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In the Fortress of Science, Alexander Luthor was startled by an announcement from Brainiac. The six-inch-tall, sentient, computer-minded humanoid used the name John Smith, but his electronic senses were far more acute than his mundane name would suggest. Thus he was the first to detect the arrival of a visitor.
"Alex -- someone approaches, and he apparently knows we are located beneath the earth's surface," said Brainiac.
Alexander Luthor frowned. "That's odd. I've gone to extreme lengths to safeguard this place. As you know, I've never even told the Secret Society about the place or about my family or you. I have trouble fully trusting anyone with special abilities after what I've seen what the Syndicate can do."
Brainiac said nothing. He was troubled since he had grown to care for his creator and especially for Lena Luthor, Alex's blonde psychic sister. "I assure you it is not one of the known Syndicators. He appears friendly," said Brainiac.
Luthor nodded. "Prepare a containment cell and activate it at my signal -- just in case." He waited and slipped on his armor's helmet. As the leading superhero on this world troubled by evil, he was weary of combat.
He watched as energy generated an opening and then rapidly closed again. There now was no trace of any entrance to his underground Fortress of Science, which was how he preferred it. He couldn't take a chance that his wife Lois, their unborn child, or his young sister Lena could be harmed by Ultraman, Owlman, or the rest of the supervillains who dominated so much of their world. He and Lena had already lost their parents to a senseless rampage by Power Ring years before. He waited and knew from the pulse in his armor that Brainiac was already scanning the newcomer as well.
"If it isn't too trite to say so, Alexander Luthor, I must mention that I come in peace," said the man.
Luthor extended a hand. "You have the advantage of
me. What brings you here? Who are you? I see you are obviously
extraterrestial."
Hours later, after a fascinating discussion during which Lois Lane Luthor and Lena Luthor joined their gathering, the newcomer spread wide his hands. "Are you certain this... ruse is necessary?" he asked.
"Yes. Knowing Owlman and the Murderer from Mars the way I do, it is vital to play every trump card you possess," interjected Brainiac.
Their visitor shrugged in earthly fashion. "So be it. My equipment should help me perfect the mannerisms required," he said with a reluctant tone.
Lena Luthor frowned and idly tugged on her long blonde hair. She suffered from dreams of the future, and she'd had one not long before in which her beloved sibling had died. She still shuddered when she considered the possibility. I don't know what I'd do without Alex. If those fiends take him from me like they did mom and dad, I'll be devastated, she thought.
"Perhaps I can help protect him," echoed a
voice in her mind.
Elsewhere, Power Ring grinned. It was not a pretty sight. The slightly gaunt, balding man had little to conceal his malice. It radiated from him like the emerald energy from his ring. He grinned broadly as his energy created a huge slingshot that rocketed a boulder through Block Aviation.
"Oops! Did I do that?" he mocked as his destructive toy rained rubble across the once-smooth runway.
"You beast!" cried an angry man from below.
"You're no beauty yourself, Pops," he smirked.
"What of me? Can you say the same of me?" purred a woman's voice from above. Power Ring turned to gaze skyward. He frowned. There should not have been anyone who could fly with that kind of sultry coo to her voice. He sure knew Ultraman didn't talk like that -- or have curves like those, either.
She was a redhead with long, flowing tresses with a slight curl to the ends. She wore a mask that flared into an avian motif but did nothing to hide her bright green eyes. She wore a brief bikini top and green and red tights that ended in slippers of the same color. Most remarkable of all was the fact that she hovered in midair due to either the weird belt she wore low on her hips or the wings that spread out from the harness across her brief top.
"Speechless? I like my men silent. I'm Shayera. You can call me Lady Shrike," she said.
Power Ring smiled. This was his lucky day. "Come on,
baby. We need a place where we can... nest," he smirked.
Later, Power Ring and Shayera snuggled close to one another within a green sphere of his creation. The sphere rested on top of a mountain range that depicted the faces of Arnold, Burr, Booth, and Hearst. They were America's four most celebrated past presidents; however, little did they ever dream that someday their national monument would be used for a romantic encounter.
