The Emily Dinsmore
Saga
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'The Rose'
The doctors at Belle Reve
Sanitarium determine that although Emily Dinsmore's mind is still developing, and somewhat
child-like, she no longer poses a threat to society. Emily is released from
Belle Reve Sanitarium.
Lana Lang, now the leader of a vigilante group known as the Hand of Vengeance
and going by the alias Star Sapphire, learns that Emily has been released
into the custody of Luthorcorp,
and that she has already begun training to become part of Lex's
elite task force, a group more commonly known as the Legion of Doom.
Byron Moore is wounded in a battle between the Legion of Doom and the Hand
of Vengeance. The attack on Byron unexpectedly blows up in Lex’s face as it
causes Lana to become even more enraged. Lex had been unaware that Lana loved
Byron.
Emily Dinsmore remains in the custody of Luthorcorp, to the chagrin of Lana. Although Lana has
managed to scare off Lex’s Legion of Doom she is no closer to securing the
release of Emily. She makes plans to attack several Luthorcorp
facilities.
'Firstborn'
Luthorcorp facilities go
up in flames. Unwilling to sacrifice anything more for the questionable
benefits that Emily Dinsmore
might provide for Luthorcorp,
Lex decides that he will hand Emily over to Lana
Lang.
But Tina Greer, the head of Lex's elite task force
and commander of project Vanguard (a group responsible for identifying and
eliminating threats to Luthorcorp)
challenges Lex's decision. She tells him that as
the head of the Vanguard it is her responsibility to identify this threat,
and that she should be allowed to do her job.
Lex listens to Tina's proposal. Tina tells him that
she and her operatives have narrowed the location of Lana's base of
operations to the area of the Kawatche Indian reservation outside of
Smallville. Since Luthorcorp
has been unable to scan the area because of jamming devices Tina asks Lex to allow her go in undercover to determine the exact
location of their facility herself.
Lex is reluctant to risk his most valued operative,
but he eventually agrees to her plan, knowing better
than to argue with Tina once she makes up her mind.
'Skinwalker'
Tina had been making her way through the dark Kawatche forest when she stumbled
into the midst of a pack of skinwalkers. Never having seen a skinwalker
before, she screamed in terror.
The skinwalkers were members of the Kawatche tribe. They recognized Tina
immediately as an agent of Sageeth,
their name for Lex Luthor. Upon spotting her weapons they hurled
themselves through the air at her. One of them snatched her rifle. Another
snatched her sword. The only weapons Tina had left were two daggers, but it
wasn't long before those were taken also.
The skinwalkers surrounded Tina and growled furiously. Finally, one of them
jumped at her neck. Tina caught the skinwalker in mid-air and flung it into
the darkness. The others attacked her in a mad fury.
Tina fought them tooth and nail. She struck out in all directions at them
with powerful blows. Unable to counter her superhuman strength they piled
themselves on top her in an effort to keep her down. But soon they found that
was impossible. She got up over and over again.
Tina managed to fight them off eventually, yet she had lost a lot of blood in
the fray and was light-headed. Unable to call for help because of signal
jamming devices in the area, she slowly began to make her way back the way
she came.
'Far from Home'
Eventually Tina could walk no longer. She sat down and leaned against a tree.
A bright light appeared in the distance. Tina could see a person within the
light. It was Lana Lang. She looked like an angel to Tina.
Tina thought back to her high school years. She remembered how much she loved
Lana. She wondered whatever happened that caused them to hate each other so
much and what her life might have been like if they had remained friends.
Tina spotted Lex beside Lana in the distance. Lex reminded her of her father. Tina's father died when
she was just a child, but she still remembered what a happy family they had
been before he passed away. She recalled the beautiful mansion they lived in,
and how sad she and her mother had been when they could no longer afford to
make mortgage payments. They had to sell some of their most precious
belongings to make ends meet. She wished she could see her father again and
tell him how much she missed him.
Tina lost consciousness. Lana ordered her followers to tend to Tina's wounds.
When they were done Lana told Lex to take Tina and
leave immediately, and that she expected to see Emily Dinsmore very soon.
Lex picked up Tina in his arms. He carried her past
Lana's most powerful guardians to a nearby dirt road. A camp had been set up
there by Lex to provide Tina with the best medical
treatment that money could buy.
'Paranoid'
As the Justice League grows stronger Lex
Luthor lies awake at
night, unable to sleep. His dreams become nightmares. Lex
dreams about the time when he first learned of the Native American prophecy
of Naman and Sageeth. In his nightmares Lex is Sageeth,
and he is killed by Naman,
who is Clark Kent.
Although Lex's
defenses are formidable, having genetically modified Molly
Griggs and Dr. Helen Bryce to make his defenders nearly invulnerable, his
fears are renewed when he discovers that Kyle Tippet, a metahuman with the
ability to overpower a person's will with a touch, is with Clark Kent and
they've been working together for some time.
