C&C welcome
Copyrights no infringement or profit is intended
---------------------------------------------------------
Sailor Moon is copyright to DiC, Toei, Kodansha, and Naoko Takeuchi.
Zatanna is copyright to DC comics.
---------------------------------------------------------
A Superman Unbound crossover with Zatanna set in 1975.
Something OLD, Someone EVIL, Someone NEW and Someone BLUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hovering six feet above a small bed the Callisto Rod dimly pulsed and
flared it's unearthly light muted. The pop of its arrival and the
intense flash of light had failed to wake the teenager sleeping below
and a final command prevented the ancient artifact from doing more.
Had anyone been watching they would have been struck by a feeling of
impatience. Henshin rods are not self aware. It was not capable of
processing the memories copied from it's masters, but it was well
over 20,000 years old and floating silently waiting for the
inauguration of the next Senshi went against it's core design. Not
to mention nearly 3000 years of programming. It's complex network of
esper interface circuits were not digital circuits, it understood
values far more than all or nothing. Only a tiny number of circuits
containing the Henshin rod's final order were holding it silent and
they were feeling the strain.
The Callisto Henshin rod was in a state very similar to what humans
called impatience. Almost reluctantly the Rod hovered, betrayed only
by seemingly random flickers and flares in it's cold flame. The two
orbiting rings creating flickering shadows. Shadows that seemed to
to almost evoke memories of an ancient dance played across the walls
of Zatanna's room.
------------------
"Get that sensor array on line! Move it! Move it! I don't care
what our fleet is doing shed the loads. The Nautilus and the rest of
the fleet can get by on emergency power. I want the teleporter at
full power in thirty seconds, Divert the power now! Get it done NOW!"
the little man screamed.
Dark hair flying wild the little man continued screaming orders even
as his hands flew over controls pressing buttons and carefully
positioning gemstone quality crystals the size of his head. Altering
the configuration of the strange machine around him. He was standing
in a surreal vision, a machine that seemed to be equal parts the mad
dream of a victorian future married to a mercury tube past and
anointed with the red glow of LEDs from the digital now.
Adolf abruptly grew silent his face taking on a frown of
concentration, his movements becoming slow and precise as a soft pop
heralded the formation of a eye watering rip in reality at the center
of the teleport grid.
After a fews seconds staring into insanity, he started lowering his
personal artifact into what some would described as an rip in
reality. The small Crystal skull's descent stopped, its slight sway
Suddenly frozen. The golden chain attached to the top going slack as
the crystal seemed to wedge in nothing. Part of the skull seemed to
twist and vanishing, going nowhere. His eyes glazing, Adolf's face
took on a half crazed look of intense concentration, his tiny
mustachio twitching. A look not seen in thirty years. A look seen in
the red glow of the digital displays below sending shivers down the
spines of all who were present.
The little man's esper abilities linked by his personal artifact and
powered by a major portion of Mystery Islands generating capacity
manipulated the forces in and around the rip. This was creating a
point of congruence through a higher dimension. Not for only an
instant as was normal, but for longer. Long enough to see, long
enough to recover and most especially long enough to kill. Smiling
at the last thought Adolf's mind pulled more power storing it in the
rip, banking it for when he moved.
Using a sixth sense, boosted and focused by his artifact, Adolf
mentally reached into what he quickly determined was an electrical
substation near Chicago and began his search. That the point of
congruence had formed in such a place was not a surprise, it was an
inherit trait for a unfocused teleport to link to such. Ignoring the
substation that surrounded his awareness, he reached out. Looking,
feeling and searching for what had once been and would be again the
League's Henshin rod.
Thirty seconds later, he snarled in frustration. It wasn't a
surprise, but he had hoped to find them the first try. The thieves
had activated the stealth mode for the linking and the rod was
fuzzing it's location, creating a huge zone of uncertainty. Pausing,
Adolf confirmed the feeling that said 'west' before allowing his
awareness to return to his body.
