ISSUE #4 written by John Cheese
February 2018
February 2018
"KILLERS"
Themiscyran Consulate, New York
Lyssa loved working the desk at the Themiscyran Consulate due to the sheer number of people she met from the World of Men. Most were well-meaning tourists, simply looking for a little piece of the exotic in the city of grey monotonous towers. Lyssa liked these kinds of people, and still being young she was not fully aware of the evils of the human race, be they man or woman.
She was learning, however, a number of the visitors were women who had been beaten by their husbands or prostitutes trying to escape their pimps, hoping against hope that Themiscyra may protect them from the evils of their own world. One such woman had come in today, dressed in dark trousers and a low-cut top revealing her coffee-coloured skin, her ears hidden by a mane of tawny hair, a large metal case resting against her legs.
“I’ve told you, miss, Princess Diana does not come here often,” Lyssa explained, as she sensed the tension rising in the visitor. While she didn’t expect trouble, she knew that between the dozing peacock, beloved bird of Hera, her own skills and the garrison of warriors hidden behind a fake section of wall, that any trouble started wouldn’t last long. And while the elegant white chiffon she wore would hinder her, it didn’t hurt that she kept a loaded crossbow beneath the marble desk she stood behind.
“And I told you I want to speak to Wonder Woman!” the woman snapped as she lashed out, the blow connecting with Lyssa’s throat, blood spurting from the impact wound as the attacker revealed the concealed knife she had been holding. The formally dozing peacock let out a scream of alarm and pounced on the attacker, its call rousing the garrison, even as it pecked at the intruder’s face. As the wall slid open, powerful hands wrapped round the bird’s neck and twisted, silencing it as the warrior women formed a loose crescent behind the attacker.
“Stand down sister, such action is seen as an attack against Themiscyra!” The garrison commander, a tall women who stood head and shoulders above her sisters and the only one to wear a face mask attached to her helmet ordered. Turning the attacker took a few seconds to sum up her opponents.
Of the five women, four wore the bronze breastplate and battle pteruges of the Themiscyran Guard, crests of red plumes running along the top of their Romanesque helmets, their gauntleted hands held onto short spears. The commander was armed with a pair of scythes and wore scale mail over her body and a pair of gauntlets over her forearms.
“You are all fatalities.” The woman replied, as like lightning the two nearest Amazons darted forward. Reacting, Fatality grabbed one of the spears and pulled the first Amazon off balance before swirling round and stabbing the confiscated spear into her sister’s shoulder. Kicking the wounded Amazon away Fatality un-holstered her blaster and fired a shot behind her as her initial attacker ran at her with a sword, the plasma blast leaving a cauterised wound on her opponent’s neck. Already another Amazon was attacking, and without effort, Fatality caught the lance just behind the spear point in her elbow and fired a second shot, this one scorching her attacker’s skull causing her to drop fast.
Struggling to her feet, Lyssa had enough time to see two of her sisters simultaneously attack the invader, one sweeping low looking to trip her attacker the other going for a leaping stab. In a flash their attacker retaliated, averaging the distance between the Amazons and retaliating with one of the dropped spears, the first thrust eviscerating the leaping sister, before it was reversed, the boss of the stave forcing the sweeping attacker to the floor, the bones in her neck cracking as she hit the floor.
Grabbing the crossbow from under her desk, Lyssa aimed and held her fire as the guard captain, a veteran from many skirmishes waded into battle, her strikes blocked by Fatality and her polearm, the bronze buckling from the sheer ferocity of the blows until she collapsed. After about twenty seconds she collapsed, letting her opponent’s strike whistle past her before flicking out the spear and disarming her. Undaunted by this the guard captain went for a punch, only for her opponent to effortlessly dodge and reach out, strong hands clamped either side of the helmet the pressure building as Fatality crushed the helmet and the head inside, the bones fracturing.
Her line of sight now clear Lyssa fired, the bolt stabbing into Fatality’s shoulder. Training told her she didn’t have time to reload the bow, but panic took over, told her to get something between her and her attacker so pulling back on the stirrup she reached for a bolt. In those two seconds Fatality was standing over her before grabbing her by the hair and slamming her face into the marble desk, before dragging her over the side.
“I told you I wanted to see Wonder Woman!” Fatality hissed as she tapped her case, the box exploding open as four insectile seeker droids flew out. With a few clicks, Fatality dismissed them, with one hovering by her side while the others dispersed into the consulate building. “Now tell me, would your death effect Wonder Woman?”
“The Princess will strike you down with the fury of our people!” Lyssa snarled as she tried to wriggle free, only for Fatality to throw her into the wall.
“Then I suppose you are more use to me alive.” Fatality sighed as she grabbed Lyssa by the leg and dragged her outside, her victim’s nails breaking as she tried to resist her captor. Reaching the grounds Fatality smiled as she looked up at the flag pole before clicking at her droid, the robotic drone grabbing Lyssa by the neck and dragging her up towards the top of the pole, its victim stoic despite the grisly fate that was to befall her.
# # # # #
Star City
The sound of water sloshing was the only sound as Green Arrow and Black Canary pushed upstream along Star Cities’ main storm drain. As they headed closer towards the old town sewer access point, Oliver watched Dinah, noticed that the predatory canary he had grown accustomed to working alongside was gone, replaced by something that felt it was superior to all around her.
Oliver knew the feeling, he had felt the same thing when he had joined the League, one that had carried him all the way through to his dismissal and the execution of Prometheus. Reaching the service ladder, he steeled himself for what needed to be done, and as such selected a lethal armour piercing arrow for his quiver, ready to nock it into his bow.
“Not that one, Ollie.” Dinah ordered as she started climbing the ladder. “A combined onslaught of one of your flash arrows and my scream should overpower Croc, Batman has used his sensitive hearing against him in the past.”
