Chapter One: Blood
"Away from me!" Toyman screamed as he was relentlessly pursued by the man of steel. Superman flew above the criminal, burning with fury. Toyman had just murdered a four year old girl during one of his schemes. It had started out as a bank robbery, and that little girl had been in his way, so he just threw her, and she hit her head, and then she died. Now Toyman was going to pay. He sprinted through the alleyways of the condemned buildings of the slums, but Superman kept hot on his trail. The Flash sprinted onto the scene, coming in hot. Toyman saw the orange blur moving, and at the last moment tossed out a bag of marbles that exploded, catapulting Flash into a wall. Toyman then whipped out a modified paintball gun, which fired paintballs with enough force to puncture solid steel. He fired and blasted the disoriented Flash through the brick walls of the old building, and then kept moving on his rocket-propelled roller skates. Wonder Woman came around the side and swung a punch at Toyman, knocking him into a dumpster. He switched his super paintball gun to rapid fire and shot a flurry of deadly paint blasts at her, which she blocked with her bracelets.
Superman began swooping down, still burning with absolute rage over what had happened to the little girl. Toyman saw him coming and became filled with panic. He removed the entire canister from the paintball gun and flipped a switch, throwing it at Wonder Woman. It created a paint explosion that blinded her, and Toyman swerved past her, diving through the window of an old building. It had been some kind of furniture store before it closed, and Toyman crouched behind a dusty, moldy old couch, breathing heavily, his chest huffing up and down. Was he safe? Superman flew a bit higher and scanned the area with his x-ray vision, getting an exact pinpoint on Toyman's location. Superman flew downward and crashed through the roof of the building, slamming directly in front of the villain. Toyman shrieked and pulled out some sort of deadly dart gun, but Superman grasped his hand and crushed it. He used his x-ray vision just to watch the bones crumble. He shattered every single bone within Toyman's hand and wrist.
Toyman screamed in agony, and Superman punched him in the jaw, not holding anything back. All of Toyman's teeth fell to the floor in a bloody pool, along with part of his tongue. Toyman's jaw hung slacked, completely broken. Superman grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall, his eyes glowing red, ready to fire heat vision. Toyman barely managed to mouth the words, "Please… give me a chance…" This only made Superman angrier. He punched the villain the stomach, savoring the feeling of his intestines being torn apart by sheer crushing force. Blood spurted from Toyman's mouth.
"Give you a chance! A chance! What about that little girl, huh! Did you give her a chance! DID YOU!" Superman screamed into his face. Toyman was crying now, shaking in terror and pain. "You'll pay Toyman!" Superman announced. Then he raised the villain in the air, and ripped him in half. Blood splashed and rained everywhere, drenching the area, and Superman. And strangely, Superman liked it. He liked seeing the murder's blood spray, feeling him die. It felt great. Superman then threw the two halves of the dead villain down, and used his x-ray vision to completely disintegrate them, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes. Superman then spun around at super speed, whipping the blood off of him. Then he stepped outside.
The Flash and Wonder Woman had now recuperated, though Wonder Woman was still covered in paint, and they ran over to the man of steel. "What happened? Where's Toyman?" Flash asked, slightly confused. Superman just stood there with a blank stare in his eyes.
"Clark? Are you okay?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Fine." Superman said with a stone cold resolve, and then pushed past them and began walking away.
"Uh… dude, where's the Toyman?" Flash asked again. Superman looked back at him blankly.
"He got away." Said the man of steel in a grim, dark voice. Then he left the ground and soared away, headed back to JLA headquarters, leaving his two allies confused as to what had gone on. Little did they know, Superman had tasted blood. Superman had murdered.
Not long after, the three heroes arrived back at Justice League headquarters, where the rest of the team was waiting. Toyman was a small time criminal, and only Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman had been deployed to catch him. But the mission had gone down a bit differently. "So how'd it go?" Green Lantern asked, though it was quite clear that he did not really care.
"Toyman got away." Superman said in the same dark, grim voice as before.
"What!" Batman called from the other room, obvious annoyance in his voice. The dark knight stepped out of his private quarters with a disdainful look on his face. "I deployed two of the JLA's most powerful members, and Flash, and you couldn't even capture a small timer like Toyman!"
"Hey! What do you mean 'and Flash!'" The Flash objected. "Okay, so I'm not bulletproof or super strong or any of that, but I could run circles around any of you guys! I think I deserve a little more credit!" He whined, but everyone just ignored him.
"Toyman's crafty." Superman said, and then moved off to his private quarters.
"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the fortress of solitude." Flash groaned, and again, everyone ignored him. Wonder Woman looked to Batman with a concerned look in her eyes.
"Toyman killed a four year old girl during the bank robbery. It was right as we were getting there, and Superman got to her just a moment too late to catch her. She died. I think he took it pretty roughly." She explained.
"Grief is no excuse for slack. If he was so upset by it, then he should have put more effort into catching Toyman. I put a lot of work into formulating teams that work well together for specific missions, and after all that thought, the mission still doesn't get completed? It's very annoying." Batman said, and then returned to his room.
The Martian Manhunter, J'onn J'onzz, was looking off in the direction of Superman's quarters with his usual blank expression. "Something doesn't seem quite right. As soon as Superman entered the room, I sensed a strange darkness, an anger that I have never felt from him before. I didn't read his mind because he has asked me not to do that without his permission, but I think he may be hiding something." He said.
"Wouldn't be the first time." The Green Lantern, real name John Stewart, said coldly. "Remember when we fought Darkseid? Clark wouldn't tell us a damn thing about him!"
"I think you guys are blowing this out of proportion. He watched a little girl die, anyone would be shaken up." Shayera, a.k.a. Hawkgirl stated bluntly.
"I guess." Wonder Woman responded.
Superman sat in his room, holding his hands to his head, recalling the amazing event that had taken place. He had killed in vengeance, and it had felt so good. Now the Toyman would never hurt anyone again. Never again. Superman had to kill again. He had such an urge… such a desire, he didn't want to stop. Was it wrong to kill criminals? He decided the answer was no, after all, just think of all they lives that they had taken themselves. Innocent lives, more valuable lives. Superman saw nothing wrong with killing criminals. And he would do it again, and again, and again. Because he loved it.
