DC Gothic - Mae'r Ddraig Gymreig
Metropolis – Downtown – October 2002
There was a good reason why so many people lived in Gotham. It might have a major crime problem to say the least, but that did keep the house prices down and you didn't have to worry so much about super beings destroying your home or place of business. In contrast Metropolis, even in the poorer neighbourhoods, enjoyed a much lower crime rate. However repeatedly rebuilding entire city blocks was expensive and the home insurance rates kept more than a few people up at night. Sure you might not need to worry about getting mugged or robbed so much in Metropolis, but at least in Gotham you didn't have Supergirl unexpectedly dropping by via the brand new hole in the roof. Not that people minded the Maid of Might visiting their homes, but did she really have use the new wide-screen plasma TV to bash in a monster's skull?
'Where's my boyfriend when I need him ' Kara wondered as she flew out of house she had just partly trashed 'He actually likes killing evil creatures, or maybe it's just his wallet I need, that fancy TV looked brand new'.
Supergirl felt it was just a little immoral for her partner to use Slade Wilson's vast wealth, as it was all blood money, but although there were times when having a millionaire around could be really handy. It took less time for him to write a cheque than did for Kara to wreak a house. Which was saying something as she could trash a home really fast if she had a mind to. Not that doing so had ever been any sort of plan, but on days like this it did seem to happen.
Then there were the shoes. She really did love having a closet full of shoes, and best of all she didn't have to pay for them. It did strike her then that she was being a little ungrateful about that, turning your boyfriend into a walking cash machine was not a good thing, but what the hell he'd only spend the money on his own assassin robots and other silly boy stuff. Besides she did wear a lot of the clothes his money brought for him. The look on his face had totally made it worth the expense when he'd seen in her that two hundred-dollar leather miniskirt that came with matching boots.
Anyway she'd make it up to him and build him that silly laser sword he wanted next time she was at the fortress. That was going to be one hell of a birthday gift. Hopefully he'd find it as cool as the ones she seen in those goofy movies he seemed to love so much.
Kara could think about this sort of thing even when bashing heads, but it was always a good idea to try to totally focus on your surroundings, so that was what she did.
"Jo'nn" I could really use some help down here" requested Supergirl as another wave of Parademons were spat out of an opening boomtube.
This was going to take up her whole day, she just knew it. Stupid evil creatures from the stars!
"Everyone is busy" informed the Man Hunter as Kara shot down many of the newest invaders with her heat vision "the civil war on Apokolips has spilled over onto Earth. There are parademons all over the west coast. Superman and the Flash are busy uptown. Wonder Woman is assisting Batman in Gotham. Shayera is leading a team in Washington D.C in case they spread that far and Green Lantern is dealing with a large group near Westbury, along with Vixen".
Jo'nn didn't like having couples on teams, but as founding member Jon Stewart aka Green Lantern had the right to choose his own team.
This was also why Gothic wasn't with Kara right now, well that and the fact that the League didn't want someone they thought of as dangerously unpredictable to run around unsupervised. Which was funny to her, because she found him to be very predictable.
"Just get him down here Jo'nn" Supergirl said as she batted aside a parademon who had been trying to sneak up on her "I can't take down these many bad guys without going full throttle, and I don't think you want to lose an entire city block".
Well she could take them out without that much property damage, but there were a lot of homes in this part of the city, and if the monsters were here to grab slaves then she might not be able to stop people from being taken while also fighting hundreds of enemies.
"Well he is standing on the teleporter pad" justified the alien overseer "and I suppose he does need to test out his new armour".
The man from Mars wasn't just being stubborn. The former leader of the Teen Titans hadn't yet been cleared for duty. In fact he hadn't even gone through induction yet or had his physical, so there were good reasons as to why he wasn't already here.
But there are also good reasons for him to be here Supergirl thought as she thumped another enemy hard enough on the head that the creature's head cracked the concrete as it fell if nothing else I'm really going to need a hug after all of this fighting.
"You know that armour does have an inbuilt flame thrower" Kara casually informed "I'm not saying he'd use it on you, but you know how he gets when he can't protect one of his girls".
Not that she needed protection, but it was nice to think that there was someone out there who didn't think of her as little more than a female version of Superman. It made her feel more like a normal girl. Well as normal as a girl who can crush cars with her bare hands could feel.
"Very well" said the alien "I will beam him down".
