Ex Chao Novus Ordo

Chapter 3.

THE PHANTOM STRANGER'S P.O.V.

Zatanna had achieved her "godhood" in three stages. And all by wishing upon the Bat-Genie!

Her first wish was that all super-villains around the world, both incarcerated and at large, would be shrunk to the size of three inches tall overnight. Naturally, this phenomenon elicited emergency meetings among law-enforcement agencies and political bodies alike. Even the Justice League of America had convened for a teleconference with the White House! There was one notable absence, however: the Batman. And when Hawkman, the acting chairperson, had asked if anyone knew the Darknight Detective's whereabouts, Zatanna had chuckled.

"He's right in here," she had replied.

Whereupon, she had raised her right hand to show off a new gold ring upon the fourth finger. The centerpiece of which was the Larko Lamp, mystically shrunken to the size of a cubic zirconium. And a second after she rubbed the top of it with her left index finger, the Bat-Genie wafted upward from its spout!

The inevitable micro-second of astounded inaction allowed her to make her second wish. Namely, to be the President of the United States! A moment later, she found herself occupying the Oval Office of the White House, which, in turn, led to her third wish.

To be perceived as the ruling goddess of the whole world.

The way the Bat-Genie accomplished that was absolutely brilliant. Whenever his mistress wished to address her worshipers outdoors, she appeared to them as a giantess at least a thousand feet tall. But, within the White House, she resumed her normal height while everyone around her shrank in proportion. Ergo, her mind-controlled subjects perceived no size disparity whatsoever. Indoors or out, they looked up to her, both literally and figuratively!

This is why it took both Hawkman and Hawkwoman to polish her high heel shoes while the Elongated Man polished them afterwards. While, at the same time, she extended her fishnet stocking-clad legs forward, beneath the desk, so the Flash could use his super-speed to massage the soles of her feet with soothing vibrations.

"O-o-o-oh!" Zatanna sighed. "Oh, yes, Flash! That feels fantastic!"

"Thank you, My Goddess," was his only response.

I watched this scene through a scrying sphere within one of the few places on Earth not affected by the recent reality shift. The Tower of Fate! Nor was I Doctor Fate's only guest to do so.

"I have seen enough," growled the Spectre. "This blasphemy... ends... now!"

"No!" Dr. Fate hastily exclaimed. "You will destroy us all if you do so. The Batman serves her as a djinn. Confront her now, and she will unleash him upon you. Channeling all her worshipers' belief, in her, into extra power for him. The extra power that would require you to exert, in order to defeat him, would also burn the Earth to a cinder!"

"Do you have a better plan, Champion of Order?" the Spectre asked, his bitter sarcasm not hidden in the least.

"If he doesn't, I do."

We turned as one to look at Princess Diana of Paradise Island. Better known as Wonder Woman! Her insular homeland was one of those other unaffected places that I mentioned. And she had been brought to this obelisk by Inza Nelson, the good doctor's wife, via the usual ankh-shaped teleportal.

"What do you suggest, Princess?" I asked as diplomatically as possible.

As with Zatanna's "deification", our counterplot was implemented in three stages. Stage One had involved my aforementioned recruitment of Catwoman from Gotham City.* And, in that regard, I had been successful! Though, at an apparently high price. For Jason Todd, the new and present Batman, had disappeared. Yet, so, too, had the erstwhile Superman, Zatanna's "Secretary of Defense".

For the latter had not yet returned to the White House!

This led to Stage 2. The "escape" of the size-shifting super-villainess, Giganta, from the Federal Metahuman Detention Center! Better known as "The Slab" (due to having been co-designed by the Metropolis branch of S.T.A.R. Labs).

This was accomplished by having the spirit of murdered circus acrobat Boston Brand, more fittingly known as Deadman, temporarily occupy the body of one of The Slab's prison guards. By that means, the anti-psionic head band that normally prevented Giganta from willing one of her self-enlargements was sabotaged. When that had been accomplished, Deadman transferred himself into Giganta's body, thereby directing her "escape" in the direction of the White House!

"So far, so good," commented Dr. Fate, upon observing all this through his scrying sphere. "Now to begin Stage Three."

He looked at Catwoman and I as he said this. Whereupon the two of us grimly nodded as one.

tbc

*See Chapter One.