I do not own Dragonball Z, Batman Beyond, Justice League, or X-Men Evolution
Chapter 21: Into Darkness
Bruce Wayne opened his eyes slowly and squinted hard, not expecting the bright light that bathed him in a pristine white glow. As his eyes adjusted, he took a look around, old reflexes kicked in and took in his surroundings. White curtains surrounded him, fluttering in a gentle breeze that would have given normal men a sense that they had died and gone to heaven. Bruce Wayne, of course, did not trust things on first sight. Slowly, he turned his head, noting the position of any shadows, the direction of the wind that rustled the curtains, the smells he could sense. And with that, he knew that he was in his bedroom in Wayne Manor.
He rolled over in the bed, moving with almost surprising ease and agility for his aging body. Apparently, the effects of his time in the Lazarus Pit where still working for him. The floor was cold on his feet even as he instinctively reached for his wood cane. Ace lifted his head from the floor where he had been watching over his master and gave a soft wuffling noise.
Bruce glanced down at the dog, considering. "Enjoy it while I can?" Bruce asked, noting with some small part of him that he was talking, and imagining, a full conversation with the animal. "Is that what you are trying to tell me?" Ace gave another wuffling sound before standing up and waiting for Bruce.
"Fine," Bruce said, letting go of his grip on his cane and standing up unassisted for the first time in many years. "No use crying over what cannot be undone by anything but time. Let's go, boy."
Together, the two made their way down the steps of the Wayne Manor's upper floor and into the large room at the bottom of the stairs. Terry was sleeping there, sprawled out across the couch with his hood pulled back and his mouth hanging wide open. Ignoring him, Bruce and Ace made their way to the secret entrance to the Batcave behind the old clock and descended into the darkness beyond.
Lights flicked on as he reached the bottom of the cave steps, as did the computer and the myriad of other machines. Bruce sat down in the chair as the computer did as it always did and connected with the JLU, Wayne-Powers, Gotham City PD, and other networks both locally and abroad for threat analysis, patterns, and messages and keyed into the system manually. Next to him, Ace turned his head to look backwards toward the entrance to the cave.
"Morning, old man," Terry said, the subtle notes of still warming vocal cords evident to Bruce.
"Sleep well?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the computer as he checked recent reports filed by the JLU.
"No," Terry said flatly. "Nightmares about the my very first conversation with my family after all of this is over."
"Let's just hope that conversation can happen at all and that Slade does not destroy the League all together," Bruce said matter of factly. On the screen, a warning message flashed. Bruce frowned slightly, registering two things about the pitch and color of the alarm. One, the warning was coming in on an old and unused JLU emergency band. The second was that the message contained two things; coordinates located in the American Empire and that the message was coming in in old morse code.
"Slade," Terry said acidly, not even bothering to wait for what the message said.
Bruce frowned, choosing patience over brash action but knew that Terry was right. After a moment, the code repeated again, allowing Bruce to hear the whole message: "Come and get me."
"Get to those coordinates," Bruce said. "I will alert the rest of the League."
"On it," Terry said. "Have Superman get some additional protection for the world leaders. I have a feeling we are going to need it."
"We are going to need the whole League for this," Bruce said. "We cannot spare any of us but I will have the X-Men sent over. Xavier is much better than most of us anyway at diplomacy."
"Whatever works," Terry said, settling into the Batmobile and pulling his mask into place. "Let's get this done."
Kal-El of Krypton flew threw the sky, his mighty fists pointed ahead of him to plow through the air on his way to where the beacon signaled. It was a trap of course. No one ever left a signal pinging on an older JLU band when Batman was still on the scene. He felt his mighty lungs tighten almost involuntarily. He could name a hundred villains that he had faced over the years, Luthor, Brainiac, Darkseid, but not one of them gave him the chills the same way that Slade could. Even now as he approached the location and he could see the man and his apprentice, he could almost imagine the dark clouds looming overhead.
Superman came in to land, feeling a strange sense of deja vu as Slade stood unmoving next to his apprentice. It reminded him of the reports of the first encounter with Helena Noventa at the Apocalypse dome where Caliwone had nearly lost his life. And with everything he knew about the man, this encounter would not be taking place unless this was the real campaign and that Slade was ready to finally proceed.
