#24: Injustice Unbound! Pt. 4 (Walsh / Rimmer)

Previously, in Justice League...
...Angle Man and Prometheus have enacted the next phase of their strategy, arming Xotar the Weapons Master and resurrecting Chemo; capturing Elongated Man and his wife in the Ghost Zone; trapping Kid Eternity and Manitou Dawn at the hands of Atomic Skull and Penny Dreadful in a building designed to impair their powers; and snatching the League’s own wards, Zan, Jayna and Gypsy, from within the heroes’ own safe havens; despite all the warnings, regardless of the return of Superman, Firestorm and Green Lantern to their ranks, nothing seemed to deter the masterminds as they implemented their grand design! The League struggled to recover, strove to get ahead of their enemies...

...and then the sky came tumbling down.



The large airship swooped through the skies, racing toward its destination while the small group of people aboard sat in tense anticipation. The slender, refined face of the Crime Doctor stared out at the Injustice Unlimited members he’d been given for this task, his dark eyes taking in each one in turn. He clutched a strap attached to the roof of the ship as it roared along the darkening heavens.

“Alright, listen up, all of you,” he finally said in his clipped, elegant Back Bay words. “You’ve been briefed before we launched, but I remind you: there will be no diversion from the mission parameters.” He glanced over at the largest of the five people who faced him. “Big Sir, you will take the forward positions. We are going to rely on you to absorb the lion’s share of the damage and strenuous labor, but it’s because we know you can handle it, regardless of what it might look like. Do you understand? We will not force you to do anything we think you can’t handle.

“Uh-huh. Okay. I got it, Doc,” the large bald-headed man said as he rubbed his boulder-sized shoulders.

“Double Dare, you two will be my personal assistants, and you will stay close to me during this entire operation, understood? Do well here, and your record with IU will be cleaned,” Crime Doctor assured the red-headed twins, as they nodded in unison.

“Javelin, you and Doctor X’s ‘Double-X’ will be responsible for flanking Big Sir and doing most of the retrieval. Javelin, you’ve been provided the special javelins?” He watched the muscled jock nod and run his fingers over the tops of the weapons in his quiver. “Excellent. Ecks, your body will be maintained here in the ship while you release your double. You’re reconnaissance and back-up for any trouble Big Sir runs into. This is imperative: you will be at your most professional during this entire engagement.” He once again looked over the motley band of criminals. “The situation will be ugly enough, dangerous enough, time will be very short, and the League will be at their most vulnerable, which will put them at their most dangerous.”

The pilot’s voice came in over the speaker. “Thirty seconds to contact, people. Everybody get ready!”

The airship dipped down suddenly as everyone else moved toward a large side door that slid open. The roaring increased now, wind whipping at the criminals, as the yellow-clad man with the big red X on his chest settled into an elaborately wired chair. “Go!” The pilot’s signal caused them all to leap from the craft as a crackling double of the man in the chair with two red X’s on his chest soared up and zipped out after his companions.

The six people stared in shock at the sight before them. They knew what to expect, and yet it still left them all rattled. Raging firestorms howled around them, explosions continuing to flicker and light up Hob’s Bay as screams of pain and alarm added to the cacophony. The airship then released a large crate and soared back up into the sky.

“This is it, people! Get out there and show the League what Injustice Unlimited is all about!” Crime Doctor commanded as he and Double Dare turned back to the crate and activated controls, releasing a mobile emergency room into the area. The huge mass of man called Big Sir thudded into the devastation, as Doctor Double X sped into the air and began his search, and Javelin did his best to avoid the most dangerous areas and watch out for whoever his partners found.

Crime Doctor pulled out a handset and started up a speaker at the top of the emergency center. “Justice League! This is the Crime Doctor! Injustice Unlimited is horrified by what our ex-member Angle Man has caused here! This is not our way! We are not about death! We’re here to help, to rescue those trapped in his machinations, and to relieve you to handle the real threats! Bring your wounded here!”

“They’ve got to be kidding?” Hawkgirl said as she and Hawkman used all of their muscle and flying power to move a car containing a terrified family from a crashing piece of fiery debris. “They think we’re going to fall for that?”

