The sensation of weightlessness filled Dana's mind.
The world spun wildly around her.
Am I going to die?
The thought struck her with brutal clarity.
Her heart pounded as her body plummeted, air roaring in her ears.
She suddenly remembered her old driving instructor's words—"You'll die young if you keep ignoring warnings."
At the time, she'd laughed it off.
But now, as the ground rushed toward her, it felt like a prophecy come true.
Was fate really this cruel?
Her chest tightened with regret and pain.
She lifted her gaze toward the shattered barn roof.
The man who had pushed her—roughly her age, but terrifyingly cold—stood at the edge, watching her fall without the faintest hint of guilt.
His expression was still, unreadable, as if the death of a teenage girl meant nothing.
Wind howled in her ears.
Her thoughts raced faster than her fall.
---
Below the Barn
Sportsmaster lay half-buried in splintered wood and debris when he saw his daughter drop from the roof.
His bloodshot eyes widened in horror.
"Dana!"
Rage and desperation surged through him, igniting every ounce of strength in his body.
He pushed off the ground with inhuman speed, sprinting toward her falling figure.
But before he could reach her, a blur of motion appeared before him.
Adrian descended like a thunderbolt.
A single punch slammed into Sportsmaster's chest, cracking ribs and knocking the air from his lungs.
"Gah—!"
Blood burst from his mouth as his knees buckled.
Adrian caught him by the throat, his expression void of emotion.
"Ho… ho…" Sportsmaster wheezed, struggling to breathe, his hands clawing weakly at Adrian's arm.
Crack!
The sound echoed through the ruined barn.
Adrian twisted his neck with effortless precision.
Sportsmaster's body went limp, collapsing heavily to the dirt floor.
His fading vision followed his daughter's descent.
As life drained from him, despair filled his heart.
He had failed her completely—unable to save his child, condemned to watch her die before his eyes.
The once-feared enforcer of the Injustice Society lay motionless, eyes wide, tears streaking his bloodied face.
---
The killing took only seconds.
Tigress, still locked in combat with Clark, saw her daughter thrown from the roof.
"Dana!"
She shoved Clark aside and sprinted across the barnyard.
Her movements were feral, almost animalistic.
She dropped to all fours, then launched herself upward with feline grace.
Clark stood frozen for a moment, stunned that Adrian had actually pushed the girl.
By the time he snapped back to focus, Dana was seconds from impact.
Grinding his teeth, Clark activated his super speed, blurring forward to catch her.
But before he could reach her, the air shimmered green.
A radiant glow flared overhead—a massive baseball glove, glowing emerald, appeared in the sky.
Thud!
Dana landed safely within the glowing construct, the energy cushioning her fall.
Above her hovered a man in a sleek green suit, an emerald ring shining on his finger.
His confident grin cut through the tension.
"Now that," Hal Jordan said with a low whistle, "might be the best catch of my life."
The glowing glove lowered to the ground as two more figures descended from the sky—Supergirl and Wonder Woman, her form draped in a dark hooded cloak.
Both women exhaled in relief at the sight of the girl still breathing.
Tigress, running forward, froze when she saw her daughter safely caught.
The wild fury in her chest eased slightly.
She didn't know who these newcomers were, but if they had saved Dana, they couldn't be as cold-blooded as Adrian Kent.
At least, that's what she thought.
Then she turned and saw her husband's lifeless body sprawled inside the barn.
Her breath hitched, rage blazing anew.
With a feral cry, Tigress lunged toward Adrian.
He turned his head slightly, eyes flashing a deep, burning red.
A crimson beam shot forward—
Swoosh!
Tigress's body went rigid.
Her head separated cleanly from her shoulders, the heat searing the wound.
The headless corpse staggered several steps before collapsing in a heap.
Hal froze midair, his eyes wide.
He stared at the scene in disbelief, his glowing glove flickering faintly as his concentration wavered.
Supergirl's mouth fell open, her initial joy replaced with shock.
Wonder Woman, however, remained impassive.
Her gaze stayed on Adrian, whose eyes gradually cooled back to blue.
Clark landed beside him a moment later, his jaw tight, his expression unreadable.
He'd known Sportsmaster was a murderer—a ruthless member of the Injustice Society.
Neither he nor Tigress deserved pity.
But watching Adrian kill without hesitation, and a child nearly fall to her death, left him uneasy.
And then there were the strangers—Kara, the Green Lantern, and the hooded woman who could only be Wonder Woman.
---
"Kal!" Kara called, seeing Clark move protectively in front of Adrian.
But instead of stopping, Clark only accelerated, appearing beside his brother in an instant.
Adrian's attention, meanwhile, fixed on the three newcomers hovering in the air.
Hal Jordan—Green Lantern of Earth.
Kara Zor-El—Supergirl.
And the Amazon warrior shrouded beneath her cloak.
None of them should have appeared here.
Not now.
Not in this timeline.
Green Lantern should still be in Coast City, living a civilian life.
Supergirl should still be lost somewhere in deep space, far from Earth.
And Diana—Wonder Woman—was supposed to be in hiding, living quietly under an alias.
Yet all three stood before him.
Something was very wrong.
---
"Adrian?" Clark's voice drew his attention back.
"You sense it too, don't you?"
Adrian's gaze flicked to the trio.
"Yes.Especially the woman."
He nodded slightly toward the hooded figure.
Clark frowned.
"You know them?"
"No," Adrian replied calmly.
"At least not yet.
Maybe someday."
"Now and someday?" Clark echoed, confused.
But Adrian's tone told him enough—he wasn't entirely ignorant of what they faced.
Adrian's voice lowered.
"Clark, we'll have to fight side by side."
He studied the trio again, then added, "That one glowing green—he's Green Lantern.
His power comes from that ring.
It manifests anything his mind can imagine through sheer willpower.
But if you want to stop him, you'll have to take the ring off his hand."
Clark sighed.
"That's not exactly easy.
I can't fly, remember?"
Adrian smirked faintly.
"Then you might have to get creative.
I heard once that he's got a weakness to the color yellow.
Maybe find a way to use that."
Clark blinked.
"Yellow?"
He glanced down at himself—red and blue from head to toe.
Definitely no yellow.
For a ridiculous moment, his eyes flicked downward, and he quickly shook the thought away.
"Forget it," he muttered.
"I'll handle him."
Adrian nodded.
"Good."
Across the field, Kara frowned as she and Wonder Woman exchanged a look.
"Something's off," she murmured.
"He acts like he already knows who we are.
But that's impossible.
This should be the first time we've ever met."
Her voice lowered.
"He even said Hal's name before any of us introduced ourselves."
Wonder Woman's eyes narrowed slightly beneath the hood.
"Then perhaps, Kara, we are not the only ones out of place in this world."
____
Power stones please?