Gotham City- 21:03
September 3,2013
Bruce watched off the top St. Thomas' church in upper Gotham. The city was a madhouse tonight. The police were running all over the place trying to stop all of the murders, robberies, rapes, car jacking, drug dealings and countless other issues plaguing the city. The police department was hopelessly under funded and corrupt beyond repair. All that stood between absolute and total anarchy and one more day of the city existing was the "triumvirate", Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, District Attorney Harvey Dent and him, The Batman. Gordon was working his hardest to shape up the department and considering what he was working with these days was doing a remarkable job. Dent was at war with Carmine Falcone and the Gotham mafia. And what about The Batman? Bruce put the fear into the hearts of criminals. Some people in the mayors office saw him as a vigilante and those people were trunk to get Gordon and the police to go after him, but without much luck. After a year and a half of being Batman, most regular people in Gotham saw him as an urban myth.
Bruce needed to focus. There is work to be done. He took out his grapple and shot over to a taller apartment building. Going to the edge he saw a group of burglars breaking into a jewelry store. Bruce jumped down from the 5Th story onto a dumpster, and waited. When the first guy stepped out Bruce used the grappling gun and hooked onto the top of the building and kicked the man in the chest, launching the guy off his feet and through the door. The two other men looked at him, and both reached for their guns. Bruce threw one Baterang at one and charged the other. The baterang hit the man in the shoulder, essentially incapacitating him. The other man opened fire, and Bruce ducked right under the gun, and before the man could react, Bruce grabbed the barrel and pulled it out of his hands. He threw a hard right at him and it knocked him square on his ass. Bruce punched him again, knocking him out. Bruce looked around and saw the flashing lights. He began to make his escape, and Grappled up to another tall apartment building.
The rest of the night was mostly uneventful, a few stopped rapes, he stopped a homicide in downtown. It was a slow night. But at about 5:00 in the morning, something happened. He was in the industrial part of town ready to go back to the cave, when he saw a peculiar man walked into a LexCorp. factory. He walked in a strange manner, his body looked disfigured in his joints and turned awkwardly. Bruce followed him into the factory. The man walked towards the managers' office. And then things got strange. The man pulled the door of the hinges. Then he walked to the computer, and his hand which was now more a white liquid in a shell, started to go all over the machine and Bruce assumed he was siphoning data out of it. Bruce needed to act. He threw a Baterang at the man, just to the side, intending on scarring him.
"I don't think that belongs to you" he growled
"Thereisnothingyoucandotostopmehuman,leavenow" It spoke in a cold mechanical voice.
Bruce threw a smoke bomb at him and rushed him. One punch, but nothing. His hand was throbbing, and the things face didn't move. The thing grabbed him and threw him though a window. Bruce started to get up, and thought. This thing was incredibly strong, but he needed to find a weakness, everything has a weakness. Bruce grabbed the tasers off of his belt and rushed the guy again. The tasers froze him up for a second, and in that quick second, Bruce planted a explosive baterang on his chest and pushed off. The explosion ripped a hole in the things chest. But before Bruce could walk away, the thing reformed and exposed its true body. It was white with black parts through its body, and one red eye.
"Iwarnedyouhuman,nowyouwilldie." And it fired a laser at him Bruce back flipped out of the way and threw another baterang. It was incinerated when the thing fired a laser at it, Bruce ran through the smoke of the incinerated baterang and kicked at the thing. It took it in stride, and punched Bruce. It was an extremely quick strike to the chest, and sent Bruce flying. He crashed through another window, and onto the factory floor. The sun was coming up, and Bruce needed to end the fight as quickly as possible. He threw a flash grenade, and grappled up to the rafters. The thing came outside for a moment and then rilled in pain
"Sunlight, that was it's weakness" he thought to himself.
Bruce took some glass from the ceiling and dropped down and began reflecting sunlight at the thing. It slowly began to melt. Just before it died, it stated one last thing
"Donotthinkyouhavewonhuman,thisworldwillsoonbeours" before fading into a pool of nothing.