A red streak zipped through the stricken area and stopped suddenly next to Wonder Woman, reporting to her who he saw of the criminal team. “Have to say, they aren’t really the most bloodthirsty group.”

“It’s your call, Wonder Woman,” the Question said as the Flash zoomed off again, “but seeing as our four heavy hitters haven’t walked out of the satellite crash, and we have a twenty-five foot tall man made out of...Milky Way...stomping right this way...”

“Understood, Question,” Wonder Woman answered with a grim look. “Justice League, Injustice members are to be allowed to help. Question, Batman, you two take the Hawks and find those bastards who raided our hall. Merlyn and Cheetah are still around here somewhere, and I want them brought down!”

The ground suddenly tore up in a mass of smashed rubble and pavement, wracked by a blast of purple-black energy unleashed from the aforementioned giant’s eyes. The Galactic Golem slowly began to move, taking a massive step, hurtling debris and costumed people in every direction as it screamed out silently, planets and suns moving in surreal orbits within the massive humanoid shape.

“Well, this didn’t last as long as I’d hoped,” Crime Doctor said as he watched one large chunk of the Hall of Justice hurtle toward his emergency center, just as Big Sir and Batman had brought him the first few injured. All five stared up but watched as the missile was stopped.

“Don’t worry, gentlemen. Took me a second longer than I thought to recover, but I’m back up to par now,” Superman said with a thin, defiant smile, hovering ten feet above the medical structure. With a casual heave, he tossed the wreckage to one side and then streaked back toward the Galactic Golem.

An emerald bubble battered up through the tons of metal and stone that had been the League’s two bases, Green Lantern pulling out the Martian Manhunter with him. “There’s nothing that can rattle me after—what the hell is that?” He stared at the Galactic Golem as the leg stepped down close to the jet-and-jade gladiator.

Firestorm staggered out through a ruined wall and leaned against it, catching his breath. “Oh man...damn, that was...whoa!” He stared up at the Galactic Golem in shock as another indigo beam lanced down and tore into the edge of the nearby town.

“Crime Doctor, we’re counting on your guys, don’t break our trust!” Wonder Woman said as she landed next to the medical shelter, already flanked by several injured. “Emergency response is on the way, we’ve told them you’re helping. So...don’t ruin this!” Crime Doctor paid her little heed as he struggled through the blood and broken bone that surrounded him.

“Understood, Wonder Woman. Don’t you let us down!” he finally snapped back.

“Right. Flash, Green Lantern, Firestorm, and Atom, you four get going, find Chemo, stop him!” Wonder Woman looked over at J’onn J’onzz, a burnt and battered Manhunter from Mars, struggling to maintain his heroic form, shaking and breathing hard. “Doctor, can you help...”

“No. You need my strength,” J’onn said. “With as few members as we’re left here, I will not be coddled now.”

“Fine. You and I, we help Superman with the Golem.” The two of them soared up into the sky to join the Man of Steel.

“Are you sure about this, Wonder Woman?” Firestorm said as he flew up to join the battle with the Golem. “Looks like you need help here.”

“C’mon, kid,” Green Lantern said as he floated up next to the fiery hero. “If Wonder Woman gave the order, then we follow. And believe me, Chemo’s no pushover either.”

The two of them zipped off across the countryside, in the Flash’s scarlet wake.

“In all of this, the worst part is, we’re missing three members, and have no clue where Angle Man is,” Wonder Woman said with a growl as she joined J’onn and Kal in zipping around the cosmic giant, seeking a weakness to exploit.

“Worse than that, I fear, Diana,” J’onn said somberly. “I find no signs anywhere of our wards.”

Sanbourne Institute
Penny Dreadful held up Manitou Dawn by her thick long hair, and looked around. “Shall I get on the intercom and tell Ghost Boy if he doesn’t get up here in ten seconds, we make it so he can fool around with his girlfriend all he wants in the Afterlife?”

