This is my first published fanfic. so be gentle, please. I originally wrote this with links to wav files of Apocalypse dialogue ripped from X-Men:TAS. If you would like a copy of the document with a ZIP of the wavs, send me an e-mail.
Cadmus - 2 months ago:
"Ms. Waller?", spoke the technician.
Amanda Waller looked up from the pile of files on her desk "Yes?". "The metahuman has regained conciousness, shall I remove his restraints?". "No, let's not take any chances, put a security detail outside his room and let me talk to him from the observation room.".
Amanda Waller watched the nude, grey skinned man strapped to the examination table, now oriented in an upright position toward the observation room's foot thick bulletproof glass. This man had been found at the site of a temporal disturbance similar to the one that brought the Justice Lords years ago, but when this man was found, he was nude, in a coma, and devoid of any detectable brain activity. Blood tests showed he was not only a metahuman, but an ancient metahuman, thousands of years old, and to all outward appearances, in perfect health and in his prime. Such abilities would have many applications should their secrets be unlocked.
And now that he was awake, he could tell them so much of ancient cultures, first hand, provided they could understand each other. She flipped the microphone in the room to the 'on' position. "Hello, my name is Amanda Waller, do you understand?". The man said nothing, his eyes still closed, not moving at all. Waller decided to try again, " You must have some interesting stories, being as old as you are, your blood says you are a metahuman, a mutant, do you have any other abilities besides your longevity?"
At first, the man made no motion as before, but a smile came about his lips, those strange blue lines that stretched from ear to ear along his jaw line and joined his lips at the corners of his mouth as one solid piece of flesh. Then his eyes opened, glowing, smoldering eyes, and Waller knew that she was looking into the face of evil...
"I am as far beyond mutants as they are beyond you...I am...ETERNAL!", as he spoke, he tore through his restraints as if they were tinfoil, the same restraints that were designed to hold Doomsday. Waller was quick to recover from her initial shock "Bring me all reserve containment teams to the examination room, NOW!" She looked back into the room as the man tore the operation table off the floor, despite being bolted down and through it at her. Waller ducked in time as the heavy metal table crashed through the glass to impale the wall behind her and remain suspended, a testament to his strength. Waller started to rise from the floor as a piece of concrete rolled off the top of the table and struck her in the head, knocking her back to the floor and the darkness that waited.
The captain of the containment team thought he had prepared for anything a superbeing could throw at him. He instructed his men to equip sonics and taser rounds to disable the creature, with heavy laser and missiles as a last resort in the rear. He patted the heavy rocket launcher strapped to his back for comfort.
As the captain and his team approached the long hallway to the examination room, the reinforced doors bent outwards toward them, revealing a naked grey man. "Solomon Grundy?" was his first thought, but remembered he was reported destroyed by Hawkgirl over 2 years ago. He shook the thought and started containment procedures. "Sonics go! Tasers follow and go for the legs and arms, Heavies, hold back for my signal!"
The Sonics squad fired their weapons at the man, who reeled and held his hands to his head, but soon drew himself up, and the captain soon realized, actually increased his size by several feet! The captain also observed that the thing's ears were now covered by some blue material, like headphones, and a blue skullcap now covered his previously bald head, with a part down the center. The Taser squad fired, but before the shock rounds could impact, thick blue armor spread over the man's body, ending in an "A" at his belt buckle. A truly barbaric sight.
The captain wasn't going to wait to see what happened next. "Heavy weapons, open fire!". The men fired lasers and rockets down the hall, impacting the man in the chest, and filling the hall with smoke. "Hold fire!" the captain said as he tried to peer through the smoke. Suddenly, the smoke was parted with a blue wall that pushed him and his entire team down the hall. He tried to push against the moving blue wall as he accelerated toward the opposite wall, and then, felt nothing at all...
Almost an hour later, a lone, armored figure left a burning hole in the ground that was a Cadmus facility, most of the personnel dead, injured or fleeing.
" And now, it begins..."