“Sorry what was I thinking.” Oliver replied in an even tone, as Dinah pushed the sluice gates open and pulled herself into the sewer. “You see anything up there?”
“Only a pipe snaking towards the main flood control station.” Dinah whispered as Oliver climbed up to join her, the cramped conditions built to be just wide enough for maintenance crews to access, the large pipe snaked through the water further magnifying the claustrophobic conditions. “The station is two-tiered right? I can get the drop on him from above while you hit him in the chest.”
“Sound’s good.” Oliver whispered as they followed the pipe towards the centre of the city. As they closed on the flood control station, Dinah took her leave. Climbing a ladder up into the maintenance tunnel above him, leaving Oliver alone with his thoughts and the occasional rat desperately struggling to get up stream as quickly as possible.
Upon reaching the entrance of the control station, Oliver realised he’d got there first, and that he could strike before Dinah could get there and punish Croc for defiling his city. The villain in question was working on a massive pump whilst a pair of henchmen kept watch, the flashlights attached to their machine pistols swinging wildly as they checked the tunnel entrances. In addition to them, a red-haired woman seemed to be watching the proceedings, her blood red pant suit standing out amongst the brown and greys of the chamber.
“Goodbye, Croc.” Oliver whispered as he drew back his bow string. With a hiss something to his left came alive and tackled him into the wall, his bow clattering to the floor causing Croc and his men to shoot a glance at the tunnel mouth. Grappling with his unseen foe, Oliver realised whose hands were round his neck, whose decaying face was staring at him.
“Hello Oliver.” Prometheus hissed, his broken mask revealing an empty socket left behind from where an arrow had ended his life.
“Prometheus!” Oliver spluttered as he fought off his attacker. “You’re…”
“Yes, you killed me, and in doing so destroyed the equilibrium that existed.” Prometheus hissed as a scream sounded in the distance. “I was the one who kept the infection that you call the League from spreading, now it has become a plague that threatens the safety of the world. I know you think the same thing, feel the same way about this, and now you know that all that’s happened is your fault.”
“Maybe.” Oliver grunted as he swung as Prometheus, the blow causing his undead foe to collapse. “But I don’t have any time to believe your lies.” He added as he grabbed his bow, the flash arrow and nocked and fired his weapon in seconds, the flash of light causing those caught in its radius to recoil.
“You’re late.” Dinah stated as she swung her bo-staff in a low sweep at a goon, the blow knocking him off his feet.
“I’m sorry pretty bird.” Oliver replied as he loaded another arrow and fired it at the second thug, a net of green webbing pining him to the wall.
“So glad you could join us boy.” Croc snorted as he got to his feet and threw the lever on the pump, a gurgling sound emanating from up-stream as a torrent of dirty water spilled into the chamber from pipes laid throughout the sewer network. “Got to thank Queen Consolidated for approving those fracking plants, all that dirty water makes for the ingredients of my own west-coast bayou.” He added, as he ploughed through the water and lunged at Black Canary, his foe dodging his blow and landing a smack on the side of his head with his staff.
Rumbling in anger, Croc pushed the attack, his blows seemingly telegraphed to his lithe foe as she dodged or blocked them. As she did however her movements became more sluggish and finally with a brutal backhand followed with an elbow slam, he finally made contact with his opponent, his shear strength making up for his apparent clumsiness.
Nocking another arrow Oliver fired, aiming straight for the back of Croc’s head. With an almost supernatural show of reflexes Croc turned and opened his jaws before catching the arrow in his teeth, before crunching down on the head and shattering it.
“Back down south I used to catch bullets between my teeth, your arrows have no chance boy.” Croc stated as he spat out the shaft and removed a machete from the sheath on his leg. “Now let me show you my throwing arm.” He added, as he threw the machete like a spear, the blade whistling past Oliver’s shoulder and slashing through the straps of his quiver, arrows scattering into the water. Striding menacingly towards Oliver, Croc smiled before turning just as a fist smacked into his cheek, the Black Canary recovered for her earlier attack, although she was now beginning to struggle, the water level beginning to hamper her movement.
“Take a moment Arrow, I’m on this walking handbag.” Dinah ordered, as Oliver fished out a selection of arrows before heading for the ladder on the side of the chamber in order to get back onto solid ground. Looking down he watched as Dinah and Croc delivered blows, the former supporting a broken nose and a nasty gash across her arm for her troubles. Submerging Croc vanished under the surface, causing Dinah to look around wildly for her foe.
“Can you seem him from there?” Dinah asked.
“No the water’s too filthy.” Oliver replied as he spotted a slight ripple off to Dinah’s right. “Wait I think…” Dinah didn’t hear the rest of his warning, his words drowned out by a reptilian roar as Croc surface and dragged her under the surface. Her eyes burning and her lungs gasping, she felt the air being crushed out of her as Croc spun under water, the torque of his attack causing her to black out. From up on his shooting platform all Oliver could see was the water churned up, and then Dinah’s body floating to the surface, face down in the water.
“Dinah!” Oliver screamed as he headed for the ladder and started to climb down, only for Croc to lung from the water, grab his leg in his jaws and drag him under the water. Striking with the one arrow he had to hand, Oliver felt the pressure relax as his blood mixed with Croc’s to form a brown film on the surface of the water. Half wading, half swimming over to Dinah, he turned her over, only to see her face decayed and eyes glazed.
“You let this happen, Oliver!” Dinah hissed. “You pushed me away, you were the one who killed me, killed all of them!” She snapped as the decaying corpses of the entire League staggered towards him, heads askew, limbs missing and bleeding congealed blood.