Lex's main
concern is for his last line of defense, Mxyzptlk.
Although
Lex
remains confident that Mxyzptlk is more than a
match for Clark,
especially now that Mxyzptlk has bionic implants
that are designed to
prevent his auditory system from becoming overloaded, Lex's scientists
advise him of a possibility that Kyle's and Mxyzptlk's
abilities may have
the effect of cancelling each other out. Lex fears that this might give
Clark the opportunity to finish him
off.
To eliminate this weakness Lex
plans a strategic attack on the Justice
League with the primary goal of eliminating Kyle Tippet. To improve his
chance of success Lex
assigns Molly Griggs the task of designing a device that might counteract
Kyle's abilities, and render him powerless.
In his desperation Lex
even considers asking Lana Lang, now more commonly known by the alias Star
Sapphire, for help.
Lex
ultimately decides to offer Emily Dinsmore, Lana's childhood
friend,
as a bargaining chip in return for the services of Lana's followers, a group
of vigilantes known as the 'Hand of Vengeance'.
'Deceiver'
Lana and her followers despise everything that Luthorcorp
stands for.
However Lana ultimately decides to accept Lex's offer. She does this to save
Emily, her childhood friend in addition to being a powerful metahuman with
the ability to run at great speeds through solid matter. Another reason why
she does this is because of her own personal fear and loathing for Kyle
Tippet.
Lana had first met Kyle when she was only fourteen. She had been riding her
horse through woods near Kyle's house when her horse was spooked, and she was
thrown from it. When she awoke she saw Kyle leaning over her. After hearing
odd stories about him and the woods near his house she came to believe that
he spooked her horse and planned to attack her.
Hearing Kyle's name also brought back bad memories of Clark. Lana
remembered that Clark had
stood up for Kyle, an action that left her feeling hurt and betrayed. It was
like losing one of her best friends.
Lex tells
Lana that he hates himself for the time that he provided shelter
and a doctor for Kyle, something he did at Clark's
request.
Lex and
Lana realize that although they despise each other, with every fiber of their
beings, they also share common enemies--Clark Kent, Kyle Tippet, and the
Justice League with them.
'Salvation'
In return for freeing Emily Dinsmore, Lana's childhood
friend in addition to being a powerful metahuman, the Hand of Vengeance
agrees to aid Lex's
Legion of Doom in a strategic attack on the Justice League. The primary goal
of this attack is to eliminate League member Kyle Tippet.
In addition to securing Emily's release, Lana also sees this attack as a good
opportunity to reaffirm Chloe's loyalty to the Hand of Vengeance. Chloe had
been with Lana when they were younger when her horse was spooked, back when
she believed she had been attacked by Kyle Tippet.
Although Chloe had initially been attracted to Lana's goal of protecting
Earth from dangerous meteor freaks and Kryptonians, Lana had much
difficulty in convincing Chloe to understand her complete vision. Chloe later
learned that Lana believed that in order to keep the world safe from Kryptonians
and meteor-freaks she would have to sacrifice them for the greater good.
However, Lana provided exceptions for a few meteor freaks that she felt had
been the innocent victims of Luthorcorp and Summerholt
experiments including Chloe who had accidentally inhaled a Kryptonite gas
while investigating Luthorcorp, along with Kevin
Grady and Byron Moore.
But unknown to Lana, Chloe had gotten to know Kyle after the alleged
incident, and came to see him as a good and decent human being. And when Kyle
later left Smallville to see what good his power could do for the world, Kyle
kept in touch with Chloe and they became pen
pals.
Before the arranged attack the Legion and the Hand agreed that their strategy
would be to distract Justice League members Kal-El
and Bart Allen and lead them away from Kyle, who they would then eliminate.
Jordan Cross, the leader of the Justice League, had a power that
was more cerebral and was not seen as a threat. Jordan
was monitoring their progress from a distance.
Sending in the mightiest first, Lana and Lex ordered Bizarro, Byron Moore,
along with Dr. Helen Bryce and Molly Griggs, the two of whom had been genetically
modified so that they were nearly invulnerable, to engage Kal-El
and Bart Allen.
The Legion and Hand members put up a good fight. After about five minutes
they then began to fall back to another part of the forest, away from Kyle,
nevertheless some of them had taken heavy blows. They then turned and then enaged
them again.
Unable to run as fast as Kal-El and Bart, Kyle Tippet
attempted to follow as quickly as possible. But as he ran after them he began
to slow as he saw Emily Dinsmore walking freely
through the battleground. He stopped to talk to her. He asked if she was okay
and if she felt strong enough to use her power to help Kal-El
and Bart Allen. But then, suddenly, her
face changed, and Kyle realized it was actually Tina Greer, Lex's most feared
assassin.
