Post by HoM on Mar 31, 2009 18:30:49 GMT -5
Zauriel awoke with a start, and glanced around the unfamiliar room, angelic eyes adapting to the dark instantly. His eyes settled on a figure sat hunched up on a chair, clad in red and black. “You’re awake then,” said the man.
“Who are you?”
“I’m who I’m needed to be,” mumbled the stranger in reply. “I’m the Dark Knight. I’m Batman.” Black leather clung tightly to the young vigilante’s body, and the red bat-insignia stung the darkness that the supposed caped crusader sat amongst. His cape was wrapped around him tightly, and his eyes were slits of concentration, squared solely upon Zauriel.
“No, you’re not. I know of you, Jason Todd. I know how much you have sinned.”
Jason Todd, previously Batman’s sidekick known as Redwing, then the Red Hood, then later Red X, stood up abruptly. “And I know you fell from Heaven and you probably don’t want to be found. I know that you were delirious when you landed, and you started talking some crazy £$%^. Talk to me, angel. You know my name, now give me yours.”
“I am Zauriel, Guardian Angel of the Eagle Host.”
“Why the hell did you fall from the sky, Zauriel?”
“Because they want to replace the world. With this, Jason Todd:” He opened his hand, and what Todd previously thought were tattoos pooled from his arms and body into his palm. They leapt up as if on command, and a sphere of perfect light filled the air. “These are the blueprints for a new creation.”
“£$%^ me,” whispered the Dark Knight.
“So, what’s this thing do?”
Tara Markov was nervous. She was holding in the profanities that her head was screaming, but she couldn’t help but feel that there was a shake in her voice, and everyone could hear it, Gar Logan included. Terra’s (the earth elemental) powers were playing up. It felt like her powers were no longer hers. She felt detached from the Earth, and that, for her, was like losing a limb. She couldn’t focus, her stomach wouldn’t settle and… generally her life was going downhill. Gar knew this. Gar had told her he’d take her to someone who could help. And against her better judgement, she went to see the one man that Gar trusted to help her.
Niles Caulder, The Chief, wasn’t paying attention to her, until Gar nudged him and he looked up, frantic eyes searching for the reason why he had been accosted so: “What? Hrm?! Oh, you want to know what it does? Weren’t you listening to when I explained it?”
Gar looked at the brains behind the Doom Patrol, and snarled his name slowly. “…Chief…”
“Yes, well, It’s a biometric scanning device. I’m scanning your metahuman genes and seeing what comes up. If the problem with your elemental powers is down to some deviation in your biomorphic make up, this should detect it. If the root cause of your ailment is something else… I’ll invent another new device to find it.”
“Well that’s reassuring, ain’t it?”
“This may hurt,” muttered Caulder, as he finally got round to wheeling himself toward the control panel.
“WhatdidyoujustAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Blue energy erupted from underneath Tara’s skin to wrack her body. She wasn’t in pain, but the surprise of the discharge caused her to fall back into the booth where she had been standing, the wires and cables trailing into ports attached to her elbows, wrists, shoulders, knees, hips and head falling back with her. Niles glanced at the readings on the console, and then shut off the machine. “OhGodohGodohGodohGod.” Gar was at her side immediately, helping her remove the ports from her body. “That was… so… £$%^ing… intense…”
“Yes, well, I did just take a full biometric reading from your body.”
“I feel so £$%&ing clean!”
“And yet your mouth is still a gutter. Fascinating,” replied Caulder sarcastically.
“I’m serious! It’s like every atom in my body just had a rinse/dry, and, jeez, am I glowing or something? I feel like I should be shimmering in the light.” She laughed, clearing her throat, and Gar looked up to her, reverence in his eyes. “I’m ok, really.”
“Yeah, we’ll wait till the Chief says so, ‘kay? Niles?”
“Ok, full scan on your metagene reads as… you’re fine. Your biometrics read as you being fine. This is interesting. I was fully expecting some kind of mutation. Some kind of abnormality.”
Gar arched an emerald furred eyebrow. “You wanted to invite her to the Doom Patrol, didn’t you?”
“I never said that,” snapped the Chief, before returning to his work. “I never said that.”
Alec Holland had not been himself for years now. He dimly remembered human flesh. He dimly remembered human pain. He dimly remembered the flash explosion that had seared his human flesh off his human bones and the shallow twitch of pain he had felt as he died on impact with the swamp below his lab. He dimly remembered… what came next. The transformation. What he remembered clearly was what had occurred mere weeks ago. The severing of his life line to the world. The Green was a dream-like memory. All he felt now was pain. Not human pain. Something else. Something more. And the pain made him want to thrash, to scream, to hurt something. He felt something dark on the fringe of his being, working it’s way inwards, chewing like a starving animal toward his centre. And nothing he could think of stopped that darkness from spreading deeper into his being. Pain. Inflict pain.
He remembered how to do that.
“The Book of Oa is the fountain of knowledge for the Green Lantern Corps. Accessible through all our rings, connected to the AI that is our line to the Central Power Battery. During the Krona incident, the invasion of Oa by the Manhunter legions, Green Lanterns were without this connection. Now it’s back, and the Guardians of the Universe want us to know something: The Suns ‘going out’? It’s just the beginning. This is a warning system, superimposed over our universe by powers beyond our understanding. The Book of Oa, for the first time in thousands of years, is filled with hearsay. And the Guardians are not the kind of people who take hearsay seriously unless they have good reason to.”
“How could this… ‘hear say’ as you call it… end up in the Book of Oa?”
“Because the universe wills it,” muttered Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Sector 2814. “Doesn’t that just creep you out?”
“The undiscovered? The unknown? You may be renowned across the cosmos for being a fearless space cop, Hal, but the undiscovered is just another place for me to journey, and as a scientist… hell, I’m not creeped out, I’m excited. And don’t you think that freaks me out a little bit more?”
“I can feel it. The Mother Box, I can feel it communicating with me.” Queen Diana, leader of the Amazons, current bearer of the mantle of Wonder Woman, had her eyes closed, the Mother Box in her hand, with the quiet ping-ping-ping of the God-machine familiar to those who had experience with the New Gods before. “The voice is tired, coaxed from its slumber and now it’s telling the story of it’s life… through emotion. Trace memory filtered through other’s perception. This is the life story of a dead reality.”