“Dinah I’m sorry!” Oliver called as cold hands wrapped round his throat before something heavy attached around his legs. Shaking his head, Oliver realised the cold was the water level, and that he’d been pulled under slightly, and that he couldn’t move.”
“A little memento from my time in Arkham.” Croc rumbled as he surfaced with a length of chain in his hand. “You’re going to die boy, but you have company, even get to see your love-bird drown before you.” He added, as he gestured to Dinah, her head sagging as she bobbed unconscious in the water. “Ain’t nothing personal, just something necessary.” He added as he pulled himself up onto dry land and headed for the surface. As he did, Oliver caught sight of the woman in red sitting on the side of the second tier of the chamber. Smiling she blew him a kiss, before exploding into a shower of blood and white electricity.
“Don’t worry I’m still here.” A voice replied behind Oliver, as the zombie Prometheus placed a cold decaying hand on his shoulder. “I never left, I even made my mark,” He added as his voice changed to one far more worrying.
“Isn’t that right killer?” Dinah whispered.
# # # # #
Themiscyran Consulate, New York
Diana looked on at the consulate building, every window wreathed in flickering flames, the steps inside drenched with blood and lined with the severed heads of her sisters. Anger rose in her chest, anger that grew as she spotted the figure impaled on the flag pole, her head hanging to one side, eyes closed. Whoever had done this had spared no one, worse they seemed to have had fun in the grisly massacre they had undertaken.
“Nemesis, lend me your righteous fury,” Diana lamented as she saw the body on the flagpole twitch slightly. Taking to the air, Diana had enough time to react as a blaster shot lanced up towards her, the plasma energy dispersing off her bracelets as she moved her arms into a cross block.
Standing in the entrance of the consulate steps was a woman, tall and proud clad in a green jumpsuit holding a pole-axe in one hand and a handgun in the other. But it wasn’t clothes or weapons that stood out on this warrior, it was the jewellery she wore; from each of her sylvan ears hung a ring that looked suspiciously like those of the Green Lantern Corps, her fingers were bejewelled with six more rings, three per hand that formed a green knuckle duster. But the worst was round her neck, on a chain were five fingers from various species, each one wearing a ring, each one a different colour ranging from cool green and blue to fiery red and sickly yellow, as well as one that seemed to contain an obsidian black gem.
Diana realised her first guess was right, they were Green Lantern Corps rings, and that of their compatriots across the emotional spectrum.
“Who are you? Why have you brought death to this place?” Diana stated, her anger masked, at least for the moment by forced diplomacy.
“I am Fatality, and I come to sow death.” Fatality replied calmly as she holstered her pistol. “But I am no monster, you may save the girl with no interference if you choose however.” She added as she laid down her pole-axe. Not taking her eyes off of Fatality, Diana streaked up to Lyssa, the young Amazon clinging to life by the slightest of margins.
“Diana.” Lyssa murmured. “It’s inside…” Her words were cut off as a pneumatic scream sounded and insectile legs lanced out of Lyssa’s head and torso and grabbed onto Diana’s cheeks, a rotating drill emerging from Lyssa’s mouth. Shaking herself, Diana tore Lyssa’s body off the pole before reaching for her shield and slamming it into the droid concealed in the dead woman’s body, the strike destroying the robot.
“You monster!” Diana screamed, all thoughts of civility pushed aside by a blood red tide of rage. Streaking down like a thunderbolt, she saw Fatality grab her pole-axe and deflect the blow, before pulling back into a defensive stance.
“I’m not a monster, the real monsters, the real villains wear a mask and play hero with one hand, while crushing the innocent with the other.” Fatality replied as Diana drew her sword and struck with such ferocity that her opponent had to move faster than she ever had to keep up her guard. Yet keep up her guard she did, she had faced rage, fear, will and hope before, and none of them had ever breached her defences. In her mind by fighting with such passion, such ferocity her opponent was already defeated. It might take an hour, it might take a day, but Fatality knew she could last that long and still be strong enough to carry the day, her opponent not so much. While she had to read her opponent, she also had enough time to pick out trophies.
“I like your ears, they’ll look nice round my neck.” She whispered as she used the ferocity of Diana’s attack and buckled, forcing her opponent to overcommit and lose her footing, something she turned into a trip with the hook on her axe. Spinning away she watched as Diana pushed herself back onto her feet, before charging towards her opponents mocking guard only for the stave of the axe to block her strike.
It would take some time, Fatality gave this Wonder Woman five hours at her current level of ferocity before she fell to her axe.
# # # # #
Three Mile Island, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Soaring over the Three Mile Island facility, John Stewart could see nothing amiss about the abandoned nuclear plant with the naked eye. The power ring he wore on the middle finger on his right hand registered an increased amount of background radiation as he did a fly-by of the site, but any Geiger-muller tube worth its salt would have told him the same thing. What terrestrial scanners couldn’t detect was the traces of Phantom Zone energy, the very thing that had drawn him to this location in the first place.
Landing outside the TM1-2 Building, he scanned the area, his ring pin-pointing not only the abnormal energy but also a surge of radiation as part of the wall collapsed and a beam of light lanced towards him. Summoning a shield from his ring, John managed to block the energy as the haz-mat suited figure of Neutron stumbled out of the TM1-2 Building.
“Green Lantern.” Neutron stated, as radiation whirled round his fists.
“Neutron.” John replied as his ring did a quick scan of the super-villain. “So what is this an all-you-can eat buffet for you?”
“Got to give you credit, you’re smarter then Superman.” Neutron replied as he fired a pair of beams at his opponent, the blasts sending John skywards as they streaked past below him. “He would have taken ages to realise what I was up to.” He added, as John summoned a pair of green cuffs round Neutron’s hands, the attached ball of hard light forcing the villain’s hands down.