Tina took Kyle by suprise with a kick to the
head. It stunned him and he nearly fell over. Jeff Palmer, one of Tina's Vanguard,
grabbed Kyle from behind, keeping him on his feet.
Through the fog Mxyzptlk could be seen approaching shortly
afterward. Mxyzptlk had been second in command of the
Legion after Tina, yet he felt humiliated by Kyle's power. Lex's scientists
recently revealed concerns that Kyle might render Mxyzptlk
powerless when in
close proximity.
Mzyxptlk
instructed Jeff to move away. Kyle stood alone with Mxyzptlk,
barely able to stand. Now was the time that Mxyzptlk
would have his revenge. He walked close to Kyle so that the others couldn't
hear and said the word 'choke' to Kyle, expecting him to choke. When
nothing happened Mxyzptlk swore and punched
Kyle hard in the stomach, which caused him to fall over. He instructed Jeff
to pick him back up, and then pulled something out of his pocket that looked
like a knife.
Chloe and Lana watched from a safe distance. Although Chloe had been a friend
of Kyle some of her memories had been temporarily erased by Kevin Grady, at
Lana's request, in order to ensure her continued loyalty. But when Chloe saw
Kyle fall over, it jolted her.
Puzzled by her feelings Chloe turned to Lana for guidance. Looking over at
her she saw that Lana was laughing. Lana was happy to see Kyle getting what
she believed he deserved.
Chloe's warm feelings for Lana turned to hate. Although Lana (AKA Star
Sapphire) was very powerful, wielding a Zamaron power ring that gave her the
ability to fly and a repelling ray, Lana had not thought it necessary to wear
her ring, as she was far from the fighting.
Chloe knew this and quickly took the opportunity to punch Lana in the face,
knocking her unconscious. Chloe then picked up the Zamaron power ring and
used it to knock the remaining Legion and Hand members unconscious.
Chloe used the ring to fly over to Kyle, hoping she wasn't too late. When she
got close to him she saw that he had been stabbed through the heart.
Heartbroken, she kneeled over Kyle, believing him to be dead. A tear fell
from her eye onto Kyle's forehead. She collapsed on top of him, unconscious.
The energy from Chloe's spirit surged through Kyle. Not only did it heal him
but he also looked much younger, closer to her own
age.
From high above, Chloe and Kyle together looked ironically peaceful in the
forest, as if they had been sleeping, yet all around them they were
surrounded by the unconscious bodies of vicious assassins.
Kyle woke up. He was shocked to find Chloe lying unconscious on him and also
that he had been surrounded by his enemies. He was also surprised to see
Chloe wearing Lana's Zamaron power ring.
Fearing that the power of the ring would corrupt Chloe, he took it off her
finger and put it in his pocket. He picked her up and carried her to safety,
into the cover of the forest.
After walking a few minutes Kyle felt a burning sensation in his pocket. It
was the Zamaron power ring. It flew out of his pocket, and then he realized
that Lana must have regained consciousness. He started to run as fast as he
could while still carrying Chloe, but then he tripped and they both fell.
Chloe regained consciousness and Kyle told her what happened.
Behind them they heard explosions. They realized that Lana must have followed
the path of the ring behind them. Lana appeared to be firing randomly, in the
forest, causing explosionsall around. Terrified, they hid
behind some rocks.
After a few moments the explosions stopped and Lana appeared in the distance.
They could see that she was furious, but she still could not find them. She
screamed out loud in all directions. She said that her friendship with Chloe
was over and that now Chloe was her
enemy along with Kyle. She also called Chloe weak for doubting her wisdom.
When she finished she flew into the air, shooting randomly in all directions
again, and then took off in one direction, still firing.
Kyle led Chloe, who was still weakened, to Jordan Cross who had been
monitoring their progress from a secret location off a nearby dirt road.
Some story changes
As they
ran, Chloe and Kyle heard explosions from behind. They realized that Lana
must have traced the path of her ring. She appeared to be firing randomly, in
the forest, causing explosions all around. Terrified, they hid behind some
rocks.
Soon the explosions stopped and Lana appeared in the distance. They could see
that she was furious, but she still didn't know where they were. She screamed
out loud in all directions. She told Chloe that their friendship was over and
that Chloe was her enemy now along with
Kyle, who she thought of as filth. She also called Chloe weak for doubting
her vision. She then flew off in one direction, causing explosions as she
went.
Kyle led Chloe, who was still weakened, to Jordan Cross who had been
monitoring their progress from a secret location off a nearby dirt road.
'Estranged'
When the battle for the fate of Emily Dinsmore was
over, Chloe Sullivan was in the care of the Justice League, and Lex Luthor turned Emily over to Lana, as he promised.
Emily, who had recently been released from Belle Reve
Sanitarium, was now rehabilitated, yet her mind still remained somewhat
child-like. Emily looked to her childhood friend, Lana, for guidance.
