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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 18:56:33 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 19:11:50 GMT -5
Detective Comics
Issue 10: "Duel"
Written by Charles HoM (with additional material by David Charlton)
Cover by Adam Tupper
Edited by David Charlton |
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 19:27:20 GMT -5
…And there came a day, unlike any other, when the world’s greatest heroes faced their greatest threat… Coveting the legendary Anti-Life Equation that would make him the Master of the Universe, the evil god Darkseid brought death and destruction to Earth… Now, the fiery, black planet Apokolips hangs above the Earth and the two worlds go to war! Separate and taken by surprise, the heroes of Earth struggle just to survive!
… First blood was drawn in Metropolis. Striking a deal with Lex Luthor for the comatose body of Superman’s half-brother Kru-El, Darkseid’s chief scientist Desaad transforms the Kryptonian into the rampaging killing machine called Doomsday! A fierce battle ensues and for the first time, Superman falls in battle! Dragged in chains to Apokolips, the Man of Steel is Darkseid’s prisoner…
… On Oa, the Green Lantern Corps is sabotaged and betrayed by an agent of Apokolips. The Central Power Battery is destroyed and the Manhunters, ancient enemies of the Guardians of the Universe have launched a successful assault on the planet. Oa falls, and the mysterious new Manhunter Grandmaster sends a prisoner to his ally Darkseid--- the Guardian Appa Ali Apsa!
Meanwhile, on Earth, Green Lantern Hal Jordan finds himself, inexplicably, in possession of the only working power ring in the universe, and uses it to save Coast City from a massive tidal wave threatening the Pacific seaboard--- and to soundly defeat Kalibak, the son of Darkseid in a fearsome brawl!
… As the captured Guardian Appa Ali Apsa is taken to Apokolips, he escapes briefly before he is recaptured over Metropolis--- but not before he can bathe one particular Earthling in a weird emerald light… changing Kyle Rayner’s life forever!
...In Gotham City, the alien assault hits the hardest and the city falls to the brutal General Steppenwolf, but not before the Dark Knight Detective is able to smuggle out (with the help of Nightwing) the one man Darkseid wants the most: Scott Free, the vaunted Mister Miracle...
... Following the nefarious Virman Vundabar through a boom tube, the New Outsiders become stranded on Apokolips itself. And while part of the team launches a desperate mission to rescue one of their own from the clutches of the despicable Desaad, the rest of the team joins the Hunger Dogs in a bold uprising against Darkseid himself...
... At the same time, the Challengers of the Unknown also find themselves on the dark planet, battling Doctor Bedlam...
... Against all odds, Nightwing safely delivers Mister Miracle to his fellow New Gods in Metropolis... and the Teen Titans foil Dr Bedlam's plan to use the Forever People to discover the Anti-Life Equation! But it is Lex Luthor who, feeling his usefulness to Darkseid is at an end, breaks the truce and launches a premptive attack against the occupying forces of Apokolips, bringing Metropolis into the war...
... In a lethal gambit, G. Gordon Godfrey seizes control of the US Government, but in a daring raid on the White House, the Suicide Squad face off against the Female Furies in a race against time to save the city from nuclear annihilation...
... Wonder Woman leads a desperate raid on Apokolips to rescue the Man of Steel--- and in an act of selfless heroism, a hero makes his final stand against Darkseid himself...
... Enraged at the assault upon his stronghold, Darkseid commands his lackey Desaad to unleash the Infernal Machine, a doomsday device that would transform the Earth into a dark twin of Apokolips! In Keystone City, a hero gives his life to destroy the Machine!
... Nowhere on Earth is safe! The hordes of Apokolips lay seige to Atlantis, only to be driven back by Aquaman and his allies. But the climactic battle comes when the Deep Six launch a desperate assault on the New God's secret underwater stronghold. Aquaman leads the forces of Atlantis to the rescue of Supertown, winning a decisive battle--- but not before Big Barda abducts Scott Free and escapes to Apokolips!
Heroes will rise and heroes will fall. And the DC2 will never be the same again…!