Shayera yawned and smiled as she swept a hand through her luxurious hair. "You know, I'm getting to like this mudball. I saw Earth as just a temporary hiding place in which I could find shelter and regroup before moving on. Now I find this little world has possibilities," she said.
Power Ring kissed her roughly and said, "So do I, so do I. Where are you from? I don't want any alien diseases."
She laughed a throaty chuckle and said, "Never fear. Thanagar is notorious for its regulation of every aspect of social life. That same strict propriety extends to health issues as well. I am a product of Thanagar's rigid system of regulation of the physical and mental. I am a bit of a global scandal, however. I am one of only two of our world's noble Wingmen to betray our duty. I am what you would call a crooked cop."
Power Ring grinned. "I never enjoyed time with a cop like this. So you say you are a dirty alien cop?"
She caressed his face and said, "I was. Now I am a fugitive, and I fled my world after my racket was exposed."
Power Ring said, "You said you were one of only two cops to turn bad on your world? What happened to the other one?"
She frowned, and her expression turned dark. "I don't want to talk about Katar. He and I were once close before he betrayed me. If I ever see him again, I'll shove a photon lance through his heart," she hissed.
Power Ring fingered her discarded wing harness and said, "I hope I never give you reason enough to want to hurt me like that punk did."
Lady Shrike smiled coldly. "For your sake, you better
not."
Within the Fortress of Science, Lena Luthor tossed and turned beneath her silken sheets as the pretty girl's rest was troubled by dark visions. "No!" she cried out and sat up suddenly with her heart racing and her eyes wide with fright.
"It was the same nightmare. Alex dies at the hands of our enemies. It must be a true vision of things to come. Oh, how can I go on like this?" She shuddered.
A voice seemed to whisper softly at the edges of her mind. A faint will-o'-the-wisp-like tugging that echoed within her mind or soul passed across her awareness as she struggled to find answers.
"I can help you. I'm not a dream. Your psychic sensitivity allows you to hear my thoughts. Help me, and I shall do the same for you," said the seductive female voice.
Lena said, "What must I do?"
The voice said, "Let's talk in your brother's
lab."
Lena Luthor padded down the hall on bare feet and entered Alex Luthor's now-empty lab. He had joined his wife Lois in their quarters, and the lab was silent. She glanced at the chamber in which the robotic Amazo slumbered on in his electronic sleep. He was a failed experiment of Alex's. He was one of many attempts by her heroic sibling to stop the evil Crime Syndicate.
Another such experiment was John "Brainiac" Smith. John was Lena's special friend, and even at six inches, he retained her respect and affection. She could have used his advice and his steady modulated words of comfort. However, he wasn't present, either.
Thus, Lena Luthor took furtive steps that promised to change her life forever. She followed the soft urging of the voice and manipulated various machines. Even though she was a bright girl, the science was beyond her level of intellect. Still, images of exactly what should be done and how to do it flickered through her mind like subtle phantoms from a dream. She worked through the night and finally received the praise of a job well done from her ghostly aide.
"Now activate the machine, and I shall help you get all you deserve," hissed the voice.
Lena flipped a switch, and a glow burst from the projector. In seconds, a woman appeared before her startled eyes. She was Lena's exact twin and wore an alien costume of red and blue. A short red skirt and red slippers, along with a blue top, completed her costume. Her hair was fair and her features lovely, if cold.
"Who are you? Why do you look like me?" gasped Lena.
"Our looks are alike by a jest of fate, and my survival is due entirely to genius all my own. I survived the death of my world and now hope to avenge that loss," snapped the blonde.
"My name?" she smiled as Lena frowned in concern. "Call me Ultragirl!" she laughed and then flew off, leaving a shocked Lena to stare as alarms echoed and Alex and Lois rushed into the lab.
"Lena, who was that? She tore out of here with the raw power of Ultraman himself!" he said as he held his sister.
Lena wept softly. "I fear she was a nightmare made all-too real." As Lena sobbed gently in her sister-in law's arms, her heroic brother Alex checked the data his hidden scanners had gathered after the appearance of the powerful blonde woman.