"Good" she replied "tell him the leash is off since this is an invasion".
Gothic would understand this meant the didn't have to worry about not killing. They weren't here to arrest anyone, they had to repel these attacks, and if that meant using lethal force then that was okay with her. The other members of the League might not approve but she'd once been under Darkseid's control, so she knew exactly what would happen to the people the Parademons carried off. Better to kill the monsters as quickly as possible so that others would be spared their gruesome fate.
Gothic arrived not a moment to soon, another boomtube opened, and this time it wasn't just parademons that poured out.
(Line Break)
Metropolis – Downtown – October 2002
"Granny Goodness!" snarled Supergirl, who was no doubt remembering the torments that she had suffered while under the 'care' of that evil woman.
Assuming my information was correct Granny Goodness was an inhabitant of the planet Apokolips and the commander of the Female Furies, who were Darksied's élite guards. While 'granny' had the mannerisms of a kindly old lady, she was in fact a cruel tormentor of children and one of Darkseid's most loyal lieutenants. So if I had my way she was going to die here today, and if she was very lucky it would be a quick death.
"Parademons attack!" ordered Granny as she blasted Kara with an energy weapon some kind.
I would have worried about my girlfriend if not for the heat beams that raced past me to blast the rod-shaped device Goodness was carrying into little pieces. Not that I had time to worry as I was soon under attack. The armour I was using was new so I didn't fully know what it could do and if I had to find out it was better to try it out on these monsters than to accidentally hurt an ally.
Using the flame thrower I set a load of parademons alight with white-hot fire. The monsters died easily enough and since everything around me was made of concrete nothing else caught fire. I might have melted parts a few lampposts but that was nothing in comparison to the lives the creatures would have taken if I hadn't been around to stop them.
Everything seemed to be going quite well. Kara's heat vision and my flame thrower swiftly dealt with the parademons who had foolish tried to rush us rather than spread out. An act which only hastened their demise.
That was when things got worse.
Out of the still open boomtube came Kalibak. A being who had superhuman levels strength and resilience, no doubt thanks to his heritage as Darkseid's son. Who is mother was I hadn't a clue, but I didn't think that she had been attractive women given her son's looks.
Ugly features aside Kalibak was a deadly foe. In past battles, he had been a match for Wonder Woman, but I wasn't too worried as the freak had been defeated multiple times by Superman and even once by the bounty hunter, and fellow rocker, the Main Man Lobo. Which meant Supergirl should be able to handle him.
Even so, I was a little concerned as Lobo had needed to put a dozen cars on top of Kalibak in order to make him surrender. Then again this guy's fighting skills were limited to feats of brute strength, and he wasn't very bright either.
I grew more than a merely a little concerned when the monster landed on top of me and started to bash my chest with his massive fists. It didn't hurt because the dragon themed power armour I wore was just that awesome, but it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience either.
Of course Kalibak's time here on Earth became a lot less pleasant when I set his greasy hair on fire. It was very funny to see him running about screaming, even if I was to busy trying to stand up to get to fully enjoy the sight. Sadly it didn't last either as the massive moron showed a glimmer of intelligence when he ripped a fire hydrant out the ground. The fountain of water soaked him enough to put the flames out.
"I will smash your bones for that" Kalibak threatened as he prepared to attack me.
He tackled me and he was strong that I ended up half embedded in the wall of someone's business. My armour's system were really being tested and I was oh so grateful to my girlfriend for building this thing as without I'd be red paste by now.
With it on I barely felt anything and it also gave me the means to free myself. The flame thrower built into the left arm of the suit wouldn't help me, but the right arm was a different story. Not only was the angle of the arm better positioned but it also contained something called a fusion blaster. I had no idea what that was. However I found effective it was when the energy bolt struck Kalibak in the foot made him hop up and down in another amusing scene.
Again I didn't get enjoy it for long, however this time it was my choice as I had quickly decided that I should press the attack. The suit followed commands the same way the muscles of my body did, so the armour and my body moved as one. The strength enhancers in the suit allowed me to land a series of mighty blows upon my foe. The son of Darkseid was driven to his knees and I was just about to slam both of my metal covered fists into his head when suddenly Kalibak delivered a powerful uppercut which sent me flying. I would have landed, but the suit's dragon like wings shoot out and the inbuilt jet pack activated so that I ended up floating in the air.
