“Fine, then Iris and I will be back to earth-1,” said Flash.
“No, wait, you can’t go! I just remembered something,” said Carycomic, “If you go back to Earth-1, you’ll both die. I’ve read it in the comics, and you know their accuracy. Iris will be killed by Professor Zoom the Reverse Flash in only a couple of years time from 1978. Barry, you’ll be destroyed in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, which wipes out most of the infinite parallel earths over a period from 1985 to 1986, and sees the remaining few merged into one earth with its history slightly altered all the way along the timeline. This earth is the only one unaffected, as its comic writers are on a world with special properties, different from the others. That’s why it still exists in 2011.”
“Then we owe you a great debt for warning us,” said Iris, “Barry, let’s stay here. We’re already separated from members of my family in Earth-1’s distant future. Who knows if they’ll even still be there after this Crisis has rewritten history?”
“But what about my membership in the Syuperfriends?” asked Flash.
“Don’t worry about that,” said Carycomic, “Challenge of the Syuperfriends only lasts one season. After that you don’t appear in any stories for the next series called World’s Greatest Syuperfriends, and then you only occasionally guest star in short stories from 1981 to 1983. You’re only on the beginning theme of 1984’s Legendary Super Powers Show and in one or two episodes of Super Powers Team in 1985, and then the show gets completely canned after the Crisis of Limited Ratings on this earth.”
“I guess I’ll just have to stop using my super speed on this earth, and pass myself off as an earth-prime scientist,” said Barry, “As Iris said, we can’t thank you enough for telling us what would otherwise have happened to us.”
“Maybe you can,” said Carycomic, “Do you think this story projector could send earth-prime people into the pages of DC Comic books written about your friends and other heroes?”
“I suppose the principle would work just as well on comic books as it does on text novels,” said the Flash, “Possibly, it might work even more effectively. Syuperman, Wonder Woman and Hawkman were actually projected into stories which, as far as we know, are fiction on both our worlds. Your comics would be reality in our world. I guess I could keep reading them here to learn what happens in the lives of the friends I left behind.”
“Most of the Syuperfriends seasons have been put on Digital Video Disks,” said Carycomic, “You can just watch it happen. There’s also a live action show about you made in 1990. It’s not a DC comic and won’t duplicate what happens on earth-1, because you were dead by 1990, but it makes for a great show.”
“It sounds like fun,” said the Flash, “And you’d really like to use the story projector to enter the comics.”
“Not just me,” said Flash, “There are two other DC fan fiction writers on Giantessworld named Pixis and Timescribe. I’m sure this device would make their dreams come true. I’ll send them both an email. If they’re interested in coming, is there any chance you could race over to Australia and pick up Timescribe and whiz him back here, and then make a similar trip somewhere else for Pixis?”
“I’d be glad to,” said the Flash.
“I don’t suppose you have that comic about my death,” said Iris, “The media journalist in me can’t help wanting to read it.”
Carycomic took them to the shelves and showed them his DC comics collection. He flicked through the individual magazines, and found that the issue concerning Iris’s murder wasn’t there.
“Of course!” said Flash, “By staying here, we prevented that from ever happening. So Cary Bates or whoever was tuned into my world from this one never thought that story up. The comic doesn’t exist now.”
“Never mind,” said Iris, “There’s probably one about the mysterious disappearances of the Flash and Iris Allen.”
As a matter of fact, on earth-1, Hawkgirl and Rima had joined the regular 1978 roster of the Syuperfriends. When the Flash never returned, Hawkgirl suggested replacing him with the Atom (Ray Palmer) to bring the team up to their target of 13 members. Ray and Giganta had agreed to delay their wedding, as soon as she’d joined the Legion of Doom. Neither of them would mention this to the reporter Rhoda Rooter, who had interviewed them for her documentary special “Legends of the Super Heroes” on television. It would remain their secret.
Carycomic wanted to get Timescribe’s and Pixis’s attention quickly. So he skipped his customary puns and repartee and sent direct emails to their private email accounts, using the email facility on giantessworld, and set his mobile phone to get SMS alerts the moment they replied.
Timescribe was busy turning out a piece of nonsense about another publication company’s most popular super hero, and Pixis was deciding whether or not to try his hand at writing The Justice League of Extraordinary Giantesses. Both quickly abandoned their keyboards after replying to Carycomic, and waited for the Flash to collect them.