"Lena, she's apparently from Krypton like Ultraman. I'd believed all of that sad world's natives to have died except for the obvious and infamous exception of Ultraman. That means she has potentially all the power he has, plus she apparently has a good mind, too. Somehow she escaped the destruction of their world years ago via some type of other dimensional safety zone. She remained trapped within this zone until you freed her. Apparently your psychic sensitivity allowed her to mentally contact or even dominate you."
Lois held Lena and hushed her tears. "It wasn't your fault, dear. She must have manipulated you."
Lena shook her head. "No -- I fell for her lies. I thought she could help me protect you all. I never imagined she was such a fiend. This projector she guided me to construct tells you of her likely origin from another dimension. Can you send her back?"
Alex said, "I hope to do so, and perhaps if it works like the one we took from the Lawless League's Hypernion, we could even trap Ultraman and his allies there as well."
Lois said, "Oh, Alex, could you really? They escaped from one such Phantom Zone before."
He nodded. "Yes, that makes it an exceedingly difficult proposition, but we have a new ally as you know."
Lois said, "I hope his deception works."
Alex sighed. "As do I. John is helping him. They are both good men."
Lena said, "Alex, can you ever forgive me?"
He drew her near and said, "There's nothing to forgive. That blonde vixen might have tricked any of us."
Lena accepted his words of reconciliation, but she blamed herself
and
wondered if she had unleashed yet another supervillain on the
unsuspecting world outside.
Ultraman himself was brooding in the hidden base of the Crime Syndicate when Owlman entered with a sardonic grin on his face.
"Why so grim? Did you break another superhero?" Owlman chuckled.
Ultraman frowned. "You wouldn't understand. I was recalling my life on Krypton, if you must know."
Owlman nodded in silent understanding. He had a keen insight in the workings of his menacing ally's dark nature, and he speculated at times on why he was so troubled by his past and his father.
"You had the last laugh. You lived -- Krypton died. Your old man died. How smart was he? You showed him," insisted Owlman.
Ultraman nodded. "Yeah, I showed him. How come it doesn't feel like a victory sometimes?"
A female voice said, "It doesn't feel like a victory, because your survival was undeserved. Your father was a better man than you are. He taught me well, and that's how I survived."
Owlman jumped aside as the blonde in the red miniskirt, cape, and slippers, and blue blouse smashed into the room from above.
"Kira? How in the world?!" gasped Ultraman.
Owlman smiled as he watched the powerful girl defy her hulking counterpart.
"Your father, my uncle, taught me about extra-dimensional transport," said Kira Zot-LL, Ultraman's Kryptonian cousin. "I escaped into what I called the Survival Zone when our world exploded. Now I'm free, and I'd like to make you as dead as Krypton," she shouted.
He pulled her near and caressed her lithe form. "Now, Kira, that's no way for cousins to behave," he smirked.
She slapped him across the face and pulled free. "I told you years ago not to ever try to touch me like that again! Your advances sickened me then and still turn my stomach!" she snapped.
Ultraman said, "You always were a conceited little thing. Your beauty gave you airs."
Owlman cleared his throat. "May I interrupt this touching family reunion? This fetching young woman is your cousin?"
Kira said, "I am his cousin, and I'm bitterly ashamed of it."
Owlman held up a hand as Ultraman moved toward the girl. "You have all of his powers and may easily dominate many on this world. What are your plans? Do you mean to defy us or join us?" he asked.
She tossed her long blonde curls and said, "At first I meant to kill him. Now I wonder if this world is not large enough for us both? I warn you, Ultraman -- keep your distance. I've watched all that you've done here, and I will not interfere with your team if you leave me alone."
Ultraman smirked. "She was my father's pet. She's smart. She'll leave us alone."
She said, "That's right. I won't cross your dark path again, Rao willing. Oh, and don't call me Kira. Call me Ultragirl." She flew off and left them staring at one another.
"Quite a girl. I hope she won't present us with a problem," said Owlman.
Ultraman slammed his fists together. "She won't, or I'll kill
the spoiled brat!"
The Human Cannonball fancied himself a master villain in the making. In truth, he was a rookie. He crashed through a jewelry store window and blasted back out again without gaining more than a few hastily grabbed rings.