Kalibak couldn't take to the air, however he could throw things really well. As I discovered when a car came right at me. Without even thinking about it I caught the airborne vehicle and threw it back at my enemy. That was when I realised that I hadn't checked if it was empty or not. Thankfully it was and this was proven as after the car had hit Kalibak, he broke it in two and I saw that no one was in it.
The two pieces of the wreaked auto-mobile were then thrown at me, but I batted them aside and then opened fire with the fusion blaster. Darkseid's son was tough, but not invulnerable so the weapon did hurt him. But I had to stop firing when the display in the helmet warned me that the gun was overheating. Apparently the weapon's system in this suit of powered armour were not lethal enough to end a fight like this. Which made sense as the suit was suppose to let me work alongside the bit hitters in the League not to let me kill super beings.
"Get down here, so I can crush you" demanded Kalibak
I did in fact get down there. The jet pack flared and I rammed right into my foe with enough speed that I knocked him into a wall hard enough to spread cracks across all along the concrete surface.
Kalibak didn't recover as fast this time, so I got to punch him some more. I didn't actually intend to kill the alien, only to beat him senseless, if he happened to die in the process then I was okay with that, but then he did something rather unexpected: he moved with far greater speed than I would of imagined and somehow got me into a headlock.
I tried to free myself but the alien was also stronger than I had anticipated. Perhaps because now he was filled with rage. It should have made my foe sloppy and I had made the mistake of getting in close. From somewhere I couldn't see the alien produced a club, which he used to bash me. Thankfully it didn't hurt, but I did get rattled around a bit.
The next thing I knew Kalibak seemed to be trying to snap my neck. Granted it wouldn't kill me, but it could really ruin my day.
That was when the love of my life (not counting Raven) joined the fight. I couldn't see what she did however I was soon free, so I knew she must of done something to set me lose.
"What is it you want?" my goddess of a girlfriend demanded to know.
"Your demise" Kalibak replied before whacking Kara with his beta club, an act that sent her flying backwards so hard that she hit the ground after soaring through the air.
The ugly git then leaped high into the air, and then Kalibak landed right on top of Kara with such force, that it created a crater around them.
"Motherfucker" I heard myself say.
It took a lot of effort but I managed to get up. I tried to help however there was something wrong with the suit. It was trying to tell me something yet I ignored the words and tried to lift my right arm.
"Come on Kryptonian!" Kalibak said as he started to beat Kara with his club. "Fight back! There's no pleasure in killing an opponent. If they don't even struggle"
That was when I tried to open fire, but nothing happen, the fusion blaster must have been damaged, and I was out of range with the flame thrower which meant I had to get closer.
"I would have expected more from the cousin of Superman" mocked the son of Darkseid
Kara was then flying past me, and for a second I thought Kalibak was going to try and finish me off, but foolishly he ignored me.
Instead Kalibak looked right at Kara and his confident expression was soon replaced with one of fear as he saw my sweetheart standing up. Her eyes glowing red, and she had a very furious look upon her face.
"You want a fight?!" she asked as her eyes glowed even brighter. "You've got one!"
Then she blasted Kalibak with his heat vision sending him flying into the air, screaming in agony. Then the alien bounced off the side of a building and almost smacked head first into the pavement, but at the last second Kara flew forward, caugh Kalibak in the air, and starting wailing on him with a barrage of punches.
"I'm so sick and tired of every single supervillain thinking that they can take me on to get to Superman" she said as she punched Kalibak twice in the face with all of her might. "just because I'm a girl that doesn't mean I'm weaker than him"
She then punched Kalibak some more before sending him hurdling to the ground. Only again the ugly alien never made it as Kara was waiting for him. Before the ugly alien hit the tarmac she grabbed a leg and spun Darkseid's son around so that he went flying past me, and through the windows of department store. Another humours site was soon laid before me as Kalibak had hit the women's clothing section of the store. When the villain climbed out I saw that he was covered in girl's underwear. That really made me laugh.
"Well guess what big man," Kara then said, continuing her speech, as she flew down and grabbed Kalibak by the throat. "I'm not just some kid that you get to push around!"
My girlfriend was still beating on the super powered freak when the Special Crimes Unit turned up.
"I think you've won" said the officer leading the team which had come to claim Kalibak "we can take it from here Miss".
Kara did just that, and then she raced over to me.
"Did you hurt you" she asked with great amounts of concern.
