Injustice: Gods Among Us
The Katalyna Chronicles
Disclaimer: the usual disclaimer, I don't own anything related to the DC Universe, Katalyna Hawthorne is a character that I've created.
Summary: Everyone remembers the day Metropolis vanished from the face of the Earth. With Superman seeking to change the world, many stand against him, but can it make a difference?
Prologue: Run
Everyone remembers where they were on that day five years ago.
The day a God among men was shown to have a weakness.
The day a God among men lost that which he cared for.
The day a God among men found his breaking point.
The day a God among men crossed that line.
She ran through the sewers panting heavily, footsteps echoing all around her as she struggled to put distance between her and her pursuers. Dirty water splashed up against her boots as she ran, part of her praying it was just water and nothing else that could be found in a sewer but she knew her luck was running out.
'It had been so simple.' At least that's what she had thought when she had taken the job. Use her magic and try to distract and confuse the forces of the Regime to get information from the computers on where the prisoners were being held. "Magic, the weakness of Kryptonians. I was a good choice for it. Boy do I regret that now." She muttered breathlessly as she turned down a different tunnel, jumping to the other side of the sewer, over the water. Grateful that she had enough momentum to not land in the sewage, "celo." She whispered, focusing her efforts on blending in against the wall.
The footsteps were getting louder, almost like a thunderstorm with how uniform they ran, almost like machines. Toy Soldiers being commanded by a 'God' who had grown tired of playing nice.
They stopped at the junction, black armoured soldiers, red lenses on their masks giving them an almost demonic look in the darkness, they slowed trying to detect which way she had gone before the group split, three heading along the way she had gone, the other three heading on down the original tunnel.
"We better not let the big guy know we lost her." The first soldier spoke walking slowly, gun aimed down ahead of them. "She can't be allowed to get away with that information."
"What did she get? I know she was trying to find information but what specifically?" The second asked curiously and she frowned feeling a dull throbbing start behind her eyes as she struggled to keep the illusion in effect. Couldn't they move a little bit faster?
"She's associated with the Batfreaks. She wants the same information that he wants, the location of key individuals." The first spoke up again stopping part way down the passage, he brought his hand to the side of his head, tilting his head away as he started speaking again. "Red Commander reporting sir," He spoke quietly, "negative, the suspect has vanished on us, we've split to continue our search." He reported and she grimaced, this was drawing a lot more attention than she had anticipated. "Pull back!?" The commander snapped in surprise. "Are you serious? We can get her." He protested angrily and she could see from their movements that the other two were equally agitated. "Yes sir. We'll make our way back." The commander said with resignation before lowering his hand. "We've been ordered back, they're sending someone else."
"This is bull! We can take her." The second shouted in anger and the commander nodded his head.
"I agree but command doesn't, let's move out. Rendezvous with the others and make our way back to the surface." The Commander ordered and the three turned and made their way back down the passage and chased after the three that had gone off the other way.
She waited for a several minutes, her vision blurring as she struggled to hold the illusion. After the time of silence, she dropped the spell, leaning against the wall and sliding down into a sitting position, catching her breath. "I didn't think they'd be that interested in this information." She whispered, slightly scared that they might hear her. "it's at times like this I wish I could just go back to doing my shows." She groaned running a hand through her hair as she shakily got back to her feet. Running as fast as she could to escape soldiers after fighting her way out of the building had left her drained. "Well, time to head back home." She said calmly walking along the pathway of the sewer away from any of the soldiers as she pulled a hairpin from her hair smiling as she looked at it. "All this trouble over such a little thing." She muttered twisting it to reveal a memory stick built into it. She shook her head closed it up and placed it back in her hair. "That's enough dallying Kat, better keep moving before they come back." She tried her communicator but it just gave static. "Didn't think mine would work. I'm impressed theirs did with all these heavy sewers." She closed her eyes picturing the layout from the maps she studied. "There should be an exit at the end of this passage." She muttered aloud a shiver running down her spine as she continued walking, rubbing her arms to get rid of some of the lingering cold caused by the dampness of the sewer. As she did, she thought back to how this situation had exploded.
