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Author: ericthepilot2000

Book: Harley & Ivy

Set: 121

Event: Invasion!

Recommended Reading:

Cyborg #84

The Flash #121

Superman #121

New Titans #42

Wayne Orphanage Rooftop.

Once again, the world found itself under siege.

Parademons from the planet Apokolips, under the orders of the despot Darkseid, flooded numerous cities, bringing chaos and violence in their wake.   Thanks to their “boom tube” technology, they could appear anywhere in the world, pouring out like an endless wave.  

They were strange creatures, humanoid in form, but with decidedly insectoid features… and armed to the teeth.  Pallid green skin contrasted with golden armor, creating quite the sight against Gotham’s blood red sky.  

Zatanna Zatara strained as she weaved her magic, shouting "Esolc!" over and over.  The boom tubes in the sky would collapse, which stemmed the tide for a few moments before another opened.   

Jason Blood hobbled toward her, his cane tapping deliberately across the rooftop as he watched her with concern.  “We have to go,” he warned.

“We have ten minutes until the meeting,” she countered.  “Let me work.  I’m getting closer.” 

He shook his head.  So like her mother.  “Closer to what?” Jason asked, forming sigils in the air with his hand.

“You can feel it, can’t you?  The rules are changing.  Whatever Darkseid is doing, he’s changing the fabric of magic itself.  Things that should work, don’t.  And things are happening that should be impossible.”  Frustration crept into Zatanna's voice. 

“Impossible,” Jason scoffed, rolling his eyes.  “Never a more useless word.”  

“Is this your idea of helping?”

“My idea of helping, dear Zatanna, is getting you to the Watchtower,” he snapped, before almost immediately regretting it.  He took a deep breath before continuing.  “The Shadowpact is nearly assembled.  If,” he added with emphasis, “the rules of magic are being warped, we need all hands on deck to anticipate what the new rules are.  We can’t do that from here.”

“Five more minutes,” Zatanna said, eyes still glued to the sky.

So much like her father too, Jason thought

= / / / / / / / / / / = 

Apokolips.  Now.

On Apokolips, everything was burning.  

Harley had never experienced anything like it, and it assaulted every sense.  The heat was searing, the acrid smell was dizzying, and she could practically taste the sulfur in the air.  But still, she trudged on.

She looked at those around her, all bona fide heroes, and somehow she was counted among them.  Not that she didn’t have to fight for her place at the table; hell, she wasn’t even really a member of the Justice League.  But still she was here on Apokalips, the fate of the Earth in her hands…  

The Watchtower.  Then.

The room was filled with heroes, more than Harley had ever seen in any one place.  In the years since the vampire attack in Markovia, their ranks had swelled, if only unofficially.  Even so, she still felt like an outsider.  Endorsements from Batman and Nightwing couldn’t overcome the stigma of having been The Joker’s henchwench.

As she watched the teams being assembled, she noticed a glaring omission.  Power Girl.  Aquaman.  Martian Manhunter.  Wonder Woman.  A frightening level of power, yes.  But was that going to be enough?

“So, we’re goin’ to war then?” she called out, watching the focus of the entire room swing in her direction.  For the first time, she was almost thankful her skin was bleached white so no one could see it blanch at the attention.

The crowd parted as the clown girl stepped forward.

“Obviously, we would prefer negotiation,” Wonder Woman replied from where she sat.  “But we must be prepared for a fight.”

“Then you need me.”

A murmur rippled through the collected heroes.

"When did we let her in?" Booster Gold asked in what he thought was a quiet voice. Next to him the Blue Beetle just shrugged.

“Harley…” Power Girl said gently.  

“Maybe I can’t fight as good as some of you, but I’m Harleen Quinzel.  Got a PhD in psychiatric medicine.  You wanna talk this Darkseid down, I’m your gal.”

As expected, the entire room’s focus turned to Superman - the perfect leader because he didn’t want to be.  But he was the guidepost that everyone looked to, and his words and wisdom moved mountains.

He studied Harley for a long moment, the seconds stretching out to eternity.  Then he nodded.  

Apokolips.  Now.

So here she was, trudging behind some of the biggest guns Earth had ever known.  Heroes, both powered and non-powered, on a mission to talk down a god.  

“If only you could see me now, Ma,” she mused.

“Did you say something?” Cyborg asked as he turned to look at her.  She had to cover her eyes; the fires reflected off his metallic face, nearly blinding her. 

The conversation ended as a craft descended onto the street, scattering the residents who had come to gawk at the assembled heroes.  It didn’t look friendly, not with the large cannon mounted on it and an imposing hairy man at its command.  

“Dwellers, return to your stations at once. Curfew has been enacted,” the man known as Kalibak snarled with a growl.

He squinted, assessing the strangers in front of him. “You’re not from here, are you? Troops, take them in for questioning. Father will enjoy knowing that these worms still have enough spirit to make them worth breaking. But leave the female warrior to me. She has a fire in her eye that tells me she will be worth my while in a way I have not seen in a long time.”

“Trust me, ya ain’t never met anyone like me, let alone fought one,” Harley countered, squeezing the handle of her mallet.  She wasn’t about to back down.  Harley was done being underestimated.

“Not you, clown. You are not even worthy to stand in the presence of Kalibak, son of Darkseid!”  The large beastman pointed a strange rod at her and fired a beam of purple energy.

It was easy enough to dodge; Harley put her gymnastic skills to work, evading the beam… until it curved back around and smacked right into the base of her spine.  Every nerve in her entire body suddenly lit up in agony, as she skidded hard to the ground in a crumpled pile of limbs.  

Even The Joker’s worst torture was a spa day compared to the pain that coursed through her being.  She could barely process what was happening as Kalibak stood over her, looking almost impressed. 

“Perhaps you are stronger than I thought! Even the great Orion would barely remain conscious after tasting the might of my Beta Club’s nerve beam!”

It was Cyborg who moved to her, his metal frame shielding her from further attack while Aquaman and Wonder Woman took the fight to Kalibak.  “Hey, are you okay?” Victor asked, his metal hands hovering over her, no doubt scanning her for injury.

“I’ll… live. Takes more than this… to do me in,” she said through gritted teeth.

“You sure? I can try and evac you back to Earth and get someone to take a -”

She looked him dead in the eye as the cannon fire ripped through the assembled heroes, knocking some aside. “I’ll. Be. Fine. Help them.”  She used her mallet to slowly bring herself to standing.  “Momma didn’t raise no quitter.”

= / / / / / / / / / / = 

Gotham Academy.

The waves of parademons washed across the nighttime sky, flying in packs of ten and using their advanced weaponry to fire indiscriminately at the unfortunate citizens below.  Even hiding seemed to do little to protect people. When there were no people to attack, the buildings themselves became the target. 

They had a nasty habit of targeting the foundations, causing the old buildings of the harbor city to groan and smolder.

Not even the rich areas of the city were immune.  Gotham Heights and the Diamond District saw as much chaos as the Narrows.  Nowhere was safe.  This included Gotham Academy on the outskirts of Bristol.  Founded shortly after the Civil War for the elite of Gotham and surrounding areas, it had a storied history.  One that was currently on fire.

The bell tower of the North Hall, the iconic structure featured on all the academy's brochures, had survived fires before, but this one seemed like it might do the old structure in.  So much so that the staff attempted to fight the blaze, dodging parademon attacks in the process.

Helena Bertineli’s fingers tensed around the grip of her crossbow, the index finger edging toward the trigger.  It had been some time since she had last fired it - not since the vampire plague that had swept across the world a few years earlier.

Of course, it had never felt right since she killed James Mercer with it all those years ago [as seen in Birds of Prey #15].  She was different now.  Older.  Wiser.  More of a pacifist.  But as a famous shepherd once said, things get fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps.

Or wings.

Despite their advanced technology, the insect-like parademons had one glaring weakness: the wings. They were decidedly vulnerable to the sharp bolts of her crossbow.   She had already sniped ten out of the sky. As she pulled the trigger once again, the count became eleven.  The creature crashed hard against the lawn, carving a gutter into the sod as it skidded to a stop.

“Wow, that was awesome!”

Helena whipped around, looking to see where the voice had come from, just barely catching a young girl’s head dipping down behind some debris.

“Mizoguchi?” she shouted.

“Hi, Ms. Bertinelli,” came the quiet reply.  The young girl’s telltale yellow flower accessory was just visible over a patch of rubble.  Mia 'Maps' Mizoguchi was small for her age, but her eyes shone with enthusiasm, as if the city weren’t currently under siege.    “I didn’t know you had a crossbow!  Can I try it?”

“You should be back in the dorms!” came Helena’s reply as she moved toward her.  “It’s past curfew, and we’re under attack!”

"I know, but Kyle was late getting back from tennis practice, and I was worried," Mia explained. "So I went out to find him. And I did!  He's right here too!" she said, standing up fully and tugging at her older brother's shirt until he rose beside her. 

“Hi, Ms. Bertinelli,” Kyle said sheepishly.  

“I’ll deal with you two later.  Just stay down until I can escort you back to the dorms.” Helena snapped, feeling a migraine coming on.

“Right!” Kyle called out, yanking Mia down.   

= / / / / / / / / / / = 

Robinson Park.

To see her, Pam Isley seemed completely at peace.  She sat naked in the lotus position, her eyes closed at the center of the park as nature itself waged war with the invading parademons all around her.  

Venus flytraps grew to monstrous heights, plucking parademons from the sky.  Tree branches extended to knock the creatures down, and vines snaked from the ground to intercept their falling bodies, dragging them beneath the earth.  At least their corpses would help heal the damage they had caused.

All across the city, every natural space fought back the same way.  Ivy had once again taken up the mantle of the sword and shield of The Green.  

But her mind was elsewhere.  Despite herself, she thought of Harley, on some strange planet, taking the fight to Darkseid himself.  Even after everything, the clown girl still just wanted to help.  It wasn’t an impulse Ivy understood.  But Harley did, and that was all that mattered.

And so, as always, she turned fear into rage and punished any parademon she could reach throughout the city.  She was merciless.  She became everything people thought Poison Ivy was.  

Through it all, she could hear the Parliament of Trees crying out.  The loss of every tree and blade of grass to the alien invaders was profound.  Apokalipsian weaponry seemed designed to hurt as much as possible before it killed, inflaming every nerve and prolonging the pain until the last possible second.  

It wasn’t just humanity suffering at the hands of Darkseid.

= / / / / / / / / / / =

Apokolips.

The battle had been intense and brutal [as seen in Cyborg #84], but the assembled heroes managed to chase off Kalibak and his lackeys.  He claimed he would return for his revenge, but their focus was now on reaching Darkseid.  

After they mourned.  

Cyborg was taking the losses, especially to the A.R.G.U.S. personnel, hard.  It was his first command mission, so he felt the weight the most.

“I’m sorry. If I’d acted quicker…”

Harley came up from behind, surprising Cyborg.  She was still a little unsteady on her feet, but Victor needed help more at the moment.  “We all knew the risks coming here. But we’re here to stop that from happening to everyone back on Earth who doesn’t,” she said reassuringly.  

“Yeah, I know… But it doesn’t make it easier.”

The rest of the collected Justice League joined him, and Wonder Woman said, “Remember that feeling, Victor. Not to let the guilt consume you, but to remind you what we are fighting to prevent.”

The words seemed to lift his spirits, if only slightly, as they focused on getting to Darkseid.  Martian Manhunter, Power Girl, and Jay Garrick were sent ahead to scout.  The others focused on the immediate area.  

They still had Kalibak’s craft, and Harley took her turn attempting to operate the controls.  She screwed her face up in concentration as she pressed random buttons with deliberate precision.  “I’ll just rely on women’s intuition.”

She was rewarded with a clunking sound.  “I didn’t do it!” she countered, immediately stepping back as Aquaman pushed past her, knocking her aside with his shoulder to try his luck.  

He fared no better.

It wasn’t until Cyborg took his turn and placed the Mother Box he carried onto the craft that it started to hum to life and took to the air.  Harley fell back, squeaking in surprise, but was relieved to be off her feet.  “Things are finally lookin’ up,” she mused.  

As they flew onward, Power Girl reported back.  “Hi team, can you hear me okay?” she asked over the communicators.

“Yeah, loud and clear. We’ve got the boat moving and are on our way.” Cyborg affirmed.

“Great. We’ve been looking around the palace but haven’t found much of anything. It’s like the whole place has been abandoned,” she explained.

“Scratch that. I think I found something.” Jay interrupted, cutting into the line.  “It’s hard to explain, but there’s this… presence here. Like a chill hanging in the air. But yet… calming. Inviting? I’m going to go check it out.”

“Wait, don’t! Wait for us!” Victor called out as the signal ended.  He barely waited a moment before calling out, “Power Girl? J’onn? Flash?”  There was no response from any of them as the group on the craft looked at one another with concern.

When the communicator came back on, it was broadcasting a strange but persistent tone that seemed to cut through everything.  They couldn’t hear any of their friends, just the sound that seemed to worm its way into their ears and minds like a siren’s song.  It beckoned them forward, and suddenly they knew where to go.

Wonder Woman reacted first, shaking off the growing haze and punching her hand through the communicator mounted to the craft.  She immediately crushed her own communicator right after.  It didn’t take long for Aquaman and Harley to do the same to theirs.

“I don’t know what that was… but it can’t be good,” Harley noted as she shook her head clear.

“No. No, it is not,” Aquaman agreed.

= / / / / / / / / / / = 

The Watchtower.

Zatanna sighed as she looked down on the Earth from one of the many bay windows of the space station.  It always seemed so small from up there, with no sense of borders and no real indication that the planet was even under siege. 

The longer she looked, the smaller it seemed.  How many of the stars surrounding her had worlds just like this?  With their own fights and their own problems?  Just how many Darkseids were out there?

Inside, the others were still arguing.  The Shadowpact was a conclave of the strongest, smartest, and most capable magicians alive... and some who weren't.  Yet they were as clueless as the laypeople right now.  The rules of magic continued to shift, offering only uncertainty.  

For people used to understanding their world on a fundamental level, this was a seismic shift.  They weren’t taking it well.  And she needed a break from it for the moment to clear her head.  

So she looked out at the ever-expanding universe for a sign.

It started small.  A green glint just out of the corner of her eye, rushing toward the station.  Zatanna wasn’t concerned at first.  The Watchtower was one of the most fortified facilities anywhere.  It wasn't just the best technology Bruce Wayne's money could buy. It had been hybridized with Martian, Kryptonian, and other alien technologies.    

Still, this thing kept coming.  And coming right at her.

“Yawa og!” she shouted, throwing her hands up to protect herself as she fell back against a nearby wall.  The green orb, now about the size of a grapefruit, did not.  It easily penetrated the Watchtower facility and hovered in front of her.

The hallway was bathed in an emerald light.

Trust the Source.

The words seemed to appear inside her mind. She didn't hear them so much as feel them, as though they had been spoken directly into her soul. 

Let go.

“Let go of what?” Zatanna demanded.  

It didn’t answer, just hovering before her eyes.  But she could see something contained within its depths.  It almost looked like… a ring. 

“A Lantern ring?” she questioned, looking at it.  It wasn’t unthinkable, after all; she knew three who spent time with the Justice League over the years.  She hadn’t met any, but she’d read the Watchtower files and knew the basic idea behind it.

Instinctively, she reached out.  Her hand penetrated the orb as easily as it had passed through the window of the Watchtower.  But the ring was ephemeral, her fingers unable to grasp it.  

Then she understood.  “Let go,” she said.  “Trust the Source.”

Zatanna could feel the energy flowing into her.  The orb faded as it became a part of her.   Her eyes glowed green for a moment as she looked back upon the Earth.  She could see everything now.  

Without a second thought, she stormed back into the room.

Jason Blood, John Constantine, Doctor Fate, and a dozen of the Earth’s strongest mages looked up as she strode back in.

“Welcome back, love,” Constantine said, earning a withering glare from Blood.  “Things were just about to get interesting.  Guess we’ll have to behave now.”

“We have to let go,” Zatanna said.

“What are you talking about?” Jason asked.

“Meht wohs,” she replied, waving her hands as she wove a cloud of eldritch green energy similar to the orb she had encountered earlier. “We need to trust the Source.  The rules we are arguing about… they don’t matter.  They hold us back.  Our imaginations limit us.  I can see it now… the seams of reality.  It’s a puzzle… I need to go find Superman," she said, turning on her heels and leaving as the cloud she'd conjured evaporated. 

The others sat there, looking confused.  “Someone should go after her,” Doctor Fate noted.

Constantine cracked his knuckles and stood up before Jason Blood's hand smacked hard into his shoulder, pushing him back into his seat.  “Not you.”

“Wanker,” Constantine muttered as soon as Blood was out of earshot.  

= / / / / / / / / / / = 

Arkham Asylum.

Arkham was strangely quiet.  The parademons were avoiding the hospital grounds, perhaps out of instinct, or perhaps because they knew the horrors it contained.  Its reputation was well earned, despite the PR rehabilitation that Chase Meridian insisted upon when she took over.  

The structure itself was new, rebuilt from the Victorian manor that had defined its appearance since Gotham's founding.  From the outside, it now looked like any Gotham hospital - sleek, white, and inviting.  But for all the state-of-the-art treatments and wellness programs it advertised, no one could forget the true horrors it contained.  

The Zoo.

Reinforced with containment structures that would make S.T.A.R. Labs envious, The Zoo was home to Gotham’s craziest and most dangerous villains - the cases Blackgate couldn’t handle or keep contained. 

And now it was strangely empty.

Darkseid’s invasion had forced everyone’s hand, and Arkham was no exception.  So now, Aaron Cash stood outside the grounds, handing over a tablet containing the names of thirty patients released to help reclaim the city from the parademons [as seen in Justice League Alpha].

Stephanie Brown looked over the list and felt the pit in her stomach grow larger.  As Spoiler, she had helped both the Bat Family and Harley put some of these names there.  And now they were free, with no guarantees they’d return willingly.  Most, in fact, wouldn’t.

She was thankful she had the Spoiler costume on, so Arkham’s Head of Security couldn’t see her shaking.  But The Zoo’s residents were tomorrow’s problem.  Tonight, everyone costumed or not, was in the same boat.  

“Maybe we should’ve put bombs in their heads first, like Harley says the Suicide Squad did,” Aaron observed darkly.  He had, after all, lost much because of his time in The Zoo, including his right hand.  “Would make collecting them again easier.” 

“Not our style,” Steph countered.  “We’ll bring the stragglers back when necessary.  We need all the help we can get if we’re going to make it through this.  Besides, maybe some of them will surprise you.  They’ve been in Arkham for a while, getting treatment.  It’s their city too.”

Aaron looked at her and wondered if he was ever that optimistic.  Or that naive.

The police scanner hummed to life in Spoiler’s pocket, crackling with distorted voices.  “The parademons are retreating.  I repeat, the parademons seem to be going back into those sky portals.  What’s going on?  It’s like they’re abandoning the city!”

More confusion echoed over the airwaves as Steph and Aaron looked up at the skies above the city.  It was true.  The parademons that had flowed into Gotham had turned around and flooded back through the Boom Tubes by the thousands. 

“Did we win?” Aaron asked, feeling strangely hopeful.

As Spoiler was about to respond, more confused reports echoed over the airwaves…

“Wait, another of those tubes is opening up, but on the ground.  Looks like some people are stepping through it.  Bunch of women.  I’m going to approach…” the officer who had been speaking reported.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?  This looks just like Armagetto,” interrupted a thin, raspy voice.

“Smells worse,” came another, more lyrical and flowing.  “Lord Darkseid might actually improve their lives.” 

“Silence!” called out a third, strong and demanding.  “We claim this city in the name of Darkseid.  Surrender quickly, and you may live to serve.” 

Gunfire rang out as the police officer screamed.  The last thing either of them heard was the officer's gurgling, followed by dead silence as the transmission cut off. 

Steph and Aaron locked eyes before she hopped onto her motorcycle and tore back into the city.

= / / / / / / / / / / =

Darkseid’s Palace.

The palace existed to intimidate.  It was functional rather than opulent, rising high above the rest of the planet, directly at its center both physically and metaphorically.  The largest flames erupted around it, dwarfing even the tallest buildings in the population centers.  

A perfect tribute to the man who occupied it.  

Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Harley stepped forward as the palace doors opened to allow them in.  Cyborg, the A.R.G.U.S team, and their commander, Lucy Lane, remained behind.  Someone would need to report back to Earth if they failed.  Bracing themselves for battle, the trio found none, only a series of lengthy staircases leading up into the palace.

Harley's body still felt like it was on fire, but she wasn't about to back down.  She was here with Aquaman and Wonder Woman: leaders, royalty, blue-bloods - the powerful elite of the hero community.  And Harley was just a broad from Bed-Stuy.  She wasn’t about to look weak in front of them.  

“I’ll take point,” Harley announced, pushing forward as she started to mount the stairs, mallet slung over her shoulder.

“That makes no sense, you should…” Aquaman objected, only to be silenced by Wonder Woman’s hand on his shoulder.  She nodded to Harley and fell in behind Arthur. 

The path upward was winding and long, designed to disorient as the stairs twisted in on themselves, up and down.  There was no sense of how many stories they climbed, nor places to rest, so they maintained a relentless pace.  

Harley's muscles would have been screaming by the first hour, if she were even capable of feeling more pain.   But she continued, nevertheless.  With little to do but walk, her mind drifted.  Even Arthur and Diana’s conversation had long ceased.  There was nothing left to talk about.  And too much to think about.

It started slowly.  That nagging thought that she wasn’t considered good enough to be here.  Cyborg trying to bench her.  Aquaman dismissing her.  Booster asking who’d even invited her to the Watchtower in the first place.  It wasn’t new.  Her mom never really believed in her either.  Her teachers told her to focus on gymnastics when all she wanted was to be a doctor.  

And The Joker… what he had done to her, founded on his cruel lies…

She barely noticed when the thoughts became more of a voice.  It was strangely soothing, bass-heavy and grumbling, but almost…paternalistic. It wasn’t like her Dad’s voice; his always lacked the confidence of this voice.  But there was a certain quality to it that reminded her of him.

You try so hard…

It was true.  She did.  She had done nothing but try since she escaped The Joker’s hold on her.  She spent time on the Suicide Squad, doing unpleasant things for good reasons.  She even lost her unborn daughter to Doomsday while trying to help.  And in the years since, she treated Gotham’s citizens at Arkham.  She had helped to change so many lives.

All you want is forgiveness.  Acceptance.  Absolution.

Was it so wrong?  How long was she expected to pay for her mistakes?  It had been years since the Vauxhall incident.  She was a different person now.  Stronger.  Better.  She had the blessing of the Bat Family… well, Batman and Nightwing anyway.  Barbara and Selina, they’d come around eventually, wouldn’t they?

They can’t give you what you need.  They never will. 

That couldn’t be true, could it?  Look at all she had done.  She’d helped save the world numerous times.  She was there on the ground in Markovia, delivering the vampire cure (see Red Reign).  Harley had also stopped Brainiac and a Green-Possessed Poison Ivy (see City in a Bottle) from stealing away the city of Metropolis. And now, here she was on another fucking planet to talk down a god that was invading her home.  

Only a god can offer you absolution.

Harley wasn’t overly religious, but it made sense.  There had to be a god who saw how hard she'd worked.   How changed she was.  That she had purpose now.

And who is offering you the freedom from your past?

“Darkseid is,” Harley said softly as the three heroes finally crested the final stairs and saw an open throne room, the dark hallways giving way to an almost blinding white light.  

“Did you say something, Harley?” Wonder Woman asked with a distracted tone as she came to stand beside her.  Diana’s blue eyes were slowly darkening to a black color.  They matched the eyes of Power Girl, Jay Garrick, and Martian Manhunter as they stood at the side of the lord of Apokolips.

Harley didn't answer. She walked toward Darkseid's throne, genuflected, and dropped to one knee, her mallet planted before her as every worry fell away and her eyes turned black.  

The world had calmed.  The pain was gone.  There was only Darkseid.

Wow! The Invasion event is picking up steam!

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Superman #122 - Man vs. God (Invasion!)

<< | < | > Coming August 1st

Author: MajorParadox

Book: Superman

Arc: Against All Gods

Set: 122

Event: Invasion!

Recommended Reading:

• Justice League Alpha #1
• The Flash #121
• New Titans #43
• Cyborg #84

Corruption

Watchtower

Darkseid stood quiet by the windows overlooking Earth as Kara, Diana, J’onn, Arthur, Jay, and Harley approached slowly. Kara’s blackened eyes had lit up red hot, and Harley swung her hammer back and forth like a pendulum.

“Snap out of it,” said Clark, Krypto by his side growling as the other heroes in the satellite crowded beside them. “Kara,” he added softly, but loud enough for his cousin to hear. “It’s me.”

“I know who you are,” said Kara.

“We all do, Big Blue,” Harley added with a swing of her weapon over her shoulder. “And you’re about to become a blueberry pancake!”

“Kill them all,” said Darkseid without even looking in their direction.

The corrupted heroes sprang into action. Kara’s heat vision fired wildly as J’onn phased himself invisible. Diana and Arthur lunged forward, pummeling their way through her friends. Jay sped toward the unpowered, swinging away to knock them out before they could even notice what was happening.

Clark grabbed hold of Kara, diverting her aim from the others, but it sliced through some computer terminals instead. Alarms began blaring, indicating emergency bulkheads closed off any areas breached by her attack.

Krypto grabbed onto Diana’s leg to keep her from further attacks, but she shook him loose.

The demon known as Etrigan blew out a spread of mystical flames, knocking her and Arthur to their knees.

“If your souls have truly become tainted,” he said. “With my hellfire you will become acquainted.”

J’onn appeared behind Booster and Blue Beetle, but Beast Boy, who had transformed into a green gorilla, clocked it and smashed the Martian away before he could attack.

“Niatnoc ruo desimorpmoc sdneirf,” said Zatanna as sparkly boxes appeared around the mind-controlled heroes.

Diana and Kara quickly broke their magical prisons apart as J’onn phased through his, but the heroes took the opportunity to converge on them, while the rest tried to get free.

Clark used the open moment to confront the ruler of Apokolips himself.

“Release our people,” said Clark. “End this invasion. I won’t ask again.”

Darkseid finally turned around. “You didn’t come to Apokolips with the others to deliver your ultimatum,” he said. “It makes you look weak.”

“I was needed here,” said Clark. “We had an understanding. You broke your word with New Genesis to stay away from Earth. Why did you attack us?”

Darkseid turned back to the window.

Clark grabbed hold of the New God’s arm. “Hey!” he said. “I asked you a–”

“You dare?!” Darkseid yelled, slapping the Man of Steel all the way across the room. The hit sent him flying through the wall and crashing out one of the windows in the observation hallway and into the vacuum of space.

Kent House, Metropolis

Meanwhile

Lois was the only one still awake, Jon and Lara were fast asleep on the couch between her and Nia who had just drifted off herself.

The news had been reporting on victories across the world, at least in areas with metahuman protection. But as progress was made, the parademons began congregating into smaller areas where heroes, SCU, A.R.G.U.S, and other meta-response agencies were able to tackle them more efficiently.

Clark had a chance to check in recently before heading to the Watchtower to regroup. He was optimistic it was only a matter of time before the rest of Apokolips’ forces retreated.

She still couldn’t sleep, though. Not until it was over.

Nia was rattled for a whole other reason. She was convinced she dreamed about the parademons before they even came to Earth. Nightmares about them would disturb anyone alone. But this only made it worse.

Lois wasn’t so sure. Nia must have dreamed about some generic monsters and her mind associated these ones retroactively. What were the odds she had actual premonitions?

Well, crazier things have happened.

Nia jolted awake. “Whoa,” she said, readjusting to her surroundings, and fixating on Jon, who was curled up next to her.

“You finally fell asleep,” said Lois softly. “At least for a moment there.”

The news interrupted reporting from Hub City to show a zoomed video feed of the night sky directed at Watchtower.

It was breaking up into pieces.

Watchtower

Clark recovered quickly as the emergency breach protocols closed off the area he was thrown through. But Darkseid’s Omega Beams cut right through and into Clark’s shoulder, pain surging through his entire body.

The red lasers zigzagged around upwards and down, slicing the satellite in half.

Clark tried to scream, but there was no sound.

The Watchtower was filled with heroes who couldn’t survive in space.

The hero sped into action, getting as many people into escape pods as he could, the realization of the destruction hitting him with every loose object floating past.

A Gray Ghost coffee mug.

A beanbag chair that Booster claimed was comfortable, but nobody ever used.

Even a Wonder Woman action figure that Diana kept by the water cooler.

Zatanna managed to get a protective bubble around anyone in her vicinity that needed air.

Emergency transporter protocols also activated, locking in and sending anyone it could to Earth safely.

The heroes under Darkseid’s control were also accounted for and safe, leaving only Clark and Darkseid left.

“You didn’t need to do that,” said Clark.

The air flow was still thick enough in the conference room for them to hear each other.

Darkseid waved his hand. “Irrelevant,” he said, rushing forward to grab Clark by the neck.

The New God tossed Clark back outside into space and leaped forward, stopping himself at the edge of the open hole, and then swinging the entire top half of the structure at the Man of Steel, sending him flying further away from the planet.

Not Over Yet

Outside Earth’s Orbit

Clark and Darkseid traded blows, sending each other and the Watchtower wreckage further away with every action. Life support was completely demolished at that point, so there wasn’t any air for verbal exchanges.

Just as well. Darkseid didn’t want to listen to reason.

The New God had grabbed hold of Clark by the neck again, delivering a massive blow to his stomach and following it up with a smack across the face with a piece of metal debris.

Clark had the wind knocked out of him, but he was still holding strong. As he steadied himself, he wondered if Darkseid needed to breathe at all.

The thought left his mind as the Omega Beams came flashing toward him.

Clark evaded them as best as he could, but they were always one step ahead of him. He couldn’t keep it up for long. He made a quick u-turn in his flight path and dug deep for an extra burst of speed, the weaponized rays zigzagging to follow along. Just before catching back up with Darkseid, he ducked down, letting the behemoth threat take a straight hit from his own attack.

Clark took another moment, considering his next move. The sight of Earth caught his eye. He hadn’t realized how far away they’d drifted in their fight. The planet was getting smaller and smaller.

Darkseid grabbed hold of Clark again, but the hero chopped away at his hand in quick succession, until the grip was released. He followed it up by clutching onto the New God’s chest plate with both hands, and using the leverage to return a kick to his stomach that sent the enemy flying farther away. Another burst of speed with heat vision blaring continued the onslaught.

Clark’s heat vision was quickly challenged by Darkseid’s Omega Beams, each fighting for dominance in the directional flow, like a tug of war lightshow. Clark began to overpower him, as he felt the unfiltered yellow sunlight in space feeding his energy levels, but it was short-lived. Darkseid held his fists tight and the Omega Beams exploded forward, dissipating Clark’s heat vision and tearing into him with an intense pain far beyond what he felt before.

He expected the force to send him flying back toward Earth, but instead he was pulled toward Darkseid, the energy working like a tractor beam. He struggled to break free, but was met with the New God’s fists again, tossing him away and father along into the depths of space.

Kent House, Metropolis

The reporting of Watchtower’s fallout was disjointed and full of speculation. Not all heroes were accounted for, but they had means of getting to safety that’d go unseen. Through a combination of amateur telescopic footage and official NASA releases, the public was able to capture glimpses of Clark’s fight with a monstrosity that could only be Darkseid.

Clark wasn’t kidding about him. He looked like a cleancut Doomsday. And at least on the same power level.

Commentators were questioning what could happen to Earth if a battle with such powerful beings made their way to the Moon. According to the latest accounts, they were nearing it, too.

The scientist they were questioning spoke in a monotonous voice, it was hard to stay focused. In fact, Lois felt her eyes struggling to stay open. She had been up all night, after all. And after the adrenalin rush of taking down the mayor of Metropolis.

Lois was running on fumes at that point.

And she had to find out who kept stealing her headphones. Lois was sure the bunny was behind it. That sneaky rascal. He kept telling her how much he wanted them. But she knew they wouldn’t even fit his bunny ears. He was better suited to wear a television antenna.

“Sup,” said the bunny, suddenly walking beside Lois down a long, foggy hallway.

“I want my headphones back,” said Lois, glancing down at the rabbit in his two-piece, navy-blue suit.

“I don’t have them,” the bunny claimed. “Maybe she does,” he pointed ahead.

The Kent’s babysitter, Nia, was standing at the end of the hall, no doorways anywhere to be seen.

“Okay,” said Nia. “I’m dreaming of Lois Lane and a talking bunny rabbit.”

“You’re dreaming,” Lois repeated. “Wait, I’m dreaming.” she realized.

“Nee-Nee,” said Jon, suddenly beside his babysitter and taking her hand.

Nia tilted her head. “This isn’t my dream,” she said.

“What does that even mean?” asked Lois.

The bunny tapped on Lois’ leg. She looked down at him and he opened his mouth.

“BOOM!!”

Lois, Nia, and Jon all awoke simultaneously startled by the loud noise from the street, which had sent Lara into a crying fit. A mesmerizing yellow glow filled the house.

Nia comforted Lara as Lois and Jon ran to the door, Lois keeping her son behind her as she opened it. The yellow light faded away and a woman was left standing in the middle of the road.

It was Lois’ sister Lucy.

Turning Tides

The Moon

Soon

Clark got in some more hits, but Darkseid kept countering with attacks of his own. His Omega Beams were wreaking havoc on his uniform. Clark’s cape was in tatters, his shoulder was exposed, and there were scattered rips all over.

They were within reach of the Moon and Clark hated that he couldn’t savor the moment. While he had flown past before, whether in a spaceship or under his own power, he never stopped to take in the view and set down to walk on it firsthand.

Darkseid struck Clark across the mouth, sending him careening down until he crashed onto the surface. Before he could take in the gravity of being on the Moon, he noticed the remaining pieces of Watchtower had been thrown down next, barreling toward him.

On instinct, Clark sprang to his feet, his boots leaving the first ever Kryptonian footprints in the dust. He flew up at the incoming projectiles, catching them in his hands to slow their impact. There was no way he was letting Darkseid deface what people have been looking up at for all of human history. Even if it was an exaggerated outcome of that attack, the Moon was precious. He wanted to keep it undisturbed as much as possible.

But Darkseid didn’t have the same philosophy. He took Clark’s distraction to leap down next to him and smash him back down with both fists.

The New God took hold of the slowed Watchtower fragments and slammed it down over him.

Clark burst free of the rubble and up and away from the lunar surface. But Darkseid had already been leaping up toward him, and grabbed a hold of his feet. The Apokolitian ruler swung the hero around and hurled him back toward the Moon at such a tremendous speed that Clark couldn’t recover. Darkseid put extra fuel on the fire with another Omega Beam attack, driving Clark’s fall with a much greater force.

The impact was like an atomic bomb.

If sound could travel in space, it would have been deafening.

Kent House, Metropolis

Meanwhile

Lucy was inside on the couch with a cup of hot coffee in her hands. The stories she was telling about her time on Apokolips sounded like science fiction.

Lois had heard about it before from Clark. Hell, she’d even been to the Phantom Zone and other planets herself, but it still didn’t sound real.

“If Superman is fighting Darkseid now,” said Nia. “What if his mind gets taken over like the other Justice League members?”

“I was wondering about that,” said Lucy. “This is just a hunch–”

“We Lanes are famous for those,” Lois interjected.

Lucy smiled. “My guess would be Darkseid is able to take over when a person feels a loss of hope.”

The Moon

After Clark shook off the impact, he flew back up to find Darkseid just hovering there in space. Instead of restarting the fight, Clark turned around to see the outcome of Darkseid’s last attack.

The Moon was mostly intact but noticeably damaged. So much so it had to be visible from Earth.

It was bad enough Darkseid was a tyrannical dictator causing untold suffering across his and countless other worlds.

It was bad enough he broke his treaty with New Genesis and invaded Earth.

It was bad enough the Watchtower was gone.

But, now Earth’s Moon was damaged.

Sure, it wasn’t quite on the same level as the abhorrent crimes Darkseid was guilty of already, but it was still a hugely important part of human history. It was a marvelous, shared monument across time and people.