Kevin Grady, Lana's first lieutenant, disagreed vehemently with Lana's decision to bring Emily into the
Hand of Vengeance. He believed that Emily deserved better than the life of a
vigilante. He was also alienated by Lana's aloof demeanor. Kevin began to
question Lana's reasoning, and his own.
Jeremiah Holdsclaw, a member of the Kawatche Indian tribe, learned of Lana's
activities on the Kawatche reservation. He was as first angered at their
intrusion, but after learning of their opposition to Luthorcorp
and to Kryptonians like Clark Kent he was drawn into
their group.
Jeremiah's knowledge of Kryptonian artifacts was prized by Lana, who sought
after artifacts that would make her group, the Hand of Vengeance, a greater
force to be reckoned with. She played on Jeremiah's affections for her, to
the chagrin of Byron Moore, to gain access to his knowledge.
Over time Lana's group became more and more powerful, yet Lana remained the
strongest. She wielded a powerful weapon known as a Zamaron power-ring. Her
group called her Star Sapphire. She became a cult figure.
Jeremiah began to suspect that Lana's feelings for him weren't genuine.
Eventually he learned about her relationship with Byron Moore, who was known
within their group as 'Werewolf'.
One day Lana asked Jeremiah to help her with a device called a 'resurrection
stone'. She wanted to use it to bring Van McNulty back from the dead. She
said that Van was the one who instilled in her the foresight to begin the
battle against the meteor-infected and those who were not of this world.
Jeremiah agreed to her request.
Together they gave new life to Van. Van was furious as he saw himself
surrounded by freaks. Lana was disappointed, but realized that in time he
would come to see her wisdom.
But before Lana could convince Van, he disappeared. Jeremiah was also gone.
Van hid in the Kawatche forest, waiting for the right moment to attack.
Jeremiah's hatred of Lana drew him into the hands of Lex Luthor,
a man he had once hated. At that time Jeremiah saw Lex as Lana's most
powerful enemy.
Original text:
*New members Emily Dinsmore
('Forsaken') and Jeremiah Holdsclaw
('Talisman') were added.
*Chloe Sullivan is not present.
*Lana's awesome powers as Star Sapphire make her a cult figure.
*The specter of Van McNulty ('Extinction', 'Asylum') watches ominously in the
darkness.
*Lana plays on Jeremiah's affections for her, to the chagrin of Byron Moore,
in order to gain access to Jeremiah's knowledge of powerful Kryptonian
artifacts.
*Emily Dinsmore,
now rehabilitated, looks to her childhood friend, Lana, for guidance.
*Kevin Grady, feeling that innocent Emily deserves better than the life of a
vigilante, and alienated by Lana's aloof demeanor, has second thoughts.
The
specter of Van McNulty lurks ominously in the darkness, waiting for the right
moment to have his revenge against Lana for bringing him back from the dead
(with help from a Kryptonian artifact procured by Jeremiah Holdsclaw). Van
sees his chance as Kevin Grady leads Emily Dinsmore
away from the group to meet Chloe, who Kevin hopes will be able to protect
Emily from Lana with help from the Justice League.
'Vesper'
Kevin Grady is a former member of
the Hand of Vengeance, a supergroup of vigilantes led by Lana Lang, who
recently effected the escape of Emily Dinsmore
from the Hand of Vengeance. Kevin took Emily to Chloe Sullivan, a former
group member who has since been rehabilitated. Kevin is happy to see his
former friend Chloe is behaving like her old self again, and is sorry for his
part in temporarily erasing her memories so she would continue to obey Lana
Lang (AKA Star Sapphire).
After talking with Chloe for several hours, Kevin comes to the realization
that he has no where else to go, and nothing to do with his life. In light
of Kevins
recent actions, Chloe suggests that he seek membership with the Justice
League, and asks her long time friend Clark Kent
to vouch for him.
Clark, although wary of vouching for
a former enemy, is thrilled like Chloe
to see that Emily is safe again. He considers Kevin's plight. Being a long
time friend of Chloe Sullivan, Clark listens
to what she has learned in her conversations with Kevin. After meeting with
Kevin himself he finally agrees to submit his name for membership.
One month later Kevin is invited by the League to make his case. He
approaches the League eagerly, and discusses his recent change of heart and
his conversations with Chloe Sullivan.
Like Clark, the League members were loath
to grant membership to one of their former enemies. However they also greatly
appreciated his act in freeing Emily Dinsmore, which they also
perceived as a blow to the Hand of Vengeance power base.
After much deliberation, the League decides to grant membership to Kevin
after he has faced justice for his crimes. But in support of him they offer
to testify to his good deeds. The League expects that Kevin will serve only
five years.Kevin
is grateful for their willingness to testify, and agrees to face justice.
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