Superman landed, his eyes locating and tracking the incoming trajectories of the rest of the League from every direction. Some would not make it fast enough and if need be, they could be helped along but he needed to see how things would play out here first. He was pleased to see that both Diana and Captain Marvel would be among the first to arrive, though. Regardless of what happened, having the two of them there could only do good.
"Welcome, Superman," Slade said, bringing Superman's attention back down to Earth. "I have missed you."
"So have I, Slade," Superman said acidly. "Too bad you could not have stayed longer the last time we met."
Slade's sole eye glinted with amusement. "There were still things that you had to answer for and with great patience comes great reward."
Slade motioned to the young man. "I wish you to meet Nathan officially. He, too, has had much anticipation for the time when you and he would meet in combat."
Superman's eyes flicked over to Nathan briefly, remembering how Nathan had deflected his heat vision the last time before returning his attention to Slade. "Has he?" was all Superman could answer with. An answer that told Slade exactly how uncertain Superman was about Nathan.
"Indeed," Slade responded. "And no, you have not experienced even a portion of his strength."
"I have heard that before," Superman answered. Above him, he could see the Amazon queen and Captain Marvel dropping in to land.
"True," Slade said, glancing up and watching as the two heroes landed. "But unlike the last two Saiyan's you knew, this one is in a league of his own."
Superman glanced back over at Nathan again, a cold rock settling into the pit of his stomach at the confirmation of his worst fears. He had guessed that this young man was a result of science the way Helena Noventa had been but he had strongly hoped it was not true.
"Explain," Diana said, drawing her sword and taking it in a two handed grip. Despite her ready posture, Superman could see that she was equally as unnerved by his proclamation. It was also clear by how she gripped her weapon that she had not forgotten what happened the last time she and Nathan had crossed paths.
"There is no need," Slade said. "He will prove it all on his own when the time comes if you still have doubts, your highness."
Diana opened her mouth for a scathing retort but Superman cut her off with a raised hand. "I have taken down Saiyan's before, Slade. This will be no different. Give up."
Slade shook his head slightly, not out of fear of course, but of amusement. "To this day, Superman, you still have no concept of the greater good."
Superman narrowed his eyes. "Greater good?"
"Correct," Slade said. "Ra's understood humanity better than you ever could. Building a new world sometimes means that you have destroy the old one first. It means that you have to get your hands dirty to build a better tomorrow. You think he is the bad guy yet look at the greatest being in Christianity. He destroyed the world, buried it under water for forty days and forty nights. Killed millions of humans, not to mention other creatures save for two of everything. Ra's was more merciful than God ever was when coming to terms with recreation of the world. And yet he has been damned by you. But no more. We shall create the great flood once more in blood and use it to resurrect the world."
"I am afraid you are mistaken," Superman said, his eyes betraying the calm he was trying to project. He lifted his hand once more, palm open, and with the signal, blue light surrounded him as every available League member teleported into the area.
Slade cast a look casually around the area, taking in the force with thoughtful amusement. He too, lifted a hand. What Superman expected was for his League of Assassins to join him, fading in from the shadows to match the Justice League but instead, all he got was Nathan stepping forward a step to face them all alone.
"War is inevitable," Slade said. "You and I both know that I can destroy your entire League with no more difficulty that I have already shown but in order to destroy what your League stands for, I must destroy your image. And for that to happen, your League needs the center stage and alone in the spotlight. Ra's knew that as well and like many things he did, he succeeded in doing just that."
"There is no war, Slade," Nightwing said from next to Superman. "The world over knows the situation and what Ra's was trying to do."
"True," Slade said. "And right now, the world's leaders are all huddled together in a nice cozy place with some of your people as guardians. Mighty God's protecting the innocent. How nice."
"We are not God's, Slade," Captain Marvel said, stepping forward. "But yes, we are standing guard over them for their own protection."
"Excellent," Nathan said with a dark smile.
"Do you know where you are?" Slade asked, the hue of his smile could practically be seen shimmering through his mask. "You are in the center of the American Empire. The most hated country in the world at the moment. With a push of this button, I will be launching every nuclear warhead in my possession around the world." Slade hefted a small device in one hand, a light blue holographic button hovering just over his palm within easy access for dropping his thumb onto.
