his head, he snatched a pair of escrima sticks from their mahogany display stand and tucked them into his belt. Reluctantly mounting the nuclear powered bike, he revved its engines and raced toward the city.

[Avenger Assembled]

Kid Midnight roared along on his Midnight Cycle, its mighty radioactive engines powered by the atom itself! Just as he got near Ashton, the fine suburban district where the Lucases lived on his own world, an accented voice came piping in wildly over his Midnight Radio. "Kid Champion! Kid Champion! This is Officer O'Malley of the 45th precinct! We've got a hostage situation at the Bank of Freedom! He's some kind of crazy drugged-up hippie in a battlesuit who says the whole world's gone insane!"

[Ecalsneerg]

"You, my boy, need to go to school," said Duncan, ruffling his son's hair affectionately. "You may be Raven by night, but by day you're still Chris Kenzie, honor roll student at Claremont High. It's Memorial Day, and that lady friend of yours with the beautiful voice will be there." He grinned. "After that, though, I do have some plans for some action." He leaned close as Jasmine cleared away the dishes. "I've got word that Fear-Master and his Circus of Crime are planning to hijack all the baseballs in Freedom to hold the pennant race hostage. If you can suit up after supper, I think we can make sure that the new Raven's on the scene to put a stop to them."

"Sure thing, Dad!" grinned Chris, lying through his teeth. Something is wrong. Really, really wrong. "I'm just going to go grab my psychology book from the cave, then I'll head off." Kissing his mother on the cheek, Chris ran down to the cave before Duncan could respond and somehow found himself running to the garage.

"Ok, time to find out what the hell is going on. Like why I keep swearing." He quickly threw on his Raven costume, consisting of black tights and a leotard, with grey gloves, belt and boots. Sweeping his long cape around himself, he leapt into the Nightbird. For some reason, the sports car's black paintwork and green highlighting seemed wrong.

"Alright. Let's go." He turned the keys, resolved to set off to where the nagging in his head told him Spellbound's secret identity lived.

[Gizmo]

Trevor looked down at the radio speaker, conflicted. That an emergency would crop up just as he was nearing the Lucas' home was a fairly transparent attempt to sidetrack him; on the other hand, if people were really in trouble... With a grimace, he punched the reply button. "On my way." With a squeal, the Night Cycle reversed its direction and sped off toward bank. At the very least whoever was taking hostages sounded like they might have some idea what was going on, which would mean Trevor wasn't alone in his memories of the real world.

That thought, coupled with the obnoxiously simplified radio sparked a thought. If he'd somehow been spared the brunt of Rick Lucas' reshaping of reality, some of the others who had been at the hospital might have escaped as well. A typed label next to the first in a row of buttons read 'Teen Freedom'. The child champions counted Wander among their number, he knew. Wincing at his unconscious alliteration, he scanned the other buttons. Should try Geckoman, too. I mean Raven. ...wait, what? He blinked as he searched his mismatched memories. Oh, you can't be serious. Resolving to put off that bizarre revelation as long as he could, Trevor pressed the first button. "Kid Midnight to Wander," he tried experimentally, deciding to play along until he'd determined whether or not the others had retained their memories.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Kid Midnight!" Behind Erin, her double stopped dead in her tracks, calling to someone Erin couldn't see. Turning around, she saw the other Wander holding a big wrist-worn communicator up to her wrist. "Thank goodness you called! This is Wander! I need your help! Meet me by Freedom Hall right away!" She was talking quite loudly; Wander could hear every word. "Rednaw's on the loose again! And she's running a lot faster than usual!"

-

Chris Kenzie, aka Raven, couldn't see anything amiss at Spellbound's place from the outside. The house was its normal semi-detached ranch, the garage door open with a big black roadster parked inside, naturally shaped to look like a witch's broom. There were two floors, three bedrooms, and a menacing thug lurking on the porch!? A huge man in an ill-fitting suit stood there, glowering at passersby, his fedora perched on an oddly square, oddly-colored head. The other houses on the street were deserted, just like they usually were; who'd live in such a high-crime area?

[Ecalsneerg]

The Raven leapt from the car and strode straight up to the thug. "You!" he pointed dramatically. "I need to talk to Spellbound. Now! Kindly step aside, please." I need answers. Liz, Spellbound, whoever you are, it seems important.

He drew himself up to his full height, arms across his chest.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Aw, geez!" The thug exclaimed. "If Raven shows ya his face, it means he's gonna send you up the river! But I ain't goin' back to stir!" He pulled out a .38 special and waved it at Raven. Chris Kenzie saw the gun and knew he had to do something about it, but on closer inspection, the firearm was being waved around as if the guy had never held one before: if he shot that gun, it wasn't going to hit a thing. "You won't get me, see!"

-

As Midnight listened to the excited voice of Erin White over his radio, he caught sight of a statue in the roundabout; a Pieta-analogue he wasn't immediately familiar with. Slowing down, he realized who both figures were: the man cradling the body was the Centurion, his stony face set with grief, and the man in his arms was a clearly recognizable version of the man who'd shattered the world just a little while earlier. Checking the statue's dedication, big enough to be seen from the road, he read FOR ALL THE VICTIMS OF OMEGA. The list of names underneath, too small to be seen, was noticeably _much_ smaller than the list of people he knew had been killed in the Terminus Invasion of '93.