“No,” the Atomic Skull snapped now as he paced the main area of the institute. “That’s not our purpose here. We are so close, I will not let desperation bring me down to Doctor Electron’s level!” He pivoted and stared at Penny. “Why haven’t we found what we came here for? Could he have tricked us? Set us up? I don’t want to kill a bunch of cops trying to get out of here, but we’re surrounded, and have two Leaguers hostage now, and they’re going to make me kill them!” In frustration, an electrical blast speared into a bookshelf, and it exploded into splinters.

“Hey, sweetie, don’t worry about it,” Penny said as she unceremoniously dropped the unconscious heroine to the floor. She stepped up to her lover and ran a hand over his broad shoulders, sparks crackling between her fingers and his skin. “We’ll get out of here. So he set us up? It just means we got him on the run, right? There’s nothing the cops can do to stop us, the goody-two-shoes can’t stop us, and the rest of the League...heh, radio reports put us in the clear with those guys.”

Skull ran his fingers through her copper-red hair and he smiled, not that it could show on the bone face beneath the flames. “You’re right, babe. Sorry about that. Where would I be without you?”

The two of them heard shots and shouts from outside the institute, and then the front doors shattered into pieces. “Alrighty then, I hear we got some Justice League in here waiting for their due reward!”

Prometheus strode into the building, cape fluttering behind him, dismissing the police response outside. He stepped into the office area and looked around. “Where are they? I’m on a timetable here, and it’s not like I have real members here to dispatch, so I don’t want to be wasting time.”

Penny Dreadful felt her man tense at the sudden arrival, and hiss through a lipless mouth as the newcomer marched through the area. “Honey Bunny, what is it?”

“Him,” he breathed the word and his head’s corona magnified, darkening. ”YOU!” Atomic Skull screamed and unleashed a massive blast of energy at Prometheus.

The mastermind barely reacted in time, diving to the side, and fired his own baton to intercept the attack. “What is your problem? I’m not here for you.”

“Don’t lie to me, I know you! I remember you, and the horrors you put me and my Pumpkin through, and now that I’ve got you, I will bring you down, Electron!” Skull declared as he stomped toward Prometheus.

“Oh. Oh, I see,” Prometheus replied in shock. “You...remember that? Damn. Well...good for you, son. Now, I have to kill you too.”

Elsewhere in the new I.U. command center
The Clock King and I.Q. entered the cluttered workshop of the Toyman, each with a purposeful look as they sought out their technician.

“Gentlemen? What can I do for you two?” Toyman asked from the far side of his shop. He stepped out from behind a screen, and wiped his oily hands with a rag. “What’s with the serious faces?”

“In investigating the situation our erstwhile comrade Angle Man has plunged our group into, we’ve come across evidence that you have been playing with two of our members,” Clock King explained as the two senior members flanked the scrawny-looking man.

“You...look different,” I.Q. said as he peered at Toyman.

“Ah, yes, well,” Toyman said as he pulled off the leather apron and revealed a jester’s motley for his costume. “It’s true. I helped to maneuver the two of them, yes. Prometheus, he used technology he acquired to let me walk free and clear of that meatbag lying in the hospital.” He pulled out a mask and jester’s cap to wear next.

“Meatbag? You said you left an animatronic double,” I.Q. said as Clock King slid the sword from his cane as he stood behind Toyman.

“Don’t know for sure now, and don’t really care anymore,” Toyman replied as he slid on black gloves. “All that matters is that I’m Toyman, and I’ve gotten a better offer with a competing firm. Now that I’ve paid off my debt to Prometheus for my freedom, I’m off to set up shop. Thanks for everything, fellas.” He pressed the button on a nearby console and a man-sized slinky bounced out from the ceiling to wrap up the Clock King.

“You bastard!” I.Q. responded with a draw of his pistol but Toyman was already prepared for his escape. He struck a switch next to the first button, a fan stirring to life that blew a gigantic clear bubble around the criminal genius. The laser was fired but was dispersed by the prismatic effect of the soap bubble prison.

