Themyscria, 45 minutes ago.The two warriors battled for reasons neither of them fully understood. Batman was a trained combatant, who knew how to handle his enemy. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, only fought with rage; but that rage guided her to victory. Only the princess was wounded, and only very slightly. A ray of energy burned her cheek as she charged at the bat warrior.
"Never have I faced such a worthy enemy, Batman. You truly do counter my power as Wonder Woman."
"I don't know what you speak of,” Batman growled, “But I
will find out."
But as Batman spoke, Wonder Woman vanished. He looked around, eyes narrowed. Suddenly, he was yanked upwards as she grabbed him by the neck. She hurled him into the sky; so far, that the atmosphere began to thin. Soon he would be unable to breathe...
"Computer, activate Oxygen Mask."
"NEGATIVE. OXYGEN TANK DESTROYED. RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC."
"I don't have time!" Already he was gasping for breath.
"DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE: DAMAGE IRREPARABLE."
Batman tried not to panic. It was not in him to admit defeat. He struggled as the atmosphere thinned, and finally he ran out of air. His struggles became more feeble, then ended. Eyes closed, his life flashed before his eyes, and he could hear his parents calling to him.
"Bruce.... come home Bruce..."But strangely....he did not die.
Though he was in space, he suffered none of the effects of vacuum exposure; his blood vessels did not rupture.
He realized, finally, that he was no longer simply human. That he had powers beyond those of mortal men. What those powers were, he did not know....yet.
--
Krypton, at the same moment...
Kal-El floated down onto a balcony and changed out of his Green Lantern uniform, into his ordinary clothes. He then walked down the main hall to his parents' thrown room. As he entered, his father Jor-El was arguing with Zod.
"Why did YOU fail me, General?"
"But, sir, we did not fail! I don't understand..."
"Krypton won the battle Zod, but you lost against the Princess."
"The Superman--"
"The Superman made a fool of you, Zod!"
Kal-El smirked at his father's remark.
"DO NOT FAIL ME AGAIN!!" Jor-El shouted.
Zod exited the throne room with his guards and saw Kal-El leaning against a wall. He frowned as he noticed Kal-El smiling.
Kal-El entered the room when Zod was out of sight.
"Father...."
Jor-El didn't even smile at the sight of his son. "Where have you been, Kal-El?"
"Just exploring the export bays, father--" Kal-El began.
"DO NOT LIE TO ME KAL-EL!" Jor-El roared.
Kal-El's mother had heard the shouting, of course. She rushed in and tried to calm Jor-El down, but failed. "Please Jor-El, he is just a--"
"SILENCE!"
As Jor-El turned back to continue yelling at his son, he noticed that Kal-El had disappeared. He fumed in rage. “This is NOT over....”
--
Kal-El had, in fact, been dragged from the audience chamber. He didn't recognize the muscular blonde, but there was something familiar about her....
"Hey what is this?"
"Don't worry you cry baby, it's just me!"
She had brought Kal-El to one of the gardens; the flowers were colored a deep blue, and the grass a light green. She playfully threw him into a fountain; he spluttered indignantly. The other figure splashed in next to him.
"Well Kal-El, you haven't forgotten about your beloved cousin, have you?"
Kal-El turned and realized that it was his young cousin, only two years younger than himself. Her blonde hair was long and flowing (though now it was being matted and drenched), and her eyes were a crystal clear blue.
"Of course I couldn't forget you, Kara!"
She hugged him tight and lifted him three feet out of the water. He gasped for breath, and she quickly put him down.
"Oops, sorry Kal. Father has been testing a new neurochemical and I...accidentally...swallowed some. I guess I just, uh... forgot!" She smiled.
“Yeah, 'accidentally'. I never thought I would ever hear that from you."
"Oh grow up!" She slapped his shoulder.
"OUCH!" he was honestly surprised at his strength; it has almost triggered his ring's defenses.
"Sorry!" As she tried to help him, an explosion rocked the palace! They whirled as they heard gunfire and screams down the hall.
"Well that was the shortest conversation we have ever had."
Kal-El grabbed her arm. "Get out of here! Father could use my help."
She turned towards the hallway; she felt the need to assist. Or at least to go find her own father.
But when she turned back, Kal-El was gone.
"Kal?”
--
Kal-El ran down the hall towards the gunfire. Dead soldiers littered the ground, blood spattered the walls. His ring glowed, and his Lantern uniform flowed over him. Down the hall, the large door to his father and mother's throne room was blown from its hinges. Smoke roiled out from inside. Small fires burned all around. But deeper inside, Kal-El heard his mother scream. Superman wanted to call out to his mother, but he did not want to reveal himself. Father might suspect the truth, but he wanted to protect his mother as long as possible.
Superman came to a door, which was the source of the scream. He used his ring to break the door down. Blasts fired at him immediately, forcing him to create an emerald shield to surround himself. He flew in the room, charging the first attacker he saw. He blasted the attacker with an energy shard. The attacker fell. Three more charged Superman.
"HOSTILE IN RANGE. PROCEED TO ATTACK." the voice was cold, seeming robotic.
Superman heard the voice, and frowned. He thought to himself...