“For someone powered by radiation you didn’t gain any power.” John stated as energy around Neutron’s hands pulsed, each one causing cracks to appear in the cuffs and ball until they exploded into shards of green light and disintegrated.
“Maybe I gave you too much credit.” Neutron sighed as he released a radial pulse of energy, the blast forcing John to adjust his position giving his foe enough time to fully recover and glide backwards into the building. Falling into a stoop, John followed Neutron, a pair of green knuckle’s summoned round his fists, and slammed into the villain, knocking him into some inert machinery. Getting to his feet, his outer shell cracked open, Neutron started drawing energy from the plant into himself before cackling “I don’t like to eat alone.”
Acting quickly, John formed a bottle round Neutron, followed by towering walls of green energy to lessen what he knew was about to occur. While he didn’t see the bottle shatter, he saw the impact of the initial radial pulse that Neutron released when it hit the wall, the energy lattice of his fortifications cracking. The second pulse punched a decent sized hole in the wall, and through that gap, John watched as Neutron placed his fingers through the breach and prised it open, only to receive a hammer blow to the face, the summoned sledge knocking him back through the very real wall of the facility into a sub-level concrete bunker, complete with a pool of contaminated water.
Deconstructing the wall into a series of green missiles, John flew in after Neutron and fired his new projectiles at the villain, the impact knocking him into the pool.
“It’s over, Neutron. Your excess power is all draining away.” John called as he hovered over the pool and the breached hazmat suit floating on the surface.
Scooping down to fish it out, he saw something move in the corner of his eyes and aborted recovery as a whole salvo of energy blasts flew towards him. Landing he watched as five hazmat suits walked towards him, their tinted face plates glowing yellow from the energy of Neutron’s real form located inside.
“It will be over when you are dead!” Neutron roared as he opened fire, beams slashing through the facility as John took cover, behind a bulky fuel rod delivery system, the radiation shielding absorbing the worst of the villain’s onslaught. Returning fire with a sword summoned from sheer will power, John flung the blade at his foe, with at least two of the suits collapsing from his attack, the disembodied energy of Neutron leaking out and slithering away from the chamber. Pressing his advantage, John took to the air, at least two of the suits taking the bait and following him, only to be put down over the pool by spears of green energy.
“Come out and face me, Neutron!” John called as he landed and slashed open the last suit. As if answering, the pipes burst open and an onslaught of searing steam filled the room, forcing the Green Lantern back on the defence. Despite the apparent smokescreen, he could see the glimmer of Neutron’s energy form and emitted a beam of green energy, one that met an intersecting blast of radiation, the sheer focus required keeping both combatants locked in place.
<SLASH>
The sound was accompanied by pain through John’s beam lost intensity and faded. His deforming Green Lantern uniform took the brunt of the energy blast Neutron had fired, but still he was propelled a good fifteen feet backwards into one of the concrete walls.
“As I said I don’t like to eat alone.” Neutron announced as he emerged from the steam, his energy form once again encased in a protective shell. Beside him stood a man in a trench-coat and bodysuit, a white circle covering the mask he wore, hands clutched round a K-Bar knife and three amputated fingers, one of them encircled by a green power ring.
<FLUMP>
The man with the circle mask stated as he placed the fingers in Neutron’s hands.
“I know a lady who’d love to add these to her collection.” Neutron stated as John got to his feet, the stumps of his three missing fingers still bleeding. “I’ll leave your recovery to Onomatopoeia here. I suspect he’ll take care of you.” He added as his body sparked with white energy before disappearing. Looking around John noticed that the second assailant was also missing, staggering towards the exit of the building he suddenly realised that the building wasn’t quite but full of little sounds, each one having the potential to herald an attack.
As he left Onomatopoeia sheathed his blade with a <SKRT> and removed his pistol before turning a safety off with a <CLICK>. The hunt was on, while the Lantern had no mask to add to his collection, he wouldn’t need it, the infamy of his actions today would speak for themselves.
# # # # #
Midway City, California
Hawkman flew over the spot that the Hall of Justice’s satellite had pinpointed the release of Phantom Zone energy, but after a scan of the city and an hour watching nothing seemed to have come forth. He speculated that it might be a natural release, if such a thing was possible, or potentially a point where someone had emerged from the Phantom Zone briefly before retreating back to that other dimension.
“J’onn I’m getting no further response from the energy released from the initial readings, if you can send a zeta beam to my location I can assist the others with their search if still in progress.” Hawkman announced, only to get nothing but static as a response. “J’onn are you there?” He asked as a shadow passed over him before something slammed into him at high speed, the blow sending him skidding along the plaza, tiles and bricks flying up from his transit to create a cloud of thick dust.
“Everyone get out of here!!” Hawkman yelled as the civilians fled from what was to be the latest spot where superhero clashed with supervillain. Getting to his feet Carter unhooked the nth metal axe and mace he wore clipped to his belt, his wings flaring ready to take to the air. Through the dust he saw the silhouette of his attacker; a bulky man beyond the bulk any human could gain naturally, suggesting he was dealing with a meta human. On top of that, the figures eyes were glowing red, with energy streaking out from the corners. Slashing in with speed, Hawkman landed a blow with his weapons on the figure knocking him to the floor. Looking down he saw the worst thing possible, the figure wasn’t an enemy but a friend.
“Kal?” Hawkman gasped as he looked down at Superman, rage and desperation oozing from his eyes. “Kal why are you here, why did you attack me?”
“Carter.” Superman wheezed. “Carter will you do something for me?” He coughed as he threw Carter off him, his teammate flaring his wings to prevent himself moving too far. “Will you kill me?” He asked as a feminine hand caressed him on the cheek.