"I do not care what happens to this worlds inhabitants," Slade said somewhat unnecessarily. "But I will be curious to see what happens when you and your Justice League, the guardians that are keeping the world's leaders cooped up and unable to organize their governments from effecting a counter, fail to stop them all. Imagine, the world on a tipping point and the legendary Justice League picking favorites. I wonder how you all would handle such a thing."
Superman fired his heat vision without warning to destroy the remote in Slade's hand but this time, Slade did not need the young man's interference. Approximately a foot away from him, Superman's heat vision struck a shield, bouncing off at an odd angle as it was deflected away from the one eyed man. Superman's face darkened around his frown.
"Let us find out," Slade said, ignoring Superman's attempt with complete disdain and pushed the button. Without hesitation, Superman coiled his impressive muscles and hurtled into the sky. Wonder Woman was right behind him, shouting back to them that she and Superman would handle the missiles and to focus their attention on Slade.
Nathan watched as Superman streaked off with Wonder Woman, playing the hero that both he and Slade always knew that he would be. Nathan smiled tightly, feeling a slight sense of euphoria knowing that he was about to be free to do everything he was built to do. To test his strength, to establish himself as the most powerful being, and to kill everyone who was in his way. Those were his orders, after all.
Nathan closed his eyes briefly, oblivious to the enemies in close proximity, and took a single long breath. He leaned forward, crouching in on himself and flexing his impressive muscles. Golden energy slowly surrounded him, flowing like an old lava lamp with slow, deliberate purpose. The ground under him slowly began to tremble, causing the remaining League members to stumble and catch their footing. There was no eruption of power for a long minute. Nathan's dark hair slowly paled and brightened to gold that matched his aura. His muscles completed their expansion, each strand as strong as steel cables under his skin. He opened his suddenly blue eyes and took in the shuttering forces that stood against him and, with impressive force, released his pent up power.
With a force like a gale force wind, his power hit the members of the League, knocking several of them clear off their feet with his intensity and suddenness. Those who remained standing did so with effort, struggling under his power. Even the mighty Captain Marvel bent down to one knee, shielding his face with one massive forearm. Slade, standing behind and to the left of Nathan, was protected by his hurricane of force.
As Nathan's power weaned, Captain Marvel regained his feet. With a bellow of challenge meant to encourage the rest of the League, Captain Marvel threw himself at Nathan. Nathan smiled widely, excitement thoroughly coursing through him. With one mighty contraction of his leg, Nathan threw himself forward and exchanged a mighty blow with the World's Mightiest Mortal.
Superman and Wonder Woman streaked off into the sky like meteors going in reverse. They each split off into a different direction and soon, Superman could see the first wave of missiles in the sky. Clenching his fists and knowing that time was of the essence, he accelerated. As he approached, his eyes flashed red, exploding the nuclear warhead over the Pacific and sparing little mind for the fallout over the water. After all, this wasn't Atlantis.
His eyes flashed out twice more, igniting another set of fireballs in the sky before they could make land fall. As he turned his head to zero in on the next missile, Superman caught sight of Diana, her lasso wrapped around the head of one missile and hurling it out into space. He streaked off again, this time unable to find one rocketing over water which meant he would have to be more careful about destroying them. He grimaced as he worked, knowing that all of this was to keep him distracted. Slade did not care whether any of these missiles landed or not but Superman could not let any of them land. Not only would there bean enormous loss life, but the political magnitude would be enough to trip another round of World Wars. The problem of course was in finding them all and without the overhead eyes of the Watch Tower, or access to any other orbiting satellite, finding them all was going to be a task and a half.
With the speed of Hermes, Superman raced across sky, his super vision able to see further than any long range surveillance camera, destroying warheads where he found them or else tossing them into space but even his power was limited here. With a grimace, Superman was forced with the realization that he and all of his power was not going to be able to stop them all and had to do his best to minimize the fallout on the long term. Closing his eyes for a moment just long enough to think a very rare swear word for him, Superman arced his flight slightly toward Japan.
Nathan's fist collided with that of the Captain Marvel, sending a shock wave blowing outward with the force of bomb, blowing dust, dirt, and some of the less powerful members of the League backwards. Neither Nathan nor Captain Marvel gave an inch in the air, refusing to allow defeat in the initial match up. Even still, Nathan could feel his hand throb from the strike. His body, incredibly trained and resilient though it maybe, was still weaker than that of the Captain Marvel or Superman. Invulnerability was still beyond the Saiyan DNA, apparently.