CRISIS: The Apokolips Imperative, Part 12! |
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:31:07 GMT -5
The area had once been known as Robinson Park, but now it was simply called: the Gulag. A ten foot tall, chain link fence topped with barbed wire surrounded the area, which was also guarded by watchtowers, spotlights and dog soldiers with high-powered plasma-rifles. And there was one other security feature…
Once, after a prisoner managed to climb the fence, cutting himself horribly on the razor wire, but escaping the plasma-blasts of the chortling shocktroopers, the “dogs” were unleashed. The hellhounds came galloping from the guardhouse, slavering for blood. They took the fence in one leap, and were on the escapee in seconds. There was one sharp, blood-curdling scream--- abruptly cut off by the sound of snapping bones and tearing flesh.
No one tried to escape after that.
Not that chances for survival inside the Gulag were any better. The steady influx of Gotham’s citizens that were marched inside everyday were herded into pens that were not fit for animals, fed gruel and endlessly tormented. And those were the lucky ones. The unlucky ones were dragged into the ominous Chamber 13, and never seen again. But they were heard… Their screams and pitiful gibberings were broadcast over the speakers across the camp like some kind of macabre soundtrack, the background noise of everyday life that no one ever got used to.
It was commonly agreed that the Gulag was the closest thing to hell on earth.
Her name was Justeen. She was a Desaadite--- but not just any Desaadite: she was the concubine of the man himself, and his favourite disciple. She had a talent for cruelty, and a flare for creative depravity that endeared her even to Lord Darkseid. It had earned her the right to call herself Mistress of Chamber 13, a fact which she intended to affirm with every new test subject strapped to her examination table.
She ruled the internment camp through terror. Not even the Apokoliptian dog soldiers were safe from her wrath or whimsy (besides, they were so much sturdier than the frail human Earthlings…!). She toured the camp like a martinet, idly swinging her whipping crop, looking for a subject for her night’s attentions.
The pens of humans always grew quiet as she approached, and most of the animals within cringed away from the bars, cowering in the filthy straw as far back as they could. But one steel-eyed and steel-haired woman returned Justeen’s look, without fear.
Justeen stopped in front of the cage, intrigued.
“You are not afraid?” She lightly tapped her crop on the palm of her hand. “You must be new. When did we bring you in?”
The older human woman said nothing.
“Do you know what vivisection is?”
A muscle in the human’s face clenched. “I’m a doctor. I know what vivisection is.”
“A doctor!” Justeen raised an eyebrow. “I have heard of this Earthling vocation! You heal the sick and wounded… Aren’t you afraid of allowing their weaknesses to encourage others? On Apokolips, the weak and infirm perish. Only the strong survive. It is why we cannot be beaten: we do not tolerate weakness.”
The human just glared at her.
This thrilled Justeen. “You have spirit, human doctor! It will be a pleasure breaking you. What is your name?”
“Leslie Thompkins.”
“Leslie Thompkins.” Repeated Justeen, savouring the word, even as she gestured at a dog soldier to fetch the prisoner from the cage. “I shall make of you a masterpiece of pain! I shall carve a monument to agony out of your flesh--- and because you are ‘doctor’, I will keep you alive as I do it, because I’m sure that’s what you would want.”
Justeen laughed, profoundly amused by her own joke--- and so did not hear the engine of the car until it was too late.
The shocktroopers in the watchtowers saw it first, roaring out of a side-street, the flames of its exhaust lighting up the night. It was black, and angular, sitting high off the ground and covered in plate armor. On the hood was a shining silver ornament in the shape of a bat…
The dog soldiers fired on it, but the shields absorbed the blasts and didn’t even slow it down. The batmobile hit the fence at full speed, tearing down a huge section, and skidded into the compound with a screech of rubber tires. A plasma canon (stolen from an Apokoliptian battery and modified in the secret labs of Wayne Tech) atop the roof of the car swivelled and burst into life, systematically taking down the hellhounds that came galloping from their pens.
“Kill it! Kill it!” Justeen wailed, spittle flying from her mouth, even as she sprinted towards the safety of Chamber 13.
The shocktroopers concentrated their fire on the batmobile, which was starting to take a beating. But it was only a distraction. Through the hole in the fence it had made, came rushing in a phalanx of GCPD, armed with stolen Apokoliptian weapons and armor and led by Lt. James Gordon!
“Let’s go! Take down the hellhounds first, but watch those towers!” He cried, laying down cover fire as his men poured into the camp. “Let’s close this place down, boys!”
Overhead, and unseen by all but Gordon, a dark shape swung over the fence, headed for Chamber 13…
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:37:33 GMT -5
Justeen locked herself in the laboratory, casting about desperately for a weapon. She settled for a particularly vicious-looking hooked instrument, still crusted with blood from her last ‘patient’.
