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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:23:41 GMT -5
Deus Ex Machina # 6
"Expressing the Inexpressible"
Story and Art by Chaltab
Edited by Jay McIntyre [/center] |
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:29:05 GMT -5
Sweat made Diana's grip on the battle ax slippery, and two days without rest pulled the Amazon's muscles into fatigue's vampiric embrace. She forced her self on through the deserted streets, checking an overturned police car when she thought she heard breathing. No luck: it turned out to just be a dog that snarled and ran off when she tried to check on it. He was lucky to have found the shelter he did; all the other cars and buildings on this street were completely smashed.
Far worse than the physical damage, the spiritual drain on Diana was bordering on unbearable. The Titans of Myth now appeared to be mere machines. Diana had not heard from Clark or Bruce to confirm anything, but rumors swirled. Rumors that the gods she worshiped were false, and the generation that spawned them nothing more than machines built by Vandal Savage.
Diana felt ice cold fear in her stomach, fear that all of it was all true. She felt hatred towards the gods for deceiving her and her fellow Amazons. She felt an overpowering desire to reset the last few days, to wake up in bed without a week of grime and perspiration caked on her, without her world view crumbling. But stronger still was her desire, her determination for the facts.
She had to know the truth. Diana's spirit would not tolerate a lie.
Her faith was weak, but not her resolve. And she had resolved to go straight to the top—Zeus himself. Zeus, lord of the gods, rampaging through New York, would provide her the answers, even if she had to beat him into submission.
Ahead of her, the middle of a building exploded in a cloud of dust and debris, and the center fell, revealing the enormous form of Zeus behind it. Wonder Woman wasted no time, taking off, her fist clenched on the handle of her ax.
Zeus saw her coming despite the billowing gray cloud and hurled a thunderbolt. She bashed it aside with the ax and sliced at the god's head. Zeus' eyes flashed dangerously and a powerful wind slammed into Diana, altering the course of her swing. The ax sliced a gash into Zeus' head, but went no deeper. The god's fist flashed out and slammed into the stunned Amazon, sending her careening backward into the glass building exterior, one of the many walls of the steel canyon that made up Manhattan.She plowed through the glass and on through a cubicle farm, and startled cries of terror rang out.
Diana came to a stop against a corner office door and looked up to see several officer workers, men and women, gathering around looking haggard and terrified. Diana's heart raced. She had thought Manhattan had been evacuated. She didn't think there were any people left to rescue here.
"Wonder Woman!" one of them whispered.
Diana forced the fog from her head and tried to think like a hero.
"You need to get out of here," she ordered. "Hera above! It's not safe to be in this city!"
"It's not safe to be out there on foot either," said one of the younger "We've been trapped here for days hoping someone would help evacuate us. Nobody showed up."
"I'm here. I'll protect you," Diana said. "While I hold Zeus's attention; you head south. The League set up an evacuation zone at the site of the World Trade Center. There's a portal there that will teleport you to a shelter in Albany."
"The new towers still standing?" one of the office workers asked, her voice hopeful. She pushed her glasses up onto her eyes from where they'd slid down.
Diana nodded. "For now. Hurry."
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:31:22 GMT -5
KRAKATHOOM
The entire right arm of Cronus exploded at the elbow, the forearm floating away from the rest of the Titan's body. Mr. Terrific throttled the Javelin forward, firing the main cannons to away whatever energy shielding might remain. The bolts struck Cronus' shield, which fizzled out and allowed the Javelin through. Inside the arm was a vast metallic cavern with fluids leaking from the destroyed walls and debris floating away. Already tendrils were extending to close the wound.
The Javelin sat down in side the elbow of Cronus just as the weave finished, sealing the ship inside.
Batman, Talia, and the strike team rushed down the ramp of the Javelin, even as a troupe of OMACs rushed in through tubes on the far end of the room. Fire and Ice flew at them first, blasting with their namesake powers, and taking the first wave of OMACS down. Black Lightning went next, followed by Booster.
Batman stayed back, staring at J'onn with a grimace.
"I'm sorry," J'onn said. "I am unaccustomed to using my powers in such a manner." Batman nodded. "Stay here, then. When you've regained your strength, monitor us psychically and help where needed."
He turned to the others an barked orders. "Jeff, Bea, Tora, head downward. Do to Cronus what the stories say he did to his father—if I fail to stop Ra's, at least we can cripple the Titans' ability to produce new monstrosities."
The Dark Knight turned to Booster Gold and Mr. Terrific. "Michaels, you're both with Talia and me We're going to find Ra's."
The group split up and went their separate directions, Batman's side heading up and in. OMACs appeared around nearly every corner and flooded narrow halls; Batman put Booster on point, taking advantage of the future hero's shields and blasters, while Mr. Terrific took up the rear, his T-Spheres doing the heavy lifting while he used a blaster he'd grabbed from Javelin deal with any OMACs that attacked from behind.
