Issue 3:
Delirium Trigger
"I like him. He's got something different than a lot of other characters. You know he's not going to punch Batman or kill his family. He'll rob a hat store or dress Babs up for an innocent tea party. There's something childish about him and maybe even pitiful."
"Jervis Tetch is a thinly veiled pedophile with a weak back story and kitschy M.O. Grant had it right there."
"I know about your Invisibles obsession. It's still not as good as Sandman."
"Gaimen notwithstanding, it doesn't have Poor Mad Tom O'Bedlam. We're not going to have this argument again. What's the story with this clown so far?"
"Ok so before Countdown to Final Crisis 6: The Crisiest Crisis, Suicide Squad was out hunting villains as they are wont to do. Among others they snagged Jervis and sent him in a boom tube to an outer space prison."
"Boom tube? Like those things at the bank drive-up?"
"Sure. Then Crisis' Crisis happened and took everything back to the singularity. I think Batman died, but then he came back. Something about Darkseid, something I'm forgetting. Anyway Jervis was dropped back in Gotham retconned like nothing ever happened."
"Are you just making this up?"
"No! This all happened until it didn't happen when those universes were destroyed."
"I'm lost again."
"Alright look. Here's where we are now. Jervis is back in Gotham only something with the retconn didn't stick so he's hallucinating that he's still in space trying to win freedom from the space prison."
"What's really going on?"
"In reality Scarecrow broke him out of Arkham and is attempting to cure him of his delusions. Crane has a small 'practice' set up under the radar and created special accommodations for his buddy."
"How's he trying to get out of space prison?"
"The prison is actually run by a group of aliens called the Observers who send him on missions. If he succeeds they'll let him go."
"What's the deal with these Observers?"
"They kind of just hang out and deconstruct everything. They discuss which character can run the fastest or how big Catwoman's breasts should be, that sort of thing. Lots of complaining too."
"Man you'd think in such an incredible world they'd want to get involved and do something on their own. I know I would…find a ring or hunt some demons."
"It's all about perspective. They're not as self-aware as you and me, buddy. Can we just read now?"
Textual transfer initiated- 100% complete
Amidst a clanging of chimes and hoots from the nearby console Jervis awoke on the floor of the space station Sublime IX. The android bounty had set off a sequence of bombs that sheared the station in multiple places around its ring. As the station shuddered around him Jervis pulled himself up to the nearest panel of flashing lights. He was a short, ugly man dressed in a skintight black spacesuit. The helmet gave him a bulbous appearance on top but regulated oxygen flow and pressure. His hands and feet were clad in thick plated gloves and boots also black.
Built by an alien transportation company many cycles ago the space station was long since abandoned by travelers and maintenance people who moved to other more scenic lines of commerce. Dilapidated and dirty the station comprised of a perfect circle of various sized bays, docking ports, and connecting hallways. In the middle a sheer metal sphere served as a reactor and power source. It surrounded the circular chain of housing with an invisible, magnetic field and artificial gravity while simultaneously guiding the structure on a perfect orbit around the planet. Somewhere farther out in space Jervis's own ship, Tag, tracked the station on its lazy arc. The warship was a gift from the Observers as a sign of good faith in his work release program from the space prison. Although never directly involved in the management the Observers were the true wardens of the correctional facility. Jervis recognized they reserved complete trust by the installation of the artificial intelligence monitor called Alice. Alice was a total bitch.
"Alice," Jervis called into his com badge already regretting it, "Can you pull up a damage analysis on the station? I need a status on its integrity and a forecast on degradation time please."
"Oh Captain Hatter? Nice of you to radio in only when you need something," the computerized female voice responded tense with emotion, "It's just a business relationship now? I thought I meant something to you. We had a connection!" Alice complained like a bad sitcom housewife turned up to eleven.
"Please get me the data, and we can talk about it later."