The Question watched as the events continued to play out. He was jotting notes down in his pad, and when Kid Eternity looked at him, he pocketed the pad immediately. “Anyone else freaked out by the fact our timeline is now being dictated to us by an alien piece of technology from the future of an alternate reality?”
“If that’s how the puzzle pieces fit together, Q,” replied Kit Freeman. The ghostly hero known as Kid Eternity leaned over to Katar Hol, the Thanagarian Hawkman. “Diana was deemed the most suitable to ‘read’ the Mother Box. Her ability to see the truth in every situation came very useful for the task. J’onn is recording the memories as she views them. When they’re done, they’ll share the time-line with us, and we’ll know what to do when we’re supposed to. We’ll stop the end of the world.”
“Hh,” grunted Katar, as he watched J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, move his hands around Wonder Woman’s head. “End of the world. Wednesday.”
Kit laughed quietly at these words, and watched as Katar left the room. “Too true.”
“…And isn’t that fantastic,” said The Question, “these lives we lead? Where we expect to die every day of the week and somehow keep going. Black and white, life and death, good and evil… options, options…”
Kid smiled sneakily. “I think you’ll find, Q, I’m already dead.”
“I was dead once,” replied The Question, tipping his hat to the ghostly hero, “It didn’t stick.”
“You win some you lose some…”
Dick Grayson was the Batman. That came with a number of responsibilities he took very seriously. The mantle of World’s Greatest Detective fell to him, and whilst he was no Elongated Man or Question, he had still been trained by Bruce Wayne, and that held a lot of influence in this world. Plus, there were certain advantages that came from being the Batman… such as the fact that where clues were missing, fear could be instilled, and facts torn from silent lips. Whilst the cowl was sometimes a burden, sometimes, it was a tool that worked all too well…
The Ray had been on the trail of something. Batman traced his movements through satellites he could hijack by remote, with a little help from Robin. He was attempting to track the boy’s interaction with the general population of the world, and the not so general population. Easier said than done.
Ray Terrill had been on the trail of something. The trail began in New York. It had led him to Gotham City, and that’s where he had been confronted by Batman. Dick remembered the interaction well. It had been only a few days ago:
“What are you doing in my city, Ray?” The Ray glistened in the darkness of the Gotham City night. He stood out like a sore thumb, and Batman didn’t like it. He made Batman stand out. Batman couldn’t stand out. He couldn’t be illuminated by this glowing champion of justice. Nightwing could stand out, that was the identity Dick Grayson himself had cultivated, but Batman? This wasn’t his identity to compromise.
“I’m looking for a friend, Batman. I’m not gonna’ ask for your help, because I don’t expect it. If I wanted help, don’t you think the Justice Society would be here?”
“Or the Young All-Stars?” Batman leapt from the fire escape he had been perched upon, and landed squarely in front of the young hero. “I hear you’ve been demoted.”
“I heard you died. But apparently you’re still a dick,” The Ray snapped back. “I’m looking for a friend, Batman.”
“Name.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a demand. And The Ray nearly stuttered a reply before catching himself.
“Does it matter?”
“You’re in my city, Ray,” replied the Batman slowly, his finger pushing into The Ray’s costume. “You’re in my city, breaking up crimes that aren’t your responsibility. You’re causing problems.”
“You weren’t here! You weren’t here to stop them and I stepped in! I’m a trained hero! The JSA--”
“The JSA don’t run in Gotham City, Ray. That punk there, in the red bandanna? He’s an informant. I needed information from him. A meeting’s going down and he knows numbers and locations. I can’t do this job if some novice comes and causes trouble. Name.”
“Screw this--” Ray powered up, and was about to fly into the air, when Batman grabbed his shoulder.
“A name, Ray.”
“Frankie Reynolds. Goodnight, Batman. Grow a personality.”
…And with that, The Ray had shot into the sky, faster than Dick’s eyes could follow, and that was the last time anyone had seen him alive.
Frankie Reynolds. The name rang no bells. But he was a detective, was he not? Francine Louise Reynolds had gone missing a week ago. Thank you, National Missing Persons Database. Reported missing by a friend. No family ties. Affiliated with… “Hhh.” The Circle. Bruce had been investigating these guys, and Dick had picked up where he had left off. The Circle: A religious organisation that promotes a different way of life. A different kind of belief. Belief in oneself. And belief in the fact that at a preordained time, the saviour of the universe will rise up from his home beneath creation and save those who follow their doctrine. You paid money to believe. You paid money for your beliefs, and they’d been connected with countless metahuman villains, but no investigation had gotten underneath the surface. “It’s time.”
Black Adam, once known thousands of years ago as the Mighty Adam, cradled the woman he loved, Isis, as she shivered. “My love,” he whispered, “My Queen,” She looked up to him, with fevered eyes, “What ails you? What can I do? My wisdom, it whispers at the back of my mind, but even with the words of Zehuti, I do not know what is wrong with you…”
Adrianna Thomas, the beautiful heroine known as Isis, looked up at him with weak, cloudy eyes. Where they were once a deep, incandescent blue, now they were grey, and this caused a rumble of emotion to shiver through Adam’s being. “Mighty Adam, she is gone from us, the thing that connects us together… without her, without the spirit of the world, we are weak. Susceptible. I can feel him, my love; creeping on the edges of our consciousness… he is coming for us, Adam! Adam!” She seized up in his arms, screaming for help, her hands out stretched fighting off imaginary demons. “He is coming! No! No!”
Black Adam looked up from where he sat. He wiped a tear from his eye, powerless to help his beloved Isis. “I would do… anything… to save you…”
“It is time for you to return to me, my first champion.” The new voice was low like a rumble of thunder just visible over the horizon. “You, and my Captain, must reunite in the face of an oncoming evil, and prevent it from affecting this world.”
“Wizard,” snarled Teth-Adam, as he spun around, “My beloved is my first and only responsibility! I am no longer your lapdog!”
“Isis’ ailment is connected to this oncoming storm, Teth-Adam. You must confront it, or she, like so many others, will fall to the great darkness. I can preserve her, inside the Rock of Eternity, until her strength returns. I can do this if you join me once more. Her connection to the world, the spirit of nature itself, is so much stronger than others, and that is why she is wracked with her illness…”
Black Adam was seething with anger. It had been eons since he’d last taken an order from the Wizard, and now, after so long, he acted as if nothing had changed between the two?