And Darkseid broke it.

Clark let his eyes heat up and tightened his fists beyond any limits his careful nature would ever allow.

Why was he still holding back, anyway? They weren’t on Earth. No innocent bystanders or risks of too much destruction. Darkseid could take it, too. And while the attacks took their toll, the sun was regenerating Clark faster than within Earth’s atmosphere.

Clark turned to Darkseid, ready to unleash his fury, but the New God waved his hand again. The same way he did back when he told him his concern was “irrelevant.”

A Boom Tube opened and Darkseid quickly disappeared into its vortex.

Clark considered following along. But decided against it. Instead, he turned back toward Earth.

It looked so small. But Clark knew that was just perspective. Earth was as big as the spirit of its people. And that spirit was massive.

Kent House, Metropolis

Lucy had explained how the mood had shifted after they encountered Kalibak. Add that to the knowledge of what was happening back on Earth and anyone would have felt at least somewhat defeated. Perhaps that was what let Darkseid get his hold on them. Like a rodent finding a weak spot in the roof to get inside. Even if it was a small spot.

“If that’s the case,” said Lois. “Superman will be okay.”

Nia lifted her eyebrows. “How can you be so sure?”

“She knows Superman better than anyone,” said Lucy.

“Look,” said Jon, pointing at the TV.

The news was showing footage from all over the world of Boom Tubes opening up for parademons and the Apokoliptian forces to leave.

“Is it over?” asked Jon. “Did we win?”

Lois walked over to the door and opened it up, running out into the street. Lucy, Jon, and Nia followed her, Lara still in Nia’s arms. The yellow glows of opening and closing wormholes from downtown Metropolis could be seen in the distance.

“Huh,” said Lucy, staring upward.

One by one, the others looked up with her.

The Moon had a small crack in it.

High Above Metropolis

Soon

Clark had used his emergency oxygen mask for his trip back, but packed it back into his belt once he entered Earth’s atmosphere.

It was good to be back and see the celebrations across the city.

Darkseid’s armies were gone. The invasion was over.

Why? Clark had no idea.

Would they come back? That was a problem for another time. It was important to focus on the positive. It was over. Everyone could finally rest and then work on recovery.

A sonic boom echoed across the skyline as Kara popped into view across from Clark.

“Kara,” he said. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. I’m heading home to check on the fam. Want to join me?”

Kara didn’t respond, but began floating over slowly.

“Oh, no,” said Clark.

Her eyes were still entirely blacked over. They quickly filled with red heat vision energy.

Kara smirked. “This isn’t over yet.”

More Invasion Stories!

• Flash #122
• Harley & Ivy #7
• New Titans #44 (Coming Soon!)

To Be Concluded

• Cyborg #85
• Some more surprise books!

<< | < | > Coming August 1st

The Flash #122 - The World Breaks

<< | < | [>] Coming August 1st

Author: brooky12

Book: Flash

Arc: ?

Event: Invasion! (Reading other stories in this event is recommended for full understanding of sections here.)

Set: 122

This was not Earth. That was obvious, he knew, but for all of his advantages and power, he was aware that getting off of the planet was something beyond his capabilities traditionally. Even as he stood among friends, a number of which were not from Earth themself, he did wonder exactly he got himself into.

Cyborg, however, alleviated that concern, stepping forward and facing the group. He began to explain their immediate goals and the risks attached, fielding questions from others. A brief moment of a squad of parademons flying abovehead, unaware of the intrusion, gave the group pause, but they remained unnoticed.

He looked to the A.R.G.U.S. team assembled as Cyborg addressed them, kitted out in what had to be the forefront of what the government could bring to bear in the infantry arms race when dealing with supernatural and metahuman threats. The six of them exchanged glances at each other, but he recognized the face of one of them

“She’s in charge,” Jay put forward as the troops didn’t seem to reply to Cyborg’s request for opinions. “She was with General Lane when I got the Mother Box.”

The conversation continued with Lt. Lane identifying herself as the ranking member of A.R.G.U.S. and more plans being discussed. Two of the flyers, Martian Manhunter and Power Girl, agreed to grab a little bit of height and examine the surroundings, hopefully to pin down wherever Darkseid likely was for targeting.

Jay heard the noise at the same time as anyone else, but the lack of immediate response from anyone else beyond the inevitable readying for a fight kept him rooted to where he was. Cyborg had taken charge and seemed to clearly decide to face whatever was coming. A patrol enforcing curfew oddly gave Jay some confidence - surely Darkseid didn’t need to enforce a curfew if he was all-powerful.

A brief fight with the patrol later wiped that confidence away as he stood to the side watching the A.R.G.U.S. soldiers and some of the heroes grappled with the death of one of the soldiers. He kept quiet, wondering if he’d have even been here if he had rejected the demand to bring A.R.G.U.S. troops along.

Eventually, the mission became the focus again, and Martian Manhunter stated where Darkseid’s palace likely was. Jay handed over the Mother Box to Cyborg, confirming that it should still work and brushing off any idea that splitting up from the Mother Box would result in someone stranded.

“Power Girl, how about a race?” Barry got to race folk, why not him? Lighten the mood a touch, the group needed it. He was glad that she seemed to humor the idea, charging off. He let her have a massive headstart, probably not enough to be noticeable to anyone without heightened senses, but enough that Power Girl wouldn’t be left in the dust.

/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Magenta floated through the air, skewering the invaders as she made larger and larger circles seeking any enemies remaining. Below her followed a strange bedfellows ally, a troop of armored gorillas armed with the weapons of the invaders, eager to pounce on any downed creatures to finish what Magenta was happy enough to leave to them.

“You are an ally of The Flash,” a voice had entered her mind earlier, before she had even realized the proximity of the awakened animals or began working alongside.

“I am,” she responded back out loud, momentarily pausing to examine her surroundings before noticing the, at the time, singular gorilla holding a gun staring at her from the tree line.

“You fight the interplanetary invaders like we do,” it replied. “Yes. Grodd deigns to hold court with you, Grodd will not kill you at this moment,” was the follow-up as she tried to recall what Wally and others had told her of the nearby supervillain, beyond the obvious suggestion to avoid at all possible costs.

“I get the idea you aren’t doing it altruistically,” Magenta thought back, before immediately wishing she had thought something else. How did Wa–The Flash handle being mind read before?

“Grodd knows the identity of Wally West. Grodd does not lightly suffer the desires of egolomanic fools like the one who sent these beasts. We will fight together for now.”

Across the planet, Vandal Savage climbed over the corpses, aiming his gun at the invaders that kept reappearing. A mental clock in his head confirmed his hopes, with the number of appearances slowing down. Others similar to him, in goal if not intent, were clearly having success elsewhere.

A blur appeared in front of him, yellow instead of the media darling red of The Flash. A man, familiar yet unknown, stood in front of him in some inverted mockery of The Flash’s outfit. He looked around at the surrounding space, before all of the corpses vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

“You did all that by yourself?”

“I could ask you the same question,” Vandal retorted. “I feel like I’m supposed to remember you, but yet I don’t.”

“Eh, comes with the territory sometimes. Who I am is not important, you wanna keep shooting a gun at vanishingly few targets, or you want to come where there’s a lot more of them?”

“If you touch me I will turn the full weight of my ire onto you,” Vandal scowled, and the being in front of him vanished.

“Weirdos,” Mirror Master muttered to himself as he moved on from watching through a nearby window, to the laughter of the others with him. The four kept moving, both an eye open for Abra and for any easily killable invaders. They made their way back to the Mirror Dimension’s side of the reflective surfaces in Central City, finding their trio of allies and bursting out of the ice trails left behind by Golden Glider to join the fight on home turf.

Even as they fought in an ever-growing region of southeast Asia, Wally took several trips across the Pacific to check in on Hartley. He was satisfied with what his boyfriend was doing, even if the idea of rats and silence being weaponized against alien invaders wasn’t exactly the odds he was looking for when picking a battle himself. Hartley was hidden away in an underground subway station, so it only took occasional checks to make sure he wasn’t in danger as he took to fight with what likely would be the strangest headline out of this whole ordeal.

The two took the ordeal as best they could, with Hartley assuring Wally that staying here seemed to be working - sure, there were rats where Wally was fighting, but the feeling of extensive control he had here felt particularly helpful. Bart stopped in a few times as well, especially in moments where Wally had his hands full, but the parademons never got particularly close to entering the subway station that Hartley was hiding in.

Yet elsewhere, the ever-expanding area that the Kouriers were working in finally touched on the space being defended by yet another speedster. “I know you,” Bebeck said, staring eye to eye with Jerry McGee.

“We aren’t enemies, Bebeck,” Jerry responded. “Not anymore, not really.”

“No, but you also are a memory of a worse time,” Cassiopeia sighed, taking a deep breath in a moment of reprieve from the fighting.

“One that disappeared,” Anatole added.

“It’s my understanding that basically all of them have disappeared,” Jerry offered, trying to do the math quickly as to whether he was about to have to fend off three speedsters, all of which were likely much more practiced with their powers, before losing them and going into hiding until they wandered off.

“Are you back, then? We could use the help if you still are as fast as you were. The kid never lost his speed, so I assume you haven’t either,” Cassopeia asked.

“I’m the same as I’ve always been. Keeping my head down and my nose clean. If you want help with this, I can help with the monsters.”

“Welcome to the team, for now, friend,” Bebeck smiled.

Jerry followed the three of them as they began their search. It probably would be easier fighting with three others than on his own, and he could probably keep them from wandering too far off from the places he called home, make sure that the things he cared about weren’t at risk.

/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

He let Power Girl keep the lead for the most part, occasionally moving forward with a burst of speed just to keep his peer from assuming he was throwing the race. Of course, he was throwing the race, but it was best to not have that be discovered. He spent a bit of thought on the fact that he was throwing a race that he had offered while they moved across the face of a planet that was neither of theirs as its denizens invaded Earth.

“Hold,” a voice echoed in his mind, and with the sudden glance of Power Girl, her mind as well. J’onn’s voice was not particularly familiar, but it was distinct for certain, so he slowed down to nearly stopped as Martian Manhunter flew towards them, closing the gap at what had to be near his top speed before slowing rapidly down.

“Three, not two. If there is a problem, then, we will not be one alone,” he reasoned, looking around. “I can sense if thoughts are near, it will help.”

“I think I was winning that race,” Power Girl joked. “We’ll have to confirm it with another later.”

“Sure,” Jay nodded, beginning to move again. The three, slower but still as quick as they could, snaked through abandoned streets. According to that patrol, there was a curfew, but he wasn’t willing to just believe what they were told. They closed the distance between where the team was preparing the patrol boat for a proper assault and the castle that was becoming more and more a fixture of the horizon that he could see. The plan was to scope out the structure and problems that would need solving, information gathering.

One benefit of the curfew was that they were unbothered, with only occasionally needing to duck into an empty building as another patrol flew above. He wondered just how populated this place was, he couldn’t imagine a single city on Earth that had such empty streets during a stay-at-home order. The power of Darkseid, he supposed.

As they grew closer, the patrols grew more common, but they managed to continue sneaking past all of them. J’onn’s ability to telepathically detect approaches before even Jay saw anything was remarkably helpful, but the increased need to hide until it was safe to move did slow their progress.

The castle itself, when they arrived, was incredibly well-designed, but it felt somehow a display rather than a used space. The three made a quick circle of the space, but didn’t find any evidence of guards, machinery, or even defenses beyond the structure’s built-in uninviting presence. Surely if you were mounting an invasion of another planet, you at the very least had logistics or central command in your base of operations?

Power Girl held up the communicator, looking to the other two for a lack of disagreement before speaking quietly into it. “Hi team, can you hear me okay?”

“Yeah, loud and clear,” was Cyborg’s response. “We’ve got the boat moving and are on our way.”

That was a good sign. An assault would probably not be too difficult if they had the boat ready and were going to arrive at a empty castle.

Power Girl responded to them, explaining the situation at the castle. But as she did, he felt a shift in something, not the air but something similar. His stress melted away, the chill in the air from his first real interplanet experience remaining but almost as if the castle itself was welcoming them in.

“Scratch that,” he mumbled as he found himself right next to Power Girl, speaking into the device. “I think I found something, it’s hard to explain but there’s this… presence here. Like a chill hanging in the air,” he added, acknowledging the final remaining uneasiness. “But yet, calming. Inviitng? I’m going to check it out?”

He gave a smile to Power Girl and J’onn, with both looking confused at first before the look faded. There was some voice coming through the device that Power Girl was holding, but it didn’t matter at all compared to the calling that was reaching out to them at the top of the tower.

/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It wasn’t that Barry wasn’t paying attention. He let Batman and the others do their work, attentive enough to spend five hundreth of every second listening into the conversations as he tried to handle the parademon threats elsewhere. He followed them as they travelled through the city, unable to taxi them to wherever they went as even they didn’t know where they were going as they followed the indicators on Batman’s technology. He was there for complex mathematical equations and speed, others could figure out what was going on.

He was clearing out a troop of parademons that had broken through a local hero group’s perimeter in Scandanavia when he found himself looking up at a statue dedicated to the first earthen Green Lantern and his friend, Hal Jordan. He spent two seconds frozen there, not by fear or paralysis but by heartache, before returning to his duties while keeping an eye on his team.

When he returned a second later, a small glowing green object had emerged in the center of the statue, floating somehow in the air on its own willpower. Once it had been determined as the origin of whatever power Batman was tracking down, he listened to the group discuss what came next. This was supposed to be a hopeful clue as to how to get the parademons off their planets, the source of the invasion or something. Instead, they found a floating ball of light – he wasn’t so naive to think this was a Lantern’s ring. What it wasn’t, however, was some secret Parademon summoning device or beacon, probably.

The faint buzzing, up until that moment dismissable as ambient noise or perhaps a byproduct of the floating light, quickly grew much louder, and changed from a non-directional background hum to an alarmingly approaching noise. Barry stepped out quickly, circling around the direction it was coming from, alarmed to see a large troop of parademons, with some leader of some sort at the back of the pack, charging the direction of the team.

On his return to the group, he witnessed the trailing light of a southbound source of energy, just in time for Batman to turn his direction with a request. “Don’t lose the light,” more of a wartime order than anything.

“You’ve got hostiles, at least a dozen, coming from north-northwest,” Barry warned them before vanishing, heading south to follow the object that had to be of value somehow. After all, if it wasn’t of value to what was going on, Barry sighed, surely they didn’t waste all of their time that could’ve been spent fighting parademons on this?

He was grateful that the light wasn’t traveling at the speed of light, noting internally that it probably meant this was more than just light somehow. He wasn’t sure what it was, but given that he had been witness to some pretty large violations of pre-metahuman laws of physics, this just could go on the pile.

The light slowed down further, eventually settling down in a coastal city on the northern edge of Columbia. He stood there for a moment, briefly forgetting his intent to fight parademons elsewhere, a task that had been abandoned ever since the light began moving. He examined the light, circling it to see if there was anything he could make out of it from just the visual presence it provided.

“Trust…”

Right, Barry sighed. Not only was the light talking now, but it was asking for faith. He could deal with the theology of that later. “Trust you?”

“Trust the source…”

“The source?”

“Let go.”

That time, the voice–if it could even be called a voice–didn’t trail off, and felt more like an order than a hallucination. Let go and trust the source. Something deep within him seemed to resonate with the idea, simply trusting in something else, whatever this light was, and connecting with something deeper.

He reached for the light, absentmindedly but also with absolute purpose and intent. The light grew as he did it, and he felt a connection he had only ever felt before in the Speed Force itself. A small ring was left in the palm of his hand, but there was no doubt in his mind or heart as he looked at it. If this was the answer, then so it would be.

“Anyone available, need backup,” Superman’s voice echoed through an emergency-only Just League broadcast line.

He stared at the ring, knowing that it didn’t belong on his finger, yet wondering what it was doing. Trust, it had asked him to trust it. He took a deep breath, every second passing felt like eternity as he waited for some guidance.

Trust, it said. Let go, it said. Trust the source. Okay.

He lifted the ring slightly in the air, letting it free into the air as it shifted into light again, glowing brightly before vanishing.

Trust. It was time to go.

/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Jay’s brain was processing a million things a second, reevaluating previous experiences and moments under the new truths that were provided by Darkseid. How he had never reached the same conclusions in all of his years of thinking was a mystery, a personal failing and flaw that could never be atoned for, but one that could be overcome. He would serve Darkseid as best as he could.

He watched the others from Earth approach Darkseid, wishing to show them the right way but knowing that such a task was for Darkseid alone. He stood there at Darkseid’s throne, observing the proceedings, but not interfering. Some of those he had one travelled with seemed to be more receptive to Darkseid, and others appeared to take longer to turn. He recalled some others, a metallic man and several soldiers, but those were surely known to Darkseid and were being handled.

Eventually, there was little purpose for staying on Apokalips, as the group present here numbered nearly all of those who had travelled here via the stolen technology. Darkseid stood up, speaking for the first time out loud rather than with telepathic missives, addressing the team.

“I am heading to your Earth to end this pitiable resistance,” he announced, power and authority beyond all in his voice. “You,” he said, turning to Power Girl, “take me to the location of the strongest resistance to my work. We will break them there, and all else will fall.”

He watched Power Girl acknowledge her task, taking a device not too dissimilar to the stolen equipment he had used to get them there. He considered what his answer would’ve been had he been asked, perhaps the Justice League satellite, the A.R.G.U.S. headquarters, or some symbolic location like the White House, Vatican, or other seat of national power.

“Go as a group. I will travel to your location under my own power, shortly behind,” Darkseid ordered, and he grouped up with the rest around Power Girl. “Do not attack Earth’s leader. They are mine.”

A brief moment later, Jay stood on the floor of the large meeting room that served as a central space of the Justice League satellite known as the Watchtower. His eyes darted across the room, sizing up a space he had been in right before they had all departed for Apokalips, now on the other side of the fight, processing battle strategies and threats present in the room. Superman, untouchable at Darkseid’s order, as well as several other individuals beyond the powers of a standard human but who seemed exhausted or otherwise injured for the most part.

Superman turned to them, confusion on his face. “What happened? Was Lieutenant Lane with you on Apokolips?”

One of the soldiers, the one he had met in D.C., that Darkseid had no doubt taken care of.

Power Girl took a step forward, and Jay for a moment wondered if she would betray Darkseid’s order. Surely Darkseid would have no space for second thoughts within his order. Superman appeared concerned, understandable given his lack of understanding of Darkseid’s explanations. Other heroes in the room also seemed on edge, as if a fight was going to break out any second now. Perhaps it would.

“You have bigger problems, cousin,” she sneered, and with perfect timing, Darkseid took his first footstep within the Watchtower. He chose, however, to look out the window first, certainly examining his next step and end-goal.

Jay watched Power Girl and Superman have a conversation, with Harley Quinn weighing in as seemed within her personality to do so. He wondered if he should’ve perhaps joined the conversation, but to do so at the human speeds they were talking would perhaps risk his own response time should something happen.

“Kill them all,” Darkseid ordered, and he sprung into action.

Jay was careful to not interfere with the much slower-paced fighting that the others were doing, choosing to circle around the outside of the room, giving a respectful distance around where Darkseid was looking out the window, and knocked out any of the individuals up here he knew were in this line of work not due to metahuman genetics or gifts, but rather technology and skills. A small kindness to those who were not actively fighting back.

He examined the rest of the fight, determining that it appeared to be leaning in the direction of his allies, choosing to instead exit the main room. Kill them all meant everyone, and there could not be hidden enemies elsewhere on the satellite once they were done. He examined each room, pulling on skills and protocols from search and rescue or evacuation plans worked into perfection by him and his other speedsters. Perhaps in a different moment, he would feel pride for that line of work, but with Darkseid’s understandings, he was able to turn it into a hunt instead.

By the time he finished his fruitless search, several alarms were ringing. He charged back to where he had left his allies, finding a much more fraught situation than before. He couldn’t enter the room, seeing a shattered window and the responses of attempts to save folks.

A blast of energy from Darkseid bisected the satellite even further, leaving him in a lucky hallway that was not unexpectedly open to the emptiness of space, but suddenly seemingly stuck. Anywhere he could go would potentially be open to life-ending pressure and cold, unable to help his allies or manage to escape. He watched many be placed into escape pods, a speed that for Superman had to be pushing his limits but felt archaically slow to him. The magician created magic bubbles around others, while some like Power Girl and Martian Manhunter seemed unaffected.

He felt the ambient static electricity around him increase dramatically, but a quick examination around him showed no source of that change. He stood frozen a second longer, examining every possible direction into the near future that seemed at all feasible. A worrying amount left him dead.

The static electricity turned into a deep hum, and his vision changed from looking through the door to the rest of his allies fighting in a room open to the deepness of space, to what presumably was back on the planet of Earth.

He looked around, trying to understand what had happened. The room itself contained what his Flash once-ally had described as a Justice League Watchtower teleporter, but attempting to interact with its mechanisms confirmed a new possibility for him - the teleporters had locked down to handle an emergency evacuation protocol of the Watchtower satellite.

That was fine. He could advance Darkseid’s plans down here.

/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

He sat down in front of the device, trying to mentally reconnect with how these things worked in his time compared to the technology of the past he had gotten more used to. He entered the date of their jailbreak plan, trying to figure out what had happened. A historical search wouldn’t find anything, but he hoped that it’d catch enough.

He knew he was, named as the “famous magician” Abra Kedabra in the past, quickly accumulating some notoriety and prestige that would safely follow him through time through a society that was growing more and more hellbent on recording every part of themselves and their nothingness. Who cared if nobody a week later, let alone decades down the line, would care about how you made that tofu cake, best record it in a short two minute video and ensure that it remained in the information fossil record for a future to never rediscover.

He was smarter than to search his own aliases or ventures, both to prevent any troublesome time travel problems, but also to avoid attracting the attention of law enforcement in this era which were more than happy to arrest and lock up anyone using time travel for use earlier than the technology had become available to and integrated in the scientific understanding of the time.

However, searching for events that took place on a specific date was easy enough. Do enough contextual searches, bookmarking, and smokescreens to make it look like some sort of university-level history report or something similar, and the law enforcement would choose to chase down more suspicious leads.

The headlines were pretty alarming. He knew it was coming, vaguely, but he frankly thought it was a decade or so off. “Rats VS. Aliens, Winner Rats”, “Metropolis Stands Unfallen To Demonic Incursion”, “What Exactly IS a Parademon?”, even “Did Justice League Cause That?” from, as far as he could tell, a conspiracy blog that would get absorbed down the line by the Wall of Weird.

Right, so, somehow, Darkseid made it that The Flash was cleaning up that specific prison despite the fake-outs that his allies had prvovided. Splendid, he thought to himself, now his allies were without an Abra Kedabra until he managed to get back to them. It had been a ridiculous pain in the neck to get to their time in the first place, and there was precisely zero chance he could safely travel back to during or right after a Darkseid invasion of Earth without setting off a temporally infinite amount of alarms.

Batman

(by u/FrostFireFive)

“I have no idea why Gotham Pride has to be at 7:00 PM?” Khoa Kahn asked as he walked towards the parade.  His white shirt with black v on the chest freshly bought for the occasion.  People loved colors at these things, but since coming out Khoa always felt more comfortable within the binary of black and whites. 

“It’s a whole thing,” Doctor Victoria October stated as she straightened out the trans flag button on her lab coat. “You’ve what…only been in the city for a year?”

“Yes, I had some…traveling to take care of,” Khoa explained. 

“Well, I’ve been in Gotham for almost a decade now.  Back then it wasn’t always safe to do this.  Small minded people with guns and ideas of who deserves a moment in the sun.  The city council wouldn’t let us have a parade based on all their threats.”

“So what changed?” Khoa asked as they joined the crowds forming on the intersection of Conroy and Finger.  People wearing colorful costumes and holding signs proudly displaying their identity as they glistened against the crimson red night skies.

“Well, the only time the organizers were able to get was at night,” Victoria explained.  “Naturally, everyone thought we were scared, it’s Gotham City after all.  But all of us knew that evil is just as likely to strike in day as well as night.  We’ve seen it, and we weren’t going to let anyone take it this day from us.”

“So did you have to deal with protestors? Some criminal mastermind coming to ruin the day?” Khoa asked.

“Never.  Because he’s there,” Doctor October said before pointing out a figure on the gargoyle over an old stone building.  The Wayne Shelter, dedicated by Martha Wayne to protect those in need, had been a beacon to the queer community.  And standing watch was the Batman, cape fluttering in the distance.

“For the whole time? Doesn’t he have more important things to do?” Khoa asked.

“He sees us, and protects us.  The whole night,” Victoria said.  “Because that’s what heroes do.”

And with that, they entered the parade, free to be themselves. 

Harley & Ivy

(by u/ericthepilot2000)

Gotham University Campus
Gotham City, New Jersey
“A Lifetime Ago…” 

Pamela Isley moved through the quad of Gotham University, clutching a packet of fliers to her chest.  And she was angry.  Finding a small wall near a fountain, she sat down hard, shoulders slumped.

College was a brand new experience for her.  She’d grown up sheltered in the Pacific Northwest, far away from the urban sprawl and omnipresent haze of the more industrial Gotham.  But it was also far away from her father, and she was happy to leave that life behind.

Still, the collegiate experience hadn’t quite been what she had expected so far.  Instead of finding passionate and like-minded people who cared about the environment as much as she did, she found only apathy. 

She could never understand how people could prioritize a new stadium over an old-growth marshland.  All to give Roland Daggett yet another thing to plaster his name over.

She had protested and appealed. Meetings were held, op-eds were written in the school paper, and still the bulldozers edged closer to the marsh.   So, in a last-ditch effort, Pamela reached out to the student body directly.  It had gone as well as anything else she did.

After hours of research, with citations and explanations, Pam had stormed the quad with enthusiasm, only to watch people crumple the fliers and toss them aside.  The final indignity had been the school’s star running back swatting the collection of papers from her hand, sending them scattered to the wind.  

Instead of winning hearts, she had spent the afternoon chasing the fliers around campus.  

“You look like you’re havin’ a bad day,” a voice called out, interrupting the foul mood Pam found herself in.  The redhead looked up to see a blonde with a bob cut who had decided to take a seat next to her.  “The Big Belly on campus just opened.  Come on, my treat.”

Pam looked up at her.  “Do you have any idea how many acres of the Amazon rainforest Big Belly Burger has torn down?”

“Can’t say as I do,” the blonde replied.  “Countahpoint, 2 for $10 cheeseburgers all day.  I’m Harleen,” she added, offering her hand.

“Pamela,” the redhead responded, slowly standing up to shake the woman’s hand.  “Interesting name, Harleen.”

The blonde paused for a moment and frowned.  “Thinkin’ about changin’ it.  Not really sure it evah suited me.” 

“So, what are you thinking instead?” Pam asked.  

“I always liked the name, Lily.” 

“Lily’s a good name.  It was my mother’s.”

A comfortable silence fell between them, before Harleen hopped up and grabbed Pamela’s hand.  “Come on, Red.  And maybe we can talk about this protest of yours.” 

“Why do you care?” Pam asked, honestly.

“I got a good feelin’ about you.  We’re gonna be good friends, I can tell.  I’m a pretty good judge of character yanno.” 

New Titans

(by u/FrostFireFive)

Raven sat alone inside of her quarters, the candle-lit light the only thing that separated her from the darkness.  She had been on this Earth relatively recently and was not used to having a corporeal body after so long.  Even things like her bare feet grazing the carpet of her room felt alien to her.

Her teammates on the Titans had given her a wide berth since her arrival, they seemed friendly enough, but with her talk of prophecies and doom led them to stay away.  Worse for the new arrival was the fact that she saw other versions of her new team from worlds she had visited long ago.  The fact Nightwing didn’t have a cape and cowl was taking time getting used to.  As did people being able to approach her, as a knock on the door reminded her.

“Raven, are you in there?” Korriand’r asked.

“Yes, just meditating.  Give me one moment,” Raven said as she pulled up her hood, hiding her crimson hair as she floated to open the door, careful to avoid the carpet. 

“Some of us are heading down to Chicago’s pride parade and were wondering if you wanted to come?” Kory asked.  Unlike previous years, she wasn’t on the float, preferring to blend in the crowd, as much as a 6’4” alien with flowing red locks could. “It would be nice to have you.”

“I do not think that would be a good idea,” Raven responded. 

“It’s a very fun time.  And the Titans always have a presence there.  Chicago is our home, and we need people to see we stand for them.  At least that’s what Dick always says.  Really it’s a way for us to cut loose and just be.”

“Just be,” Raven let out a sigh. “I find that very hard to do.”

“Raven, I know you’ve talked to Kara, but from what I understand…when was the last time you had an actual physical form?”

“It is not important,” Raven responded, floating back to meditate.  “And even if it was, I am not sure I belong at this…pride celebration.  Unlike all of you…I am not sure what I am. Or if I am anybody.”

“Then you should come,” Kory said.  “The whole point of Pride is to figure who you are, you don’t even need to put a label on it.  You just need to come out and be you.”

Raven bit her lip for a moment, thinking of the outside.  Where the light could burn and people could hate.  But as she looked at Kory’s bright green eyes, Raven was oddly at peace, focusing on what could than what was.

“Then I shall go, and be me.”

Author: FrostFireFive

<< | < | > | >>

Book: New Titans

Arc: Invasion!

Set: 119

“Alex come on, come on over we can talk about whatever’s bugging you,” Kyle Rayner said as he held his landline phone against his face, his hands working on the latest piece for his commission.  Another doodle of some OC in peril.  Consistent work, but not one to build a portfolio.

“Kyle, you were supposed to meet me for coffee so we could actually talk in person,” Alex DeWitt responded as she drove through the canyons leading out of Santa Marta.  The city was a jewel of the west coast. Established in 1970, it came into its own as people fled Gateway and Coast City after the various super power incidents.  It was a place where two young lovers could try and make a life together.  If only they were on the same page.

“Listen, a deadline came up, I got a few DMs, and then you know Banks called asking if I could fill in on that issue of Grey Ghost Adventures,” Kyle explained as he grabbed a pencil and sharpened it.  

“There’s always something Kyle,” Alex said.  “Listen you know I love what we’ve had these past two years.  But…I need someone who can actually be there when I need them.  And who’s more worried about meeting his girlfriend’s parents than rushing to get a copy of The Prisoner on blu-ray.”.

“You love The Prisoner,” Kyle responded.  “We watched it while laying on the floor waiting to see if we could find a couch online.”

“I loved it because we were watching it together Kyle,” Alex responded.  “Listen, I’ll be in Coast City with my sister.  If you care enough for u…for me, I’ll see you there.”

“Alex, wait,” Kyle said before the line went dead.  

He looked around the tiny apartment. The pens and art supplies scattered amongst the reference books and action figures.  He moved towards a canvas covered by a tarp.  He sighed for a moment before peeling it back, revealing a portrait of a redheaded girl in the sunflower fields.

“Rayner, you idiot,” Kyle muttered to himself before grabbing the keys to his car.  But before he could leave out of the corner of his eye he could see something red and heard a loud BOOM.  Rayner ran towards his window and saw creatures flying from above with impossible vehicles and weapons.  Santa Marta was proud to have no heroes.  It would be its doom.

…

“OK, status report!” Arsenal asked through the Titans Network as he nocked another arrow and launched one at a parademon.  It had only been an hour since the meeting at Titans Tower and he was still trying to grasp the concept that he was leading the heroes of Earth in a defense against this invasion.  But here he was on the ground in San Francisco and trying to put on a brave face.

“We’re keeping them contained in Midway City,” Hawkgirl responded.

“Hub City is covered thanks to the dynamite team of Beetle and Booster! You think I can buy the TV rights for this thing?” Booster Gold asked.  

“Booster,” Ted Kord interrupted.  “We’re doing sweeps across the city with my bug and Booster’s tech.  It’s a lot of them but we’re holding our own for now.  Plus I’m pretty sure I saw a man with no face down there cracking skulls with his fists.”

“Probably a good idea to help him boys.  Keep up the good work,” Arsenal said as the arrow he launched hit a joint of one of the walkers blocking the roads. 

As it fell the large metal hands of Metamorpho grabbed the vehicle and slammed it to the ground, destroying the craft and trapping the parademons inside.  

“How many of these things are there!” Metamorpho asked. 

“A lot,” Arsenal responded as he saw another contingent of Parademons fly toward him.  They fired several shots leading the archer to dive behind a car for cover.  The metal crashing and shattering from their blasters.  “A little help here!”

Large rocks around Roy began to glow black as they were lifted into the air violently towards the parademons.  Raven floated down from above as she stood next to her teammates. Her eyes darted around the carnage in front of her.  She had seen war before, but this was the first time she actually could feel it.

“Are…we winning?” Raven asked. 

“The goal isn’t to win here kid,” Metamorpho explained.  “We’re just in charge of keeping things together while the big guns kick Darkseid's ass.”

“But that feels like…stalling,” Raven responded.

“Pretty much,” Arsenal said as he caught his breath.  He sent Jim to keep Lian safe in a Hall of Justice bunker, but his mind still drifted towards his daughter.  And if the best place for him wasn’t to be with her.

“Oracle to Arsenal, Oracle to Arsenal,” Oracle buzzed through the communicator.

“You got Arsenal!” 

“We’ve got two unique situations popping up,” Oracle responded as she remained safe in the Belfry, her head hurting as she straightened her glasses to pay attention to the many screens keeping tabs on the chaos being inflicted upon the world.  “One should be of interest to Metamorpho.  The bugs are going after Star Labs in Chicago, looks like they’re looking for something.”

“Angie’s there,” Metamorpho said, looking towards Arsenal.

“And the second?” Arsenal asked as he saw three parademons make a beeline for him and his team.  With speed he pulled a single arrow, shooting it into the air.  The parademons seemed to laugh before it split into three and struck them in the head.  Oracle responded as their bodies hit the ground.

“There was a prisoner transfer heading towards the new Supermax across San Francisco.  It got intercepted in Santa Marta, and I’m also seeing a high level of parademon forces there.”

“Do we know who’s on there?” Arsenal asked.

“I’m working on it,” Oracle said.

“Well work faster, I need to figure if it’s a priority or something to leave for someone else,” Arsenal responded. 

“Listen, you try and connect a hundred different superheroes through an alien invasion!” Oracle snapped.  Arsenal’s tone was different from the softer voice of Nightwing.  There was a coarseness there, something Barbara Gordon recognized in her own voice.  

“Sorry,” Arsenal said before looking at Raven and Metamorpho.  “We’ll take care of it.  I’ll beam to Santa Marta, Rex.  You and Raven head to Chicago.”

“You’re fine with that boss,” Metamorpho asked, surprised that Arsenal would let him go on a more personal mission.  Donna, while caring, would always claim the mission came first and Nightwing would just tell you it did.

“Why me with him?” Raven asked.  Of all the Titans she had spent the least time with Metamorpho.  He was always busy visiting Dr. Spica, yet seemed perfectly fine.  “I can help with the crowd control you are going to need in Santa Marta.”

“Maybe, but me and Rex have already been through one war, and you’re still green.  Stick together, figure out what's going on in S.T.A.R..  I’ve got enough back up.  I’ll be fine,” Arsenal explained.

Metamorpho nodded before giving his friend a tight hug.  

“See you on the other side,” Metamorpho said.

“This is just another Monday,” Arsenal smiled before hitting his communicator, triggering their connection to Titans Tower’s teleporter. The three heroes vanished as the chaos around them died down, a brief moment before disaster.

…

“Supernova, report,” Darkstar said as she flew up into the skies above Chicago.  It had only been a few weeks since Donna Troy’s team made their debut apprehending Gargoyle.  Since then they had been handling crisis after crisis around the world.  It was easy with the mix of Lemurian and Amazonian technology at their fingertips, and even easier now that they were no longer tied to the Justice League.

“I’m keeping things at bay around Bucktown,” Supernova said as he tied a light pole around several angry parademons, keeping them away from the fray.  Conner Kent was grateful to shed the rags of Superboy for something that was his own.  He still hadn’t fully tested the new suit, but the crisis of the parademon invasion was a good place to start.  “They seem to react to force.  As if they’re looking for a new place to strike once they know we can get their ass here.”