Five years ago, almost to the day, The Joker blew up Metropolis. Through proxy, a bomb tied to a dead man switch to Lois Lane and her unborn child.
Five years ago, Superman was drugged with kryptonite laced fear gas. With it he saw the thing that scared him most. Doomsday, the one thing in the world that Superman could never completely beat. You beat him and he came back, adapted to that defeat. So Superman did what he thought was right upon seeing the beast and took him straight into space.
Unfortunately for him it wasn't Doomsday, it was Lois, the fear gas had caused him to take her life and with that, all of Metropolis. It was never the same after that. Superman enraged flew straight to the interrogation room where Joker was being questioned and killed him. There was nothing clean about it, his fist going straight through his chest like a knife through hot butter. While the world mourned the loss of Metropolis, they cheered the death of the Joker, many asking why it hadn't been done sooner.
But Superman didn't stop there, from that point on he declared an end to the conflict, an end to war on Earth, they were done with reacting, they were going to be proactive in stopping it. Dealing with conflicts across all borders they stopped wars, civil disputes, they removed corrupt leaders and officials and stripped them of their powers. But it wasn't enough. People tried to stop it, they captured Superman's mother and father, holding them to ransom to get him to back off.
It didn't work, in fact it just made things worse.
She shook her head clearing her thoughts and focusing on the time at hand, arriving at the sewer grate she looked up at it, checking for any tampering. It had been a recent thing that the troopers had done, to prevent situations like this and other people disappearing into the sewers.
In the darkness she couldn't see anything, cursing because it would require more magic she raised her hand, "Lumino." She whispered, conjuring a small ball of light she inspected it closer, no trip wires, no sensor devices, nothing too dangerous that she could see. It's possible they missed it but it was also possible they just hadn't got to this section yet. She cancelled the light spell, gripped the ladder and started to climb.
When that incident happened, I was 18, still in college and only dabbling in my magic. I hasten to add I wasn't cheating on exams or anything like that. I just started dabbling in magic for shows. Taking care of childrens parties and things like that. I had been tempted to try and join the Titans but I was a nobody, I was someone who could do a few parlour tricks and not much else. There was something I could get to enchance my powers but my mother still had it, sealed away in a box with the phrase 'may you live in interesting times.' Something I was warned by both her and grandmother to ignore.
I stole the amulet on that same afternoon. For the first year I upped my shows, training my skills through both showmanship and actual proper training. I still wasn't ready when the next big crisis hit. Word got out that Superman was working on something, Kryptonian and Human Science to create a Supersoldier tablet. Batman, who had been against Superman and everything he was doing had gone to stop him with a few others. I didn't know at the time who but I learnt very quickly afterwards.
Green Arrow had been killed.
Green Arrow had been beaten to death by Superman, there was no accident about the death, it wasn't in the line of duty, it was out of anger. Pure uncontrolled anger.
She came out of her thoughts again wiping away a tear that had started to form. It had been what seemed a lifetime ago when it happened but at the same time just the thought of it pained her and she didn't know him personally, it wasn't until after that incident she started to get drawn into it. Lines were being drawn in the sand, heroes and villains choosing sides, unsurprisingly, the thought of a Superman who was willing to kill was reason enough to side with him. She pushed at the manhole cover, grunting in exertion as she pushed it up and out of the way. They may look like a small circular piece of metal but they were heavy. Letting out a breath of air she clambered out of the hole into the deserted street, the moon shining high above her. For several moments she sat, just enjoying the fresh… well as fresh as downtown Gotham air could be, before sliding the manhole cover back into position. "Don't tell me I've actually made it clear." She tempted fate, looking around seeing darkened windows, curtains pulled shut on pretty much all of them. The majority of people hiding away, the super soldiers enforcing a strict curfew. If you broke it, you didn't always get prison, sometimes you were fortunate and you just got a broken bone or two.
She walked along the street, checking her communicator again. "Oracle can you read me?"
"I hear you Kat," The slightly strained voice of Oracle spoke up over the communicator, cutting the silence of the night like a knife.
