Metropolis
"All hail Darkseid."
"Submit to the will of Darkseid."
"All is Darkseid!"
"There is no hope, only Darkseid."
The four statements blasted over and over from the invading Apokolips ships as war raged in the sky and on the ground.
Parademons rained down blaster fire from above to the screaming people on the ground below and ground forces riding huge hellish hounds trampled humans or tore them to shreds with fang and claw. Darkseid's Furies, in their colorful costumes, wrought havoc wherever they pleased, basking in another battle in Darkseid's name. Others in Darkseid's army such as Steppenwolf and Kalibak lead hordes of Parademons in a more militaristic fashion to add some lethal order to the chaos being pursued at other angles.
Looking down from the prow of his starship, face implacable, Darkseid watched his carefully arranged forces clash with his enemies, the heroes of earth. Superman was a blue and red blur in the sky taking out thirty and fourth Parademons at once with his breath and heat vision. Parademons were flesh and bone but they were the equivalent of highly intelligent zombies. They had no souls, they didn't feel pain, and they felt no fear. The neurons in their minds were only attuned to destruction at the will of Darkseid. They were easy to grow in lab-tanks far below the surface of Apokolips and when they came out of the ooze that had spawned them, they were already filled with his dastardly purposes. Over the years he had made many such Parademons and he was making more even as they waged war here. The Parademons were little more than cannon fodder, warriors who attained victory not by guile but by strength in numbers, the Furies on the other hand were a completely different beast.
Lashing, stomping, thrashing, slashing, detonating, and fighting with wild abandon, the Femme Furies took on Wonder Woman, Batman, Lantern, Mister Miracle, Zatanna, and of course the rouge Fury Big Barda. Trained personally by Granny Goodness and raised, nay, bred for war, the Furies were as powerful as they came and even with the might of all those heroes, they held their ground.
But more heroes were coming.
On the horizon line, Darkseid could clearly see the black dots of ships and heroes flying through the air. They were all on their way to ground zero to battle him, hoping to turn him back and send him home licking his wounds.
Darkseid nearly curled a fist in anger at their audacity, to think to deny him, to defy Darkseid, but he held himself in check. The battle was going well so far and he was drawing many heroes to Metropolis just as he and Lex Luthor had intended.
Even as he thought about the human, he knew the other portion of their plan was being put into motion. In Gotham, Star City, Jump City, New York, Chicago, Faucette City, San Diageo, and other important cities all around the United States and beyond more tubes were opening. Robots bolstered by hefty portions of Parademons were swarming out as they spoke. It would look, with holograms, robots, cunning, and a little bit of mind manipulation that a full-scale invasion of earth was underway. It wouldn't fool anyone for long, especially the Dark Knight but the plan wasn't to conqueror earth right that moment, it was a classic baiting that heroes fell for every time. His siege was large, bulky, and ham-fisted, part in parcel of what heroes prevented every day. They never questioned why villains rallied such major forces to their sides, the sheer number would rattle them and they would know they needed all the help they could get; they'd have to summon every big-gun they had.
Even the Justice League's little secret.
If the girl was anything like what he'd seen on screens broadcasting news from earth then she wasn't locked away or caged. She had submitted to Batman willingly. If she were anything like the heroes of earth it wouldn't be long before she was helping, or if she was in some secret facility it wouldn't be long before she was discovered.
Even now, Lex Luthor and his agents were making brazen attacks on League Head-Quarters in every capital city and on the moon. They wouldn't penetrate them all, and they weren't looking too. They were looking for the girl while the heroes were fighting and if, just if, they were lucky either they would find the girl or she would come to them.
8888
Superman's fist flew in a blinding flurry that devastated everything in his path. Screeching Parademons fell left and right at his hands, their tough, fleshy hides caving as their forms went inert or transmuted back to the goo that had formed them. Blaster fire ricocheted off his body and the claws that slashed at him scraped ineffectively off his suit.
Superman had taken down at least three hundred of the Parademons on his own but they just kept coming. Boom tubes opened in the sky every so often sending out more units of the screeching minions of Darkseid, darkening the sky with their reeking bodies.
He was holding his own, supremely well but with the sky hoarded with Parademons he couldn't be everywhere at once.
To his left and right Shazam, Steel, Icon, and others were all fighting the same battles doing their best to keep the waves of enemies from scouring the ground but they just kept coming. Those that went falling to the ground, if they weren't completely turned back into goo were getting up and still fighting. They were holding them off, for now, but they weren't actually making progress.
"Titan's to Justice League, Titan's to Justice League!" a desperate voice suddenly crackled to life on the communicators in their ears. "Can anyone here me? Anyone out there, we've got a mess on our hands."
