The X-Men watched as Rogue tried to contain the energies of the M'Kraan Crystal. They tried to block out her screams of pain and anguish.
Suddenly, they heard a loud rumble, and several heroes came falling out of nowhere.
"By the goddess!" Storm exclaimed. "It's Jean!"
"And she's with Reed Richards, Captain America, Moondragon, and someone who I've never seen before!" Beast added.
Above, Reed tried to stretch his body to catch his comrades. Martain Manhunter simply shapeshifted so he could fly down himself.
A few seconds later, the heroes were among the X-Men.
"What's the situation?" Captain America asked, not wasting any time.
"Rogue's trying to siphon off some o' th' extra energy of the M'Kraan and moving it elsewhere to try to save the darn thin'," Wolverine answered.
"Is is working?" Cap asked.
"Of course not, fool," Jahf replied. "She's one person going up against a crystal that can contain infinity."
"Who the heck is this?"
"That's Jahf, Captain," Storm said. "He's the guardian of the crystal. Forgive him for his attitude. He's had a lot of stress recently."
"LOT OF STRESS?!" Jahf yelled. "Stress doesn't begin to describe the hell I've been though!"
Reed looked up at Rogue, and saw the progress.
"Captain," he said. "She's not making any effect at all. We need something more. Tell me, what exactly is wrong with the crystal?"
"The crystal is fractured. It's leaking energy. We need to create a balance by absorbing that energy, and adding more where there is not enough," Jahf said.
Suddenly, Rogue screamed louder than ever. "Can't . . . . HOLD . . . ON!!!!!!!!!" she shouted as she fell down. Storm flew over to catch her. Rogue landed in her arms and looked up. "Storm, save . . . the world. . . Sorry . . . I . . . couldn't . . . " With that, Rogue laid her head back and stopped breathing.
All of the assembled heroes were shocked.
Suddenly, the Martain Manhunter himself cried out. "No! The pain!"
Jean, who was beside him, took his arm. "J'Onn, are you all right?"
J'Onn looked up. "I was scanning that planet, seeing what was happenning, when it just . . . died."
"Died?!" Wolverine exclaimed. "What planet?"
The Martain Manhunter directed the image into the minds of everyone present.
"Hela?" Beast asked. "Lilandra!"
Jahf rushed to the center of the chamber. "We must hurry then, if we are to save the universe!"
Just then, a beam of light appeared beside Storm. She put Rogue's corpse on the ground and stared in disbelief as Charles Xavier materialized beside her.
"Hello, Ororo," he said. He turned to the others. "Hello, my X-Men, Dr. Richards, Captain America, Jahf, our green guest."
"Charles," Beast said. "You're standing!"
Xavier looked down at his legs. "Yes. The miracle of some alien race we encountered. Now, have I come to the right place?"
"You're just the person we need!" Jahf exclaimed. "Now, everybody needs to get in a circle, and hold hands. Oh, not you, Ms. Summers. I need you to come here."
Somewhere in the past, The Shadow was running through the streets of New York City. Most of the city was gone, replaced by a white nothingness. He knew that he was going to die, so he decided to find someone.
Margo Lane had been his best friend and confidant. She was the only one in the world who knew his secret identity. In all those years, he had felt strange feelings growing inside him. He knew that now was the only chance he would get to act on those feelings.
The Shadow reached Margo's house and knocked on the door. He turned visible as Margo opened the door. Before she got the door all the way open, he pulled off his mask and hat.
"Lamont," she said. Suddenly, Lamont wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the lips like he had never done before.
A white space began to open behind them. As Lamont saw it, he thought about his life. He knew he had make all of the right choices, especially now.
The white space quickly engulfed them.
In the Negative Zone, Iron Man and Steel watched as Dr. Strange, Dr. Fate, Thor, the Silver Surfer and Cable gave their energies to Access so he could pass it on to the Brothers. Each of the heroes were getting weak. It had finally gotten to the point at which their life energies were being drained.
Suddenly, Cable fell down, and his robotic arm went crazy. It rapidly grew larger and more jagged.
"Cable!" Iron Man shouted, running over. "What's wrong?"
"My - unnt - techno-virus. Leave me, save yourself," Cable replied, curling up in pain.
Steel came over. "Is there anything we can do?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not," Iron Man replied. "He's had this since birth, and only he can keep it in check."