Bruce drove back to the cave, and called down Alfred. He had taken a beating at the hands of… Bruce wasn't sure exactly what he would call it. It was certainly not human, that was for sure. He pulled into his relatively small cave, and saw his butler, Alfred Pennyworth walking down the stairs. with a doctors bag in one hand and a first aid kit in the other. Bruce opened the top of his car and walked over before collapsing in the chair in front of the large array of computer screens and testing equipment on it.
"Long night Sir?"
"Very interesting to say the least."
"I take it the criminal underground of Gotham had a worse night then?"
"Yes, but there was something else. In the Factory on the north side, there was this… thing. It was stealing information from LexCorp computers."
"A thing sir? Of What sort?"
"I have no idea, I'm running some tests to find out now."
"Will there be anything else Sir?"
"No thank you Alfred." he politely stated as Alfred returned to the inside of Wayne Manor
Bruce was exhausted, but he needed to find out just what this thing was. If there were more of these things, and he was sure that there were, he needed to get a plan together. Sunlight weakened them, but if that was there only weakness, he needed to try and figure out another.
"Computer, run analysis on material in compartment 01." as he inserted a vile of the remains of the thing from the warehouse.
While the computer ran its tests, Bruce had managed to see the manuscript on what that particular Warehouse had in it. After a moment, Bruce was heavily surprised when he saw that LexCorp was investing in weapons and armor developments. Personal body armor, and even early stages of energy weapons were in stages of development. Lex Luthor was to metropolis what He was to Gotham, The prince. LexCorp was a huge rival to WayneCorp, but it looked like Lexcorp was trying to leap into the future. Bruce looked at his armor. In its current state, his "Bat-Suit+ was some grey kevlar with black cowl, cape, boots and a symbol of a bat on his chest. Bruce was proud of it, but he knew he needed more.
"If Lex is trying to create a better body armor, then Wayne tech is just going to need to beat him to it." Bruce remarked. He was going to get his way, and nobody in Wayne Tech was going to stop him.
Moments later the computer came back with results that He didn't like all that much. "Results inconclusive."
Dam-nit. There wasn't a thing that was going to help him figure out just what this thing was.
But Bruce was loosing focus, and he was exhausted. He got out of his cowl, and shower, got in bed and fell asleep before he hit the pillow.
Metropolis- 08:00
September 22, 2013
Clark Kent woke up and made breakfast, showered and sat down to read the Daily Planet, the headlines reading "Metropolis U takes down Gotham U, 35-34"
So today was starting off great. It was beautiful outside, his local college team had beaten their arch rivals, he had no work today and thus far Lex Luthor hadn't tried to kill him. Yes today was a great day for the Daily Planet blogger Clark Kent, or better known to the world as Superman.
Clark had risen to fame a few months ago when a random blue blur speed through Metropolis and rounded up the bad guys. One night however Clark was forced to stand in the eye of the public when an ISIS bomb went of in the Daily Planet. Clark saved everyone, but was then forced to show how strong he was. The building began to topple , but he caught the building , and pressed it back to the support beams, and used his heat vision to weld them back together.
The papers went crazy. The Daily Planet made the headline, and the most famous one, "The Rise of Superman!" Superman, as he had come to be known, was a public hero, they loved him. The police and Mayors office however, did not. They had tried, unsuccessfully, to apprehend him. It wouldn't have mattered, he was far stronger than any steel they could put on him was. As far as he knew, the only way he could be captured was… Well he wasn't all that sure three was anything capable of hurting him. Clark couldn't find anything in the Database at the Fortress of Solitude that told him he could get hurt. To be fair, understanding what that database was saying was half the battle. The fortress was nice though, it was a place where Superman lived. and being honest with himself, Clark wanted to be Superman more of the time than Clark Kent.
But right now, he wasn't really worried with all of that. As Superman, he was supposed to give an interview with Lois Lane, a reporter at the Daily Planet. Clark grabbed his watch and hit the button. A dark blue armor made of Kryptonian fabrics started to cover his body, and in the top of his chest, a symbol, recognized to earth people as an "S", but on Krypton was the sigil for his house, The House of El Formed. The letter and edge in a deep scarlet, and the background a dark yellow color. The cape materialized when he was done, and Clark flew out the window heading for The Daily Planet.
He arrived shortly thereafter, welcomed by the beaming face of and several other employees of the Daily Planet.
"Well, look who decided to show up." she remarked.