"I've got the intel, you were right about the security, it was heavy but they seemed to be a bit overconfident, the illusions worked and I was able to get a copy of it. It's encrypted but that should be nothing you can't handle." Kat spoke in amusement turning a corner.
"Good, get back to the Safe House, I'll see what I can do with that and we may be able to find them." She said stifling a yawn.
"Have you actually slept recently?" Kat asked in concern, Oracle had a habit of pushing herself too hard, she took after her mentor in that way, no Super Powers but a willpower that put many who did to shame. Some people wondered why she hadn't been selected for a Green Lantern ring. She had the will for it without a doubt.
"I think it's coming up to forty-eight hours now." Oracle admitted, "I can go on for a bit longer though, no need to worry."
"you're the smartest person I know but you can be so stupid with your own health, rest, take some time and sleep." Kat spoke and turned down another street, avoiding the streetlights where possible.
"Maybe, but if I wasn't here, who'd tell you to take a left at the next turning instead of continuing on to avoid a patrol?" Oracle mused and Kat changed direction, ducking down an alley.
"Perhaps you have a point." She conceded in amusement. She jumped, gripping the bottom rung of a fire escape and climbed up, heading up to the rooftops and glancing across the cityscape of Gotham. "It's strange seeing this City so quiet at night." She spoke walking to the edge of the building looking down at the area where the soldiers were going to march down.
"It's not right, yes Gotham had a crime problem but you can't just terrorise innocents like this. You can't put a soldier on every street corner and call this place paradise." Oracle snapped angrily and Kat nodded her head. It was a discussion they had many times before and its one that would no doubt come about again but for now they had to work from the shadows and work small. She didn't even know if any others of the group were in Gotham at the moment, there was a lot of moving around to keep out of sight of Superman and his soldiers. They were always watching.
They were marked for prison. Failing that, they were marked for death.
No one was allowed to stand against Superman's Regime.
"OK they've passed by, I'm going to make… my… way…" She trailed off as she turned, a figure hovering at the edge of the building looking directly at her. "Well, I know why they pulled back now," She muttered in fear.
"Kat, what's wrong?" Oracle asked, she couldn't see them, they were out of sight of any cameras that she had easy access to and this was a fight she was probably going to lose and lose badly.
"I'm going to have to get back to you." Kat muttered removing the ear piece, hearing the protests from Oracle as she cast a spell to destroy the earpiece.
"I believe you have something that belongs to us." The voice, cold, vindictive and eager for a fight.
"I'm afraid you have me mistaken, I don't have anything of yours." Kat calmly said walking around the rooftop, keeping her distance from the figure.
"Don't play coy with me, I have no problem with hurting you if you don't come quietly." She snapped and Kat sighed.
"There are many things in this world that I have done, but come quietly? No I don't think that's going to happen any time soon." She laughed getting into a combat position. "Go back to your master little hawk, I'm sure you'll get whatever scraps he's willing to send your way." She spat mockingly.
Her opponent, Hawkgirl let out a cry and charged forward furiously mace drawn back ready to swing. Kat dived out the way, rolling across the rooftop as Hawkgirl swooped over. Swooping round Hawkgirl swooped, ready to strike again and Kat laughed. "Whats so funny!?" Hawkgirl growled angrily.
"The funny part is, you guys have a file on me and you still think I'm on the building."
"What?" Hawkgirl muttered in surprise as Kat faded from sight.
Several streets away Kat smiled as she heard the cry of frustration echo in the air, she had cast the illusion when she had cut the conversation with Oracle and used the distraction to get down onto the street again. "You'd think they'd remember what my MO is wouldn't you."
"You'd think so, but they haven't yet." A new female voice spoke up and Kat jumped in surprise spinning around, words for a spell on the tip of her tongue.
"Geez! What the heck was that, you don't sneak up on someone." Kat protested upon seeing who it was, slowly lowering her guard. "I think you just gave me a heart attack." She griped and the figure laughed. "Seriously, they should attach a bell or something to you Zatanna."