"Stark . . . " Cable whispered. "I'm useless, but I still have energy. Send . . . it."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm a soldier . . . I know . . . when to save . . . my own butt . . . and when to save my friends. Besides . . . even you've been killed," he added with a smile.
Tony tried not to smile. "If you're sure."
"Stark, hook me up!"
Tony grabbed the lasso that had fallen off and attached it to Cable's forehead.
"Tell the X-Men . . . It was nice . . . knowing them . . . I hope to see them," Cable whispered, laying back. He closed his eyes. He saw Cyclops, his father. "I'm coming, dad."
Less than three minutes later, Cable's energies were spent.
"Iron Man! Steel! This is not working!" Access shouted.
"Just what we need right now," Steel muttered.
The Brothers continued to fight, only now, the fighting was more intense.
Suddenly, Access realized what was happening. "No! It's the last day!"
The heroes stood around the middle of the chamber, holding hands, while Jean was floating in mid-air. Jahf had tapped into one of the lines on the wall.
"This is one of those alternate realities where time moves slower. I will attempt to bring the Phoenix from there. But, to minimize the effects on that timeline, it will need to take some of your life force to empower it before it joins with Jean," Jahf explained. "Are you all willing?"
Everyone shook their head. Jahf released the Phoenix. The chamber went dark, and the only light was that of the Phoenix entity. It went throught everybody's body, taking a small portion of their life energies. Then, it flew into Jean's back.
Jean screamed, and then firelike wings grew out of her back. Those wings quickly changed into a Phoenix. Jean's uniform changed into the green and yellow Phoenix costume.
Jean/Phoenix floated down.
"How do you feel, Jean?" Xavier asked.
"I feel fine. Completely like myself, only with new powers."
Just then, the crystal jolted, and everyone was throw down.
Jahf looked out. "Phoenix! Hurry! The crystalization is beginning!"
Jean flew out. She looked around and saw what was left of Hela and surrounding space crystalizing. She used the Phoenix's fire to embrace the crystal. However, the crystalization was too far to contain. She was quickly overwhelmed, and returned inside of the crystal.
"It's too much!" she said. "We have to return to Earth!"
"I agree," Jahf added. "There is nothing left to do here. You need to return and try to use your last chance."
"And what is that?" Beast asked.
"You must merge the Earths. Now go!"
Xavier stepped forward. "I will stay here. I realize that I don't have much of a chance, but maybe I can try to repair the crystal."
"I will also stay," Moondragon added.
"As will I," Martain Manhunter said.
"No, J'Onn," Cap said. "You're more important on Earth. You control the JLA telepathic link. We need that. I'm sure that these if these two can't repair the crystal, then a third won't make a difference."
"I see your point. Let's go," J'Onn replied.
"We must go!" Jean said. With a bright flash, she used the Phoenix energies to carry the X-Men and the task force back to Earth.
On the Earth that was home to the JLA, Metropolis was gone, and Gotham City was halfway there. Now, buildings were beginning to cross over from the other Earth.
On the Earth of the Avengers and X-Men, New York City was mostly gone. If the white spaces hadn't taken it, it had crossed over to the other Earth.
In the Negative Zone, the Brothers were fighting.
And now, a new player entered the game. The Spectre was the cosmic guardian of his universe. He attempted to calm down the Brother that represented his universe. However, the blue Brother tossed him away as if he were an ant.
"This is not good!" Access shouted. "We have to get them to merge!"
"Access, is there anyway we can get a meeting of the JLA and other heroes someplace where we won't be affected by what's going on?" Iron Man asked.
"I don't know," Access replied.
"I know of a place," Steel offered. "I remember Superman mentioning it once, but I don't know when. It's called Vanishing Point, and it exists outside of time. We can go there, have a meeting, and when we come back, no time would have passed."
"Good idea. Now we must contact the appropriate heroes," Stark said.
"When Martain Manhunter gets back, he can call the JLA, and possibly the others."
Stark turned back to Access. "Is there anything that we can do?"
"Well, I can keep using the harness, but I don't see it doing any good."
Just then, the Phoenix appeared, along with the X-Men, Reed Richards, Captain America, and Martain Manhunter.
"Finally, some good news!" Iron Man exclaimed. "At least, something will go right!"