It was the Bat. He was coming for her. She had heard rumors about him. General Steppenwolf was on edge about the trouble he was causing, and had on many occasions reported that he had killed the nuisance. But the Bat seemed to be unkillable. Striking everywhere, severally hampering Apokoliptian operations in the city. Now he was coming for her…
The cold, neon lights of the lab abruptly went out.
Justeen gasped, slashing the knife around her wildly in the dark.
“You can’t escape me…” Came the throaty, almost sensual whisper.
She turned about, trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from.
“I’ve come for you, Justeen. You think you can come to my city, and do the things you’ve done and just walk away…? I’m going to take you to a hell even Lord Darkseid is afraid of…”
There was a breath of air on the back of her neck, and she spun, flailing out with the knife. She felt the familiar and satisfying ‘thunk’ of a blade driving home into flesh! In exuberant panic, she jerked the knife up, cutting a killing gash and feeling the soothing warm rush of blood on her hand…!
There was the sound of a heavy body hitting the floor, and Justeen exhaled in relief. She had done it! What not even the great General Steppenwolf could do! She had killed the Bat!
Then the back-up lights came online, flickering dully in the lab, and she could see again. On the floor in front of her, laying in a pool of its own blood was her parademon bodyguard, her knife buried in its chest. Panic welled within her again like a geyser, and she turned without hesitation to run--- but her way was blocked!
The Dark Knight flung out both arms, his cape billowing so that it seemed to her to fill the whole room! His eyes flashed at her, and he growled one word:
“Boo.”
Then his fist smashed into her face, and Justeen dropped.
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:38:22 GMT -5
Batman ran from Chamber 13, Justeen trussed-up and slung over his shoulder.
“Get back!” He yelled to the squad of GCPD mopping up the last of the Apokoliptian shocktroopers. They all took cover, and Chamber 13 went up like a roman candle on the 4th of July! The explosion resounded across the city, and the resulting fireball that rose into the night sky briefly took the form of a bat.
“Now how the hell did you do that?” Jim Gordon asked in amused exasperation, as the Caped Crusader unceremoniously tossed Justeen to the ground.
“I studied pyrotechnics in China.” Said Batman, with the faintest hint of a smile that made Gordon wonder if the Dark Knight was putting him on.
Batman glanced over at the burning husk of the batmobile, and grimaced.
“Looks like I’m going to need a new car…” He sighed.
“Need a lift home?” Gordon asked, his moustache cocked. All around them, Bullock was leading the effort to free the captives, and usher them to safety, while others were planting devices across the compound.
“I can manage. Just make sure that you get out of here before Steppenwolf arrives with reinforcements. And that you close this place down for good.”
“Don’t worry. We have enough C4 to blow this place to kingdom come.” Gordon told him. “And we’ll be back at the safe house before the General even knows what happened here!”
But he was speaking to the empty air. Batman had already thrown his grappling-line into the air and was swinging away…
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:39:08 GMT -5
The Apokoliptian motorcade wound its way through the streets of downtown Gotham, lines of battlewheels, hovertanks and jet-cycles, all bristling with armament. General Steppenwolf stood in the lead transport, arms crossed and scowling at the bombed out buildings and crater-pocked streets.
“The city has fallen, but has proven difficult to pacify.” He remarked to his fancifully dressed comrade, who lounged in his seat, carefully cleaning his fingernails. “A kind of underground resistance has risen up, led by some human bogeyman who takes the form of a bat… He has thus far evaded all our efforts to capture him…”
“And that’s why Darkseid sent me.” His goateed companion yawned, glancing idly at the faces watching from the windows facing the street. “To kill the Batman.”
Steppenwolf’s scowl deepened, his lips curling around his oversized fangs.
“I know your reputation, Kanto. You are Darkseid’s own personal assassin. But I assure you, this Batman is unlike any prey you’ve ever hunted. Not even Devilance was able to kill him.”
Kanto adjusted the beret on his head and straightened his cravat. “Devilance is a tracker, not a killer.” Kanto noted. “And I have never failed… Besides, Steppenwolf: the harder the hunt, the sweeter the kill.”
There was a disturbance near the front of the convoy. It halted for a moment, Steppenwolf fuming at the delay. In a moment, a parademon can flying back to report to the General.