“Know that for my beloved--” snapped Adam, as he rose up from where he lay, “and for my beloved alone, I will do this.” He breathed in deeply. “Protect her, Wizard, for if she dies, neither Gods nor Mortals shall protect you from my wrath.”
Black Adam and Isis shimmered from reality, and suddenly found themselves upon the Rock of Eternity, the Wizard looking upon them both, by his side stood Captain Marvel. “You have my word, Mighty Adam. You have my word.”
Adam nodded slowly. “Then I accept.”
Captain Marvel approached the Mighty Black Marvel of Justice, and put out his hand. “We have not spoken since the Satannus affair, Teth-Adam. The world has been hobbled, and we must unite to prevent it from falling. Our differences aside, it would be an honour to fight by your side once more.”
“And I, you, Batson.” Black Adam put out his hand, and Captain Marvel took it, brothers-in-lightning.
“Superman flies up to confront the emerging threat, and black sun radiation permeates his every cell. Kryptonian cells are designed as batteries; absorbing yellow sun radiation empowers him, red sun radiation depowers him. Blue sun radiation mutates him and black sun radiation? Causes an explosive reaction that destroys him from the inside out. You’re lost in the first battle, Kal,” stated Wonder Woman with a fierce matter-of-factness that intimidated the other assembled Leaguers. Superman sat, taking in her words calmly, and waiting for her to finish. “We cannot risk you confronting this monstrosity, Kal. You would be like a living weapon- the more you are exposed to this creation the more likely you are to go off.”
“I understand,” replied Superman slowly. He trusted Diana, but the way that she was acting… on edge. Not scared, but prepared to such a degree… she was waiting for something. Something big. If Wonder Woman took this threat so seriously, then Kal knew so should he.
“What about your cousin, Superman?” Barry Allen looked up from where he himself had been sitting, and posed the question. “Where’s Supergirl?”
“She’s safe,” replied the Man of Steel, “and… wait--” his hand shot up, and he cupped his ear. “Midway City--” His brow furrowed. “Swamp Thing?”
The Question nodded as the alarms inside the Hall of Justice exploded into action. Satellites triangulated the threat, police bands were monitored and the Justice League were ready. Wonder Woman was the first to make the call…
“Justice League emergency,” she said, as the Queen of the Amazons turned to the assorted reservists. “Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter, let’s move. Activate telepathic link-up.”
“Activated,” answered J’onn J’onzz. The Justice League felt a familiar tickle in the back of their heads, the gentle warmth of the Martian Manhunter’s brain inside their own.
“We’ll make this fast,” stated Wonder Woman, “I need all our instruments analysing the information gleaned from the Mother Box, and from the information provided by Green Lantern. Keep us informed.”
“Will do, Diana!” grinned Kid Eternity as he watched the team lift up through the roof, as Green Lantern scrambled the molecules momentarily and moved them out on an emerald platform.
Manitou Dawn looked over to her ethereal team mate, concern etched across her face. “Why’d she take them instead of us?”
“They’re the original team, aren’t they?” smiled Kit. “It’s nostalgia. In the face of a great threat, Wonder Woman falls back on nostalgia.”
“It might not be nostalgia, Kid Eternity,” mumbled Hawkman, a bare smile on his lips. “Maybe it’s the fact that Diana knows who the best are.”
“Or that, downer,” laughed Kid Eternity, before turning back to Manitou Dawn.
“I’ll tell you what it could be,” said The Question as he pulled on his coat, “that’s one threat in a day that could turn out to deliver twenty threats an hour. And she’s taken a small group and left the primary Justice League team ready for the next one. She’s the greatest strategist in the world, team. We don’t doubt her. Ever.”
“Remember when he turned up unwelcome? Telling us all that we needed his help for a case? Sure, we did, but now look at him…” said Kid Eternity, as he nudged Manitou Dawn, “…spouting all the knowledge. Things do change.” The two heroes laughed, and The Question slumped into his chair, and prepared for a nap. “Want us to wake you up when the world begins to end?”
“You know me so well, Kid,” replied The Question, before moving his hat over his eyes.
Hawkman was no use to anyone at the moment. He took the moment of quiet solitude provided by the members of the original Justice League leaving to exit the Hall of Justice himself, and stretch his wings. He soared into the sky, and felt the cool air on his skin, but then, as if from nowhere, a pain struck him in the back of his skull. He clutched his head, hissing through gritted teeth, his wings correcting his erratic flight patterns almost immediately, but the Nth metal in his harness did nothing to sooth his sudden malady. “Whatttt…” His eyes snapped open, and he looked at his hands, black veins throbbing through pale white skin, and below, the world was a charred wreck. He recognised the ruined buildings of Metropolis scattered across the landscape, literally torn from their earthly moorings and thrown askew across the remnants of the city. He grunted in pain, holding back the screams in his soul. “Whhhhy…” He fell to the floor, landing near the destroyed Hall of Justice, and pulled himself toward what was left of the water beside Hob’s Bay. “Wh…” He looked at his reflection, coughed down the lump in his throat, and tore his mask off…
“Katar?” He span around, and Kendra Saunders looked at him, concerned. The world snapped back into focus, and the city of Metropolis resumed normality. The Daily Planet building was no longer a gutted ruin, the Hall of Justice was once again an inspiring pinnacle of architecture, and his face…
“You’re pale as sin, what’s wrong?” Kendra Saunders hurried toward Katar Hol, and her hand found his shoulder, and squeezed it reassuringly.
“N-nothing, I, I,” he cleared his throat. “Nothing. Headache. I’ll have to talk to Dawn about it.” He smiled as best he could manage, and Kendra tried to return the sentiment. “Thank you for your concern.”
“Never a problem, are you sure you’re--”
“Yes. I’m fine,” he stated again. “I’m going to get some air.” He flexed his wings, and before Kendra could offer to join him, he was gone, above the cloud banks and soaring away.