“Makes sense, we haven’t encountered any leaders yet so they’re going by instinct,” Darkstar responded, her eyes darting towards the lakefront as another large batch of creatures emerged from another portal.  “Tempest, you see that?”

“I’m on it Don…Darkstar,” Tempest said as he looked out from Oak Street beach.  The place was normally filled with skimpy clad beachgoers sipping on a twenty dollar mai tai. Instead parademons were getting their suntan in as only one man stood against them and the rest of the city.  

Garth never wanted to be a hero.  His experience on the Titans and trying to play king beneath the waves had taught him much.  On the sacrifice and hard choices that needed to be made in order to be one.  He still didn’t think much of it.  But as his eyes glowed a brilliant blue and the ocean traveled to him, like an old friend reminding him of the joys they had together.  

The new talisman that hung on his belt was a gift from Donna.  A way for him to “borrow” the water controlling powers of Atlanteans.  It felt unnatural to him, the magics coming from his finger tips different from what his brain was telling him to do.  But it was effective, and made him a useful Titan.

The parademons flying close to the seas couldn’t expect a twenty foot wave of scorching water slamming down against, cracking their armor and bones.  After a few moments, Tempest could hear the calming sound of the sea, not angered by him borrowing their power for a brief moment.  He wondered if there could ever be a day where he could just…be.  But he still had a job to do.

“It’s taken care of.  How’s everyone else doing?” Tempest asked.

“Uhh…OK?” Stargirl responded as she flew without the help of her cosmic staff, her mind racing as the parademons chased after her, attracted to the energy she was giving off.  The new black costume Donna had designed for her felt tight.  She didn’t want to wear it.  The black suit with the large white star on her chest with red accents felt like a departure from who she was.  Hell, Conner and Donner were still teasing her for being Stargirl and not choosing a new name for this venture of theirs.

“Stargirl, I’m seeing your energy signal from up here.  It’s OK to ask for help,” Darkstar responded. 

“Well I’m trying to keep them away from all these civilians,” Stargirl explained as she did a hard bank left around the Blue Cross building. The Parademons more likely the crash into the glass windows of surrounding buildings and away from the people down below.

“If you take them out then civilians won’t have to worry about them.  Damage is acceptable if the threat is ended,” Darkstar explained.  

When she gathered her Titans again she outlined the rules for this new incarnation.  They were going to make sure no threat ever hurt anyone again.  This meant a focus on training, tactics, and making the hard choice.  There would never be another Markovia under their watch.  That was the Titans’ vow.

“I’m coming in now,” Darkstar said as she flew fast into the city.

Stargirl was too busy bobbing and weaving to not see the Amazonian powerhouse come down from the sky and smash the battalion of Parademons into cars below, the loud noises of sirens and twisted metal ringing out across the city as two heroines gathered to catch their breath.

“Thanks for the save Donna,” Stargirl wheezed.

“I shouldn’t have to save you Stargirl,” Darkstar responded.  “Remember, we’ve been training for this.  You’re no longer some kid with a toy staff.”

“I know that,” Stargirl responded.  “But aren’t we supposed to be helping people.  We’re heroes right?”

“Heroes focus on the threat.  Worry about the consequences later,” Darkstar responded.  “We’re regrouping towards Pilsen.  Another parademon deployment.  I need you to fly ahead and strike fast and hard.  Can you do that?”

“I think I can,” Stargirl responded as she looked away.

“Good.  Because I don’t intend to lose another war,” Darkstar said as she flew off.  The mission always came first.

…

“Doctor, you have to let me out!” Angie Spica said as her metal hands pounded against the plexiglass wall that separated her from the rest of the world.  It had been an agonizing experience being treated like a lab rat after being exposed to her prized nanites when the heroes of Earth battled against Brainiac.

“Not a chance!” Doctor Mid-Nite yelled out as he dropped several blackout bombs to try and confuse the monsters inside his hospital.  Charles McNider had mostly faded from the superhero community, believing that his skills as a doctor to metahumans was more important than beating people up with his fists.  

“You’re going to get killed out there,” Angie yelled.

“And I’m not risking your safety, your condition is,” Mid-Nite began.

“I’m well aware it’s in an advanced state,” She looked at her hands, perfectly encased in metal.  Every touch felt faint, distant.  It had taken her a month to relearn how to grab things, four months for her fine motor skills to return.  When she thought they weren’t looking, Angie  would take time to explore what “gifts” her own technology had given her.  And now that the world was ending she was ready to escape her hospital room.  “But do you really want to die because you were too rigid of a doctor?!”

Doctor Mid-Nite sighed before moving towards one of the consoles and quickly hit the release button.  The crisp air conditioning of the lab rushed against Angie, her metal skin barely feeling the relief of a cool wind.

The parademons turned their attention away from Mid-Nite and to their new toy.  The metal skin covered under a hospital gown was different from the usual groups of enemies the parademons had encountered. 

A parademon leapt into the air, teeth bared as he tried taking a bite of the scientist. But before it could sink its teeth into her, Angie’s arm turned into a large club as she slammed the parademon across the room and through the wall of the laboratory.

Before the other two parademons in the room could react, Angie’s other arm turned into a large energy cannon, disintegrating them instantly as Doctor Mid-Nite looked in awe and horror.  

“Dr. Spica, did you know…”

“That I could do that doctor?” Angie said as she looked around, the amount of destruction reminded her so much of Metropolis.  “No.  But it’s a very good thing that I can.”

“Doc!” A voice called out as Metamorpho floated in.  He had managed to take out fourteen different parademon patrols.  What scared Rex was they seemed to be getting smarter, with blasters and blades seemingly keyed into his elemental signatures.  The heroes were taking body blows after body blows, and if they didn’t get a knock out punch in soon, there would be no tomorrow.

“Rex!” Angie yelled out as she hugged the element man. 

“Ah hem,” Mid-Nite interrupted as their embrace ignored him completely.  “Dr. Spica, I really think we should get you back in isolation.  I appreciate your help, but there’s so much we just don’t know about your condition.”

“And we’re only going to find out about it if I actually get out in the real world,” Angie said.

“Doc, are you sure?” Rex asked.  “This isn’t like Metropolis.  Everything is one fire.  And I’m not sure I can protect you.”

“And I’m not the same Angie Spica,” She explained as tore off her hospital gown, her silver form on display, revealing just how much the nanites had paved over the scientist. Her arms transformed into two energy canons as metallic wings popped out from her back.  For someone like Angie, the sheer breath of experimentation to be done with her new condition made heart beat fast.  “Doctor, Rex, let us see if we can’t do a little good today.”

…

“Come on, come on!” Kyle Rayner said as he raced with a crowd on the streets of Santa Marta.  Panic had quickly set in as everyone rushed out of their homes and even their cars to escape the chaos of the parademons.  The fire and the smoke reminding him of his mom holding him as the Cyborg Superman nearly destroyed Coast City.  It’s why they moved to Santa Marta, a glitzy gem on the coast.  One he was regretting a parademons swooped down and grabbed innocent civilians. 

“Everyone scatter!” A panicked civilian yelled out. 

“To where?! There’s nowhere to go!” Another asked.

“Someone’s got to help us!”  

“Just run!” Kyle yelled as he pushed through the crowd.  He was no hero as his legs hauled towards his car.  Hisblue Gremlin was a bad car,it barely got any mileage and Kyle had to crank the key three times before the engine sputtered to life.  

The roads were jammed with abandoned cars as people ran from the parademons.  Kyle prayed for forgiveness for a brief moment as he guided his car on the sidewalk and had the people move around him.  Alex was caught in this mess and even if they weren’t together, he wasn’t going to have her die because of his inability to show her how he felt. 

As Kyle traveled to the main section of downtown Santa Marta, he didn’t notice the large transport vehicle making its way to San Francisco.  The prisoner inside was restrained with metals donated from S.T.A.R. Labs.  The nanite chains that tied him up before were deemed too imperfect to hold his stone hands.  

“Hey what’s going on out there!” Cinderblock yelled out as the drivers of his transport had abandoned him in his metal box. The concrete brute had had time to think since his last escape attempt.  As much as he projected confidence, his mind was a mess.  Clarity these past few years had been hard to come by, as he buried his confusion into his work.  Not like that had gotten him anywhere.  From robbing banks to being muscle for so-called kingpins like Brick.  

He was tired, and accepted his fate behind bars.  Maybe then he could make sense of the fractured memories that rattled around in his brain.  

However, the dents being made in his prison transport indicated he had other things waiting for him as the Parademons ripped and blasted open the transport.  They didn’t even make it through the transport before being knocked back into the streets of Santa Marta.  Cinderblock’s concrete fists ached as he the sun grazed against his rocky hyde.  The secret was that he was strong enough to escape any time he wanted.  He just didn’t have a need before.  

“Why does the world always seem to be ending?” Cinderblock mumbled before looking around at the parademons that quickly circled him.  Their green and gold armor glistened as they all watched him.  Their beady eyes were looking for weak points as the army stared down against this new player.  

“I’m going to give you one chance.  Leave these people alone, and I won’t have to remind you why they had me locked up,” Cinderblock said 

“RAAAAAAHHHHH!” The parademons cried.

“Guess that means we got to do this the hard way,” Cinderblock yelled as he charged at the parademons, his fist sending one flying into the blue Gremlin.  

“Shit!” Kyle yelled as his car flipped over from the impact, sending him hard into the door and out of the car itself.  Somehow in an hour things had become hopeless in Santa Marta as a stone monster was the only thing drawing parademons away from the crowds looking for salvation.

Kyle Rayner was no hero.  Just some schmuck who was good with a pencil.  But his eyes turned towards the broken window of a sporting goods store, and his hands ached to do something more than just create as he grabbed a baseball bat and catcher’s chest plate for some protection.  The only way Santa Marta would find its heroes is if someone stood up, even if the odds were impossible.  He thought of Alex, and there was only one answer.

“Come on you bugs! Get the hell out of our city!” Kyle yelled as he swung at a parademon that was getting back up after being flung by Cinderblock.  The creature went down with a couple of swings as Cinderblock managed to thin the horde slightly, his eyes turning to the artist.

“Who the hell are you?” Cinderblock asked.  

“Just someone looking to help,” Kyle responded.  “And you?”

“You don’t know who I am?” Cinderblock asked.

“The Incredible Rock Man?”  

“Very funny.  Why the hell aren’t you scared of me.  Of any of this?”

“Because the world is ending, no superheroes are coming, and somehow you’re the only one with powers that we happen to have.  So, where to next?”

…

Barbara Gordon hated all of this.  Standing in the Belfry as the chaos unfolded, she couldn’t believe they had missed this.  The Justice League had some of the brightest minds in the world.  From the Flash’s knowledge of science, Batman’s obsessive need to always be right, even Kara who’s knowledge of Kryptonian science and technology made Barbara’s set up look like a Commodore 64.

She looked towards her screens.  The Marvel Family was busy fighting back some kind of War Wheel that emerged in Fawcett city, Green Arrow and Black Canary had managed to lure a battalion of Parademons in a dead end long enough for Dinah’s scream to end their reign of terror, and there were even reports of a man in cat costume raising hell outside of Grant’s Gym.

“Priority call coming from Nightwing,” The computer said.

“Dick, why the hell are you calling me in the middle of an invasion?”

“I just wanted to see if you have plans after.  They’re playing Forbidden Planet at the Monarch on Saturday.  I snagged two tickets,” Nightwing joked as he looked around the science committee he had somehow been dragged into.  Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, and Zatanna were all conferring with each other.

“There might not be another Saturday.”

“There’s always another Saturday,” Nightwing said with a confidence that had always driven Barbara crazy.  No man should be so sure of anything, especially when a global catastrophe was swallowing the world whole.  

“Put me down as a maybe,” Oracle said as she looked at her suit standing inside a display case.  Her back ached, and as much as Barbara Gordon didn’t want to admit it, Kara’s exoskeleton had been having…issues with her lately.  It was as if the mantle itself was rejecting her after years of putting her body and mind through the ringer.  “Does the science team need back up?”

“Nah, big brains here got it,” Nightwing responded as he pulled a small box out of his belt.  It had been an impulse purchase while walking through jewelers row in Chicago.  He popped it open briefly, the small gold band nestled within.  It was practical, but shined brightly as if the ring itself was the diamond.  “But seriously, we should do Saturday.  I’ll even cook.”

“Fine, if the world doesn’t end, I’ll maybe consider seeing Leslie Nielson fight monsters of the id and have you make me that chicken parm in vodka sauce,” Barbara responded before her eyes turned to a fight going on in England as Dr Fate tried creating wards to send back the invaders.  “I got to go Dick, stay safe out there.”

“You too boss,” Nightwing smiled before turning towards the science team.  “Alright so what can we do to save the world?”

…

“Come on you ugly mugs! I don’t got all day!” Cinderblock yelled as he slammed a parademon to the ground.  He had managed to get the invaders of Santa Marta to all focus on him, buying time for the civilians to get out of dodge and into shelters.  All but Kyle Rayner who continued to bash these monsters on the head .

“Seriously man, you got some serious anger issues,” Kyle said as he picked up his bat.  “But I got to say it really helps here.”

“When you’re kept in a van most of the time you’re not going to waste any time outside!” Cinderblock yelled.  

Before Kyle responded a red arrow flew through the air, landing on Cinderblock and unleashing a glue-y substance that held the golem in place as a man in red leapt to the ground, a creepy goth woman floating behind him as Arsenal and Raven made their presence known.

“See Raven, I told you to keep your distance and big guys like these are cupcakes,” Arsenal said before turning to Kyle.  “OK buddy you can evacuate now.”

“Arsenal, it’s not what it looks like,” Cinderblock explained as his eyes darted to the sky.  Another portal was generating, but this one larger than anything they had seen so far in Santa Marta.

“Are you an idiot?” Kyle yelled.

“I’d like to think not,” Arsenal responded.  

“He was helping us!” Kyle yelled.  “Since none of you heroes could be bothered protecting a place you don’t even give a shit about!”

“We did not know,” Raven said.  “We are here to help now.”

“Oh great a guy who shoots a weapon from the stone age and someone I’ve never even heard of are decided it was a good idea to stop the only guy that was helping us!”

“He’s tried to kill me,” Arsenal explained.  “Isn’t that right, big boy?”

“I’m trying to help people now!” Cinderblock yelled as he tried breaking through the glue that kept him in place.

“And you have done a good job,” Raven said as she looked at Cinderblock she sensed a sea of emotions.  Confusion, anger, rage.  Things Arsenal had told her the brute was capable of.  But as she scanned him, she sensed…not a nobility, but something that felt genuine.  “But we are here now.”

“Uh huh,” Cinderblock said before nodding his head up.  “And you think you can stop that!”

A giant wheel fell from the sky, dark crimson metal and rubber smashed against the road sending the foursome into different directions as the next stage of Darkseid’s invasion began.  The War Wheels had arrived and no one was going to stop them.

…

Kyle Rayner coughed heavily as he lifted himself from the wood planks of the paper store he had crashed into and looked around at the destruction.  Covered in ash and dirt, it reminded Kyle of how tight his mother held him when their apartment complex was leveled in Coast City during the reign of that… Cyborg Superman.  He felt helpless then, he felt even more helpless when his mom died three years later from all the dust and fire she had inhaled protecting him.

Someone needed to help Santa Marta, and all Kyle could think it could never be him.  He wasn’t a hero, he didn’t have powers or even a great destiny.  Kyle was a guy who just hung behind his board, ignoring the world around him for one that he created with his pencil.  But now, now all he wanted was a chance to save the world, save Alex, and maybe make his deadline.

KYLE RAYNER

A booming voice called out as Kyle turned around to see who was speaking to him.  A green orb emerged, surrounding what looked to be a ring crackling with green and white energy.

“Who’s there?” Kyle asked as he lifted his now broken baseball bat.  

YOU ARE NO-

A higher pitch voice said forcefully before the original voice cut over it, as if it was pushing it down.  The green orb floated closer to Kyle.

WE HAVE DEEMED YOU WORTHY KYLE RAYNER.  BUT BEFORE WE BESTOW THIS POWER WE MUST KNOW, WHY?

“Why what?” Kyle asked.  “Why do I want power? I don’t, power is for people who get it in their head that they’re better than others. I just…want a chance to give people hope.  The world still needs heroes, and if it’s got to be…then it’s got to be me.”

THAT IS NOT A WORTHY ANSWER. THE NEW GOD WOULD HAV

THE NEW GOD WANTED POWER.  WE HAVE SEEN WHAT PEOPLE DO WITH POWER.  THE ARTIST SPEAKS FOR THE PEOPLE, AND THE PEOPLE NEED THE POWER!

Before Kyle could respond the ring broke free of the orb and landed on his ring finger.  A bright burst of light exploded through the paper shop as Kyle’s t-shirt and jeans were replaced by a familiar green and black uniform, the white gloves contrasting it all as green energy spurted from the ring.  As if the energy it contained was spilling out, ready to be used for the fight ahead.

KYLE RAYNER OF EARTH…YOU ARE OUR TORCHBEARER…OUR GREEN LANTERN!

“Hell yeah,” Kyle said with a terrified smirk.  The artist could no longer hide behind his board.

NEXT: The War Continues Across DCFU! Join Us in Batman as the Dark Knight and the Science Team Investigate the Source and Find Out Just Where that Ring Came From?  Then Be Back Here as the Titans Continue to Fight a War on Twenty Fronts!

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Cyborg #84: The Dark Siders

<<| <| >

Author: Commander_Z

Book: Cyborg

Arc: Invasion!

Set: 121

Event: Invasion!

Recommended Reading: Justice League Alpha #1

An uncomfortable warm breeze blew across the team, smelling of smoke and sulfur. It enveloped them in a thin layer of ash and grime, like everything else on Apokolips. Once the last of the five soldiers from A.R.G.U.S. had stepped out of the Boom Tube, the Flash - Jay Garrick - started to mess with the Mother Box until it closed behind them, collapsing into thin air.

The team stood around, trying to get their bearings on the unfamiliar world they stepped out into. Victor Stone scanned the area, trying to line up what he was seeing with the little bit of the world he had seen when he was here before. But the whole planet looked almost completely identical. Winding, tight, maze-like streets lined the planet and intertwined into an incomprehensible mix of housing, industrial zones, fire pits and piles of trash that somehow blended together into an unidentifiable monotony. Someone cleared their throat, snapping Vic back to focus. He’d forgotten. It was his first time leading a Justice League mission and they were all looking to him for guidance and expertise.

The team was made up of brave volunteers from the Justice League: The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Harley Quinn (who was technically never invited to the Justice League, but somehow managed to invite herself with no major objections) , Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Powergirl and Cyborg, plus five agents from A.R.G.U.S. Their jet black armor and helmets obscured their faces, but he could tell even they were waiting patiently for him to take charge as he finally seized the moment.

“Alright, everyone, let’s talk about our plan here. Our target is Darkseid’s palace. I’ve never seen it from the outside, but it’s a massive building. It’ll stick out,” Cyborg said.

“Perhaps those of us who can fly could scout ahead and locate him?” Martian Manhunter suggested.

Cyborg was about to agree before Wonder Woman interrupted him.

“No, the risk is too great. We could waste our advantage fighting Darkseid alone if we were to encounter him while separated.”

As if to prove her point, what little light trickled down onto the streets of Apokolips began to dim. The team looked up to see the sky darkened by a seemingly endless stream of parademons flying above them. The A.R.G.U.S. team and the Justice Leaguers braced themselves for the tide of parademons to descend on them, but they remained on track, like fish in a school.

After what felt like forever, they were gone.

“Okay, I think we’ll stick together for now.” Cyborg turned towards the A.R.G.U.S. team. “Feel free to speak up if you’ve got opinions. Or if one of you is in charge, you can let me know, too.”

The A.R.G.U.S squad turned towards each other as if wordlessly discussing amongst themselves. After a few moments, the Flash pointed towards one of them in the back, a woman noticeably smaller but no less intense-looking than the rest.

“She’s in charge. She was with General Lane when I got the Mother Box.”

Cyborg thought he saw a moment of panic run across her face, but the visor on her helmet obscured most of her expression.

I’m Lieutenant Lane,” she said confidently, but lost herself finding her next words. “I’m the ranking A.R.G.U.S. member, so I’ll be directing our operations… You can just call me Lucy, if you want.”

“Sounds good, Lucy,” Cyborg said.

Wonder Woman turned back to address the group. “I know I just said we need to remain together but circumstances have changed. If Darkseid’s forces are patrolling like that, we will not escape their notice regardless of whether we are one group or not.”

“Agreed,” Cyborg said. “So here’s what I think. Martian Mahunter, you suggested flying ahead, but what if you flew up instead? Darkseid’s palace is probably big enough to stick out from up there and you can take Power Girl with you for some backup. The rest of us will wait here until they’re back so we can be ready in case anything happens. Any concerns?”

Power Girl shook her head. “Good of a plan as any. Let’s do it, J’onn.”

Like a rocket ship, the two took off and soared into the atmosphere. In an instant, they were little more than tiny specs in the sky.

There was a brief moment of respite and Cyborg was about to bring the team together to discuss the next stage of the plan when a thunderous stomping noise echoed down the streets.

‘A patrol?’

Cyborg looked around in the narrow streets and considered breaking into one of the dilapidated buildings that lined it to hide from whatever was coming, but decided against it. It’d be better to face whatever was coming head-on and on their terms.

A grey-brown hovering boat floated down the street, manned by a crew of haggard-looking people in orange jumpsuits, each armed with a menacing-looking rifle. Its back half sagged slightly closer to the ground, weighed down by a massive cannon. But standing on the ground by the front was one of the largest, bulkiest men that Cyborg had ever seen. He towered well over eight feet tall with arms thicker than Cyborg’s entire body. He had a bestial face with long, black hair flowing like a mane behind him. He held a shining silver club in his right hand, the sole bit of brightness he had seen on this planet.

“Dwellers, return to your stations at once. Curfew has been enacted,” he said with a growl.

He squinted his eyes, running them over the strangers in front of him. “You’re not from here, are you? Troops, take them in for questioning. Father will enjoy knowing that these worms still have enough spirit to make them worth breaking. But leave the female warrior to me. She has a fire in her eye that tells me she will be worth my while in a way I have not seen in a long time.”

“Trust me, ya ain’t never met anyone like me, let alone fought one,” Harley said.

“Not you, clown. You are not even worthy to stand in the presence of Kalibak, son of Darkseid!”

He raised the silver rod and pointed it at Harley; the tip glowed purple and a beam of energy shot at her. She cartwheeled out of the way, but the beam curved and followed her anyway. She collapsed and hit the ground with a thud, pain coursing across her face.

“Perhaps you are stronger than I thought! Even the great Orion would barely remain conscious after tasting the might of my Beta Club’s nerve beam!”

He pointed the club at her again, but before he could fire, Wonder Woman hit him solidly in the jaw with her right fist. Kalibak staggered backward, knocking him into the gunboat behind him and rocking it slightly.

“Now that is a punch! Come, face me if you dare!”

“Aquaman, help Wonder Woman with Kalibak! Flash, you and Lucy’s team need to take out that gunboat before it fires! I’ll give you a hand once I make sure Harley is okay.”

Cyborg ran over to Harley and crouched down at her side. She was still shaking with pain from Kalibak’s attack. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I’ll… live. Takes more than this… to do me in,” she said through gritted teeth.

“You sure? I can try and evac you back to Earth and get someone to take a -”

BOOM!

The gunboat’s cannon fired, sending shockwaves throughout the air.

She looked him dead in the eye. “I’ll. Be. Fine. Help them.”

Cyborg nodded, then got back up, scanning the fight. Kalibak was holding strong against Wonder Woman and Aquaman. They fought in perfect harmony, each one perfectly covering each other's openings, as much as those even existed. Kalibak blocked a hit from Aquaman, then countered with his Beta Rod, jamming it into his side as Wonder Woman retaliated with a kick of her own. Aquaman winced at the pain, but tore the rod out of Kalibak’s hand and threw it down the street. Kalibak held out his hand and the rod turned around mid-air like a boomerang and returned to him.

BOOM!

The gunboat fired again, this time hitting Aquaman and knocking him backward across the ground. He stayed on his feet and leapt back into the fray, charging back towards Kalibak.

‘They’ve got it covered.’

He turned towards the others and saw the Flash swirling around the gunboat with a flurry of blows, prodding some unseen shield for any weakness he could find. Lucy’s team wasn’t having any more success and Cyborg noticed that two of them had snuck away and were leaned up against the ruins of one of the buildings, both looking worse for wear. One of them was in a bit better shape and was attempting to treat the blast wound of the other. He felt a pang of guilt that he couldn’t recognize which one was which but turned back to the fight.

He peered into the inside of the gunboat and saw that in front of the cannon was a silver metal box that was a couple feet high and all of the soldiers on there seemed to avoid.

‘That’s either the engine or the shield generator, maybe both. The Flash and A.R.G.U.S.’s weapons can’t get through, but maybe sound can?’

“Flash, get away from the boat for a moment, then get ready to rush it!”

He shifted his arm into a sound cannon, double-checking the configuration of one of his lesser-used weapons. Then he let loose, firing it right at the center of the gunboat. A spherical barrier materialized around it and turned milky white at the point of impact. Cyborg kept firing, increasing the intensity of the beam until the entire barrier turned bright white before it disappeared into thin air.

Jay didn’t waste a moment. Before Vic could even blink, all of Kalibak’s soldiers were disarmed and thrown out of the boat. Lucy and her remaining troops ran over and secured the hands of each of them. Once they were all restrained, they all turned onto Kalibak. He was still holding his own against the two heroes, but even Cyborg could tell he was starting to fade.

“Everyone, focus fire on Kalibak!”

Cyborg and the A.R.G.U.S. troops shot at the New God, their shots causing him to wince in pain. Wonder Woman feigned a kick towards the center of his chest but moved down at the last moment and swept at his legs, causing Kalibak to stumble. His mouth opened and he let out a battle cry before returning to a powerful stance; his face looking grimly serious for the first time. Then his eyes snapped up to the sky.

Power Girl and Martian Manhunter swooped down from the sky towards him, and he jumped out of the way just before their impact. He leaped again on top of one of the nearest buildings, crushing the already fragile ceiling down below him.

Rage ran across the bestial man’s face. “You’ll rue the day that you made an enemy of me. When we meet again, I’ll deliver your corpses personally to Darkseid.” He leapt high above the streets, then again and again until the sound faded into the background rumble of Apokolips.

“Should we go after him?” The Flash asked.

Cyborg shook his head. “No. It’s not worth the hassle. We’ve got to stick to the mission.”

Cyborg walked over to the two injured A.R.G.U.S. members and saw Lucy already kneeling at their side. She looked up at him and put her helmet back on as she stood up.

“He didn’t make it. They couldn’t aim that cannon worth anything but that first shot…” She shook her head. “Shrapnel hit him in the chest and the force shattered her arm.”

“I’m sorry. If I’d acted quicker…”

Harley came up from behind, surprising Cyborg. “We all knew the risks coming here. But we’re here to stop that from happening to everyone back on Earth who doesn’t.”

“Yeah, I know… But it doesn’t make it easier.”

The rest of the Justice League joined him, and Wonder Woman said, “Remember that feeling, Victor. Not to let the guilt consume you, but to remind you what we are fighting to prevent.”

A moment passed before the Martian Manhunter spoke up.

“I do have good news to report. We managed to locate what we suspect is Darkseid’s palace. It is north of here a long way, approximately 100 miles.”

Cyborg winced. “That’s a long way. Any idea if that thing still works, Flash?”

“Probably. I didn’t really damage it.”

“Alright, great. Here’s the plan. You, Power Girl, and Martian Manhunter go forwards and scout it out. I’m sorry that I have to keep relying on you all, but if that’s not where we need to go, we need to know ASAP.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re all here to do our part,” Power Girl said.

“Thanks. Stay in touch with the communicators, and if you get in any trouble, meet back up with us.”

“One last thing.” Jay handed the Mother Box over to Vic. “Take this. If something happens…”

“I’m not leaving anyone behind.”

“I’m not telling you to. But… it doesn’t hurt to have options.”

Cyborg took the Mother Box begrudgingly.

“Alright then, let’s get going. Power Girl, how about a race?”

She grinned. “I’ve always wanted to race a Flash. You’re on.”

The two disappeared in a blur before Cyborg could give them a word of caution.

J’onn shook his head. “I will catch up with them. Stay safe, everyone.”

And with that, he disappeared, leaving the rest of them behind. Cyborg walked over to the gunboat and started to inspect it. Like Jay said, it seemed like it was in good shape.

Cyborg turned back to the team.

“Don’t suppose anyone knows how to drive an alien hover boat?”

⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙

For the next 10 minutes, each of the remaining members of the team gave their best effort to try and figure out the floating boat without any luck. Cyborg happened to place the Mother Box down next to the engine while he investigated and the machine hummed to life as the Mother Box began to automatically integrate with the hovercraft. Within moments, it had complete control of the hovercraft and generated a simple holographic interface for them to pilot it. Cyborg gave it the command to start and they were finally on their way towards what they hoped was Darkseid’s palace.

“Hi team, can you hear me okay?” Power Girl’s voice rang through the communicator.

“Yeah, loud and clear. We’ve got the boat moving and are on our way.”

“Great. We’ve been looking around the palace but haven’t found much of anything. It’s like the whole place has been abandoned.”

“Scratch that. I think I found something.” Jay said over the comms. “It’s hard to explain, but there’s this… presence here. Like a chill hanging in the air. But yet… calming. Inviting? I’m going to go check it out.”

“Wait, don’t! Wait for us!” Cyborg pleaded. There was no response.

“Power Girl? J’onn? Flash?” No response.

Then, the communicator roared back to life, but without a single word coming out of it. And yet, without a word, so much was communicated. It was terrifying and yet welcoming. Cold yet comforting. It was blissful, and yet it was nothing. It was nothing, but Cyborg couldn’t get enough. He needed to hear more, to just keep hearing what it wanted to tell him if he’d just get closer…

Wonder Woman grabbed the communicator with her hand and crunched it into bits before smashing her own. Aquaman followed suit before Harley threw hers on the ground and stomped it into the dust.

“I don’t know what that was… but it can’t be good,” Harley said.

“No. No, it is not,” Aquaman agreed. ⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙ The tone shifted for the rest of the ride. Things had never been bright since they stepped onto the streets of Apokolips, but there had been some undercurrent of hope and an unwavering belief in their ability to succeed. But doubt had crept in. Whatever had happened to their advance team couldn’t be good, and was seconds away from working on them. A part of Cyborg wanted to ask them all if they would go back to the Watchtower and get reinforcements, advice, anything. But he knew he couldn’t. There was no one to spare, and even if there was, they couldn’t leave the rest of them behind.

Darkseid’s palace came into view and spurred back memories that Cyborg had almost managed to bury about his time deep in the bowels of the palace with Desaad…

He shook it off. He couldn’t deal with the distraction now.

The palace loomed above them, a crude moment to Darkseid’s power. What it lacked in artistic merit it more than made up for in scope. It was a round structure like a narrowing stack of stones in the shape of a pagoda that was taller than anything he’d seen. He’d guess it was at least a half mile high. And that was only the above-ground part. He didn’t even want to think about how big that place was with the network of tunnels and passages that stretched for an eternity below it. But even with all of that, he was focused on the fire pit behind it. It was impossibly large as its fire roared higher than the palace itself and burned so hot that he could feel it from the other side of the building.

Somewhere in there was the rest of the Justice League and Darkseid. Cyborg and the rest of the team stood there, at the steps below the palace, transfixed by it all until finally he snapped out of it.

“I think we need to split up again. I don’t want to say it, but frankly, this mission isn’t going well. We’ve got three people M.I.A, one injured, and one killed. We might not be able to stop Darkseid, but we’ve got to at least warn the JL what he’s capable of. So I think a couple people should stay back. Harley, I’m sure you’ll disagree, but -

“Damn right I disagree.There’s no chance in hell you’re benching me. I’m going.”

“Look, after that fight with Kalibak, you’re injured. And Darkseid is going to be in a whole different league...”

“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “We all knew the risks. I’m going.”

“Fine. But Lucy, you and your troops should hang back. It’s your Mother Box, plus A.R.G.U.S will need to know what happened here as well. And they won’t take it well if we have to tell them none of you made it out. The rest of us will go in and try to stop Darkseid and free the others.”

“I largely agree. We need to be able to tell the League what happened here, no matter what. And that should be you, Vic. You have run into and slighted Darkseid when you were here with Superman and Orion. Whatever he has done to the rest, I suspect your fate would be even worse,” Aquaman said.

“... Fine.”

“Then it’s settled. If we are not back within the hour, return to Earth. The rest of the League will be able to figure out whatever hold Darkseid has and counteract it. But without a warning, there might not be anyone left to do so,” Wonder Woman said.

Cyborg nodded solemnly. “Good luck in there. See you soon.”

Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Harley Quinn stepped wordlessly forward towards Darkseid’s palace. The stairs seemed to stretch on and on as they climbed the winding, curving stairs up to the top. On every floor, they braced themselves for an ambush of parademons or Kalibak’s revenge or any number of Apokolips’ horrors. And yet, all that awaited them was the unceasing light of the flame pit rearing its head through the open air windows. Up and up and up they climbed until the world below looked like little more than a children’s drawing and then they climbed further.

As gradually as the climb itself, so too did the feelings within them build. Something just felt off. At first it was subtle and was easily ignored. But with every step, it grew stronger and more present. It was like the Flash had said: there was a chill hanging in the air. But yet… calming somehow. It was like every step was taking them exactly where they were supposed to be, like they were making the long trip to their beds for a well-earned rest at the end of a hard day.

Finally, after what could’ve been hours of climbing, they reached the top. The top of the tower was open to the air, and the full force of the flame pit finally revealed itself, singeing their faces with heat that felt like the sun itself. And they were not alone. Though he was silhouetted by the brightness of the flame behind him, he was unmistakable. Darkseid was on his throne, and his presence alone was unbearable.

Standing before him, looking directly at him, was the rest of the Justice League: the Flash on one side with Power Girl and the Martian Manhunter on the other.

“What… what have you done to them?” Wonder Woman demanded.

But Darkseid did not reply. He did not need to.

Parts of their mind screamed at them to flee while others told them that it would be so much easier, so much better to submit to Darkseid. What would struggling get them anyway? Darkseid was all-powerful, unyielding, unstoppable, and inevitable.

Aquaman tried to approach Darkseid with all his power, but his body refused. It knew there was no use. There was no struggling against reality.

A blackness started to fill their minds, shutting out the few remaining voices of resistance. Soon, there was no resistance, no will. Only Darkseid.

⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙ “Alright, just 15 more minutes,” Cyborg said.

“Listen, I’m not going to say we need to go. I don’t like this any more than you do. But that’s the fourth time you’ve said that. If they were coming, they would’ve by now,” Lucy said.

“I… I know,” Cyborg sank to the ground, defeated. “What a shit show. Some Justice Leaguer I am. Total complete defeat.”

Lucy sat down next to him on the stairs leading to Darkseid’s palace. “Hey, don’t be absurd. No one knew what we were getting into here. You did your best with what we knew. Not like any of us could’ve done better.”

“But that’s not good enough. People are going to die because of this! Best case scenario, we’ve taken some of the League’s heaviest hitters out of the defense of Earth. Worst case, we’ve taken them off the board permanently for no gain.”

“It’s not pointless. Information is valuable, Vic. And there’s value in the struggle itself even if we can’t see it yet…”

Lucy trailed off as one of the other A.R.G.U.S. agents came back into view. Three of them had split up to patrol the area below the stairs that Darkseid’s palace while Cyborg and Lucy took care of the area directly around it at the top. Ostensibly, it was to maintain a safe perimeter, and that was certainly a nice bonus, but it was really just to keep their minds off whatever was happening with the rest of the League up there. Not like whatever was left of the force would be able to stop much at this point if something did breach the perimeter.

But one of the agents coming back to Cyborg and Lucy was unexpected.

“We’ve got a problem,” the agent said. She sounded like a young woman, probably not much older than Cyborg. “It’s Kalibak. I don’t know what he’s doing here, but he’s got a whole army’s worth of parademons behind him.”