“Hee-hee-hee!” Toyman chuckled, a high-pitched squeal that unnerved the other two. He plucked up a large metal case and offered a small salute as he quickly dashed from the room. “Thanks for everything, fellas! Trust me, if you don’t get in line, I’ll be seeing you both again soon!” He grabbed a pogo stick and began to bounce away down the hall, leaving behind a peal of laughter.

Clock King had finally sliced out of the slinky cage after he was bounced into a wall. He staggered over to I.Q. and helped free his partner. “It would seem our list of treacherous members in need of punishment is increasing daily.”

“Yeah. It’ll keep Spider and Dreadbolt busy,” Ira Quimby grumbled as he slid the pistol back into the holster. “Makes me wonder if anyone is actually on our team. But I’m going to pull each and every gear out of that scrawny little geek, rest assured.”

Colorado
The towering monstrosity that was Chemo marched across the countryside without cessation. It noticed nothing as it continued to stomp in a direct line toward the city of Pueblo. In its wake were ruined vehicles and crushed buildings, but none of that mattered. What mattered to Chemo was the destruction to come.

“You can stop right there, gruesome,” Hal Jordan said; an emerald fist lashed out and smashed across the transparent plastic face of the odd creature. “Time to put you back on the shelf where you belong.”

Chemo’s response was to spew forth a geyser of viscous toxic chemicals that splashed against the Lantern’s protective bubble harmlessly.

“Yeah, you see why I haven’t gotten anywhere yet either,” Flash said as he darted back into the field of battle, after having delivered chemical burn victims to a nearby hospital. “I’ve banged up my hands pretty bad trying to vibrate into this container. It looks like plastic, but that’s not what it is. Not anymore.”

“That’s easy then,” Firestorm said with a cocky grin. Golden beams lanced out from extended fists and streamed over the top of the monster. After several seconds, Firestorm furrowed his brow and the beams glowed brighter. “This is getting frustrating now!”

“What’s the matter, kid?” Atom asked as he held onto the upturned sleeve of Firestorm’s costume.

“Every time I go to transmute something with you guys, it doesn’t work,” Firestorm grumbled as the beams became duller in color and smashed into Chemo’s chest now, then joined by a green brick wall that finally brought the monster to a momentary stop. “Something about how this thing comes to life makes him as tough to transmute as organic matter.”

“Well, that’s disappointing,” Ray Palmer mused. “We’ll need another solution instead.”

Chemo’s virulent gout sprayed over the wall and smashed through it with effort as his massive arm swung up and smashed into Firestorm. Atom sprung off the young hero’s shoulder as Firestorm crashed into the ground.

“Sorry about that!” Atom called out as he hurtled through the air. “Lantern! Some help!”

Firestorm shook his head, and cleared the stars in his eyes. With Atom no longer holding on, Firestorm could turn intangible now as he flew back up behind Chemo.

“Atom, think you can get inside this beast, at least for a little while? Give us an inside scoop?” Flash suggested as Green Lantern slid out a baseball glove for Atom to land on.

“That stuff inside Chemo is ugly, big-time ugly,” Green Lantern said. “I can give you some protection, Ray, but it’ll take all my concentration.”

“That means it’s you and me, Firestorm, to hold this beastie in place,” Flash said. “Start making a ton of cable, and let’s play ‘Cowboys and Indians’, okay?”

“Man, this is not what I was looking forward to when I got up this morning, believe you me,” Atom said as he felt the green energy wrap him up and he hurtled down toward the mechanical “mouth” of Chemo.

The Crooked House in the Ghost Zone
The space in the bent and twisted parlor sliced open and Angle Man stepped through, hurriedly sealing the wound in the air as he arrived. He grinned and breathed a heavy sigh of relief, then dropped into one of the Victorian-era chairs.

“Man oh, man!” He laughed from the sheer adrenaline, and wiped his forehead. “Sweating? I know I haven’t done the fighting thing much lately, but sweating?” He got up now and headed down the hooked hallway and arrived at a bathroom. He heard noises down stairs, cackling and stomping. Xotar having fun, I guess. He’s got two prisoners, must be hunting a third. He chuckled as he grabbed a towel and wiped his face and neck now. He sneezed twice and tossed the towel to the side.