“No, you’re lying to me,” she whispered. She knew him, more than he thought, and for him to lie like he just did, as clear as day and as obvious as sin, something must be wrong. He would be off with her sometimes, only when some immense threat was on the horizon, but they’d always come together, or he’d tell her something that would reveal the secrets he held… something was wrong. She knew it. So, her partner was lying to her. This she knew. “And I’ll find out why.”
“Hard and fast, you know what to do,” stated Wonder Woman, looking to the assorted members of the team. “Communicate from now on by telepathy only.”
<Awesome,> replied Hal, grinning. <Swamp Thing, right? So we know his power base is plant-manipulation.>
<Yes,> thought J’onn at the others. <We need to separate him from the Earth.>
<Do we know why he’s rampaging?> inquired Barry.
Clark squinted, focusing his vision miles forward, to get a better look at what was going on. <Not yet, but I intend to find out. I’m going in on my own steam, anyone object?>
<Play it safe, he’s a very powerful opponent,> thought Diana.
“I wish Bruce was here,” whispered Barry, and Hal nodded slowly.
“And Arthur,” replied the Green Lantern, before picking up speed.
Aquaman flew through the walls of the small building, his uniform falling to pieces underneath the pressure of the attack. He’d been punched hard. That was life, but just because it was something he had come to expect, didn’t mean he liked it. He found his centre and balance, and floated up again, looking up at his immense attacker as he did so. The massive, formless being from beyond the world, had no mouth, but it’s eyes, thousands of them orange and burning, all looked at him with the same malicious gaze. It shimmered for a second, and faded back into the city, enveloping the spires and the towers, and Aquaman cursed his own lateness of action. He held up his trident high-- <Justice League emergency,> repeated the buzz in his ear. He ignored it. Aquaman looked up at his home, his domain, and knew that the fight was just beginning…
Swamp Thing screamed as he lifted up his arms, vines shooting up from the ground and wrapping around the police cars parked in front of him. He was trudging forward, pushing his powers to such a degree that scared even himself. He was pulling plants from beyond his usual range, and he felt himself blur inside the world - and the deeper he went, the more it hurt. “Broken… the world… is broken…”[/b] He screamed. “Why?!”
“We can talk about this.” Superman floated down from the sky above and put his hands up in front of his chest. “Doctor Holland, you need to stop hurting these people.”
Swamp Thing’s small, black, beady eyes showed a glint of recognition, but then that recognition turned to rage. “Holland… is… dead! Only… the… Green!”
“I was afraid you were going to say that, sir,” replied Superman, as he stepped forward. “One last warn--” A massive tree root splintered against the Man of Steel, shooting up with such force that it caught him by surprise, and toppled him to the ground.
“I am… everything… in this… world…”
“Yeah, and you’re still ugly as sin,” grinned Green Lantern, an emerald dome surrounding the plant elemental. The Flash was at Superman’s side, helping him up after the curious onslaught of Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman landed beside Hal, who was concentrating all of his power on his ring. Swamp Thing merely stared at Jordan, who smiled. <Threat contained. How’s the big guy?>
<I’m fine, Hal,> thought Superman, rubbing his head. <Caught me by surprise.>
<Well, he’s not putting up much of a fight now.>
<Don’t get cocky, flyboy,> replied The Flash.
“Oh, what’s he going to do?” laughed Hal, before a small vine snaked up his leg and pollen exploded into his face. The Green Lantern choked, and lost concentration for a split second- and that was time enough for Swamp Thing.
“You cannot… contain… me…”
Swamp Thing’s arm fell to the floor with a moist thud. He looked to the stump, and then to Wonder Woman, who was swinging her lasso around faster than his eyes could follow. “I do not want to hurt you, but you are giving us no choice. Please, let’s talk about this.”
“No… more… talking…” Swamp Thing took a weighted step toward Wonder Woman, who lashed her lasso once, twice, three times, removing the creature’s limbs.
<What’s she doing?> inquired The Flash.
<My scans show Holland’s body to be made up of plant matter. He is no longer human, and we have records that show that he can regrow limbs from other plant matter.> J’onn J’onzz comforted the scarlet speedster, and continued to scan their foe with his Martian Vision. <We need to contain this.>
<He surprised me,> grunted Hal. <Won’t happen again.>
<Took me by surprise, so it’s not like we’re holding it against you, Hal,> smiled Barry. He was always shocked by the apparent tone that could be conveyed by their thoughts.
Swamp Thing, by now, was just a torso, and this shocked the Man of Steel moreso than he expected. The mass of plant matter was silent, but J’onn and his own scans picked up nothing different from their previous investigations. Superman stepped forward, and looked to Wonder Woman, who had a mournful expression. <Diana, are you alright?>
<I’m inflicting multiple amputations upon a plant elemental. How do you think I feel?>
Superman nodded slowly, and then saw a mass that resembled a hand pull itself toward him. He leant down, and picked it up. “Lantern, how about we start picking up the… pieces.”
“Doable, Supes.” Hal concentrated, and multiple spheres popped up, and tendrils picked up the removed limbs. “I’m informing STAR labs we need a special containment chamber preparing.”
“Good call,” nodded Diana.
Superman was about to hand off the limb to Green Lantern when it grabbed his wrist. The Kryptonian immediately stumbled, as if struck by some unseen foe. “Ggghh…” Lightning fast, strands of ivy shot out of the limb, and grabbed Swamp Thing’s torso, and wrenched him toward the limb. The two reconnected, and suddenly more plant matter shot up from the ground, and Swamp Thing was whole once more. “Geeet…”
“Your… cells… like mine… absorbing… solar energy… help… me…”
“Offff…” whispered Superman, his skin draining of colour, as his body fought off this attack. Tendrils latched themselves across his chest, and with every point of contact, the Man of Steel felt his body be sucked dry even more, Swamp Thing’s attack draining him until suddenly he was released, and the Justice League watched as Swamp Thing grew bigger, more and more plant matter suddenly joining him. Green Lantern took Superman, and was by the Flash’s side within a second. “Meee…”
“Get him to a hospital, he needs sun lamps and fast.”
“Back,” replied the Flash, before leaping back into battle.
Green Lantern, before sparking up his ring. Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter joined him and watched as the Swamp Thing arched up over them. “Ok, tell me we have a plan.”
