Walker Gabriel held a soft piece of white chalk in his hand, which he used to scribble on the wall as he knelt on his bed. Each of the stone walls that comprised his cell were filled almost completely with various symbols and equations as he tried to make sense of what was happening in his head. Unfortunately, it was not working—he had no understanding of what he was experiencing, yet he continued to try.

He heard the door to his cell open, but he ignored it. He also ignored the sound of a Zippo lighter opening and he paid no attention to the scent of smoke that drifted into his nostils. The man who stepped inside the cell had a cigarette perched between his lips and had short, purple hair. He was dressed in black pants and a leather trench coat over a shirt which had the Union Jack emblazoned on the front.

"Hello there, Mr. Gabriel—feeling chipper today, are we?"

Gabriel remained silent. His visitor stepped deeper inside and the door to the cell seemingly closed on its own. The British man allowed his eyes to pass over the various symbols scribbled on the walls, but it was all pure gibberish to him. He approached Gabriel and looked over his shoulder.

"I should probably introduce myself. The name's Manchester. Manchester Black." Gabriel remained silent. Black sighed and inhaled another puff from his cigarette. "I'm here in something of an official capacity. Been dispatched by President Luthor himself to check up on you. Offer you a chance to have some better surroundings."

Gabriel leapt off the cot and walked over to a corner where there was a bit of blank stone. He resumed his scribbling and Black rolled his eyes.

"Come now, Mr. Gabriel—you're being quite rude. Surely you have something to say?"

"...it makes no sense..." said Gabriel.

"Beg your pardon?" asked Black.

"None of it makes any sense," said Gabriel. "It's all wrong. Not right, this isn't right. What's happening?"

Gabriel stood and rushed over to Black. He gripped the man by the collar of his coat fiercely. Black noticed there was a desperation in the man's eyes.

"Why do I have these dreams?" asked Gabriel. "Why do I remember things that never happened?"

"Mr. Gabriel, I'm doing my best to remain civil," said Black. "But if you don't remove your filthy hands from my five-hundred dollar jacket, I will lobotomize you and I will savor every moment of it. Do we understand each other?"

"But it makes no sense!" said Gabriel.

"Yes, we've established that bit already," said Black. With a thought, he telekinetically forced Gabriel into the corner of the room. "Now, care to tell me what you've been scribbling in your free time?"

"They're equations... all about the different theories of time, trying to explain it all," said Gabriel.

"Yes, I'd been told you had a degree in theoretical physics."

"And they're all useless!" said Gabriel. "None of them apply to what's happening!"

"Since you're not quite as forthcoming as I'd like, I suppose this will have to be done the hard way. Just so you know, this will hurt. Quite a bit, in fact," said Black. He reached out with his telepathic abilities and tried to invade Walker Gabriel's mind. Instead, he felt a backlash of pain and dropped to his knees, clutching his head. Gabriel crawled over to Black and poked him.

"You see? You see? I told you! It makes no sense!"

"Right then," said Black, rubbing his forehead. "This is going to be a spot more difficult than I imagined."

Metropolis

"Anything?" asked Superman.

John Henry Irons shook his head. "Nope, sorry. Not getting any leads. Are you sure you've got the name right?"

"I'm positive," said Superman. "Hal said I have to find Walker Gabriel."

"Maybe he meant Gabriel Walker?" asked Irons.

"No, I'm sure I heard him right," said Superman.

John Henry Irons turned away from the computer monitor and faced his old friend. Superman was donned in his familiar blue and red costume, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

"I'm not finding any hits for this guy, and I'm cross-referencing with the Justice League's database and Oracle," said Irons. "If this guy has any sort of a record, something would've turned up. Are you sure the Spectre isn't getting his wires crossed?"

"He did seem a bit different..." said Superman, pondering his consultation with Hal Jordan, the former Green Lantern. But then, the Man of Steel shook his head. "No, something is definitely wrong here, John. There's no way this has got to be a coincidence. The miraculous undoing of the Floronic Man's attack, people who were dead walking the streets again... I think Hal was on the level. He told me I have to find Walker Gabriel, so that's become my first task."

"Well, he did tell you that this Clock King character probably knew about your meeting, right?" asked Irons. Superman nodded. "So maybe he's trying to hide Gabriel from you? After all, if he can manipulate time, he can make it seem like a person never existed. And since I'm not finding any records whatsoever, not even birth records, that could be what's happened here."

"He's already screwing with the present, so why not the past as well... makes sense," said Superman. "Which means the question is how do we find Gabriel?"

Almost as if on cue, a signal noise came to life on John Henry's computer. Superman picked it up instantly and moved to Irons' side. "What's that?"

"It's a JLA alert," said Irons, with a hint of confusion. "But how come I'm getting one and not you?"

"That's a good question," said Superman. "Answer it."

Superman stepped away from the camera located on the computer as Irons answered the call. The image of the Batman appeared on his screen. "Something wrong?" asked Irons.

{Have you heard from Superman?} asked the Batman.

"No, not at all—why?" asked Irons.

{We may have a situation. Have your armor ready, we may need you. Batman out.}

The screen went blank and Irons looked at Superman. "Looks like you've got bigger problems to worry about."

"I should go," said Superman.

"Why?" asked Irons.

"Batman is a lot of things, among them being an exceptional judge of character," said Superman. "He'll know you were lying."

"What makes you say that? You don't trust my poker face?"

"I'd never be stupid enough to play him in poker," said Superman. "The JLA is looking for me, which means the Clock King is probably behind this somehow."

Watchtower; Earth's Moon

Batman turned away from the monitor and interlinked his fingers. He looked out among the other five heroes who were gathered before him. He interlinked his fingers before he spoke. "Steel is lying."