"You should be a bit more aware considering you just narrowly escaped Hawkgirl. Oracle sent me to pick you up after the little interruption in your talk so let's get going. Tropelet anylataK enrohtwaH ot elcarO" She called out and Kat felt the world disappear around her before the familiar sight of Oracles computer lab came into effect.
"Now that's just showing off." Kat muttered in annoyance, her stage magician rivalry shining as she looked around the lab. "Oracle I'm always scared to be in this room, I'm always afraid I'm going to break something." Kat called out as she turned slowly, mindful of any electronics and making her way over to Oracle, removing the hairclip memory stick.
"Good, it'll make you careful and prevent that from happening." She said with a smile as she took the memory stick. "Let's see what we can get from this little device shall we." She connected it up tapping away quickly at the keyboard as her programs started to decrypt the data
"God I hope this is good news, we could use some right about now. I may have mocked Hawkgirl but I think they're definitely getting better at spotting my illusions. I don't think I'll be able to pull that stunt again. Eyes of a hawk maybe, brains of a snail… definitely." Kat mocked as she watched the monitor, paying attention to the decription tracking. "So who are we looking for with this info? I mean I was told that we were trying to find someone but no one told me who. Batman doesn't want to find his villains this soon do we?" Kat asked in curiosity. Batman worked in very mysterious ways but surely he wasn't crazy enough to release them at this point. Not only would they get their butts handed to them against the super soldiers, they'd probably just be killed off for good. Superman wasn't taking prisoners anymore.
"Nothing like that. Surely you've noticed the disappearance of a group of people?" Oracle questioned looking up at Kat.
"Which ones? The Outsiders? The JSA? The Titans?" Kat questioned, many groups had crumbled and faded into the background, Unwilling or unable to join Supermans team and as such put into retirement.
"The Titans, they disappeared off the grid completely. We think Superman is responsible but we've had no proof." She explained as images popped up on the screen. "We know what happened to Beasty Boy and Kid Flash, they were two of the casualties in the Metropolis incident." She paused, focusing herself, she had shed tears for her fallen friends before, but it still hurt.
It was a wound that wouldn't heal.
"And the others? Wonder Girl, Superboy, Red Robin and Starfire… what about them?" There were more titans of course, but those four were completely unknown.
"Gone, they agreed to sit back, to not get involved until Di…" She stopped, took several calming breaths and then focused again. "Until Nightwing called them in but after that… they vanished." She explained and Kat just let out a small hum of acknowledgement as she thought about the situation.
"Did you come up with anything at Titan Tower?" She asked and Oracle shook her head.
"Nothing, they didn't pack anything for a long term disappearing act, nor did they leave any notes anywhere. If they've gone underground they've gone very low tech and off the grid. But I think we both know the most likely situation. Tim wouldn't run and hide, neither would the others." Oracle was firm in her belief, the Titans had gone missing and she believed that Superman and his forces were responsible for it.
"So we hack the information, find the titans and bust them out. I can get behind that." Kat said turning around and walking towards the door. "Give me a shout when you find out the information, I'm going to go find a couch to sleep on."
"We do have proper beds here." Oracle called out to her retreating form.
"I know, I'm still not used to actually having a bed with room to stretch out, the couch reminds me of the tour bus I used to use." Kat explained as she opened the door walking through and into the rest of the building, straight into the living room. She sat down, sighing, taking her shoes off, placing them to the side before lying back on the couch staring at the ceiling. "What did I get involved in?"
Everything started to go wrong after Green Arrow passed away, Batman was crippled. Superman started to ally himself with the Sinestro Corps. Surely even someone as dense as the Man of Steel should have realised that a force that relies purely on FEAR as a power source is the wrong group to take advise from. It wasn't too long after that, that the Green Lanterns came to try and take him in, to stand trial for his actions.
That went wrong, that went so wrong so quickly.
The 'rebels' if you want to call Batman's group that lost Black Canary, Commissioner Gordon, Guy Gardner and the Green Lantern Corps lost so many people.
