Sorry the update took so long again, I've been getting lazy. I promise the next update will be a lot faster, keep on reading and reviewing everyone!
Chapter Eleven: Death
Flash was uneasy watching the battle take place. He knew that Doomsday would attack Cyborg. He didn't know how much destruction it would cause. The sheer force from their punches was causing windows several blocks away to shatter!
"This is ridiculous." Flash sighed, but at least Doomsday seemed to be winning. That was kind of a good thing… kind of. He looked to the soldier in the power suit. He cold have left like everyone else, but he had stayed behind, making sure all the civilians got to safety. "Alright then…" Flash sighed. "Time to get moving again."
The two powerful warriors clashed, their blows thundering off of each other. This battle was going to last a long, long time.
Meanwhile, just outside the SHIELD headquarters…
Galatea and Volcana broke through the surface of the ground, outside the base. Galatea was drenched in sweat, and was visibly in pain.
"You ok?" Volcana asked.
"Yeah… uh, fine…" Galatea huffed.
"I couldn't help but notice you aren't using your left arm very much… So what's up with that?" Volcana raised an eyebrow.
"I- it's a disease. Something only clones get."
"Yeah, I remember you said something earlier, something about having a week left?"
"Yeah." Galatea said grimly. "Probably not even that now… if I wasn't wearing this suit, you'd see that I'm like, rotting. All my flesh and stuff is pretty much dead on the left side now."
"Hmm. Does he know?"
"Who?"
"That guy you like, or love, or whatever. Does he know?"
"Yeah. He knows."
"Then if I were you, I'd go and find him."
"Why?"
"Because you want to be with him, right? So if you're time is almost up, spend it being happy!"
"I- I don't know." Galatea lowered her head. "I doubt that he wants to see me very badly."
"'Tea." Volcana put her hand on Galatea's shoulder. "I don't know much about this guy, but I think I know men in general. And if he's anything like you say he is… and you really apologize… he'll forgive you."
"Thanks." Galatea grinned. "So where are you headed?"
"Hobbs Bay. My son knows to go there when things get rough."
There was a long silence as the two women looked up at the sun, for the first time in what seemed like forever.
"You're son will be waiting awhile then, sweetheart." A sinister voice called from behind. Galatea and Volcana spun around to see Breaker, looking down on them with a cruel grin.
"You again." Volcana growled.
"Yup, me again! I'm sure you're very excited." Breaker neared them casually, not intimidated by the two at all. "I've actually been hoping you two would escape. I hate to start a job that I can't finish." Breaker looked at Voclana's broken arm with a look of hunger in his eyes. He wanted to break more. He always wanted more.
"Back off." Galatea threatened, heat vision burning in her eyes.
"Shut up and wait your turn, blondy. It's first come, first serve. But don't worry, I'll try to finish Volcana quickly, I'm growing bored with her. Hopefully I'll get a scream out of you."
Galatea glanced at Volcana and mouthed the word, "run." But Volcana shook her head. She wanted to take Breaker down, and with Galatea at her side, she was pretty sure that they could.
Volcana created a ball of fire in the palm of her hand, and hurled it toward Breaker. Breaker jumped above the fireball and landed on a ledge above them. "Disappointing." He muttered, and then leapt at the red headed woman.
Galatea moved in to stop him, but Breaker struck her in several places with remarkable speed, breaking several bones. Galatea cried out and fell to the ground. Breaker then kicked her to the side and ran at Volcana.
Galatea stood to fight, but Volcana shot a blast of fire in front of her, cutting Galatea off from the Volcana and Breaker.
"Volcana, what-"
"Get out of here, 'Tea." Volcana said firmly.
"What? No, I'm not going to leave you, I-"
"Galatea shut up and go!" Volcana demanded. "You deserve a second chance more than I do. Run."
"I- I-"
"Just promise me one thing, Galatea."
"What?"
"My son… make sure he's ok. And if possible… try and find him a home or something. Please."
"I will." Galatea nodded. Then she turned and flew off quickly.
"Ah, how noble." Breaker chuckled, reaching down toward Volcana. "Nobility gets you nowhere but the grave, sweetheart." He began to break her.
Galatea was almost outside the vicinity of the SHIELD headquarters when she was hit by a powerful projectile. It struck her down and she fell to the ground, where she was instantly surrounded by Cadmus trucks. Amanda Waller stepped out, with two armed guards by her side.
"You didn't really think you were getting away that easily, did you?" Waller raised an eyebrow.
"Oh… damn it…" Galatea groaned.