“Sir, there was a raid on the Gulag… Many casualties… Chamber 13 has been destroyed! It was the Bat!”
Steppenwolf whirled on Kanto with a low growl, as if to say: See! I told you!
The master assassin rolled his eyes and gave a disinterested sigh. He stood, checked his rapier and said: “Oh, very well. I suppose it’s time I got to work…”
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:39:28 GMT -5
There was someone following Batman. He could feel it in his bones. The city was like his second skin, and there was something alien prancing around on the rooftops behind him. He doubled back every now and then, batarangs in hand, but nothing was there when he searched. His night vision picked up nothing but the smoke rising from the debris of the Gulag, and as the night deepened, the ghastly hordes of Apokolips came out in force, their floodlights searching the shadows for him.
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:40:11 GMT -5
What a wicked, wicked turn of events! Bat-Man can feel my presence but my devices and tricks allow me to run my gauntlet with him unseen. I’ve been ordered to follow, not act, not until I can be sure of the kill. This hellhole, much like Armagetto if you think about it, is important to the master. Desaad wanted laboratory rats, and this city was to be his…
After pausing momentarily on a building overlooking flagship of General Steppenwolf, Batman reaches the outskirts of the perimeter line, and surveys the scene, trying to see a weak point in the cordon… And if he doesn’t see it soon… I might as well strike! But that would ruin my little game that I have so lovingly set up, and do we really want that? I’ll give you an oh-so obvious answer. No. We want to play the game. And I want to see his life… Ooze out of his heart by my blade.
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:40:41 GMT -5
Light shone on the ship, and the Parademons swung their weapons towards the light source, a massive shadow of a bat projected onto the front of the large metallic dome of the Annihilator. They muttered and cringed at the sight of it, and then lifted off the ground, a wave of the creatures heading off to investigate the strange occurrence.
Batman smiled. The makeshift bat signal did its job. He crept through the shadows and climbed into the ship, no one to stop his infiltration.
“Just a flash lamp!” The lead Parademon snarled, and then smashed it with his gloved fist, only to have a massive surge of electricity travel through him, and then pass outwards as their jetpacks attracted the almost sentient energy through them, and when the entirety of the hordes are thoroughly shocked, they begin to fall from the sky, and hit the ground like rocks. Batman smiled at the thought and continued his search.
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:41:23 GMT -5
He heard it in his mind first, a strange feeling rushing into his head as a gentle beeping became louder and louder as he moved deeper and deeper into the battleship. He recognised it slightly, and as he stalked down the corridors, hiding in alcoves as Parademons trudge past him, the beeping became clearer, and he realised it wasn’t a beeping, but a pinging, a familiar pinging that he had heard once before.
“Mother Box!”
He followed the noise as it got louder, and entered a dark room with the living machine on a light-filled pedestal in the middle.
Batman picked up the Mother Box and strapped it to his arm, then ran into the centre of the ship, the alien device telling him where the bridge was located. They gasped as he entered the large control room, a squad of Parademons at the end of the long room turning their weapons on him.
“Fall down. Stay down.”
The Parademons looked at each in amusement and surprise and then scream alien obscenities, and without any more words hurtled towards Batman. He dodged the attack of the first creature and then grabbed him by the jetpack, swinging him around into the others, causing them to scatter to the floor. He grabbed an electro-baton from one of the fallen and jabbed him hard in the gut, causing the creature to scream and fall unconscious.
“Fall down. Stay down.”
He twirled the weapon around in one hand, and took out a batarang with the other. A Parademon grimaced and dove for him Batman jammed the weapon between metal and armour and hit soft flesh, the electricity of the tip rushing through the creature and knocking him out. With his other hand he slashed down on the armour of another creature, and then elbowed him hard in the face. He threw the batarang hard at the head of another, and then wrenched out the electro rod, and hurled himself at the last parademon, leaping up and using it as shaft to spring him forward and plant both of his booted feet in the face of the surprised creature.
He surveyed the scene, Mother Box pinging as it revitalized him. He turned to the stunned Apokoliptian officers, frozen in fear at their stations.
“Y-You’re real!” One of them gibbered
“I never said I wasn’t.” He snarled, then took out a plasma charge, and held it up for them to see. “Now if any of you want to survive to explain this to Steppenwolf, I suggest you run like hell.”
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:42:11 GMT -5
Taking the measure of his mark, Kanto watched from an abandoned courthouse as an explosion ripped through the bridge of the Annihilator. The blast crippled the flagship, turning it into nothing but a flaming hulk.
