Doomsday is Cancelled

The next portal since we have last seen our heroes opened up in front to the entrance of a hotel in the city state of Altissia. The time of arrival was carefully picked. Just a while before the Author had arrived with his party Prince Noctis and his party had passed customs at the port and were now on their way to see the First Secretary of Accordo.




The Author motioned for his band to follow him into the hotel and quickly proceeded to check them in. The battle for which they have arrived was going to be the next day. The Author has realised, however, that he needed to add one more member to his party and portal hopping with his group was already becoming cumbersome. He needed a place where some of them could wait for him while he went off the find the next would-be member of his crew.

Come to think of it- he did not really need Jared Stevens on his team, but the Author was not happy with his title having been discontinued. Jared was his favourite version of Fate. Why DC decided to head back to the golden helmet wearing Dr Fate probably had to do with why the popular culture of the 90's died out...

Fortunately- DC had created a spare version of the character in a run that turned out to be completely severed from the canon of the DC Universe. The Author knew exactly where to pick this spare guy up...





Jared was of course completely unaware of being a discontinued comic book character.

He just got thrown out of a bar by some pissed off superheroes while his buddy Lobo, who was supposed to have been his backup was still sleeping off the effects of a full week's non-stop boozing.

Jared had by now seen it all and a portal opening up in front of him out of nowhere did not amaze him in the least.

"Lemme guess..." he growled under the build-up of a huge hangover, "the Conclave wants a word with me. Well... You can tell them-"

"Not even close..." the Author interrupted him. You are headed to a number of different universes where nobody is going to challenge you for ownership of the Nabu Artefacts and where nobody knows Jared Stevens is a fugitive currently wanted for murder..."

Jared went quiet. Having mystical beings know everything about him should be something to which he is used by now, but he had to admit- it still freaked him out.

"Where's the catch?" he asked without thinking.

The Author smiled and lit up a cigarette. "The question is rather- 'What do I hope to gain from your help?'"

Jared looked at him curiously.

The Author continued: "I know you can see people's destinies. Well- I have seen some destinies myself and we are going to change each and every one of them for the better."

"Better for who?" Jared asked, the familiar tinge of suspicion has just returned to his mind now.

"For me, of course." the Author replied, almost physically knocking Fate back with his unexpectedly honest reply. Before Jared could tell him where he could go with his idea, though, he added: "I must add, though- we are going to save lots of innocent lives and avert a significant amount of misfortunes for many people in accomplishing my plans."

"Besides-" Deadpool added "It is not like you will have anything better to do tomorrow..."

The Author gave Deadpool a look that did more than just tell him to stop talking right away...

It was, of course, already too late. "What does he mean?" Jared asked in a clearly panicked tone. "Am I supposed to die tomorrow?"

"No-" the Author sighed. "I do, however, know your destiny and I know that there is nothing left for you in this world..."

Jared was not in the mood for riddles, however. Deadpool could sense that and added over the Author's shoulder: "No- your world ends tomorrow because your series got cancelled." Jared decided immediately that he rather wanted to speak to this red spandex Ninja now...

"You mean- the end of this world is tomorrow, because this is all a TV show..."

"No-" Deadpool corrected him while the Author hid his face behind his hands... "Comic book series- and- this is the last issue!"

Jared took a long drag on his smoke and then laughed. "Yeah! I thought there were just too many superheroes here..."

So- after a couple of laughs Jared decided to join the two people from beyond.

Before they headed back, however, the Author remembered that he still had some business with Lobo...

A while later- in another dimension the Gentle Man was in the middle of yet another fearsome battle with the infernal Hordes when a portal opened up on top of a hill some distance away from the fighting. Portals do not often open in this world, however and all the monsters stopped what they were doing to see the Space Hog gliding into their world with the Author steering while an unconscious Lobo draped over the seat behind him.



"Gentle Man!" the Author bellowed in as godly a voice as he could manage. "Your replacement has arrived! Now go to your wife!"

And- with that- a portal opened up under the Gentle Man's feet and he dropped onto the floor in a house where he has always been supposed to be.

Jared and Deadpool walked in through the still open portal behind the Author.

"Where is this?" Deadpool asked. "Not sure myself." the Author replied. "I just know that someone has to keep those monsters from crossing over into our world while the one locked in here to fight them can has no way of leaving here until he is replaced."

Jared smirked- "Come on! The monsters can get to our world, but that guy could not until his replacement got here...?"

"This is probably DC's biggest ass-pull ever..." Deadpool remarked.

"You have no idea..." the Author replied, shaking his head. "You should see the major breaks from canon they call 'Elseworlds'..."

"While I am here, however..." the Author said as he suddenly thought of another way to make the most of this place-

|"Let me do the New 52 a big favour..."

Bane and Thomas Wayne were still in the middle of discussing how they were going to capture and kill Alfred and break Batman when he gets back from his island vacation when a large portal opened up under their feet...