ISSUE #9 (July 2018)
Written by John Cheese Featuring: Superman
Tarpit
Mister Twister
Killer Croc
Mayfly
Fatality
Neutron
Green Lantern
Wonder Woman
Batman
Onomatopoeia
Red Witch
Martian Manhunter
Hawkman
Flash
Green Arrow
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The cold always hit him first, Neutron thought, as he was plunged into the decommissioned Hub City reactor. Next was the draining sensation, one that was akin to starvation, albeit starvation over the course of twenty agonising seconds. He'd tried to fight it, the way he always had, but as the second last flicker of his nuclear energy burnt out, he knew Superman had won again.
The last flicker told him that this truly was the last time, his best chance at revenge had failed. Emerging from the reactor tank panting, Superman took a moment to catch his breath. Everything since Midway City had taxed him, from Carter's last blow to half a day spent regenerating under the glare of a yellow sun. Only his promise to Louis, to his sons kept him going. "When this is over, it's truly over. My first focus will be my family." Taking to the air, he streaked towards the ruined auxiliary Hall of Justice, his next move already calculated. Tar Pit had isolated himself, not by much but enough and with a single cooling breath, his molten form froze solid. It took less than a second for Barry to free himself, as shards of frozen tar flew everywhere. "Cla...I mean Superman, I knew Hawkman hadn't killed you!" Barry gasped. "No Flash he saved me." Superman responded as a shout came up from the other side of the canal and Mayfly streaked towards them. Calmly reaching out his hand Superman caught her by the throat stopping her movement before tossing her to the ground. "Besides Neutron and Tarpit who have we got?" Superman asked as he and Flash crossed the river and found themselves in among the enemy. "Well you just saw Mayfly," Barry stated as Killer Croc tried to grab him as he passed only to be punched by the following Man of Steel into a slab of concrete, "there's Killer Croc, Tornado Man and a guy who makes silly noises..." he added as a tornado streaked towards him only for the Flash to jump inside and start spinning, the centrifugal force causing the storm to collapse. "No problems so far." Superman stated as he stopped next to Diana and helped her up. "...we also have Fatality and..." His words were cut off by a scream, one that caused the three heroes to convulse from the sonic onslaught. "You also have me!" Prometheus stated as she delivered a throat chop to Superman's windpipe. "Hello Clark nice to see you alive." She added as something green wrapped round her and dragged her away. "Thanks Lantern." Flash gasped as he and the others got to their feet, only for the asphalt to subside as gooey black hands erupted from the road and tried to grab them. "So, Superman is alive!" Mister Twister buzzed as thunder clapped across the sky. "But even you can't stop us, our work is too important, our retribution too vast to be stopped by you." He announced just as an explosive arrow impacted with his armour, the cyclogenesis engine in his suit shutting down and sending him thudding to ground. "Rule number 18, don't grandstand until you can afford to." Green Arrow stated as Onomatopoeia appeared behind him. "SWISH!" The hitman yelled only to be answered with a thud as a mace strike on the head sent him back into unconsciousness, the shard of glass he'd been armed with shattering. "Rule one, watch your back!" Hawkman added as he swooped down and headed towards Prometheus. "Rule two, know who's really in the fight!" He yelled as he swung his mace at the woman, her lithe body ducking under the blow, but not the backward thrust of the weapons haft. The impact did more than stun her, it made her body erupt into blood. "One of the Red Witch's constructs." Hawkman announced. "Spend enough time around them and you can tell that they're fake." "Maybe!" Killer Croc roared as he sprung up and grabbed Hawkman's wing in his jaws dragging him to the ground. "But the rest of us are very real!" He added as Fatality sprung down from the second floor, narrowly missing skewering Green Arrow with her pole-axe. "Is there any warrior who can best me?!" Fatality screamed as Mayfly whooshed past her as she headed towards Superman. "I'll give you a try." Green Arrow announced as Fatality turned to face him and uttered a snort of content. "After them!" He added as he pointed to the green knuckled fist heading for Fatality's face. Catching the blow Fatality sneered as she saw John Stewart. What she hadn't caught was the hand wrenching the pole axe out the ground. "I'll kill you destroyer, you and every other ring bearer!" Fatality snapped. "She may have other ideas!” Green Lantern suggested, as they both saw Wonder Woman remove the lasso wrapped around Fatality's axe. "Return my blade now!" Fatality screeched, as Diana lunged with the pole axe, the bladed head slicing through Fatality's right arm at the shoulder. " Any warrior who can’t keep her weapon must fight to retrieve it.” Diana stated, her words mirroring her opponent's from only a few minutes earlier. Moving onto her next foe she saw John slug Mister Twister in the face, before catching the wind summoning villain and slamming him head first