Minutes later, the proper heroes had been contacted, and the Linear Men had pulled them out of time and into Vanishing Point. Sitting around the table were Superman, Batman, Nightwing, Access, Martain Manhunter, Beast, Phoenix, Mr. Fantastic, Captain America, Iron Man, Steel, Waverider, and the Spectre.
Superman stood up. "Iron Man called this meeting because most of our efforts are failing. Mr. Stark, if you will?"
Tony stood up. His armor long gone, he was wearing the black tee-shirt and jeans that he usually wore under his suit. "Thanks, Superman. Basically, the harness that Cable provided us didn't help. All of our efforts to combine the two universes are failing. Cable died in his efforts to help. How did the M'Kraan mission go, Reed?" Tony sat down.
"Since the X-Men were already there, I'll let Dr. McCoy discuss this," Reed answered.
"Yes, Reed," the Beast said. "First off, I would like to inform you that two of our own, Gambit and Rogue were killed during our mission. It is a sad misfortune, but such is life.
"Secondly, our efforts mostly failed. Jahf, the guardian of the M'Kraan, explained to us what was happening. What we had to do was repair the crystal. It was leaking energy, and other places didn't have enough. However, at that time, we had no way of fixing it. When Jean and the others got there, we called the Phoenix force, the only thing capable of repairing the crystal. Alas, it was too late. The crystalization process had begun. Now, everything, everywhere will turn into crystal, unless we do something."
"Thank you, Beast," Superman said. "Access, how much time do we have before the two universes are completely wiped out?"
"Only hours. I'm not sure exactly."
"Okay. Batman, Nightwing, how are the evacuations going?"
"There are more people being wiped out than transported," Nightwing replied. "In fact, Metropolis and most of Gotham is gone."
"No!" Superman whispered.
Nightwing continued. "But the most shocking fact is that elements from the other universe are appearing in our universe."
"What?!" Captain America exclaimed.
"Wait a minute!" Access said, cheerfully. "That means that the merging is starting!"
"But why are pieces of reality still disappearing?" Batman asked.
"I don't know. Perhaps with the merging, there are a lot of shared elements between the two universes . . . elements that need perging . . . " Suddenly, Access bent over in pain. "Unnh!" He fell out of his chair.
Nightwing and Martain Manhunter, who had been sitting on either side of him, helped him up.
"No! It can't be!" Access murmured.
"It can't what?" Martain Manhunter asked.
"The brothers . . . " Access went limp, losing consciousness.
"Dr. Richards, Phoenix, and Spectre, get back to the Negative Zone! Find out what's happening!" Superman ordered. He turned to Waverider as Phoenix teleported the three heroes. "Are there any alternate timelines in which this is occuring?"
"Hey, according to the laws of nature, this shouldn't even be happening here!" Waverider answered.
"Is there any way to judge how much time is left?"
"Well, we've looked at the various futures of your timelines, and none of them exist! But all of the anomolies are blocking our view of the near future."
The room was silent as everyone thought about what they could do. In the meantime, Phoenix returned with Reed Richards.
"Where's the Spectre?" Superman asked.
"He stayed to try to use his power to urge the Brothers to merge," Reed answered. "I think even he knows he has a snowball's chance."
"Well, enough talk. We have to do something." Captain America announced. "Where should we begin? Evacuation or merging?"
J'Onn spoke up. "Not meaning to sound malevolent, but the evacuation isn't exactly helping much. I think we have a better chance of saving everyone if we all concentrated on merging the two universes."
"I see your point, J'Onn, but what if we can't merge?" Superman asked.
"Do we really have enough time for this?" Batman asked. "We only have hours left, maybe minutes. If we try evacuating civilians to other universes, we may save a few thousand. However, if we concentrate on merging, we can save billions."
"Batman's right. Evacuation is not really working. It's like during our last crisis, when Parallax - now known as the Spectre - tried to rewrite time. We tried moving people to where the white spaces weren't, but it didn't matter. More white spaces popped up. We need to merge the Earths," Superman announced. "However, since we don't need hundreds of heroes to do that, I propose that the Titans, Young Justice, and others continue to evacuate. With Vanishing Point, we can pull whoever we need for this."
"I think everyone's here that you would need," Waverider said.
"Let's get to work," Cap added.
By the time the heroes reentered time, the two Earths had merged into one. In what was left of New York, the remaining members of the Fantastic Four were helping evacuate when Reed reappeared.
