#32: From The Depths (Part 1 of 3)

Arthur Curry slept peacefully beside his beautiful wife, Mera. They’d talked well into the night, sharing dreams for themselves, for their child and future children, for the kingdom that they ruled over, and, after they were finished with other things, they fell asleep in each other’s arms, and were content.

So when Arthur jerked up in bed, clutching his head, blood floating up in front of his eyes from his nose, he knew that something terrible had gone wrong. His mind screamed, invisible daggers digging into his brain, and he knew... he knew... nothing at all. His mind had always been his own-- barring an incident with Starro a year or so before-- protected for the most part by his own psychic abilities. So what could have caused such an agonising attack?

“Mera--?” Arthur turned to his Queen, and saw that she was bleeding from her nose too-- passed out from the agony. He swam to the window of his palace, and saw that his people were unconscious, that he was the only Atlantean conscious. “Oh, God...” he whispered, as he struggled to think. “Justice League... Justice League emergency!”



Guy Gardner was the first on the scene, followed by Barry Allen. The Green Lantern was floating above the waves, and as the Scarlet Speedster approached, his ring created a path over the sea, which The Flash screeched to a stop upon. “What took you so long?”

“I was chasing down a lead in Central City,” replied The Flash, “not that I have to explain myself to you.”

Green Lantern put up his hands defensively. “Whoa, whoa there,” he said. “Sorry, it’s just, you’re The Flash, was surprised you weren’t first on the scene tapping your foot and looking all impatient. My bad.”

The Flash considered his new team-mate, and then shook his head. “Things have been rough lately. Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped.”

“No worries,” said Guy. “Now,” he continued, changing the subject to the matter at hand, “what the £$%^ is that?”

Beached on the San Diego shoreline was a horrific mass of thick purple and emerald tissue in a familiar shape, one that caused The Flash to shudder. “It’s Starro.”

“Name like that, I wanna hug it tight,” said Gardner, “but what’s it doing here? ‘Part from rotting?”

“I have no idea. We drove them off. At least... I thought we did. The Star Conquerer was knocked out of the sky, the Atlantean military took it apart. Superman threw the remains in the Sun not long after that. How... how is it possible that this corpse is here?”

“It died this morning,” said Aquaman, rising out of the water atop a sperm whale. “Sent out a telepathic cry that caused every sensitive beneath the waves to suffer unimaginable pain. So, not only is there the question of how it got there... but how it died.”

“You sure do know how to make an entrance,” said Green Lantern.

Aquaman growled in response. “And I sure know how to make an exit. Recover the corpse. And let’s head back to base.” Without a word more, the King of the Seas vanished beneath the waves.

The Flash contemplated Aquaman’s face in detail before he vanished. He captured the moment he arrived and slowed it down in his head. Arthur looked dishevelled. He looked tired, and worn, and as if he was hurting-- the Star Conqueror had taken control of him, over a year and a half ago, and made his people enemies of the world. If the Star Conqueror was back...

“Huh,” said Guy. “‘Starro’. ‘Star Conqueror’. This thing has a lot of names,” he was tapping his ring. “A horror story for a thousand races, the bogeyman for countless species. This thing was here already,” he continued, “else I would have known.”

“What?”

“My ring is active at all times. I’m not like Hal, I don’t take mine off to fly, or whatever, my ring is always running in the background. One of the first thing Hal taught me when I came back to the land of the sane was to have a protection net active over Earth. For incursions, right? So if this thing had flown in, then I would have known. This has been here for years, Flash. Must have been.”

“Then this is Justice League business. Omega level alarm.”

“Whatever we call it, this thing spawns in Andromeda. They travel across the universe and spread themselves across populations. The Corps can contain them, can push them back, but they outnumber us. But right now, they’re content not to conquer, merely to... be. Forensic-teams and border-patrols are working all the time. Any movement, registered, recorded.” Gardner looked at the corpse, and then back to The Flash. “This isn’t good, whatever this is.” The Flash nodded and then the two of them, along with a large emerald platform holding the body of Starro, shot across the waves, to their base of operations.



It twitched. Twitched and scurried, pulling itself across the floor of the ocean one green tentacle at a time. It was coming home. It was coming home!



Batman wasn’t present. He didn’t need to be. Superman, meanwhile, was waiting at the round table that the Justice League assembled around, whilst Green Lantern, The Flash, and Aquaman entered. Firestorm, The Atom, Animal Man and consultants from across the super-science world were running the autopsy on the Star Conqueror that had been beached this morning, along with Hawkman and Doctor Light, who stood ready for any surprises the corpse might spring from beyond the grave. Whilst that was ongoing, the rest of the League were sat there, discussing the recent developments.

“What happened last night?” asked Aquaman. “That’s what we need to know.”