“Yes my darling Ser.” The voice whispered in his ear. “I believe he will.”
Lyssa loved working the desk at the Themiscyran Consulate due to the sheer number of people she met from the World of Men. Most were well-meaning tourists, simply looking for a little piece of the exotic in the city of grey monotonous towers. Lyssa liked these kinds of people, and still being young she was not fully aware of the evils of the human race, be they man or woman.
She was learning, however, a number of the visitors were women who had been beaten by their husbands or prostitutes trying to escape their pimps, hoping against hope that Themiscyra may protect them from the evils of their own world. One such woman had come in today, dressed in dark trousers and a low-cut top revealing her coffee-coloured skin, her ears hidden by a mane of tawny hair, a large metal case resting against her legs.
“I’ve told you, miss, Princess Diana does not come here often,” Lyssa explained, as she sensed the tension rising in the visitor. While she didn’t expect trouble, she knew that between the dozing peacock, beloved bird of Hera, her own skills and the garrison of warriors hidden behind a fake section of wall, that any trouble started wouldn’t last long. And while the elegant white chiffon she wore would hinder her, it didn’t hurt that she kept a loaded crossbow beneath the marble desk she stood behind.
“And I told you I want to speak to Wonder Woman!” the woman snapped as she lashed out, the blow connecting with Lyssa’s throat, blood spurting from the impact wound as the attacker revealed the concealed knife she had been holding. The formally dozing peacock let out a scream of alarm and pounced on the attacker, its call rousing the garrison, even as it pecked at the intruder’s face. As the wall slid open, powerful hands wrapped round the bird’s neck and twisted, silencing it as the warrior women formed a loose crescent behind the attacker.
“Stand down sister, such action is seen as an attack against Themiscyra!” The garrison commander, a tall women who stood head and shoulders above her sisters and the only one to wear a face mask attached to her helmet ordered. Turning the attacker took a few seconds to sum up her opponents.
Of the five women, four wore the bronze breastplate and battle pteruges of the Themiscyran Guard, crests of red plumes running along the top of their Romanesque helmets, their gauntleted hands held onto short spears. The commander was armed with a pair of scythes and wore scale mail over her body and a pair of gauntlets over her forearms.
“You are all fatalities.” The woman replied, as like lightning the two nearest Amazons darted forward. Reacting, Fatality grabbed one of the spears and pulled the first Amazon off balance before swirling round and stabbing the confiscated spear into her sister’s shoulder. Kicking the wounded Amazon away Fatality un-holstered her blaster and fired a shot behind her as her initial attacker ran at her with a sword, the plasma blast leaving a cauterised wound on her opponent’s neck. Already another Amazon was attacking, and without effort, Fatality caught the lance just behind the spear point in her elbow and fired a second shot, this one scorching her attacker’s skull causing her to drop fast.
Struggling to her feet, Lyssa had enough time to see two of her sisters simultaneously attack the invader, one sweeping low looking to trip her attacker the other going for a leaping stab. In a flash their attacker retaliated, averaging the distance between the Amazons and retaliating with one of the dropped spears, the first thrust eviscerating the leaping sister, before it was reversed, the boss of the stave forcing the sweeping attacker to the floor, the bones in her neck cracking as she hit the floor.
Grabbing the crossbow from under her desk, Lyssa aimed and held her fire as the guard captain, a veteran from many skirmishes waded into battle, her strikes blocked by Fatality and her polearm, the bronze buckling from the sheer ferocity of the blows until she collapsed. After about twenty seconds she collapsed, letting her opponent’s strike whistle past her before flicking out the spear and disarming her. Undaunted by this the guard captain went for a punch, only for her opponent to effortlessly dodge and reach out, strong hands clamped either side of the helmet the pressure building as Fatality crushed the helmet and the head inside, the bones fracturing.
Her line of sight now clear Lyssa fired, the bolt stabbing into Fatality’s shoulder. Training told her she didn’t have time to reload the bow, but panic took over, told her to get something between her and her attacker so pulling back on the stirrup she reached for a bolt. In those two seconds Fatality was standing over her before grabbing her by the hair and slamming her face into the marble desk, before dragging her over the side.
“I told you I wanted to see Wonder Woman!” Fatality hissed as she tapped her case, the box exploding open as four insectile seeker droids flew out. With a few clicks, Fatality dismissed them, with one hovering by her side while the others dispersed into the consulate building. “Now tell me, would your death effect Wonder Woman?”
“The Princess will strike you down with the fury of our people!” Lyssa snarled as she tried to wriggle free, only for Fatality to throw her into the wall.
“Then I suppose you are more use to me alive.” Fatality sighed as she grabbed Lyssa by the leg and dragged her outside, her victim’s nails breaking as she tried to resist her captor. Reaching the grounds Fatality smiled as she looked up at the flag pole before clicking at her droid, the robotic drone grabbing Lyssa by the neck and dragging her up towards the top of the pole, its victim stoic despite the grisly fate that was to befall her.
# # # # #
Star City
The sound of water sloshing was the only sound as Green Arrow and Black Canary pushed upstream along Star Cities’ main storm drain. As they headed closer towards the old town sewer access point, Oliver watched Dinah, noticed that the predatory canary he had grown accustomed to working alongside was gone, replaced by something that felt it was superior to all around her.
Oliver knew the feeling, he had felt the same thing when he had joined the League, one that had carried him all the way through to his dismissal and the execution of Prometheus. Reaching the service ladder, he steeled himself for what needed to be done, and as such selected a lethal armour piercing arrow for his quiver, ready to nock it into his bow.
“Not that one, Ollie.” Dinah ordered as she started climbing the ladder. “A combined onslaught of one of your flash arrows and my scream should overpower Croc, Batman has used his sensitive hearing against him in the past.”