Steppenwolf was going to be very angry, Kanto almost giggled to himself.
The sharp eyes of the god picked up a dark shape fleeing the scene. Kanto perked up, smiling. Ah, there you are, mine enemy! I think it’s time to see what you are truly made of…
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:45:10 GMT -5
The cave was quiet, the bats eerily silent as Batman removed his cowl, exhausted from the night’s battles. Mother Box sung silently in his mind until he removed it, and placed it on the desk next to the computer, along with all his weapons and utility belt. He needed a second wind before he went back out there. Steppenwolf was bound to launch a counter-offensive against the attacks tonight, and Batman had to be there to stop it.
He removed his cape and sat down in front of his computer, and then turned to the entrance to the Manor upstairs. Alfred normally appeared about now with a sarcastic remark and a cup of tea. Something was wrong.
He looked around and picked up his dressing gown, wrapping it around his body and then went up the steep steps upstairs, pressing the code into the door that was hidden behind the grandfather clock in his main hall. The door swung open and he stepped out, only to be confronted by a strange sight.
“Batman! I’ve been watching you tonight, and I must say, bravo!” He raised his fists, a strangely dressed man with a long sharp blade in his hand and a smile on his thinly moustached lips. “I am Kanto, and if you’ll excuse me, I did you a fairly large favour.” He slammed the blade into the carpet, and the razor sharp weapon penetrated through cold stone until it didn’t move, and then the flamboyant assassin turned and dragged Alfred Pennyworth into view.
“I didn’t kill your help! Nice chap and all, but I didn’t want to kill him.” He threw him at Bruce and the unmasked vigilante caught him, gently placing him on the floor, concern in his eye.
“That bruise on his head?” He pulled his weapon out the ground and motioned to the butt of his sword handle. “This.” He smiled. “I’m afraid you’re on the kill list, though. I’m afraid I’m going to have to gut you, Batman.”
Bruce looked at Alfred, who wearily looked up and nodded as his employer winked at him. Batman looked at Kanto.
“Kanto, is it? You come into my house. You threaten my family and then you threaten me?”
“Yes I do, to be blunt.” Kanto smiled slyly. “And with your lack of weaponry, I don’t see how you’ll have a chance of stopping me, you know?”
“Lack of weaponry?” Bruce smiled, and flicked his hand forward, a batarang appearing instantly in his grasp. He hurled it at the master assassin, who flicked his sword up and cut it in half.
Before the man could spring to the attack, Bruce grabbed Alfred and dragged them both behind the clock. He slammed it shut, scrambling the entrance code.
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:45:50 GMT -5
“Come on, old friend, let’s get moving!” He hurried down the steps and reached the base of the cave, and then looked around desperately. “We thought of the contingencies, remember? In case this ever happened?” He hurried into the steel chamber that contained his many variations of uniform, and then sealed the door shut, trapping them both inside. He looks out the one-way mirror and sees Kanto slide his knife through the door and then cut it open, and step into the cave, smiling widely.
“Computer…” Bruce pressed a button on his gauntlet, activating the direct AI link into his earpiece. “Activate stage one cave defences.”
Alfred looked up. “M-Master Bruce?”
“He crossed a line, Alfred. He invaded my house. He hurt you. This guy’s going down.” Bruce grabbed another cowl from the rack, and then stared at it for a moment. “There’s no real need for you now, face.” He threw it to the floor and flexed his neck.
Kanto strolled down the steps to the cave, smiling all the time. “Yoo-hoo? Batman?” He placed his foot on the cold stone floor and then looked around. “Hiding? You’re hiding?” He shook his head, and then the entire cave burned red with light.
“Intruder, plea--”
Bruce whispered into the computer link, and smiled as he did so. “Bypass warning system, automatic reaction unless to specified personnel.”
“Intruder.” The computer voice reaffirmed, and the entire floor was suddenly electrified, catching the assassin totally unawares. He didn’t scream, the electricity not really hurting, only catching him by surprise, and as he leaped up off the ground, breaking the circuit and freeing himself of the grasp of the electricity, he looked around for mere moments, and then found the cause of the attack, a small blue box beneath the first stone step down to the cave. He threw his sword at it and the electricity stopped, and silently he landed.