"This is too easy," Batman growled; he hurled a batarang into the chest of an OMAC. "No death traps. No poison gas. Nothing but these mindless drones."
"You're complaining?" Talia hissed over the sounds of Mr. Terrific's blaster fire. "I find the monotony a refreshing change of pace from the unpredictability and deception our courtship usually entails, Beloved."
The monotony continued for several more minutes before the hall opened into a large room that had a massive window looking out into space on one side. Batman grimaced; through the window he could see the ruins of the Watchtower—even with one arm blown off at the elbow, Cronus had succeed in taking down the satellite headquarters.
Across the room, a large mechanical door slid open with a mystic hum, and Ra's al Ghul stepped through, surrounded by a cadre of OMACs. These OMACs, however, were different than the previous versions. Their bodies were more thoroughly defined, with clearly visible facial features and five fingers on each hand.; additionally, the magic energy 'skin' that protected them was red rather than blue.
"You've got a lot to answer for, Ra's," Batman growled.
"Your goals are noble, Father," Talia said. "But your methods are unacceptable. We can make a better world without all this bloodshed."
Ra's continued walking, staring directly at Batman, his eyes flickering occasionally to Talia. If he noticed Booster Gold and Mr. Terrific he gave no indication. The OMACs fanned out, making a barrier between Ra's and the heroes.
"My own daughter, Detective," said Ra's, his voice smooth and strong. "What did you do to bring her over to your side?"
"He did nothing!" Talia spat. "It is your own growing psychosis that has driven me to side with my Beloved in this conflict."
Batman drew a batarang and stepped forward. "It ends tonight, Ra's."
"Yes," whispered the Head of the Demon. "Yes, it does."
Ra's turned and looked at the OMACs. "Kill the extras. Leave the Detective and my daughter to me."
The OMACs surged forward, hovering across the breadth of the room in seconds. Mr. Terrific threw a quartet of T-Spheres up and ran to the side laying down some covering fire, while Booster Gold took the fight upward, blasting at the OMACs and dodging the return fire. The six OMACs broke into two groups of three, and left the way clear for Batman and Talia to go after Ra's.
The duo rushed forward, Batman hurling a batarang at Ra's while Talia drew a sword from her scabbard. Ra's extended a hand, his eyes flashing as a shockwave rushed out and deflected the batarang. Talia got there next, slashing down with the sword, but her father raised an arm and blocked her attack. He reached into his green robes with the other hand and pulled out a falchion. He slashed at Talia with it. Talia managed to step back, but found herself off balance, and Ra's struck at her left leg.
But before his sword could make contact, Batman was there, and delivered a powerful flying kick to Ra's chest, sending the terrorist careening backwards into the room he had emerged from. Ra's rolled with the kick, coming up and slashing at Batman. The sword sliced into his armor and dug a gash into his shin.
Batman blocked out the pain and pulled a capsule from his belt, which he deployed into a sword. Talia appeared behind him.
"Hardly a fair fight," Talia said. "Two against one."
Ra's smiled and raised a hand. Immediately the doors they had entered through slammed shut, and a force field raised around it.
"Allow me to introduce you to my new acquaintance," Ra's said.... and then the shadows of the room formed began moving, coalescing into a form beside the mastermind—the form of a beautiful woman with long black hair and flowing black robes—writhing, composed of shadow.
"This is Nyx," said Ra's. "Goddess of the night. You've overcome many things, Detective, but I wonder if you have the fortitude of mind and body to overcome once of the ancient deities."
Batman narrowed his eyes, but as he blinked under his cowl, Nyx surged forward, slamming her shadowy body into the Dark Knight and knocking him backwards. Talia, meanwhile, swung her sword at her father. Ra's sword flashed and met his daughter's, and thus their battle continued.
Meanwhile, Bruce found himself fighting the shadows, which struck at him from his blind spots and seemed ethereal, insubstantial, when he attacked it.
It was a battle that Batman was not sure he could win.
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:35:14 GMT -5
The lion-monster known as Kalibak swung his claws with enough force to shatter a brick wall, and all that force slammed into Kid Devil's forearms. The young hero snarled in pain, fire escaping his mouth and nostrils; then he used that fire to his advantage, belching it up into Kalibak's face. The monster's bronze mane caught on fire; it was rapidly consumed by the flames, and it distracted the New God long enough for Jaime to fly in and slam an oversized fist into Kalibak's face. The lion-monster went careening into a withered old tree, branches snapping off from the impact.
Then Young Frankenstein appeared behind him—all his limbs reattached—and grabbed Kalibak in a full nelson. Jaime's first instinct was to wince, because Paco had demonstrated to him many times that a full nelson wasn't a particularly reliable type of hold. But before Kalibak could react, Young Frankenstein lifted him off the ground and slammed the New God head first into the ground, burying his lion-face in dusty ground. The ground shook from the impact.