“Sorry what was I thinking.” Oliver replied in an even tone, as Dinah pushed the sluice gates open and pulled herself into the sewer. “You see anything up there?”
“Only a pipe snaking towards the main flood control station.” Dinah whispered as Oliver climbed up to join her, the cramped conditions built to be just wide enough for maintenance crews to access, the large pipe snaked through the water further magnifying the claustrophobic conditions. “The station is two-tiered right? I can get the drop on him from above while you hit him in the chest.”
“Sound’s good.” Oliver whispered as they followed the pipe towards the centre of the city. As they closed on the flood control station, Dinah took her leave. Climbing a ladder up into the maintenance tunnel above him, leaving Oliver alone with his thoughts and the occasional rat desperately struggling to get up stream as quickly as possible.
Upon reaching the entrance of the control station, Oliver realised he’d got there first, and that he could strike before Dinah could get there and punish Croc for defiling his city. The villain in question was working on a massive pump whilst a pair of henchmen kept watch, the flashlights attached to their machine pistols swinging wildly as they checked the tunnel entrances. In addition to them, a red-haired woman seemed to be watching the proceedings, her blood red pant suit standing out amongst the brown and greys of the chamber.
“Goodbye, Croc.” Oliver whispered as he drew back his bow string. With a hiss something to his left came alive and tackled him into the wall, his bow clattering to the floor causing Croc and his men to shoot a glance at the tunnel mouth. Grappling with his unseen foe, Oliver realised whose hands were round his neck, whose decaying face was staring at him.
“Hello Oliver.” Prometheus hissed, his broken mask revealing an empty socket left behind from where an arrow had ended his life.
“Prometheus!” Oliver spluttered as he fought off his attacker. “You’re…”
“Yes, you killed me, and in doing so destroyed the equilibrium that existed.” Prometheus hissed as a scream sounded in the distance. “I was the one who kept the infection that you call the League from spreading, now it has become a plague that threatens the safety of the world. I know you think the same thing, feel the same way about this, and now you know that all that’s happened is your fault.”
“Maybe.” Oliver grunted as he swung as Prometheus, the blow causing his undead foe to collapse. “But I don’t have any time to believe your lies.” He added as he grabbed his bow, the flash arrow and nocked and fired his weapon in seconds, the flash of light causing those caught in its radius to recoil.
“You’re late.” Dinah stated as she swung her bo-staff in a low sweep at a goon, the blow knocking him off his feet.
“I’m sorry pretty bird.” Oliver replied as he loaded another arrow and fired it at the second thug, a net of green webbing pining him to the wall.
“So glad you could join us boy.” Croc snorted as he got to his feet and threw the lever on the pump, a gurgling sound emanating from up-stream as a torrent of dirty water spilled into the chamber from pipes laid throughout the sewer network. “Got to thank Queen Consolidated for approving those fracking plants, all that dirty water makes for the ingredients of my own west-coast bayou.” He added, as he ploughed through the water and lunged at Black Canary, his foe dodging his blow and landing a smack on the side of his head with his staff.
Rumbling in anger, Croc pushed the attack, his blows seemingly telegraphed to his lithe foe as she dodged or blocked them. As she did however her movements became more sluggish and finally with a brutal backhand followed with an elbow slam, he finally made contact with his opponent, his shear strength making up for his apparent clumsiness.
Nocking another arrow Oliver fired, aiming straight for the back of Croc’s head. With an almost supernatural show of reflexes Croc turned and opened his jaws before catching the arrow in his teeth, before crunching down on the head and shattering it.
“Back down south I used to catch bullets between my teeth, your arrows have no chance boy.” Croc stated as he spat out the shaft and removed a machete from the sheath on his leg. “Now let me show you my throwing arm.” He added, as he threw the machete like a spear, the blade whistling past Oliver’s shoulder and slashing through the straps of his quiver, arrows scattering into the water. Striding menacingly towards Oliver, Croc smiled before turning just as a fist smacked into his cheek, the Black Canary recovered for her earlier attack, although she was now beginning to struggle, the water level beginning to hamper her movement.
“Take a moment Arrow, I’m on this walking handbag.” Dinah ordered, as Oliver fished out a selection of arrows before heading for the ladder on the side of the chamber in order to get back onto solid ground. Looking down he watched as Dinah and Croc delivered blows, the former supporting a broken nose and a nasty gash across her arm for her troubles. Submerging Croc vanished under the surface, causing Dinah to look around wildly for her foe.
“Can you seem him from there?” Dinah asked.
“No the water’s too filthy.” Oliver replied as he spotted a slight ripple off to Dinah’s right. “Wait I think…” Dinah didn’t hear the rest of his warning, his words drowned out by a reptilian roar as Croc surface and dragged her under the surface. Her eyes burning and her lungs gasping, she felt the air being crushed out of her as Croc spun under water, the torque of his attack causing her to black out. From up on his shooting platform all Oliver could see was the water churned up, and then Dinah’s body floating to the surface, face down in the water.
“Dinah!” Oliver screamed as he headed for the ladder and started to climb down, only for Croc to lung from the water, grab his leg in his jaws and drag him under the water. Striking with the one arrow he had to hand, Oliver felt the pressure relax as his blood mixed with Croc’s to form a brown film on the surface of the water. Half wading, half swimming over to Dinah, he turned her over, only to see her face decayed and eyes glazed.
“You let this happen, Oliver!” Dinah hissed. “You pushed me away, you were the one who killed me, killed all of them!” She snapped as the decaying corpses of the entire League staggered towards him, heads askew, limbs missing and bleeding congealed blood.
