Chapter 10
Darkseid watched from his crouched position on the floor as the spawn met with his Army staff. The once and future Master of Apokolips kept his head bent as the present but soon to be former holder of that title droned on. No doubt the fool felt secure that no one could dare challenge his rule. Who could? Darkseid was a bitter and broken and empty vessel. All knew that. Based on Darkseid's place in the lowest of the low, he'd learned that rumors of his downfall had long ago lost their ability to titillate. It was accepted fact, and if Darkseid was unable, then who would dare test Kalabak?
In the three months since Darkseid had first murdered again – oh, how he had missed that ultimate measure of power – he'd learned something very important: this world he lived in was not real. The smoke-colored mirror, it had appeared thrice in that time. On the first two occasions, it had nearly erased Darkseid's desire to question; his desire to understand how he had arrived at such a fallen state. The third time, however, the mirror had managed nothing. Darkseid understood what it was.
He knew the puppeteer handling the strings in this play. It was a vivid dream in Darkseid's mind run by that fool god Tezcatlipoca. Darkseid had made an extensive study of all so-called gods in the Universe. Tezcatlipoca had disappeared sometime after Darkseid's run. The expectation was that he had been expired somewhere, but clearly that was faulty information. He was known as the Smoking Mirror and the Master of Dreams.
Someone must have resuscitated the sometime war god and unleashed his powers on Darkseid. That someone would eventually pay.
Darkseid smiled grimly. He could have broken free of his imprisoning nightmare the moment he understood what was happening, but he chose not to. This was Tezcatlipoca's greatest strength: the induction of nightmares. Darkseid bowed to no one and he ran from no challenge.
No. In this world and on all others, Darkseid would rule. It was his driving motivation and the only reason for his existence: to dominate all as he chose.
Let Tezcatlipoca fear because Darkseid would see this dream through to the end. He would kill or destroy anything that braved him, even if that confrontation took place in as private a place as his nightmares.
Darkseid would not allow Tezcatlipoca to drive him away from what was the Master's. Darkseid smiled, a terrible and ugly grimace promising pain.
When this was over, there would be a reckoning.
So, Darkseid maintained the figment that he was broken. It was necessary…for now. He had even allowed himself to be sent to Granny Goodness one more time, mating with her once more. It was no less hideous the second time, but if that was the price to have ultimate victory, then so be it.
Darkseid's ravenous hunger for domination could carry him through any calamity. And, of course, there was the delicate taste of aroma of murder to give spice to his life.
Darkseid had actually made of study of murder. In his long life, he'd determined that there were, in fact, but twelve forms of murder. All else flowed from these. Thus far, he'd killed eleven slaves; each murder taking a slightly different form: poison, electrocution; decapitation; evisceration; starvation (that one had been difficult to arrange); crush injuries (Darkseid had thrown a slave off the building); strangulation; drowning; freezing; burning; and, of course, snapping of the neck (his personal favorite).
For the next victim, he had something else in mind: exsanguination. It would be delicious. He almost licked his lips in anticipation. What would make the act even sweeter was the victim: Granny Goodness herself.
Finally, the spawn's meeting was complete, and the proud fool sauntered by, trailed by his toadying generals. One of them aimed a wad of spittle, hitting Darkseid square on the forehead.
Darkseid hid a grin. Perfect. He stood, scowling furiously.
It was enough to draw the attention of the spawn. Kalabak turned to Darkseid, a look of dispassionate interest on his face. "It seems you still have some modicum of pride within you," Kalabak said. "To the Pit then."
Darkseid's face fell, as though in horror and fear, but he immediately acquiesced. All was going according to plan. As it should.
He made his way to the Pit, the hollowed out area under the Palace where dank and fetid cells housed those who had offended the Master. Within those rooms, unspeakable horrors took place on a daily basis. Lording over it all was Granny Goodness. Name the torture, and the wicked bitch had mastered it.
Darkseid sweated as he stood outside the entrance to the Pit, a large, unadorned wooden door hung on thick, black hinges. He used the knocker, hammering out an irregular, seemingly frightened staccato rhythm that quickly drew the guards.
They smirked and openly laughed when they saw him. "Back so soon, worm?" one of them asked.
"Goodness told us how you cried like a baby when the two of you mated," the other said with a bark of laughter. "The other prisoners will thank you. We won't have to choose which one of them will have the pleasure of servicing her tonight."
Darkseid maintained his silence. He forced himself to shiver as though in fear.