"I read you bedtime stories you bastard," Alice accused. Tracking through cargo bays and empty halls Jervis stayed quiet. Eventually his computer arm band lit up, and he opened the damage analysis. Three clean breaks showed up in the holograph from the various detonations on the ring. Structural integrity had somehow held due to an increase of the magnetic field from the reactor, and Jervis didn't need the output charts to know that reactor would be running red soon.
"Alice my dear, I need one more thing before I hunt down this android and punish her for you," Jervis teased wisely.
"You-you plan to hurt that calculating, electric whore?" Alice asked warily from the warship.
"Oh most certainly, quite severely if I have my way," Jervis acknowledged.
"Captain Hatter, you know how I feel about you when you get violent," her robotic voice shuddered, "What can I do for you?"
"I need to know the priorities of overload shutdown on the reactor."
"Of course sir, based on schematics the station will first shut down nonessential power functions followed by life support and later gravity. Next is structural integrity and finally orbit control."
Captain Hatter caught the female android in the cafeteria sneaking through the kitchen. Crossing two tables at a time he bound across the vast room in the reduced gravity. He tackled her into a rack of empty trays, and they tumbled over the counter. Tangled together they eventually came face to face and stopped struggling. He saw her wide green eyes and silver hair and immediately went back to that night on Vignate VIII. She was disguised as a Trebollian diplomat, and he was a chancellor's son from Wanyor, fake ears and all. Under the soft, neon Jellyfish floating across the atmosphere they drank Vignatien pygmy wine and watched the alchemists jugglers pass elements back and forth. She went by Sonia before Jervis recognized her as the Quantum Morphic Pleasurebot v. 17.9, though in all truth the night they spent together should have given her away. Sonia skipped the planet before he had his space socks on in the morning. He caught her in this back water station after a week of tracking her ion signature. Now they lay together again staring at each other.
"Why didn't you shoot me Captain?" Sonia asked lips pouted seductively.
"I thought we should talk," he answered, "I want to know why you have to die." She laughed and shook her hair back.
"I'm a sex bot. The Observers can't have me around giving it away for free. God forbid a robot show any kind of sexual agency in this universe. It's something they prefer to keep under a different file. Sure, vaporize ten billion lizard people or rip some guy's arm off but put that nipple away. Kids are watching this."
"That's absurd," Jervis replied, "Just for sex? Well I won't do it. They can't make me."
"I can make you." Alice cut into the conversation. A vent along the neck of his suit opened and oxygen began leaking into the empty kitchen. Nothing would stop it and finally Sonia and Jervis locked eyes. She saw his determination to live at any cost. As Jervis pulled the blaster Sonia sprinted toward the door. His shot caught her in the shoulder blowing off her arm in shards and sparks, but she slipped through the passage.
His head swam as oxygen and pressure reestablished in his suit, and he heard the extermination drones before he saw them. Whirring and squealing two shiny discs shot through the opening where Sonia escaped. She activated them to cover her retreat, and Jervis gritted his teeth wondering which woman in his life was the worst. The drones cut into the kitchen locking target and fired blue, photonic energy in rapid bolts. Homing in on his head the lasers sputtered out a few inches from his helmet as his suit pulsed to life.
"Shields are at full, Captain," Alice explained. Jervis drew his blaster leveling it at the closest drone and fired. Green blasts fizzled out in front of the machine as its own shield absorbed the attack. All three paused for a moment in a standoff thinking. In unison the drones released long arms containing a spinning, serrated blade. As Jervis backed against the storage unit he reached behind him scanning the counter feeling for the nearest weapon. He drew a long metal soup ladle.
"Shiiiiiit," he lamented when the drones came flying at him. At the last moment Jervis flung the door of the storage unit open and rolled aside. One drone shot into the dead end, but the other veered left and crashed into the wall. He slammed the door and jammed the handles with the ladle. While the second drone regained altitude shaking utensils off itself, Jervis vaulted the counter into the cafeteria. Halfway across the room he felt the drone humming over his shoulder so he dove under a table. It buried the circular saw into the table here and there causing chunks of the durable plastic to fall around him as he attempted to crawl to safety.