Meanwhile, at the Meta-Gene Prevention Facility below Mt. St. Helens…
Diana helped Bruce get everyone outside into the transport ship J'onn had sent. So many people had died… it was sickening. Cadmus had gone too far this time. She looked to Batman, who was clearly as bothered as she was, even if his outward appearance didn't show it. Diana could read him well enough by now to know that he was enraged. She headed back down into the prison area, making sure they had gotten everyone.
Diana heard the sound of heels clicking across pavement toward the end of the hall, and soon a woman was visible. Tall, with lush dark hair and golden wings on her back. She looked strangely familiar, and very powerful.
"I- I know you." Diana said.
"As you should, child. I am Thanatos, goddess of death. I escort those who have died. There is much, much death here. I have been very busy. Not pleasant death either. unlike our father, have no desire to see mortals suffer. I find this… bothersome."
"Lady Thanatos, why do you linger here? We have recovered all those who still live and are taking them to safety." Diana said.
"Child… sister. I have forgotten how young you are, and how sadly uneducated in the ways of the gods. I am death. I appear not only where death is, but where death is coming. And there is much more on its way."
"What do you mean?" Diana asked.
"Another mortal. He is to die very soon… probably at this very location. He is brave. His bravery, his passion, and his love are all well placed. He has no faith in the afterlife, but he has every faith in you."
Diana's eyes widened. "Bruce…" She realized. "I won't let you take him!"
"That is not your decision child, nor is it mine. If you wish to keep him in this life, then figure out what lady Aphrodite told you. That is the key to stopping this death. It will be caused not only by the abomination you call the Cyborg, but by the mortal god Kal-El."
"Then we won't wake him." Diana stood her ground.
"That too, would be a very bad decision. There are no good choices I'm afraid, only a bad choice, and a worse choice. Good and decency do not die, Diana. They only slumber."
"I don't understand."
"You will eventually. Hopefully before it is too late. And remember Diana, only you can save them."
"Them? We aren't just talking about Bruce anymore, are we?" Diana raised an eyebrow.
Thanatos grinned amusedly. "You catch on rather quickly, Diana. Perhaps you will be able to save the two of them after all."
"But who are they? Who am I supposed to save?"
"You must look deep into your heart, and understand theirs. Only then can you find the truth you seek."
"What are you saying?"
Suddenly a blast of thunder rumbled from the heavens. "I'm afraid I must go now, Diana. Our uncle Zeus believes I have said too much already."
"Wait! What of the Amazon that lady Aphrodite spoke off… the one who was once Henshaw's wife?"
"Only love can quell a storm of the heart." Thanatos said. Thunder blasted again, and this time lightning struck the ground powerfully. "I really must go, before I anger Zeus further. Goodbye, Diana." Then Thanatos vanished.
"Wait!" Diana pleaded. "What do you-" It was too late. Thanatos was already gone.
Only love can quell a storm of the heart. "What does that mean?" Diana muttered. Then she turned and headed out of the hallway. "Bruce. We need to talk."
Meanwhile, at the abandoned warehouse where the Justice Lords are hiding…
It was time. The baby was 'born.' Lord Diana held the crying newborn in her arms, cradling her affectionately. She looked to the other altered fetuses growing in the pods. "You won't be like them." Lord Diana said to the infant.
"Of course she won't." Lord Batman said flatly.
"Isn't she beautiful Bruce?" Lord Diana asked, realizing that her Bruce had hardly even looked at the child.
"She's…" Lord Bruce was quiet.
"Bruce?"
"She's chubby." Lord Bruce shrugged, and then went back to his work.
Suddenly a red and yellow birderang sailed out and struck Lord Bruce's computer, destroying it.
"What the hell?" He whipped around and was kicked by Tim Drake, suited up as Robin!
Superboy went in to hit Lord Diana, but saw that she was holding the newborn, and pulled back. "Um… I don't really want to hurt the baby, so…" He muttered awkwardly. Lord Diana and kicked him in the knee, dislocating it and putting him on the ground.
"Polite little idiot, aren't you?" She chuckled. Then Spoiler's grapple-line wrapped around Lord Diana's neck, and pulled her back. Kid Flash zoomed in and snatched the baby out of the woman's hands while Spoiler choked her.
"So… what do I do with it?" Kid Flash asked.
"Just… hold it." Robin shrugged before he was punched down by Lord Bruce.
Lord Diana grabbed the cable and jerked it forward, smashing Spoiler into a wall. Superboy began to stand, and was swept into a desk by the blur that was Johnny Quick.