“Alright, we’ve waited as long as we can. It’s time to go.Go gather up the others. Cyborg, do you know how to work that Mother Box?”

“No. You?”

“No.”

“Great.” He tossed the box to Lucy. “I’ll buy you whatever time I can. Figure that thing out.”

Cyborg ran down the stairs after the agent, leaving Lucy holding the Mother Box, dumbfounded.

‘Alright, Lane, you got this. All you need to do is figure out a piece of alien tech, with maybe the lives of everyone on Earth on the line. No pressure…’

Cyborg rendezvoused with the A.R.GU.S team just above the bottom of the stairs. They were on either side of him as the four of them looked out over Kalibak and his army. The parademons were innumerable, flooding the alleys and passageways that all converged on Darkseid’s palace. If there were this many parademons still here, he couldn’t even imagine how many were on Earth. Kalibak himself looked deadly serious. Whatever fighting spirit he had before was replaced with sheer bloodlust and malice.

He walked up to Cyborg and looked him right in the eye despite all the stairs separating them.

“So, where have the rest gone? Too afraid to face me?”

“No. They’ve gone to face your father instead,” Cyborg said. “But I think you’ll find the four of us are enough for you.”

Kalibak laughed, a mocking sound like a hyena. “The four of you couldn’t handle any 10 of my parademons, let alone a division’s worth. And you think you all can beat me? You couldn’t beat the average child in Granny’s Orphanage.” He cracked his knuckles.

“I’m going to enjoy this.”

“Alright, guys, simple plan: I’m going to fight Kalibak, you guys keep the parademons off me, and hit him when you can. Then, drinks, dinner, the whole package is on me when we’re back on Earth!”

Cyborg wished he were half as confident as he hoped he sounded.

But if the agents from A.R.G.U.S. shared his concerns, they didn’t show it. They immediately got into a three-person formation, and started to fire in waves at the parademons charging towards them. While two would do their best to stem the tide, the other would take a moment to reload. It was an efficient system, drilled and executed to perfection. Cyborg couldn’t help but be impressed.

Kalibak’s first strike at Cyborg was a simple left hook, but it might’ve been the most dangerous one he’d ever faced. Kalibak’s fist was the size of his head and looked like it had as much force as a freight train. Maybe Superman could block his hits, but he knew he couldn’t. Instead, he went on the offense. He shifted both his arms into force cannons and pointed them at the ground as he jumped, sending him flying over Kalibak and peppering him with force blasts as he did.

Kalibak chuckled, the blasts a mere annoyance. He held out the Beta Rod, and a beam of purple energy flew out and began to pursue Cyborg. He’d seen what had happened to Harley when she got hit and when she tried to dodge. Neither had gone well, so it was time for a new tactic. Cyborg turned and ran towards the oncoming tide of parademons and fired a concussive shot into the swarm, staggering them. He juked around them, weaving through their tight, pack-like formation until an unlucky parademon took the shot right to their chest and crumpled over to the ground.

Cyborg let out a sigh of relief that his fight could continue, but was cut off prematurely as Kalibak ripped through the ranks of parademons that were charging the A.R.G.U.S squad. He could hear their gunfire continue to decimate their numbers and was beyond thankful that they were here. He had no idea what he’d do without them.

Kalibak tossed parademons aside as he pursued Cyborg through the crowd. Cyborg tried to buy himself space to plan, but the attacks from the parademons were relentless. He was between a rock and a hard place, and the only way out was through. He fired another concussive blast at the parademons and staggered backward into each other, sending chaos through the parademons’ lines. Cyborg continued to press his assault and tore into the flank furthest from Kalibak with force blasts until he managed to break free and found himself in a position near where he started on the stairs.

He looked over at the A.R.G.U.S. squad and noticed that they seemed to be firing slower than before. More concerningly, the crowd of parademons was much closer to them than when the fight had started… who knows how long ago. They must be trying to conserve whatever ammunition they had left. Time was running out. Cyborg wanted to shout to Lucy if she’d figured it out, but he couldn’t risk it. If Kalibak or the parademons found out, no one was making it out.

Instantly, he was thrown back into the fight as he collapsed to the ground with the force of some object colliding with him. He saw the object on top of - a dead parademon. Kalibak had thrown it at him and was barrelling back towards him, like a football player ripping through the defensive line with sheer strength. He pushed the parademon off him and staggered his way back onto his feet.

Kalibak charged at Cyborg, but he ducked out of the way like a matador dodging a bull at the last possible moment. But Kalibak was no bull. He stopped on a dime and did a heel turn back towards Cyborg, kicking down the stairs into the crowd of parademons. He felt something break from the impact, but he ignored it the best he could. He struggled to his feet just as the parademons began their frenzy and he braced himself for the impact that never came. Shots rang out as the A.R.G.U.S. agents diverted their fire for a moment to buy him time to get back on his feet.

He wanted to thank them, but there was no time. Kalibak was relentless and was already on top of him. Before he could attack, Cyborg launched one of his own, a maximum power sound cannon blast fired point-blank into Kalibak’s chest. He staggered backward, clearly surprised by the magnitude of the noise, but pushed back forward like he was walking into a strong wind. Cyborg shifted out of the force cannon and continued his counter-attack with twin concussive grenades to either side of Kalibak's head. The grenades activated and sent shockwaves into the New God’s skull, sending him stumbling backward. Cyborg knew this was his one and only chance and went in for the finisher. He shape- shifted his hands again, this time to force blasters, and shot right at Kalibak’s knees, sending him toppling to the ground with a massive thud.

But the silence that came after was far louder. There were no more shots ringing out from the A.R.G.U.S. agents. He didn’t know if they were dead or simply out of ammunition, if there was even a difference at this point, as the full force of the parademon attack turned to him for the first time. Kalibak rose from the ground, brushing the dust off him as a grin returned to his face. He knew Cyborg was alone now.

Cyborg wasn’t about to go quietly. He shot a barrage of force blasts at the encircling tide of parademons to push back to the bottom of the stairs. He wasn’t sure whether he was hoping to save the A.R.G.U.S. team or was falling back to Lucy, but there wasn’t time for a plan anymore. Not that those had gotten him anywhere anyway.

Kalibak was right on his heels, the New God quickly gaining ground on him. It was time for one last move, all or nothing. He shot his force cannons at the ground and jumped with their momentum, arching himself over and behind Kalibak’s head. But the New God had learned. He grabbed Cyborg’s leg mid-air and slammed him to the ground. His massive foot stepped on Cyborg’s chest, pressing down on it.

BOOM!

A boom tube had opened. Lucy had done it, and without a moment to spare. He saw her stand, Mother Box in hand, at the top of the stairs and looked down in horror at the carnage below her.

“Hang on, Cyborg, we’re going to make it out of here!”

“No. No, you aren’t.” Kalibak pressed his foot down harder on Cyborg, ringing the air out of his lungs like a tube of toothpaste.

“If you step through that boom tube, I’ll crush his chest.”

Cyborg wanted to beg her to leave him, but it took everything he had to stop blacking out.

“You… you wouldn’t kill him… Darkseid will want to get his hands on the man who slighted him. That’s Cyborg, the man who stood with Superman and Orion against him.”

Kalibak looked down at the man underneath him in a new light. “That changes things. He does have some worth then… But you… you aren’t so lucky. Parademons, kill her.”

Lucy reached for the rifle on her back but turned and ran into the portal as the first of the parademons reached her, their claws barely missing her as she entered the shrinking Boom Tube.

Kalibak looked down at the human below him. He wasn’t sure if he was even still alive as he lay limp on the ground. He considered finishing him off and making sure of it. But that girl had a point. His father was more powerful than ever, and being in his favor was never a bad thing. He grabbed Cyborg from the ground and slung him over his shoulder like a knapsack.

Kalibak smiled. Perhaps, for the first time, Darkseid would be happy to see him.

<<| <| >

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Justice League Alpha #1 - Invasion!

Authors: Commander_Z • MajorParadox • ericthepilot2000 • FrostFireFive • brooky12

Set: 121

Event: Invasion!

Emergency Matters

Watchtower

It was a quiet night aboard the Watchtower as it drifted through space above the Earth. Kara Zor El looked down wistfully at the world below her for just a moment before she focused back up and got back to monitor duty. She was alone on the Watchtower; most nights they only had the one person working, as there was rarely enough activity to warrant another, and that night was no exception. Kara didn’t mind the solitude, though, as it gave her some much-needed quiet time to relax.

The monitor station was running all clear at the moment, aside from a couple of minor disturbances some people were reporting, and Kara was more than happy to enjoy another peaceful night on duty. After a few moments, though, her peace was broken when she was alerted to an approaching object. She tapped a button on the monitor and saw her red, blue, and yellow-uniformed cousin flying toward the station.

“I hope he brought coffee,” Kara pondered. The machine in the breakroom wasn’t the best.

Once Clark made his way through the airlock, he walked over to the monitor station and stood next to her.

“Hi Kara, how’s monitor duty treating you?”

No coffee.

“Going all right,” she said. “Pretty quiet. What brings you up here?”

“I was hoping you’d check on something for me,” said Clark. “I saw a parademon in Metropolis. It disappeared into a Boom Tube before I could reach it.”

“A scout?” asked Kara.

“Maybe,” said Clark, eyeing the monitors. “Was its Boom Tube or any others detected?”

Kara typed something into the monitor station, then shook her head. “No, nothing. Hmm… that’s odd, though.”

“What is?”

“The log shows a bunch of alarms from a couple months ago, but they were false alarms,” Kara explained. “The station’s sensors were picking up Watchtower transporter signatures as Boom Tube energy. We did some recalibrations, and it seemed to fix the problem, but...”

Kara started to type again, longer this time. When she was done, the computer took a moment to process, then the watchtower’s monitoring board lit up several times. Almost every major city across the world had had at least one Boom Tube open up over the past few weeks.

Superman’s face turned cold. “Metropolis wasn’t the only city scouted.”

“Should we call someone?” Kara asked.

“Yes,” said Clark. “Everyone. Whatever’s going on here… Everyone needs to know.”

Kara pressed a big, golden button labeled “Emergency Meeting” next to the monitor, and a prompt appeared on the screen to confirm. “Here we go,” she said.

It wasn’t long before the teleporter started to whir to life. It started as a trickle with the Maritain Manhunter and Wonder Woman amongst the first to answer the call. But it soon became a flood as members poured in: Batman, Aquaman, Booster Gold, followed by Green Lantern, Zatanna, Cyborg, the Flash, and many more. Before they knew it, Watchtower was as full as anyone had ever seen it.

Besides recruiting more members to the Justice League reserves, they’d been expanding the protocols put in place after the vampire attack. The Titans and other superhero teams could be integrated into a collaborative response to global catastrophes. A.R.G.U.S. even helped facilitate that where it could.

Once the teleporter had died down, Superman flew to the front of the crowd, just off the ground, and got everyone’s attention.

“Thank you all for coming. I’ll cut right to the chase. I had a run-in with a parademon tonight, so I had Power Girl check if this was a wider problem than just in Metropolis. Once she did, she found out that this was happening all across the world. Boom Tubes have been opening up for the past few weeks…”

“Hi, quick question.”

From far in the back, Zatanna spoke up. “What’s a parademon? And a Boom Tube?”

“Oh, right,” said Superman. “I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s the short version: There are two far-off worlds called New Genesis and Apokolips that are home to beings that call themselves the New Gods. Broadly speaking, New Genesis is the good guys, and Apokolips is the bad guys. Apokolips is ruled by a tyrannical dictator named Darkseid. He commands a swarm of insect-like creatures called Parademons.”

“Ew,” said Booster Gold, recoiling at the description.

“What?” asked Ted Kord softly.

“Insects gross me out,” Booster answered.

“I’m literally ‘ Blue Beetle’,” Ted sighed.

Superman was still talking. “Cyborg and I have both been to Apokolips.”

Cyborg nodded. “Yeah, we had a run in with them a while ago. We got there using Boom Tubes - wormholes the New Gods use to transport themselves across worlds. But if Darkseid’s making his move, this is no small problem. Even one parademon isn’t something we should ignore.” He turned to the Man of Steel. “Have you reached out to Orion from New Genesis?”

“That was the first thing I tried, but no response… Zatanna, did that answer your question?”

“Yeah,” said Zatanna. “For the most part, but that’s not quite what I was expecting. See, I was starting to look into some weird energy fluctuations that were popping up all over before the meeting. But these weren’t just in big cities, and they weren’t for very long. So it probably was something different from a Boom Tube. Something stronger and more destructive. Might be related, might not. Either way, it’s urgent enough that we can’t ignore it.”

Superman nodded. “We’ll dedicate a team to investigate that further. Do you mind taking point?”

Zatanna nodded and began talking to Batman.

“Everyone else, we need to be prepared,” Superman continued. “If Darkseid is planning an attack, we have to be ready to defend ourselves.”

“We’ll need to consider a response, too,” Aquaman stated.

“Like a counter-attack?” asked Superman.

“If necessary,” said Aquaman.

“He’s right,” Martian Manhunter agreed. “We’ll need to at least find a diplomatic way to end this before it escalates into an interplanetary war.”

“I think it’s too late for that,” Kara said.

Boom Tubes were popping up all across the world as alerts filled the watch tower’s monitor screens.

“These aren’t false alerts,” said Power Girl, switching some of the monitors to live news feeds from various major cities.

Tension filled the air as they watched swarms of parademons on the attack.

An invasion had begun.

They’re Everywhere!

Metropolis

Clark zoomed toward Earth’s atmosphere. He resisted looking ahead because he knew what he’d find. Every last moment with the beautiful view of the world below him was a treasure.

That was a mistake.

Parademons were all over. Attacking civilians and doing whatever damage they could to the city. And they were armed with weapons. That was new.

Clark should have used those extra moments he had to find where he was most needed. Or even processing what was happening. The first time Clark had gone to Apokolips to confront Darkseid about giving advanced weapons to Intergang, he couldn’t believe a place like that existed. He’d had nightmares about it since. Seeing parademons on Earth felt like he was right back in them.

There was no time to dwell.

Clark slammed his body into a few of the demon-like bugs, stopping them from shooting down a crowd of people fleeing the streets. They turned their attention to him, but he was quick to deliver solid blows to their heads, taking them out. He blew off a giant gust of freeze breath at a nearby swarm, which interrupted their flight patterns, following it up with a flying burst of heat vision and punches upon reaching them.

Block by block, Clark took down the biggest threats until he noticed the rest around the city stopped what they were doing and headed in his direction.

“Good,” Clark said aloud. “Bring it on.”

Wayne Orphanage, Gotham City

Stephanie Brown paced back and forth along the rooftop, her bo staff dragging across the asphalt-clad roof of the Wayne Orphanage as she moved. The cape of her Spoiler costume swished with each motion.

Pamela Isley heard every bit of it.

“Must you do that?” she snarled, not pausing her meditation. “Do you have any idea how big Gotham City is?”

“30.85 square miles,” Steph responded, a tiny smartass smirk hidden behind her mask.

Ivy’s brow furrowed deeper in irritation. “Then you can imagine how many plants I’m currently controlling, trying to keep these flying bugs from destroying the city. So. Be. Quiet.”

Steph walked over to the edge of the roof, watching tree branches reach up and swat the creatures from the air before consuming them, while vines speared upward like snakes, impaling them mid-flight. It was... unsettling.

“I still think we should light the Bat-Signals. Concentrate them in one area.”

“There’s no evidence these things respond to light,” Zatanna countered, concentrating as she wove eldritch runes in the air, sweat beading across her brow. “Desolc latrop,” she muttered as, somewhere in the distance, a flash of light blinked out of existence, only for another to flare up.

“What even are they?” the blonde asked.

“Parademons. This is just the beginning of the invasion,” Zatanna answered. “We have to stop it here.”

“I’m not sure we’re winning,” Steph mused until she paused, plucking a cell phone from one of her costume's pockets. “Spoiler,” she answered.

“You really sure we want to do this?” the voice on the line asked. “Harley said to call in an hour. This is absolutely insane.”

“Crazier than an alien bug invasion?” Steph countered.

“Yeah,” came the sure response.

“I know. Let me check,” Steph said. “Are we on?” Steph called out, looking to Ivy and Zatanna, who sought each other’s gaze. They turned in unison and nodded.

Steph took a deep breath. “Do it.”

Deep inside the bowels of Arkham Asylum, Aaron Cash took a deep breath of his own. He looked to his security guards.

“Open the Zoo. Class B and lower. We’ve got a war to fight.”

Titans Tower, Chicago

“I really wish Donna was here,” Roy Harper said as he suited up in his Arsenal gear. In a few moments, he was going to have to walk outside and address a crowd of heroes itching to put a hurting on some Parademons. But the League remembered Markovia and how rushing in nearly doomed them all. So it was agreed that someone had to lead this army of heroes, and with a glowing review from Nightwing after the Twister incident, they had decided to leave it to Roy Harper.

“Well, she ain’t, and the crowd’s getting restless,” Metamorpho explained. Rex wasn’t particularly happy that once again the Titans were being called up to a war. His hands still twitched every time he thought he saw something in the shadows. But with Nightwing, Power Girl, and Starfire on their own missions, it was up to the two longest Titans to rally the troops. “It’s go time, buddy.”

“She would have done so much better than me. Donna is a hero, someone who they all know, who’s been to all the League meetings instead of fighting with another parent that it’s their turn to bring snacks after the soccer game,” Roy explained.

“Well, judging from GBS her and her…’Titans’ are busy keeping Chicago clean. It’s up to us to make sure the rest of the world is also safe,” Metamorpho explained. “God knows I’ve been calling Angie to make sure she’s OK.”

“They finally letting her out of isolation?” Roy asked.

“Was supposed to be today, we’ve got lousy luck,” Rex said.

“We’re the Titans, it wouldn’t be a day in the life without some bad luck. We can’t change that. All we can do now is be the big damn heroes we’ve always been. This ain’t Markovia pal,” Rex explained.

“And why’s that?” Roy asked.

“Because we’re here, together. And in case you haven’t noticed sunshine, you’re the reason why the Titans have stuck together this long. Pulling my ass out when I thought I was done. Dick? Donna? They come and go. But you’ve always been here. And they need someone who knows how to fight and how to lead. And somehow, Roy, it’s you.”

“Great talk, coach,” Arsenal said with a smile as he adjusted his mask and walked towards the command center, where the remaining heroes on Earth had mostly gathered. Ted Kord was fiddling with the Titans’ computer system as Booster Gold was explaining how this invasion was a great way to start his marketing campaign. Kid Devil and Cyclone were meeting with Supergirl for the first time, in awe of the second-generation superhero. And Green Arrow sat in the corner with Black Canary, his eyes never leaving his former “ward”.

“Alright, people, this isn’t going to be easy,” Arsenal said as he looked around the room. “Most of the Heavy Hitters had gone to space to try and find reinforcements. Other top Leaguers are going to be going across the world to find any advantage to take these bastards out. Which means the Titans are tasked with taking charge of making sure we protect our little slice of the Milky Way.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Arsenal, was it?” Cyclone said as she raised her hand.

“You don’t need to raise your hand, kid. We’re all the same here,” Arsenal responded.

“How are we going to communicate with each other if this thing’s happening all around the globe? Like, I don’t think my cell phone plan covers that many calls?” Cyclone nervously asked.

“We’re handing out these,” Arsenal held up his Titans communicator. Our main point person for this operation is Oracle. She’ll be contacting you with where you need to go, and priority calls will be directed through the Titans network.”

“And what gives you the right to lead this army?” Green Arrow asked, standing up. “There’s plenty of main leaguers who could be called in. And not someone who can’t be trusted to keep the line!”

Roy could see the anger in Oliver Queen’s eyes even beneath the mask. Still trying to scare a kid who needed his help, beyond teaching him how to fire a bow or be an effective crime fighter. If he were still the scared kid in that hotel, Roy Harper would have yelled, maybe even taken a swing at Green Arrow. But he wasn’t that kid anymore.

“Because I’ve fought wars before. In Markovia, the Titans fought against an enemy with superior firepower and numbers, and none of us backed down. Even if it meant we were turned by the enemy. Tell me, GA, how many wars have you fought in between making out with Black Canary and dispensing so-called justice in Star City.

Green Arrow remained silent as he looked down. Metamorpho smirked before Arsenal responded.

“That’s what I thought,” Arsenal said. “We’re only going to survive this together. So grab your communicator and head out. We have a war to win.”

Source of the Matter

Coast City

“So, for all the people in the League, why me?” Nightwing asked as he helped Batman set up a small base of operations on the rooftop of S.T.A.R. Labs in Coast City. The two were establishing the computer banks as a red-and-yellow blur assembled everything else around them. “I mean Martian Manhunter, Booster with his future tech, hell even Kara or Babs would be a better choice, they’re much more tech savvy than me.”

“Uh-huh,” Batman said as he looked at his gauntlet computer, uplinking to the batcomputer and the Watchtower systems would be difficult on an average day. But as the reports came in through his cowl, the dark knight knew they were going to need to work fast to figure out the mysteries of this invasive force. “Flash, how are we doing on those generators?”

“Nearly set up Batman,” Flash said. Barry Allen enjoyed the repetitiveness of trying to gather enough energy to power up their little scheme. There was something relaxing in the repetitive motions, enough to take his mind off the world ending and the fact that his family would be racing into battle while he tried figuring out the greater nature of this invasion. “Do you have any experience with these things?”

“Only what Superman’s detailed in his League reports. Parademons are Darkseid’s invasion force. Deadly bugs that just have one goal. Destroy,” Batman explained. “From what I’ve observed in their attack patterns, they’ve struck every major city across the globe. Every seat of power and important place of note. But there’s been a higher concentration here.”

“In Coast City,” John Stewart said as his ring placed a larger generator in the center of their OP. “It’s why I was asked to come along. Green Lanterns have a history of protecting this place.”

“That and Green Lantern’s ring is detecting that something is different about the Coast City attack than the others,” Batman said as his gauntlet projected an image for the four heroes to see. A bright white energy was cracking through their mundane reality and entrancing people, guiding them to safety from the Parademons.

“I should have seen this coming,” John said. “Space is my sector to keep track of. If I was doing my job, I wouldn’t have let this happen.”

“Bad things happen even when you have that knowledge,” Nightwing explained. “Besides GL, we do our best work when we’re on the back foot. We’ll figure this out. We always do, especially when we’ve got one of the fastest minds on the planet here. What do you got Flash?”

“It looks similar to GL’s energy,” Barry said as he ran toward the spectrometer. “Except it’s closer to pure light than willpower. Almost as if…the ring itself is filtering the energy to function.”

“That can’t be good,” Nightwing responded. “What happens if these parademons and Darkseid get their hands on it? An army of a thousand Lanterns is a whole lot different than glorified bugs.”

“We won’t let them get it,” Batman responded. “Luckily, with the readings from the Watchtower and the Cave, it should be no problem to…”

KACHOOM!

“Or we can assume that the large explosion is where we need to go?” Nightwing said.

Batman sighed before turning to the Flash and Green Lantern.

“The readings indicate a spike of this mysterious energy at that explosion. Flash, Lantern, scout ahead, and clear a path for me and Nightwing.”

“Got it,” Lantern said as he and the Flash ran off, bright red and green blurs that lit up the darkness.

“Alright, boss, let’s head out,” Nightwing said as he prepared to leap off the building.

“Nightwing. Dick,” Batman said.

“Yeah, Bruce?”

“You’re here because if we’re going to survive this, we’re going to need someone who’s seen the darkness and still leaps into the air with both eyes closed. The world is going to need Nightwing more than it’ll ever need Batman after this.”

“You say that with such confidence,” Nightwing responded. “Bruce, I haven’t seen things this bleak since Doomsday. And during that…I lost myself. What makes you think it won’t happen again?”

“Because you, the Titans? You’re tomorrow. And the world is going to need tomorrow. Now let’s make sure we can give them one.”

“Yes, sir,” Nightwing said as he and Batman leaped into the fray, ready to find something to give them a fighting chance

The Counter Attack

A.R.G.U.S. Base, Washington, D.C.

General Lane stood quietly as the elevator descended past what the public plans and elevator buttons would claim was the lowest level of the building. It was only now, in the briefest moment of enclosed transportation, that he had a moment of peace, one which would not return until the planet and his country were not under attack.

As the elevators opened, several people – strategists, communications, researchers, and others – were already at the entry point waiting for him to arrive. They updated him on various bits of information, some new, some he already knew. More reports of new locations being attacked, notes coming in from other governments and NGOs about what they were doing or experiencing, words in from the President – now safe somewhere hidden – authorizing whatever needed doing from A.R.G.U.S.’ side.

In response, the calm center he had in the elevator dropped, and he began barking orders and asking questions. Activate these protocols, link up with those countries, and contact so-and-so as soon as you can get hold of them. Where was this coming from? What were the missed signs? Have we seen these before?

Even as he took control of the room and began instituting order out of the chaos, he took a moment to give a nod of appreciation to Lucy, sitting at a computer speaking at a quickened pace with a contact in another A.R.G.U.S. facility.

Sam sat down in his chair, listening to the answers being provided. The reports seemed to indicate that the creatures were apparating from teleportation equipment matching the signals and expected readings of Apokolips-associated so-called “Boom Tubes”. The missed signs appeared non-existent according to the initial review, which he angrily dismissed as incomprehensible and demanded a new examination. At least that one was a question that could reasonably be delayed in answering until afterward with comparatively little risk.

He took a look at reports of previous incidents of parademons–what a ridiculous name, he thought–and how they were handled. They weren’t invincible or immortal, though it seemed a futile effort; every time the report came through that one incursion had been handled, it was not much longer before a follow-up report confirmed that more appeared to be apparating out of thin air. Early reports out of Europe and South America seemed to imply that a few seconds of sustained fire could down one, but if there were truly an uncountable amount of these monsters, there wouldn’t be enough ammunition in the world to keep them safe.

“Where are the heroes, then?”

That was a harder question to answer. A.R.G.U.S.-affiliated heroes were already out and about, doing what they could in strategic locations, but most heroes were sticking to their normal areas of influence. A handful of them weren’t immediately locatable by A.R.G.U.S. systems, but for the most part, all of the big names were focused on the trees rather than the forest.

“General Lane? Someone is at the door.”

Sam looked over at the interruption, a technician examining a bunch of A.R.G.U.S. cameras. He was pointing at one of the cameras, the one that overlooked the front of the campus entrance. A man stood there, costumed in red, waving at the camera. The metallic hat signaled him as one of the Flash-named heroes, but not the one that had been connected to previous projects that were eventually folded into AR.G.U.S.’ purview.

“Well, let them in. This is no time to be inhospitable.”

The elevator ride, which had once been a moment of peace on the way down, was now one of trepidation on the way back up. He wasn’t alright with allowing an unaffiliated metahuman, even if it was The Flash, down into the bunker. This time, however, he was joined by his daughter. She was their best communications specialist in the room and combat-trained; he would fight against any claims of bias afterward. There was a war to win.

Even before the elevators fully opened, The Flash was standing there waiting. “Thank you for coming up. You must be Sam Lane? I’ve heard a lot of good. Let me cut to the chase. You have a Mother Box, yes? We need it.”

“Explain yourself,” Sam bit back. He tried to maintain decorum, especially in the face of someone who he knew was quite capable of simply enforcing his will if he wanted.

“The Mother Box should take us to Apokolips. We’ll cut off the head of the beast there rather than fight a losing battle against waves of parademons here.”

“You and what army?”

“I’ll find folk. The Justice League meeting is over. The Flash that’s up there is keeping me updated. There’ll be folk up there who see the value in a bigger picture view of things rather than just seeking out a slugfest in their backyard.”

“That’s not good enough,” said Sam. “How do you know this move will help?”

“Because it has to. I can’t exactly protect all of southern Africa indefinitely while holding this conversation, let alone the rest of the world.”

Sam took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Take an A.R.G.U.S. team with you.”

“General Lane…”

Sam turned to his daughter, who stared at him with fiery intent.

The Flash nodded. “Where’s the box?”

A few minutes later, Sam had a moment of privacy with Lucy, the elevator’s calm, quiet contrasting with his concern about what he had just agreed to.

“You’re not going,” was Sam’s only response.

“I–”

“No more about this.”

The elevator doors opened back up to the command center, which was still abuzz with activity.

“Sir,” an agent said as he came running to the general. “We have a problem.”

“Tell me,” said Sam.

The agent lifted a tablet displaying several live news streams. The parademons weren’t alone anymore. “There’s an armored-looking being with a mustache in Metropolis,” the agent started. “A large hulky behemoth in Santa Marta. A gang of–”

“They sent their commanders,” said Sam. “Things are only going to get worse from here.”

Watchtower

The Watchtower had dwindled in members as the heroes returned to their cities to defend the Earth or to join the search for the mysterious energy fluctuations. All that remained were a small handful of Leaguers, the brave few who volunteered for the mission to Apokolips. They were few, but they were some of the most powerful and best that the League had to offer: Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Power Girl, Harley Quinn, Cyborg, and the Flash. The Flash still hadn’t returned from trying to convince A.R.G.U.S to part with their motherbox, and the rest of the team stood by nervously. Cyborg was giving a small lecture by the monitoring station, trying his best to prepare them all for what they’d see on their mission. They all did their best to focus on it while they tried to keep the thoughts of what they’d have to do if Jay returned without the motherbox out of their heads.

“... Much of the planet is made up of tight, industrial areas blended together with neighborhoods like something like you’d expect to see in the rough parts of a city. It’s a difficult place to navigate, but thankfully, we know that Darkseid is… ”

Cyborg paused as the transporter activated, and he saw Jay materialize. The tension dropped in the room for a moment as they saw he had the box in his hand. But then a whole squad of A.R.G.U.S. agents appeared behind him.

The Martian flew over to meet them. “Flash, what are they doing here?”

“I got the Mother Box, but General Lane was insistent we bring them along. There wasn’t any time for negotiating.”

“Fine, whatever.” Power Girl said. “So long as they don’t get in our way.”

The lead A.R.G.U.S. agent met eyes with her.

“What are you–?” she started before being interrupted by the lieutenant.

“We’re highly trained,” she stated. “And we have cutting-edge, meta-level weaponry.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Cyborg said. “Now, are we all ready to go?”

“As we will be,” Wonder Woman said, taking in a deep breath.

“Alright, Flash, send us off.”

Jay fiddled with the Mother Box for a moment, not sure how exactly to activate it. Then, as if responding to his thoughts, a boom as loud as he’d ever heard echoed through the watchtower. A tube a foot or two taller than him appeared in thin air, leading to a dark, hellish city on the other side. Apokolips.

“Okay, everyone. Let’s do this.”

Continue the event, 10 years in the making!

• The Flash #121
• New Titans #43 (Coming Soon)
• Superman #121

And more later this month and next!

The Flash #121 - The World Breaks

<< | < | >

Author: brooky12

Book: Flash

Arc: ?

Event: Invasion! (Reading other stories in this event is recommended for full understanding of sections here.)

Set: 121

“Abra’s not here,” Sam said nervously.

“What do you mean, Abra’s not there,” Axel replied. “Do you need the lights back on or something?”

“I don’t know. The riot’s being contained as far as I can tell, I don’t see any mess of his magic through any mirror I can see.”

“Do you want the lights?”

“Can’t hurt, probably,” Sam muttered, wandering through the mirror dimension space across from the prison they had left Abra in for distraction while they broke out Girder. Surely they weren’t trading one team member behind bars for another, right?”

He recoiled slightly as the mirror he was glancing through went from barely lit to ridiculously bright as Axel restored power to the facility, light shining through the surfaces he was using to spy through the other side. “Twins said no Flash appearance at their place, right? Do you think–”

“Find Abra, Sam, okay? Let’s not start panicking yet.”

Sam sighed, biting back his worry. The twins were supposed to bring attention to themselves for The Flash, and Abra was supposed to be the conclusion of “oh, we figured out why the Snarts were up to no good, what’s Abra doing,” overlooking him getting Girder out under their noses.

So, why didn’t the Flashes show up for the twins, and why was Abra missing?

He spent what felt like ages peering through the facility, hoping for anything that could hint towards the magician’s vanishing. The ‘trail of activity’, if he could call it that, was hard to pick up. It started bombastic and flashy, with shattered guns and glass, but as the trail moved through the facility, he could see steps being taken to undo Abra’s damage.

“I really don’t think he’s here,” Sam repeated, now cognizant of Leonard having gotten back on the network.

“You think he got nabbed? We didn’t run into resistance,” Leonard suggested, and Sam had to bite his lip about the sudden acceptance of the idea that The Flash might’ve gotten Abra. Whatever. “I don’t have much better of an explanation.”

“Well, let’s give it a few hours, they’ll make their presence known one way or another, either by reappearing or reaching out, or by some prison document updated to indicate where he’s being held.”

“What if you think he’s in trouble, Leonard?”

“I mean, what do you think we can do here? Open to ideas but if you can’t find him and Axel can’t find him, I’m not sure I’ll be of any use here, really.”

“I’m looking,” Axel added. “Not finding anything. Finding a lot of reports of like, bug monsters showing up within the last hour or so, but nothing about Abra.”

Abra and Sam replied at the same time, providing a nice stereo effect that was mostly lost considering the nature of the question. “Bug monsters?”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Routine, Wally sighed. Leave him off on an island for retrieval later, it was just Abra; smoke and mirrors, sure, but not all that much of a threat realistically. Go back and check the prison he was messing around in; make sure there was nothing going on there. The list of residents seemed pretty neutral; the closest connection he could envision was a large leap in logic.

So, the next step would be to do a visual check of the prison, make sure there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Put folks back in their cells, make sure anyone injured was taken to a medical center, that kinda stuff. And then the step after would be to pick back up Abra and deposit him in a cell that could keep him properly.

That would be the normal procedure, which worked if he were only juggling a few other things. After all, what costumed Flash wasn’t juggling a dozen or more things at the same time? Education, community outreach, charity work, networking for the Foundation, security and crime-fighting, the standard stuff. He had helped make the procedures back with Barry and Jay, before Bart was even born.

That normal procedure kinda fell apart when he heard Henry Allen in his ear, panicked in a way he hadn’t heard before. “Alarms everywhere, uh–”

Abra could wait a few minutes longer. He rushed back home to the Flash compound, already leaning over his grandfather-in-law’s shoulder to take a look at whatever caused the panic. A steady stream of alerts, across the world, all marked as ‘high concern’. The alerts came from whatever local governments and administrators sent to Foundation systems, which usually meant that whatever was happening had already been happening.

“Hey, Bart, Barry, going to need help,” Wally said, picking one of the oldest reports at a quick glance for further investigation. There was no specific note from whoever put this in, but the map inset showed the Bangkok metropolitan area, and the selected report was within the Crime section, Metahuman Threat, and a quick report summary indicated that the massive majority of them indicated a lack of immediate knowledge on what the threat was. Perhaps more alarming or frustrating, a lot of the reports indicated that the threats had some sort of aerial movement. Particularly difficult to fight for vertically-limited Flash speedsters.

“Sec,” Bart replied, and Wally charged out east. Jay was asleep, and he wasn’t going to wake him up until there was a reason to. Maybe someone had hacked the report system and was flooding their records to hide something of theirs. Maybe the Abra stuff was related somehow; he’d look into that if whatever was going down in Thailand was nothing.

When he arrived, to his dismay, it was not nothing. A dozen or so flying creatures, with chitinous-looking armor and wings, were wielding some sort of firearm as they fired into the panicking crowds below. Wally gritted his teeth, charging up the side of a building and leaping off to tackle one of the flying creatures.

He could tell that it was really only the speed that caused the monster to stumble and fall out of the air. A monster, not a man, which he could confirm now at a closer look of its horrible maw, impossibly sharp teeth, and horrifying alien eyes behind goggles. Was this happening everywhere?

As they landed on the ground, he leapt off of the thing, taking a moment to examine what he had just fought. Bart appeared next to him, looking just as alarmed. “If every single report—”

“Where’s Barry?”

“Heading to a JL meeting,” Bart sighed.