Soon, the guards had him outside of Goodness' chambers. Her eyes lit with anticipation when she saw him. "Leave us," she ordered the guards. "Come, lover," she said, taking Darkseid's limp hand in her own sweaty and meaty one as though they truly were in love.
She led him to a bedroom and ordered him to lie upon it.
"No," he said.
She had already turned away, preparing the machine that induced priapism. At his word of negation, she whipped around, a look of disbelief on her face. She snarled and pulled forth a whip. "So, defiance still swirls in your maggot-ridden carcass. I'll whip it out of you. You'll beg to…" Further words died in her throat.
"I think not, Goodness," Darkseid rumbled. She recognized his pose; he could see it in her eyes. All on Apokolips knew the pose he struck just then: feet spread wide and anchored to the earth, a sardonic grin on his face; and his arms tucked behind his back, hands clasped in one another. This was the posture of the Lord of Apokolips.
"Impossible," she hissed. "You're powers have been stripped.
"In this, as in many things, you are mistaken," Darkseid said. He moved with stunning speed, slamming Goodness down on the bed. He hammered a fist into the side of her head, knocking her unconscious. He leered over the unconscious form of his one-time torturer. "And now Goodness, you will service me, but in a manner that, I'm afraid, will bring you little pleasure." Quickly, he placed her within the manacles on the bed; arms and legs shackled.
He sat on a chair by the side of the bed and studied her, waiting for her to awaken. Where should he cut her? He chuckled. Why not? It would be delicious irony.
When Goodness awoke, she immediately struggled within the confines of her shackles. "Release me," she hissed. "You will pay for this."
"And you will be dead, my dear," Darkseid said in a conversational tone. "I understand hell is quite warm this time of year."
Finally, for the first time he could ever recall, he saw real fear in Goodness' eyes. She licked her lips. "There is no need for this. From now on, whenever you are sent down here, I will tell the Master that I tortured you without actually doing so. He will believe me."
Darkseid stood and paced, as though considering her offer. "A most tempting offer," he said. "However, I find that there is a single, but extremely large error in your thinking," Darkseid replied. "Though I seem to have fallen low, I am still the Master of Apokolips. It is as it always will be. So, if you lie to the Master, you lie to me." He shook his head as though in sorrow. "As you know, I react very poorly to falsity."
Goodness threw herself against her manacles once more. "Please. I only did as instructed. It is no different than when you ruled," she begged.
"I still rule," Darkseid reminded her. "The spawn and your true master, Tezcatlipoca, will both learn that soon enough."
Goodness' eyes widened in confusion and her mouth gaped.
Darkseid had his fill of her voice. He gagged her. He pulled forth one of the many knives she had secreted on her person and hacked off her clothes. He cut, a simple nick, two inches or so deep and two long, just above her labial folds.
He watched as her blood spilled and pooled between her grotesque thighs. The life slowly bled from her. He knew the moment she was dead, even without looking at her glassy eyes. He felt the final locks in his mind fall apart.
The power of the Omega was his once more. Even in this dreamscape of Tezcatlipoca's, Darkseid would not be denied. He was the Master of all he touched.
He stood and tossed aside the knife he hadn't realized he was still holding. He exploded through door after door, using brute force alone. When the guards came running, trying to discover the cause of the commotion, Darkseid threw them through several walls. One of the guards was unlucky enough to land in a cell with an unchained prisoner at which point, said guard was eaten.
It was an amusing death, and Darkseid watched for a moment, chuckling softly.
At the entrance to the Pit, Darkseid used the Omega Beams, blasting aside the door.
Kalabak would have sensed the Beams. Let the fool know that the true Master was coming for him.
As Darkseid rose up through higher levels, the red glow from his eyes convinced all who came to stop him to stand aside.
Into the throne hall, he came. Kalabak stood quickly, his face filled with alarm when Darkseid strode through the doors.
"Your presence is not required, slave," Kalabak growled.
Darkseid laughed. "Spawn, even in a dream you are a fool. You should have ended me when you first had the chance."
"A mistake I will rectify shortly." The spawn's eyes glowed red and from them shot forth the Omega Beams.
Darkseid did nothing to stop them, accepting them as they slammed into him. A grimace of pain crossed his face but nothing more. His own eyes glowed red.
"Impossible," Kalabak said, fear crossing his face.