When a support bar dropped on his head he grabbed it and slid out to face the machine. Jervis and the drone dueled across the room until a hard swing knocked the metal arm off the disc, and he mercilessly beat the machine until it sparked and burned out on the ground. Finally Jervis had a moment to catch his breath. As he reached down and felt the transceiver still attached to his belt, Jervis realized he had a plan to finish his hunt.
As the station groaned and swayed under her feet Sonia struggled to release the locks on her small ship and engage the entry doors. Life support and gravity were long gone, and the structural integrity could no longer be held by the reactor. Segments of the station now floated free in the vacuum of space. She felt his steps coming down the hall with his boots magnetically locking and unlocking against the floor. Sonia watched him approach but said nothing due to the airless atmosphere. Tears welled in her eyes while Jervis looked down in shame. Behind him the attack drone rose over his head transmitting an electronic, audio message to both of them. It was Alice's voice loud and clear coming through the drone now under her control.
"This is what happens when you mess with my man, bitch!" Alice howled and the drone fell on Sonia. Sparks and metallic screams erupted from the scuffle as they rolled around the hall. Motionless Jervis stood staring at the pile of smoking scrap. He saw Sonia's still blinking eyes darting around without focus. With no time for sentiment the station rocked hard against itself, and Jervis watched bolts firing out of the connecting frame of the hallway. Futiley he pounded the manual release attempting escape in Sonia's ship. In his mind Jervis imagined the reactor going critical, and he could almost feel the declining orbit.
Before he could radio out to Alice the hallway bucked and sheared in half. For a moment the ground tipped up and he saw countless stars amongst the infinite black, then it shifted until he saw nothing but the fiery planet below. Sliding forward his boots couldn't lock against the floor, and he was dragged kicking and screaming into a freefall. Jervis felt the pull of gravity sucking him into reentry. While screaming at Alice for retrieval he slowed that sickening drop by activating the repulsion jets on his gloves and boots. With the palms of his hands and the flats of his feet facing the planet Jervis brought himself into a controlled and reduced descent. However the gravity had already pulled him past the point of no return. He felt the heat as he fell like a frog in a pot. It was growing. Alice continued screaming in his com badge until he finally noticed.
"Up! Up! Look up!" Above him the station completely fractured now rained down in large pieces of deadly debris. Jervis pushed his hands this way and that steering as the sections crashed down around him. Back and forth he shot around beams, hoses, large shredding cargo bays and lengths of flaking hallway. When a particularly long chunk of hallway bore down on him like a spear he had no choice but to fly through it. Clipping a control panel with his hip sent Jervis spinning but he still came out the other end continuing his climb that was really a fall. Looming before him, the last to drop, the reactor sphere spun and shone along glowing cracks in its round containment case.
Violently Jervis pulled his whole body backwards until he felt the force would tear him in half, but he succeeded in gaining height on it. Luckily the reactor spun away from him, and he miraculously reached the middle planting a boot on the rim. Bound after bound he used the rotation of the sphere to propel him towards its apex where he jumped and reinitialized his repulsion jets. A moment later the reactor blew below him sending a concussion wave that sent him further up away from the planet. It didn't last long. Eventually the pull increased again and he felt his boots sputtering. Around his helmet fog appeared and the heat made his feet feel like he was standing in embers. Suddenly something else flew by him with red burners on the back. Looking down he saw his ship, Tag, below cargo doors wide open and coming up fast.
With his last bit of power Jervis lined up the trajectory and had one final second to consider how much this would hurt. He slammed into the floor and skidded through empty containers until crashing into the cargo bay's back wall. Groaning and grunting he managed to hit the emergency release on his helmet. Overhead a floating monitor popped up displaying the faces of two upside down Observers. They remained slack jawed until one finally broke the silence.
"Dude, that was awesome!"
"Jervis? Can you- can you read me? It's Jon. Jonathan Crane."
"Loud and clear Jon! I've got good news. One mission left and I'm free to come home."
"That's good to hear. Have you been taking your supplements?"
"Sure, when I remember. I'm afraid they've kept me very busy out here."