“Hard and fast,” whispered Wonder Woman. “You know what to do.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m who I’m needed to be,” mumbled the stranger in reply. “I’m the Dark Knight. I’m Batman.” Black leather clung tightly to the young vigilante’s body, and the red bat-insignia stung the darkness that the supposed caped crusader sat amongst. His cape was wrapped around him tightly, and his eyes were slits of concentration, squared solely upon Zauriel.
“No, you’re not. I know of you, Jason Todd. I know how much you have sinned.”
Jason Todd, previously Batman’s sidekick known as Redwing, then the Red Hood, then later Red X, stood up abruptly. “And I know you fell from Heaven and you probably don’t want to be found. I know that you were delirious when you landed, and you started talking some crazy £$%^. Talk to me, angel. You know my name, now give me yours.”
“I am Zauriel, Guardian Angel of the Eagle Host.”
“Why the hell did you fall from the sky, Zauriel?”
“Because they want to replace the world. With this, Jason Todd:” He opened his hand, and what Todd previously thought were tattoos pooled from his arms and body into his palm. They leapt up as if on command, and a sphere of perfect light filled the air. “These are the blueprints for a new creation.”
“£$%^ me,” whispered the Dark Knight.
* * * * *
“So, what’s this thing do?”
Tara Markov was nervous. She was holding in the profanities that her head was screaming, but she couldn’t help but feel that there was a shake in her voice, and everyone could hear it, Gar Logan included. Terra’s (the earth elemental) powers were playing up. It felt like her powers were no longer hers. She felt detached from the Earth, and that, for her, was like losing a limb. She couldn’t focus, her stomach wouldn’t settle and… generally her life was going downhill. Gar knew this. Gar had told her he’d take her to someone who could help. And against her better judgement, she went to see the one man that Gar trusted to help her.
Niles Caulder, The Chief, wasn’t paying attention to her, until Gar nudged him and he looked up, frantic eyes searching for the reason why he had been accosted so: “What? Hrm?! Oh, you want to know what it does? Weren’t you listening to when I explained it?”
Gar looked at the brains behind the Doom Patrol, and snarled his name slowly. “…Chief…”
“Yes, well, It’s a biometric scanning device. I’m scanning your metahuman genes and seeing what comes up. If the problem with your elemental powers is down to some deviation in your biomorphic make up, this should detect it. If the root cause of your ailment is something else… I’ll invent another new device to find it.”
“Well that’s reassuring, ain’t it?”
“This may hurt,” muttered Caulder, as he finally got round to wheeling himself toward the control panel.
“WhatdidyoujustAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Blue energy erupted from underneath Tara’s skin to wrack her body. She wasn’t in pain, but the surprise of the discharge caused her to fall back into the booth where she had been standing, the wires and cables trailing into ports attached to her elbows, wrists, shoulders, knees, hips and head falling back with her. Niles glanced at the readings on the console, and then shut off the machine. “OhGodohGodohGodohGod.” Gar was at her side immediately, helping her remove the ports from her body. “That was… so… £$%^ing… intense…”
“Yes, well, I did just take a full biometric reading from your body.”
“I feel so £$%&ing clean!”
“And yet your mouth is still a gutter. Fascinating,” replied Caulder sarcastically.
“I’m serious! It’s like every atom in my body just had a rinse/dry, and, jeez, am I glowing or something? I feel like I should be shimmering in the light.” She laughed, clearing her throat, and Gar looked up to her, reverence in his eyes. “I’m ok, really.”
“Yeah, we’ll wait till the Chief says so, ‘kay? Niles?”
“Ok, full scan on your metagene reads as… you’re fine. Your biometrics read as you being fine. This is interesting. I was fully expecting some kind of mutation. Some kind of abnormality.”
Gar arched an emerald furred eyebrow. “You wanted to invite her to the Doom Patrol, didn’t you?”
“I never said that,” snapped the Chief, before returning to his work. “I never said that.”
Meanwhile:
Alec Holland had not been himself for years now. He dimly remembered human flesh. He dimly remembered human pain. He dimly remembered the flash explosion that had seared his human flesh off his human bones and the shallow twitch of pain he had felt as he died on impact with the swamp below his lab. He dimly remembered… what came next. The transformation. What he remembered clearly was what had occurred mere weeks ago. The severing of his life line to the world. The Green was a dream-like memory. All he felt now was pain. Not human pain. Something else. Something more. And the pain made him want to thrash, to scream, to hurt something. He felt something dark on the fringe of his being, working it’s way inwards, chewing like a starving animal toward his centre. And nothing he could think of stopped that darkness from spreading deeper into his being. Pain. Inflict pain.
He remembered how to do that.
The DC2 Proudly Presents:
DC2 NEMESIS
Chapter TWO
…Maybe this world is another planet's Hell …
DC2 NEMESIS
Chapter TWO
…Maybe this world is another planet's Hell …
“The Book of Oa is the fountain of knowledge for the Green Lantern Corps. Accessible through all our rings, connected to the AI that is our line to the Central Power Battery. During the Krona incident, the invasion of Oa by the Manhunter legions, Green Lanterns were without this connection. Now it’s back, and the Guardians of the Universe want us to know something: The Suns ‘going out’? It’s just the beginning. This is a warning system, superimposed over our universe by powers beyond our understanding. The Book of Oa, for the first time in thousands of years, is filled with hearsay. And the Guardians are not the kind of people who take hearsay seriously unless they have good reason to.”
“How could this… ‘hear say’ as you call it… end up in the Book of Oa?”
“Because the universe wills it,” muttered Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Sector 2814. “Doesn’t that just creep you out?”
“The undiscovered? The unknown? You may be renowned across the cosmos for being a fearless space cop, Hal, but the undiscovered is just another place for me to journey, and as a scientist… hell, I’m not creeped out, I’m excited. And don’t you think that freaks me out a little bit more?”
* * * * *
“I can feel it. The Mother Box, I can feel it communicating with me.” Queen Diana, leader of the Amazons, current bearer of the mantle of Wonder Woman, had her eyes closed, the Mother Box in her hand, with the quiet ping-ping-ping of the God-machine familiar to those who had experience with the New Gods before. “The voice is tired, coaxed from its slumber and now it’s telling the story of it’s life… through emotion. Trace memory filtered through other’s perception. This is the life story of a dead reality.”