“I am not getting sick!” he growled at himself as he stared into the mirror. “Not now.” The twins were dead, and Prometheus had alerted him that his Cynthia was in the cell down in the basement with the stretching man, Dibny. My big trophy I’m giving myself for this whole scheme, Angelo mused with a leering grin. All the money, all the power...I’m happy to settle for her, for now.

“Yeah, settle for her, but first, first, I want to see Wonder Woman get crushed!” he snarled as he tugged his cowl back over his head, snatched his angler back up and started to slice into the space around him. He stepped back into the flickering scene beyond the tear, and failed to see a burst of light erupt from the discarded towel.

Sanbourne Institute
The baton swept through the air, crackling energy trailing behind it and crashing over Atomic Skull’s chest. The powerhouse was thrown back by the concussive force, a heavy oaken table splintering beneath him as Prometheus closed with his downed foe, pressing his advantage.

“You’re Dr. Electron? There’s really a Dr. Electron? You did this to him?” Penny asked in disbelief as she fired a burst of electricity from her hands, throwing Prometheus off to the side.

“Yes, it’s me, I admit, I made him, and he made Skull,” Prometheus replied as he kicked back up to his feet without pause, unleashing a blast of energy at her. “Made you both. The best inserted memories are ones that have some basis in fact.”

“Made both of us?” The revelation distracted Penny enough that the blast caught her in the thigh and sent her crashing to the ground in agony.

“Of course, you don’t think even you’re sick enough to fall in love with some skull-faced freak thanks to a bunch of second-rate criminals sticking you together, do you?” Prometheus laughed as he turned back toward the Skull, to be met by a huge, super-strong fist that cracked his helmet and hurtled him across the large room.

“You hurt her! I’m going to break you now!” Atomic Skull roared as he unleashed blast after blast of energy from his fiery corona.

Prometheus was staggered, but his combat discs whirled in the sides of his helm and prompted his limbs to keep him rolling. “Hurt her? Hurt her? Please, my poor little puppet, I didn’t hurt her.” Prometheus leaped up to the top of a book case, pushing it over onto the Skull as he bounced off immediately in the direction of the wounded Penny Dreadful. “I killed her!” He laughed as the baton fired again, the energy neatly slicing through her stomach as he landed only two feet from her.

“NNNOOOO!!” Atomic Skull screamed in horror as he watched her face twist in pain and shock, and then the eyes went blank as she crashed to the floor. Prometheus spun and fired again, blasting into the horrified catspaw and bounced him through the heavy plate glass to the institute’s deck.

“Why not? I made you both, I can unmake you now that I really don’t need you,” Prometheus gloated as he aimed the baton for another burst.

“Stop!” Prometheus heard the shaky female voice but disregarded it. Manitou Dawn was no threat to him from so far away, not in the seconds she had to try and save this skull-faced idiot, he thought. Until the firing end of the baton was neatly sliced off by the ancient tomahawk, the rest of the weapon exploding in his hand.

“Agh! Dammit! You...” he turned to face her as her weapon arced around and back to her hand.

“One weapon down,” Dawn said with fury in her eyes, struggling to keep on her bare feet, knees still fighting off the earlier electrical attack. “How about that other one now?” She turned her gaze on the Cosmic Key at his belt.

It was a threat, and a bluff, Prometheus was sure. There was no way his programmed combat skills would let her strike successfully. He could take her down before she could blink. She had no chance, not even if she were uninjured. All of this ran through his mind, along with those recorded martial arts.

Then she saw his fingers twitch toward the Key and she grinned at him wickedly and she’d won the bluff. “This is just the start, don’t think Penny’s taken your death for you!” Prometheus snapped as he pulled out his Key, dashed toward the shattered window, and jumped off the Skull to hurtle over the side of the cliff, vanishing on his way down.

Back at the Crooked House
Xotar the Weapons Master stepped back up from the basement, where the cells were maintained. There he had secured Ralph Dibny as he watched his master, Prometheus, imprison some slip of a girl in rags. He didn’t know or care why, what he did know was, upon his return to the first floor, there were clear indications of an intruder.