"Sorry, traffic was a killer today." that got a good laugh out of everybody.
"Well Superman now that you're here, would you like to conduct this interview or would you like to give us more of your stand up routine?"
"Proceed ."
She lead him down to the elevator, where they went t the roof of the building. Waiting for them on the roof was a Small table with coffee and some chairs. She sat down, and before he could even grab his coffee, she was firing off her questions.
"Well superman, many of us in Metropolis have been wondering, how do you have your powers? where did you learn to do what you do? is there a secret to learning how to Fly? What do you lift, I mean your obviously stronger than any of us, Are you Single?"
He was baffled, he was fast, but nothing could prepare him for how many questions she was asking, nor the deeply personal nature of some of them. Was he single?! that was really so important to know?
"Well Miss Lane, I'm not from here. I'm from a far of world called Krypton. It was very far from here, the vastness of space makes it almost impossible to find from here. That's where I get most of my powers from, The sun allows me to do all the incredible things I can do. And yes, I am single."
At that last remark, she blushed. Anybody could see that, but to Clark, he could see a whole lot more. With X-Ray vision, he could see her heart was racing like a speeding bullet. He wasn't surprised. Many Young women found him attractive. But he always remembered what Pa, Rao bless his soul, told him when he was younger.
"Remember Clark, Man of Steel, Woman of tissue paper, be careful."
"Any other questions for me Miss Lane?" he asked
They sat and talked a while longer, About little things, why protect Metropolis, Why The "S", questions about Krypton, and a few more. When they were done, he shook her hand, ever careful to not shatter it, and he flew off. Once he was high enough, he pushed hard against gravity towards his Fortress. Moments later, he arrived when he found an extremely unwelcoming sight. The doors to the inside were blown wide open. Clark was furious, the ever present heat behind his eyes boiled. He flew inside,prepared to annihilate whatever he encountered. What he found more than surprised him.
A human of all things was inside his home! he was next to he weapons room. He could not allow the man to get inside.
"I don't know how you got in here, but this is your only warning to leave NOW!" he yelled.
"BeGoneKryptonian." it uttered in a horrid mechanical voice.
"I warned you." And he shot forward, grabbing the thing by the throat, revealing something quite surprising. The thing was cold to the touch. Clark did a very quick internal scan, and whatever this thing was, was not a human.
The thing placed its hand on him, and out of nowhere BOOM a red blast hit him in the chest. And it hurt. The pain was tolerable, but it surprised him heavily. He actually felt pain.
"Die" it uttered, as it morphed. It was strange, it appeared to be living and mechanical, all at the same time. It fired another blast at him but Clark dodged around it and smashed his fist into the thing. It flew back, in pain but got up moments later
"I don't know what you are or what you want, but I'm telling you to leave. NOW!" Clark was loosing it, his temper that was.
All of a sudden, another blast came from behind and this one was stronger than the last one. Clark turned to see three more of those things behind him. Now he was mad. He flew forward and grabbed all three and flew out of the fortress, and up into the atmosphere. The things became hot as the suns warmth radiated on them more and more until they were puddles falling back to earth. He turned and went back to the fortress to find that thing still trying to get inside of the weapons room.
"I warned you to leave." he said right before firing off his heat vision at the thing. It obliterated the thing in seconds. As it was bubbling away, it started to speak.
" ,VerySoon,TheEarthWillBeOurs."
Clark scooped up some of the thing, and walked over to his Database. The fact that this thing probably wasn't from earth was actually a good thing, because Jor-El, or at least the hologram of him, was able to do massive amounts of research for him in infinitely less time. He walked into the room, the fortress attuned to his presence and opening automatically. The whole place was crazy. Clark was the guardian of what could be the last relics of Krypton. Weapons, information, star charts, everything. He was prepared to defend it, from anyone. The local Galactic authority Green Lantern, had already tried convincing him to turn over the database, and Clark was barely able to restrain himself from smashing the guy back to Oa, the home of the Green Lantern Core. Clark walked in the room and Jor El, or at least the hologram of Jor El, awaited him.