The patchwork hero started to right himself, but a powerful kick from Kalibak caused him to pitch forward and lose his balance—and Kalibak picked just that moment to rip himself out of the ground with his brute strength, sending dirt flying. He roared and pounced atop Young Frankenstein, clawing into his back and ripping out the young hero's spine, black gore spewing out. Jaime winced, and wanted to look away, but his suit locked his line of sight on the threat.
"Scarab, I need an option!" he shouted.
New Gods are vulnerable to Radion weaponry.
"Where do I get some of that?"
Just then, Kid Devil kicked Kalibak in the head, knocking the New God from Young Frankenstein's form before Kalibak could do further damage. The patchwork hero began writhing across the ground to grab his spine and put it back in, while Kid Devil used his agility to avoid Kalibak's claws—floating like the proverbial butterfly, and attempting to sting like the proverbial bee.
Radion can be found in limited quantities in the crust of the planets New Genesis and Apokalips. If you could procure some, I could weaponize it for you.
"Don't have time for space travel. I need a plan I can actually pull off. Preferably before Eddie or Frank get themselves killed."
Alternative solution: Administer 4.2 x 10^15 Joules of force to the internal organs of the target.
"Great, do I have any weapons with that much firepower?"
Nuclear Warhead.
"That's it?" Jaime dove out of the way as Kalibak sent Kid Devil hurtling towards him. "I don't have any options but nuking him?"
Affirmative.
"Perfect." Jaime charged, blasting away with his particle cannon as he reached the writhing form of Frankenstein and picked him up. Kalibak snarled and charged again, and Jaime rolled with Frankenstein's body, grabbing the patchwork hero's bloody spine as he rolled and shoving it in through the gash in his back.
"Thank you," Young Frankenstein said. The wound on his back closed up and the patchwork hero stood.
"I need a way to get his mouth open."
"Why?" Young Frankenstein arched an eyebrow.
"I'm going to feed him a nuclear bomb. The suit said I had to deliver a few zillion joules of force to his insides."
"Your armor... talks to you?"
"Long story," Jaime muttered.
Kalibak was storming to them now, and Kid Devil joined Jaime and Frankenstein. "Plan?"
"Make him gag," Frankenstein said.
Jaime said, "Break on three. One.. two.."
"THREE!"
The heroes broke, Jaime flying upwards, and the other two breaking to Kalibak's left and right. The New God skidded to a halt and changed directions, lunging at Young Frankenstein and tearing his arm off again, this time at the elbow. Young Frankenstein shoved his bleeding stump into Kalibak's face, black gore spraying into his mouth and nostrils. The New God jerked away and began sputtering, and spitting, but he didn't open his mouth wide enough for a clear shot.
Just then, Kid Devil slid between his legs, closed his eyes and blew a stream of flaming breath right into Kalibak's crotch. The New God snarled, rearing back and letting out a loud pained roar. Jaime swooped down at that minute, shoving the narrow nozzle at the end of his Nuclear Warhead cannon into Kalibak's mouth.
"GET CLEAR!" the Blue Beetle shouted; as soon as Eddie and Frank were a safe distance, Jaime let the nuclear bomb rip, using the cannon to send the force of the explosion blasting straight down Kalibak's throat. The New God jerked and began writhing and twitching in place as a muffled KRAKATHOOM[/b] sounded from inside the rapidly-expanding barrel of the cannon.
By the time the explosion subsided, the barrel of Jaime's cannon was the size of a school bus and glowing red hot.
Kalibak stopped twitching and fell to the ground, smoke pouring from his mouth and nostrils. The Geiger counter on his suit's display was crackling in overtime from the radiation pouring out of Kalibak's body.
Jaime backed away and rejoined Frankenstein and Kid Devil by the mansion at the top of the hill. His Scarab told him that it had exhausted all of his energy containing the explosion, and the armor rolled up off of Jaime, leaving him standing there in his civilian clothing.
"I hope we don't run into anything else in there," Eddie said.
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:38:07 GMT -5
They abyss in the basement of the mansion seemed anticlimactic. Rather than any horrid pool of lava, or poisonous snake-infested pit, Traci fell onto a soft oversized bed in what looked like the room of a typical ten year old girl—with a box of toys, a large dressing mirror, and a wall with half-eaten corpses pinned to it.
Well, it was almost typical.
Empress and Chessure were in the middle of the massive room, the latter a hulking shadow beast whose shape was writing and inconsistent to Traci's vision. She lunged off the bed, throwing another light spell into the fray. The beams slammed into Chessure and drove him off of Empress and into a corner. Traci rushed over to Anita, who had big gashes in her left arm and right leg. She breathed a healing spell quickly, but her stress made her flub the pronunciation and the wounds only closed partially.
