"Your mission Rx120045 is to go to DC world Earth-16." An unseen voice announced to the semiconscious Maxwell. "You will be the ultimate hero. You have no flaws, no weakness. Your strength will be unparalleled, your armor indestructible, your mind unbreachable, and magic will hold no sway over you. You are now the guardian of both heroes and people. You will never falter. You will never fail. Rogue Shadow, good luck."
Maxwell was engulfed in a flash of light. The light faded. Maxwell was gone.
Maxwell appeared in a flash of light in an abandoned alley.
Wha… What happened? Who am I? How can I speak? How did I get here? Maxwell's mind was swamped by the ocean of questions. It prevented him from noticing the multiple footsteps that announced the approach of several dead beat drunken people. It prevented him from responding to their insults and taunts. It made him freeze up when they grabbed him. A punch hit him, then another and another. He felt himself being thrown… Come on you got to do something. Come on. A kick hit him. Come on do something, anything. Maxwell you worthless piece of shit do something! The name acted as a trigger. Maxwell knew his name. He knew what happened. He knew how he appeared. He knew what he needed to do.
Dodging another kick, Maxwell sprang to his feet with unnatural grace.
The sudden change in demeanor, position, and atmosphere took a second to breakthrough the haze of the alcohol but one second was all Maxwell needed.
Maxwell round house kicked the nearest three drunks in the face then used the momentum to set up for a spinning drop kick that shattered the fourth man's knee while Maxwell drove an elbow in to his face. Drunk guys number five and six where arguably the drunkest of the group and decided to charge at Maxwell in sync. Maxwell simply took a step back and bashed the two heads to together; they dropped like stones.
With the fight over Maxwell checked his injuries. One broken rib, two bruised, heck of a lot of bruises and cuts, but nothing I won't recover from. Maxwell rolled up his shirt and started running through the mental list of healing spells that came imbedded in his brain with his creation. Too specific, No limbs need to be regrown, not skilled enough, not enough power, here we go.
"Waise heill." Maxwell commanded quietly as the bones snapped back into place and healed back to their full strength. Maxwell focused the spell on his skin and started closing the various cuts and scraps that littered his body. How could I be so stupid? I could have wiped the floor with them before they gave me the ability to blend in with the ocean. I mean how am I supposed to be a perfect hero if I get beat up this badly by six drunks who probably have never been in a fight. I mean- Where's my armor?
Maxwell spun around wildly looking for his armor. No no no no NO! The drunks stirred slightly in their sleep. Maxwell toned down his mental shouts. I can't lose my armor. I can't-there it is. There it was, Maxwell's suit of armor, partially hidden behind a dumpster.
The armor was perfectly black and looked more like a shadow than an object. Maxwell ran his fingers over the patterned surface while savoring the almost perfectly smooth armor that Maxwell had no doubt to be impenetrable. Maxwell circled around to the back of the armor and opened the hatch. Wow. Maxwell knew the workings of the armor and its history but seeing and feeling his own armor for the first time was something no implanted memory could replicate. Admittedly, it was close but it still was not the real thing.
"Rx120045 this is your armor, your life, your skin and muscle. Protect it." A voice said into his head with an eerie resemblance to the voice that first sent him to DC Earth-16.
"Wait you guys are still in my head?"
"Only for this first twenty four hours after that you must rely on yourself. Ask a question."
"What am I?"
"You are a genesis class clone of the original Rogue Shadow who was formerly known as Maxwell." The voice responded.
Maxwell debated for a second. "Who is Rogue Shadow?"
"A former human being whose knowledge of the inner workings of omniverse allowed him to create a teleported designed for transportation within his own universe but resulted in the teleportation of his body and the prototype version of his armor to another universe where his power grew until he became a god. Now he is the third most powerful being in existence."
"What is a genesis class clone?"
"The best class there is." The voice responded wishfully. "They are designed to grow and adapt, become their own person if you will. Unlike the other classes their powers are not limited. They have the potential to become Rogue Shadow if they so choose. They can retire and live a normal life in any universe of their choosing. They are free to follow their directive or ignore it. I envy you."
"You're a clone."
"Dispatcher Class." The voiced stated bitterly. "Forever cursed to monitor the omniverse and dispatch others to deal with the disturbances created from our base multiverse."
"We have a base multiverse?"
"Created by the original. If you choose to become more like Rogue Shadow you will eventually find it or another being who can take you to it."
Maxwell paused for a few seconds. "Can you tell me more about the universe I am in?"
"For self-building purposes I cannot disclose to you all the information on the world's villains but I can tell you everything about it's heroes."
Maxwell flew away from the city. "Tell me everything you can."
"Nice night for saving heroes isn't it." Rogue Shadow commented and scaring Artemis to an inch of a heart attack.
She was wearing all black like a cat burglar or more accurately a shadow. Before Maxwell spoke Artemis was aiming at Kid Flash while he was fighting the Amazo bot with a sharp steel arrow.