"Nice to see you Kal-El, it has been 2 solar rotations since your Last visit." He said in his monotone voice. Kal-El, he hated his name. When he found out he wasn't born on earth, and was born on a distant planet, he was hurt. He had come to accept it, but it still dug at him he had a name from people he had never met, from a planet that no longer existed. When people asked him what his real name was, he used Kal-El, as to keep his private life safe.
"Nice to see you to father. I have some samples that I want you to test for me, find out where they come from. There was an intrusion in the fortress, but I've taken care of it."
"My apologies, I was not aware their were intruders. They went undetected to most of the scanners."
That was surprising. If these things could be avoided by most types of scans, they could be anywhere. Clark gave over the vile with the remains of the intruders to the hologram of his father for his analysis.
"Use that to see if you can trace where they came from, and if there are anymore in the fortress."
"Of course. Is there anything else?"
"Not right now. Thank you Jor-El."
"Of course Kal. Information will be made available to you as soon as I find it" he said as he faded. Clark walked back. The fortress was a massive thing. He walked back to the weapons room. This was the one thing that he could not allow anyone to get their hands on. The things in here were made by Kryptonians. They all had the capacity to wipe out whole cities. War suits, bombs and explosives of all sorts, that he needed to keep locked up for safekeeping. According to the overview that Jor-El had given him, Kryptonians had once been the mightiest empire in the Galaxy, and feared by everyone, even the Guardians. Even without a yellow sun to bless them with powers, Kryptonian methods of making war mad their foes tremble with fear. A quick look around and nothing was noticeably missing, but something felt different. Clark looked next to the war suit, and was scared at his find. The Kryptonian Laser Rifle was gone!
"Dam-nit!" he yelled. They had taken a very powerful weapon, one that in the wrong hands could potentially cost hundreds of lives.
"Jor-El, I need you to find the origin of that trespasser quickly.
Space Sector 2814
Sol System- Mars
Earth time September 22 15:34
Being a Green Lantern sucked sometimes thought Hal Jordan of Earth.
5 months ago, when he first became a Green Lantern, he was awe struck, he couldn't believe it. But now Hal was in his old ways. Many lanterns liked his approach, and how he was a bit over confident. Kilowog was especially proud of his rookie. Hal also drew ire form a few guys. Namely his partner, Sinestro. Oh they made a fantastic team, but they could not stand one another. The only person that he detested more was Superman. But he couldn't worry about that right now. His mission right now was vitally important to the survival of the human race.
He pushed towards Mars. When he landed, he expected to find a barren waste of red. and he was right. But he also found a large Black monolith
"What in the Hell is that ring?"
"Origin Unknown. New primary objective, investigate monolith." the ring spat back
Jordan approached the thing ad put his hand on it, then he was flooded with awareness.
Images flashed through his mind, but he had NO idea what any of it meant.
Green…people living in happiness
White people coming down
Whit people killing the green people
Green people fighting back
Green people being slaughtered
White people being put to sleep by the green people
A hooded figure awakening the White people.
The white people living in society.
Fire on earth
And then it got horrific
Parents holding their dead children
A child being pulled away for God knows what by the white people
Bodies being used as fuel by the White people
And so much worse.
Hal reeled back in disarray. Then a voice in his mind warned him
"You need to return back to Earth Hal Jordan, Or it will be to Late for humanity."
"What?! Who… Where are you?!" Hal was trying to get hi bearings, and couldn't find the source. But he took the voices warning to heart. There was no reason he shouldn't take a warning about his home. He flew back to the Earth, and before he landed, realized he was to late.
Ships were bombarding the Earth, Cities were burning, visible from space. And Hal Jordan realized that he was to late.
"Oh no." he mouthed
"Ring send out distress signal, Earth is under attack, unknown origin."
"Understood ring bearer Jordan, message sent." Hal flew in, He pressed as hard as he could, praying he would make it in time.
Author Notes
If you decided to check out this story, first of, thank you. Second, ill explain some small things. Those quotes that have the words all lumped together, i was trying to give these strange beings a strange way to speak, to make them distinguishable. If your wondering where the rest of the team is, not to worry, we will meet them soon. anyway, Batman's, all of these costumes are the way they appear in the New 52, I really do like those designs (Except the Joker and Harley Quinn. I hate the Jokers new look... Why rip off his face?!) anyway, thank you and stay tuned