"The Omega faithfully serve but one living master at a time." With that, the Omega Beams shot forward from Darkseid's eyes, encasing the spawn. Kalabak's dwindling scream echoed in the chamber long after his body was devoured. "And as it was in the beginning and shall be forever more, know that I am the Lord and Master here," he said to an empty chamber.
The generals bowed in obeisance.
Darkseid blinked and awoke in a chamber of ice. Standing alongside his prone form were two he knew.
Enemies.
Darkseid stood, hiding the weakness he felt. He must have been within the nightmare world for far longer than he realized.
J'onn and Atom jumped back and prepared themselves.
"Oh, shit," Atom said.
J'onn was already calling in backup.
"Bow now, and your deaths will be swift," Darkseid rumbled. "Otherwise, I will ensure your torture for a century where you will die on your knees in the Pit."
Atom glanced at J'onn, and then back at Darkseid, studying the Lord of Apokolips. He scowled, unimpressed. "Aww, fuck you." Atom opened up with everything he had.
All five of the Leaguers present at Watchtower snapped to to attention when J'onn's cry for help came to them. The message was simple: Darkseid is awake
"Oh shit," Dinah whispered. "We're fucked."
"Can that shit," Shayera snapped. "We can take him."
"Hell yeah!" Steel shouted, fist-punching Hawkgirl.
"Get to the teleporter," Bruce ordered. "Now."
Wally was gone, blurring out of the room. By the time the other members of the League arrived at the control station, he had the teleporter prepped and ready.
Shayera turned to the others. "Remember your spacing," she warned. "If we bunch up, that's when his job's easier and he can nail us hard. Maintain your distance, but make sure you're close enough to give support." She turned to Bruce. "Who stays?"
He gave Dinah a look of regret. "You're sitting this one out, kid."
Dinah's jaw firmed into stubbornness. "Godammit. I got left behind the last time Darkseid was here," she complained. "Let someone else take babysitting duty."
"You're on the rotation for emergencies," Bruce said. "It's my call to override the schedule, and I'm not gonna."
Dinah frowned and looked away. "Fine. I'll hang out up here and look after the little creep. Dickhead Desaad."
"Sucks that Lantern is off-world," Wally remarked.
"We could use Zee also," Shayera said.
"You fight with the army you got," Steel replied.
"Time to roll." Bruce shifted into his Batman form. "Dinah?"
"Got it," Dinah said, momentarily coming out of her funk as she headed to the teleporter controls. "I'll bring Zatana up station after I transport you off." She glanced at the League. "Kick his rock-faced ass, boys."
"Do our best," Wally said.
"Time to rumble," Steel said, grabbing a few last pieces of gear and strapping them on.
"Get us there," Bruce ordered.
Dinah nodded and activated the teleporter.
They were gone.
The League materialized, just in time to see Atom go sailing end over and crash into a glacier two miles away. Closely following him went J'onn, in a similar uncoordinated flight.
Pulling himself up from a pit and dusting his hands off came Darkseid. "So, the rest of the weaklings decided to show up. Your fates were sealed the moment you dared raise arms against me. Know that I am the Lord of Apokolips. Know that I am the bringer of pain. I will rip the flesh…Argh!"
Shayera grimaced. She pulled her mace back to the ready position. "Dumbass and his speechifying," she muttered, flicking her wings and waiting for Darkseid's counterstrike.
Darkseid's eyes narrowed on Shayera. He feinted toward her, and instead charged Bruce.
Wally sped forward, an d whipped his leg around in a red blur, straight at Darkseid's ankles. Down went the Lord of Apokolips, grinding a furrow into the snow.
Steel launched upward and sped down, feet aimed straight at Darkseid's head. The Master rolled out of the way, and his leg whipped forward, cracking into Steel's armor, right behind the knees. Steel went down in a heap, face first.
Almost as quick as Flash, Darkseid rolled with his kick and leapt to his feet. He landed a hard stomp the back of Steel's armor, directly between the shoulder blades, plowing the Leaguer fifteen feet into the ice.
J'onn was back in it. He didn't bother trying to get into the mind of the beast of Apokolips. Within Darkseid simply lay a cold rational madness, unamenable to anything approaching empathy. The Manhunter flew in hard and fast, slamming into Darkseid, driving him away from the fallen Steel.
By then Atom was back in the game. He pulled Steel out. "Alright, bud?"
Steel nodded grimly. "We got some work to do," he said. "Light him up. Plasma."