"I see. Have you thought about the possibility we talked about? About this all being a delusion?"
"I don't understand what you want me to say Jon. This is real as sure as I'm talking to you through a vid screen. There's something out there past the edge, something I need to find to get back. They don't want me to know it, the secret."
"We go over this every time we speak. There is no secret. No one is hiding anything from you. Hold on a minute. –speaking off screen- Why are you disturbing my session? Troops, whose? White armor? I'm coming."
"Who is it Jon? The Empire?"
"You must listen to me. Don't come back yet. I'll send someone for you soon."
"Send someone for me? Don't be ridiculous. I'll be back as soon as possible. Just sit tight. Jon?" The vid screen went dead, and Jervis turned anxiously toward the helm. Tag swept around a cluster of shooting asteroids on a path to the edge of the universe. Behind him lay everything tangible and understood; before him lay something no man or woman could guess. Captain Hatter sat at the helm with nothing ahead of him close by. Just then Alice pinged a ship slightly larger than their own directly in their flight path. Shaped like a UFO it extended long legs that bent towards a point below its underbelly. A bright blue open reaction ran at the focal point.
"Cease all activities on order of Braniac." The holographic projection demanded on his display. Too many questions and no answers left Captain Hatter impatient.
"I'm coming through Braniac. I've got a mission to break out of the universe and make contact with whatever is out there. The last contact and I can go home. Now move or I'll shoot you down."
"Response not recognized. Preparing defensive maneuvers…Darkseid's gonna be mad." Braniac's ship spun in place and its reactor turned purple. Hundreds of small pods shot out at all angles and formed flight patterns that closed on Tag.
"Alice, bring me up a turret and you can take the other eighty-seven," Captain Hatter commanded. The view screen lit up with targets everywhere. Weapons unlocked across every inch of Tag, and they fired 360 degrees lighting up space like fireworks. Pods exploded around them as they continued towards the mother ship. Shields held despite the pummeling from the pods.
"Charge the Silver Lance," Captain Hatter said and switched to manual cannon control. From the spears on each wing silver electricity crackled out an angle meeting ahead of Tag's nose. The bolts combined and shot out piercing Braniac's ship. It exploded in colors he'd never seen, and they sailed past. Out of range of the frenzied, scattered pods Tag drifted beyond the measureable border and into nothing.
It was nothingness they flew into not in the same way we know it. Space may seem like nothing but it's definitely something. It just seems like nothing due to how big it is and how small we are. In reality nothing is a lover's wandering stare. Nothing is a departing parent. Nothing is standing over a dog bowl knowing it will never be used again. Nothing is the bottom of an empty pill bottle and a dealer who won't answer the phone. Nothing is hanging up the phone with a friend who'll kill herself an hour later. Nothing is the man who hurts you. These are the ways nothing invades its way into our something. Like fungus breeding in dark places nothing taps you on the shoulder and slaps you in the face. That's what Jervis flew into only all encompassing. True emptiness reached out and touched him. Penetrating his mind it spoke.
"Welcome to the Release, we've been waiting for you. Take now our gift. Return and spread it throughout the universe. Bring everything back home. To Nothing." Jervis realized then their "gift" could damn all sentient creatures. Life's nemesis, that which it sought to deny and in doing so proved. The Anti-Life Equation.
"All you have to do is use it. Use it and bring anyone and everyone under your complete control."
"Anyone?" Jervis asked.
"Anything and everything. Use it."
"I will. I chose to completely control myself and that's all." There was a pause.
"We've always had you Jervis. We always will. In the end you'll come back and so will everything else."
Jervis opened his eyes to bright sunlight peeking through the window. He sat in a small, nicely furnished room. Standing up he looked outside and saw Earth. He was home and realized Jon was right all along. It was a delusion. When he tried the door he found it locked. Looking through the small viewing window in the door he saw an empty hallway. Four men had been shot and laid in varying positions. Everything was silent.
"Jon? I'm back. I'm all better now. You can let me out. Jon? Jon? Hello?"