The Legion of Doom Headquarters – 2 weeks ago:
news anchor "Months after Kaznian dictator Vandal Savage was arrested for holding the world hostage with his orbital rail gun, Queen Audrey has succeeded in finalizing peace agreements with neighboring countries despite heavy resistance from the guerrilla tactics of Kaznia's now disbanded military. A formal treaty signing is scheduled for next month. In other news…"
Copperhead lifted his feet off the desk where the bank of security monitors showed the exterior camera feeds as well as the newsfeed he was absently running in the background. He looked up from the magazine foldout he was analyzing to note a hulking figure in the shadows of the main entrance to the complex. "Grundy?" he thought as he quickly opened the entrance for the fellow villain. It wasn't until after he realized that Grundy had been dead that he quickly closed the entrance. "Must've been shadows playin' tricks on me," after a cursory glance of the motion detectors and interior feeds, he appeared to relax, aware of the gauntleted hand reaching for his neck. He suddenly turned and bit deep in the hand, only to have his envenomed fangs break on the armor. His feet left the ground as he stared into the burning eyes of something he wished he hadn't made angry. "Your powers are useless against me!" The creature spoke before thrusting him through the steel plate wall and leaving him there to fall into the inky blackness that awaited him.
Gorilla Grodd, Luthor, and over a dozen other villains and villainesses were working or conversing in the war room when the double sliding doors were forced open and a gray-skinned man strode through, headed for Grodd's command chair. After the initial bafflement, Luthor was the first to speak, weapon drawn. "Who the devil are you?" he spat, and the creature stopped, looked him in the eyes with a burning stare that made even him flinch, and spoke "I am the rocks of the eternal shore, crash against me and be broken!". Grodd apparently took this as a challenge to his leadership and leapt upon the man, beating at him with his immense animal strength, but the man did not budge, he mere pulled his arm back , and the Legion members in attendance watched as the arm morphed into a robotic pincer claw, and grabbed Grodd around his middle and threw him across the room into the opposite wall, where he slid down, unconscious.
Immediately, all the villains used their various abilities to attempt to pummel the stranger into submission, but he merely stood and said "Fools! You are slow to learn…". Luthor decided to stop this futile fighting by shooting at his comrades to get them to stop. Everything ground to halt as Luthor asked "What is it you want?". "I seek your abilities to prepare for my coming to this world, but before you continue your pointless assault…" He increased his size two fold and turned his arms into giant hammers and proceeded to knock down all the villains in attendance, all the while saying "I cannot be harmed! Watch me, and tremble, for I bring the purity of oblivion to your world…" His point being made, the man went to a console where his fingers inserted into data ports, and 4 people, one of them being a founding member of the Justice League, appeared on the screen. Luthor incredulously looked at the list, and said, "What do you want them for?" The gray-skinned man sat in Grodd's command chair, an amused look on his face, "All in due time…" the stranger then made a laugh that chilled Luthor to his very bones.
Daily Planet, Metropolis – 3 days ago
"Has anyone seen Lois, she hasn't been in work for almost three days now. Kent, she call you to say she was sick or something? We need a reporter to cover the Kaznian treaty signing." barked Perry White, editor for the Planet. Clark shrugged his shoulders and said nothing, "She hasn't said anything to me, Perry. Maybe I'll go over to her apartment later and check in on her." Lois had been missing for awhile; she even missed their date with him as Superman. She wasn't the type to not call when she was sick. Perhaps he'd have one of the psychics at JLU headquarters try to run a search, since Jonn was out on sabbatical to understand humanity and was unavailable. It'd have to wait until he went on patrol…
Meanwhile, at Legion Headquarters…
"Increase the power, I want to hear the cries of a future, being born!" Luthor did as he was bid and turned the dial, trying to ignore the anguished screams of the four poor souls this madman had chosen for whatever he had planned. He looked over at the massive frame of the gray man as he impassively watched multiple newsfeeds, arms folded over his armored chest. Luthor didn't know what this maniac had planned, but judging by the newsfeeds, it had something to do with the Kaznian Treaty signing in a few days. Whatever he plans to do, he is either a certified genius or an authentic wacko for choosing these four people for his scheme. The founders of the League won't stand a chance against them once they were done with their "upgrade", though he didn't envy the four souls he was altering in the slightest.
