Home.

The single word hung in the silent air of Squadron City like a ray of hope.

Linda Lewis, the Squadroner known as Skylark, couldn’t believe her eyes. After what had seemed like an eternity, they were, truly, finally home.

She looked at her teammates. They were all recovering from the Redeemers’ attack. They hadn’t heard Lightner. They didn’t realize where they were.

Activating the device implanted in her vocal cords by Doctor Decibel, she yelled the word that she hadn’t dared utter in far too long.

“HOME!”

HOME

By Bruce Cook

It had been the home of a dream, a gleaming edifice whose goal was Utopia. It became a slaughterhouse.   Now, it was ghost town.

Squadron City still rose skyward. Sunlight still reflected from its steel and glass. But now, everything seemed just a little less perfect.

Hyperion couldn’t believe his eyes. He blinked twice more, hoping against hope that this wasn’t simply another ruse.

He scanned the grounds until he found Zarda.

She was still on the ground. Amphibian stood over her, fists clenched. The ruler of the seas raised his right fist above his head for another strike.

Hyperion blinked once more. When he opened his eyes he released a torrent of energy from them. The beam struck Amphibian squarely in the back. The force of the blast sent him flying over Power Princess and into a nearby structure.

Hyperion quickly flew across the expanse and landed beside Power Princess.

“Took you long enough,” she whispered, pushing herself to a seated position.

“Sorry, I was tied up with Skymax. Zarda, we’re home.”

For the first time, Power Princess realized where they were. Tears welled in the warrior woman’s eyes.

“Are we really Mark? “

“We really are,” he replied as he extended an arm to his paramour.

Power Princess took his hand. Hyperion pulled her from the ground and into his arms.

Things had happened so quickly. Stanley Stewart, the Whizzer, still wasn’t sure what had happened. One minute he was facing down someone dressed as the Golden Archer in a warehouse. The next, he was in Squadron City with an arrow flying toward his head.

What most people didn’t understand about the Whizzer was that, as a result of his speed, the world moved around him in slow motion. He watched the Golden Archer release the arrow. The arrow moved toward him in stop motion. Whizzer took two steps and snatched the arrow out of the air. With his next step he snapped the arrow across his knee and dropped it to the ground. Two more steps and he hit the Golden Archer with a left jab and rights cross. The Archer dropped to the ground.

Two seconds had passed.

The Whizzer pivoted and rushed back to Arcanna.

She was slowly gaining consciousness.

“Arcanna, you’ve got to wake up,” he said, gently shaking her shoulders. “We’re home.”

That magical word brought the witch around. Her eyes popped open, focused and aware.

“Phillip,” she said.

Then with a muttered incantation, Arcanna disappeared.

The Whizzer realized exactly where Arcanna had gone. She’d gone to check on her family.

In a nearly invisible blur, The Whizzer sped away from Squadron City to do the same.

Doctor Spectrum had failed.

After the death of Nuke, he’d sworn to never allow another teammate to die on his watch.

Now Shape was dead and Spectrum had failed to stop it.

Spectrum gently laid his friend’s head on the ground and stood.

Ripples of crimson energy danced along his hand as he walked toward the still form of Blue Eagle, the man who had killed Shape.

With the power of his mind, Spectrum formed an enormous mace construct from the energy generated by his Power Prism. Then he raised the mace high over his head.

“Go ahead,” hissed Blue Eagle. “Do it…HERO! Kill me…just like you killed my brother.”

Doctor Spectrum paused. This wasn’t his teammate. This was his brother.

“Jacob?”

“That’s right Spectrum. You didn’t think the Dores would let the Squadron get away with killing James, did you?”

“That’s not what happened.”

“Sure it is. He stood with Kyle against the Squadron’s ‘utopia’ and you killed him.”

“It was an accident!”

“What was an accident? His death or your dictatorship?”

“We only wanted to make the world better,” said Spectrum.

“Congratulations,” replied the Blue Eagle. “You failed spectacularly.”

Skymax knew they had lost. Despite all of their planning, the Squadron Supreme had beaten them.

He scanned the battlefield. Bodies lay everywhere.

It was time for a strategic exit. His primary mission hadn’t changed. He needed to report in.

With the speed of thought, Skymax transformed himself into a spider and skittered away across the blood soaked field.

Benjamin Jones knew where his mother had gone. He knew it almost instinctively. He also knew she wasn’t going to like what she found when she got there.

Around him, the Squadron Supreme was gaining their bearings.

“It’s funny,” he thought. “This is my world…yet I’ve never been here before. Well, not in any real way.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Skylark looking down at him.

“Are you okay Benji?” she asked.

“Yes, Aunt Linda.”

“Where’s your mom?”