Artemis spun around leveling the arrow at Rogue Shadow but he was already gone.
"Accessing Red Tornado." The Amazo bot announced and threw Superboy, Kid Flash, and Robin to separate parts of the gym.
"Accessing Captain Atom." The Amazo bot fired at Kid Flash who promptly dodged it.
Maxwell brought his sword around in a diagonal slash to the Amazo bots exposed back.
"Accessing Martian Manhunter."
The blade passed right through the now intangible robot. Maxwell cursed his luck and sprang away.
"Accessing Superman."
Amazo sent a punch at Maxwell. Maxwell caught it squarely in his hand.
"Is that the best you can do?" Maxwell taunted to the stunned crowd.
"Accessing Flash."
Maxwell blocked each and every single punch Amazo threw. Maxwell caught the last one and threw the Amazo bot back with a lazy flick of his wrist.
"Accessing Captain Atom."
The Amazo bot fired a beam of pure energy at Maxwell who blocked with his suit's own ion repulsion system. Maxwell pushed the energy beam back steadily until the Amazo bot was blasted by the ray.
"Accessing Black Canary."
The Amazo bot let out a canary scream that devastated the gym. Maxwell stood unaffected.
"Accessing Martian Manhunter."
Amazo flew at Maxwell in it's intangible state. It attempted to pass through Maxwell but Maxwell simply grabbed it while it was still purposively untouchable and sent it flying back through the hole it had already emerged from several times.
Maxwell heard impossible being whispered under everybody's breaths and the nearly inaudible creak of a bowstring being drawn back. Artemis don't do it. Do not do it. There was a subtle twange. And she does it. Maxwell threw his sword backwards without even looking at the area he knew the arrow was going to pass through. He was rewarded with a dull ping as the arrow head bounced off the flat of Maxwell's blade before imbedding itself in the wall.
"Was that robot the best you could come up with, Ivo?" Maxwell asked conversationally as he turned to give Ivo his full attention. Ivo did not respond.
"New file created. Designation unknown." Amazo stated somewhere on the other side of the hole.
"Designation Rogue Shadow." Maxwell corrected then turned his attention back to Ivo. "Your bot can only copy what is used in combat and only what is used in combat can it use. Ergo, your creation was doomed for failure.
"File renamed, Rogue Shadow."
"I'm bored." Maxwell yawned.
"Accessing Rogue Shadow."
Amazo flew at Maxwell at Flash's speed.
"Jeirda." Maxwell ordered.
Amazo broke into five pieces before slamming into Maxwell's armored form and forcing him to stumble slightly to avoid being toppled. Damn it. Overexerted. Maxwell stumbled a little bit more as he struggled to stay awake.
"Semisosa" Maxwell whispered. Darkness fell.
The first thing Maxwell was aware of was the heart monitor. Seriously, a heart monitor. Maxwell opened his eyes and found himself in the cave's infirmary. I guess they got the message. Maxwell pulled out all of the completely unnecessary wires and ivs then sat up. Maxwell bent his elbow and heard five cracks. Five hours, that was definitely longer than I thought it would be. Maxwell stretched then started to get out of bed when a bat strode into the room.
"Who are you?" Batman demanded.
"Maxwell aka Rogue Shadow." Maxwell answered. "I'm just starting out."
"There is no record of your existence." Batman stated bluntly.
"Considering the fact that I was only let out of the cloning chamber two days ago and teleported to this universe, I would be very surprised if you did actually have anything on file." Maxwell said with a hint of amusement.
"A clone of who?" Batman asked.
"The original Rogue Shadow." Maxwell replied. "Third most powerful being in the omniverse. I doubt anyone here with the exception of Klarion and maybe Doctor Fate, has heard of him, since he is not naturally a part of this multiverse."
"Does your presence here-" Batman began.
"No." Maxwell interrupted. "I was sent by the original's magic meaning this universe's base code is added on to the universe, I was created in, base code thus eliminating any negative side affects both to myself and the universe as a whole."
"Why were you sent?"
"Simply put, to become the perfect hero." Maxwell said nonchalantly. "My armor gives me invulnerability, unparalleled strength, flight, energy beams, speed, and a massive supercomputer. I, by myself, have access to the original's fighting style, immortality, budding telepathy, and magic which is ,at least for now, impractical for everything but healing."
Batman seemed to mull this over. "How did you find the team?"
"My dispatcher told me where they were and what they were up against. Unfortunately for me, the twenty four hour grace period is already over and my dispatcher can no longer contact me." Maxwell said.
"How much do you know about the Justice league?"
"Everything." Maxwell said simply. " , fears, strengths, weakness, likes, dislikes, what you grade you got for your third grade paper, everything."
"What do you know about the villains?"
"Not as much as I would like." Maxwell said sourly. "But enough so see ya. Slytha."
Batman slumped unconscious.
To the Shadow Platform.
I had to revise it.