"Sorry," she said.
Empress got to her feet. "Good enough."
Chessure lunched again, his massive form spreading into a wall of shadow that slammed into both of them, blasting them across the room into the wall of dead bodies. Traci swung her staff up to block Chessure's follow up strike with his sharp teeth and then tried to blast him in the eyes with another clarus lux. Chessure barely recoiled, and then smacked the staff out of Traci's hands. It sailed across the room and clattered against Malice's toy box. The shadow-monster's giant red maw opened, acrid saliva dripping onto the pink carpet.
Time seemed to stand still for a brief second, and then it started moving again, Traci's heart pounding in her chest.
The mouth snapped shut.
Traci slowly opened her eyes, wondering at what point she had closed them, and looked up to see bony, rotting arms holding Chessure's shadowy face; the corpses on the walls had ripped themselves off and were now pushing Chessure away from the two teen heroes. Traci glanced to her left to see Empress, her eyes glowing with golden light; she was muttering something in Patois with her hands extended toward the corpses.
"Go, get your staff!" she said, somehow not breaking the voodoo magic that was keeping the zombies moving.
Traci obeyed, running forward and tossing a friction-negating spell at the ground, using it to slide between Chessure's legs and across the room. She slammed into the toy box, grabbed her staff, then tried to stand. But a shadow tendril lashed out, cutting into her leg, then whipping up and slicing across her abdomen. She pitched forward, falling against the mirror and snarling with the pain.
Across the room, half the zombies were gone, and Traci watched as Chessure's massive mouth closed over another one, gobbling it up bones and all. Chessure was enjoying himself; Empress looked strained. Traci needed a new plan, something to get past that damn forcefield around the shadow monster's eyes. But to create a spell that powerful, she'd need a source of power... and all she had was a bunch of useless toys and a mirror.
Another zombie got eaten.
Wait a minute, Traci thought...
She stood up and aimed her staff, drawing all the ambient energy she could find. "EXQUISITUS LUX!" she thundered.
A huge column of light lashed out of her staff; the zombies crumbled to the ground while Empress dove out of the way, and the light slammed into Chessure, blasting him back towards the wall. It pinned him their briefly, but when the light subsided, he slipped to the ground and then sprung back to his feet, snarling with rage.
"Over here!" Traci called, taking a step back. "Come on! I can't keep that up, just get over here and eat me already."
Chessure's maw grew wider into that sadistic grin, and he stalked forward slowly like an oversized cat toying with its pray. Traci stayed put and reached her hand back behind her.
Chessure lowered on his legs.
Traci whispered a spell.
And then Chessure lunched, snarling and spraying his acrid saliva. Traci shouted the last words of her spell—"SPECULUS CARCERUM!"—and fell to the ground, a flash of light erupting from behind her. Chessure snarled again, and Traci looked up to see his head planted firmly in the mirror; as if the glass had become a sea of sticky tar and the shadow-beast's head was stuck in it. It was struggling to pull its head out, but the more it pulled, the more of its body was drawn in, until the entirety of Chessure was behind the glass. Chessure lunged back, trying to break out of the mirror, but slammed into it, like it was solid glass. It backed away, no longer grinning.
"What did you do!?" a voice behind Traci demanded. She turned to see Malice rushing up to the mirror. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Not bad," Empress said, joining them.
Traci smirked. "It drew energy in by pulling in light through the void in front of its eyes. That's why it seemed to be made of shadow. I couldn't blast the void away, but then I realized that light bounces off a mirror. It can't pull any more energy in in that prison, and it's going to slowly lose its powers."
"Let him out, now!" Malice demanded. Let him out or I'll—"
Empress' uninjured arm lashed out with her sword to Malice's throat. "Or you'll what?" she said dangerously.
"I'll kill you all!"
Traci shook her head. "No, I think not." The witch kicked Malice in the face, the malicious little New God flying backwards and herself getting stuck in the sticky tar that the surface of the mirror had been transformed into. She fell through, and then shot to her feet, pounding on the glass.
"Don't leave me here!" she shouted. "Or at least... at least bring Chessure something to eat. He gets testy when he's not been fed, and I don't want to put up with him hungry."
Traci frowned. "Oh, I think he'll have something to tie him over. It's not much, just a snack, but it will satisfy him until the spell wears off. We'll be gone by then."
"What are you talk—" Malice stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening in horror. She turned and looked at the shadow beast. "No, Cheshy, you wouldn't! Don't be silly."
Chessure just smiled broadly, and stalked over towards Malice, drooling his acrid drool again.
"Don't listen to them!"
Traci and Empress turned and left the room, conveniently 'not hearing' Malice's scream of terror.