Atom grinned. "I like the way you're thinking."
They lifted off. "Spacing!" Shayera yelled into their earbuds. Atom and Steel gave each other embarrassed grins, before quickly moving apart. "Damn amateurs," they heard her mutter.
Darkseid had just punching his way out of the small mountain of ice J'onn had thrown him into. He was no longer amused. These insects would pay for their insolence. Especially as they didn't have the Kryptonian to cover their glaring weaknesses.
Atom unleashed the lightning; recurring forked tines of plasma discharge at over 20,000 amperes, 50 million volts, and 28,000 degrees. It was enough to level several city blocks or a small mountain. After Atom's barrage, Steel cut loose with one of his own. He emptied both barrels of his railguns, sending slugs racing into Darkseid at over ten times the speed of sound. Following that, before the dust and snow and ice had settled, he sent out waves of missiles and lances of lasers. All told, the two Leaguers carved out a crater almost a quarter mile deep and a half mile wide.
Standing in the center, unfazed and with hands clasped behind his back was Darkseid. He smirked. Was that all they could muster? He would rip the skin from their flesh. With a chuckle, he leapt toward Atom, who easily dodged. Wally had no chance, shielded as he'd been by Atom's body.
He hadn't minded Shayera's admonition: watch the spacing.
He went down as Darkseid hammered him with a heavy punch. Darkseid picked Wally up by the neck, his hand squeezing, preparing to snap the insolent pest's neck.
Bruce arrived. He put everything he had into chopping at Darkseid's wrist, forcing him to let go of Wally. Bruce smiled. "Come on, scary. Let's dance."
Darkseid smiled back, a look of anticipation on his face. "My pleasure, mortal. Dance well and perhaps I will have sympathy for you. I'll kill you here rather than in the Pit."
"Talk's cheap."
Darkseid came forward, closing the distance.
He came forward as Darkseid bullrushed Bruce, attempting to grab Batman and bruise him into the ice. With every dart forward of the Master, Batman was always just a little too quick, dodging out of the way each time. Bruce smiled as he saw J'onn circle behind. Batman hit Darkseid with stun grenades and plasma grenades. Bruce knew they were mere irritants, but nevertheless, they did their job.
Darksied remained distracted, never seeing J'onn swoop in until the Manhunter had bounced his fist off the Master's rock-like cranium, kn him ass-over-end, straight toward Shayera.
Hawkgirl swung hard. Her mace connected with Darkseid's head with the tolling and reverberation of a deep bell. Darkseid flew through the air, straight at J'onn.
This time the Lord of Apokolips was ready, grabbing hold of the Manhunter's arm and flinging him straight to the ground. Before J'onn could recover, Darkseid landed and a single punch and laid out J'onn.
Enough! The pests had denied him long enough. Darkseid, watched as Steel flew in low. Before the fool could let loose his lightning, the Master leapt, landing a knee to the mortal's head and grabbing his metal armor. The Lord of Apokolips flung Steel to stillness directly next to the Martian.
In came the silver-garbed one and the winged woman. They seemed more likely to be vigorous. Darkseid smiled to himself. These humans were known to have great concern for their women. Let the one with wings be the first to taste his wrath.
He ignored Atom and went after Shayera. She swung and connected with her mace, but Darkseid had been ready. The mace hit his forehead, but other than rocking him back momentarily, it did no visible damage.
The Master closed within the circle of her swing and tore the mace from her grip, smashing the handle straight into her face. Her eyes rolled and she went stiff.
"NO!" the one dressed as a bat cried out.
Bruce rushed forward, all thought but to save Shayera gone from his mind. Batman fouled Atom's approach, and Atom growled as he pulled up out of his attack dive, unable to get off a clean shot.
Darkseid grinned. The Manhunter, the Speedster, the armored one, and the winged woman were out of the fight. Only these two were left. The odds were in the Lord's favor. As they had been even at the beginning of this battle. Such was life: fortune favored the ruthless.
Darkseid prepared to dole out punishment. He had reconsidered:none of them deserved to die here. He would make an example of them in the Pit.
Kal flew high, finally able to view the battle from fifty miles out. He was at over mach 20 and closing fast, but even then he might be too late. It was down to Bruce and Atom against Darkseid. Kal could only watch helplessly as his friends fought against the Lord of Apokolips. From this distance, even his heat vision would have been of limited use; the most he could do would be to pop a bag of popcorn.