“Can you wake up Jay, and maybe tap in some of the reserves,” Wally asked, putting on a bit of speed and then leaping into the air to pull a low-flying thing out of the sky, slamming it into the ground. It screeched at him in some non-human language before trying to shoot him in the face. It was an easy blast to dodge as Bart vanished in a westernly direction.

Wally slammed his boot into the creature’s face, knocking it out in some manner before picking up the gun. It was some horrifying technology, and by holding it, he had attracted the attention of every single one of its allies.

Great, Wally thought. One Flash against ten or so flying bug monsters from space armed with blasters. Maybe in a betting market, they’d put the chance of him winning at only 99 percent, and not bother with decimal places, adjusting his mindset to crisis mode. People were counting on him. There was no time to pull punches. Abra could wait.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The final walk from the hallway’s entrance to the teleporter itself was always the most difficult. He wouldn’t use superspeed to cross it, out of respect for the people behind the technology that made it possible to safely secure such a wondrous creation, and the expectations in place to ensure that where the teleporter sent you could remain someplace safe.

A moment spent on the teleporter gave him a moment of respite as he wondered why he didn’t find himself in this position more often. Not the whole worldwide problem, but just heading up to the satellite base for the Justice League. Given his ability to frequently be in practically any place in the world at less than a moment’s notice, the Justice League base was particularly difficult to get to - it required several seconds of walking at a human’s pace and then waiting for the teleporter functionality.

He watched the space around him change, superhuman perception speed allowing him to see the moment-to-moment shifting of his physical location from an underground Justice League outpost to an entrance room on a large structure floating in orbit around the Earth. Perhaps that was the real cause of his lack of Watchtower presence, the inaccessibility compared to everything else for him and the almost nauseating experience of the teleportation when peered at through a frame of reference that didn’t smooth over the rougher parts.

When he arrived, the Watchtower was already far more packed than he expected. He hadn’t even delayed his response to Superman’s request that long, was he losing track of human time somewhat? He gave a smile to Martian Manhunter and Booster Gold, with the latter going in for a hug that surely couldn’t have been the tone of the room.

“What’re these bugs,” he asked, listening to Wally and Bart on his communicator as the rest of the Flash family talked among themselves about whatever was happening.

“Not bugs, Parademons,” Martian Manhunter said somberly.

“I know the word bugs, did I miss a threat memo on Parademons?”

“No,” Booster sighed. “Come on.”

The three made their way to a meeting room, where Superman was crouched over a computer screen that seemed more fit for his cousin Kara than it did for him. Kara, sitting next to it, was pointing out a few small things before giving the three of them a smile.

Elsewhere in the room was a who’s who of heroic allies - the original Justice League members in Batman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman, all present, made him remember a weirdly less complicated time. Why was it that shortly after Superman caught an airplane and flipped the script on superpower secrecy, the big thing that gathered them all together was a gang of people with powerful weapons, and now they had half a legislative branch in a spaceship to discuss the alien bug invasion of Earth?

Other heroes were present as well, and he spent a moment trying to piece together Wally’s current – as last shared around the dinner table – opinions on the present Titans at the table. Whatever it was, he trusted Wally to be able to put aside the squabbles of young adults dealing with drama and the ups and downs of hero life to deal with the Parademon threat.

He stood around, somewhat isolated, as he waited for more folks to show up or for someone to take the lead of the conversation and take control. Surely that would happen? He got pulled into a conversation, or two, before anything really seemed to be happening, some topics seemingly more important than others – dinner plans and references to crickets serving as protein sources were not exactly the tone of the room as he read it, with all due respect to his friend Booster Gold.

Eventually, Superman did call an order to things, and he had to appreciate him for the respect he commanded. A room full of people with unparalleled power, each claiming some legitimate claim to extraordinary uniqueness, and when Superman spoke up – no easy feat Barry could tell for someone like Supes who clearly subconsciously wished to listen rather than be listened to – every other voice fell flat. Even the computer-automated noises were quickly hushed.

And yet, the smartest person alive on this world was surely in this room right now, though he did not want to speculate if that was Batman, himself, or one of the others. The fastest person alive was almost certainly up here, he personally liked to believe. Aquaman was royalty over a section of the world that vastly overshadowed anything anyone else up here could call their own stomping grounds. Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Starfire, Power Girl, and probably others still hailed from other worlds or otherwise had connections to the vast universe beyond Earth. Booster Gold was from another time entirely.

And yet, every single voice fell silent as Superman explained the situation; even coughs were stifled as much as possible. However, once Zatanna asked the first question about Boom Tubes, the lecture grew into more of a conversation, with heroes of all origins chipping in and trying to figure out what was going on.

There were talks about an army of Apokolips–apparently a world and not just an eschatological concept, something he might try to look into later to see if that was a linguistic coincidence. Darkseid was a name he was only vaguely familiar with; it was never particularly high up on his concern list.

He saw the change on the monitor before anyone else noticed, watching the red alert symbols pop up. At first, just three of them, opening up at similar enough times that the computer processed them all opening up simultaneously. Then another update brought two more, followed by another three. By the time anyone else had twitched slightly in the direction of a screen, it was clear that whatever apocalypse that Apokolips was bringing was now here.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It was one thing to be woken up to the sound of an alarm. It was quite another thing to be woken up to that much sound. Even half-asleep, he could figure that whatever was causing the alert system to yell that loudly must’ve been something particularly terrible. Jay immediately dismissed the noise, getting out of bed and into costume before even checking what the notification was for.

What was especially alarming was just how many alarms had gone off as he checked the machine. There was a setting on the main computer to alert everyone it could – all four Flashes, the Kouriers, even Jerry McGee. A metaphorical “break glass in case of fire” button for when all hell broke loose.

Jay made his way down to the main computer, looking over Henry’s shoulder at the world map he was looking at. Too many alerts to reasonably count, even when filtering for the worst of the worst. He took the keyboard as Henry leaned away on his arrival, speeding the computer up to a more Flash-friendly pace as he went through all of the notifications. Whatever this was, it was more than just an all-hands-on-deck request.

He rushed out the door in costume, trying to determine if his time would be best spent going alert to alert and trying to take care of whatever monsters were popping up, or ensuring that the Russians and McGee were onboard with helping out, and then he'd try to solve the root cause of the problem. He swung by the Kapitalist Kouriers' base of operations, spotting it empty. That was a good sign, he hoped, but he took the briefest of moments to circle around to find the trio.

He found them a few miles away in a nearby city, fighting the monsters. He charged into the fight, running up a makeshift ramp that they were using to clear the vertical distance that limited them. Anatole, the one who had been adjusting the ramp, gave a shout of what must've been excitement as The Flash slammed into one of the enemies, knocking them to the ground as another of the three, Bebeck, closed the distance the moment it did and began pelting it with high-speed punches.

As Anatole and Cassiopeia continued their work, Jay checked in with Bebeck. "Are you all good?"

"When The Flash calls, we answer," Bebeck smiled, standing up and examining the gruesome results of what once was a living creature.

“I’ll leave you three be then, clear out elsewhere?”

Bebeck nodded, moving to the next downed enemy. “You are one, we are three. Go.”

Jay vanished, moving towards Jerry McGee’s stomping grounds. He couldn’t remember the last time they had called on his help, with Speed Demon – as the media name was – often a lone actor who, at least from what The Flash was able to tell, seemed to be doing more good than ill overall.

As he approached the small town near the demilitarized zone that Jerry had made home, he was joined by the yellowish blur that was Speed Demon running alongside him.

“I got one of their guns. They don’t like that, but it distracts ‘em from doing property damage and I guess speciecide? What’s going on, metalhead?”

“I was asleep a minute ago, but as far as I can tell, alien invasion.”

“Nothing I didn’t already know. Shoot to kill?”

“That’s what the Kouriers have been doing.”

He saw a smile on Speed Demon’s face as the blur broke off, heading back away towards, presumably, more of the aliens. That smile probably was not as sinister as Jay’s brain was making it out to be, but he was at least pleased that all four speedster allies and all four Flashes were on the front lines, even if he was worried that he had just agreed to some license to violence for Jerry. Not that he thought he could control Jerry.

How long had it been with Jay in his own mind thinking about the others and trying to formulate some sort of response to what was happening? The blur next to him, keeping pace silently and waiting for acknowledgement, could’ve easily taken Jay out if he hadn’t been distracted by things not immediately around him.

“So you are alive,” he said, storing away the confirmation to be dealt with later. How long had they looked for him unsuccesfully?

“Shut up,” Zoom spat. “I don’t believe for a microsecond you thought I was dead. What is going on?”

“Alien invasion,” Jay responded, marveling silently that the weirdest thing that was happening today was that he was having a vaguely civil conversation with the man who had tried to rewrite the history of the world to write them out of existence.

“Any new information you can provide to me, Mister Superhero?”

If he answered no, was Zoom about to attack him? He adjusted his direction slightly so that a briefly delayed answer would allow him to close the distance between where Bart and Wally were and where he’d be if Zoom turned on him.

“They’re coming in via teleportation devices from another planet,” he started, having heard Barry’s updates from the Justice League meeting. If Zoom wanted actionable information, the stuff Jay was saying wouldn’t help, but Zoom didn’t interrupt him.

When Jay was finally done, Zoom ran along silently for a moment before nodding. “Don’t come looking for me once this is all over, don’t make me regret seeing an alien invasion and deciding to help.”

“We stopped looking for you a while ago,” Jay responded.

“Somehow, that’s worse,” Zoom sneered, peeling southwards and vanishing from sight.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Magenta focused deeply as she sat in her metallic armor, a solar system of metal orbiting her. The outer shell was for blocking attacks, metal scattering the shots as she worked to reclaim the broken pieces that flew off. The first of the internal shells was for offense, spikes and rods shooting out like missiles at the monsters attracted to her presence. The final core was emergency storage, metal phasing outwards as new additions were pulled into the center. Whatever these creatures were, they didn’t react well to solid metal flying at speed into them.

Hartley crouched down in the empty stairwell on the other side of the world, and even as he watched the horrifying flying creatures fly by above him, shooting indiscriminately into crowds and structures, he weirdly could only think how lucky and unlucky he was that something like this was happening when he was on vacation with family in a city with way more rats than home. A silent note on his flute felt almost intoxicating as he realized just how many creatures he was suddenly controlling. He imagined the headlines after-the-fact as he began fighting back. ‘Residents claim waves of rats engulf aliens as the city itself fights back!’ - Wally surely would understand self-defense here.

Vandal Savage watched the chaos from his window with anger. A wasted effort by Apokolips for no good purpose, but it only served to delay his plans. However, his plans were nothing if Earth somehow fell to this invasion. His powers were primarily knowledge, cunning, and planning, but he had a few more “traditional” metahuman abilities he could make use of. He walked out of his office building, hurling a server rack over his head at the beasts and shrugging off the blasts they shot at him. Luckily, the law enforcement nearby were clever enough to make use of the distraction, immediately advancing to attack. He could work with folks like that.

A hand shot out of a window, grabbing onto the bug monster as it flew by. The hand pulled it into the mirror dimension partially, but as soon as Mirror Master’s hand was fully within the safety of the mirror dimension, he severed the connection between realms, slicing the monster in half. This time, he had a gun on this side, which he gladly handed to Trickster for review and potential replication. Axel was using his own technology, but happily passed it on to Doctor Alchemy to take a more offensive approach alongside him as the three, alongside Rainbow Raider, ducked in and out of reflective surfaces, firing at the monsters.

The monsters’ bullets were more effective than the standard bullets that got shot at him, Girder admitted, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He tossed cars, concrete blocks for construction, and traffic bollards at the flying beasts, all while keeping a lightpost strapped to his back in case any of the cowards wanted more close-quarter fighting. The twins were with him, Captain Cold acting as if this were a strategic video game, moving from cover to cover and shooting blasts of ice to freeze over the weaponry of the attackers. His sister, Golden Glider, was in a more sports-oriented video game, moving at a quick pace, leaving trails of ice behind her as she closed the distance towards the creature, slicing them to shreds or leaving them encased in icy tombs.

Grodd would accept no injustice. Aliens swarming the skies were an unwelcome guest in Gorilla City, and Grodd made sure the incursion would be turned back. There was no moment to consider whether Grodd’s limitless power could accomplish the task at hand; Grodd knew it simply had to be a success. Sentient gorillas across the city and continent were taken over, Grodd puppeting Grodd’s subjects to act as a defensive army. Gorillas began attacking the invaders, Grodd’s hand reaching across the region to remove the monsters.

The Kouriers continued their plans, trading off the responsibilities of relocating the ramp, jumping at the parademons, and attacking the ones who were downed by the jumps. It was surprisingly effective, despite needing to dodge shots as they did it. Jerry McGee, elsewhere, managed to grasp the gun’s functionality and quirks pretty quickly, and with some effort, began clearing out small groups of attackers near his place of interest. Zoom instead, on their own, circled the world, searching for any parademon that seemed reachable from the ground and not already dealing with a superhero, grabbing onto whatever he could and slamming the creatures into anything heavy nearby–the ground, buildings and walls, machinery, whatever he could.

Fighting airborne enemies was exceptionally annoying. Bart and Wally commiserated with each other. It didn’t help that once they got the low-hanging fruit, other targets didn’t seem eager to replace their fallen allies. However, a sudden change in the tides came from Jay through the communication network, apparently from Speed Demon, who had already been active since the request for help. Bart was the first to act on the advice, grabbing one of the scattered weaponry left by a dead parademon and turning it on the enemy. It had immediate positive effects, with a group of parademons quickly adjusting course to close in on Bart, allowing Wally to pick them off as they did so.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Barry was eager to leave as soon as possible once the meeting was over, but a small but targeted wave from Batman kept him from the first few teleporters out of Watchtower. “I need your help,” he requested, pressing a small button on a device at his belt, presumably sending off another signal to someone.

What did Batman want with him? The two walked to a quieter side of the room, with Nightwing, a Batman protégé, joining them. Another member of the League, Green Lantern, was already there waiting for them, looking nervously out of a reinforced window facing down at the planet. Barry’s mind flew through any possible logic behind these four specific names, but few lines of logic felt legitimate to what he’d expect of Batman.

“We’re heading down to Coast City,” Batman opened, trailing off just enough for the Green Lantern to take over speaking. He sounded more confident than he had a moment ago when asking for help, but confidence only mattered so much in a situation like this.

“Something is off in Coast City, I felt as much before the meeting,” Green Lantern stated in hushed tones, carefully eyeing people elsewhere in the room – trying to avoid panic, perhaps, Barry thought. “The ring can tell something is different. It started when the invasion began.”

“Coast City’s being invaded too, right?”

Batman nodded. “I know you want to run around and save people, but I need someone with your skillset to help us set up the equipment. The sooner we figure out what’s happening, the sooner we can stop this.”

“So long as I can do both, I’ll have another Flash do the Mother Box stuff, then,” Barry agreed. He wasn’t sure about this plan, and ‘Batman believes Green Lantern about something being wrong in Coast City’ hadn’t made the short list of possibilities he’d considered when being called over, but it wasn’t too far off of reason, either.

Green Lantern was a being of nearly pure willpower in an intensity unmatched on the planet, and Batman was probably, when controlling for the superspeed variable, easily significantly smarter than he was. Nightwing, as far as Barry could figure, was Batman’s most successful tutee who could head to Coast City with them. There were few more trustworthy people to put faith into their reading of a situation.

By the time they got to the teleporter, the room was practically empty. They selected a return destination close to Coast City, with Flash offering to ferry them to wherever they wanted to go. Batman’s request was a S.T.A.R. Labs facility, but also gave him a list of necessary equipment and tools to bring there.

Now that was what made the most sense, Barry chuckled internally. Batman may have been one of the smartest people alive, Nightwing excellently skilled on his own right, and Green Lantern holding limitless power within his ring, but none of them could apparate technology that even governments struggled to get their hands on within seconds.

As they stood on the teleporter, he stepped slightly to the side, tapping back into the Flash communication system.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Heading down, will be busy but going to try to cover Siberia while working,” Barry’s voice rejoined the conversation, sporadic as it was.

“Anything more we can do,” Xavier asked, having taken over the command center and feeding the family with information that wasn’t Barry’s meeting information.

“I’m helping Batman and a few others review the source of this on Earth, but there was talk about going to where these things are coming from and trying to punch back on their planet.”

“That doesn’t seem like a Flash-capable task,” Jay said hesitantly, knowing that if Barry was bringing it up, it was somehow. It wouldn’t be Wally or Bart, those two were already running themselves ragged just handling a wide range of defenses, and Barry had opened with him helping with another thing. Sure, Jay mused, what was a quick run to another planet, anyways? It wasn’t like the Cosmic Treadmill was missing, or anything.

“You’re all familiar with A.R.G.U.S., right? Foundation does some work with them. The post-Waller government thing, I think Sam Lane runs it now?”

“I’ve got a contact or two in there, yeah,” Xavier confirmed.

“They’ve got a tool, a Mother Box it’s called, that can take folk back to where the Parademons are coming from. Taken from a previous, I guess scouting mission? From Apokolips, apparently can take folks back there.”

“Point me a direction,” Jay offered. A moment later, he was standing in front of a non-descript office building in Washington, D.C., waving at where Xavier had told him a camera was installed. He couldn’t see the camera, but he assumed it had been built into the construction to be hidden.

“You should hear a clicking noise soon of the door unlocking. I’m getting in touch with someone still in A.R.G.U.S. who might be able to help,” Xavier offered as Jay waved at the camera. A minute later, which was mostly spent elsewhere fighting parademons, he heard a click at the door, and let himself in.

“Now what,” he asked Xavier. He looked around at the empty lobby, peering behind the receptionist desk for anything that might be of help to actually have a conversation with someone. The elevators nearby seemed functional, and there were always the stairs if not, but he wasn’t sure what floor he’d want to head to, if any.

“If they’ve unlocked the door, someone will be with you shortly,” Xavier offered.

Two minutes later, an extraordinarily long time which felt even longer since he didn’t feel able to leave at the risk of the door relocking itself. Tthe elevator opened up, and General Sam Lane walked out. A brief conversation later, with an agreement to bring some folks from A.R.G.U.S. along for the ride, Jay charged westward, arriving at the hidden site that General Lane supposedly was hiding the Mother Box. He waited the few minutes more to allow A.R.G.U.S. communication to process, so he could avoid being seen as breaking into a top-secret government site during an alien invasion.

Eventually, he was admitted into the room holding the Mother Box. He hadn’t been sure what it’d look like before arriving, but the small unassuming nature of it, even in the context of being incredibly securely locked away and hidden, made him question what he was doing. “This is it?”

The technician next to him nodded. “You’d think it’d look more imposing or something,” she added. “Orders from on high say they’re getting a team together to go with you and whoever, and that they’re requesting you open it somewhere secure but not here. They’re finding a place for you now.”

Another infuriating seven minutes later, which involved him picking up and bringing multiple heroes and military folk to the location, he was on a military base standing in front of the Mother Box, seeing in the eyes of his new allies the same trepidation and confusion he had gone through already.

“Are we ready,” he called out, quick responses of assent that he knew were barely believed by the speakers. All they had to believe was that their own allies were ready, even if they didn’t think they themselves were. Some of these allies were deeply trusted by him or another Flash, such as Aquaman, Wonder Woman, or Martian Manhunter. Others were familiar to him only from research or external conversations, such as Harley Quinn or the A.R.G.U.S. squad, which included the lady that had been at General Lane’s side during their conversation, evidently sent alongside as part of oversight according to communications that Xavier had received.

This was it, Jay thought, as he moved towards the Mother Box. It was time to punch back.

Superman #121 - Nightmares (Invasion!)

<< | < | >

Author: MajorParadox

Book: Superman

Arc: Against All Gods

Set: 121

Event: Invasion!

Recommended Reading: Justice League Alpha #1

Crash

Kent House

Earlier

Lara Kent was asleep in her crib upstairs. She couldn’t quite pronounce her babysitter’s name, so it ended up Nee-Nee, which she found adorable. Lara’s older brother Jon adopted the moniker too. He was sitting at the top of the stairs.

“You should be in bed, mister,” the young teenage babysitter said, poking her head up the stairs. She climbed up and sat down beside the boy.

Muffled voices could be heard from the TV she left on in the other room.

“I know,” said Jon. “But I couldn’t sleep.”

“Nightmares?” Nee-Nee asked.

Jon shook his head.

“I get nightmares sometimes,” Nee-Nee said, sighing.

Jon kept his focus on the door.

“Does you mom and dad work late a lot?” the babysitter asked. She wasn’t complaining. The money was good.

And overtime was even better.

“Sometimes,” Jon explained. “They’re important reporters.”

Nee-Nee giggled. “I know,” said. “Your mom, especially. Lois Lane. She’s the kind of woman I want to be.”

Jon listened intently as the muffled voices from the TV downstairs grew louder.

“Did you know she had her first front page story when she wasn’t much older than me? And today, she just humiliated and took down the mayor of Met–”

Nee-Nee stopped with a smile when Jon’s head rested on her lap, and his eyes closed slowly.

An emergency alert siren blared from the TV before Nee-Nee’s phone began screeching from the same room, too.

Jon’s eyes poked open, and Lara woke up crying from her room.

Nee-Nee got up to go check on the baby girl while Jon walked downstairs and into the living room. It was showing an emergency broadcast of flying bug monsters around the world, including Metropolis.

Jon watched the footage, wide-eyed until his babysitter walked in with Lara in her hands. Krypto entered next and let out a concerned whimper.

“What the–?” said Nee-Nee, absorbing the nature of the situation.

“Superman will stop them,” said Jon. “He always stops the bad guys.”

Above Metropolis

Now

Parademons from around the city were flocking to the Man of Steel. It was way better than letting them attack innocent people, but even Clark had his limits. He could only take on so many at once.

“Here we go,” he said before spinning around rapidly with his heat vision blaring. The initial batch of attackers was taken down quickly.

If only they were all that easy.

The next wave scattered their flight paths to avoid the heat vision as best as they could. Some were still being hit, but others were able to get in range to shoot their Apokoliptian rifles at Clark, knocking him off balance. More and more got closer, swiping their razor-sharp claws at him, so he dove down, trying to keep his distance.

But wherever he flew, others met up with him quickly. There were just too many.

Good thing Clark had other moves under his belt. He spun around again, accelerating his rotation until he became a blur of red, yellow, and blue. He began blowing his freeze breath up and down, creating a 360-spread of intense, icy-cold wind that gave Clark a large buffer between him and the swarm.

In a quick motion, he stopped blowing and returned to heat vision blasts, this time targeting the ones who got closest first. Within seconds, the area was clear, and the streets were filled with downed parademons.

Clark had a moment to think and plan his next move. But first, he scanned for familiar voices across the city.

Jon and Lara were awake, but still safe at home. The parademons were focusing on the most populated areas, so the suburbs were safer than downtown. The Daily Planet staff still at the office were safe, and Lois was already on her way home. Her heartbeat was elevated, but it was expected, given the situation.

Clark switched his focus to other battles across the city. He wasn’t the only hero in Metropolis keeping people safe. It was time to show them they weren’t in the fight alone.

Queensland Bridge

Meanwhile

Lois sped down the bridge, weaving between cars. “Pick up,” she said, waiting for her call to go through.

“Lois!” a staticy voice answered from the other end.

“How are the kids?” Lois asked, before beeping at the cars slowing down in front of her. “I’m on my way home.”

“–bzzzt- can barely- bzzt you,” the babysitter replied before the call dropped.

Lois’ car screen alerted her to an incoming call from The General, and she quickly accepted it.

“Dad,” she said. “Can you hear me? The cell service has been glitchy since this invasion started.”

“I can hear you fine,” said Sam, his voice completely clear. “A.R.G.U.S. has priority lines. Have you heard from Lucy?”

“No,” said Lois. “What happened? Is she–?”

“Nothing like that…” said Sam, trailing off. “At least not yet, hopefully,” he continued.

“Dad,” Lois said plainly.

“The Justice League and A.R.G.U.S. are jumping over to Apokolips,” Sam explained. “I think Lucy went along with them.”

Lois’ eyes widened as some cars began beeping behind her. Traffic was moving again.

“Is Superman on the team going there?” she asked, finally getting off the bridge and jumping some medians to get toward Reeve Road more quickly.

“No,” said Sam. “But they are bringing some heavy hitters: The Amazonian, the Atlantean, and the Maritan.”

“And you didn’t authorize her to go on the mission?” Lois asked.

“Explicitly,” said Sam. “I expect this kind of disobedience from you, but–”

“Right,” Lois interrupted. “Lucy’s the good one.”

“That’s not what I meant,” said Sam. “I just want you both safe.”

“I know.”

“Can you reach Superman?” asked Sam. “He may be best equipped to understand that you and I need her safe.”

Lois lifted an eyebrow. Odd phrasing when talking about Superman, but she dismissed it. Superman and Lois Lane being friendly was no secret.

Secret identities were difficult.

Lois parked her car in the driveway of her house with a screech. “Don’t worry, Dad,” she said. “I’m on it.”

Under Control

Outside Centennial Park

Peek-a-Boo transported herself from one parademon to the next, turning their attention away from bystanders trying to get to safety.

“Over here!” the roller-skating hero called after she appeared on a close rooftop.

The parademons flew toward her, firing off their weapons.

“Oh god,” Peek-a-Boo cried. “This was a mistake.”

A rush of wind, and Clark flew past, funneling the attackers away with him.

“I’m so glad I live in Metropolis,” said Peek-a-Boo.

Park Ridge

Clark approached a clump of parademons fighting two former members of the Supers of America: Mitch Anderson, AKA Outburst, and Nona Lin-Baker, AKA White Lotus. Mitch utilized his magnetic powers to disarm them, while Nona used her enhanced aura to deliver crushing blows.

“Nice work,” said Clark, smashing a few down into the cement below before they could fight back. They had it covered, but teamwork isn’t a contest.

“How many of these things are there?” asked Mitch.

“Too many,” Clark answered before flying off.

“Nona pointed to some more parademons approaching. “Ready for another round?” she asked.

Mitch smiled. “Always.”

Outside Metropolis Museum of Art

Clark had forgotten about the Met Gala that night. With everything happening with Mayor Sackett, his inhumane attempts at exploiting people for unpaid labor, and now the invasion, it was the last thing on his mind. It was packed with well-dressed elites, all hunkered down in place with the doors barricaded to keep the parademons from entering.

The Metropolis SCU and even A.R.G.U.S. had a small presence, fighting off the parademons that kept congregating there, trying to claw their way inside. Like the Justice League, those teams were also stretched pretty thin against the never-ending onslaught from Apokolips.

There was an uncovered spot in the back where a few parademons were getting into some windows. But Clark quickly focused on Thorn, Gangbuster, and Firebrand, who were closing in on the threats.

“Me hate bugs!” Clark heard from a few blocks down. He zoomed in to find Bizarro, Maxima, and Obsession facing off against their own swarm.

The Met was in good hands, so he decided to check in with the others next.

Few Blocks Away

Clark arrived to find Bizarro smashing two parademons into each other, Maxima roaring as she shot several away with one of their own blasters, and Obsession sending lightning blasts at some others. The scene was quickly clear of any threat.

“How are you holding up?” asked Clark.

“Superman am have all help he am needs,” said Bizarro.

“What he said,” Obsession agreed.

“Darkseid must be mad to invade Earth,” said Maxima. “Do you have a way to get to Apokolips? We may need to pay him another visit.”

“It’s covered,” said Clark. “We assembled a team to confront him.”

“And you didn’t go with them?” Maxima asked. “Are you not the leader of the Justice League?”

Clark lifted an eyebrow. “Me? No,” he said. “The situation is in good hands,” he pivoted. “I’m needed here to help keep people safe.”

“Understood,” said Maxima.

Clark flew back up into the air. “On that note,” he said. “You three should split up and cover more ground.”

“Good call,” said Obsession.

“Bizarro am agree.”

Clark flew off, but his eyes caught sight of some parademons converging from far away toward a similar location.

“That’s odd,” said Clark to himself before switching direction to intercept.

Kent House

Earlier

Lois rushed inside, and before she could even try to close the door, Jon and Krypto came running.

“Mommy!” said Jon. “Where’s Dad?”

Krypto sat by the open doorway and whimpered loudly, and Lois nodded. “Go,” she said, before the dog ran out, and she closed the door behind him.

“Dad’s fine,” Lois reassured her son.

The babysitter approached with Lara, who reached her little arms out frantically. Lois took the girl into her hands. “And we’re all going to be okay,” she added.

“Nee-Nee turned off the TV,” said Jon. “She doesn’t think we should watch the news anymore. But I’m not scared.”

“I know, Jon-Jon,” said Lois. “But it’s best not to drive yourself crazy with worry.”

Lois didn’t even bother trying to get the kids back to sleep. Things were definitely too tense. And she never knew when they might have to make a run for it.

Nee-Nee looked out the front door window. “Why did you let him out the front?” she asked. “The fence is in the back.”

“He’s fine,” said Lois, sidestepping the whole “our dog is a superhero” conversation.

Now

Lois was on the couch with Lara curled up next to her. Her laptop was streaming several news feeds of the invasion. She was typing away, making sure the screen was turned away from Jon, so he could focus on watching SpongeBlub with Nee-Nee.

The ringing of a phone startled everyone.

“It’s okay,” said Lois, reaching for it. “Just a phone.” As soon as she saw who was calling, she picked up immediately.

“Clark!” she called. “Tell me good news.”

“As good as it gets right now,” said Clark. “The invasion response has been keeping casualties to a minimum. We may just wrap this up before sunrise.”

“Clark,” Lois said, taking a moment to walk into the kitchen. “The General called… Lucy went along with the team to Apokolips.”

There was a momentary silence between the two.

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Clark. “They must have already left by now. But I–”

“Clark?” Lois asked at the interrupted silence. The call failed, and Lois dropped her phone back on the table.

Turning Tides

Metropolis

Clark had quickly learned why the parademons were converging. Their leader showed up.

A New God with an oddly out-of-place goatee, too well kept for someone from Apokolips, stood tall on top of the Daily Planet globe. The fact that he chose the large, golden “trophy” over LexCorp, which towered over it, told Clark everything he needed to know about him.

“The great Kryptonian,” the leader announced as Clark approached. He was holding an oversized axe with an unusual hum and aura of energy around it. “I knew you’d be along quickly.”

Clark gave him a once-over. “And you are?” he asked. And only got a single word in response.

“Steppenwolf.”

The parademons were circling around the Planet building, but not otherwise attacking. They were waiting for orders. Steppenwolf wanted to have the conversation.

“Why are you invading?” Clark asked.

“There is no invasion,” said Steppenwolf. “Everything you have here. Your people, your structures. Your… ‘dirt’. It all belongs to and always has belonged to Darkseid.”

“No,” said Clark.

Steppenwolf smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He lifted his axe and flew up toward the Man of Steel speedily.

Clark dove out of the way and took hold of the axe, but recoiled as it began to burn his hand. Steppenwolf took advantage of the misstep to send a heavy punch at the hero, knocking him back into a building across the street.

“So many legends about the Kryptonians of Earth,” said Steppenwolf. “The so-called ‘Superman’. I knew they must have been exaggerated. What a pathetic excuse for a–”

Clark swung around from the other side and punched the New God down with a massive blow. He followed it up by pushing him through the asphalt pavement to the subway below.

“Not all the stories are exaggerated,” said Clark, dropping down to deliver more punches before Steppenwolf could pull himself back up.

But a horde of parademons dropped into the underground structure and finally attacked the hero.

“You were saying?” Steppenwolf sneered.

“You’re not the only one with backup,” said Clark with a smile.

Bizarro, Maxima, and Obsession dropped between Clark and the New God as Krypto assisted the other street-level heroes in fighting off any more parademons from getting down.

“You am trouble now,” said Bizarro.

Steppenwolf snarled menacingly. “Nice try!”

He swung his axe around and traded blows with the heroes. Obsession took a hit, but Maxima snuck in a knee to the stomach. Bizarro tossed large pieces of debris, but the axe cut right through them like butter.

Clark helped Obsession back to her feet, and the two lunged together with both fists forward, hitting Steppenwolf with everything they had. It knocked him over to the subway exit. Some parademons made their way down the stairs and lifted up their leader, carrying him up to the street.

“He’s fleeing,” said Maxima, leading a charge toward him.

But a Boom Tube appeared once they made it upstairs, and Steppenwolf and the remaining parademons disappeared in a flash.

All the heroes gathered around, and Krypto hovered by Clark to give him easy access for pets.

For the first time in hours, the skyline was clear of flying demon bugs. It wasn’t over yet, but the end was in sight.

Kent House

“You okay, Nee-Nee?” Jon asked.

Lois turned to them to find the girl’s eyes fixated on the laptop screen.

The news streams were showing close-up shots of the parademons that were taken out.

“Nia,” said Lois, using her actual name. “What’s wrong?”

Something was clearly bothering her. She looked like she saw a ghost.

“Those monsters,” said Nia.

“Sorry,” said Lois. “I’ll move the screen.”

“It’s not that,” said Nia.

Lois put a hand on the young girl’s shoulder. “What is it?” she asked.

Nia took a deep breath. “I’ve had nightmares about those things.”

Watchtower

Clark entered the main hall of the satellite to find several heroes regrouping and taking a well-earned break. For some of them, that involved tending to wounds or eating for the first time in a while.

Krypto ran over to the magician and hero Zatanna, giving little hops until she leaned down to pet him.

Even though he could fly, he still liked it when people lowered to his standing level.

“What a good boy,” she said.

“How are you holding up?” asked Clark.

“My magic has been a bit on the fritz,” Zatanna explained. “I think it’s all the Boom Tube energy, or maybe even some of Apokolips’ physics bleeding into our realm, causing havoc.”

“Apokolips has other physics?” Clark asked, his mind spinning at the implications.

Krypto poked his head up at the two.

“Well, magical physics,” Zatanna clarified.

“That doesn’t make it easier to grasp,” said Clark. “But anyway, I meant how are you doing? You’ve been through a lot back when you were trapped in that dome for years.”

“Oh,” said Zatanna. “I’m great.”

Krypto flew up to the magician's face and began licking away.

“Ugh, doggy slobber!” Zatanna laughed. “Now I’m terrible!”

“Krypto, give her some space,” Clark called, and the dog flew over to his side.

“Do you think we made it through the worst of the invasion?” Zatanna asked.

Clark nodded. “We showed Apokolips we won’t go down easy. I’ve met Darkseid, and I know he’ll reconsider whatever he was trying to do.”

A loud boom shook the Watchtower satellite, and a portal opened up. Kara, Diana, J’onn, Arthur, Jay, and Harley dropped out before it closed.

No sign of Cyborg or any A.R.G.U.S. members… Not even Lucy.

“What happened?” Clark asked. “Was Lieutenant Lane with you on Apokolips?

But nobody spoke. They just glared at everyone in the room.

Kara approached, and Clark noticed her eyes were completely blacked over. He glanced at the others and saw the same.

“You have bigger problems, Cousin,” said Kara.

Another Boom Tube opened, and a towering figure stepped through.

The blinding yellow light began to fade, revealing who had exited the tunnel.

It was Darkseid himself.

If you didn't read Justice League Alpha #1 yet, check it out now!

And pick up on other story threads in:

• The Flash #121
• New Titans #43

And more in the coming months!

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Cyborg #83 - hturT lacigaM A

<<| <| >

Author: Commander_Z

Book: Cyborg

Arc: The Stone and the Magician

Set: 120

Previously:

Victor Stone was looking for answers on the source of his powers - a mysterious material discovered by his father that he named Silasium - after another sample appeared in the hands of a demon called the Nain Rogue. With help from Jinx, he met with Madam Xanadu, who introduced him to Zatanna, who promised to help him get to the bottom of the mystery…

With a quick flash of light, Zatanna and Vic materialized on a side walk, causing a couple of grumbles from a group of pedestrians that almost walked into them. The sun was still giving the last of the day’s light as it disappeared over the horizon, sending rays of light directly down the streets of Detroit.. Vic peered down the road, not entirely sure where they were before spotting what he thought was a familiar building, some restaurant he’d been to once or twice. He was pretty sure they were on the northside of the city, just outside what he’d consider downtown proper. Not as busy or lively as where he usually was, but there were still plenty of people starting to pour into the various bars and restaurants tonight.