Lord Batman smacked Robin down again. "You know, in my world, you died on your first night out… Tim." Lord Batman said, lifting Robin by the cape. "Clearly the Batman in this world is a bit more protective." Then he punched Robin in the stomach and threw him onto the floor, kicking him in the ribs.
He saw Superboy beginning to stand, and took out the piece of kryptonite he had taken from the beach the day Ultraman was murdered. He held it toward Superboy and watched him cringe.
"Interesting… kryptonite doesn't seem to affect you as much as it did Superman. You're only feeling a little pain." He lifted Superboy into the air. "You were a clone, no doubt. Probably several years old now. But you don't seem to have experienced any clone degeneration whatsoever… very strange. From Dagget's research, I learned how to give clones a resistance to the disease, but you seem completely immune."
"What are you rambling on about, pointy-ears?" Superboy groaned, only partly paying attention. Then he spit on Lord Batman's face. Lord Batman grimaced and balled the kryptonite up in his hand, punching the young hero in the face, creating a bruise. Then he took a blood sample from Superboy.
"I'll have to study this." He put the sample into a compartment on his utility belt.
"Hey! Where'd the kid with my baby go?" Lord Diana demanded.
"Over here!" Kid Flash yelled from behind. She looked to see him with the infant in his arms, ready to bolt out the door. Her eyes widened.
"Good job KF… this might be just what we need." Robin muttered.
"Let me and my friends go, or you never see the kid again." Kid Flash warned. Of course he was bluffing, they would give the baby back, but he needed a way out. Then Johnny Quick zoomed up behind him, and began choking him. Lord Diana took her baby back.
"What should we do with them?" Quick asked.
"If we let them go, they'll come back with reinforcements, but we have no reason to keep them around. Just dispose of them." Lord Batman said casually, sliding Robin and the unconscious Superboy over to Quick. Lord Diana kicked Spoiler over too.
"Got it… I guess it's my turn to take out the trash." Quick sighed.
Meanwhile, at Stryker's Island Maximum Security Prison…
Lex Luthor woke up in the medical ward, with a tube in his arm. While working in the courtyard, he had suddenly started coughing up blood, and then fainted. He could remember that much.
The doctor on duty entered in. "Hello Mr. Luthor. How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Like I just threw up a pint of blood for no apparent reason. What the hell happened to me out there?" Luthor demanded.
"Huh… about that Mr. Luthor… I'm afraid I have bad news."
"Well I expected that much. I haven't had good news since my court date."
"Mr. Luthor, it is my understanding that you were exposed to large amounts of kryptonite radiation before you incarceration…"
"Yes, and I got cancer from it before. But I'm cured, I know that much! And I was assured that the cancer would never come back!"
"And that's true Mr. Luthor. The cancer didn't come back. But unfortunately, cancer isn't the only problem that can arise from kryptonite radiation."
"What?"
"I believe Superman was victimized by this once… kryptonite poisoning. It's when kryptonite gets into your bloodstream, and-"
"Yes but kryptonite can kill Superman! It's his weakness! Why should I be affected by kryptonite poisoning? It shouldn't even effect humans!"
"It shouldn't, no. In most cases it wouldn't. But that's because most humans have a resistance to the rare type of radiation that comes from kryptonite. But unfortunately, the kryptonite-induced cancer that you had destroyed that part of your immunity. During that battle in Metropolis a few months ago, you were probably wounded pretty badly, is that correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"During that time, kryptonite particulates must have entered your bloodstream through an open wound. From there, the radiation literally poisoned your blood. Haven't you been feeling ill lately, Mr. Luthor?"
"Yeah, I thought it was the prison food." Luthor said darkly. "Poisoned my blood… can't you fix that?"
"Not at this stage, I'm afraid. Honestly, Mr. Luthor, it's a miracle that you've survived this long. It's destroyed most of your organs already, it's only a matter of time before you're body shuts down."
Luthor paled. "How long? How long do I have?"
"Well really, you should be dead already. But considering you've managed to survive this long, I'd say that you have about a week, maybe a week and a half. I'm sorry, Mr. Luthor."
"A week. Maybe a week and a half." Luthor repeated. "Well then… I suppose that fits just damn fine."
"What do you mean?" The doctor asked.
"Superman. I become head of LexCorp, he becomes a damned superhero. I become President of the United States, he becomes a god among mortals. He gets frozen… and I die. No matter what happens, Superman always has it just a little bit better than I do. He's always one notch better than me."
"I'll leave you to your thoughts, Mr. Luthor." The doctor left the room.
"Not this time. I won't die first."