The Question watched as the events continued to play out. He was jotting notes down in his pad, and when Kid Eternity looked at him, he pocketed the pad immediately. “Anyone else freaked out by the fact our timeline is now being dictated to us by an alien piece of technology from the future of an alternate reality?”
“If that’s how the puzzle pieces fit together, Q,” replied Kit Freeman. The ghostly hero known as Kid Eternity leaned over to Katar Hol, the Thanagarian Hawkman. “Diana was deemed the most suitable to ‘read’ the Mother Box. Her ability to see the truth in every situation came very useful for the task. J’onn is recording the memories as she views them. When they’re done, they’ll share the time-line with us, and we’ll know what to do when we’re supposed to. We’ll stop the end of the world.”
“Hh,” grunted Katar, as he watched J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, move his hands around Wonder Woman’s head. “End of the world. Wednesday.”
Kit laughed quietly at these words, and watched as Katar left the room. “Too true.”
“…And isn’t that fantastic,” said The Question, “these lives we lead? Where we expect to die every day of the week and somehow keep going. Black and white, life and death, good and evil… options, options…”
Kid smiled sneakily. “I think you’ll find, Q, I’m already dead.”
“I was dead once,” replied The Question, tipping his hat to the ghostly hero, “It didn’t stick.”
“You win some you lose some…”
* * * * *
Dick Grayson was the Batman. That came with a number of responsibilities he took very seriously. The mantle of World’s Greatest Detective fell to him, and whilst he was no Elongated Man or Question, he had still been trained by Bruce Wayne, and that held a lot of influence in this world. Plus, there were certain advantages that came from being the Batman… such as the fact that where clues were missing, fear could be instilled, and facts torn from silent lips. Whilst the cowl was sometimes a burden, sometimes, it was a tool that worked all too well…
The Ray had been on the trail of something. Batman traced his movements through satellites he could hijack by remote, with a little help from Robin. He was attempting to track the boy’s interaction with the general population of the world, and the not so general population. Easier said than done.
Ray Terrill had been on the trail of something. The trail began in New York. It had led him to Gotham City, and that’s where he had been confronted by Batman. Dick remembered the interaction well. It had been only a few days ago:
“What are you doing in my city, Ray?” The Ray glistened in the darkness of the Gotham City night. He stood out like a sore thumb, and Batman didn’t like it. He made Batman stand out. Batman couldn’t stand out. He couldn’t be illuminated by this glowing champion of justice. Nightwing could stand out, that was the identity Dick Grayson himself had cultivated, but Batman? This wasn’t his identity to compromise.
“I’m looking for a friend, Batman. I’m not gonna’ ask for your help, because I don’t expect it. If I wanted help, don’t you think the Justice Society would be here?”
“Or the Young All-Stars?” Batman leapt from the fire escape he had been perched upon, and landed squarely in front of the young hero. “I hear you’ve been demoted.”
“I heard you died. But apparently you’re still a dick,” The Ray snapped back. “I’m looking for a friend, Batman.”
“Name.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a demand. And The Ray nearly stuttered a reply before catching himself.
“Does it matter?”
“You’re in my city, Ray,” replied the Batman slowly, his finger pushing into The Ray’s costume. “You’re in my city, breaking up crimes that aren’t your responsibility. You’re causing problems.”
“You weren’t here! You weren’t here to stop them and I stepped in! I’m a trained hero! The JSA--”
“The JSA don’t run in Gotham City, Ray. That punk there, in the red bandanna? He’s an informant. I needed information from him. A meeting’s going down and he knows numbers and locations. I can’t do this job if some novice comes and causes trouble. Name.”
“Screw this--” Ray powered up, and was about to fly into the air, when Batman grabbed his shoulder.
“A name, Ray.”
“Frankie Reynolds. Goodnight, Batman. Grow a personality.”
…And with that, The Ray had shot into the sky, faster than Dick’s eyes could follow, and that was the last time anyone had seen him alive.
Frankie Reynolds. The name rang no bells. But he was a detective, was he not? Francine Louise Reynolds had gone missing a week ago. Thank you, National Missing Persons Database. Reported missing by a friend. No family ties. Affiliated with… “Hhh.” The Circle. Bruce had been investigating these guys, and Dick had picked up where he had left off. The Circle: A religious organisation that promotes a different way of life. A different kind of belief. Belief in oneself. And belief in the fact that at a preordained time, the saviour of the universe will rise up from his home beneath creation and save those who follow their doctrine. You paid money to believe. You paid money for your beliefs, and they’d been connected with countless metahuman villains, but no investigation had gotten underneath the surface. “It’s time.”
* * * * *
Black Adam, once known thousands of years ago as the Mighty Adam, cradled the woman he loved, Isis, as she shivered. “My love,” he whispered, “My Queen,” She looked up to him, with fevered eyes, “What ails you? What can I do? My wisdom, it whispers at the back of my mind, but even with the words of Zehuti, I do not know what is wrong with you…”
Adrianna Thomas, the beautiful heroine known as Isis, looked up at him with weak, cloudy eyes. Where they were once a deep, incandescent blue, now they were grey, and this caused a rumble of emotion to shiver through Adam’s being. “Mighty Adam, she is gone from us, the thing that connects us together… without her, without the spirit of the world, we are weak. Susceptible. I can feel him, my love; creeping on the edges of our consciousness… he is coming for us, Adam! Adam!” She seized up in his arms, screaming for help, her hands out stretched fighting off imaginary demons. “He is coming! No! No!”
Black Adam looked up from where he sat. He wiped a tear from his eye, powerless to help his beloved Isis. “I would do… anything… to save you…”
“It is time for you to return to me, my first champion.” The new voice was low like a rumble of thunder just visible over the horizon. “You, and my Captain, must reunite in the face of an oncoming evil, and prevent it from affecting this world.”
“Wizard,” snarled Teth-Adam, as he spun around, “My beloved is my first and only responsibility! I am no longer your lapdog!”
“Isis’ ailment is connected to this oncoming storm, Teth-Adam. You must confront it, or she, like so many others, will fall to the great darkness. I can preserve her, inside the Rock of Eternity, until her strength returns. I can do this if you join me once more. Her connection to the world, the spirit of nature itself, is so much stronger than others, and that is why she is wracked with her illness…”
Black Adam was seething with anger. It had been eons since he’d last taken an order from the Wizard, and now, after so long, he acted as if nothing had changed between the two?