"You're sure?" asked the Martian Manhunter.

"Positive," said the Batman. "There was a fluctuation in his voice when he told me he hadn't heard from Superman."

"It always scares me how good you are at that," said the Flash.

"Superman has been acting strange lately, but I won't know for certain if anything's wrong until I've had a chance to read his mind," said the Martian Manhunter.

"Could it have something to do with his time in the Green?" asked Wonder Woman.

"I suppose it's a possibility," said Martian Manhunter.

A buzzing noise came from the control panel, signaling an incoming call. Batman pressed a button on the console and the face of Lex Luthor came on the main screen.

"Mr. President," said the Green Lantern, with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "What can we do for you?"

{Have you found the alien?}

The comment from Luthor garned a cold stare from all the gathered heroes, particularly J'onn.

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you, Luthor," said Green Arrow.

{Is that a threat? Because threatening the President of the United States is a federal offense.}

"I'm not on American soil, jackass," said Green Arrow.

"What do you want, Luthor?" asked Wonder Woman.

{I want you to do your job and locate your wayward teammate. We have reason to believe he may be unstable.}

"Forgive us if we don't fully trust you, Luthor—you're not exactly the most reputable source," said the Batman.

{We have reason to believe Superman may pose a threat to the planet. Since he's a member of the Justice League, I'm offering you people a chance to bring him in for questioning. If you refuse, then the United States government will take matters into its own hands.}

"Typical," said Green Arrow with a huff.

{Will someone put a muzzle on him?}

"You're more than welcome to try, baldy," said Green Arrow.

"Ollie, please. Don't instigate." J'onn's voice rang inside Oliver Queen's head. Green Arrow muttered a curse under his breath.

"What exactly are these allegations?" asked Green Lantern. "I think we have a right to know at least that much."

{That information has been classified.}

"Then until we have a clear picture of what's happening, we will question Superman ourselves. The Justice League will not serve as your attack dogs. Good day, Mr. President," said the Martian Manhunter. As soon as he finished his sentence, the Batman cut the feed.

"He's lying," said the Batman.

"Voice fluctuation again?" asked the Flash.

"No, just gut instinct," said the Batman.

"Unfortunately that won't hold up in court," said Green Lantern. "We need to discover what's happening."

"Agreed," said the Martian Manhunter. "That means we have to speak with Superman directly. And as far as Luthor goes..."

"Let me handle Luthor," said the Batman.

Daily Planet; Metropolis

Lois Lane sat at her desk, dialing different phone numbers to try and retrieve quotes from different experts in the field of physics. As of yet, she had little luck locating any sort of true explanation for the events that were occuring. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Clock King's machinations, Lois herself was unaware of the true gravity of the situation and she herself had no idea that her current existence was a direct result of the forthcoming crisis.

"Look, I understand that Professor Hawking is a busy man, but this is impor—no, I don't know what string theory is and I don't have time to read any of his books! I'm just trying to get a bead on what's going—" Lois paused and allowed the person on the other end to speak. "Well who cares if he's giving a lecture right now? We're talking about fluctuations in time here, this is serious! I want to know what—yeah well same to you!"

She slammed the phone down on its cradle and screamed at it. Jimmy Olsen came up beside her and leaned against her desk. "No luck, huh Miss Lane?"

"I've been at this for hours, trying to reach different physicists in hopes of getting some sort of idea on what's happening, but I'm either given 'no comment' or they try to beat around the bush!"

"Too bad you don't have Superman's home number. I'm sure he knows someone who could give you a straight answer," said Jimmy.

"Lois?"

Lois and Jimmy turned and saw a young woman, about Lois' age with red hair. She smiled at Lois as soon as she saw her, but Lois seemed to have no recollection of who she was.

"Can I help you?" asked Lois.

"Lois, it's me, Lana," she said. "You know, Clark's old friend from Smallville?"

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met," said Lois.

"Sure we have," said Lana. "Don't you remember?"

"No... no I'm sorry, it's not ringing a bell," said Lois. "I'm really sorry... things are just hectic lately."

"Oh... well, I just came by to see Clark, is he here?" asked Lana.

"No, he went home, wasn't feeling too good," said Jimmy.

"Oh, okay," said Lana. In her mind, she thought something must have happened and Clark used it as an excuse to make the change to his alter-ego.

"Y'know what, let's call him, let him know you're here," said Lois, picking up the phone.

"I thought you said he wasn't feeling well?" asked Lana. "I don't want to bother him if he's sick."

"Don't worry about it, this'll also give me a chance to keep tabs on him, make sure he's not out there trying to scoop me," said Lois with a wink. She picked up the phone on her desk and dialed Clark's number. She was a bit surprised that she had the number committed to memory. She tapped her fingers on the desk while the phone continued to ring. "Great, his machine. Smallville, you had better be sleeping or you're gonna be in a coma by the time I'm thro—"

Lois' eyes suddenly went wide with surprise as she heard the greeting on the answering machine. The phone slipped from her fingers and she looked up at Lana and Jimmy.

"What's wrong?" asked Jimmy.

"Clark's machine... my voice is on it, too," said Lois. "Why is my voice on his machine?"

"I... don't know?" asked Jimmy. "Is this a prank or something?"

Lois shook her head. "If it is, nobody told me about it."

She rose from her chair and walked over to Clark's desk. Instantly, she began looking through the drawers, not sure of what she expected to find. But what she did find was cause for an even bigger shock than the answering machine had caused. Inside his desk, she found an issue of the Planet from last month. On the front page was an article that said, "DAILY PLANET MOURNS LOSS OF STAR REPORTER."

There was a photo of Lois in the article.