“I felt it, on the fringes of my consciousness,” said the Martian Manhunter, “the death-cry of this thing. I remember when the first one was destroyed. The psychic shockwave gave psychics across the world migraines for a week after.”

“But before, my people weren’t affected. Neither was I. How do you explain that?”

“Perhaps due to the depth of it? The proximity to you? Maybe it had reconfigured itself to function underwater, thus affecting its psychic parameters. What I want to know,” said Wonder Woman, “is how it got there. It was dead. The Star Conqueror is not a threat that can be allowed to operate under the radar like this.”

“GL said that it’s been there for a while,” said The Flash, “that it’s not new, it didn’t crash land or anything. We would have been able to track it.”

“Yeah, this ain’t right. It’s downright creepy.”

“Is there any chance your ring could have been mistaken?” asked Superman.

“Nope, greatest tool in the arsenal of the universe,” said Guy, grinning. “I wish I was wrong, Big Blue.”

“Hmm,” said Superman as he sat pondering the idea, “let them complete the autopsy first, and then we’ll decide our next move.”

Aquaman nodded in agreement. “If that’s your decision, Kal, I’ll be outside. I don’t want to be cramped inside with the husk of that thing, not after...” He trailed off, and then left the meeting room.

“What’s his problem?” asked Guy.

“Long story. Let’s head to the medical bay, and I’ll tell you,” said The Flash.



“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” said Animal Man. “Apart from, obviously, a starfish. But I can’t pick up any traces of it ever being in the Morphogenetic Field. I don’t think I could have taken on its abilities if it were still up and alive.”

“I wanted a chance to study this when the invasion first took place. An hour-long invasion. Madness.” Martin Stein paced the room, Ronnie Raymond lurking on the outskirts, not touching anything.

“This thing made me a villain in the eyes of the world,” said Hawkman, contemplating smashing his mace through the desiccated eyeball. “Turned America against us. Hurm.”

“Well, it’s dead,” said The Atom. “Not that that’s a comforting thought.”

The entire medical bay had to be opened up to bring the Starro inside. Walls and partitions were withdrawn into the hull of the large building, and now all there was within it, surrounded by all the machinery they needed, was the corpse of a Star Conqueror. Conqueror no more.

“Wait,” said Buddy, “the Atlantean military blew this thing to bits, right?”

“Correct,” said Hawkman.

“It’s basic starfish physiology. Alien, yes, but wouldn’t the principles remain the same? Maybe the starfish evolved from a rogue Starro element that was introduced billions of years ago, whatever, but what if it grew back?”

“We collected every fragment,” said Hawkman, “and threw it into the Sun.”

“But even a tiny, microscopic piece of matter could have replicated itself. We’re not talking natural, we’re talking alien, who knows the restorative ability that a Star Conqueror has inside it. It conqueors! That’s its whole deal! So it would need to be tougher than all hell...”

“It regrew,” pondered Martin Stein. “Ronnie?”

Raymond was already standing up, and within seconds he triggered the nuclear transformation that combined the Professor and himself into Firestorm. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” he said, flexing his fingers.

”This thing isn’t beholden to the laws of nature, so we need to be ready for anything.”

“Who knows what it has... had... planned...” said The Atom. “We need to complete the autopsy. Find out what killed it. Kimiyo, if you would, power up. Ready for anything.”

“Of course,” said Doctor Light, her hand beginning to glow.

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Animal Man, staring at the corpse of the Star Conqueror. “Did you see that?”



It latched onto a passing fish. It wrapped its tentacles around its slender body, and then gripped tight, microscopic tendrils piercing flesh and intertwining with the fish’s nervous system. It was in control.



“Hhhhn,” grunted Aquaman, clutching his head. “What...?” His eyes widened. Something just scratched on the fringes of his psychic awareness. “Not... not again!”



“You sure do miss a lot when your body has been hijacked with a homicidal space infection,” said Guy Gardner, scratching his head, “and you say Sinestro was there?”

“Yup,” said Barry, as the two turned a corner, “Alan Scott, the JSA’s Green Lantern, the two of them had at it.”

“Weird,” said Guy, as a noise seemed to explode from the medical bay. “What was that?”

The two heroes surged into the room, to see the centre mass of the Star Conqueror gone, and the entire room covered in a thick, viscous fluid. The other Leaguers were clutching their faces, and Barry knew immediately why. Hawkman was the first to look up. A Starro wrapped around his face. “Guy...”

Green Lantern threw up a shield as Doctor Light unleashed a blast of energy at the duo, and Guy clutched his wrist as the two of them were pushed back by the force. “Holy...”

Firestorm stumbled toward them, and raised a quivering hand. “It...” he mumbled, his mouth obscured by a thick, green tentacle, “It...”