“Bravo, Batman. You’d make a great master assassin. But you’re just a petty little vigilante, and I’m going to skin you and have your handsome visage as MY cowl.”
He heard a whirring of mechanics, and then spun around, only to be hit square in the face by something green. A massive tyrannosaurus rex trudged after him, red eyes tracking the assassin’s movements.
Bruce smiled and pressed a button on the cowl rack, and stepped inside, spinning to the other side of the room and back into the main cave. “Go get him, Bruno.” He ran over to his trophy rack and grabbed a sword, tied it around his waist, and then strapped Mother Box on his shoulder. He looked over to Kanto and the two men’s eyes connected, and the assassin smiled.
“Oh you’re showing your face now, are you?” Kanto was stomped by the massive mechanical monstrosity, and then vanished from view, only to hold the foot up with a wicked grin on his face. “You’re offering me a challenge, Batman!” He slipped a weapon from his sleeve and sliced the reinforced titanium mesh limb clean off, and then threw it at the robot T-Rex’s skull, shattering the internal processing system and causing it to fall down into the abyss below the cave system beneath Wayne Manor. “I like that! You get bonus points form making the kill fun!”
“I don’t intend to die.” Bruce sprinted over to his computer console, put his fingers to his ear, and whispered a word. Kanto dove at him, no weapon in hand, and grabbed the hero around the neck, gripping his throat tightly.
“Batmite-- Hrk!”
“Can you feel how little effort I’m putting into this? How my strength is so far above your puny mortal standards that… If I didn’t concentrate I’d snap your neck? See how I’m enjoying this?”
“Hrk… See… How I enjoy… This…”
“Holy molestation! What are you doing to my hero?”
Kanto froze as a strangely shaped imp appears on the computer screen above him. “Oh no, we can’t be having that! No no no!” The computer image shook a pixelated finger. “I’m playing now!”
Kanto was hit by a small missile fired at his back by a concealed rocket launcher, which caused him to fly over Batman and land in a pile by the rail that prevented one from plummeting into the bottom of the cave.
“Sorry boss, did I catch you?”
The hero picked himself up and then shook his head.
“No Batmite, it’s all good.” Bruce smiled and unsheathed his sword, Mother Box pinging into his mind. “Inform A of contingence four, will you?”
“No problemo, boss man!” The image vanished.
“Trickery! Oh points DEDUCTED, Batman!” Kanto unsheathed his own weapon, and then charged for the caped crusader. He slammed his weapon down on Batman’s chest, only to be surprised by the resistance offered by Batman’s own weapon. “How is this? Your weapon is human… Mine is forged from the firepits of Apokolips! How could your weapon withstand a blow from mine?”
Bruce smiled. “You’ve obviously never met… Ra’s Al Ghul!”
He shoved hard, causing Kanto to stumble over, and then Batman followed through with a slice that cut the assassin’s ear, causing him to wince in pain.
“I offer you an ultimatum, Kanto… Stand down and Boom tube out of here, or I will end this. This is the only chance you will get.”
“I’m enjoying this, can’t you see?” Kanto lowered his weapon and dove for Bruce, who flicked his weapon up and cut the assassin’s fingers off at the hand.
“You… You cut me! This is excellent! I’ve not felt pain for an age, and you’ve cut me open!”
Bruce stared at the twitching fingers on the floor and then was backhanded over the ledge of the bat cave, slidding down the steep rock face.
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:47:06 GMT -5
“Hrnt…” He jammed his weapon into the rock and it passed effortlessly through, springing him back up slightly. “Oh hell…” He felt his shoulder pop, and then hang loosely by his side as he quickly grabbed the sword handle with his other hand. “Oh… HELL…” Mother Box pinged again, and Bruce got his bearings, speaking into the receiver in his ear. “Batmite, I need you to--”
“ARE YOU ALRIGHT DOWN THERE?” Kanto smiled as he removed his flamboyant costume to reveal the metallic armour beneath it. He stretched out his kinks and placed his fingers back onto the stumps, and watched as the flesh knitted back together. “I MIS-JUDGED MY HIT, I APOLIGISE!”
A loud explosion filled the bottom of the cavern, and then a sound like an aircraft carrier began to get louder and louder as Kanto watched in amazement. Bruce stood atop one of the Batwings, the computer systems controlled by the computer AI named Batmite. He saluted Kanto, and then rockets burst from the jet’s arsenal, catching the assassin square in his armoured chest, sending him flying back into the massive computer screen of the computer.