"Stretch!" the Thing exclaimed.
Sue Richards ran over to her husband and hugged him. "Reed! What's going on?"
"We are attempting to merge the universes. I came back to get you."
"But the Earths are merged," Sue replied.
"Then why are we still in crisis?" Reed asked. "Come on."
"Daddy?" Franklin Richards asked. "Are we going to save the world again?"
Reed picked up his son and smiled. "Yes, son. We are."
Seconds later, the Fantastic Four, along with Franklin, had been transported to the Negative Zone. They saw the heroes standing around in shock, staring at something lying on the ground. Reed put Franklin down and rushed over.
He saw the beaten and tattered body of the Spectre.
"Well, here's a set-back," Superman said, with a little bit of sarcasism.
"How's Access?" Reed asked.
"Not good. Jean and J'Onn are attempting to enter his mind," Captain America replied. "Did you bring your team."
Reed shook his head. "It just occured to me. Franklin can bend reality. Maybe he can get the Brothers to stop fighting."
As he said that, the assembled heroes heard a loud bang above them. The red Brother had just knocked the blue one back with his sword. He was going in for the kill.
"Franklin! Come here!" Reed shouted.
Franklin ran over to his father.
"Franklin," Reed said, "see those two big men? If they stop fighting, we can save the world. But, one of them is about to kill the other. You need to be really angry and try to keep them from fighting."
"Okay, dad," Franklin said, giving his father a hug.
As Franklin began using his powers to go face the brothers, Reed turned to the heroes.
"Superman, Phoenix! Go with him, please."
Invisible Woman came running up to Superman. "Take me with you."
"What?" Superman asked.
"I'm his mother. Take me up there!"
Superman agreed and he flew up, already seeing Jean halfway there.
Ben came up to Reed. "Stretch! Have you lost you friggin' mind? Why the heck did ya send Franklin up there? He's your own son!"
"Yes, and he's also our last hope!" Reed yelled back. "We're running out of options. I didn't see any other choice. Now, everyone, either try to help Access, or watch the Brothers!"
Standing around Access was Beast and Martain Manhunter. Batman and Captain America walked over.
"How is he?" Cap asked.
Beast looked up. "Not well. What's worst is that we don't have the proper equipment to help him. We don't dare try to make something out of that harness."
"Do you know of anywhere to take him?" Batman asked.
"We can take him to the X-Mansion, if it still exists," Beast replied.
"We've received reports of upper New York state missing," Cap replied.
"And part of Gotham is gone. That includes the majority of the Bat-cave," Batman added.
Martain Manhunter looked up. "I've been scanning his mind. I don't think we can save him. When he became Access, he became more than human. He is far more advanced than any being we are equiped to deal with."
"Are you saying we let him die?" Cap asked.
"Not willingly," J'Onn replied. "But I think he wants to die."
Meanwhile, Franklin was having a little bit of success. He was able to get the Brothers to stop fighting.
"Stop! Why do you fight!" he was shouted, with tears pouring out of his eyes and energy coming out of him at all places. "I want to live!"
The red Brother looked at Franklin and put down his sword.
Down below, the Spectre stood up, his cape and hood shredded. He himself looked as if he were ready to die.
"I must go help," he told the others.
Back on Earth, Nightwing and Robin were evacuating people.
"So, Robin, shouldn't you be with your family?" Nightwing asked. "We can spare you."
"No, Nightwing. I'm Robin. I don't back down from a challenge."
Nightwing stopped what he was doing and faced his friend. "Tim," he said, "I was just suggesting that you make sure that you see your father one last time."
The Living Tribunal was the cosmic guardian of his universe, like the Spectre was of his. He had been trying to solve the problem his way. However, he saw it was time for him to join his fellow heroes.
Robin ran along the line of people who were being directed to the transports. He knew his father was somewhere. He found him.
"Dad!" he shouted.
Jack Drake was confused. "Robin?"
Tim Drake took off the mask he wore as Robin. "Dad!" he said, running over and hugging him.
"Tim, you're Robin?" Jack asked.
"It doesn't matter," Tim replied. "It's almost over. I just want to be with you."
Up above, Nightwing looked down and smiled. He saw the wave of crystalization coming his way. He was glad that he was able to let someone find happiness at the end.