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:39:10 GMT -5
Chaos, the void that was—that which existed before time began—plummeted along with Young Justice into the white realm of nonexistence below Tartarus. Its single massive eye blasted bolts of energy towards Wonder Girl, but she deflected them with her bracelets and flew at the void. Another beam lashed out, and Wonder Girl dodged; she knew the plan.
She was just a distraction; Miss Martian appeared on the other side of Chaos, blasting lasers from her eyes into Chaos' single gaping orb; then a quartet of arrows lanced out of Arrowette's bow and hit the eye as well. Superboy swooped in, blasting laser eyes that cut into the tendrils that held the eye to the rest of the void, and finally Kid Eternity grabbed it, reaching deep inside and ripping out the soul.
The void turned to a substance that seemed like water and dispersed; the eyeball turned gray and disintegrated.
"So, what now?" Superboy asked.
For a moment or two, nobody said anything. Then Secret pointed downward and shouted.
"Look there's land down there!"
Everyone turned and twisted to see that she was correct. What looked like a vast planet made of washed-out sepia tones was rapidly approaching. None of them had seen it from farther away—it was as though the planet had materialized from nowhere and extended in all directions for infinity. Those members of Young Justice that could fly grabbed the members that could not, and soon they all swooped down into a vast town square of a sepia-toned city. In the distance, there was a large building that bore a sign:
LIMBO TOWN HALL
"So, what," Superboy asked. "We've fallen through Oblivion and now we're in Limbo?"
"That's about the size of it!" came an unfamiliar voice. They turned to see a short man in a jester outfit that might have been violet if not for the washed-out sepia filter over everything. He looked like someone that even the weakest of them could easily trounce in a fight, and even though looks could be deceiving, none of the members of Young Justice were on their guard.
"I'm sorry," Wonder girl said. "Who are you exactly?"
"The name's Merryman, little girl," he said. "I'm the mayor here in Limbo City. I'm sorry that you've all fallen in here, but I welcome you all the same. I'll see if I can make arrangements for you to get a home here. Can I have your names."
He seemed to materialize a clip board and note pat from nowhere.
"I'm Wonder Girl," said Cassie. "But wait, we're not staying here. Listen, there's a battle, a Crisis going on back on the surface and we need to get back to Earth."
Merryman let out a short derisive laugh. "Get back to Earth? I'm sorry, but that's just... that's just not possible. Once you're here in Limbo, there's no way out. Not unless you're summoned. And nobody's been summoned out of Limbo in... I don't remember the last time."
"What, you mean we're stuck here?!" Superboy shouted. "But what about my fans?"
Wonder Girl glared swords at him.
"And saving the Earth, of course!" he amended.
"Someone with fans actually falling into Limbo? Most unusual," Merryman said. "Nonetheless, it's doubtful that you'll be able to get out."
"But some of us can fly," Miss Martian said. "Surely we can just fly ourselves out of here."
"'Fraid not." Merryman looked at Arrowette and Kid Eternity and took their names. "It's been tried before. Once you get so high, you get utterly lost in Oblivion, and you end up right back here where you started from."
"How long have you been here?" Arrowette asked.
"Oh, I don't know," said the jester. "Time sort of loses all meaning here. Time, memory, heroism. There's nothing to do but talk and hope you retain your memories long enough to make yourself some new ones."
Wonder Girl bit into her lower lip and fell to her knees. "Then we're trapped here. And we're going to forget... stuff?"
"I'm really sorry." Merryman glanced over to Miss Martian and asked for her name. "I truly am. I'll try and make your eternal stay here as comfortable as possible."
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:40:40 GMT -5
Blue Beetle and his allies regrouped in the basement of the mansion and soon found a large mahogany door near the back; runes had been burned into the door, and Traci sensed a powerful magic barrier around it; it took her a while, but she and Empress eventually punched their way through. On the other side they found a dark room with a single glowing light in the middle, where characters swirled in a transparent barrier around a figure in the middle of the light.
Jaime rushed up towards the barrier, his Scarab blazing warnings about the forcefield.
But the woman—she was a woman, with wild black hair and chalky white skin, lying naked in and apparently unconscious—was something else entirely. The Scarab couldn't make her out at all—she was more than the Scarab's version of a question mark; she was like a fixed point, a universal constant that was somehow different than anything it had encountered before.
Jaime touched the barrier, and immediately the Scarab screamed inside his head; Jaime jerked his hand away—and felt as though all his willpower was leaving him. A new name filled his mind, his every thought centering on it.
DARKSEID!
"What?" came a voice in front of him.
Jaime blinked, staring at Traci. He realized suddenly that he was on his butt looking up at his girlfriend, who was hunched over him eying him skeptically.
"Huh?" Jaime stammered.
"You just said 'Darkseid'!" Traci said, frowning. "What prompted that?"
"I don't know," Jaime said. "Darkseid... that names sounds familiar, though. He tried to invade the planet a few years ago."