“He flies now… What a wonderful game!”
“Batmite, continue barrage. Cryomissiles.” The computer program complied and then a blue warhead fired at Kanto, and then the air molecules stopped moving, and ice begins to form in the immediate area, freezing Kanto against the computer console.
“Good work.” With that he popped his shoulder back in, and Mother Box repaired the damage done, and as he watched from atop the floating jet he saw cracks form over the icy prison.
“Oh, no.”
Kanto burst out of his imprisonment and smiled. “Good show for a human, but hardly terrifying, you know?” He pressed a button on his armour and a small tube fell from his arm, and with the flick of a switch a small laser bursts from the end, hitting the engine of the craft and causing it to spin over, throwing Batman back down into the abyss. “Oh, I did it again. This isn’t good; he’ll probably have a planet down there if I keep this up… Surprises surprises!”
This was getting me nowhere, thought Batman as he plummetted downwards. “Batmite, you know the drill.” A small alcove suddenly sprang outwards from the wall, and Bruce sprang off it to the side of the wall, and then watched as his second lift arrives. He leaped into the Bat Gyro, and then pressed down hard on the lever, and felt himself rise back up to the base of the cave.
“Now, where are you, Mr Pennyworth?” Kanto stalked back over to the base of the cave, and then smiled as he pressed a button on his wrist that caused a light to be projected onto the floor from his chest emblem, illuminating footsteps into a small steel room. “I won’t kill you, but as an assassin, I could use some leverage killing him…” He smiled and then heard another noise, again from the pit.
“Oh come on…” Kanto spun around and was his hit square by the Gyro that crumpled on impact against the New God’s chest. “You can’t stop me, Batman!”
“I can.” Bruce stepped out of the shadows and threw a small vial onto the villain that caused his armour to fizz and melt away. “And I will.”
“Chemical warfare? Physicality and brains didn’t work so you use chemicals and potions?” Kanto’s laugh became a hearty bellow. “I’m impressed.”
“And you just gave me an idea.” Batman threw another vial and a noxious black gas spread over the assassin that caused him to choke. With his fingers to his ear Bruce ran deeper into the cave, until he reached a glass room.
“Alfred, use the secret exit, get out of here. Batmite prepped the jet; it’ll take you to safety.”
A voice replied on the other end of the line. “What about you?”
Bruce smiles as he removed his glove and pressed his palm against the red sensor that locked the room. “I have a plan.”
“You always say that, sir… I want to stay, want to help…”
Bruce shook his head as he entered the room. “No. Go, for my own safety and for yours. Promise me Alfred.”
Bruce heard a door open on the other end of the line, and then Alfred replied sadly. “Yes sir.”
“Thanks, Alfred.” Bruce closed the line and then spun around, only to be caught in the jaw by Kanto’s fist, his armour now totally dissolved by the metal dissolving compound he threw on him moments ago.
“Nice trick there, with this… This disease you’ve wrought upon my armour. Nice indeed, what is it that you’ve used to ruin my battle armour?”
“Anti-Metallo.” Bruce smiled and then threw another vial in Kanto’s face that caused him to gasp in surprise.
“What in-- Oh. Heh. Heh this is funny stuff you’re doing, Batman. Funny in… Indeed… Hehahahah… Ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Kanto doubled over in pain as his skin began to fade in colour, only to be replaced by a chalky white tint. His black hair fades to a sickly green and his mouth started to stretch in a ghastly grin.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“That’s Smilex. I know how painful the transformation is, no matter the laughter. You’ll be dead in moments if you don’t surrender to me and allow me to give you the antidote.”
“DON’T YOU GET IT, BATMAN?” Kanto jerked up, his hair returning to its black colour and his skin flushing with colour once more. “You’re chemicals don’t work on a GOD! I FEAR NOTHING YOU THROW MY WAY!”
He grabbed Bruce’s throat and squeezed hard, flesh tearing beneath his fingertips and muscles ripping. Batman gagged, the life being squeezed out of him. He slammed his hands down on Kanto’s neck, but the blow did nothing.
“I’ll enjoy this.”
Bruce’s eyes darkened as his flow of oxygen was cut off, and then he felt the strangely shaped vial behind his back. A smile flowed over him as he pulled in front of Kanto.
“Is that a skull?” Bruce squeezed down on the contraption and a puff of green gas erupted from the skull’s open mouth Kanto’s eyes widened as he inhaled a deep breath.