into the ground. Walking away she heard a click as Fatality opened fire with her blaster pistol, the Amazon princess turning and blocking the salvo of high energy bolts with her bracelet on her left arm, whilst removing her tiara with the right and flinging it at Fatality, knocking the weapon out of her hand. "Stay down!" Diana ordered as Fatality drew a knife from her belt. "You'd protect a murderer, a world killer?" Fatality growled. "You're hurt, when this is over come with me, you can repent for your crimes, be among sisters." Diana suggested as Fatality faltered a little bit before regaining her composure." "I'd rather die!" Fatality snarled as she threw her blade at Wonder Woman as a red blur came streaking in. "I got it!" Flash called as he caught the blade and flung it back as a green blur closed in "No, I got...argh!" Mayfly yelled as two things happened, a green loop of cable wrapped round her leg stalling her, and the knife plunged into her shoulder. Pulling the knife out Mayfly dropped it and ran a good fifty meters to where Green Arrow was wrestling with a vivid green viper, formally his bow, as the Red Witch just watched, amusement on her face. "You've been messing with me ever since the sewers!" Green Arrow growled through gritted teeth. "Oh, before then." The Red Witch purred as Mayfly removed a syringe, its glass glowing red slightly. "Everything that's happened has been focused on you. Your dismissal, your probation, the attacks. You could almost say that you were the Legion's inside man within the League." "NOO!" Mayfly yelled as the syringe in her hand broke, the blood from her shoulder wound seeping out at an alarming rate. "No, no, please no. Please somebody help me!" "Of course, my darling maid." The Red Witch cooed as the blood spiralled up towards the magic user into her wings. "After all I've been waiting for this my dearest haemorrhagic engine." She added as all of Mayfly's blood was drained the vessels in her eyes bursting. "I bid thee farewell Yeoman Archer." She added before collapsing into blood as she teleported away. "P...please don't let me...die." Mayfly whimpered as Green Arrow bent down raised her head. "I'm sorry, this was meant to be fun." She added as off in the battle Superman threw Killer Croc towards the canal, the Gotham gangster landing close to where Oliver was kneeling. "Is there anything I can do; do you have more medicine?" Oliver asked. "No. It's all gone." Mayfly sobbed. "Listen the person...behind...this, it was..." Before she could finish she breathed her last breath and closed her eyes. Behind him Oliver could smell Killer Croc looming over him. "Do you really want to do this?" Oliver asked Croc, the giant bending down next to him and removing Mayfly's hood, a cascade of blonde hair falling out to frame her face. "Do you?" Croc replied sadly. "I saw what happened. Turns out the Titan was right, we were better off leaving things alone to run their course. Olivia didn't deserve this, kid was barely old enough to drink." "And Canary and I deserved to drown?" Oliver asked as he looked the reptilian legionary in the eye. "No one deserved to die, but things were going too far, too quickly." Croc grunted as he picked Mayfly's body up, a salty all too real crocodile tear running down his cheek. "I know you agree, not just about Watchtower but also that your own people shouldn't turn on you." "That might be the only thing we agree on." Oliver replied morosely as he looked at the burning building. "Take this opportunity to leave, before someone tries to stop you." "Not this time." Croc grumbled as he walked forward into the fray. "My part in this is over, it’s time to figure out where to go from here, no place better to figure that out then in a cage." A wall of fire lapped at the inside of the green sphere as Tar Pit sloshed back and forth inside the construct. Grunting with the effort of keeping the villain contained John Stewart felt the heat as his will power began to waver. Just as his strength failed a freezing breath froze the gelatinous super villain solid. "Is he going to be alright?" John asked as the Flash stopped next to him. "Should be, he's an astral form in a tar body that doesn't breathe or eat." Barry stated as Superman landed next to him. "Only looks like there’s two left, it's almost over." "Not until they are down." Superman told him as Hawkman flew over where Mister Twister and Fatality were standing back to back, his axe slicing through the right arm joint of the former. "Keep fighting, they will break!" Fatality yelled as Bromwell Stickk bailed out of his suit, his holstered PDW already drawn. "We are Legion! We will be victorious!" She screamed, oblivious to the thrown Batarang that incapacitated her last ally. "Fatality, Yrra you are alone!" John called as Fatality slashed out with her poleaxe as Hawkman swooped overhead, her thrust keeping him at bay. "Surender, I will face judgment for my crimes if you face them for yours!" Fatality narrowed her eyes and looked at Green Lantern before letting her poleaxe drop to the floor. "Very well, I will have my hour." She sighed as John summoned up a pair of green handcuffs round her hands and walked towards his enemy. "But you, you won't have yours!" Fatality hissed as she bit into John's neck, a concealed