"He was worse than just any alien invader," Traci said, extending a hand to help Jaime up. "Darkseid is an alien god of pure evil. He tried to invade Earth multiple times before the last time three years ago, but I was under the impression that he was gone for good this time."
"He isn't."
The voice was new—it was kind but forceful, ancient yet vivacious. Jaime and Traci turned along with all the others to see that the woman behind the force field was standing now, looking at all of them with a sad smile.
"You're awake," Jaime said, smiling, and trying not to stare at her bare chest.
"In as much as I was ever asleep, yes," she said. "I suppose you know who I am?"
"Death?" Kid Devil said, his voice sounding like he was trying not to gulp.
She nodded. "Darkseid, unfortunately, never had his scheduled meeting with me. The death of a god is different than that of a mortal, and I wasn't in charge of guiding those souls to their final resting place."
"Who.. or what was?" Traci asked.
"Another New God." Death closed her eyes and looked at her feet, twisting them inward and standing pigeon-toed. "The Black Racer. Unfortunately, when Darkseid's body was destroyed three years ago, it was just after receiving a gift from Lex Luthor—the Anti-Life Equation. It's the same evil thought that powers this barrier around me. Darkseid used the Equation to steal the will from the Black Racer. He was able to circumvent his own death and reincarnated himself in the body of a human."
Jaime blinked. "He's the one who kidnapped you?"
Death nodded. "Yeah. He gave my Ankh—my symbol of power—to the Black Racer, and sent him out to harvest souls. What's been going on since I've been trapped in here? What did Darkseid unleash on the world?"
Jaime frowned. "It's a long story."
"How do we get you out of here?" Traci asked. "Just say the word and we'll do it."
"How did you find me?" Death smiled. "Did one of my siblings send you?"
"Delirium," Jaime confirmed.
Just then, the barrier around Death fizzled out. Death speculated that the power of Life generated by the five teenagers had caused the Anti-Life to fizzle out, though the Scarab had its own theories and Traci wanted an explanation that obeyed the laws of magic. Traci and Empress fetched Death some clothes from Malice's room and magically enlarged them to fit Death.
When they started out the door, though, Death paused and went back into a room in the upstairs of the mansion, pushing open a partially-cracked door and peering into a study with a single black chair in the middle.
"What's in here?" Jaime said, stepping up behind her.
"This chart," she said, motioning to a piece of parchment on the wall with a multitude dots, labeled in a script that Jaime couldn't read and the Scarab couldn't translate. It seemed to be some sort of star chart at first, but then Jaime saw that there was a single star drawn and labeled specifically near the bottom left corner of the map.
"What is it?"
"He can't be planning to bring so many planets into this solar system," Death mused. "The gravitational forces would tear them all apart. But the way they're arranged. That's not possible."
"What's not possible?" Traci asked
"Well, it would involve some non-euclidean geometry, but if you connected the dots in all the right ways, you'd have the fundamental design of the universe mapped out—like the DNA of creation. But there's no way—that should be impossible. There's no way that Darkseid could know that. Only the Endless and our Boss know that—and I know none of us would divulge it."
"It would seem," Young Frankenstein said, "That someone else is in on the secret."
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:44:19 GMT -5
Batman lashed out, striking another futile blow at Nyx, whose shadowy form just subsided long enough for him to miss. Then she struck, driving a powerful fist into Batman's chest, driving him back against a large transparent window. She lunged at him, and Batman rolled out of the way, her shadowy form slamming against the glass. He turned and threw a flash bang grenade; the explosion was bright enough to activate the light filter in his visor and loud enough to do the same with the sound filter over his ears. Nyx seemed to melt away in the flash and Batman quickly scanned for her. Surely taking down a goddess wouldn't be that easy.
Batman's fears were confirmed when shadows around the room coalesced into the form of Nyx, now wielding a large sword. The goddess lunged forward, and Batman rolled sideways; the sword slammed into the floor and seemed to sink into it. Batman started to take a second to breathe, but then saw a shadow reaching out from where the sword had hit the ground. It reached him in a split second, and then the black blade of the sword shot out of the ground and stabbed into Batman's leg. The Dark Knight snarled in pain, leaping away before the sword could dig in too deep.
Nyx picked up her sword and the extension across the ground vanished. Batman strafed around her, favoring the leg that had not been stabbed, waiting for Nyx to lunge again.
She did, and this time Batman tossed an explosive—back behind him, at the window. Batman dived behind a large metal bulkhead as the explosive went off.
And did nothing. The window wasn't damaged at all.
But then, the Martian Manhunter turned visible just behind Nyx and surged forward, grabbing the goddess and turning her intangible too. The pair phased right through the window. J'onn gave Bruce a salute, then vanished again. Nyx tried to lash out at him, but found no target to hit Silently, she returned her attention to the window, flying up to it and pounding against it furiously as she tried to get back inside.