The ring-construct flickered, and Guy’s eyes opened wide. “Not... not... possible!” His ring burned on his finger. Firestorm was doing something. And Guy realised, at that moment, what. And he knew what had to be done. “Barry, run.”

“What?” said the Scarlet Speedster.

“You’re one of the most powerful people here, you need to run, and get help, and you need to get this as far away as possible,” he tapped his ring as it smoked on his finger.

“What’s happening...?”

“Firestorm... is... transmuting...” he was sweating hard, his skin pale, “he’s turning it into I don’t know what.” He pulled his ring off, and shoved it in Barry’s hand. “Run!”

Doctor Light blasted The Flash, but Guy smiled as she hit the hull. The Flash runs faster than light. With a crack and a gust of wind, the Green Lantern-- ringless-- was alone against his transformed teammates. “Aww, £$%^, come on then!”

Hawkman swung at him hard with his mace, but Guy ducked. He was lucky, Katar was sluggish under the possession of Starro, and thusly-- the mace didn’t connect. “It...”

“‘It’, ‘it’, ‘it’, whatever!” spat Guy, punching Katar hard in the gut, only to reel back as his knuckles bruised against Hawkman’s armour. “Holy crap, that was a mistake.”

”Duck!” Guy did as he was told, and Doctor Light’s blast singed the top of his red hair. “Keep moving!”

“That... you... Atom?” asked Guy, sliding across the ichor-covered floor on his knees as he approached Doctor Light.

“Apparently Starro didn’t expect a microscopic man to be in the room,” said Ray. “You really need to start cleaning out your ears, by the way.”

“It--” Guy punched Doctor Light square in the Starro, and the single, yellow eye blinked, watering up at the edges. “--It.”

“Oh, don’t cry!” said Guy, punching it again. Doctor Light stumbled back, and then Gardner swung around, only to be caught in the chest by a swing of a mace. He gasped for air, felt a rib go, and then hit the floor.

Firestorm approached, holding a twitching, writhing Starro in his hands. “It. Wants.”

“Oh, £$%^,” whispered Guy, blood dribbling from his lips, “it wants me.”



They knew next to nothing of the Star Conqueror, thought Batman. And that’s what made it one of the most dangerous forces out there. It was so unknown to them, so alien, so beyond comprehension...

“What is it you are working on, Master Bruce?” asked Alfred Pennyworth, as he carried a silver tray with a warm pot of tea balancing precariously next to a plate of sandwiches.

“The Starro incident. Reviewing mission files. Maxwell Lord’s possession, the society of super villains that Lex Luthor built... even Aquaman’s character assassination. These creatures are born in the Andromeda Galaxy and Lex Luthor did something awful to bring them here. Now we find one beached? Weird happenings, Alfred.”

A red light began to throb overhead. Bruce looked up, and then to Alfred. “Incoming transport from... whatever we’re calling our floating headquarters.” Alfred smiled, and Bruce pulled his cowl tightly over his face, filling his mouth with one of the sandwiches before heading toward the transport tube.

There was no-one inside. Instead, a single emerald power ring was sat against the glass. “...What?”

The red throb became an explosion of sound-- an incursion alarm! The Justice League’s headquarters was in lockdown, and the emergency signal had been rerouted to the Cave.

“What does that mean?” asked Alfred.

“Homebase,” started Batman, picking up the ring and contemplating it for a moment, “is in lockdown. Complete and utter. Remote forcefield emitters have been activated... nothing can get in, nothing can get out. Not unless you have the emergency code.”

“Who has the emergency code?” Alfred asked, following Bruce as he headed into the armoury.

“Me,” said Batman, pointing to the blue code that was running across the screen at that moment in time.

“Batman!” came a voice from the Cave computer. Alfred routed the transmission to the armoury screens, and the faces of Mister Miracle and Big Barda flickered into view. “What’s happening?”

“The Justice League has been compromised,” said Batman, filling his utility belt with all he would need. He looked again at the power ring, and then shook his head. “They’re trapped inside with what I assume is a Starro infestation.”

“What does that even mean?” asked Big Barda, pushing her face into the camera view. The New God couple were on their webcam in their suburban home. Crazy.

“An invasion force with the power of Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash-- the Justice League itself-- is floating in the middle of the ocean, encased in a forcefield. This means they have about...” Batman pressed a button on his utility belt, and a number sprang up on the Cave computer screen, “...two hours before they escape. That means we have two hours to save the League before they escape and enslave the world in the name of the Star Conqueror.”

“What do we need to do?” asked Mister Miracle, pulling his form-fitting mask over his face.

“Bring your A-game—yes, Barda, I mean your mega-rod-- and join me at the Cave. We’re going to lay siege to the...” He hesitated. “...We really need a name for our base.”




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