“Dinah I’m sorry!” Oliver called as cold hands wrapped round his throat before something heavy attached around his legs. Shaking his head, Oliver realised the cold was the water level, and that he’d been pulled under slightly, and that he couldn’t move.”
“A little memento from my time in Arkham.” Croc rumbled as he surfaced with a length of chain in his hand. “You’re going to die boy, but you have company, even get to see your love-bird drown before you.” He added, as he gestured to Dinah, her head sagging as she bobbed unconscious in the water. “Ain’t nothing personal, just something necessary.” He added as he pulled himself up onto dry land and headed for the surface. As he did, Oliver caught sight of the woman in red sitting on the side of the second tier of the chamber. Smiling she blew him a kiss, before exploding into a shower of blood and white electricity.
“Don’t worry I’m still here.” A voice replied behind Oliver, as the zombie Prometheus placed a cold decaying hand on his shoulder. “I never left, I even made my mark,” He added as his voice changed to one far more worrying.
“Isn’t that right killer?” Dinah whispered.
# # # # #
Themiscyran Consulate, New York
Diana looked on at the consulate building, every window wreathed in flickering flames, the steps inside drenched with blood and lined with the severed heads of her sisters. Anger rose in her chest, anger that grew as she spotted the figure impaled on the flag pole, her head hanging to one side, eyes closed. Whoever had done this had spared no one, worse they seemed to have had fun in the grisly massacre they had undertaken.
“Nemesis, lend me your righteous fury,” Diana lamented as she saw the body on the flagpole twitch slightly. Taking to the air, Diana had enough time to react as a blaster shot lanced up towards her, the plasma energy dispersing off her bracelets as she moved her arms into a cross block.
Standing in the entrance of the consulate steps was a woman, tall and proud clad in a green jumpsuit holding a pole-axe in one hand and a handgun in the other. But it wasn’t clothes or weapons that stood out on this warrior, it was the jewellery she wore; from each of her sylvan ears hung a ring that looked suspiciously like those of the Green Lantern Corps, her fingers were bejewelled with six more rings, three per hand that formed a green knuckle duster. But the worst was round her neck, on a chain were five fingers from various species, each one wearing a ring, each one a different colour ranging from cool green and blue to fiery red and sickly yellow, as well as one that seemed to contain an obsidian black gem.
Diana realised her first guess was right, they were Green Lantern Corps rings, and that of their compatriots across the emotional spectrum.
“Who are you? Why have you brought death to this place?” Diana stated, her anger masked, at least for the moment by forced diplomacy.
“I am Fatality, and I come to sow death.” Fatality replied calmly as she holstered her pistol. “But I am no monster, you may save the girl with no interference if you choose however.” She added as she laid down her pole-axe. Not taking her eyes off of Fatality, Diana streaked up to Lyssa, the young Amazon clinging to life by the slightest of margins.
“Diana.” Lyssa murmured. “It’s inside…” Her words were cut off as a pneumatic scream sounded and insectile legs lanced out of Lyssa’s head and torso and grabbed onto Diana’s cheeks, a rotating drill emerging from Lyssa’s mouth. Shaking herself, Diana tore Lyssa’s body off the pole before reaching for her shield and slamming it into the droid concealed in the dead woman’s body, the strike destroying the robot.
“You monster!” Diana screamed, all thoughts of civility pushed aside by a blood red tide of rage. Streaking down like a thunderbolt, she saw Fatality grab her pole-axe and deflect the blow, before pulling back into a defensive stance.
“I’m not a monster, the real monsters, the real villains wear a mask and play hero with one hand, while crushing the innocent with the other.” Fatality replied as Diana drew her sword and struck with such ferocity that her opponent had to move faster than she ever had to keep up her guard. Yet keep up her guard she did, she had faced rage, fear, will and hope before, and none of them had ever breached her defences. In her mind by fighting with such passion, such ferocity her opponent was already defeated. It might take an hour, it might take a day, but Fatality knew she could last that long and still be strong enough to carry the day, her opponent not so much. While she had to read her opponent, she also had enough time to pick out trophies.
“I like your ears, they’ll look nice round my neck.” She whispered as she used the ferocity of Diana’s attack and buckled, forcing her opponent to overcommit and lose her footing, something she turned into a trip with the hook on her axe. Spinning away she watched as Diana pushed herself back onto her feet, before charging towards her opponents mocking guard only for the stave of the axe to block her strike.
It would take some time, Fatality gave this Wonder Woman five hours at her current level of ferocity before she fell to her axe.
# # # # #
Three Mile Island, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Soaring over the Three Mile Island facility, John Stewart could see nothing amiss about the abandoned nuclear plant with the naked eye. The power ring he wore on the middle finger on his right hand registered an increased amount of background radiation as he did a fly-by of the site, but any Geiger-muller tube worth its salt would have told him the same thing. What terrestrial scanners couldn’t detect was the traces of Phantom Zone energy, the very thing that had drawn him to this location in the first place.
Landing outside the TM1-2 Building, he scanned the area, his ring pin-pointing not only the abnormal energy but also a surge of radiation as part of the wall collapsed and a beam of light lanced towards him. Summoning a shield from his ring, John managed to block the energy as the haz-mat suited figure of Neutron stumbled out of the TM1-2 Building.
“Green Lantern.” Neutron stated, as radiation whirled round his fists.
“Neutron.” John replied as his ring did a quick scan of the super-villain. “So what is this an all-you-can eat buffet for you?”
“Got to give you credit, you’re smarter then Superman.” Neutron replied as he fired a pair of beams at his opponent, the blasts sending John skywards as they streaked past below him. “He would have taken ages to realise what I was up to.” He added, as John summoned a pair of green cuffs round Neutron’s hands, the attached ball of hard light forcing the villain’s hands down.