“Know that for my beloved--” snapped Adam, as he rose up from where he lay, “and for my beloved alone, I will do this.” He breathed in deeply. “Protect her, Wizard, for if she dies, neither Gods nor Mortals shall protect you from my wrath.”
Black Adam and Isis shimmered from reality, and suddenly found themselves upon the Rock of Eternity, the Wizard looking upon them both, by his side stood Captain Marvel. “You have my word, Mighty Adam. You have my word.”
Adam nodded slowly. “Then I accept.”
Captain Marvel approached the Mighty Black Marvel of Justice, and put out his hand. “We have not spoken since the Satannus affair, Teth-Adam. The world has been hobbled, and we must unite to prevent it from falling. Our differences aside, it would be an honour to fight by your side once more.”
“And I, you, Batson.” Black Adam put out his hand, and Captain Marvel took it, brothers-in-lightning.
* * * * *
“Superman flies up to confront the emerging threat, and black sun radiation permeates his every cell. Kryptonian cells are designed as batteries; absorbing yellow sun radiation empowers him, red sun radiation depowers him. Blue sun radiation mutates him and black sun radiation? Causes an explosive reaction that destroys him from the inside out. You’re lost in the first battle, Kal,” stated Wonder Woman with a fierce matter-of-factness that intimidated the other assembled Leaguers. Superman sat, taking in her words calmly, and waiting for her to finish. “We cannot risk you confronting this monstrosity, Kal. You would be like a living weapon- the more you are exposed to this creation the more likely you are to go off.”
“I understand,” replied Superman slowly. He trusted Diana, but the way that she was acting… on edge. Not scared, but prepared to such a degree… she was waiting for something. Something big. If Wonder Woman took this threat so seriously, then Kal knew so should he.
“What about your cousin, Superman?” Barry Allen looked up from where he himself had been sitting, and posed the question. “Where’s Supergirl?”
“She’s safe,” replied the Man of Steel, “and… wait--” his hand shot up, and he cupped his ear. “Midway City--” His brow furrowed. “Swamp Thing?”
The Question nodded as the alarms inside the Hall of Justice exploded into action. Satellites triangulated the threat, police bands were monitored and the Justice League were ready. Wonder Woman was the first to make the call…
“Justice League emergency,” she said, as the Queen of the Amazons turned to the assorted reservists. “Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter, let’s move. Activate telepathic link-up.”
“Activated,” answered J’onn J’onzz. The Justice League felt a familiar tickle in the back of their heads, the gentle warmth of the Martian Manhunter’s brain inside their own.
“We’ll make this fast,” stated Wonder Woman, “I need all our instruments analysing the information gleaned from the Mother Box, and from the information provided by Green Lantern. Keep us informed.”
“Will do, Diana!” grinned Kid Eternity as he watched the team lift up through the roof, as Green Lantern scrambled the molecules momentarily and moved them out on an emerald platform.
Manitou Dawn looked over to her ethereal team mate, concern etched across her face. “Why’d she take them instead of us?”
“They’re the original team, aren’t they?” smiled Kit. “It’s nostalgia. In the face of a great threat, Wonder Woman falls back on nostalgia.”
“It might not be nostalgia, Kid Eternity,” mumbled Hawkman, a bare smile on his lips. “Maybe it’s the fact that Diana knows who the best are.”
“Or that, downer,” laughed Kid Eternity, before turning back to Manitou Dawn.
“I’ll tell you what it could be,” said The Question as he pulled on his coat, “that’s one threat in a day that could turn out to deliver twenty threats an hour. And she’s taken a small group and left the primary Justice League team ready for the next one. She’s the greatest strategist in the world, team. We don’t doubt her. Ever.”
“Remember when he turned up unwelcome? Telling us all that we needed his help for a case? Sure, we did, but now look at him…” said Kid Eternity, as he nudged Manitou Dawn, “…spouting all the knowledge. Things do change.” The two heroes laughed, and The Question slumped into his chair, and prepared for a nap. “Want us to wake you up when the world begins to end?”
“You know me so well, Kid,” replied The Question, before moving his hat over his eyes.
* * * * *
Hawkman was no use to anyone at the moment. He took the moment of quiet solitude provided by the members of the original Justice League leaving to exit the Hall of Justice himself, and stretch his wings. He soared into the sky, and felt the cool air on his skin, but then, as if from nowhere, a pain struck him in the back of his skull. He clutched his head, hissing through gritted teeth, his wings correcting his erratic flight patterns almost immediately, but the Nth metal in his harness did nothing to sooth his sudden malady. “Whatttt…” His eyes snapped open, and he looked at his hands, black veins throbbing through pale white skin, and below, the world was a charred wreck. He recognised the ruined buildings of Metropolis scattered across the landscape, literally torn from their earthly moorings and thrown askew across the remnants of the city. He grunted in pain, holding back the screams in his soul. “Whhhhy…” He fell to the floor, landing near the destroyed Hall of Justice, and pulled himself toward what was left of the water beside Hob’s Bay. “Wh…” He looked at his reflection, coughed down the lump in his throat, and tore his mask off…
“Katar?” He span around, and Kendra Saunders looked at him, concerned. The world snapped back into focus, and the city of Metropolis resumed normality. The Daily Planet building was no longer a gutted ruin, the Hall of Justice was once again an inspiring pinnacle of architecture, and his face…
“You’re pale as sin, what’s wrong?” Kendra Saunders hurried toward Katar Hol, and her hand found his shoulder, and squeezed it reassuringly.
“N-nothing, I, I,” he cleared his throat. “Nothing. Headache. I’ll have to talk to Dawn about it.” He smiled as best he could manage, and Kendra tried to return the sentiment. “Thank you for your concern.”
“Never a problem, are you sure you’re--”
“Yes. I’m fine,” he stated again. “I’m going to get some air.” He flexed his wings, and before Kendra could offer to join him, he was gone, above the cloud banks and soaring away.