“Nothing you can use can make me…” Kanto’s eyes widened even more as he dropped Batman. “What is this? Sir… Master, I’m sorry…” He fell to the floor in front of the fallen vigilante, and then grabbed his hand. “Your greatness I didn’t…” He pulled his hand into the air, as if pushed away. “Oh, I know… You don’t…” He stood, and stumbled back into a cabinet.
Bruce looked up, his neck aching from the agony of the vice-like hands that had just been strangling him. He looked at the skull in his hand and smiled slightly, and then turned, grabbing all of them behind him. Crane patented fear gas. He stumbled over to the cowering Kanto and released more and more in his face, not knowing how long the affect would last.
“Darkseid! No!” He cowered as a shadow reaches over him. “Not your omega effect, anything but-- Bunnies!” He screamed as nothingness touched him, and then collapsed to the floor, his eyes rolled up in his head, his mind blank.
“My God… He…” Bruce shook his head. “He drove himself to insanity with fear… Drove himself to catatonia. To coma… to death…” Bruce looked at the fresh corpse on the floor and then at the skulls on the ground around them, and then he fell back onto the table where he kept his chemicals.
“I killed him!”
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:47:55 GMT -5
“Master Bruce!” Alfred Pennyworth, antique blunderbus in hand, entered the room and saw Kanto on the floor. “Are you… Are you alright?”
“I killed him!” Bruce coughed, Mother Box slowly repairing the damage to his throat. “I… Drove him to death by fear…” He looked over to Kanto, who laid on the floor in a heap.
Alfred looked at the fallen villain and then to Bruce again. “But--”
“YOU CAN’T KILL ME!” Kanto jerked up, his arms raised, and Alfred fired his weapon into the man’s head, causing blood to spatter everywhere.
“Bloody hell!” Alfred wipes his brow, trembling. “Startled me!”
“He didn’t… Die?” Bruce shook his head, and then looked to the villain’s hand. “Healed…” He placed his hand on his chin and thought for a moment. “His fingers are healed back on… And this means… He regenerates! He’ll keep coming back!”
Bruce took a breath of relief, and then one of severe panic and looked at the Mother Box on his shoulder.
“Help me get him up.” The duo dragged the man to his feet as the hole in his head slowly began to seal together. “He’s regenerating brain matter, look--” Bruce pointed to the disintegrating brain matter on the floor. He pressed a button on the man’s belt, and an explosion wracks the cave as a boom tube appeared, breaking any remaining glass from the battle. The two men heaved the man over to it and then toss him in, the assassin’s particles transferring from this dimension to the other, back to Apokolips.
“We survived.”
“Barely.” Alfred motioned around him. “I’m the one who’s going to have to tidy this up, remember that.”
Bruce looked at Alfred and then to himself. “I thought I killed him. It… Wow. It scared me.”
“Good.” Alfred nodded. “Now change costume, that one’s a mess.”
“Boss man! Are you alright?” The two men turned to a small hologram that appeared from the computer screen, projected onto the small worktop next to the computer console. “What happened? I was rebooting and I got mega-worried!”
“Don’t worry Batmite. You did good today.”
Batmite smiled. “Oh really, really?”
“Yes. We’ll talk later about an upgrade, alright?”
“Sure thing boss man! Etimtab!” The sentient computer virus vanished back into the computer screen, and Alfred turned to Bruce, confused.
“I thought you trapped that devilish creature into some kind of computer paradise?”
Bruce nodded. “I did, but I needed an advanced AI to set up the security system last month, and seeing how well he handled it before, giving ME a run for my money…”
“You’re a very idiotic man, Bruce Wayne.”
“It’ll bite me in the ass some time down the way. I know.” Bruce removed his shirt and threw it to the floor, and then examined his already closing wounds. “Wow, this Mother Box works wonders.” He flexed his arm. “That kink from wrestling Killer Croc down in the swamps is gone.”
“Good--” Alfred paused and then nudged Bruce as he noticed something weird on the computer monitor screen.
It was a satellite feed, showing something unusual streaking towards earth. A green comet…
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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2006 20:49:08 GMT -5
CRISIS: THE APOKOLIPS IMPERATIVE CONTINUES THIS WEEK IN WONDER WOMAN#10! |
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Post by mockingbird on Jul 29, 2011 11:02:47 GMT -5
To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!
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