“She left. She’ll be back soon.”

“Okay,” replied Skylark taking his hand. “Stay close.”

“Yes ma’am.”

The Whizzer knew exactly how many steps it was from Squadron City to his home. He’d run back and forth so many times he was certain he could do it in his sleep. Absently keeping track of the steps made the interminable seconds tick by faster.

As his countdown reached single digits, he realized that something was terribly wrong.

Where his home and family should be there was only an empty crater.

He screeched to a halt in front of the ruin and stared. He tried to make sense of what he was seeing and, more importantly, what he wasn’t.

Where were they?

Where were Maddie and Tina? Where was his family?

He took a step toward the crater. A rock bounced off his shoulder. The Whizzer spun, ready for his attacker.

“How dare you!” said the woman standing in the next yard.

“Carol! Thank god! Where are they?”

“Like you don’t know what you did!”

The Whizzer looked from his neighbor to the crater and back.

“Carol, I don’t know what you’re talking about! Please, help me.”

“Like you helped poor Maddie?”

“What are you talking about? Where is my wife?”

“In the ground…where you put her.”

Even someone as fast as the Whizzer couldn’t process Carol’s comment before the horrible truth hit home.

“Maddie is…dead?”

“Don’t act like you don’t remember snapping her neck on live television.”

Tears began to stream down Stanley Stewart’s face. A silent scream lodged itself in his throat.

“You better get out of here. Bob will be out here any minute with his shotgun.”

“TINA! What happened to Tina! Carol, where is my daughter?”

“Like I’d tell you where that poor child is…you monster.”

The Whizzer closed the gap with his neighbor in the blink of an eye. He grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake her. Lost in his grief and rage, he was unaware of how hard he was shaking her. He was unaware of anything until he heard the tell-tale click-clack of a shotgun round being chambered.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY WIFE!”

Stanley let go of Carol. She fell to the ground, disoriented. Stanley looked into the hate-filled eyes of his neighbor, Bob. Bob had the shotgun leveled at him.

“You can’t shoot me Bob.”

“I can try Stanley.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on!”

“Get out of here!”

“But this is my home.”

Bob gestured toward the crater with his head.

“Not anymore!”

Stanley Stewart looked at the crater one last time. Then, with a scream that would haunt Bob and Carol for the rest of their lives, he ran away into the night.

The air in the peaceful grove outside Pommerchen, New Troy cracked with energy and a portal opened as if by magic. Arcanna stepped through the breach, proving it was indeed magic. She quickly surveyed the wards she had placed. They were still intact, even after all this time.

“Emoh teews emoh,” she encanted. As she did so, part of the grove shimmered and disappeared. There it was – the home she and Phillip had built for their family. Tears welled in her eyes as she approached the door.

Before she reached the front door, it swung open and Phillip stepped out walking arm-in-arm with…Arcanna.

“Ph-phillip,” was all she was able to mutter.

Phillip Jones’ eyes widened in disbelief as he found himself face-to-face with his wife.

“Arcanna?”

“Yawa!” Arcanna shouted as she levelled her hands at her doppelganger. The imposter flew away from Phillip and slammed into a nearby tree.

“Who are you and why are you with my husband?”

The imposter tried to stand, but Arcanna drove her back to the ground with another incantation.

“I won’t ask again!”

Phillip Jones stepped between them.

“Arcanna…stop. It’s Melissa.”

Arcanna lowered her hands as she tried to process her husband’s statement.

“You…you knew?”

“Of course I knew. I’ve known for a long time.”

The second Arcanna’s form melted into that of former Redeemer, Melissa Hanover, also known as Moonglow. She climbed unsteadily to her feet. Phillip rushed to her side and helped her.

“Take it easy honey,” he said.

“What the hell is going on?” Arcanna cried.

Phillip looked from Arcanna to Moonglow and back.

“She’s my wife.”

“No Phillip! I’m your wife.”

“You’re dead! You died fighting that thing. You died carrying our child.”

“Phillip…I’m alive.   So is Benjamin!”

Phillip Jones began to weep.

“His name is Benjamin and he’s amazing. HE saved the world.”

He shook his head.

“No…it doesn’t matter. You died. I fell in love with Melissa. She’s my wife now.”

“How?” asked Arcanna, tears streaming down her face.

This time it was Moonglow who answered.

“You took my place so I decided to take yours. AIDA had all the information on your family, except where they lived. It was easy to get to Pommerchen. Then I hung around until I saw Phillip and I became you.”

“And you fell for this Phillip?”

“There was nothing I wanted more than for you to come home, so when you did I took you, I mean her, in.”

“And you couldn’t tell the difference?”

“Of course I could. How could I not? But she was good to me and great with the kids so I didn’t say anything…for a while.”