"Not really" I replied "I got shook up a little, but there's something wrong with the armour. The blasters not working and I can't seem to move very well. I tried to fire it and all I got was a sort of error message".
Using her X-ray vision my other half looked me up and down.
"Auto-repairs already handling the damage. Still I think I can make a few improvements. I could reinforce the...".
That was when the technobabble started I felt my head start to hurt.
"How are you feeling?" I asked as I was also concerned "he smacked you around a bit there".
Kara looked okay, but just because she didn't seem to be badly injured that didn't mean that she was doing fine.
"I'll be better soon" my girlfriend assured " Kalibak's no were near as tough as Darkseid, and I've fought him".
I was very glad that I'd never had to fight Darkseid. That guy was so much more powerful than me that a fight between us wouldn't less seconds. At least not unless that guy had some sort of major weakness I could exploit.
"So I don't have to endure any therapeutic shopping trips then?" I joked.
Buying new clothes was a proven way for women to deal with their stressful lives, and since I was now super rich I could afford to spoil Kara more than a little. Sometimes she felt guilty about it I was sure, but it was really no big deal to me as it was only money. The actual shopping was the traumatic part, all those bags.
"No thanks" she replied "I think when you spend two hundred dollars on a designer skirt and you still pay for some matching boots, then you have to admit that you have a problem. But we could go out to dinner".
Food sounded good. Neither of us needed to eat as she ran on sunlight and water, a lot like a plant. As for me I couldn't starve to death, but we did both feel really hunger after a lot of physical activity so we liked to eat something after a big fight.
"First let's go up the Watchtower and get you out of that armour" decided my girlfriend.
With that Kara called the alien overseer and seconds we were transported away.
Stewart's Comic Book Store – Big Bang Theory Universe - 2014
It was Wednesday night, and to those who had the misfortune of knowing Sheldon Cooper this evening had another name. It was New Comic Book Night, an event that involved someone driving Sheldon Cooper down to the comic book store. Sometimes the group was made up of all four of the close male friends, but this night only Leonard Hofstadter was available. Which meant that he alone had to suffer in silence as Sheldon Cooper lectured on a subject no one cared about.
The door of the store opened and Sheldon sniffed the air, at once he detected the scent of new comic books. It was almost like some sort of supernatural power, but neither of the geeky men believed in such things.
"So what's on offer tonight" Leonard asked of his friend Stewart.
The comic book store had burned down a few months, and ever since it had been repaired and then reopened there had been a lot of new merchandise on offer. But the biggest change was that DC Comics no longer existed.
Out of no where the entire DC franchise had been brought under the control of a British company and then more or less destroyed. Now there was only one comic being produced and all the new merchandise, such as action figures and toys, were all connected to Traveller Comics one and only comic book series.
But that wasn't even the weird thing. No one could understand why this had been done. It simply wasn't profitable at all. The only explanation Leonard Hofstadter could come up with was that some insane rich person had created the character and then had spent a fortune to ensure that every DC fan would read about his creation even if it made the company bankrupt.
"Just the newest issue of Gothic" answered the store's owner after finally managing to open a large box that was full of freshly printed comics " it's the start of the new series too".
Sheldon let a sigh, which made Leonard grin just a little. His room mate loathed the character called Gothic, for which the comic was named. This was because the books were now full of violence, sex, nudity, unconventional yet still romantic relationships, and quite a lot of swearing.
That was what really annoyed Sheldon. The fact that the book took place an altered and sometimes confusing version of the DCAU, paled in comparison to the fact that Traveller comics was clearly an adult product. Sheldon did not approve, and perversely that just made Leonard a little giddy when a new one came out.
Of course the real sin was that Dr Cooper's beloved Flash had not once been seen, only mentioned. Even the parts of the story that showed more established characters had never once shown Wally West in action.
Truthfully the fact that comic book annoyed Sheldon so much was not the only reason why the physicist enjoyed the stories so much. The main character was from a universe were superheroes and their evil counterparts only existed on the television or on paper. The fictional character, who had also been a bit of nerd, had then been thrown into the altered DCAU by a being known as the Traveller, the being that the franchise was now named after.
To start with Gothic had been de-aged and then given immortality along with another powers that weren't yet completely understood. Thrown in with the Teen Titans of the cartoon series the new character had undergone a series of adventures while also trying to fit in with the young heroes. Something that hadn't been very succesful as Gothic was not a clean cut hero, he was a bit an anti-hero in fact, one that had been forced into a role he didn't wish for him.