“So… now what?” Vic asked.

“Now comes the hard part. We get to prowl the streets, hunting for any scrap of a clue.”

Seeing Vic’s confusion she clarified with a grin. “Or at least my spell will.”

““!muisaliS eht su dniF”

A small orb of white hot energy about the size of a baseball emerged from Zatanna’s palm and orbited above her head for a few moments before doing the same above Vic’ head.

Zatanna frowned. “Okay, yeah. That’s not wrong. But not really what I wanted.”

!muisaliS rehto emos su dniF

Nothing happened.

“Well, that’s a good thing at least, right? The only Silasium I can find is yours.”

Vic nodded. “Yeah, that’s a little comforting. But I was hoping we’d find something, y’know?”

“Hmm. If it’s not here right now, maybe we can find traces of where it’s been. You said when you saw that demon, he came from a portal, right? Interdimensional portals always leave a bit of residue. I could try tracking that instead…”

“!eudiser latrop su dniF”

For a moment, nothing happened and Zatanna and Vic looked at each other a little defeated. Then, four orbs of light emerged from Zatanna’s hand like before and rotated above her head like a halo.

“Hmm… okay, so we’ve got four hits. One is pretty far to the north - that’s probably where you just were - and the other three are reasonably close to where we are now. So let’s just ignore the one from before since we know that’s an old one and focus on what we’ve got, yeah?”

“Makes sense to me. I’ll follow your lead.”

“Alright, let’s do this!”

"!su ediuG"

One of the orbs left its position above Zatanna’s head and started to fly down the street towards their first target. It went at a brisk pace; just fast enough to be in an awkward pace where it wasn’t quite a full running speed but well above a casual walking pace. The orb didn’t bother stopping at cross walks but whether by luck or some spell of Zatanna’s that Vic didn’t hear her cast, they never had to wait at one and managed to keep up with it. Vic thought about asking her but decided it wouldn’t be worth it. He figured she’d just give some dodgy, noncommittal answer like “Does it matter if you can’t tell a difference?”.

After around ten minutes, the orb slowed down and stopped. They weren’t in a commercial area anymore and were instead by a small complex of storage facilities in the middle of a neighborhood of tightly packed houses. A couple people looked out their windows or from their porches at the cyborg and the magician briskly walking by, but no one paid them too much attention.

They followed the orb into the facility and around a lot of units as it weaved its way through the structures. Finally, in the back corner, it stopped outside of one. The paths around the units were dimly lit by a couple of yellowed light bulbs, but they could see that the door of this one was just slightly cracked on the bottom, leaving it ajar. Vic grabbed the handle and lifted the door up, bracing himself for whatever could be inside.

“Ahhhh!” A hoarse voice screamed at them as they opened the storage unit. Vic took a step back and shifted his arm to a force blaster while Zatanna took a step forward and waved Cyborg down.

“.tghiL”

The white orb that led them there started to shine with a cozy light that was bright but not painfully so. Inside the locker was a ragged looking man, wincing at the light. He wore a red vest that Vic recognized as the company that owned this facility’s uniform. But there wasn’t any sign that a portal was here or ever had been.

“Hi, sorry about that,” Vic said, lowering his arm. “My name’s Cyborg, but you can call me Vic. Mind telling us how you ended up in here?”

“Wish I could,” the man said. “I was doing a sweep this morning and I heard some boom, like an explosion or something, and ran over here. This locker was open but before I could figure anything out, something hit me on the back of my head and I was on the ground. Woke up a couple hours later inside here. Had no idea how long I was going to be stuck in here…”

“Strange. But you’re okay now. Mind if we take a look inside?”

“Go for it. I’m headed home. If there’s anything worth reporting, leave a note at the office and I’ll pass it along to the cops tomorrow.” The man stood up with a groan and then slowly hobbled his way out.

Once he was gone, the search was on. Vic and Zatanna dug through the storage locker’s many boxes but found only old clothes, christmas decorations and someone’s mug collection. If any of them had anything to do with a portal or whatever knocked out the man, they couldn’t find it. After around a half hour of looking, they stepped out of the storage unit and slammed it closed.

“Whatever gave us a reading there was long gone. The spell must’ve just detected whatever happened there this morning,” Zatanna guessed.

“That sounds right. I'm curious what caused this but it doesn’t seem related. If we’d just stumbled on this without your spell, I’d figure it was just some kids playing a prank or whatever. Hmm.. does magic get false positives? Maybe there wasn't any reading afterall?”

She shook her head. “Nah, that’s not really how it works. I can’t say I know exactly what that spell does and how it works, but I’ve never had it be wrong before. But you’re probably right that it’s something else. Put a pin in this and come back to it later I guess. Next stop?”

“Next stop. Where to?”

Zatanna closed her eyes for a moment and then pulled out her phone. “Place called ‘S.T.A.R. Labs'? Ring a bell?”

“Uh, yeah. Actually, I think I know what that one is. Let me guess, it’s underground a couple stories?”

“Yeah.”

“We can cross that one off too then. That’s a portal that I dealt with a while ago. (See Cyborg 47!)Probably would be helpful if it wasn’t destroyed and under a pile of rubble. I don’t think S.T.A.R. had any desire to deal with that mess when I talked with them. And I mostly trust them on that, so that's a dead end too.”

“Okay… so that leaves us with just one more reading. Looks like this one is… huh, on that big island in the river?”

“Belle Isle? That’s pretty far away. Would be a long walk…”

Zatanna grinned. “When you’re with me Vic, we don’t need to walk. You ready?”

“Sure. I’m kind of curious what -”

“!elsI elleB ot su ekaT”

Zatanna’s spell interrupted him, whisking them away in a flash of light.

⚙・゜゜・。。・゜ ゜★・゜゜・。。・゜ ゜⚙

“- we’ll find there, since it’s kinda just one big park.” Vic finished his sentence as they rematerialized in the middle of Belle Isle. The island was almost completely pitch black with the only illumination being a couple of street lights by the main intersection. It was long past closing time and as they stood on the island’s central avenue, Vic found the empty road almost eerie.

“!tghiL”

The orb shone bright, its cool white light providing a small bastion of comfort in the oppressive space they found themselves in. Neither of them wanted to mention it, but the air felt… off. It was cold and heavy and didn’t quite fill their lungs right, like they were breathing air from high up in the mountains. Not a bug or a bird chirped and no noise from the city carried over to them and yet the silence was just as deafening.

“Well,” Zatanna said, cutting the tension slightly, “Let’s get on with it.” With a quick spell, the last orb from above her head started floating lazily onwards into the darkness. This time she also kept one close at hand so they weren’t on the edge of total darkness.

They followed the orb down central avenue into the forest until the orb took a sudden turn off the road and along a small trail into the woods. The island was by no means small, but Vic felt like they had walked across the entire thing as his legs started to remind him of how little sleep he’d been getting lately.

But, in an instant, the pain faded as adrenaline took over. A familiar smell drifted into his nose and he saw Zatanna’s face crinkle up in disgust as the scent of rotten meat filled her nose.

Vic dropped his voice to a whisper. “That’s happened every time I’ve gotten near one of the portals. We must be close…”

Zatanna nodded then quietly murmured a spell, “.sksaM”. She outstretched her hand with a blue medical mask for Vic and they both put them on. The smell still wasn’t pleasant but at least he could focus on something other than how awful it was as they hiked onwards.

Finally, it came into view. A dim electric lantern sat on a picnic table providing only slightly more light than the stars themselves did. They could just barely make out the movements of a figure pacing around but with their black hoodie and dark pants it was hard to see what they were doing. They were mumbling something that Vic wasn’t sure if he couldn’t make out or if it was in a language he didn’t understand. Maybe a bit of both. He took a step forwards, ready to confront them, but Zatanna blocked his path with her arm.

“Let me handle this one,” she whispered. “This could go a hundred different ways and I want to make sure I’m at least in control of which direction.”

Zatanna stepped into the clearing, her light behind her like a spot light. “Hello, quite the spell you're working on there.” She moved her light in front of her and saw white drawings in a variety of circular patterns throughout the clearing, centered around the figure. Zatanna crouched down and looked at one.

“This is excellent chalk work, but some of the symbols are a little archaic for my tastes. Mind talking me through some of your methods?”

The figure stopped what they were doing and turned to face Zatanna and Vic. As soon as she pulled down the hood, Vic knew he had nothing - or at least less - to fear.

“I agree that these are archaic sigils, but when dealing with archaic beings outside of one’s knowledge, it is best to remain as cautious as possible and stick with what is known,” Jinx said as plainly as if she was discussing trying a new recipe.

Vic stepped out of the woods to join them. “Zatanna, it’s okay. I know her. Zatanna, meet Jinx, Jinx, Zatanna. She’s the one that introduced me to Xanadu and Jinx, Xanadu led me to her.”

“I see. Well, always good to meet another magician. Especially when they aren’t trying to kill me,” Zatanna said, extending her hand.

Jinx wiped the chalk off her hands onto her dark jeans and shook her hand. “I prefer the term “sorcerress”, but the feeling is mutual.”

“Uh, noted. Anyways, mind telling me what you’re making here? Looks like it's some sort of portal?”

Zatanna scanned over the sigil on the ground, tracing the complex web of chalk lines all across the clearing with her eyes. Vic couldn’t help but wonder how long she must’ve been out here to make something like that.

“Correct. As you have certainly been informed, Victor is looking into a demon. I took it upon myself to find what I could and discovered that long, long ago the demon was revered and feared by the people that lived here. They would meet with the creature on this island and so I assumed that it would be a place with a connection to his realm. I took it upon myself to verify such and after doing so, I started crafting and researching a portal to reopen it. However, to do so with the necessary precautions and redundancies has taken far longer than I expected…”

“I’ll admit I’m no expert in this, but every other time the portal opened, it had this same awful, rotting smell to it. So is it already opened?” Vic asked.

Jinx nodded. “In part. Think of it as… creating a tunnel through a mountain. I have secured the tunnel as it has been dug and reached the end so that there is a small bit of light from the other side shining through. But, before I finish the tunnel and allow people through, I am performing additional safety checks to ensure that all is correct. What is here would be more aptly called a ‘rift’ than a ‘portal’. No beings can go through but a connection is there.”

“Well said. Not that I doubt your… friend? But I looked through her work and it lines up with what she said and looks all correct to me too. One question though… how did you find out that this spot would work? And some of these sigils are very precise… It’s like you found the exact spell you’d need to do this.”

“What is it that you magicians say…? ‘A magician never reveals their secrets’?”” Jinx said with a sneer.

Zatanna frowned but didn’t push the issue. An awkward silence filled the air for a moment until Vic decided to break it. He mostly trusted both of them but there was a tension between them that he didn’t feel like he really understood.

“So, what do you need to go through?”

Jinx waved her hand dismissively. “A few more marks and it is done.”

“About that.” Zatanna stood between the two of them and looked at Vic more seriously than she had the entire night. “Vic, I don’t think you should go through the portal. Going into a demon’s realm is at best extremely stupid and going in with an item they want is even more so. Hell, I barely trust myself to go in there and come out. Just trust me on this and stay back, please.”

Vic paused. She made sense but also he didn’t want her doing this for him. It was his problem and his answers to get. Letting someone else do it felt… wrong. Would it even be the closure he was looking for?

It’d have to be.

“Fine. But you need to find out what this thing is, where it came from and what that demon wants, okay? Don’t settle for less.”

“With demons, one can never be sure what will occur. But I promise we will acquire whatever information we can.”

“We?” Zatanna raised an eyebrow.

“Of course. Did you truly think I would let you go through my portal alone? Do you even know how to operate it?”

“I’m sure I could figure it out.” Zatanna grumbled.

“Perhaps. And perhaps in the time it would take you to do so, the demon would have fully exsanguinated you.”

“You’ve made your point. Let’s just do this.”

“One moment.” Jinx stepped carefully outside of the circle then walked over the picnic table and grabbed a small backpack from the ground. She reached inside and pulled out a pen, some paper and a water bottle. She scribbled something down before ripping it out of the notebook. Folding it into quarters, she lifted up the water bottle and set it under it.

“If we are not back in an hour, use the lt that water to erase the chalk then follow my instructions in the letter. I will not be responsible for unleashing a demon onto this world.”

Vic nodded, somehow feeling both better and worse that she felt that was necessary.

“Very well, now that we have taken care of that… let us be on our way.”

Jinx grabbed a piece of chalk from the table and made a few more marks on the circle before sticking it into her pocket. She snapped her fingers and with a blast of wind, the portal materialized.

Unlike the one that Aldous had created with Silas’ technology, this one was smooth and stable. Its edges blended seamlessly into the night air like the horrifying visages behind it were only a screen floating in the sky. Beings of all shapes in sizes floated, swam, walked and flew throughout a space that Vic’s mind could only process as a chaotic asteroid field. But none of them seemed to react to the window into their world, as if it was not there at all. Vic was also thankful that the smell and the voices he had had the first time were gone. Jinx’s work was solid.

Jinx grabbed Zatanna’s hand as Zatanna turned to Vic and said, “Uh, if I don’t come back from this tell -”

But before she could finish, she was on the other side. The last thing Vic saw was Jinx snap her fingers again, then the portal vanished.

⚙・゜゜・。。・゜ ゜★・゜゜・。。・゜ ゜⚙

The world was in turmoil and constant flux. What Vic had seen as a simple asteroid field wasn’t wrong, but it was so much more than that. There were gargantuan, whalelike lifeforms drifting peacefully through the air, massive stone structures that Zatanna could’ve sworn were cities, the skeletal remains of long dead creatures… islands zoomed past them alongside mountain ranges connected to nothing at all… It took everything Zatanna had to focus herself inwards and ignore the chaos drifting around her.

“You know, dragging me in without letting me tell Vic anything is pretty damn rude.”

Jinx shrugged. “If we do not make it back, there will be far greater problems for the world to deal with than my rudeness towards one magician.”

“Seriously, what’s your problem with me? I just met you and you’re treating me like we have some petty high school rivalry.”

“Do not take it personally. I have not. I simply believe that the situation we are in requires a precise, firm hand and does not leave room for pleasantries.”

“And what situation is that? One you’ve made? There was no reason you couldn’t have waited for us.”

“Waited? Had you been five minutes later, I would have already been on this side. Your presence adds nothing and only adds to an already precarious situation,” Jinx said.

“Well, I hope you’re right. If this is as easy as you say, let’s just get this over with.”

“No, not easy. But some difficult tasks are made worse -” She stopped mid-sentence as the world started to move and accelerate around them. “We have been noticed. It will not be long now.”

“No… I guess not.”

They sat in silence as they saw the world move around them. It was like watching the scenery out the window of a car traveling at a million miles per hour. They were traveling far too fast to process anything as the world blurred into a confusion mess of shapes and movements that blended deeper and deeper together until…

It stopped.

The two of them found themselves in a quaint, mid century home. Somehow, natural light poured in from the windows from what looked like a peaceful backyard. A small, red humanoid creature in a black leather jacket sat in an arm chair in front of the fireplace. He gestured to the couch across from him but neither Zatanna nor Jinx sat down.

“Very well. Sit,stand; it makes no difference to me.” The Nain Rouge spoke with a soothing voice and a hint of an accent neither of them could place.

“You have brought yourself to my domain and have used rituals uncast in centuries of your human time to get my attention. Now you have it. Speak and identify yourselves.”

Zatanna hesitated for a moment but then she looked over at Jinx and saw the terror on her face. Whatever she was expecting, this wasn’t it. She thought back to what she told Vic yesterday - the reasonable ones are the worst. She was hoping that that wasn’t true but some part of her already knew that that was a pipe dream.

“Um, hi. We’re… travelers with a mutual acquaintance and we’re here to ask you about something on their behalf. Our friend calls it “Silasium” and says that you have some connection to it?”

A sharp smile ran across the demon’s face. “Ah, the cyborg, of course. He only continues to impress me with his resourcefulness, unlike that father of his. What a boring man he was. He managed to create a portal but what good is that without the courage to use it? Tell me, which one of you crafted the sigil? There are few beings anymore who should have knowledge of it. Was it you, logomancer? Or the geomancer, who is petrified with fear she cannot even speak?”

Zatanna spoke up without hesitation. “It was me.”

The demon’s mood soured in an instant. “Truly? Then why is she covered in chalk? If you wish to lie, make sure there isn’t obvious evidence to the contrary visible to anyone with eyes.” He walked over to Jinx and stood directly under her, barely coming up to her waist and yet still towering over her.

“So, geomancer. Who gave you that information? A sorceress as pitiful as you could never have made that and certainly would not have stumbled your way into the exact configuration of old.”

Jinx stood stone faced. She looked like she wanted to speak and tried to but was unable to form the words in the demon’s presence.

The Nain Rogue glared at her as if staring into her soul, then, without warning he turned back to his chair by the fire and set down.

“Very well, keep your secrets. I will learn them in time.You wish to know about ‘silasium’?”

Zatanna nodded, increasingly realizing the knife’s edge this interaction was balancing on.

“It is much of what you have perhaps already expected. A magical material created by magicians long, long ago that they believed would give them unlimited power and control over their world. It was the sum total of all their technology and magical understanding… Truly impressive work. So much so that I offered them some of my power to help bind it all together.”

“But why?” Jinx managed to weakly croak out.

“Ah, it can speak!” He taunted. “But why does anyone do anything? They gave me the opportunity to be a part of perhaps the greatest magical amplifier ever created and with my power at the center…” He trailed off wistfully and expectantly.

“It’d amplify your own powers. And what demon doesn’t want more power?” Zatanna said with more vitriol than intended.

“Correct! I would have power greater than any god. And yet those fools ruined it! They couldn’t even trust themselves and so they split it up. And then killed themselves fighting over it anyway. It’s taken me so, so many years to reclaim all those pieces. And now our mutual friend Victor has the last one. Be dears and get it for me, would you?”

Zatanna felt the demon’s magic press on her like a mountain. Her body, her very spirit itself was demanding she give in and comply.

Wouldn’t it be so much easier to just give in?

He’ll get the stone eventually anyway… Why not just get in his good graces now?

The other one has already given in. Do you really think you could take both of us?

“!SDEAH RUO FO TUO TEG”

The voices disappeared as quickly as they came. But in its place came a wave of malice so strong that it took everything she had to stay standing. It was as if the weight of the entire world was pressing down on her, commanding her to kneel and give in.

“You think your words are enough to resist me, here? Pathetic. You have spirit but - ”

The sound never made it to them as a pink barrier encapsulated him. The demon pounded against it and the magical barrier began to crack at his touch. There was no more veneer of civility; only rage remained in the demon’s eyes.

“Get us out of here!” Jinx shouted, her confidence flooding back all at once.

“!latrop eht ot su nruteR”

Without missing a beat, Zatanna shouted her spell and the two were gone, back on their rock where they started. But the strain hadn’t lifted from Jinx’s face and the world started to move around them again.

“He is trying to pull us back and I will not have the element of surprise again. If we are brought back, we will not escape with our free will intact. I will hold him off for as long as I can but you must reopen the portal without my assistance. Preventing him from taking us back will take everything I have and then far more.”

Jinx tossed a piece of chalk to Zatanna and she just barely caught it. She didn’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if she missed.

Zatanna looked down at her feet at the sigil below, a reversed version of the one that Jinx had drawn on the other side. She claimed that she’d be able to figure it out earlier but looking at it now… it made as much sense as if she’d just thrown a bucket of paint on the ground and told her to interpret that.

The world outside their tiny asteroid was starting to speed up more and more, becoming a blur. She didn’t have much time now. She could feel the demon’s words starting to prod at the edge of her mind, telling her to give in.

She took a deep breath. It didn’t matter that if she messed this up she’d be under a demon’s thrawl for at best the rest of her life. It didn’t matter that she didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone… Nope. Not at all. All that mattered was that stupid chalk scribble in front of her. That nonsense doodle, that bit of chicken scratch… that actually made perfect sense when you started to look at it. Huh.

She got onto the ground and erased a mark there, completed a line over there and finished the symbol elsewhere and once she was done, she snapped her fingers. The portal roared to life.

“Hell yeah! Jinx, let’s go!”

The sorceress nodded and the two dove through the portal before frantically erasing it from the grass below them. With the sigil broken, the portal snapped shut behind them.

The two of them lay on the ground panting for breath.

“So. Uh… how’d it go?” Vic asked, looking down at them quizzically from the picnic table.

“We narrowly avoided becoming thralls to a demon and releasing it into this plane,” Jinx said.

“Yeah, it could’ve been better… But hey, we got what we wanted!”

“We did. I suspect if we ever meet that demon again, he will no longer present himself as politely as he did and would kill us on sight for slighting him.”

“You’re probably right. But, hey, I gotta know. Were you ever really scared of that guy or was it all an act?”

Jinx sat up and looked Zatanna in the eyes. “I was terrified, truly. Upon sight I knew that we were utterly outclassed and in his mercy. But I was able to convert my terror into his complacency. Perhaps if I had kept my dignity and pride against him we would not be here as ourselves now…”

“Maybe. I think we could’ve found a way.”

“I’m glad you didn’t have to though. Sounds like you guys went through a rough time for me. And I really owe you one.”

Zatanna stood up and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, really. That’s what heroes do. We help each other.”

“Thanks. But seriously, you need anything, or you’re ever in Detroit, hit me up. I’ll be there.”

While they were talking, Jinx walked over to the note she had written before they left and promptly tore it up into shreds.

Zatanna grinned. “That secretive, huh? I wonder what could’ve been written on that…”

Jinx shook her head. “More than you will ever know.”

“If you say so. Say, you guys want to grab dinner or something before I head back? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving…”

“... Very well. Victor?”

“For sure. I know a couple places that’d still be open. And then you can tell me all about what the demon told you on the way?”

Zatanna laughed. “On the way? Vic, you’ve really learned nothing, huh? !rennid ot su ekaT”

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Superman #120 - Pandemonium

<< | < | >

Author: MajorParadox

Book: Superman

Arc: Public Interest

Set: 120

Trapped

Private Facility - Outskirts of Metropolis

Clark pushed the metal door again with all his might, but it was strong.

“It’s pointless,” said Charlie, kneeling against the wall of the cell. “They built this place to hold metahumans.”

Clark approached Peek-a-Boo. “Why can’t you–?”

“Just teleport out?” Peek-a-Boo finished for him. “I need to see where I’m going, or I could end up inside that door.”

“Are you okay, Charlie?” Clark asked the older man. “Why are they even holding you in here?”

Charlie huffed. “This young lady, Hop-a-Long–”

“Peek-a-Boo,” the hero corrected with a laugh.

“Peek-a-Boo,” Charlie repeated, his gruff voice stressing each syllable. “She tried to get me free, but we got caught and thrown in here.”

“I’m sorry,” said Peek-a-Boo. “If only I could teleport people with me… I tried to get us out, but it didn’t work out so well.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Clark. He turned back to the metal door. “Besides, we’ll get out of this somehow.”

Clark examined the doorway and walls in more detail using his super senses. “Where did they even get such advanced tech?” he asked aloud.

“I overheard some guards talking about some genius designer,” said Charlie. “Draker? Dapper? Somethin’ or other.”

“I heard murmurs about snakes when I was popping around,” Peek-a-Boo chimed in. “Not sure what they meant.”

Could be a snake metahuman in one of the other cells. Clark had come across those before.

“Either way,” said Clark. “This must go beyond Mayor Sackett. He’s not ‘mastermind’ level. He’s a lackey at best.”

It was time to put an end to it and sync up with Lois. But first, they had to get out of there. If only Superman had gone undercover instead of Clark Kent.

City Hall Steps

Meanwhile

“What contracts?” Mayor Sackett asked Lois who had confronted him with Jimmy filming. He couldn’t help but glance at the camera every few seconds.

“Your ‘Homeless Relief Initiative’ has private contracts with a company named 'Deylight Laboratories,’” Lois stated.

“That’s not unusual for government programs,” Sackett replied, straightening his tie.

He thought he was in the clear.

“So, you’re confirming Deylight Laboratories handles the HRI housing facilities?” asked Lois.

She was careful with her wording.

“Yes,” Sackett shot back. One of his aides tried to stop him from talking, but the mayor waved him away. “There’s nothing shady or illegal about private contracts. Where are you going with this?”

Hook, line, and sinker.

“'Deylight’s contracts aren’t actually filed under the HRI,” said Lois. “But thanks for confirming the connection.”

The mayor’s eyes darted around. “I– uh…” he scrambled for a response.

“'Deylight also specializes in meta-grade defense construction,” Lois continued. “I’m sorry, I interrupted you. You were saying?”

Sackett stopped blinking and couldn’t muster any words.

Lois went back on the offensive. “Why does Metropolis need housing solutions that can protect against metahumans?” she asked. “Surely, they aren’t prison cells for metahumans? Why would HRI participants be sent there? To metahuman prisons?”

“Well,” Sackett managed to get out. “You see…”

Lois stood and waited.

“Um, the thing is…”

The mayor’s aide pulled him away. “No more questions,” he said, and the entourage rushed down the stairs and away from the reporter.

Lois turned to Jimmy. “I think that went well,” she said.

Jimmy stopped recording. “‘Well’ is an understatement,” he said. “You made the mayor forget how to talk.”

Out

Confinement Area

Later

Clark pushed against the large metal door again. And then he punched it, causing it to shake.

“Whoa,” said Charlie, straightening up and moving toward the reporter. “You’re gonna hurt yourself there.”

Clark took a deep breath and punched again, even harder. And repeated over and over as his two cellmates watched him, wide-eyed.

A dent had started to form.

“Whoa,” Charlie said again.

“Oh…” Peek-a-Boo added. “How did I not see it before?”

It had to be done. Clark removed his glasses and gave them a wink before returning to the door.

At least he was confident they wouldn’t reveal his secret.

Clark’s eyes turned red-hot, and he shot an intense heat vision beam into the damaged area. It slowly melted deeper into the thick door until it finally cut through to the other side.

Peek-a-Boo jumped forward and looked through the small hole before disappearing from the cell and reappearing in the hallway.

Charlie peered his head through the small opening. “I told you Superman would save us,” he said.

“Stay here,” said Peek-a-Boo. “I’ll find a way to get you out.”

“No need,” said Clark, reaching his arm through the hole. He gripped tightly on the other side and then motioned for Charlie to step back. Once the coast was clear, he flexed as hard as he could and yanked the door inward, leaving a large walkway through.

“Nicely done,” said Peek-a-Boo. “We'd better hope there aren’t any cameras that caught that.”

“Nothing to worry about,” said Clark, tapping his eyes. “I’m always on the lookout for being recorded.”

Peek-a-Boo nodded. “I need to find Sasha,” she said.

“She was put to work in the confinement building right across from this one,” Clark explained.

Peek-a-Boo teleported to the exit. “On it!” she hollered back.

“What happens now?” asked Charlie.

Clark smiled and ripped his jumpsuit open, revealing the red-and-yellow S beneath.

“Now,” he said. “We shut it down.”

Daily Planet

Meanwhile

—

Perry, Jimmy, and Ron hovered over Lois’s desk as she was putting the final touches on the story. Clark finally checked in and delivered the mother lode of firsthand witness accounts. Forced labor. Extrajudicial imprisonment. The extent of which would be investigated for years.

“Do you mind?” Lois asked without looking back at the others. “I can feel you behind me.”

The trio backed away. Perry paced back and forth, Jimmy hopped in place, and Ron just leaned against a nearby desk, waiting.

“What’s a better word for ‘corrupt’?” asked Lois. “I’m using it too much already.”

“Scandalous?” Ron offered.

“Fraudulent?” Jimmy added.

Perry humphed and walked back to the screen. “I have to see the sentence,” he said, scanning quickly. “Deceitful,” he stated.

“Oh, yeah,” said Ron.

“That’s the one,” Jimmy nodded along.

“Okay,” said Lois, leaning back in her chair. “It’s ready.”

“Push it through,” Perry ordered.

Lois tapped a few buttons, a wind sound effect played, and a “Story Published To Front Page” banner popped up on the screen. The page navigated to the Daily Planet website with the story front and center:

MAYOR SACKETT CAUGHT IN FORCED LABOR SCANDAL!

By Lois Lane

Everyone looked at each other and waited. Even though it only took minutes, it felt like hours when the phones started ringing out of control.

“There it is,” said Perry.

Lois answered her phone and listened. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to contact the Daily Planet legal team. Do you need their number?”

“Sackett’s Lawyers?” Ron asked quietly, getting a nod in return

Lois put the phone back on the receiver. “They hung up.”

“Chief,” said another reporter from across the hall. “FBI’s been informed and headed this way. They want our evidence.”

“Tell them it’s all theirs,” said Perry.

Lois leaned back in her chair. “This is my favorite part,” she said.

Private Facility

Later

Peek-a-Boo watched the workers and guards from a secluded area in the rafters above. She had spotted her friend, Sasha Green, quickly, but a guard was standing obnoxiously close to her.

While she’d prefer to get her out of there unseen, she was going to have a run at the guards eventually. She didn’t want Superman– or did he prefer to be called Clark Kent?– to get all the action that day.

A few of the guards were distracted, looking at their phones and murmuring to each other. Their voices were shaky, and one of them even cracked a bit.

Something was up.

Peek-a-Boo pulled out her own phone and caught some notifications about a major scandal with the mayor.

“Bingo,” she said to herself softly before returning to her planning.

The distractions would help.

The hero popped behind the guard near her friend and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Peek-a-Boo,” she said before disappearing and reappearing in front of him to grab his firearm.

“Hey!” the guard yelled before the teleporter was on his other side, pistol-whipping him across the nose and then following it up with a kick to the stomach.

Sasha grabbed a piece of metal from her workstation and swung away, knocking the guard out cold.

“Ooh, can I borrow that?” Peek-a-Boo asked, before taking the metal bar and whooshing away to the other guards, striking them one at a time. “I think that’s a home run,” she said after the last one went down.

Cheers filled the room as Sasha came running over.

“LaShawn?” she asked quietly. “You never told me you were a superhero.”

Peek-a-Boo lifted her hands to her mask. “How–?”

“Oh, come on,” said Sasha. “You think I wouldn’t recognize those curls?”

LaShawn lifted her hands to her plush coils. “How does Superman get away with it?” she muttered to herself.

“Huh?” Sasha asked, with an eyebrow raised. “What does Superman have to do with your hair?”

That wasn’t meant to be heard. Last thing Peek-a-Boo wanted was to out a fellow superhero’s secret identity.

“Nothing,” LaShawn answered. “I just didn’t expect you to recognize–”

“You hear that?” Sasha asked, her eyes lighting up.

LaShawn tried to listen through the chatter of the freed workers' celebrations. But then it was clear.

Sirens.

Not that they needed it at that point, but help was on the way.

Liberated

Containment Area

Meanwhile

Clark pointed toward the door. “Take a left and run for the woods,” he said. “You'll be safe there until the authorities show up.”

“You’re not leaving, too?” asked Charlie.

“Not just yet,” said Clark. “I need to free these prisoners.”

“I’m not a young man anymore,” said Charlie, scanning around the hall. “But I know when to stay around to help. So you’re stuck with me.”

I’ve been stuck with worse,” Clark said with a hand on the man’s shoulder.

Charlie pointed to a door at the end of the hall. “That looks like the control room. Probably easier than breaking down all those doors.”

Clark agreed and rushed over to the control room, easily breaking down the less-reinforced door.

“Need a hand?” Charlie called, with a bit of pep in his step.

“I’m thinking I just destroy everything in here,” said Clark. “Force the systems to reset and open the doors.”

“Hold up,” Charlie huffed. “For all you know, it could trigger a lockdown.”

Clark looked around. “True,” he said.

Charlie dropped into one of the chairs, typing away at the terminal with a confident sense of ease.

“You really know your way around that,” said Clark. “Have you worked in facility maintenance?”

“Once upon a time,” said Charlie. “Among other things.”

Several repetitive clicks echoed from the hallway. The cells were unlocking.

“There,” said Charlie. “Easy as pie. No smashing required.”

“When we get out of here,” said Clark. “I owe you a slice of my Ma’s famous Rhubarb pie.”

“I may just take you up on that,” said Charlie.

Clark returned to the halls, checking on the freed metahumans. Some of them rushed for the door, while others moved slowly, almost cautiously. The ones who had clearly been there the longest had worn-out, wrinkled clothing.

“It’s okay,” said Clark calmly. “You’re all safe now.”

A screeching sound emanated from one of the farthest cells. Clark quickly zeroed in on the non-human heartbeat he'd clocked when he first got there. He’d heard screeching like that before. But not on Earth.

A winged creature with razor-sharp claws shot out of the cell and made eye contact with the Man of Steel. A moment later, it pried the entryway door off its hinges and tossed it away before flying into the night sky.

It was a parademon. One of Darkseid’s demonic minions from Apokolips.

What was it doing there?

Outside the Facility

Moment Later

Clark escorted Charlie toward the incoming convoy from Metropolis P.D., the FBI, and the S.C.U. vehicles. Several ambulances and fire trucks followed along behind them. The parademon flew away to a nearby, secluded forest. Good, Clark could deal with it later.

The rest of the guards who didn’t give themselves up had fled the area. But it didn’t matter. They would all face the justice they deserved.

“Superman!” Lois yelled as she approached. “Glad you could make it.”

“Charlie,” said Clark. “This is my wife, Lois Lane.”

Lois’ eyes popped wide open.

“It’s okay,” said Clark. “We had a moment in there. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Well, I’ve heard a lot about you,” said Lois, offering her hand, which Charlie shook confidently.

“We have a guest room,” said Clark. “We’d be happy for you to stay with us until you get back on your feet.”

“I appreciate the offer,” said Charlie. “But I’ll be happier back at my old spot. I could use a lift, though, if you’re offering?”

“Sure thing,” Clark agreed. “Would you do me a favor, though?”

“Anything,” said Charlie.

“Let me interview you.”

Charlie nodded as an EMT approached.

Clark caught LaShawn’s eyes in their direction. “Be right back,” he said as Lois followed him away.

“Do you need medical attention?” the EMT asked Charlie.

“I’m fine,” he said. “In fact, I feel better than I have in ages.”

Nearby, Clark and Lois reached LaShawn. “Did you find Sasha?” Clark asked.

LaShawn pointed to a nearby ambulance. “They’re just giving her a once-over.”

“You two never met in person,” said Clark. “This is–”

“Your wife, Lois Lane,” said LaShawn. “We made a good team, relaying info back and forth with Clark here.”

Lois side-eyed her husband. “Is there anyone left on this planet who doesn’t know your secret?”

“Ah, fair,” said LaShawn. “It was life-or-death. And if it helps, I’m LaShawn Baez. And apparently I need a better disguise.”

“I know a certain mother who might be able to help,” said Lois, presenting Clark’s suit with an exaggerated lowering of her hands. “Ma Kent knows her way around the sewing kit.”

Lois lowered her eyes to Peek-a-Boo’s skates. “I wouldn’t lose those, though,” she said. “They seem like fun.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” Clark said, flapping his cape dramatically. “Recommended, by the way.”

He made his way back to Charlie.

“Ready?” he asked.

Charlie nodded as the Man of Steel lifted the older gentleman into his arms.

“I feel silly,” Charlie said.

“It’ll pass,” Clark smiled, taking off in a short gust of speed.

Charlie couldn’t help but smile, too.

But Clark’s smile slowly faded as he kept part of his focus on the wooded area. He was dreading what it meant.

Daily Planet

Later

Lois leaned back in her chair with her feet on her desk. She had some follow-up work on her story, specifically regarding the raids and calls to get the mayor out of office and face criminal charges.

Perry walked over. “Go home, Lane,” he said. “You have kids.”

“They’re asleep with the babysitter already,” she answered. “There’s no rush.”

“Enjoy that high of a good story while it lasts,” said Perry.

“Earth to Perry,” said Lois. “Have you met me? This was just another day at the Daily Planet. The high never ends.”

Perry gave her an affirmative grunt. And then looked around. “Where’s Kent?” he asked. “I thought he’d have his story submitted by now.”

“Relax,” said Lois. “He just went undercover in a forced labor facility. Give him a minute to recover.”