Hours Later…
Sitting in the command chair in a thinker's pose, the Gray Man (he never properly introduced himself), only uttered "All shall soon be in place," Turning to impale Luthor with those ember-like eyes "Are they ready?". Wincing under the burning gaze, Luthor nodded. "Then I have no further need for your services," Luthor watched in horror as the Gray Man transformed his arm into a cannon and aimed it at him. Luthor triggered the palm device and immediately a shield filled the war room, trapping the Gray Man in an ever shrinking sphere. The Gray Man glared at Luthor. With a smug smile on his face, Luthor explained "Did you really think I would stand by and let someone else conquer my world? I don't know where you came from, but I'm happy to take your work and use it for my purposes…" He stopped as alarms went off through out the complex. "How can you be putting that much strain on that shield, all the primary generators are putting their power into that shield!" Luthor fled down the hall, The Gray Man shouting"You dare to claim dominion, over me!"
With that, the Gray Man broke through the shield, causing a muffled explosion as the primary generators, deeper inside the base, exploded from the overload. Luthor went to the console in Grodd's office and released the other Legion members from the prison area, opening the emergency exits there. "At least they can't say I abandoned them," he muttered as he entered Grodd's personal escape craft and disappeared into the night…
Standing amid the wreckage of what was the Legion of Doom's War Room, the Gray Man stood beholding four ominous figures before him. He threw out an outstretched hand and proclaimed "Submit! Come, cleave unto me, and know the joy of eternal darkness…" All four being kneeled before their master, who in ominous tone "Yes, the endgame has begun... "
Present – outside Kaznia capital building
"Here we are outside the Kaznia parliament building to witness the historic treaty siging, marking the end to decades of war between Kaznia and her surrounding neighbors. Queen Audrey will be making a speech prior to formally signing the treaty…"
"War was once thought of as the only means for my people to survive threats to our borders from our neighbors, when in fact these allegations became true only after Vandal Savage made his bid for world domination. It is with shame that I accept that my father was aware of this and at first did nothing to stop Savage from achieving a foothold, and was too late to do anything when Savage took power. I only hope this will be the beginning of new and lasting peace…" Queen Audrey took the ornamental pen and signed the treaty to the cheers of the citizenry and the smile of her friend Diana, who was in her Wonder Woman garb along with Superman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Hawkgirl and Batman were absent however, and the others had troubling looks on their faces, as if they had more pressing concerns on their minds. Suddenly, a voice rang out from the gargoyles on the edge of the parliament building in a booming, menacing voice…:"Fools! You bleat for the future like a herd of sheep! I'll give you the future, right now!"
Queen Audrey barely had time to dive away from the podium as the man onto the stage, splintering the wood beneath his armored boots. "Who are you, what do you want?" She cried out. The gray man looked at her with a cold stare that told her that this was not a being to be trifled with. The man towered over her as a braceleted fist landed a blow on his jaw, which caused him to turn his head, but not budge. He reacted by grabbing Diana by her throat and throwing her across the square into the opposite building, crashing through the wall, while saying "You presume to attempt to destroy me, mutant? You shall pay for your hubris, RIGHT NOW!" Superman and Green Lantern hurtled at him, but he slapped the Lantern's beam away as if it were nothing and sent him skyward with his other fist, which turned into a giant piston head as it extended toward the Emerald Defender. In the same motion, he caught Superman's fist and flung him to the ground, digging a furrow in the asphalt as he ground to a halt in front of a news crew covering the signing.