The woman didn’t run, Xotar grinned as he glanced over the main hallway. She’s trying to rescue her mate. The hunt is on.

He pivoted slowly on one heel, seeking out any slight trace or clue to lead him. He paused and sniffed at the air, and the smug grin grew. Ah yes, Angelo Bend talked about how the females on Earth enjoy perfuming themselves. He started down the hall, moving through the corridors as he began his hunt in earnest now.

On the second floor, he paused again, and sniffed the air once more. “Hm.” He took two steps to the left, then four steps to the right, and picked the scent up again. “Heh.” He continued down the right and then cocked his head. “Noise,” he whispered as he heard some sort of muttering.

He paused near a closet, checking over which of his weapons he wanted to use on the female. He could hear just enough coming through the wooden door to let him know she was desperately trying to reach help. He selected a slim pistol, an elegant electro-laser with sleek solid “barrels” for directing the charge, and a beautifully inlaid handgrip. I’m sure she’ll appreciate the selection of such a lovely, feminine weapon being used on her.

His other hand wrapped around the doorknob and tore the flimsy barrier open as he leveled the weapon at empty space within. “What?” He glanced around and saw a hinged object lying on the floor, generating the noise. He picked it up and examined it closely. “This is what you Earthers call a cell phone?” he asked.

“That’s right, cueball,” Sue Dibny’s voice replied. “Needed to make sure you went the other way.”

“Very smart,” Xotar replied with a darkening of his features as he stepped back out in the hall. “The hunt continues. Good. I was just getting excited, and didn’t want the hunt ending quite so fast.”

“Hunt away, big boy,” Sue flippantly replied. “You do that, while I figure out how to get to the dungeon and free Ralph.”

“I beat him once,” Xotar replied as he stalked the hall to its end and peered out a window, to make sure she wasn’t lurking outside the building. “He poses no threat.”

“You’d be amazed how many people think that about him,” Sue said with pride. “You just keep thinking that way.”

“I shall, don’t worry, woman.” He kicked down another door and swept it with his steely gaze, then grunted in frustration.

“Something the matter, Xotar?” Sue taunted when she heard the noise. “So while I have you, tell me about yourself.”

“Imagine a world with decades of advanced technology compared to your primitive planet,” Xotar snarled as another room proved empty. He started up to the third floor as he continued. “Imagine it being the only world in its universe though. Peaceful, complacent, harmonious...and alone in this...buffer zone between realities.”

“Sounds nice, actually.”

“You’d say that. Weak and soft,” Xotar snapped. “Just like all of Bgztl. Then, just as we’re on the cusp of finding a way into these other realities, the Kryptonians find it. They don’t find us, no. But they find the space, and they use their tech to ‘seal’ it off and start dumping their prisoners into their “Phantom Zone”. And thanks to this fundamental shift in our reality, we remain apart.”

“What changed all that?” Sue asked, and Xotar grinned. He heard something in the background. He heard a scrape he’d heard before. Up in the attic. He started up to the fourth floor now.

“Prometheus found me, provided me the weapons to match all of the training I put myself through,” he said with glee. “The Weapons Master was born at last. To secure his home, to strike at his enemies.” He paused now at the fourth floor, and licked his lips. “Now let me ask you something, female.”

“What?”

“How loud are you going to scream for me when I find you, and make you regret this silly chase?”

Sue felt chills run down her spine at the laugh that followed that question. “You wouldn’t dare. I’m with the Justice League.”

“They can hardly save you now, woman. With such a weak mate, I’m sure there’s plenty I can do to make up for however long you’ve been forced to deal with him,” Xotar growled now, a hungry, dangerous growl as he approached the final door.

“Ralph’s not weak, and if you think you’re going to do whatever you think you’re going to do, he’s going to kick your ass!”

The door splintered apart now as he leveled the sleek, effeminate weapon at the crouched Susan Dibny that he’d just found at last. She cowered at his appearance and he stepped forward. “I promise you, I will enjoy this at least.”




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