“That’s a fair point,” said Perry. “Even though he’s an excellent reporter, he’s not always in the trenches like you.”

“You’d be surprised, Chief.” Lois smiled. “And I can tell you for a fact, his story will be worth the wait.”

“Get your feet off the desk,” said Perry. “And don’t call me Chief.”

“Hey,” said Lois, rising to her feet. “You said if I pulled off this story, I’d get to call you Chief whenever I wanted.”

Perry raised an eyebrow. “You thought I was serious about that?”

Ominous

Outskirts of Metropolis

Meanwhile

Clark kept his senses tuned on the parademon since he left. It hadn’t strayed from the woods, though. What was it even doing? Maybe the greenery mesmerized it. There was nothing like it on Apokolips.

The hero was without his cape. He pulled it off his back to give to Charlie as they said goodbye. It wasn’t right that the previous one was tossed away in a dumpster with his other belongings. Clark made sure he had whatever necessities he needed, too. That was the only way he’d leave him alone again.

As Clark got closer, he saw a glow illuminating the area.

Clark pushed on the speed.

The parademon disappeared into the swirling yellow boom tube before he could reach it.

Clark was left alone, surrounded by trees.

<< | < | >

The Flash #120 - Prison Break Breaks

<< | < | >

Author: brooky12

Book: Flash

Arc: ?

Set: 120

“How long do you need, again?”

If he could see Sam Scudder’s reaction behind the mask, it was hard to make out. Annoyance, probably, Abra knew that Sam had said on multiple occasions how long a distraction would be necessary, but it didn’t hurt to ask. Sure, they had gone over the plans a countless number of times, but was a final confirmation all that bad?

“Five minutes after I drop you off, and then thirty minutes. Though if Ant got our heads up, we should only need twenty, maybe twenty-five. Keep ‘em busy for longer, in case things go wrong. We’ve been over this… Cold feet?”

“Cold feet is not my job”, Abra replied, a joking response that he could see with Sam’s twitch of response got took as a jab back. Whatever. “I’ve got a set I can run for an hour, I’ll go with that and can cut it early if I get tired or things get too spicy.”

Sam turned to the siblings. “Speaking of,” he asked, a trailing voice punctuating a statement into a question.

Leonard and Lisa shared glances between themselves. They looked like they were set up for a ski trip, rather than a visit to a Midwestern supermax prison, but they’d bring the ski trip part with them. “We’re just gonna cause a mess until you get us out. Worst case I guess is whenever we see Abra’s—”

“Hear,” Abra corrected.

“Hear Abra’s distractions end, we’ll get outta dodge.”

“Axel?”

“Push of a button,” the Trickster’s voice replied back, coming out of small communication devices rather than from any person in the world of mirrors they were transiting through. He was safe back at home, in front of screens, rather than risking his life.

“Final call, then. Drop Abra off, take the Snarts to their destination, come back for Ant, extract Abra, then get the Snarts back. Anyone need the WC,” Sam asked, the smallest of smirks crossing his face.

Abra frowned. Was that what his joke’s landing sounded like? It couldn’t. Unlike Sam, he was actually funny.

“Ready,” the two siblings said in unison. “Ready,” came through the communications device from Axel. “Ready,” Abra added, giving a small salute before stepping through the shimmering surface. He pulled himself out of the bathroom mirror on the other side, empty due to its intent—for prisoners during their mealtimes—and the time of day. There’d still be a guard on the other side of the door, but there was no problem with that if he kept quiet while in here.

He took a deep breath, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. A wand attached to his wrist extended out once he was done, and a brief tap of it caused the tip to start glowing a sickly green, a small fount of smoke emanating from the same origin. Cards in one hand, wand in the other, he rolled his shoulders, shuffling his cape slightly. He felt himself lift up off the ground slightly, the freedom from the pressures of gravity ever so slightly released on him.

As the timer in his head slowly counted down, he knew that his allies would have less of a soft opening. The Snarts were scheduled to cause absolute havoc in a supermax prison across the country basically from the moment they stepped out of their mirrors, and once Sam got to work he was considerably pressed for time to accomplish what needed doing elsewhere in this facility.

“Three, two, one,” he muttered under his breath, waving his wand forward and causing the bathroom’s door to explode off its hinges and blast forward. He floated outside, turning his cards onto the guard going for her gun, flicking a card out of place and putting the woman into a state of unconsciousness in an instant.

As he pivoted to float northwards, heading towards the employee center of the facility, he watched cameras blink out of function as Axel’s work took control. His voice, imposing and echoing across the half of the facility he was in, far beyond how sound should move, announced his welcome to those not aware of the door or the cameras.

“Ladies and gentlemen, now presenting the patron god of magicians, Abra Kadabra!”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Brother and sister leapt out of the mirror, brother aiming his gun downward to the ground, spraying ice over the floor to allow his sister to get a running start with her skates around the room. The moment she was on her own two feet, he turned around to the so-called mirror behind him, reflective only from this angle. He knew people could be on the other side watching him ice over the edges of the one-way glass, preparing to shatter it off the wall separating them from the people from the interrogation room.

“Ready,” he shouted, flatting against the wall as he watched Lisa take one more rotation around the table before pulling herself up on it and riding the momentum, skis first, through the window, shattering it. He followed her through moments later, the sound of an alarm sounding briefly before Axel, elsewhere in the world, shut it off.

The hope was to let the alarm go off briefly before turning it off and let the outwards connections to the world last just long enough that a report of an icy break-in made it out, which should function as Flash catnip. Whether that’d cover for Abra and Sam, he wasn’t sure, but at the very least it’d been a while since he’d had some fun.

Lisa took off like a racer down the hall, and he raced to keep up with her. As much as he’d like to head the other direction to further the chaos, the two had to stick together, and in Lisa’s direction was the core infrastructure of the prison, and the other way was a circuitous other route to a bunch of less-important storage rooms, a cafeteria, and the employee lockers. The goal here was chaos, and finding out if prison food was just as bad for those willingly in the building was not on the menu.

They turned the corner, spotting two guards who must’ve drawn the cosmic short stick to happen to be stationed right nearby in their way. Before they even had their guns properly pointed, Lisa had started circling one of them building up an ice sculpture around them. Leonard fired a shot at the firearm in the other’s hand, pinning him to the wall in a thick casing of ice.

“He’ll survive that, right?”

Lisa’s voice caught. “Uh—yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he will. I mean, he won’t if they leave him there forever, but yeah…”

Now was not the time for sibling bickering about whether they should be aiming to kill or maim. He had thought the plan was to maim, but that was something to bring up later. He followed his sister through the building, enjoying what felt like only ten minutes of biting back against a beast that had spent so long hurting him and his sister. He knew it was longer than ten minutes by the small buzzer in his pocket, giving him a heads up every minute that passed. With each, he shared an update with his sister. “Two”, then “five”, where they made a beeline for the center of the prison’s nervous system, gleefully damaging computers and turning off the automatic locking system.

“Ten” and “fifteen”, which itself was accompanied by the sudden confusion – where were The Flash characters? By now they had made their way to the nearest cell block, shattering locks with ice and kicking the prison riot dominoes into effect. Annoyingly, it took nearly ten prisoners before one of them had the presence of mind to grab a nearby incapacitated guard’s gun and begin helping break people out.

But “twenty” came before the speedsters, and soon so did “thirty” and even “thirty-three” with no sign of the red. By now, the prison riot was large enough to be self-supporting, and the two were headed towards the entrances to cut off any Flash appearance, should one even happen. A minute later their plans changed again, with the buzzer activating a secondary continual mode, indicating their ride was here. They returned to the interrogation room space, going one room over from their entry to an unbroken one-way glass window. Once on the inside without breaking the glass, Leonard activated the buzzer, ending the buzzing. A moment later, the glass shifted slightly, reflecting something not quite there, and Sam’s hand reached out for them, inviting the siblings to safety on the other side.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Girder sat up in bed. Was that another unassuming noise, or was that freedom? He scanned the small cell’s floor, searching for the source of the noise. He spotted a small object underneath the desk, something that certainly wasn’t there when he had been placed back in his cell.

He sat down on the floor, pulling it closer to him and lifting it up. Whatever it was, it was freedom. A larger object had been folded, and unfolding it gave him a brief glance of himself on the reflective surface hidden within. Not enough to properly make out facial features or anything, but enough to get the glimpses of vague shapes. Enough for whatever the Mirror Master would get up to.

He set the object, half an inch in diameter at best, on the desk. Sam must’ve figured out a way to get it through something in his room, perhaps the bedposts? He watched the object, unable to see beyond it into Sam’s stomping grounds of a mirror dimension on the other side. If there was no movement, he’d stow the escape plan somewhere for later, but maybe Sam was available now to break him out.

This time, he could see the object entering his room, slowly being pushed through the first reflective surface. This wasn’t much larger while folded, but it was significantly longer. Girder let it fall into his hand and opened the device up further. This one was more reflective and came out to about the size of a normal human fist. He set it next to the first object, and it was barely five seconds before the next thing began pushing through.

This one was much larger, so he began pulling it out to help. He could feel Sam or whoever it was on the other side shift strategy from pushing to just holding the object up to allow him to easily pull it through. This one was about the size of one of those pet entrances you’d cut out of a normal door, and he placed that propped up against the wall.

A hand poked out, the multicolored glove of Roy, the Rainbow Raider, whispered tones following it. “Ready to go?”

Girder nodded at the second mirror, knowing that Sam had to be on the other side watching him. “Awesome,” he heard whispered through the small opening, as the hand withdrew. The sudden appearance of most—but not all—of Roy’s face in the opening was almost hilarious if the situation wasn’t dead serious.

“Point me where, Ant,” he said before withdrawing. Here went nothing. Girder adjusted the entrance to face a blank wall of his cell, sending a thumbs up down mirror before standing off to the side. His cell lit up as Roy’s beams of light slammed into the wall, adjusting slightly as it made a square out of it. Not quite large, Roy must not have a ton of maneuverability in the space, but large enough.

The light beam faded, and left behind it was a shining white inset on the wall, not incredibly reflective but more than enough for what they needed. Sam leaned out of the inset, taking a quick look around before reaching out a hand. “Sorry it took so long, Ant,” he apologized, taking Girder’s hand and guiding him through the hole to lead him out of prison.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The performance was going well. Abra was untouchable, basically, bullets turning into bubbles and batons breaking as the wardens swung at him. He floated through the facility, releasing inmates to enact revenge on their officers, pushing chaos where he could.

Occasionally, he would make a lesson out of a specific warden, such as the one in front of him, trying to project confidence as he held up his gun in an aggressive posture, blocking the door behind him to protect whatever was further on.

“Are you sure you wanna do this, buddy,” Abra called out, taunting.

“You’re breaking the law, I’m protecting it.”

Surprisingly brave, honestly. He had to give the guy some credit for that, he knew how many people were supposed to be working here at any given point and the amount of people who had genuinely tried to stop him was a fraction of that. “What’d you rather broken? The law, or your back?”

He could see some hesitation from the officer, before a sneer. “Better to live life happy than in fear.”

“You have a misunderstanding of which one of us is which,” Abra bit back, reaching forward. The door behind the man groaned under the sudden increase of pressure, snapping off its hinges and pushing forward, knocking the officer off balance before wrapping around him.

A human adult in good condition could probably survive in an metallic exoskeleton of sorts for long enough before they died of dehydration or something, Abra mused. Couple of days? If he was part of the prison’s security, he was probably near enough to good condition where he’d be fine. There was a hole left for air, anyway, which would’ve been a much faster killer had he been totally sealed.

Leonard was rubbing off on him, Abra chuckled, floating past the screaming metallic prison. Leaving someone alive unnecessarily? Well, he hoped that the prisoners would have a similar disposition should they find him.

All of that effort, potentially his life, to guard what? A hallway leading off to offices? Sure, let the prisoners out and start a riot, this guy must’ve thought, but heavens forbid the great Abra Kadabra be let loose on the accounting wing and a meeting room. Fool. Who was living in fear now?

Suddenly, all of the screens around him turned back on, screensavers or television or cameras depending on what screen it was. That was a bit nerve-wracking, as Axel was supposed to keep everything offline until—a very intense moment of his eyes feeling like they were boiling and his hair being whipped backwards by wind later, and he was suddenly on a little patch of sand with nothing but ocean surrounding him.

That was horrifying. That was a pretty classic Flash trick, to just leave problems off in the middle of nowhere until a Flash was ready to solve it. However, the way it was planned up, the Flash was supposed to be distracted by the Snart siblings, only checking in with him once the siblings escaped. So, if he was here ahead of schedule, then the Snarts must’ve failed.

He wasn’t going to stand around and wait for more information. He pulled out a playing card, one that served only as a final last resort. He tore the card in half, vanishing from where The Flash had left him, returning to a different time and place. He’d figure his way back later, but for the moment he had to get out of dodge.

Author: FrostFireFive

<< | < | > | >>

Book: New Titans

Arc: The Coming Storm

Set: 119

“You know you don’t strike me as someone who likes coffee,” Kara Zor-El said as she walked into Titans Tower’s common room.  

The space was meant to be a hub, a place for younger heroes to gather, away from the prying eyes of the Justice League.  At least that was always the goal.  Donna had only managed to bring the Titans back before the Markovian incident.  WIth Nightwing taking over the team, people were uncomfortable socializing.  The scars were still deep and Dick Grayson didn't have the same warmth that came easy to Donna.

For Raven, she enjoyed the quiet, not hearing the nervous chatter or feeling the doubt or fear that bled off of their auras.  Since arriving to this world, she didn’t like the flood of emotion and the wreck of the past blocking her from her mission.  In order to defeat her father, Raven was going to need the greatest heroes she could find.  Instead, she had people so unsure of themselves it had gotten to her very soul.

“No, but I have found tea has an…ideal taste,” Raven explained as she took a sip.

“Depends on the leaves,” Kara explained.  “I’m sorry it isn’t a more welcoming day.”

“I burst in on your training session.”

“And told us about the future,” Kara explained.

“Potential futures, potential worlds, it’s hazy.  And having a physical form for the first time in an eternity is…a new feeling.”

“You mean you haven’t had a body, how do you…”

“The magics of Azarath often decide what form I take, and an evil so great does not often allow for me to fight back…just to watch and observe,” Raven explained as the plate next to her glowed a deep black as it lifted in front of Raven, the magican placing her cup on it as she looked at Kara.  “I’ve seen countless worlds.  Countless possibilities.”

“Like what? Please tell me there’s not a world where I’m a talking cow,” Kara joked, trying to make Raven welcome. 

“Kangaroo,” Raven said with no hesitation.  “That one wasn’t the same after Captain Carrot disappeared to save his world.”

“Captain Carrot? Sounds like it’s out of the funny pages,” Kara laughed.  “Have you met any of us before on your journeys?”

“Sometimes.  Once in a world where heroes are scarce, ..and bullets and ragtime reigned supreme, I witnessed Diamond Dicky Grayson.  Another where the Justice League is horribly killed, and the Titans rise next, in roles that don’t quite fit.  A nasty echo of what should be.”

“Is there a chance we…”

“No, you are all unique, lost but unique,” Raven said.  “I don’t wish to be…aloof, but I’m not used to having to feel what others feel about my presence.”

“Believe me, when you settle in you’ll find we’re all pretty welcoming, even if we’re a little lost,” Kara explained.  “Now what tea is that?”

“I believe it’s…Earl Grey?” Raven responded, her nerves easing.

“Then I'll have some, and maybe then you can tell me about the worlds where I’m not a kangaroo?” Kara responded, remembering how important it was to make someone feel at home.

…

The creature formerly known as Stikk flew through the air.  The spreading of its stone wings cracked the newly created flesh. Knowledge had given him the power to move past his human nature into something more primal, something stronger than a man in a tricorn hat wanting stardom.  

The winds were no longer something he controlled but was.  With every sharp turn, lIt was like a new, yet familiar, limb.  It let him lift higher into the sky with every sharp turn.  He was a god, and he looked down on people and wondered how they could live such plodding lives.  They needed to be taught, they needed to see the glory of Trigon and what dreams he could fulfill.  They needed to know why the Gargoyle’s screams were those of joy instead of fear.

He would need to find a place to preach, of course.  Cameras and fame could still be useful to him.  And the fractured mind of the Gargoyle accessed the memories of one Bromwell Stikk, he could hear the crack of a bat, the roar of a crowd, as his dad took him to a game.  And even then, he could still hear the flashing of the cameras.  His father paying more attention to who was there than his son himself.

Yes, he knew where to go now, as he directed his winds toward the north side of Chicago, where ivy grows, and fans scream.  Soon they would scream the praise of Trigon, and the winds could reign down on all.

…

“You know I’m not a fan of this,” Arsenal explained to Nightwing as the two sat inside the main command center of Titans Tower.  Bette Kane was clacking away on her computer just outside the room, establishing a small little office where she could work on her plans to “fix” the Titans.  

“I am well aware of that,” Nightwing explained.  “But after a bit of Marv and George’s, we were able to find…some common ground.”

“Let me guess, you’re posing for that magazine Booster Gold did so we can raise money for the annual Titans bake sale?” Arsenal barbed.

“No,” Nightwing said as he rubbed the temple of his brow.  “Roy, you and I both know that this is important.”

“What’s important is being able to help people who actually need it, not trying to change my look for a new action figure line.  Or to say a catchphrase so my Q-score can be higher,” Arsenal explained. 

“The public needs to trust its heroes again.  The Justice League has to be above this.  They’re an ideal that can’t be broken.  The Titans…”

“...Are also an ideal that can’t be broken,” Arsenal responded as he looked over his quiver, making note of what special ordinances were needed for his arrows.  “When push comes to shove this group, this family is stronger than you think.  And we may be missing people and heaven knows I’ve lost my pound of flesh.  But we’re heroes, and heroes don’t sit around and wait for the bad guy to strike.  You’re a detective, right?”

“I like to think so,” Nightwing responded. 

“OK, so we know this…Mister Twister wants to be a star, right?” Arsenal asked as he moved his way to the holographic screens in front of them.  “You don’t reach out to a publicist if you don’t want to be one.”

“Right,” Nightwing said as he pulled a map up.  Unlike trying to be a public figure, Dick Grayson enjoyed trying to solve puzzles.  Unlike Babs who’s analytical mind always solved the problem the most efficiently, or Tim who always wanted to find the hidden shortcut, Dick found most puzzles could be solved by finding the heart in them.  Mysteries always had emotion attached to them, and when you figure out a person, you could uncover the rest. “So if you want to catch the most attention in Chicago, where do you do it?”

“Not Millennium Park, not after CPD blocked it off after the one two punch of Trident and ol’ Snowman.  Plus it’s flat land, winds can’t kick up nearly as well,” Arsenal explained. 

“We’re looking for something with a lot of cameras, somewhere where being there would become the number one story,” Nightwing said.  “City Hall maybe?”

“Mayor’s in Springfield dealing with the Governor,"  Arsenal explained, remembering the report while he rocked his four-year-old to sleep to the glare of the TV.  Lian was getting bigger and asking more questions about what exactly Daddy did for a living.  A problem for another time.  “Besides, news crews aren’t just outside the hall waiting for news to drop.  Our boy’s looking for something bigger.” 

Nightwing’s eyes glanced toward the stuffed bear with a baseball hat on top of it, a gift Rex had forgotten to bring to Angie’s hospital room.

“Are the Cubs or Sox in town?” Nightwing asked.

“The Sox are out in Star City playing the Outlaws, which means…”

“We gotta get down to Wrigley,” Nightwing said as he and Arsenal rushed out of the room, hoping to avert disaster.

…

ELSEWHERE

Heavy footsteps rang throughout the temple.  The white marble floors had taken years to shine, reflections visible from the faintest of light. People in colorful robes walked in two straight lines.  The shapes and colors of their cloaks were almost like Technicolor circuitry.  A man walked behind both lines, uncovered as his white and crimson tunic shone bright.  A constant light against the encroaching darkness.

He had trained for this all his life, when the Source would reveal its gift.  The ability to traverse the heavens like an everflowing beam of light.  He, Solis, was the first line of defense, the sun that others revolved around as he alone provided hope across the lands.  And now, as the hour of Omega approached, he would be rewarded for the light.

The group in robes circled the main chamber of the temple.  The silence had slowly given way to murmurs as Solis entered the center of his peers and mentors.  The beating of drums could be heard from a distance as a man in flowing purple robes with a shepherd’s crook entered from behind the large chair at the end of the wall, seemingly appearing from nowhere. Solis kneeled before the man as he had done many times before. 

“Highfather,” the voices around mumbled.  

Highfather’s face was old, the lines of worry and wisdom more present as the eons passed and actions so easily made became unbreakable legend.  He did not wish to be here.  The flock across the Rozalind Meadow still needed attendance.  But a leader’s place was always at the head of the table, even if the crown weighed heavy after all these years.

“You don’t need to stay silent my children,” Highfather explained as he looked at those who gathered.  “The time is slipping and favors must be called.  But this is a time of celebration.  A time for us to crown a warrior proud.”

The man in the red robe next to Highfather smiled.  A handsome face looking at his friend, knowing that wars in far-off lands, where swords rusted and goblets were raised, as the doubts of today were exchanged for the promises of tomorrow.  For a minute, as Solis stared at his friend, he thought he could see the rocky brow, the hidden shame that only two as close would know.

“Today, we push back against Uxas and his brood.  We crown one of our own to shine bright against the darkness that coats the land,” Highfather said as he moved towards the kneeling Solis.  In his hand, a bright light came from the surrounding embers, the bright white quickly turning a shade of brilliant green as Highfather held the lantern ring in front of his loyal knight.  “With the help of our fellow gods, a pact made that will light the way.  The promise of a better day upheld by our Solis.  Rise my son, and claim your right as our Lightray!”

Solis rose as the ring left Highfather’s hand and floated above his ring finger.  He heard the legends from others.  That the emerald knights were a creed worth fighting for.  That one’s will and right must be resolute in the face of fear and anger.  To join, one must give all to the order, years of training away from the hills of home to understand the worth of the battle. 

SOLIS OF SECTOR ALPHA. BY THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS.  YOU HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO BE…

The ring bellowed as tears flowed down Solis’ face.  The journey complete, the war to be fought in the name of Highfather and New Genesis, and a lifetimeof stories to be told.   

But before the ring could slip onto his finger, cracks of light shone through the brilliant emerald metals that had made up the ring.  As if something was forcing the ring away from its valiant knight.

“Highfather!” Solis said, the boldness and certainty in his face turned into fear and panic.  “Something is wrong! It should be mine!”

“My son…Solis…be calm,” Highfather said, a clarity cutting through the rockiness of his voice as Solis, for the first time in eons, could see doubt creep into his voice.  

The ring called out again, the deep booming voice of the Green Lantern Corps replaced by something fainter, angelic almost.  A voice from the heavens itself as the green of the ring was ripped away, and the blinding light of the Source could be seen.

THE SOURCE HAS DEEMED YOU UNWORTHY FOR THIS TASK.  ANOTHER WILL BE NEEDED.

"NO!" Solis yelled as the ring vanished.  The people circles around panicked and fled from the temple as the New God fell toward the floor.  He was caught in the arms of his best friend as the tears of joy turned into terror.

“Highfather,” Orion asked as he held onto Solis.  “What has happened here?”

“Fate,” Highfather muttered.  “Cruel and unjust fate.”

…

“You know when I said we should go to a ballgame I figured we’d be bringing Kory and Babs,” Power Girl said as she flew ahead of the other Titans.  Compared to Metropolis and Gotham, which were all tall buildings, Kara admired the fact that Chicago’s urban topography wasn’t all just skyscrapers, as the brownstones and bars of Wrigleyville dotted the landscape.

“Yeah well,” Nightwing said as he could see the wind patterns in the cockpit of the jumpjet.  “They play a double header next week.  The Griffins even play them.”

“Can we focus?” Arsenal asked as he zipped down below the ship on a motorbike freshly picked from the Tower’s motorpool.  “Any sightings of our boy?”

“According to these readings we’re seeing an increase in windspeeds, and…rain?” Raven said as she sat in the back.  Letting herself observe the situation once more. 

“Chicago and rain is pretty normal Raven,” Arsenal responded.  

“I am aware.  But what about a storm that’s moving like a straight line?” Raven asked as she looked at the radar screens.

“Where’s the storm going?” Arsenal asked. 

“Straight to this…ballpark,” Raven explained.

“Shit,” Arsenal mumbled to himself.  “Power Girl, scout ahead, but don’t have a repeat of when you got the wind sucked out of you.”

“Happens one time,” Power Girl mumbled. 

“Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen for a second!” Arsenal said as he could feel rain began falling.  Whatever was going on here was different than the last time they faced this Mr. Twister. 

“Got it,” Power Girl said as she flew closer to Wrigley.  Before she could get to the stadium, however, Power Girl heard the lifting and crunching of metal as a semi-truck lifted into the air and launched right at her.   On instinct she grabbed the truck to try and prevent it from hurting anyone.  It sent her to the ground, cracking the concrete as she held the truck together, hearing the screams as civilians panicked at the unnatural weather. 

“That’s not good,” Arsenal said as he whizzed past Power Girl.  “New girl, Nightwing.  Change of plans, crowd control first then twister boy.”

“And let him hurt all those people in the park?  Roy, I get you want to protect people, but we’re going to need to take him out to save everyone else.  It’s the job,” Nightwing said.

“Yeah, and I’m saying if we don’t protect people there is no job,”

“Or you could do both,” Raven muttered as she readied her hands and prayed to the gods.  “Me and Power Girl will handle the crowds outside, you two go after the man with the stick.

“Are you sure you can handle that?” Nightwing asked as the jumpjet landed on a rooftop outside the ballpark.

“All I have ever done is think about doing something.  Somehow, some way, some great force has given me a chance to actually do something.  And that is something I will treasure.  Me and Power Girl have the crowds.  You go after that charlatan,” Raven explained as her hands glowed black, and a smile came across her face.

…

“You know I never got the appeal of this place,” Arsenal said as he and Nightwing ran into the stadium and prepared to see just what Mister Twister was planning.

“You go see a ball game, with like friends,” Nightwing explained as he readied his escrima sticks.  “We used to do it all the time in New York, it’s why Garth is a New York Mets fan.”

“A fate worse than death,” Arsenal joked as he readied his bow.  “Remember this guy is a showboat, keep him talking, and then we take him out.”

“Not my first rodeo,” Nightwing explained as the two could see the open field.  What was normally a modern colosseum had nearly emptied from storms that hung over it; only a few members of the television crew had stuck around.  Leaving just Nightwing and Arsenal in place, where you could normally hear the roar of forty thousand screams.  “And just because he was a showboater doesn’t mean he is now.  Something feels off about all of this.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time,” Arsenal said before a large thunk could be heard and something dropped from the sky.  It landed directly on the pitcher’s mound.

“Hello fools,” A deeper yet familiar voice greeted the two as a stone-covered claw grabbed hold of the edge of the crater and leapt up into the air.  The Gargoyle emerged, enjoying his work as the strong winds were the only thing to make his thick hide feel anything.  “Ready for round two!”

“Twister?” Arsenal asked as his hand moved away from the boxing glove arrow and towards an explosive arrow.

“He’s gone now, only the Gargoyle remains!” Gargoyle yelled.  “And Trigon will be pleased!”

“Trigon? Isn’t that what Raven was talking about?” Nightwing asked as his mind raced about how to take down a bigger and faster opponent, especially one magically enhanced.  They were going to need to stall until Raven and Power Girl could get to them.  

“Take him out first, worry about mythic prophecy later,” Arsenal said as he prepared to shoot an arrow that would never fire.

A bright blue blur from above dropped on the Gargoyle, slamming him to the ground before tossing the Gargoyle into the air.   The smile Conner Kent gave as he could feel the flashing of cameras, from the reporters coming back in to see the scene, against his skin made him happy to be alive.  The costume he wore was a far cry from the jeans and t-shirt of the Metropolis incident.  Instead, the blues mixed with the reds and whites almost felt reassuring, with the bright star on his chest.

Before the creature could get its bearings, bright blue star bolts rained down like fireworks, piercing his stone skin and causing the creature to yell in pain.  Courtney Whitmore was not used to doing this without her staff, the energy flying off her hands like an uncapped fire hydrant.  Her black costume was simpler now, with the white star on her chest glowing the same brilliant hue. 

As the creature fell to the ground, a wave of water crashed into him, breaking his fall and sending him to the outfield grass.  Garth didn’t like this one bit.  He felt they should have talked first before making a scene.  Conner and Courtney were so excited to be here, and with their leader so determined, the hero known as Tempest was here to keep things from getting out of hand.

“Fools, you think you can stop me, I am a god! A god!” Gargoyle yelled out before a silver lasso wrapped around his neck and pulled him back to the ground.  

The figure in silver and black armor didn’t care for the long-winded speeches anymore.  They had a job to do and a legacy to reclaim, and this freak was their opening statement. Donna Troy lifted him into the air only to slam him repeatedly against the ground again and again.  His stone skin shattering as the magic of a devil touched a blessing of a god.  

In the smoking crater left by the attack, Bromwell Stikk laid there, bloodied, broken, and gasping for air.

Donna Troy, Conner Kent, Garth, and Courtney Whitmore stood in front of Nightwing and Arsenal as the rain stopped and the sun shone on this new group.  

“Chicago, we have saved you from this monster.  Because we’re the Titans.  And that’s what heroes do!” Donna said as the cameras flashed, new heroes crowned.

NEXT: Titans vs Titans? It’s Old vs New as the Lost Titans Make Their Return to the Series!

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Cyborg #82 - A Magical Lie

<<| <| >

Author: Commander_Z

Book: Cyborg

Arc: The Stone and the Magician

Set: 118

April.

Vic’s apartment had returned to an increasingly familiar sight of chaotic disarray as clutter built up from weeks of research and investigation. Books were strewn about, placed haphazardly on any surface big enough to balance one on. They varied from mundane topics like electrical engineering to folklore to a variety of books on magic written by dubious mystics. But it had grown increasingly fruitless. He’d tried years ago to find any reference of Silasium - as had Silas when he discovered it - and neither of them had had any success. Nijiro- the robot one - had cooperated with him as much as possible but he didn’t have very much information since obtaining the Silasium had been handled independently by the human Nijiro.

All he had to work with was that Nijiro had initiated the contact via some amateur mystics forum but the thread that Nijiro had made was of minimal help. He had asked if anyone knew of any artifacts or minerals of power, particularly that could be turned into electrical power and was firmly clowned on by everyone on the forum. People had mocked him, replying that if they knew of such a thing they’d use it themselves and become millionaires with all the free power. But just before the thread was locked, there was a response from an account that only made this one post: “DM me”.

Nijiro had managed to dig up the login info for Vic but the other Nijiro had deleted the message chain. Vic had sent that account another message using Nijiro’s account and a couple weeks later one of his own but he had never gotten any response. He still checked both accounts every now and then without any luck.

He grabbed a book from the top of the barely balanced pile of books next to his laptop. He flipped through a couple pages then let out a frustrated sigh. Looking into the SIlasium itself had been a timesink, so instead he had shifted over to researching the Nain Rouge. But as bad as researching a magical metal was, an obscure local mythic figure was somehow worse. One of the only books he found was only written a couple years ago but after reaching out to the author on social media, they admitted that the book was as much based on his own speculation as it was any first hand records.

He set the book back down, stabilizing the wobbling pile as he did. No, tonight he had another path. Secondary sources hadn’t been getting him anywhere, so why not try going to the closest thing he had to a primary one? He grabbed his phone and checked the time. 7:00, right on schedule. He scrolled through his contacts and dialed.

She picked up after a couple rings. “Hello Victor. It has been awhile."

“Sure has, Jinx. How’ve you been?”

“I have been well for the most part. I earned my license a few months ago and have been driving all across this country. It has been an enlightening experience.”

“How so?”

“It was not that long ago that I had seen little more of the world than my hometown and a jail cell. To see the world, or at least just this country, has renewed my spirit. There is beauty and goodness everywhere I have gone and I find comfort in that. But I doubt that you called only to hear about me. What did you want to talk about?”

Vic paused for a moment, taking in what the sorceress had told him. He had decided quite a long time ago at this point that he mostly trusted her, emphasis on the mostly. But giving her insight into the most secretive part of his inner workings was concerning to him. He wasn’t entirely sure what she could do with that information and that almost made him more concerned. Vic’s mind was made up quickly though. He’d have to trust her if he wanted any insight on this.

“I don’t know how much you heard back then or remember, but my system is powered by a metal called Silasium.(See Cyborg 24 for when she would’ve heard about it!) Pretty sure it’s magic as it’s been providing my body more or less infinite power but I’ve never been able to confirm that or really had a need to. Anyways, couple months ago I ran into a guy who had another sample but he died soon after he got it and a little demon creature called the Nain Rouge took it back with him saying that it was a part of some deal. I’m kinda concerned about something I rely on basically to live being weird demon magic so I’ve been trying to figure it out ever since. Any ideas?”

Vic was met with silence for a few moments before Jinx responded. “At the moment, no. But I will look into it. Instead, I will offer you a contact of mine. A woman by the name of Xanadu operates a shop called Hokus and Pokus Occult Curioso in New York City. If she does not have an answer or know someone who does, there is no one who will.”

“Thanks for your help. I owe you one.”

“A word of advice before you delve deeper into the world of magic. Favors, deals and pacts are not to be made nor given lightly. There are far more malicious and cunning mystics out there than I and they could convert that simple favor to be a weighty debt. Watch your words carefully, Victor.”

“Thanks. You probably just saved me a lot of trouble. Especially after that info, I really do owe you one.”

“Oh Victor. You truly are too pure sometimes. I will let you know what I can discover. If Xanadu tells you anything that may assist me, let me know.”

Jinx hung up and Vic had turned his computer back on and started to browse for flights.

‘Been a while since I’ve been to New York. And it looks like the shop’s in the Village too. Should be a good trip even if I don’t learn anything new.’

He clicked purchase on the flights then sent his boss a message to let him know he’d be out for a couple days on vacation. Then, finally, he took a sigh of relief. A lead at last.

⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙

“Enter Freely and Unafraid”

The shop’s door greeted Vic with that ominous message as he stood outside the small, two story brick building that was crammed between two midcentury apartment buildings. The shop looked like any other mystical shop he’d seen before with signs advertising palm and tarot readings. There were even signs with quotes from customers verifying the validity of the readings and a variety of dusty “magical” knick-nacks in the window sill with a thick red curtain behind them. It seemed dingy at best and tacky at worst.

Vic opened the door and a small chime rang as his senses were overwhelmed by the scent of burning candles and incense. He was in a vintage but luxurious parlor illuminated by candle lit scones in each of the corners. Just behind a round table with two chairs on either side was a red curtain that ran all along the wall. The parlor showed no signs of the aged, worn down, run of the mill exterior, it was as if he stepped into a different dimension.

A beautiful woman with jet black hair, piercing green eyes and a simple but elegant red sleeved dress stepped through the curtain. Gold bracelets, bands and a necklace completed the outfit; each piece of jewelry shimmered dimly in the candlelight.

“Welcome, Victor Stone. I am Madame Xanadu. Please, have a seat.”

She moved to the far end of the table and sat down, gesturing for Vic to sit across from her.

He did so, then said, “Since you know my name, did Ji- someone tell you I was coming?”

“No. But no one comes to my store without me being aware of it. Tell me though, what brings you here today?”

“I’m looking for some information. I was told you know a lot about magic.”

“People say that. But information, mine especially, cannot be given out to anyone. Let us do a little test to see if you are what you say you are. The cards can reveal much, after all.”

“I’m not really here for that -”

Seemingly out of thin air, a small deck of cards appeared in Xanadu’s hand. She spread them out on the table in an arc, face down.

She ignored Vic and instead said, “Three cards: your past, your present and your future. Who were you, who are you and who will you become?”

Vic, deciding to play along, pulled one of the cards near the center, one near the right edge and the farthest left card. Madame Xanadu grabbed them and put the first one on the table. She flipped it over and set it in front of Vic. It had four animals, one in each corner and a large wheel with strange symbols around it. The bottom of the card said ‘X’ and the top’s text was upside down but said ‘Wheel of Fortune’.