With the camera crew filming him, the Gray Man revealed himself to the world. "I am…Apocalypse! Look upon the future…and tremble!" The Kaznian Defense Force, a stripped down version of their military, brought in tanks from the streets leading into the square, their ordinance bouncing off Apocalypse's forearms, which merged together into a shield, who countered by growing to nearly double his height and smashed into the tops of the tanks with his fist, which had taken a hammerhead shape. The cameraman lost his nerve and dropped his camera to run as Apocalypse approached, who stopped to look directly into the eye of the device, saying "All who oppose me...shall…be…CRUSHED!" stomping the camera flat with his boot.
Superman shook his head, overwhelmed by Apocalypse's strength. He looked to see Diana launch herself out of the building toward Apocalypse, as well as Lantern making a similar approach. "Stop, we can't stop him one at a time, we have to do this together, where's Flash?" Suddenly, a red blur marked the entrance of the Flash "Just got the Queen and the ambassadors to safety, what's with this guy, he say he was from Apokolips?" "No, I think he said his name WAS Apocalypse, like the end of the world kind," "Regardless of who he says he is, the four of us can't take him ourselves, we need to call the rest of the League" "Already did, when I managed to regain control and head back, that guy can hit hard, and he doesn't seem to be affected by my ring's energy" "We should tell the league to go on standby until we know what we're up against, let's go!" All four members broke and attacked Apocalypse from all directions, which seemed to knock him back into the stage, destroying it.
Apocalypse picked himself up from the wreckage and turned away from the league toward the sun with arms outstretched, speaking with a tone dripping with menace, "Those who oppose me shall perish through my agents of destruction," from the direction of the sun, three flying robotic horses with three faceless masked riders flew down behind Apocalypse. "Famine, Pestilence, War!" With a hand toward the Parliament building, the four saw a winged figure's silhouette, "And my greatest creation…Death…the winged avenger," Now with his arm outstretched toward the four League members, he continued "From the ashes of this world, I will build a better one! Go forth, my Horsemen!"
The Four Horseman lunged forward toward the heroes, not a sound being made by them. Wonder Woman began to duel Famine, a skull masked woman with long white hair, pale, yellowed skin exposed under the mask. "Strange" she thought, "This Famine knows Amazonian fighting techniques," she ducked as Famines fist passed through a bush that was behind Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman was horrified to watch it collapse into a pile of dust. "Can't let her touch my skin," she thought as she blocked Famines blows with her bracelets.
Flash was tangling with War, who was firing lasers from a gatling cannon mounted on his arm as well as missiles that never seemed to deplete. As flash dodged the fire he noticed that the ground beneath his feet was crumbling, as if weakening from something. It dawned on him that the reason War wasn't running out of missiles was because he was making new missiles from the materials around him. Flash ran close and made a whirlwind around war, tearing up the already dissolving street beneath his feet. When the dust cleared, War was up to his neck in powdered concrete, immobilized. Flash went up and with his fast moving hands, removed the helmet from War's head, and was shocked at what lay underneath…
"Hey, aren't you Bruce's butler?" Looking at the circuitry laced head of Batman's faithful butler, a look of hate on his face. War, or Alfred, generated a shoulder weapon, but before he could fire it, Flash struck him, knocking him out cold. "Sorry," Flash said, turning to shout at the others. "Hey, this guy's Alfred, the butler!" Wonder Woman looked at Flash with a stunned look when she delivered a strong punch to Famine's mask, revealing the sickly, gaunt face underneath… "Mother!", she exclaimed as Famine, or Hippolyta, knocked her back with a kick, but not before Wonder Woman lassoed her mechanical horse, tearing it in two and sending them all crashing to the ground.
Superman, noticing the pattern, tackled Pestilence off her horse and pinned her against the side of the building, tearing the helmeted mask off her, and was staggering back not only by the light green skin of the woman who was Lois Lane, but by the Kryptonite radiation she was emitting. Immediately, all the Leaguers and civilians in Lois' vicinity began showing symptoms of illness.