“For someone powered by radiation you didn’t gain any power.” John stated as energy around Neutron’s hands pulsed, each one causing cracks to appear in the cuffs and ball until they exploded into shards of green light and disintegrated.
“Maybe I gave you too much credit.” Neutron sighed as he released a radial pulse of energy, the blast forcing John to adjust his position giving his foe enough time to fully recover and glide backwards into the building. Falling into a stoop, John followed Neutron, a pair of green knuckle’s summoned round his fists, and slammed into the villain, knocking him into some inert machinery. Getting to his feet, his outer shell cracked open, Neutron started drawing energy from the plant into himself before cackling “I don’t like to eat alone.”
Acting quickly, John formed a bottle round Neutron, followed by towering walls of green energy to lessen what he knew was about to occur. While he didn’t see the bottle shatter, he saw the impact of the initial radial pulse that Neutron released when it hit the wall, the energy lattice of his fortifications cracking. The second pulse punched a decent sized hole in the wall, and through that gap, John watched as Neutron placed his fingers through the breach and prised it open, only to receive a hammer blow to the face, the summoned sledge knocking him back through the very real wall of the facility into a sub-level concrete bunker, complete with a pool of contaminated water.
Deconstructing the wall into a series of green missiles, John flew in after Neutron and fired his new projectiles at the villain, the impact knocking him into the pool.
“It’s over, Neutron. Your excess power is all draining away.” John called as he hovered over the pool and the breached hazmat suit floating on the surface.
Scooping down to fish it out, he saw something move in the corner of his eyes and aborted recovery as a whole salvo of energy blasts flew towards him. Landing he watched as five hazmat suits walked towards him, their tinted face plates glowing yellow from the energy of Neutron’s real form located inside.
“It will be over when you are dead!” Neutron roared as he opened fire, beams slashing through the facility as John took cover, behind a bulky fuel rod delivery system, the radiation shielding absorbing the worst of the villain’s onslaught. Returning fire with a sword summoned from sheer will power, John flung the blade at his foe, with at least two of the suits collapsing from his attack, the disembodied energy of Neutron leaking out and slithering away from the chamber. Pressing his advantage, John took to the air, at least two of the suits taking the bait and following him, only to be put down over the pool by spears of green energy.
“Come out and face me, Neutron!” John called as he landed and slashed open the last suit. As if answering, the pipes burst open and an onslaught of searing steam filled the room, forcing the Green Lantern back on the defence. Despite the apparent smokescreen, he could see the glimmer of Neutron’s energy form and emitted a beam of green energy, one that met an intersecting blast of radiation, the sheer focus required keeping both combatants locked in place.
<SLASH>
The sound was accompanied by pain through John’s beam lost intensity and faded. His deforming Green Lantern uniform took the brunt of the energy blast Neutron had fired, but still he was propelled a good fifteen feet backwards into one of the concrete walls.
“As I said I don’t like to eat alone.” Neutron announced as he emerged from the steam, his energy form once again encased in a protective shell. Beside him stood a man in a trench-coat and bodysuit, a white circle covering the mask he wore, hands clutched round a K-Bar knife and three amputated fingers, one of them encircled by a green power ring.
<FLUMP>
The man with the circle mask stated as he placed the fingers in Neutron’s hands.
“I know a lady who’d love to add these to her collection.” Neutron stated as John got to his feet, the stumps of his three missing fingers still bleeding. “I’ll leave your recovery to Onomatopoeia here. I suspect he’ll take care of you.” He added as his body sparked with white energy before disappearing. Looking around John noticed that the second assailant was also missing, staggering towards the exit of the building he suddenly realised that the building wasn’t quite but full of little sounds, each one having the potential to herald an attack.
As he left Onomatopoeia sheathed his blade with a <SKRT> and removed his pistol before turning a safety off with a <CLICK>. The hunt was on, while the Lantern had no mask to add to his collection, he wouldn’t need it, the infamy of his actions today would speak for themselves.
# # # # #
Midway City, California
Hawkman flew over the spot that the Hall of Justice’s satellite had pinpointed the release of Phantom Zone energy, but after a scan of the city and an hour watching nothing seemed to have come forth. He speculated that it might be a natural release, if such a thing was possible, or potentially a point where someone had emerged from the Phantom Zone briefly before retreating back to that other dimension.
“J’onn I’m getting no further response from the energy released from the initial readings, if you can send a zeta beam to my location I can assist the others with their search if still in progress.” Hawkman announced, only to get nothing but static as a response. “J’onn are you there?” He asked as a shadow passed over him before something slammed into him at high speed, the blow sending him skidding along the plaza, tiles and bricks flying up from his transit to create a cloud of thick dust.
“Everyone get out of here!!” Hawkman yelled as the civilians fled from what was to be the latest spot where superhero clashed with supervillain. Getting to his feet Carter unhooked the nth metal axe and mace he wore clipped to his belt, his wings flaring ready to take to the air. Through the dust he saw the silhouette of his attacker; a bulky man beyond the bulk any human could gain naturally, suggesting he was dealing with a meta human. On top of that, the figures eyes were glowing red, with energy streaking out from the corners. Slashing in with speed, Hawkman landed a blow with his weapons on the figure knocking him to the floor. Looking down he saw the worst thing possible, the figure wasn’t an enemy but a friend.
“Kal?” Hawkman gasped as he looked down at Superman, rage and desperation oozing from his eyes. “Kal why are you here, why did you attack me?”
“Carter.” Superman wheezed. “Carter will you do something for me?” He coughed as he threw Carter off him, his teammate flaring his wings to prevent himself moving too far. “Will you kill me?” He asked as a feminine hand caressed him on the cheek.
“Yes my darling Ser.” The voice whispered in his ear. “I believe he will.”