Androids? Why would androids want to attack my father's palace? Is there something mother and I do not know about this war?Superman turned around and blasted a wave of energy towards three androids. Two flew into a wall and shatter, but the other slid to the ground, then righted itself with artificial swiftness. It's false skin sloughed off of the android, its metallic eyes shining a bright yellow.
"TARGET IDENTIFIED: GREEN LANTERN LOCATED. ATTACK PROCEEDING."
Superman, after all of his years in training, knew what that meant. There were forces out there that had discovered the Corps' weakness; yellow energy. The android must be an agent of one of those factions. Sure enough, the droid's chest burst open, revealing a yellow energy fragment. It blasted a golden ray into Superman. The blast sent him flying back, smashing through a wall. The droid walked towards Superman, and from the fragment, conjured a wicked, curving a golden blade, almost a scimitar. "TERMINATE TARGET."
Superman wanted get up and fight, but his arm was stuck under rubble. He pulled, straining, but failed; the yellow blast had weakened him, and he wouldn't recover his strength in time. The droid drew closer. Superman tried using his ring to get out of the rubble, but felt a strain in his wrist; his power had not recovered enough yet...
The droid lifted the blade for the kill, but before it could strike, it was blasted from behind. Its head flew off and hit the ground, rolling away. Superman looked up.
“Zod?!”
“A life for a life, Superman. You would do well to learn that." Zod turned away, but not before Superman noted his weapon; a Kryptonian Model 27.5 Synthium Blaster Rifle. One of the newest, most deadly models.
--
Themyscria, that moment...To Wonder Woman's astonishment, Batman had returned from the stars above, and attacked!
He struck Wonder Woman with a hard, right hand chop. She was jolted by the blow, but held her ground. As he moved to follow up with a left jab, she grabbed his wrist and nailed him with a brutal uppercut. He flew backwards from the blow, crashing into a tree with such force that it was uprooted. As she moved towards him, he launched himself at her, tackling her to the ground. She grabbed a handful of dirt,and threw it in his face. He sputtered and wiped it away, she kicked him off with all her strength. He tumbled backwards, and she threw her lasso around him.
She swung him around and slammed him against the great statue that had granted her the power of Wonder Woman. Batman coughed up some blood, but he didn't give up. To her astonishment, he yanked on the rope and swung her into the side of another tree, which was smashed more fundamentally than the the one she had thrown him into earlier. She then blasted him with her power, cracking the Bat shield on his chest. This only made him narrow his eyes in anger.
"We do not have to fight, Human. You may surrender now."
"I do
not surrender. But it seems that this battle shall go on for hours, and still neither of us will fall."
"So we are equals."
The two warriors paused.
“What is your
true name, Batman?"
Batman paused, considering whether or not to trust this warrior woman, this foe. But was she foe, in truth? He decided. "Wayne. Bruce Wayne. I was a member of an elite squadron of Watch Tower and a former Green Beret. And you?"
"I am Princess Diana, daughter of Queen Hippolyte."
The two warriors shook hands.
--
20 minutes later...The two warriors walked on the beach.
"Why did your warriors attack us? We meant you no harm."
“An attack was recently in place on our city by Kryptonians. We couldn't be
too careful."
"Well I can assure you Princess. I am
not Kryptonian."
"I am aware now. I am sorry for the loss of your friend, Bruce."
Bruce sighed. “He fought bravely....but... I do have one question; why would the Kryptonians attack this place?"
"For years, the Kryptonians have been at war with us. But now, their armies grow stronger, General Zod of Krypton took advantage of this. But he thought the city was a headquarters of our army. Thousands of women died. For that Zod shall be slain, by my hand."
"Why didn't you kill him there?"
Diana paused. Admitting why Zod did not die caused her great frustration. She explained it to Bruce in as few words as possible; but he understood her feelings better than she could have guessed. After a brief, painful silence, he said:
"Zod shall die, and Superman too."
"Yes, and I have to see the light go out of their eyes. Zod, most of all."
"I will help you. But only if you wish."
"Yes...” she said thoughtfully. Then, with more certainty, “Yes. In this war we need all the help we can get, but the others will not like the idea of help from... a man."
"They'll get used to it. You'll see. I promise you, your army shall not fail this war. I swear it."
--
Krypton, 3 hours after the attack on the Palace...Jor-El's guards escorted him to his room; soon he would have to meet his wife and son for dinner. They had done their best to repair the palace and clean up the mess....and the bodies.
Jor-El had ten minutes to prepare. But as he entered his personal bedchamber, the lights in the room refused to activate. Jor-El suspected that the motion sensors were dead. But a voice rang out, buzzing painfully in his ears. It was emotionless, and gratingly loud.
"The capture of your wife was a failure, Jor-El. Why was this?"
"The guards were all dead, I can assure you. But it--"
"Was what Jor-El? Interrupted by a Green Lantern?"
"Yes, but why kidnap my wife? Your mission was to capture Zod!"
"My mission was none of your business, Jor-El."
"MY FAMILY IS MY BUSINESS! I am the one in charge of this–"
"Do you feel in charge?
I am the one in control, Jor-El. Remember that;
you did not program me."
Jor-El was stunned into silence. The droid had taken command; his own plans were in ruins. But was the droid truly the one making decisions? Or did have a master elsewhere, beyond his reach? He needed to find out the answers. First, to save his own life, and then to regain control....
To be continued!Let us know what you think
here!