Lantern was far enough away from Lois to not be affected, but he was preoccupied by the energized metallic feathers Death was hurling at him. His energy shields were holding, but the flying creature would give no quarter. He suddenly received a transmission on his comlink. "John, the Horsemen are our loved ones, Death is most likely Shayera!" John looked up at his foe and only could say "Shayera?" Death paused in her flight, and removed the hood from her head, revealing the long red hair beneath. "Shayera is no more, there is only Death, and I serve the will of Apocalypse!" She flexed her now metallic wings and unleashed a torrent of dagger-like feathers. Enraged, John flew at her with all his speed, ignoring the feathers that penetrated his shield and grazed his skin. He landed a full body tackle upon Shayera, tumbling to the square below, where John lifted himself off Shayera's prone form.
Suddenly feeling ill, John looked toward Superman, who was at the feet of Lois Lane, or Pestilence, who had a railing, prepared to lay the final blow to the weakened Kryptonian. John reacted quickly, enclosing Lois in a energy bubble, cutting her off from the rest of the sufferers.
Superman recovered quickly, looking wildly around with hate in his voice "Where's Apocalypse?" "Gone, he must have fled when the Horsemen were defeated" "How could he know about those close to us, and why haven't we heard of him before?" "Because he is not of this world, well, not this version…" All four heroes looked to see Amanda Waller, Lex Luthor and Batman walking toward them…
"You did this!" Superman yelled as he flew toward Luthor with a fist drawn back. "Hold back, Superman, this was not entirely his doing, Cadmus is to blame as well," "What do you mean?" "I mean that he was in Cadmus' custody when he escaped, and he got away," "That's not what I'm referring to," Batman held up his hand to halt Superman from speaking any further. "Apocalypse is a mutant from an alternate reality. Although we don't know the circumstances under which he arrived to our reality, he was incapacitated when he was found and had been until three months ago, when he regained consciousness and escaped the Cadmus facility in which he was being held. While he was there, he accessed the Cadmus files on the most powerful beings on the planet, which would be us five. "Then why didn't anyone I know go Apocalyptic?" blurted Flash "Because you were number five on the list, and he only needed FOUR Horsemen…" "Oh,"
Luthor was the next to speak "My hand in this was to have the other Legion members abduct your loved ones, but when they did that, Apocalypse locked them up in our own prison. When I tried to destroy him, he blew out THREE fusion generators when he broke through the shield trap I set up. I barely escaped alive, I let the others out before I left though, so they are probably lying low out of fear of Apocalypse,' 'I also altered your friends, though I took no pleasure in that," The five heroes started to move toward Luthor, but Batman held them back with a hand. "Luthor is not our enemy, despite what he has done, he's our best hope for finding a way to reverse the transformations," "I already know how to change them back, they are bonded with pieces of that madman, that's how they are controlled and that's what is what gives them their abilities. Your friends are under a psionic shell, get past that, and they are your friends as you know them, they could even be aware of what they are doing, but unable to do anything about it, for all I know," Amanda Waller spoke next, "The point is, is that Apocalypse is a grave threat to all people, be them human, superhuman, alien, hero or villain. We need to work together if we want to stop the end of the world and the beginning of an Age of Apocalypse. Luthor can contact most of the Legion, though whether they cooperate is highly unlikely, I hope you'll do the same. We're all in this together, and only if we work together can we put a stop to this madness," Superman walked over to stand in front of Luthor, and thrust out his hand so fast, everyone thought it was a punch, but the palm was open. Luthor took it and shook it. Superman then looked at Waller "So what's the plan?"