Meanwhile, on another planet, one which had been overlooked in the conflict, the heroes of the city called Dakota gathered around to see what was up in the sky.
"I'll try to stop it with my electric powers!" Static said, jumping on board his flying disk.
He came closer to the rift. He hadn't seen anything like it since the time that he and the other heroes were transported to Superman's world.
Static stuck his hand out and released a charge. The electric backlash caused the whole sky to disappear, and a wave of nothingness swept over the pocket universe which contained the city of Dakota. The inhabitants were no more.
The Spectre held on to the blue Brother. The Living Tribunal was holding on to the red one.
The red Brother had just put down his sword to the relief of the heroes. He stayed like that for a few minutes.
Suddenly, Access awoke. "NO!" he shouted. Using his powers, he flew up to the Brothers.
The red Brother suddenly lifted his sword and forcefully brought it down on the blue one. Access tried to stop it, but he was caught in the middle, and killed.
Franklin screamed. Everyone else was in shock. The Brothers were close enough for the Spectre and Living Tribunal to grab the other's arm.
The heroes felt a tugging sensation, and then they were pulled out of the Negative Zone.
The heroes found themselves in what was left of New York. They were lined up. Superman found that Lois Lane was with him. He didn't care how. He saw that the wave of crystalization was coming. Soon, everything would be gone.
Lois looked up at him, and they kissed. Superman thought about how he had saved the world so many times, but it didn't matter. He had no regrets. He had done everything right.
Batman looked up and saw the end coming. He didn't care. The battle had been lost. He would end his crusade like he began it: Alone.
Reed Richards and his family looked up. Reed didn't see failure. Instead, he saw relief. No more guilt for any of his mistakes. No more frustration in trying to save a world beyond saving.
Jean Grey-Summers looked up and saw the crystalization, thinking about how she wished she was with her husband, Scott. She was sad. She turned to her long time teammate, Hank McCoy, and rested her head on his chest.
Beast put his arm around his friend as a comfort and looked up, and was glad that she would be able to rejoin her true family, if not in this world. And he was amazed at the sight in front of him. It was truly . . . fascinating.
Captain America looked up and saw hope. They had done their best. They had completed one great adventure. Now they would begin an adventure even greater.
Martain Manhunter looked up, and felt nothing. There was nothing to be done to turn back the end, and he had done all he could to stop it.
Waverider looked up and was confused. Were they truly successful? Or, were they doomed to non-existance?
Dr. Fate looked up, and saw a new beginning. He was tired, for he had given up much energy to save the universes. However, he had a strange feeling that something would not be right . . .
The other heroes looked up in silence, remembering their lives, their friends, those gone before them.
And then, the crystalization came over them and the world was over.
It was the end to not one, but two of the greatest adventures ever.
The world did not end with a bang, nor a whimper. Instead, it ended in silence. First, the universe was crystalized, and then vanished.
And now, it was time to start anew. Time to begin a new world that had been born from two.
For this was the legend of the crisis on merging Earths.
THE END
Writer's Note: Finally! It's taken quite a while to this project done, and I am very happy with the final result. I must again thank all of the writers on Crisis.
For this story, we used a lot of ideas, concepts, and inspiration from the following sources: Zero Hour (DC), Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC), The Phoenix Saga (X-Men TV show - Marvel), and Legion Quest (Marvel). There was a lot more I wish I could have added to this issue, but it was getting quite long.
And now, we begin the regular series. You won't believe some of the stuff we're doing to the characters in this new reality. I hope you all stay around and check all of them out.
-Chip Caroon
June 2000
Editor's Note: I hope you've enjoyed this story. Together, we put a lot of work into it: Plotting, organizing, assigning chapters, writing, editing, HTMLing, reformatting for the one-year anniversary, etc. It's been a long project, and we are pleased with the final result. Looking at it, it was ambitious, and personally, I wish we had had more time to add to it. There were several plot points I wanted to include, and looking back, I wish I could have made it more epic, and added as many characters as possible. However, lack of time, and to some extent, space kept us from doing that. Fortunately, in our later projects, we don't have those restrictions. On behalf of Ritchie Filippi, Paul Hahn, Bob Young, Black Condor, and myself, I say thanks for reading. Oh, and one more thing. The comic book reference the Beast made in Crisis #4 was to Batman #511, a Zero Hour tie-in. Kinda weird, ain't it?
-Chip Caroon
June 2001