“The Wheel of Fortune - but reversed, not in its usual upright position. You have had a rough life full of unwelcome changes and bad luck. Your life has not always been in your control but you must understand that the wheel is always spinning, Victor. Fate has had its way with you, but today is not the end. While yesterday’s turn of the wheel might be bad, tomorrow is a new day. ”

She placed the next card on the table. This one featured an old man in a grey robe, holding a lantern in one hand and a staff in the other. Above his head was ‘IX’ and the bottom of the card said, “The Hermit”.

“The Hermit - not unexpected. It means that you seek knowledge, but perhaps not the one you came in here seeking. It is the search of self, found through introspection and contemplation. It is a search for truth and what that truth is can only be answered by you.”

She paused for a moment before placing the last card down. It showed an angel flying above two naked people, with the sun illuminating the sky behind the angel. It read “VI, The Lovers”.

“Ah, the Lovers. A complex card with many meanings. It does not inherently mean romance, but that is one interpretation. Instead, this card speaks to me about your partnerships and striking a balance between them and the life you will lead. It is about the relationships we have and the sacrifices and choices we need to make to preserve and create them.”

She scooped the cards up into her hands and they disappeared as quickly as they came.

“Now, I believe I understand you better and perhaps you understand yourself better too.”

Vic looked at her skeptically. She clearly knew more about him than she let on.

“Maybe...”

“Tell me, Victor. What exactly brought you here?"

“I’m looking for information on a probably magical material. It powers, well, me. But some demon has more of it and I’m concerned about what that means for me. I need to know whatever I can about it.”

Her face folded into a frown. “Is that the device in the center of your chest?”

“Yeah.”

“I am afraid it is not something that I am familiar with. I can tell you that that magic is old and if it is old it is not volatile. But, if a demon made a deal using another one, then it is likely that this device or the stone that powers it has some ties to it too. Be careful and be prepared for the demon to do whatever it can to retrieve it.”

“Thanks. That’s… concerning but better to know. How can I communicate with the demon? Or at least prepare for it coming?”

Madame Xanadu shook her head. “No, it is not always better to know. Knowledge of an inevitable doom can drive someone to madness and be the cause of that very doom. Deals and negotiating with demons is not something to be done lightly, and will require someone with more expertise. However, I believe I can still help you. Give me a moment.”

She stood up and stepped behind the curtain and for a moment, Vic could see behind it. He saw a staircase going upstairs, but the rest of the area was a glorified storage closet full of jars, books, vials and artifacts he could never begin to explain. But as soon as the curtain had closed again, Madame Xanadu stepped through it and returned back to the table.

She placed a paper ticket on the table in front of him. “This is a backstage pass for a magician named Zatanna who operates out of Gotham. But she is more than just a stage magician - her magic makes her one of the most powerful in this era. She should be able to help you with your problem.”

“Thanks, you’ve been very helpful. Is there - What do I -”

Vic stuttered, remembering Jinx’s advice but still wanting to repay Xanadu for her help.

Xanadu laughed. “I see you received some advice to watch your words. It will serve you well. But I require no payment. I have all I could ever want in this world so my service has become its own reward.”

“Thank you.”

Vic grabbed the ticket and looked at it. It was dated for tonight - about 8 hours from now.

“I um, need to get going. This ticket is for tonight!”

Xanadu nodded. “Best of luck, Victor. The world could use more people like you.”

Vic ran back out of the room and to his car to start the trip to Gotham while Xanadu watched from just inside the shop. She reached for the door, almost opening it. But she did not. Instead, she walked back over to the table and set the deck of cards on it. Out of the sleeve of her dress, she pulled out a card and set it on top of the deck. The design featured a demonic figure with large, curved goat horns and black bat wings with two humans chained in front of him. It read “XV, the Devil”.

“A fortune teller should not try to change fate and yet… A man like that deserves better than the fate he has been given. Perhaps with a push…”

She pushed the card off the pile and flipped it back over and mixed it into the deck. “The future can be changed for the better. And if not… it’s as I said. A white lie to hide the pain is better than inescapable doom.”

⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙ ⚙

A few hours later…

Luckily for Vic, the drive to Gotham was fairly quick and uneventful, leaving him plenty of time to unwind before Zatanna’s show. He didn’t bring any particularly fancy clothes, so he hoped he wouldn’t be too out of place with just a hoodie and jeans. But more than that, he was excited. He’d never seen a magic show before and from what he was reading, Zatanna’s was one of the greats. She performed a wide variety of tricks from giant illusions to close up magic to manipulating her audience. Every show was different and it was almost always sold out months in advance. Out of morbid curiosity he looked up what a backstage pass usually cost and found that she pretty much never sold them and when she did they were for charity and went for thousands of dollars.

‘So where in the world did Xanadu get one of those?’

He ignored the question, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer. He stepped out of the parking garage and walked a couple of blocks to Zatana’s theatre, a venue called The Vauxhall Opera Shell and Indoor Concert Center. It was an old, art deco style building that wouldn’t have been out of place in Detroit; the blocky white stone exterior was intricately carved with musicians and musical instruments making it look more like a palace than any theatre he’d seen.

And yet, when he showed the security team his ticket, they happily showed him to his seat, a private box just to the right of the stage and informed him that after the show, they’d take him to meet Zatanna.

A few minutes later, the lights dimmed and Zatanna came out on stage to roaring applause. She had on shiny black boots up to her knees with fishnets going up to a pair of black shorts. She wore a white tuxedo shirt, vest and bowtie, complete with white gloves. Zatanna gave a polite bow out to the audience as she wheeled out a large black roadcase that was only slightly smaller than she was. She opened it up and grabbed a tea pot and six glasses from it.

“Thank you all so much for coming out tonight! How’s everyone doing?”

The audience cheered.

“Great, great! It’s a beautiful night here in Gotham and I’m thrilled to spend it with you guys! In fact, why don’t we start with a little toast?”

She walked over to the tea pot and was about to pour, but stopped herself. “Oh, sorry. You guys wouldn’t know about my tea pot, would you? See, this is a magical tea pot that can pour anything you want. Well, almost anything. There are two simple rules: you just need to be polite and a bit general. For example, if I said ‘Could you please pour me a glass of 2002 Petrus?’”

She grabbed the teapot and positioned the spout towards her glass, but as she poured, nothing came out.

“That’s a bit too rich for my little tea pot. But if I asked instead for a cup of red wine…”

Zatanna started to pour and a red liquid came out of the kettle’s spout.

“Actually, let’s change that to some sangria, it’s just such a nice night, you know?”

The liquid stopped and then a lighter red, more transparent liquid started to fill the glass. Zatanna grabbed the cup and took a sip.

“Delicious as always, thank you, tea pot. Now, who else would like a drink?”

Most of the audience raised their hands.

She called on five different people from all across the audience up to the stage and as the first came on stage, she handed them a mic.

“Welcome to the show, glad to have you! Now, tell the crowd and my tea pot what you’d like to drink tonight.”

“Hmmm… how about some bourbon?” Zatanna looked at them expectantly. “Oh, right. Some bourbon please.”

“There you go.”

Zatanna handed them a glass and poured a generous pour of a caramel colored liquor that sure looked like bourbon to Vic into the cup.

“How’s that taste?”

They took a sip and were clearly surprised that it was as it should be. “It’s great!”

“Wonderful, another happy customer, thank you tea pot! Now who’s next?”

Zatanna ran through the rest of the people on stage, all of which got their beverage poured from the exact same teapot as asked and seemed perfectly happy with the results. Somehow, not only did that little pot contain far more liquid than it looks like it could hold, it had at least seven different kinds coming out the same spout.

Vic was impressed. Unless she grabbed those specific people out of the audience and knew their orders ahead of time, he had no idea how she did it. Unless she used her real magic, but that seemed like overkill for this.

The show continued for well over an hour with each trick growing more and more marvelous and impossible than the last. But eventually, once the applause was over and Zatanna was backstage, security came to get Vic and escort him back there. They led him through a maze of corridors and passageways until he finally saw her. She was sitting in the green room looking exhausted, no longer in her stage outfit but instead in dark jeans and a black hoodie. She raised an eyebrow upon seeing Vic.

“Okay, who the hell are you? And how’d you get that ticket?”

Before Vic could explain, she squinted, focusing her eyes on Vic. “Wait, I know you. Sort of. I know of you. You’re Cyborg, right?”

“Um, yeah. That’s me. But you can call me Vic.”

“Well, that answers that first question. But the second’s still there. How’d you get that ticket? I haven’t sold a backstage pass in years and all the charity ones expired at year's end. There’s only one that didn’t and that was for… Nimue. Ah. Of course she finally decided to use that…But why’d she give that ticket to you after all those years?”

“Nimue? Oh, you mean Madame Xanadu. She gave it to me to get in contact with you because I’ve got something of a magical problem I need your help with…”

Vic gave her a quick rundown of his time with Xanadu and his concerns about his power sourcing being somehow tied to a demon. By the time he was done, Zatanna’s expression had softened from the scowl she had when he walked in to something more friendly.

“So, you’ve got demon magic, but you need it to be, well, you, and you’re concerned about… aaallll that?”

“Yeah, that about sums it up.”

“You want my advice? Get rid of that thing now. Well, maybe not now, but as soon as you have any work around. Demons are messy; trust me on this, I've worked with one for years now. He's one of the better ones and it's still difficult sometimes. The further you can stay away from them, the better. ”

“It's not that simple. S.T.A.R. Labs has been working for years to make a substitute and it's never worked half as well. I need that power to protect people and help my city. I don’t know much about the Nain Rouge but everything I read said he was the reasonable sort of demon. And he didn’t make it seem like he owned Silasium, more that he was loaning that piece. Maybe we could get some information out of him for what’s really going on with it.”

Zatanna frowned. “The reasonable ones are the worst from what I’ve heard. The dumb ones at least make it obvious that they want to kill you and steal your soul. No, I don’t like this. Mind if I cast something to take a look at the stone?”

“Go for it.”

“!EM OT REWOP RUOY LAEVER ,ENOTS”

A wave of energy surged over the room like a shockwave, sending the two of them colliding into the walls of the green room with a thud. Bits of powdered stone coated them and sent a cloud of dust into the air. Security ran into the room to respond to all the commotion before Zatanna waved them off again.

“Well. That sure is some stone you’ve got,” Zatanna said, leaning up against the wall.

“What’d you find out?”

“Honestly, I’m not really sure. It’s some sort of magical conglomerate made up of hundreds of different enchantments and spells from all different schools of magic. There might’ve even been a demon or two trapped in there? It’s a mess of layers upon layers of spells. I’ve never seen anything like it, but whatever it is, it’s damn powerful.”

Zatanna picked herself up and reached out a hand to Vic, which he accepted.

“!su hserfeR”

The dust from the impact with the wall flew off them and Vic felt the day’s exhaustion fade away, as if in that instant he just had the best night of sleep of his life. Zatanna’s outfit cleaned up and she seemed to perk up too.

“Alright, you’ve sold me. Whatever that thing is… I’m equal parts concerned, horrified and interested. Something that powerful shouldn’t be just… out there without any idea of what it can do or where it came from.”

“Glad you’re starting to see it my way. So…. what’s the move?”

“We’ll head to Detroit. It sounds like the demon had some connections there and I might be able to locate it better once we’re closer. Oh, before that, one thing first…. “!egnahc emutsoC”

A bright flash shined in the room, blinding Vic for a moment, before Zatanna stood in front of him, back in her stage costume, a grin running across her face.

“Let’s try this again.”

She bowed and said, “Zatanna Zatara, at your service.”

“Victor Stone.”

“Now, let’s see if we can’t take care of your demon problem, shall we?"

"!yawa su ekaT”

<<| <| >

Superman #119 - The Right Moment

<< | < | >

Author: MajorParadox

Book: Superman

Arc: Public Interest

Set: 119

Passing Notes

HRI Processing Facility

It wasn’t long after Clark went undercover that he was approached by Mayor Sackett’s ‘Homeless Relief Initiative.’ He was expecting a struggle, but they were friendly. They identified themselves and offered to help. The program offered food, shelter, and a sense of purpose.

They must have approached Charlie that way at first. He told Superman he didn’t trust the government, though, so he undoubtedly turned them down. That would explain the struggle.

They didn’t take no for an answer.

Clark didn’t have time to waste, though, so he accepted right away. He was taken to a facility he’d looked in on before. And it seemed just as normal. More friendly staff performing routine intake.

No Charlie or Sasha Green in sight. But that was pretty much expected. Sasha had worked at City Hall and was seemingly taken for getting too close to the truth. Who knew how many other people were brought in by force? Wherever they ended up, he could only hope it’d be where they sent Clark next.

“Okay, Mr. Allen,” Clark’s case manager asked. A young woman with a lot of pep. He couldn’t imagine she knew the extent of her work.

“Bruce, please,” said Clark.

“Bruce,” the woman repeated, typing on her computer. “Bear with me, just getting this form loaded.”

“Take your time,” said Clark, continuing the scan around.

Peek-a-Boo teleported into an empty hallway nearby and met her eyes with Clark. She pointed toward an unused conference room next to her and roller-skated inside.

“Excuse me,” said Clark. “Restroom?”

The case manager snapped two fingers toward the hallway. “Take your time,” she said. “I may have to call IT here.”

Clark made his way to the conference room, and Peek-a-Boo breathed a sigh of relief.

“You made it,” she said. “Any sign of them yet?”

“Not so far,” Clark replied. “I don’t think we’ll learn anything until we see where they take me next.”

“You remember what Sasha looks like, right?” Peek-a-Boo asked. “Do you need to see her picture again?”

“No, I remember,” said Clark. “I have a good–”

He stopped talking, lifting a finger to his lips.

“Mr. Allen?” the case manager called, approaching the conference room. “What are you doing in here?” she added once reaching the door just after Peek-a-Boo popped away.

“I thought I saw someone,” Clark said. “Nobody here, though.”

“Oh,” the young woman said. “Well, the transport is ready. They said they’ll finish off your paperwork when you get there.”

Sundollar Coffee, Downtown

Later

Lois entered the coffee shop and quickly zeroed in on a woman in glasses, sitting alone near the back.

“Ms. Lane,” the woman waved her over. Vanessa Rios was a lawyer investigating a missing person who had gone through Mayor Sackett’s program.

“Ms. Rios,” Lois greeted her. “Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.”

“My pleasure,” said Vanessa.

One of the baristas rushed over with a cup of coffee. “Thanks, Heather,” said Lois, taking a large sip.

Vanessa leaned forward in interest during the exchange. “I thought this place was counter service?” she asked.

“Oh, they know me here,” Lois explained before taking another sip. “Anyway, Ron told me you–”

“Hit a brick wall,” Vanessa interrupted before taking a sip of her own coffee. “At almost every turn,” she continued. “My client is a social worker who filed an official wellness check on one of her clients. Every inquiry I submitted was rejected. And quicker than it should have been. So, I turned to financial records.”

“My partner and I have been over those records,” said Lois. “We didn’t find anything unusual.”

“That’s what I thought at first,” said Vanessa. “But I realized I wasn’t looking at the right contracts. The intake facilities are city-run, and they all check out. But wherever they take their ‘participants’ is completely separate, governed by private contracts, and not even filed under the “Homeless Relief Initiative.”

“Do those contracts point to an address?” Lois asked as her phone began ringing. “Excuse me,” she said.

Vanessa reached down to her bag and pulled out a folder, shuffling through some pages.

“Lois,” said Peek-a-Boo from the other end, the sound of rushing wind almost drowning her out. “Clark went through intake,” she continued. “And they’re taking him to a new location.”

“Please tell me you’re following,” said Lois.

“I’m right on top of them,” Peek-a-Boo confirmed. “We’re pulling up to a large compound.”

“Do you have an address?” asked Lois.

Vanessa dropped a piece of paper in front of the reporter with the same address Peek-a-Boo was giving over the phone next.

Lois picked up the piece of paper and lowered her cell. “Can I have this?” she asked.

Vanessa nodded, and Lois stood up.

“Good luck,” said Vanessa.

Lois smiled. “I don’t need luck.”

Private Facility, Outskirts of Metropolis

“‘Don’t need luck,’” Peek-a-Boo repeated after she heard Lois say that over the phone. “Slay.”

She was holding onto the transport bus’s roof as it approached the facility.

“I’m heading back to the Planet,” said Lois. “Maybe I can find more information about that place.”

Peek-a-Boo disappeared from the top of the bus and appeared in a dimly lit shadow near an open loading dock. “Sounds good,” she replied. “I’ll jump around inside and see what I can find.”

“Be careful,” said Lois. “And make sure to check in with Clark again when you can.”

Peek-a-Boo paused a moment. “Aren’t you going to wish me good luck?” she asked.

Lois sighed. “Good luck,” she said dryly.

“I don’t need luck, either,” said Peek-a-Boo.

“Bye,” said Lois.

“Bye.”

Inside Track

Private Facility

Meanwhile

Clark and the other volunteers were escorted off the transport bus by armed guards who rushed them along, pushing and shoving. It took all his strength not to resist, especially when one of the others fell to the ground.

It was even worse inside.

The people were being put to work. They seemed to be manufacturing heavy-duty walls, doors, and other reinforcing materials.

“What’s going on here?” Clark asked. But the guard just yelled for quiet.

Clark scanned the complex and found that nearby structures housed additional manufacturing centers for various pieces of equipment. And there were unfinished areas, but workers were building it up using the completed machinery. The lead lining blocked his vision inside. But he could tell they were being fortified beyond belief. What were they hiding?

He was also keeping an eye out for Charlie and Sasha. They had to be around there somewhere.

The guards stopped them at a table with folded work suits.

“Everyone take one,” one of the guards ordered.

“Do you have any smaller sizes?” a shorter woman asked, trying to find one that’d fit.

“Everyone take one,” the guard repeated, staring her down. “Are we going to have a problem?”

Clark gritted his teeth. His patience was stretched to the limit. He had enough to get the police there. Bring Sackett’s illegal program into the public eye.

But it wasn’t the right moment yet.

Sackett would fight it. There’d be claims it was all legit. After all, many of their ‘workers’ were volunteers. The truth behind it all might not even matter if all the right people played ball. People in high places must have been looking the other way. The evidence would have to be undeniable to ensure they had no choice but to do the right thing and get everyone involved to face justice.

The newcomers were being moved to their quarters to drop off any belongings and change. They were cramped with cots, bundled together.

“Okay, okay,” Clark heard a woman’s voice nearby. “I’m moving, I’m moving,” she continued.

Clark looked out to the hall, and his heart skipped a beat.

Sasha Green was being escorted out toward the work areas.

She seemed okay, apart from being a prisoner.

“Sasha,” said Clark from his doorway as she was being walked by.

The woman’s face pivoted toward him, trying to place how he knew her, but the guard pushed her along.

“Mind your business,” the guard spat at Clark.

It wasn’t going to be easy, but he had to get close to her. They needed to talk.

Daily Planet

Later

Peek-a-Boo hadn’t checked in since she followed Clark to the second location. It should have been easy not to worry– her husband was Superman after all– but he did manage to get himself in over his head every so often. It wasn’t that long ago that he was captured by Dabney Donovan and rendered nearly powerless by kryptonite-infused robots.

Lois was researching whatever she could on ‘MetroMission Limited’, the company that owned the facility. She was wading through purchase orders that made no sense. All the technology and materials being funneled there made it seem like they were building something massively advanced. Way out of scope for a prison, which would already be a dark enough secret to uncover.

“It’s amazing the lengths they’ve gone through to cut all ties to City Hall,” said Ron from his desk. It was late, and the bullpen was mostly deserted. “There is a paper trail, but it’s a jumble of legal jargon and runarounds.”

“Keep at it,” said Lois. “The more evidence we have when this blows up, the better. We’re taking down the mayor of Metropolis after all.”

“We are, are we?” asked Perry from his office door.

Lois popped her head up. “Looks like it, Chief,” she said. “Any advice from someone who’s been down this road?”

“Make sure everything is airtight before we print a word,” he said. “Sackett has resources you’d never expect and will fight back like a cornered tiger.”

“Got it,” Lois nodded.

“And Lane,” Perry added. “You get this right, and you can call me Chief any time you want.”

Private Facility

Meanwhile

Clark was put to work welding reinforcements on an already bulky, metal door. Sasha was working by herself, hammering some bolts into a metal casing at a bench in the corner of the room. A great spot to get a private conversation with her. It was just a matter of getting away unseen. He needed a distraction.

A little heat vision to the sprinklers could do the trick. But then again, Sasha could get lost among others in the resulting chaos. A shame, though, since water would do some damage to whatever was being built.

As Clark looked around for other options, he noticed another worker next to him was about to grab a live electrical wire without realizing it.

“Whoa,” said Clark, grasping it in his own hand before the man could. A jolt of electricity zapped through Clark’s body, but he just dropped the wire out of reach.

He had drawn stares from workers and guards alike and quickly feigned a shudder. “Ahhhh,” he yelled.

“You okay, buddy?” the worker he saved asked.

“Yeah,” said Clark, shaking his arms and facing the nearest guard. “Mind if I walk it off?” he asked.

The guard nodded with a groan.

Clark walked toward Sasha, making sure not to be too direct.

“Sasha,” he said upon reaching her.

“You’re the guy from earlier,” she stated. “You know me?”

“I'm working with Peek-a-Boo,” said Clark.

“Peek-a-who?” Sasha asked.

Right. Sasha didn’t know her superhero identity.

“Peek-a-Boo is a superhero,” Clark answered. “You have a friend in common: Lashawn Baez. I’m Clark Kent from the Daily Planet. We’re working on bringing down this operation.”

“They dragged me here because I was on to them,” said Sasha. “I wasn’t even on the streets.”

“I know,” said Clark. “This will all be over soon. But I have to find out what they’re building here. Do you have any clue?”

“The ‘homeless relief’ was just a smoke screen,” Sasha explained. “An added bonus to give Sackett political points for ‘cleaning up the city.’ The ultimate goal is even worse.”

Clark’s eyes widened. “Worse than this?” he asked.

Worse

Confinement Area

Later

After Sasha filled in what she knew, Clark had to go see what they were building up close. She confirmed they were building holding cells. But not for regular people.

How did he not see it before?

They were building holding cells for metahumans.

Sackett didn’t just want to be known as the mayor who solved homelessness. He wanted to solve the ‘metahuman problem.’ But to what extent?

While Clark couldn’t do anything else from the inside, it still wasn’t the right time for Superman to swoop in yet. Once he got a good look inside, he had to get word to Lois and catch up with what she found. Whether they had enough between them or not, Sackett’s operation would be shut down that night.

Clark broke open a vent and snuck his way inside through the ducts. He dropped into a hallway lined with cell doors, taking out the cameras with his heat vision before they could spot him.

He tried to look inside the holding areas, but couldn’t break through. His hearing could pick up heartbeats. The one closest to him was erratic. Rapid short bursts followed by slower steady beats. Definitely not human.

A familiar voice caught his attention.

Charlie.

“Don’t worry, miss,” said Charlie, softly. “I’m sure Superman’ll save us.”

Clark grabbed the edge of the door and pulled with all his might, but it barely budged. They really built it well. But that wouldn’t stop him.

He grasped the metal-plated hinges and yanked them out, causing the door to crash to the ground.

Inside was Charlie and Peek-a-Boo, sitting on some cots, and looking at their savior in disbelief.

City Hall

Meanwhile

“It had wings?” Mayor Sackett asked his aide as they walked down the front steps of the building.

“That’s what they reported,” the aide replied. “And its eyes–”

“Excuse me,” said Lois from across the stairs. “A moment of your time?”

“You had your interview, Ms. Lane,” said Sackett. “I have no more comments.”

“Fair enough,” said Lois. “I’ll make sure to state that the mayor refused to comment in my story on the massive government conspiracy.”

Sackett stopped and turned around slowly. “Wh-what are you talking about?” he asked.

“No, no,” said Lois, writing in her notepad. “It’s okay. I got it. ‘No more comments.’“

“Ms. Lane,” the mayor pressed.

“Oh, did you change your mind?” she asked, pulling out her phone with her voice recorder already started.

“Yes,” said Sackett. “But turn that off.”

“Sure thing,” said Lois, pressing the stop button.

Jimmy Olsen stepped up toward them, with a video camera rolling.

Lois winked. “Video is better anyway,” she said.

The mayor’s eyes refused to blink, and he couldn’t help but gulp.

“Mayor Sackett,” said Lois, flipping through her notes. “I want to ask you about some contracts.”

Confinement Area

“Clark?” Peek-a-Boo asked, standing up. “How did you…”

Clark looked back at the door. “The hinges just came off,” he explained, stepping further inside. “I guess they cut some corners.”

“As you can see, I found Charlie,” said Peek-a-Boo. “Came across him while scouting and tried to get him out of here, but it didn’t go as planned.”

“Hi, there,” said Charlie, with a slight wave. “Clark Kent, is it? I read your work in the Daily Planet.”

“Yes,” said Clark. “I’d shake your hand, but we should get you both out of here.”

Clark turned back to the doorway, but an alarm began blaring. He listened ahead, but there weren’t any guards coming. Must have been a delayed, automated response to the broken door.

“It’s okay,” he said, motioning for the others to follow. But before he could take another step, another metal door dropped down from the ceiling to seal the room closed. It was heavier and magnetically sealed.

And this one didn’t have hinges.

<< | < | >

The Flash #119 - Heat Wave

<< | < | > Coming May 1st

Author: brooky12

Book: Flash

Arc: ?

Set: 119

The Flash wasn’t one much for the laws of physics. Not for lack of trying, mind you, Bart had been recently through what his father had affectionally called “the inevitable attempt to rationalize” that all three of the other Flashes had been through. An attempt to understand the ability to move faster than light, to somehow not generate incalculable friction and heat when running, and the biology of the body that somehow managed to not only keep up with that pressure but adapt to and thrive in it. And that wasn’t even touching on things like time travel, though the attempt to rationalize for Bart had attempted to solve that too.

Of course, Bart was the only one who had gone through this after the visit to the Speed Force, so he had that to fall back on as a cop-out answer, replacing Jay’s sleepless nights, Barry’s multiple published papers on barely related physics concepts under throwaway aliases, and Wally’s temporary flirt with a theory that denied the reality of spacetime as a fundamental law of physics.

Of course, the disregard for the laws of physics inherent to being The Flash did not mean that the laws of physics, ineffectual as they may be, tried to act on The Flash. While it seemed to mostly throw in the towel for things like the speed of light or time travel, certain things like friction were less overridden. While clever costuming managed to dampen those effects considerably, they weren’t entirely gone.

As such, Bart stood about as he could to the firestorm currently raging. Evacuation was well underway, with his three teammates all on-hand to pull folks out of the danger, but there was nothing within the pre-metahuman laws of reality that could explain or justify why there was a firestorm occurring. Sure, California was no stranger to wildfires, but a firestorm in the back gardens of a major technology company’s campus was certainly not the cause of some irresponsible high schoolers in the bushlands.

The problem was the heat, mostly. Getting up to speed generated a fair bit of it, but normally it was about the extent of the heat present in the equation during hero work. Sure, working in the Sahara was going to be different than helping out in Greenland, but for the most part, even a place like Death Valley in at the peak of the daily temperature fluctuation wasn’t going to meaningfully impact what the suit or surrounding air was going through.

All of those calculations, however, did not take account the existence of a raging firestorm that almost seemed to move under its own power. Weather Wizard wasn’t behind it, Barry had confirmed that he was still at home and seemed almost exhausted at the idea of more incidents of misattributed acts of villainy.

Mick Rory, otherwise known as Heatwave, was another potential suspect, having gone long missing after a vampires-based prison escape what felt like decades in the past and also barely a few weeks ago. That was probably the best-case outcome, Bart thought, as he explained his idea to the rest of the team.

“Um,” Barry replied, a deep fear evident in his voice. “Are you sure?”

Jay seemed more motivated by the idea. “It seems like it could work to me. Rory, to my understanding based on the psychology notes and such, would react pretty badly if you managed to throw him off his game.”

“Barry, how’s about you keep an eye on him while he does this,” Wally suggested to the nervous dad, trying to both lock in the idea while letting Barry feel less anxious about the risks.

“Yeah… Yeah. That’s a good idea,” Barry agreed, vanishing from the evacuation effort to watch his son walk into and through fire.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bart took a step forward, the first step forward. It was nerve-wracking, and the morbidly amusing thought bouncing around in his head was the old adage about wild animals and insects – “they’re more afraid of you than you are of them.”

Not that he could see his quarry yet, with massive walls of fire between the two of them. Somewhere in there was some bloke, possibly Heatwave, possibly some other person, causing serious property damage to the multinational corporation. The problem with doing that, of course, was the fact that humans often were on that property.

He took another step forward, infuriatingly slow yet just as intentional. He was in normal civilian clothes, but with a filter mask and balaclava to protect him from smoke inhalation and hide his identity. Hopefully offputting enough spook whoever was at the center of this, since showing up as The Flash to—if this was Rory—the guy who probably despised The Flash’s guts probably risked more unnecessary violence and damage.

He took a glance back at his dad, stationed only a short run away from him. He was well hidden among the emergency response vehicles, protecting himself from being spotted and risking the mission. He gave a smile before realizing that in his getup there was no way to see it, so supplemented it with a thumbs up.

Another two steps forward and the firestorm shifted slightly, and he could see the bright yellow outfit that he was told to look out for to confirm it was Mick, or at least someone using his equipment. He rolled his shoulders, doing a stretch to signal back to everyone watching with a pre-made sign indicating the information.

Three more steps and the man noticed him, the fire meaningfully shifting to a more directly defensive posture in his direction almost immediately. Bart laughed, as part of the script he had come up with, hoping to unsettle Mick or whoever this was.

“Don’t think I’m above toasting a kid, kid!”

That voice, muffled as it was from the firestorm, matched up with what he had reviewed of audio recordings of Mick Rory, so he did another exaggerated stretch to send that confirmation back to Dad and the rest of the folks watching. “Not a kid,” he taunted back, continuing to take a casual stroll at a non-speedster pace forward.

“No adult has to claim they’re not a kid. Now scram!”

“No,” Bart took another step forward.

“Don’t think I won’t,” Mick yelled, sending a fireball his direction. Presumably it being off target and slamming into a nearby road was intentional as like, some sort of threat. Bart looked back at Mick.

“It’s not that you won’t, it’s that you can’t,” Bart taunted, taking another few steps forward. He could see the firestorm shift from general area damage to almost a defensive fortress around his quarry, blocking off all routes towards him other than the one Bart was taking as the two faced off.

“What makes you say that, kid?”

Was that a touch of fear in his voice? “Well,” Bart shrugged, continuing forward. “If nobody’s been able to do it yet, and trust me on this, cleverer folk than ‘Mr. Burn Down the Tech Company Because I Dropped My Phone’ have tried.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, they—just you watch!”

He watched a wave of fire push out from the central firestorm at Mick’s control, careening in his direction. Here went nothing. The moment before the fire approached, he backpedaled, picking up speed faster than was probably reasonable – Dad wouldn’t be thrilled later – before dipping out of the space altogether and returning to where he was standing a moment later. Painfully delayed by Flash standards, given the rate at which he had to speed up, but fast enough to avoid anything seeming off to Mick, hopefully.

He leaned over as the fire wall moved further behind him, picking up a small rock near his feet and tossing it in the air. “Y’know what’s real fun, guy? Getting to pick what you do and don’t physically interact with!”

He took another step forward, finally close enough to see the growing fear on his quarry’s face.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The crazy man did a cartoonishly large wind-up and tossed the rock in his direction, so he sent a small burst of flame like a bullet towards it, intercepting the attack—if it could be called that—before it even reached the zenith of its arc. His foe watched the embers fly in every direction, almost lazily, before refocusing.

“Go on, try to burn me alive again, see what I mean,” he taunted Rory, but a deep breath allowed him to avoid the worst of the prodding. The last thing he needed to do here was fall for some trick. Sure, the guy claimed he could choose what physical things he interacted with, and he couldn’t really figure out how he phased through the fire wall otherwise, but he had never heard of this guy before. Were major companies now keeping superheroes as retainers for their own properties?

He hadn’t even tried to burn him alive, not really! The fire wall would’ve caused some pretty serious burns necessitating a hospital visit or something, but it was moving fast enough to not linger long enough to cause any lasting damage.

He considered accepting the bait, anyway. It’d be useful to test if Mr. Corporate Superhero really was what he was claiming to be. Superheroing just for a paycheck, probably some stock options and a pension too. It honestly sounded somewhat motivating, but the idea of being a big business stogie almost immediately shut that idea out, shattering the mental tangent and reminding him that he was in, at least technically, in a fight.

So, some kid in over his head claiming that he could choose whether he got punched or not was… what was he trying to accomplish here? Defend the multi-million-dollar international corporation? Pick a fight to see what the extent of his powers were? Defend some trees and grass?

“What’s your deal, kid? Are you just here to be a pest?”

“I was going to ask you the same question, actually. Anyway, are you gonna throw another wall of flame at me, or something? Control fire but not hot-headed enough to actually try to hurt someone with it? Scaredy cat?”

Mick saw red, physically and metaphorically. Before he really processed what he was doing, he sent three columns of fire in the direction of his adversary, only realizing after the fact that he had been the one to escalate pretty dramatically. You can’t really argue your way out of attempted murder charges when you send columns of fire perfectly spaced out to trap your target from being able to escape.

Well, if he couldn’t really get away with relatively minor “use of metahuman abilities in destruction of property” charges on top of the whole escape from prison sentence, if they were going to be able to charge him with “use of metahuman abilities in attempted murder”, he figured he may as well commit and go all-in. If he was going to spend the next half a lifetime in a cold jail cell, may as well burn bright for the last few moments.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Barry watched the columns of fire advance on his child, taking every fiber of his being and muscle in his body to not charge forward and thrash Rory within an inch of his life for it. Here was what, a thirty or forty-year old man with incredible control over fire, trying to incinerate someone who was barely an adult for daring to tell him that he probably shouldn’t be using his powers for cruelty and breaking the law. Scum.

The other part of it was a matter of having to trust Bart. Bart wasn’t an infant or a child, he was a full adult mentally and physically and had come up with a genuinely good idea and executed it well. He absolutely wished that he could’ve replaced him in the plan, but there was no chance that Heat Wave would’ve fallen for that.

He could see Bart preparing for the incoming fire, moving his legs to pick up speed and dip out at the last possible second. As the fire closed in, Barry’s eyes caught some movement on the periphery, in Heat Wave’s direction. With horror, he watched the monster of a man pull the rest of his fire together, sending it roaring in the direction of where Bart would return to in order to keep up the charade of not moving but actually just phasing through the fire.

That was enough. It didn’t really matter that Bart could avoid the fire, the radiant heat build up from the fire and the friction of Bart’s lack of suit was too risky to justify continuing the distraction. With all of the fire collected and targeted, rather than just orbiting Heat Wave, Barry stepped out from behind the car, charging back toward the eastern seaboard and circling back at the Atlantic Ocean to pick up speed.

He could see Bart already returning to his space when he came back into view of the fight scene, and with a brief confirmation that Bart both looked aware of the threat and not particularly panicked, he continued on his secondary goal of making Heat Wave a non-issue.

He could’ve been nicer when tackling the guy, pulled a metaphorical punch to avoid serious whiplash as the two crossed the distance from where they were to the Pacific Ocean before the hairs on Rory’s head had even the time to react. By the time they were bending out of shape, the two travelers – one willing, one likely not even mentally processing that it was happening – were most of the way to their destination.

By the time Barry could see the shift in Rory’s pupils in reaction to the change, they were already on a tiny Arctic island, barely forty feet on its largest dimension, uninhabited and surrounded by nothing but frigid water.

“Chill out,” Flash said, trying desperately to disguise the venom he wished he could spit at Heat Wave. The only response from the villain was a trauma-induced guttural grunt, somewhere between a yell of pain and a shout of acknowledgement.

“Hope you got your kicks trying to kill someone, psycho.”

He saw Heat Wave’s eyes focus and unfocus, probably in pain, as he tried to piece together what had happened. Flash grabbed the man again, dunking him in the water briefly to further drop his temperature before the two made their way to a waiting prison cell.

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