Justice League Headquarters – 2 days later
A beautiful woman in a blue dress entered JLU Headquarters, which immediately caught the eye of the Flash, who zipped up close to her. "Hi, can I help you?" The woman smiled and asked "I'm with Channel 6 News, tell me, Flash, how many of the League members are active on the premises since the attack on Kaznia by Apocalypse?" "Well, I'd say almost all of us are here, save for those out on patrol to handle problems from all the chaos," "What about all these villains I see walking around? Shouldn't they be helping Apocalypse or be being captured?" "I personally don't trust these guys, but these are the ones who were willing to call a truce until we take care of Blue Lips, so we gotta work together until then," The reporter frowned at the nickname "And what is your opinion of Apocalypse?" "Are you kidding? He's the most evil being I've ever met, worse than Darkseid, Doomsday, and Brainiac put together. Why I'd…"
(voice deepening) "Spare me your petty judgements! They spring from a brain too meager to comprehend my reality! Now taste the power, of Apocalypse!" Spat the woman, hitting Flash with a punch that sent him flying across the lobby, causing all activity in the hall to stop dead in its tracks. All eyes were on the woman, whose form changed as she spoke "Evil? I am not malevolent, I simply am! Which soon will be more than I can say for you!" Apocalypse had shown himself in the last place anyone thought, right in the largest concentration of superbeings on Earth, and he wasn't even flinching. Immediately all super beings in his vicinity pounced, but he merely swept them aside as he walked deeper into the complex, speaking as he went. "There exists no freedom from me, there is only freedom through me!" As nearly a hundred assorted Leaguers and Legionnaires assaulted him, he merely increased his height and cast them aside saying "Annoying insects! Nothing can stop the Apocalypse!"
Just as he was about to stomp on the prone form of the Supergirl, a voice rang out "Don't you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk!" followed by a laser blast, radiation beams, a fist that dissolved part of his shoulder, and a flurry of arrows. Shrinking to normal size, he turned as his shoulder healed instantly, showing four figures alongside Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Lex Luthor…his Four Horsemen. "Traitors! You dare to attack your master…?" before he could say more, another volley came from the Four. "Very well, I take your powers as I gave them." Apocalypse reached out his hand and the Four convulsed in agony as seams appeared at the top of their heads, snapping the metal circlets around their heads as their skin and armor peeled like a banana, to dissolve into vapor when it hit the floor, then vanish. Only Hawkgirl's wings remained unchanged. Apocalypse then swung his other hand forward to smash them with a rapidly growing fist, but Hawkgirl shielded the others with a shield of metal wing. Hippolyta did what she could to brace the wings with her Amazonian strength. "GO!" She yelled to the now normal Lois Lane and Alfred, and they scrambled away just in time as the fist threw the two back, only to be caught by the Lantern's ring and Wonder Woman's arms.
"Now the gloves are off, Apocalypse…" growled Hawkgirl, as she flexed her metal wings, bristling with deadly potential. Apocalypse was unfazed "You had your chance to be the first of my creatures, the first to serve my will…" He then increased his size again "Resist, and you shall be obliterated!" "You first…" said Batman, who pushed a switch on his gauntlet, and Apocalypse was trapped in column of energy. Apocalypse simply laughed "You are no closer then the Babylonians with their swords and firesticks!" He expanded his size and the whole room began to shudder. "He's overloading the circuits, everyone move!" The left the room just as the emitters projecting the field exploded, filling the room with burning debris, debris that Apocalypse emerged from. "You really believed I was not invincible?" "I have let you live to witness the obliteration of all you hold dear, knowing you can do nothing to save it…"
"I don't think so, we just needed your body's unique dimensional frequency so we could send you back where you came from!" said Luthor, who pulled a lever, and a modified Boomtube appeared in the room, pulling the debris and slowly dragging Apocalypse into the vortex. "Noooooooooooooo!" The Boomtube closed, and he was gone.
"We really worked well together, Luthor, think we can keep it up?" said Superman, holding a furtive hand out to Luthor. Luthor looked at it venomously "Not a chance, Apocalypse is gone, and everything is back to normal, and I intend to see to it that everything goes back to the way it was, EVERYTHING," He then turned and walked away. Flash looked at Superman "Shouldn't we stop him?" Superman looked after Luthor "No, let him go, he and the other Legionnaires have earned a day off at least. Let's just flush out the remaining Legionnaires out of the base and let them know they have a day's head start to go underground." He looked over at Hawkgirl's now inorganic, metallic wings. "We have our own to worry about today."
THE END