Before Captain Marvel could make his move, Nathan spun clockwise to Captain Marvel's right and drove his right elbow into his kidney. His back arched from the blow, the pain, and surprise. Before his brain could even register the impact, Nathan spun back with a vicious hook kick that caught the mighty mortal in the stomach. Captain Marvel flew backwards a short distance, his brain paralyzed in pain before his body slammed into the ground from another Earth shaking impact from above by Nathan.
Before the Captain could recover, Nathan raised a hand and blew the ground apart that left a rippling multi-colored aurora sizzling over the land. Before the glow could fade however, Captain Marvel burst through the haze, swinging his right fist as hard as the mortal could. Unfortunately, Nathan was ready. Ducking down under the swing, Nathan drilled another powerful punch into Captain Marvel's kidney. His back arched again in pain but even still, he had prepared for the attack. Swinging his right arm back the way it had come, intending to catch Nathan across the face and off guard, his blow struck Nathan's right arm in a block. Before he could do anything more, Nathan slid his left arm under Captain Marvel's and uppercut the man with enough force to snapped the powerful being's head back. Spinning around to Captain Marvel's backside, Nathan reached a hand up and grabbed him under the chin and threw him out of the fight and into the beginning portions of the mountain range that back filled the entire area.
It was at this point that the rest of the League had managed to cross the distance and engage him as well. Donna Troy was the first to strike, bringing all of her skills from training on Themyscira years ago to bare. Nathan blocked the first punch and countered with a blow that would have left the young woman paralyzed in pain but the amazon was able to block the body blow deftly with one hand. Countering with a furious kick, Nathan ducked the attack and kicked her leg out from under her. Normally, such a counter would have left any normal combatant without a leg to stand on but Donna merely kept herself afloat and spun herself with surprising speed and turned the missed kick into a much faster and more powerful tornado kick.
The attack landed right on target but Nathan ignored it as if the attack had not even hit. With one hand, he pulled her down to smash against the ground with enough force that she bounced off the rock. With a flash of energy, Donna was hurled backwards just as the Flash darted in and met with kick that even Wally did not see in time. Like a rock on a pond, Wally skipped off and away.
With a war cry, Warhawk dropped straight down with his ax flashing and then snapping off as he struck Nathan's left shoulder. The look of shock on his face was apparent for only the briefest of moments before Nathan raised a hand to send him flying off to the distance as well but Kai-Ro stepped in first. Using his ring, the young monk encased Nathan in a bubble of green that turned itself into a giant boa constrictor around him.
Landing on the ground, Kai-Ro rested his left hand on to his extended right and using his will, proceeded to squeeze Nathan with everything he could muster. Nathan gritted his teeth as his impressive body was being over powered by the power of the ring. With a snarl, Nathan concentrated hard. Out of the tail section of Kai-Ro's snake that connected it to his ring, a green hand exploded out and caught the surprised youth by the neck. His concentration broke, the green snake that had held Nathan fast shattered like broken glass as the hand lifted Kai-Ro off the ground. Struggling in both surprise and pain, Kai-Ro did not even see the incoming blast of red energy that blasted him out of the fighting ring and out of the fight completely.
With an irritated swipe of his right hand, Nathan blasted Nightwing, Batman, and several others backwards even as J'onn Jon'zz snaked his way forward in a giant four armed green monster. Nathan watched him come, raising itself to tower above Nathan. Nathan crouched and leaped upwards, drilling a blow with enough speed under J'onn's chin that the shape-shifter could not react fast enough to phase. With deceptive slowness, J'onn fell backwards and to the ground with a thunderous thud, breaking the ground under his weight and letting his long snake like tail lash around him.
Nathan landed on the ground, his smirk gone from his face as if he was disappointed with himself about something. He barely registered Static blasting electricity down on him for all that he was worth, merely swiped another hand and blasted him back out of the air.
Captain Marvel shot in once more, rage in his eyes. Nathan deftly dodged to his left, kicking upwards at Captain Marvel's chin as he did so, snapping his head back then swept the mortal's legs out from under him. Before he could hit the ground, Nathan had caught him from his backside, his left arm snaked around his throat and squeezing tight. Captain Marvel scrabbled at his arms for a few moments helplessly. Nathan frowned slightly as his scrabbling hands found places of purchase that were no good for wrenching his arms away. Instead, they latched on and prevent Nathan from moving away.