“No, you’re lying to me,” she whispered. She knew him, more than he thought, and for him to lie like he just did, as clear as day and as obvious as sin, something must be wrong. He would be off with her sometimes, only when some immense threat was on the horizon, but they’d always come together, or he’d tell her something that would reveal the secrets he held… something was wrong. She knew it. So, her partner was lying to her. This she knew. “And I’ll find out why.”
* * * * *
“Hard and fast, you know what to do,” stated Wonder Woman, looking to the assorted members of the team. “Communicate from now on by telepathy only.”
<Awesome,> replied Hal, grinning. <Swamp Thing, right? So we know his power base is plant-manipulation.>
<Yes,> thought J’onn at the others. <We need to separate him from the Earth.>
<Do we know why he’s rampaging?> inquired Barry.
Clark squinted, focusing his vision miles forward, to get a better look at what was going on. <Not yet, but I intend to find out. I’m going in on my own steam, anyone object?>
<Play it safe, he’s a very powerful opponent,> thought Diana.
“I wish Bruce was here,” whispered Barry, and Hal nodded slowly.
“And Arthur,” replied the Green Lantern, before picking up speed.
* * * * *
Aquaman flew through the walls of the small building, his uniform falling to pieces underneath the pressure of the attack. He’d been punched hard. That was life, but just because it was something he had come to expect, didn’t mean he liked it. He found his centre and balance, and floated up again, looking up at his immense attacker as he did so. The massive, formless being from beyond the world, had no mouth, but it’s eyes, thousands of them orange and burning, all looked at him with the same malicious gaze. It shimmered for a second, and faded back into the city, enveloping the spires and the towers, and Aquaman cursed his own lateness of action. He held up his trident high-- <Justice League emergency,> repeated the buzz in his ear. He ignored it. Aquaman looked up at his home, his domain, and knew that the fight was just beginning…
* * * * *
Swamp Thing screamed as he lifted up his arms, vines shooting up from the ground and wrapping around the police cars parked in front of him. He was trudging forward, pushing his powers to such a degree that scared even himself. He was pulling plants from beyond his usual range, and he felt himself blur inside the world - and the deeper he went, the more it hurt. “Broken… the world… is broken…”[/b] He screamed. “Why?!”
“We can talk about this.” Superman floated down from the sky above and put his hands up in front of his chest. “Doctor Holland, you need to stop hurting these people.”
Swamp Thing’s small, black, beady eyes showed a glint of recognition, but then that recognition turned to rage. “Holland… is… dead! Only… the… Green!”
“I was afraid you were going to say that, sir,” replied Superman, as he stepped forward. “One last warn--” A massive tree root splintered against the Man of Steel, shooting up with such force that it caught him by surprise, and toppled him to the ground.
“I am… everything… in this… world…”
“Yeah, and you’re still ugly as sin,” grinned Green Lantern, an emerald dome surrounding the plant elemental. The Flash was at Superman’s side, helping him up after the curious onslaught of Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman landed beside Hal, who was concentrating all of his power on his ring. Swamp Thing merely stared at Jordan, who smiled. <Threat contained. How’s the big guy?>
<I’m fine, Hal,> thought Superman, rubbing his head. <Caught me by surprise.>
<Well, he’s not putting up much of a fight now.>
<Don’t get cocky, flyboy,> replied The Flash.
“Oh, what’s he going to do?” laughed Hal, before a small vine snaked up his leg and pollen exploded into his face. The Green Lantern choked, and lost concentration for a split second- and that was time enough for Swamp Thing.
“You cannot… contain… me…”
Swamp Thing’s arm fell to the floor with a moist thud. He looked to the stump, and then to Wonder Woman, who was swinging her lasso around faster than his eyes could follow. “I do not want to hurt you, but you are giving us no choice. Please, let’s talk about this.”
“No… more… talking…” Swamp Thing took a weighted step toward Wonder Woman, who lashed her lasso once, twice, three times, removing the creature’s limbs.
<What’s she doing?> inquired The Flash.
<My scans show Holland’s body to be made up of plant matter. He is no longer human, and we have records that show that he can regrow limbs from other plant matter.> J’onn J’onzz comforted the scarlet speedster, and continued to scan their foe with his Martian Vision. <We need to contain this.>
<He surprised me,> grunted Hal. <Won’t happen again.>
<Took me by surprise, so it’s not like we’re holding it against you, Hal,> smiled Barry. He was always shocked by the apparent tone that could be conveyed by their thoughts.
Swamp Thing, by now, was just a torso, and this shocked the Man of Steel moreso than he expected. The mass of plant matter was silent, but J’onn and his own scans picked up nothing different from their previous investigations. Superman stepped forward, and looked to Wonder Woman, who had a mournful expression. <Diana, are you alright?>
<I’m inflicting multiple amputations upon a plant elemental. How do you think I feel?>
Superman nodded slowly, and then saw a mass that resembled a hand pull itself toward him. He leant down, and picked it up. “Lantern, how about we start picking up the… pieces.”
“Doable, Supes.” Hal concentrated, and multiple spheres popped up, and tendrils picked up the removed limbs. “I’m informing STAR labs we need a special containment chamber preparing.”
“Good call,” nodded Diana.
Superman was about to hand off the limb to Green Lantern when it grabbed his wrist. The Kryptonian immediately stumbled, as if struck by some unseen foe. “Ggghh…” Lightning fast, strands of ivy shot out of the limb, and grabbed Swamp Thing’s torso, and wrenched him toward the limb. The two reconnected, and suddenly more plant matter shot up from the ground, and Swamp Thing was whole once more. “Geeet…”
“Your… cells… like mine… absorbing… solar energy… help… me…”
“Offff…” whispered Superman, his skin draining of colour, as his body fought off this attack. Tendrils latched themselves across his chest, and with every point of contact, the Man of Steel felt his body be sucked dry even more, Swamp Thing’s attack draining him until suddenly he was released, and the Justice League watched as Swamp Thing grew bigger, more and more plant matter suddenly joining him. Green Lantern took Superman, and was by the Flash’s side within a second. “Meee…”
“Get him to a hospital, he needs sun lamps and fast.”
“Back,” replied the Flash, before leaping back into battle.
Green Lantern, before sparking up his ring. Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter joined him and watched as the Swamp Thing arched up over them. “Ok, tell me we have a plan.”
“Hard and fast,” whispered Wonder Woman. “You know what to do.”