In the distance, Batman could see the sun rising around the silhouette of Earth, and decided to leave Nyx to her fate.
He turned to the fight between Talia and Ra's; they were still clashing with swords in the far corner of the room. Batman could see that Talia's clothing had been sliced open on her right leg and her left arm, with bleeding wounds in her flesh. Ra's also had a wound, what seemed to be a stabbing wound in his abdomen; his shirt was bloody.
Talia smashed her sword down, but her father deflected it and tried to score a hit on Talia's neck. She was able to move her head out of the way, and Talia ducked under his extended grasp and kneed her father in the stomach, driving him back. She swung her sword down with one hand; she didn't have full leverage, but it was powerful enough to cut into Ra's shoulder and leave a gash.
Ra's stepped forward and shouted as he punched Talia in the face, staggering her backward. She wiped blood from her nose and glared at her father.
"You have overstepped your boundaries, my daughter," Ra's said. "Your love of my enemy has grown beyond my wildest expectations."
"You still don't get it," Talia hissed. "It's not my love of Bruce that is driving me to fight you. It's my hatred of what you've become."
She slashed her sword at Ra's again, but this time he was ready, and parried her attack, throwing her off balance and delivering a powerful kick to her side. Talia pitched forward and her sword clattered to the floor, sliding over to Batman's feet.
Bruce picked it up and stepped over to Ra's, standing between her and Talia until she was able to get to her feet.
"He's been toying with me," Talia whispered. "Something has gotten into his mind. It's sharpening his reactions, making him stronger. Usually he has to fight me at his best to beat me."
"We'll take him together," Batman said. He handed Talia her sword and drew one from his utility belt—a tiny sword that he used The Atom's technology to restore to its normal size.
Ra's smiled. "Very well, Detective."
Ra's rushed forward, and Batman and Talia followed, their swords clashing repeatedly. Seconds seemed like hours as the fight became like a dance, a three-way battle of will and steel and skill. Talia deflected so that Ra's fell towards Bruce, who was able to lash out; but Ra's was reacting faster than normal, and he was able to dodge Bruce's strike.
He lashed out, and Bruce defended.
Talia attacked, but Ra's wasn't hurt. He threw his daughter off balance and would have scored a hit—except Batman intervened.
Bruce felt his muscles tensing, the fatigue and the wounds beginning to affect him. He imagined that Talia must be in a similar situation; Ra's however, seemed to have boundless energy, and his wounds didn't seem to bother him.
Ra's lashed out, smashing into Bruce with the hilt of his sword and then striking at Talia. She blocked two strikes, but Ra's was overwhelming her. Batman stepped in, taking the brunt of Ra's wrath while Talia side stepped, taking a breather for a split second before stepping back in to relieve her Beloved.
The back and forth went on for minutes that seemed like hours, but Ra's was gaining the upper hand, and when he drove his sword straight through Bruce's armor, cutting into his side, Batman began to worry. Then Ra's tore the sword out, splattering blood on the floor, whirled it around, and smacked Talia across the head with the reverse side. The sound alone let Bruce know it had been a solid hit, and Talia staggered back and crumpled to the floor. She wasn't moving.
Ra's walked forward as Bruce crawled backward, his injured legs giving him hell. He tried to prop himself up against the wall to stand up, but the smooth surfaces of Cronus' interior didn't give him any friction and he slipped, the back of his head crashing into a metal bulkhead. More pangs of weakness and pain wracked his body, and not for the first time, Bruce felt old.
"Ah, Detective," Ra's said. "It pains me to see you like this. You know, I could offer you more. I could make you into a god—enhance your body like I have used the technologies of Cronus to enhance my own. We could remake the world and you would rule a vast empire."
Batman narrowed his eyes, trying to focus and make his double vision cease.
"Go to hell, Ra's," Batman growled.
Ra's eyes closed and he frowned, lowering his head in disappointment. "Like my daughter, you insist on opposing me when I would extend my grace to you. I have no other option, Detective."
Ra's raised his scimitar, and sliced down at Bruce's head.
Then there was a brilliant flash and a powerful warmth burning against Bruce's chest. He opened his eyes and looked down to see a column of light—and it was emanating from the Bat symbol on his chest.
Bruce had no idea what was going on.
The column of light had blasted Ra's across the room, and was now balling up in front of Bruce. A dark silhouette formed in the light and then shifted into the shape of a human figure, one with a cape draped over his shoulders and spiky hair on top of his head.
As the light faded, the newcomer fell to the floor, landing in feet clad with steel-toed boots.
"R... Robin?" Batman said. "What... what the hell just happened?"
"I was afraid that wouldn't work," Robin said, looking over his shoulder at Batman. "Raven and Jason Blood used iconography magic to create a link between your armor and the Bat Signal in Gotham. I used it as a portal. Thought you could use the help."