"Next time, when I can steer this jet pack a bit better, I'll hit them hard," he vowed. He zoomed skyward with a purple jetpack blazing until a slow drawl caught his attention.
"I reckon that's far enough, son. Higher you go, harder you'll fall. My pa taught me that when I was a young 'un," said a man riding a winged stallion. He was portly and unshaven. His cowboy hat was white, and his boots and spurs gleamed with some alien metal.
"Huh? You some kind of space cowboy?" sneered a startled Cannonball.
"Nope. Ah'm called Terra Man. Ah'm a bounty hunter by trade, but when ah kin do a mite of good fer free, I don't worry none 'bout bein' paid," he said as he drew two antique-looking six shooters and fire precisely at the Cannonball.
The villain's cocky grin turned to a gasp as his jet pack's harness was severed by the energy beams, and he plunged downward as the now-unmanned pack shot into space. His screams echoed as he fell until Terra Man swooped down to catch him.
The cowboy grinned as he turned him in to the police below. "Poor
dude's fainted laik a woman," he laughed.
As the days passed, Terra Man became a frequent topic of the news as reported by Daily Planet reporter Cat Grant and WGBS news anchor Lana Lang. He successfully captured new villains with colorful names like Ambush Bug, Onyx, and Ringmaster.
Owlman sneered as he watched one such report.
"Bah! The vanity of the man appalls me. To think he could function in a modern society as some living anachronism," he said.
Lady Shrike said, "Those weapons he uses are alien in nature, even if they look like Old West relics."
Ultraman gazed at the redhead and said, "You should know. Perhaps you can offer us more than some much-needed sex appeal."
Power Ring stepped forward and said, "Back off, Blue Boy. She's mine."
Lady Shrike laughed harshly. "I beg to differ. I'm my own woman." She pointed at the owl that perched on Sundown's shoulder. "Keep that filthy thing away from me. I tire of its unblinking stare -- and yours too, Ultraman."
"Hooty is my pet, like you're Power Ring's," said the taciturn man.
"Now, look--!" began Lady Shrike when alarms sounded.
"We have a visitor. Something has triggered our security devices," said Owlman.
"Good. I'm ready for a fight," said Lady Shrike.
They rushed into battle formation but saw nothing.
"Odd. Nothing is there. Some electrical pulse activated our alarms," said a scowling Owlman.
"Luthor -- or that computer man of his," suggested Power Ring.
"Brainiac -- very likely," agreed Owlman.
"I hate that six-inch robot," said Ultraman.
Sundown said nothing as Hooty screeched softly.
Suddenly, Terra Man appeared out of thin air. "You yahoos been breakin' the law fer too long. Ah'ma gonna take you in," he vowed.
Ultraman flew forward and said, "Try it, Billy the Kid!" He gasped as Terra Man flickered from view.
"Where'd he go?" cried Power Ring.
"Terra Man swallowed him up," said Sundown. "I'll put out his lights," he vowed. He gestured to generate the blindness that was his major power.
Terra Man remained unmoved. He raised one hand and fired a six-shooter. The energy beam vanished without harming anything.
Lady Shrike darted forward and cried, "He isn't real. He's something like a hologram."
Owlman nodded and said, "Brainiac is behind this. He concealed some type of weapon behind a facade of Terra Man. Ultra's been transported away to--!" He then vanished as well.
Power Ring gestured and contained the image of Terra Man in a green sphere. "Look -- that's a dimensional projector like the kind Luthor used during the Hypernion case. Terra Man was just a construct of light used to hide the projector as operated by Brianiac," he said.
Indeed, the emerald energies of Power Ring's gem revealed the six-inch artificial man Brainiac as he stood astride the Phantom Zone device that had been used to free Ultragirl.
"I'll crush ya like a radio," sneered Power Ring. He gasped as energy lanced into him from behind. He whirled to see Sundown laying stunned as Terra Man stood with guns blazing. "You're the real Terra Man! But how'd you appear behind us?" he gasped as his concentration wavered and Brainiac struck him with the projector's beam.