Meanwhile, in the batcave…
Helena felt every single bruise, broken bone and pulled muscle as she helped with the cleanup. Lois, who had been trying to find something to use against Denise in Batman's trophy room, was now helping too. Though her condition limited her ability to bend down and pick up. And Kara, confined to her wheelchair, wanted to help but found it difficult.
"Ow!" Lois suddenly cried, nearly doubling over.
"What's wrong?" Kara asked.
"Something hurting… God please don't let something be wrong with the baby…" She pleaded as the pain increased.
Alfred helped her toward the medical area, and soon he had on rubber gloves, a scrub top, and a mask over his mouth and nose.
"In her majesty's service, I was many things, among them a doctor. Those doctorial skills increased when master Bruce began his crusade as Batman. I am quite certain that I can help." Alfred said.
Like a skilled doctor Alfred began his examination. He seemed shocked by something. "How far along are you?" He asked.
"Only about four months, maybe four and a half." Lois sighed, still in pain.
"Strange. It seems the baby is already trying to come out." He said. "You are beginning to feel the stages of labor."
"What? How is that even possible yet…?" Lois asked.
"Wait a minute… oh no! I can't believe I forgot!" Kara shouted, smacking her palm against her forehead.
"What did you forget?" Helena raised an eyebrow.
"Well… a couple years ago… I, uh… I kind of though I might have been pregnant." Kara said, some embarrassment in her voice. "And when Clark found out, he gave some big long lecture, and during it all, he mentioned that Kryptonian pregnancies don't last as long as human pregnancies."
"What?" Lois gasped.
"Yeah. In fact, a Kryptonian pregnancy only takes about half the time that a human one would." Kara felt like an idiot for forgetting this.
"So… because Clark is the father… Lois is already having the baby?" Helena was shocked.
"Yup. Seems that way."
Alfred began preparing to deliver the child.
"Shouldn't we get her to a hospital instead?" Kara asked.
"If Kal-El was the father of this child, then master Bruce's knowledge of Kryptonian anatomy will prove invaluable. Plus, we don't want word of this reaching those undesirables causing problems for you as of late." Alfred said, and everyone realized he was right.
The old butler was ready to deliver the half-Kryptonian child into the world.
Meanwhile, at the hospital in Coast City…
Shayera waited outside the room where John was being treated, feeling miserable. The doctors had informed her that John's condition was getting worse, and they couldn't find anything that could defeat the poison. And she couldn't tell them what the poison really was without revealing who they were. And she certainly couldn't do that. But were secret identities really more important than John's life? At first she wanted to say the answer was no, but then she thought about everyone else who could be hurt if they did reveal their secret identities. Everyone close to her and John and would be in danger, and she decided that John probably valued the lives of his entire family over his own.
"Shayera?" A confident feminine voice asked. Shayera quickly snapped out of her trance and looked up at the woman who had approached, but wasn't sure whether she was happy about it or not. It was Mari McCabe, better known as Vixen.
"Hi Mari." Shayera said absently.
"Is John ok? I was watching the news and I saw that the Green Lantern got hurt in France, so I called J'onn and asked him about it. He told me to come here."
"John isn't doing very well." Shayera shook her head. "I'm so scared."
"Yeah, I hear you." Mari nodded.
Then there was a yell from down the hall. A southern-accented yell. Two guards walked out into the hall dragging Greg Sanders.
"Damn it let me go! My friend's in there!" He demanded loudly.
"Sir you can't see him until the doctors say so. Please wait out here, and if we have to deal with you again, you'll be out of the building." A guard said, throwing Greg over to Mari.
"Uh… I'm so sorry. I'll try to keep a better leash on him." Mari said. The guards left.
"What happened?" Shayera asked.
"I tried to get into the room and see John, they wouldn't let me." Greg shrugged. Greg went by the alias of Vigilante, and he and Mari had been dating on and off for the past few months. It was a completely unsteady relationship, just how both of them liked it.
"Since when are you and John even friends?" Mari raised an eyebrow.
"You'd be surprised how fast people can become friends when they aren't always at each other's throats." Greg smiled, flicking his eyes back and forth between Shayera and Mari.
"Any issues I have with Shayera aren't important, Greg." Mari said, but the way she said it made Shayera think otherwise. Their conflict had been mostly resolved, but not completely. Shayera and Mari had fought over John for quite a while.
"So J'onn mentioned the poison…" Mari said, changing the subject.
"Yeah. There's not really any way to reveal it without revealing who we are…" Shayera sighed.
"About that… I have a little bit of an idea. If you're willing to listen."