"Ah, the Boy Detective," Ra's said, throwing his cape and shoulder plate aside. "I must say that was an impressive entrance. And just when your mentor was in the jaws of certain defeat. I must say, Timothy you have impeccable timing."
Robin tossed Batman a small phial of amber liquid. "Drink that. Nectar of the gods; it will make you feel better."
"I'm hallucinating," Batman growled. "That's the only explanation. I've died and now I'm hallucinating in the afterlife."
"Bruce, focus. It's time to save the world!" Robin reached into his utility belt and pulled out a pair of Birdarangs, linking them together. They transformed in his hands into Robin's sword.
Bruce downed the phial and immediately felt a portion of his strength return. He stood up on legs less-wobbly and clutched his sword more tightly.
Batman and Robin both raised their swords and ran forward, striking high and parrying low, as Ra's defended and deflected. Batman and Robin's motions were like clockwork—perfectly in sync, coordinated down to the tiniest detail.
Batman deflected, Robin was there to strike; the Boy Wonder cut into Ra's al Ghul's arm, but the terrorist moved with alarming speed, smashing his empty fist into Robin's face. Robin staggered and wiped blood from his mouth. But Batman was already picking up the slack, driving Ra's towards the center of the room.
The Demon's Head almost didn't notice when Robin attacked him from behind, and as Ra's raised his hand to defend, Robin altered the arc of his attack slightly.
The blade cut into Ra's wrist and severed the hand completely. It fell to the floor as blood gushed from Ra's wrist.
"NO!" Ra's thundered. "Cronus! Activate the Epsilon protocol!"
The entire Titan shook violently, and Batman and Robin were thrown from their feet; Bruce landed next to Talia. As Batman looked up, a portal opened behind the mastermind, and he grabbed his severed hand with his healthy one and started to retreat. Batman narrowed his eyes and hurled a Batarang, slicing into Ra's hand just as he stepped through the portal.
The severed hand fell to the deck—just as Robin lunged, sword-in-hand, into Ra's, knocking the terrorist through the portal and sailing on through himself.
It closed in a blue flash.
"Tim!" Batman rushed to the window to see what precisely the Epsilon protocol entailed. It became immediately apparent that Cronus had broken apart—it's head, limbs, and torso were now floating through space in separate pieces, and some of those pieces were further self-destructing.
"He would have retreated to the genetics laboratory." Talia said. Batman turned to see her standing behind him, cradling her wounded arm."My father had a back-up control center build there. The Epsilon protocol was designed to prevent anyone from getting their hands on the Titan technology."
"I have to go after Robin," Batman said. "Ra's is out of his league."
"First thing's first," Talia said, motioning towards the severed hand in the center of the room. "You have what you came for. The Gorgon's Head would be embedded in his right hand."
Batman knelt and picked up the severed hand. Talia knelt beside him.
"Take off your glove and place your fingers against his," she said. Batman did so.
Immediately, light flowed out of Ra's hand, particles of energy that swam through the air, coiled around Bruce's hand, and then sank into his flesh. The symbol of a lightning bolt appeared on the back of his hand, like a tattoo.
Suddenly, Bruce could feel—and more than feel, he could see and hear—the other Titans, and what was left of the self-destructing Cronus. Their thoughts, their emotions, and their wills were his to manipulate. It was as though the entire control manual for the Titans was immediately burned into his mind—but at the same time, that it was written in a language he could barely decipher. No wonder Ra's wasn't able to use them to their full potential. Bruce got the sense that adjusting the course of the Titans even slightly would be like trying to steer a sailing ship by blowing on the sail with his breath.
He focused, forcing his mind into the interaction with the other Titans, and gave them a command.
"Cease!" he said. "End your attacks on Earth."
But Master! A cacophony of replies came, protesting the command.
"CEASE!" Bruce repeated. "Stop attacking Earth. Fly into outer space and self destruct."
But...
"NOW!"[/i] Bruce thundered.
Silence. One by one, Batman could feel the Titans moving, sense them as they ceased their attacks and flew above the atmosphere.
One by one, the Titans of Myth flared up with power and then ceased to exist.
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:45:29 GMT -5
Nobody could explain it; one minute the world seemed on the verge of collapse—and then suddenly the Titans stopped. At first people feared that they were only preparing for something even more horrible than the wanton destruction of Earth's cities, but then they had all flown away and blown up. The day had been saved, though nobody knew how.
But as celebrations broke out over the planet below, a group of thirty-six hundred figures glowing with yellow energy appeared in the atmosphere.
Sinestro hovered above the Earth, along with his Corps.
"It seems this planet has already been ravaged," he told his men. "This bodes well for us. Let us subdue them before they can recover. The people will welcome our rule—or they will perish."
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Post by arcalian on Aug 19, 2009 17:46:03 GMT -5
Continued!!!
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