Where was I at this time? I was in the middle of a show at that time. I'd like to brag that I brought the house down but that credit was taken by a Sinestro Corps member falling through the ceiling. That bastard killed so many people, some who had taken shelter in the building from the fight and some who had been there before the fight watching my show. Something broke in me that day, something that I could never quite put my finger on. I hadn't joined either side, after all I was a nobody, a talented nobody but a nobody nonetheless. Neither were interested in recruiting me and neither were interested in removing me from the scene.
So I stepped up my game. When Superman started to put his soldiers on the street I started using my magic to help those that they abused. People caught out of curfew would magically vanish in front of their eyes. Soldiers would start chasing imaginary people. Some of them even ended up being blown through buildings but I don't really brag about that aspect. I didn't want THAT much attention. These actions are also why I'm a bit hesitant to wear some of the more… risqué? Revealing? Tantalizing? Stage gear, I may have been shot once or twice during these actions.
Thank God for magic huh? It normally left me on my ass after I used the magic but I'd rather be exhausted and sleeping deeply than sleeping the everlasting sleep. But with these actions came consequences, as much as I did to hide my identity they still learn and tried to shut me down mid show. At least my last show was memorable. At the same time though, they were seizing all my stuff. I had nothing, nothing except the clothes on my back. If this was the old west, I'm pretty sure my face would be on posters all across town.
I survived though, I had friends who were willing to take me in and let me lay low. My initial instinct had been to try and contact Zatanna and some of the other mystics, they used to be very welcoming for newer spellcasters but I held off. I didn't know who to trust, I didn't know where to turn. The lines were blurred, friend against friend, family against family.
I wanted to get into the action, to help where I could and now that I had gotten in, I wanted to get out. Especially after hearing who Superman had watching him.
The Spectre, the Avatar of Vengeance had thrown his hat in with the Regime. Later I would learn that he was responsible for many a spellcasters death. I'm kinda glad I was late to the party. I don't really feel like I could stand against an Avatar of God! I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid.
So many things were going wrong and all I could do was stand on the sidelines watching, I felt like I was trying to drain the ocean with a single cup. An impossible task, an impossible challenge.
"Kat, wake up, we have something." The voice of Oracle called through her earpiece jarring her awake.
"I'm awake, I wasn't asleep!" She called out in surprise sitting up sharply.
"Uh huh, want me to play back the footage?"
"I forget you have a camera in pretty much every room." Kat conceded as she stood up, walking barefoot across the carpet and back into the computer room. "So what do we have?"
"Nothing good, I'm kind of grateful that the regime are so efficient with their documents. The Titans attacked the Fortress of Solitude, intent on sealing Superman in the Phantom Zone."
"Judging from the fact he's here and they're gone. It didn't end well."
"You guessed correctly, Superboy was fatally injured and instead of getting him to a doctor, Superman sealed them in the Phantom Zone instead with a promise to release them after this whole chaos was dealt with."
"So in otherwords we need to get them out… by going to the Fortress of Solitude, Superman's personal little ice fortress that will essentially be booby-trapped and guarded especially after a Batman and Teen Titan invasion. I'm not liking where this is going." Kat muttered looking at the document that was on the screen.
"It isn't going to be easy, we're probably going ot have to leave them there for now." Oracle said in resignation, "The only devices we know of that can access the Phantom Zone are all in the Fortress. At least they'll be safe in there until someone can free them."
"Tch… I'm going for a walk." Kat said walking away angrily.
"Kat, there's nothing we can do." Oracle admitted with barely a delay. "To go to the Fortress would be suicide." She called after her but Kat didn't respond.
Impossible challenges? Impossible trials? I suppose I'm just going to have to find a way to do the impossible.
TBC
First chapter of an idea I got playing Injustice: Gods Among us. The DC Universe Roleplay hasn't started and I wanted to get back into the writing groove.
Translations:
Lumino: 1) Brighten (w/color), 2) Illuminate, give light to, 3) light up, 4) Reveal/throw light on
Celo: 1) Conceal/hide/keep secret, 2) disguise, 3) Keep in dark/in ignorance, 4) Shield
Translations provided through , any mistakes are on my part if I've used the latin incorrectly, I look at the words and choose the ones that best fit the spell needed in the story.