pair of cheek daggers slicing his throat open. Releasing her victim, Fatality fell to her knees and screamed in sheer pleasure, her need for vengeance sated. Her ecstasy was short lived as a green skinned fist silenced her. "John!” Barry called as Killer Croc held his hands out to be cuffed, Fatality's blood smeared on his knuckles. "Now it's over." Superman stated sadly as he and his teammates gathered round John's body, his flesh and clothing dissolving into yellow mist, the power ring slipping off his finger and dropping to the floor next to his slayer's dropped poleaxe. "For all of us!" Hall of Justice - One week after the Hub City Blitz "The League wishes to thank the government and the public for its concern for us in the aftermath of Last Wednesday's attack on Hub City." Superman announced as camera flashed, capturing the members of the Justice League standing before the burnt-out Hall of Justice. "But we would like to reiterate that we won't be taking donations, instead direct them to either the Gotham Regeneration Project or the John Stewart Foundation for Homeless Veterans. For now, future developments of the League will be put on hold, but rest assured the media and authorities will be informed when a decision has been made. After a brief round of questions, the League retired to the burnt-out husk of the conference room, the old JSA table covered in ash but still standing. "First order of business.” Batman announced as the sentinels of liberty stood in the epicentre of destruction. "J'onn is in an unchanged state, whatever Fatality and the Lasso of Truth did, it won't reverse readily, if at all. Starman and his team at Star Labs are working on it and will let us know when he recovers." "I'm shocked you care!" Oliver snorted. "I didn't see you at John's funeral, I didn't see any of you at Olivia's wake, it was just me, Dinah, Croc and her sister Mary." "If you want to say something say it." Batman stated. “Then say it.” "He doesn't have to." Black Canary announced as she walked into the room, bandages up her burnt arm. "You used us all, you perverted our will and who knows how many times. I mean how many times have we had this conversation? Tell us the truth!" "Three times including Hub City last week." Batman stated. "You all voted to postpone the Watchtower Expansion last time, I had J'onn erase the vote from your mind, he didn't agree with my logic then but in the end, he saw no other way to get Watchtower off the ground." "Was it that important to make this happen?" Barry asked. "Yes, I needed to know what Prometheus had done with the information he'd stolen." Batman answered, his voice proud and unashamed. "Even after his death I knew he remained a danger, turns out I was right, I suspect 'the Titan' behind this was following his orders." "Nothing about this is right!" Carter yelled as he smashed his fist down on the table, the impact clearing the ash off the JSA logo. "In the JSA we worked together, helped each other, cared for each other. We were a society not a league. All I have seen here is betrayal, judgment and a failing of moral standards. I consider all of you friends, but this League knows nothing of friendship." He stated as he turned towards the exit. "Consider this the first resignation of the night, I'm sure it won't be the last." "I couldn't have put it any better." Oliver stated as he and Dinah got to their feet. "If you need us, we'll be in Star City." "Anyone else want to leave?” Batman growled as the others watched their departing teammates turn their back on what they'd help create. "No, I won't let you bully me or anyone else into staying Bruce." Superman announced as he walked round to the opposite side of the table. "I promised Louis and my sons that this was over and I stand by that. My part in your fight, there part in your fight is over, don't drag them back into it, you may not like the consequences." "Wait Kal." Diana called as she walked over to him. "My mother has recalled all Amazon's back to Themiscyra until a safe future with the 'World of Man' can be renegotiated. It may be some time before I see you all again, I just wanted to say farewell." "Farewell Diana." Superman stated as Barry walked over to them and shook their hands. "Looks like it's just you and me Bruce." Barry stated as turned around to see the room empty. Smiling to himself he cracked his fingers and exploded into white energy as he teleported away. For half a minute everything was quiet and then the scarlet blur of the Flash appeared. "Sorry about being late guys but Magenta was...guess I missed it." He sighed as he sped off home for Central City. Ghost Zone Reappearing in the hall of his headquarters the figure dressed as the Flash sat down on one of the chairs in front of the large screen and smiled. He'd played the part of the Crooked Man well, he'd played the role of the Titan even better, but it was time to be who he truly was. Picking up the damaged Prometheus helmet, the man pressed it against his head. "Soon." He stated as he put the helmet down and activated a button, the entire screen pulling back to show an interdimensional window into a cave full of high tech equipment, the colourful youth inside pestering the butler who served him and the brooding young man. "For now, Bruce, it's your move." |