That drama aside the immortal had gone off to have adventures of the very adult kind. He'd slept with Catwoman and Tali' al Ghul, both of which were romantic interests of the Batman. Heck he'd gotten off with Harley Quinn in the first season, an event that had relived the fact that Joker was gay and in love with Gotham's Dark Knight.
Even more impressive than any of that was the sort of hero's meeting with Supergirl. That there was an intense physical attraction between the two characters right from the start had been made very clear. Two dates, and an encounter with the Riddler, led to a very graphic scene and then Gothic was off again to explore more of the world he'd been sent to aganist his will.
After that Trigon had been defeated and Gothic had entered a relationships with Raven. Hints about the romance had been in many issues, only the characters themselves seemed to have been oblivious to their growing love or at least Gothic had been. Raven had at least known she had a crush, but she hadn't expressed her feeling until it was too late, but things had worked out well after Trigon's death and the world wide reset.
That was when things really de-railed. The Teen Titans completely changed. Three of the Titans left the team, but did make a few appearances later. New team members had been added, one of which was a completely new character one never before seen in the DC Verse. But the really interesting part was that Supergirl had then joined the team and she had her eye on acquiring Gothic as a boyfriend.
Given that Raven had already staked her claim it had only been a matter of time before the two super powered women got into a fight. It had happened fight away, there had been other adventures and the return of Slade to enjoy before the confrontation had taken place.
Then something unexpected had happened. Raven and Supergirl had decided to share the man they both wanted to be with romantically. Something Leonard hadn't seem coming, it was also something Sheldon complained endlessly about despite the fact that he didn't exactly have a normal relationships with his girlfriend either. After all not many people had multi page contracts with their romantic partners.
Of course while such odd relationships do happen, they rarely last both in real life and in comic books. Raven had left soon after Gothic had been made leader of the Teen Titans. The plus side was that this put Supergirl in the spotlight, so to speak, and she'd turned out be a very fun character.
Meanwhile the immortal had been dealing with the troubles that came with being a good leader. Plus there had been the normal super villain fights and Tim Drake's retirement from the super hero life to deal with.
There had even been a crossover issue featuring Supergirl and Gothic going on a Justice League mission. Followed by a visit to the famed fortress of solitude.
Soon after that the series had come to an end. The Slade plot had come to an end and there had been a massive three battle involving the Titans, Deathstroke's forces and Cadmus.
Leonard had enjoyed the final book it had explained a lot, not everything but enough that a lot of confusing things had started to make sense. As an added bonus a dark and thankfully alternate future had been shown, but it ended on a hopeful note and there was a promise of further adventures.
Now the first issue of the new series was here, and the scientist fully intended to buy it. Sheldon also brought a copy, if only so he could complain about it.
"You know you could just by old comics online" pointed out Leonard Hofstadter as he and his room mate left the store.
As normal Sheldon Cooper refused to take his friend's advice.
"It's Wednesday night" said the tall nerd "Wednesday night is new comic book night. So unless Amazon start to deliver to the apartment on a Wednesday night then I will continue to come to the comic book store".
Leonard just shook his head and for the millionth time he had to wonder of Sheldon's mother had really gotten her son tested for insanity or not.
Author Notes.
I'm going to try and keep a better track of time. So keep an eye on that. At this point its only been a few weeks since the Titans were shut down. Kara and Gothic are living together in the Watchtower and will soon have their own place as planned.
Mae'r Ddraig Gymreig means The Welsh Dragon. Welsh Dragon, or simply 'Dragon', is Gothic's Justice League name for when he puts on the armour and gets to be one the big hitters. The name is not mine it comes from the mind of DeusImperator92. I also had other suggestions that led to this point, but I can't remember who said what but I got given ideas about the character wearing power armour and also about becoming a dragon. I ended up with dragon themed power armour that was made by Kara using advanced alien tech, so thanks for the help kind reviewers.
Lastly another reviewer suggest the idea of DC Gothic being shown as a comic book. Since there will be a few small crossovers in this story it amused me to have the Gothic comic series appear in Big Bang Theory. Plus it gave me the chance to summarise the DC Gothic – Teen Titans in case anyone reading this story has forgotten any of the important details.