"You miscalculated. We made you think there was no Terra Man with our hologram when in fact there certainly was," said Brainiac.
Lady Shrike kicked out and slammed her photonic lance into the path of the space cowboy. "You won't take me as easily," she vowed. She dodged a beam fired by Brainiac and hesitated. If she destroyed the projector, she might trap her new allies forever. That was not something she wanted, but to keep her freedom she would do it in a heartbeat.
Terra Man fired his guns as the feathered femme fatale twisted and dodged his every shot. Her aerial agility was amazing. "Ah'm mighty impressed with your speed, little darlin'. Too bad for you, ah got tricks all my own," he said with a roguish grin.
Lady Shrike frowned. "I'll learn those tricks in seconds." She flew upward into an upper chamber and locked the door behind her. She activated a weblike helmet and was soon cursing bitterly. "The electronic brain I brought from Thanagar should have revealed Terra Man's secrets, but I get nothing," she muttered.
Terra Man kicked open the door as Brainiac followed.
"Well, that means one thing," Shrike hissed. She charged Terra Man and kicked him backward. In close quarters, her speed could not help her, so she was desperate to gain room to move. She forced her way past him and scowled as he vanished again. "He's also Thanagarian," she mused as her keen eyes scanned the room.
Hooty swooped low, and Lady Shrike's green eyes gleamed with reason. "You're a shape changer! You're Thangar's most famous do-gooder," she said, smiling coldly.
Hooty shifted from owl form to that of a bald humanoid. "Indeed, I am Myth. I was sent to bring you back to our world to stand trial. Luthor alerted me that it would take deception to beat your likely allies. Thus, first I took the place of Sundown's pet owl with my shape-changing powers. Then I used the image and weapons of the famous space bounty hunter Terra Man to add to your confusion. I knew if I came for you as myself, you would be ready."
Lady Shrike said, "I would have been ready for you. All of the Wingmen knew of your story. You developed a formula that allowed you to take the form of any creature. I didn't realize you could also look like humans."
Myth said, "I can't. Braniac's hologram gave me the Terra Man appearance. My own powers allowed to me take the form of the owl. Now you may surrender and save us all strife."
Lady Shrike said, "Not if I do this!" She hurled her photonic staff and shattered the Phantom Zone projector. "Sorry, Syndicators -- but a girl has to look after her own interests," she sighed.
She soared out of the base and smirked as Myth hesitated between chasing her and helping Brainiac, who had been caught in the energy blast. "Stupid vigilante!" she laughed.
Lady Shrike gasped as a newcomer swooped down from above. "Luthor!" she gasped. "I've been warned about you."
He smiled and said, "And I was prepared for you, Lady Shrike." He
raised his hand to fire a weapon at her, frowning.
Just then, an energy beam shot down from the sky to envelop both Alexander Luthor and Lady Shrike in a fiery nimbus, which quickly disappeared.
Myth and Brainiac emerged in time to see the two engulfed in fire and vanish. "By Polaris! What could have struck them?" asked Myth.
Brainiac shook his head, wondering if he had witnessed his master's death. "I am still damaged from the photonic energy. My sensors detect nothing."
They gazed skyward for moments before returning to the Eyrie of Evil, the headquarters of the Crime Syndicate. They frowned as they looked at the shattered dimensional projector.
"We cannot free Ultraman or Owlman now," said Brainiac.
"But I can!" yelled Power Ring as he rose up and blasted away with his emerald ring. Brainiac frowned as the ring repaired the projector and released the pair.
Myth said, "I think we should retreat." He took the form of a purple roc and carried Brainiac to safety.
Owlman and Ultraman exchanged glances. "We saw it all," said Owlman. "Lady Shrike broke the projector before being hit by that beam. She is not to be trusted."
Power Ring shrugged. "And any of us are?"
Back at the Fortress of Science, Myth said, "My mission was to stop Shayera -- Lady Shrike -- and I fear instead I have merely witnessed either her death or her escape."
Brainiac nodded. "Lena predicted Alexander's death. I fear she was right."
He watched the sobbing figures of Lena and Lois Luthor and wished
again
that he could have saved his friend and creator.