He frowned grimly and waited until he was in range. He closed the distance in 11 seconds; an agony of time. Once in range, he didn't bother with the chivalric code; he didn't announce his presence or call forth his opponent so that they could battle nobly and fairly. He simply opened up, spiraling and twisting keeping Darkseid focused within the focus of his heat vision for the two seconds until he landed before the grim Master.
Even then, he didn't let up. He didn't need to be fair to this monster; this wasn't some pay-per-view fighting event. This was war. And in this case, Kal would hold nothing back.
He kept Darkseid pinned under the pain of his heat vision.
The Kryptonian had arrived. Darkseid grasped a small mountain of ice and threw it at his hated foe. It had been this man who had been the cause of his humiliation, not once, but twice. It was utterly unacceptable that Darkseid might be forced to separate from another battle with this one.
The mountain of ice came back at him in shards and crystals and powdered snow. Behind it came the Kryptonian, looking as grim as death, eyes glowing red.
Darkseid had seen that look before. Not in the eyes of this one, but in others, especially himself: it was the look of one prepared to kill.
Darkseid unleashed his Omega Beams. It hadn't brought the Master victory two years prior when last he had fought with the Kryptonian, but perhaps it would be enough to slow him down.
His plan had been anticipated.
Interposed between Darkseid and his foe stood the woman, the one known as Diana. She held her vambraces before her, struggling to throw back the power of the Omega and protected the Kryptonian.
She was successful, and Darkseid grimaced as the power of the Omega flared and burned out. The woman dropped, and from behind a woman's skirts, the so-called Superman ignited part of Darkseid's rock armor with the cursed heat vision.'
Darkseid roared as the one in silver-garbed arrived, lighting into him the lightning once more. The agony from the heat and electricity ended for the barest of instants, replaced by the pain of a fist smashing into his face. The Kryptonian had knocked out several of his teeth. Again.
Darkseid spit them out and leapt backward, activating a boomtube. The Master of Apokolips knew fear for the first time in millennia. This was a battle lost. Right now, all Darkseid wanted was escape.
The League did not make it easy, but eventually Darkseid was able to enter the tube and escape from the cursed world named Earth.
He would be back. Vengeance would be his. He promised it.
Bruce smiled at Kal. "Good to see back on your feet, Kent," he said.
Shayera landed heavily; an ungracious entrance for a gracious lady. "Good thing you got here when you did. Rock face was starting to handle us pretty good."
Steel and Wally and J'onn had also recovered by then and hugged Kal.
"We kicked rock-face's ass," Steel whooped, fist-thumping anyone he could. "Alright, mostly it was Big Blue, but fuck it, we were part of the fight."
"Fucking A," Atom said. "You hear how he screamed like a little bitch…" At Shayera and Diana's glares, he quickly changed tacks. "I mean, screamed like a little girl…I mean like a baby when we lit into him?" He tried to smile winningly at the two female Leaguers, but it came off as sickly.
They still looked annoyed.
"I think a good woman could really help improve your disposition," Shayera said to Atom, a considering look on her face.
Atom looked even sicker. Great. When would he learn to think before he spoke? Thank god Shayera had turned away from him, focusing on Supes instead. He owed the big dude another huge thanks.
"Were you trapped in a nightmare also?" Shayera asked.
Kal nodded and glanced at Diana. "It was the worst thing I could imagine," he said.
"What was it," Wally asked, wincing a moment after the words left his mouth. "Sorry about how insensitive that sounded," he said.
Kal shrugged. "Don't worry about it," he replied. "But, if you don't mind, I really don't want to talk about it. Ever. Just bring me up to speed on everything that's been going on.
Wally grinned. "Well, if it's speed you want, you've come to the right man.
Kal smiled. "Talk fast."
Wally spoke as quickly as he could, his voice beoming a monotone buzz. "Got all that?"
"In one," Kal replied.
Diana shook her head in disgust.
"What?" Kal asked, sounding completely guiless.
Diana turned away. "Have Dinah or Zee teleport us up," she said to J'onn. Kal winked at Wally from behind her back. "And I know what you're doing, Kal," she said a moment later, wiping the smile off his face. She turned to Wally and Steel and Atom. "And since you manly men are so manly, you wouldn't mind cleaning up this mess, would you?" she asked, gesturing around her to the carved and cratered and smashed up ice and glaciers. She glared at Kal, who was doing his best to look studiously innocent. "Show off," she muttered just as the teleport beam activated.