His awareness firmly back in his body, Adolf smiled and performed an
act that was to be repeated eight more times that night and released
roughly 1,300,000 joules of energy in the form of a spark that
grounded though the substation. Adolf would consider, in the coming
weeks, the reports on the destruction and death caused by those eight
widely spaced substations as an incomplete down payment on what was
to come. America and American's had hindered him far to many times
and it was high time they pay for denying him the world.
-------------------------------
Zatanna stiffened, coming out of a deep sleep at the sounds of
frantic car horns and a loud crash. Not yet fully awake, the groggy
fifteen year old fumbled at the lamp next to her bed. She grumbled
when several sharp clicks did not immediately brighten the darkness
of her room.
"Come on light! Stupid lamp, I need light!" the girl's sleepy grumble
was answered instantly, but not by her lamp! A cold, gray and
unearthly glow filled the room with its intensity, brightening the
room and making harsh shadows dance and circle on the wall. Zatanna
did not notice that her commands were answered not by her repeated
clicks, and a surge of electricity and an incandescent glow, but by
the light of a more distant sun filtered through an alien atmosphere
and collected from the surface of another planets moon.
Zatanna blinked, winced at the temperature change and rubbed her eyes
once more. Standing in front of her window, she blinked confusedly at
the darkness. The entire town was dark and all she could see was the
head lights or tail lights of a few cars. Some were moving, some were
not. Hearing loud angry voices through the glass, she looked down to
her left and saw in the blackness, car dome lights, tail lights and a
single functional headlight glaring from what must be two cars
crumpled together in the intersection. Dimly, her sleep fuzzed mind
processed the thought that the power must be out and an instant
later, a second thought came to her that was a question which cleared
the fuzz away with a surge of fear. Why was her room lit?
Whirling, she shoved the heavy curtain aside and froze at a familiar
sight hovering over her bed.
Thanks to a ticking wall clock almost directly behind the floating
Henshin rod, Zatanna knew how long she stood frozen. The second hand
spun through three short eternities before the teenager gathered her
courage to grasp the memories that might be her fathers last.
Taking a deep breath, the teenager who had argued long and hard for
what was now hers sobbed quietly, eye dry of tears. Reluctantly
Zatanna reached with her left hand and her mind. Her mind touched the
Henshin rod first and in spite of some daydreams, the minimal
training her father had allowed and a determination to remain in
control, the world vanished in a swirl of power and shadowy memories
as the Callisto rod completed a task placed on hold thirty-five years
before almost with joy. It went about linking thousands of years of
history and the power of a moon to her very soul.
-------------------------------
Lady Titan staggered as the soul deep feeling of a Senshi's birth
washed through her mind and body. Her hands clenched crushing and
splintering the mahogany bannister. The passing invisible shockwaves
awoke feeling and brought memories. Almost against her will Titan
relived in an instant her mothers last thoughts and death. The event
forced a single soft word "Callisto" from the Senshi's lips. Spoken
more as a curse than a name and filled with a deep hatred.
Fighting to hold back the tears and rebury her mothers last memories
Lady Titan turned and stepped from the small balcony and entered the
council chamber. Her vision blurred by tears still allowed her to
see there had been no change in the large holographic image of North
America. The orbital view floating over the council's mahogany round
table was unchanged, she had entertained a small hope that the final
linking would produce a refinement in the data. Sadly it showed only
a large patch of red covering most of the United States.
Ignoring the flurry of worried speculation from the other members of
Avalon's council Lady Titan stood staring at the map for almost a
minute and then turned and silently made her way back to the balcony.
The sun had come out during her absence and the city matched her
mood. The light filtered through eight feet of lake water was
painting Avalon's Buildings, streets and parks in a blue hue that
matched her mood.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Superman Unbound Fanfics can be found at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoisandClark_SUW/
http://www.fanfiction.net/c2/11072/0/1/
http://www.geocities.com/supermanunbound/index.html
Howard Melton
Edit assitance from Arthur Hansen
God bless
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'