“And when you did tell her you knew?

“By then I had fallen in love with Phillip too.”

“Do the children know?”

“Drusilla figured it out,” said Phillip, “but not the other three.”

“Drusilla didn’t tell them?”

“She’s…she’s gone Arcanna.”

“Gone? Gone where?”

“To study magic.”

“And you just let her go?”

“How was I going to stop her? She’s a witch…just like you.”

Arcanna stared at Phillip. She stared at Moonglow. She shook her head.

“And you’re happy with this…arrangement.”

“We are,” replied Moonglow.

“I want to hear it from my husband!”

“Yes Arcanna, I’m happy. Maybe more than I’ve ever been. Melissa is here with me. She’s not always out trying to save the world.”

“All I ever wanted was for you to be happy Phillip,” Arcanna whispered. “If this is what you want, then so be it.”

“The children…” Phillip started.

“Have a mother. I won’t interfere.”

“What about Dru?”

“I’ll find her and make sure she’s safe.”

“Thank you Arcanna,” said Phillip.

Arcanna hung her head. She muttered something beneath her breath and was gone.

The grove in New Troy was silent.

Angry and confused, The Whizzer ran back to Squadron City. He tried to process what he had seen, what he had been told.

Tina dead?

Maddie gone?

Had Carol said he killed Tina?

None of it made any sense.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he nearly ran past his team’s headquarters. He dug his heels into the ground and slid to a halt so sudden that it created a minor sonic boom.

Stanley looked blankly at a world he no longer recognized. The tears finally came, mixing with the dust in the air and leaving muddy streaks on his face.

Energy crackled in the courtyard. A portal opened in front of Stanley. Arcanna stepped through the opening, her eyes rimmed in red. Her eyes locked on the Whizzer’s. With the speed of thought the Whizzer stood next to her.

“They’re gone,” she said as she began to sob.

“I know. I know,” he replied, wrapping his arms around his teammate and pulling her close.

The sun reflected off the glass and steel of Squadron City.

They were home.

For better or worse.

Epilogue 1

Neal Richmond wasn’t sure what had just happened.

One minute he and the Redeemers were fighting the Squadron Supreme. The next he was standing somewhere else with the man who called himself Mysterium.

“What are you playing at Lightner?”

“I’m not playing Richmond. It’s like I told you, your destiny lies elsewhere.”

Richmond put a hand on Lightner’s shoulder, intending to turn him around. Instead, Lightner waved a hand in his direction and Richmond found himself on the ground.

“Magic? I thought you were a man of science Lightner.”

“Magic is just science we don’t understand yet,” Lightner replied as he turned to face Richmond.

“Where are we?”

“See for yourself,” said Mysterium pointing over Richmond’s shoulder.

Richmond turned his head and saw a tower on a hill.

“Imam’s tower? Why are we here? Nobody has seen the old man in ages.”

“That’s because he’s dead.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I killed him,” replied Lightner.

Richmond jumped to his feet and braced for a fight.

“Relax kid. It’s while I Blacksun. I didn’t mean to.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?” asked Richmond.

“I couldn’t get into the tower’s inner sanctum, but I was able to enter the lower floors. I’ve spent a lot of time reading the old wizard’s books.”

“So?”

“So, it seems that in every reality there is a team that defends it against the things that go bump in the night.”

“Magic?”

“Sure, let’s call it that.”

Lightner reached into his coat, pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

“Again…what does this have to do with me?”

“I need you to be on the team.”

“Yeah right,” scoffed Richmond.

“Don’t believe me? Maybe you’ll believe him,” said Mysterium pointing behind Richmond.

Richmond turned and found himself staring at the visage of his adopted father.

“Kyle?”

Epilogue 2

Somewhere in a galaxy far, far away in a wretched hive of scum and villainy, a man with orange skin and bright yellow hair is drowning his sorrow in a pint of something fermented. His uniform is ragged and faded. His once golden helmet, now battered and tarnished, sits on the table to his right. His head lies in his crossed arms as he tries to drown out the cantina’s noise.

“I want your table,” says a being, more mechanical than man.

“No,” replies the orange man. “I’m trying to nap.”

The mechanical man puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Table! Now!”

The orange man grabs the helmet, slams it into the side of the mechanical man’s head, and then vaporizes that head with a beam of energy.

The entire cantina goes quiet.

“Just trying to nap,” the orange man says.

The cantina returns to business as usual.

As the orange man begins to lay his head back down, a crystal in his gauntlet begins to flash. The man stares at it in disbelief.

“The Prism is back. Finally!”

The man grabs his helmet and stands. He crosses the cantina, walks through the swinging doors and disappears into the night.