"SHAZAM!" Captain Marvel shouted, and leaned forward, putting Nathan between him and the magical lightning bolt that flashed down from the heavens. Without thinking, Nathan flipped forward over Captain Marvel's head, wrenching his shoulder to do it but managed to avoid the bolt. Instead of blasting Captain Marvel away, the mighty mortal was reduced back into his mortal form. Before Billy Batson could say the magic word again, Nathan kicked the nearly forty year old human across the head hard enough to send him skipping and rolling across the battlefield and out of the fight.
Donna Troy raced back in, sporting a fresh set of bruises and cuts along her enraged face. Nathan turned to face her and leaped back, his left hand snapped up to block. She tore after him, bringing the full weight of the Amazon's training to bare. Nathan blocked and countered before spinning himself around to dodge a blow, kicking one of her legs sideways just enough to throw her off balance. Back fisting her in the face, he spun around and grabbed her by her hair and pulling her down to knee her once in the stomach, then once across her face. She hit the ground unconscious and bleeding.
Nightwing ran in alongside Batman, screaming Donna's name. From behind his back, Nightwing pulled out his collapsible bo staff, spinning it around him before swing it down at full extension for the maximum damage. Batman swung a fist in tandem, Nathan's keen hearing able to audibly hear the servo's in Batman's suit whining as they assisted in full power mode. Nathan couldn't even feel the strikes against his skin as he reached forward and grabbed both men by their necks. With a swift motion, Nathan slammed their heads together with an audible crack and they were both out.
Tossing them both aside, Nathan looked around, his frown still on his face as he knelt knuckles down in a fist on the ground. Several of the Leaguers were still trying to either stand or where approaching more cautiously but Nathan had learned what he needed to know. The ground rippled once outward from him once before the ground erupted outward like the splash from a large rock in a placid lake and the battle was over.
Superman flew full speed back to where he had left the entirety of the Justice League and its reserve members to face Nathan. He blew through cloud after cloud, his super hearing listening for any sign of battle but he could not hear anything from where he had left. He broke through a dark rain cloud, emerging drenched from its store of water, only to come upon a seen of destruction. A hole like those found in the center of a recently active volcano marked the battle ground. Justice League members lay broken and bleeding all across the ground including the entirety of the World's Mightiest Family.
He landed on the ground next to Nightwing, his eyes burning in both sadness and anger. He was still breathing but unless he got him, and many others, back to Metro Tower, there were going to be a lot of dead Leaguers. Behind him, he could hear the Amazon Queen land gently behind him.
"Hera," she whispered, disbelievingly. "One man... did all of this..."
"A Saiyan indeed," Superman said through gritted teeth. Standing, he turned his eyes to scan each of the League members, scanning for heart beats to be sure that every member of the team still lived.
"It would seem," Diana said, looking around herself. "Although, if he were a true blooded Saiyan like Caliwone when he had arrived here, not a single person would be left alive right now."
"Thank the lord for small favors," Superman said icily. "But there are favors I would rather do without." There was a soft moan amongst the carnage and Superman flashed over to where Batman lay, his suit torn and leaking hyper-static gel from several tears and one arm bent at an impossible angle. Even still, Terry reached up and grabbed Superman by the front of his red and blue suit, pulling the man closer to him.
"Nathan..." Terry said, his words a clear strain even as blood spat from his mouth. "Video recording... Bruce uploaded... He is more... then he seems..." He was forced to stop as a set of rasping coughs clogged his airways. "He is... far more than he... seems..."
"Understood," Superman said. "Now enough talking. Save your energy. I will take it from here."
Terry nodded slightly and then his whole body seemed to relax. For a brief moment, Superman was afraid Terry had died but the young man was still breathing. Touching his ear, Superman called into Metro Tower and in small groups, blue light flashed and removed the fallen from the battlefield.
To be continued...
And so the war begins. I believe that Nathan has made his point pretty clear to the League that he cannot be stopped. Now it would seem that the end game is here. No offense to the X-Men, but if the Justice League is no match for him, with the exception of Superman and Diana as the last remaining members not beaten to a pulp, I don't think there is anything left to be done.
What are your thoughts, fans? Go ahead and drop some ideas in the review box and we will see if there is any hope for the world. :-)
The Dark Prince