"We're a little busy ourselves, Nightwing," Superman grunted as he punched his way through another Parademon unit.
"I figured but ten boom tubes just opened up above Titan's Tower. We're doing the best we can to hold them off but they just keep coming. We're going to have to retreat soon!"
"Same here in good old Faucette City," the voice of Mary Marvel came to life on the comm. "We're getting our butts kicked out here. We need Shazam."
"Screw what Superman just said. I'm not just a little busy. I'm. A. Lot. Busy!" Shazam replied, delivering a blow to a Parademon prefacing every word.
"If I can just get to Darkseid we can end all this," Superman announced as he swung his head towards the ship carrying the immovable lord of Apokolips.
"Negative, Superman," Batman shouted through the comm. "He's got to have some sort of Kryptonite on him or another scheme to get you to fall into his clutches. You know how long he's wanted to trap you."
"Then the choice is clear we need Angel," Superman said as he cracked two Parademons heads together.
"She isn't ready for this, Superman, nowhere near it," Batman replied in a grunt that told he was taking as much a beating as the rest of this.
"None of us were ready, Batman!" Superman shouted. "And we don't know what's coming next. Darkseid never makes it this easy, never this simple. We need to hit him with a surprise of our own before he can do any more damage, before the next stage of his plan comes to light."
Batman began to protest but he stopped, his voice uncomfortably hesitant. Was Batman actually reconsidering, Superman thought.
The next words over the comm confirmed it. "I'll contact her," Batman promised. "I hate to admit Superman but you're right. We don't really have a choice."
8888
From the top of the apartment complex she now called home, Kara looked on to the destruction like a person watching a movie. The ground shook every so often with some sort of titanic clash and first responders were out in force on the ground as well as the military. The televisions and the radios were warning people to get to a safe place or evacuate the city if at all possible.
The apartment complex was practically empty, drained of the people running for their lives, and Lois was down at the Planet or elsewhere in the city either helping with aide or with Jimmy Olsen who would be filming the destruction.
Had she not had her powers in full, Kara would have likely been hiding or trying to flee the city as well, but as it stood, she felt very little fear at the battle raging across the city and overhead. She couldn't be hurt as far as she knew.
She had no great desire to help gather up the panicking people in the streets but she did wish she could be out there fighting. If this was to be her home and the League were her allies, she wanted to be with them, killing the threat out there that was most definitely killing the people in Metropolis. Already the rubble strewn streets were littered with the dead. Surely only one gang was going to come out on top after this and she wanted to be with them to ensure victory but Batman hadn't given her any instructions and as far as she was concerned as long as she was a member of the League, no matter how unofficial, Batman's word was law.
Kara shook her head in frustration and continued to observe the destroy when the tell-tale chime of a comm began to go off. Curious, Kara followed the noise until she came to the source. She switched to her X-ray vision and saw a secret communicator stashed away. Impatient to actually figuring out how to open its container, Kara smashed her hand through the wood and brought up the communicator. "Hello?" she asked hesitantly.
"You need to get down here," Batman's grim, dark voice rumbled through the communicator.
Excitement raced through Kara, causing her heartbeat to quicken. It took all of her learned self-control not to break the communicator in sheer excitement. Was this it? Was this the way to finally prove herself? But no, Kara reprimanded herself instantly, Batman didn't trust her, he wasn't letting her out of her cage for something simple. Maybe this was another one of his tests, a big one.
"You actually want me out there?" Kara asked incredulously, refusing to believe that this might not be some trick. "You don't even trust me."
"I don't but you're part of the League. We're your gang and this is war. I may not trust you, but that means nothing right now. We need you!" Batman yelled through the crackling static.
Kara's mind shot back to her last day in the Phantom Zone. The Reapers hadn't thought much of her either but they called when they needed her and she'd been there always, especially when they'd fought against the War Hawk's attack. She hadn't hesitated to fight then and she wouldn't hesitate now. Her battle was not for earth, or for the people on it, Batman had talked to her on her level and she would fight for her gang. "I'm on my way boss," Kara said as she lifted out the air and soared from the roof of the apartment complex. "I'm on my way."
8888
Superman smashed a hell dog in the muzzle sending the beast flying into a galloping group of other man-sized hounds coming their way. The beast sailed through the air and landed heavily upon the feral pack of hell dogs, sending them into a panicked tumult.
Panting and sweating, Superman couldn't help but flash a ragged self-satisfied smile as the hell dogs went scrambling away. That was one group of terrors that wouldn't be bothering them again. But it was only one, he knew, his smile suddenly fading, one of many.
The skies were still overrun with Parademons and the hounds stalked every block at ground zero. Only two of Darkseid's Furies had been taken out and the rest of the world was still doing its best to fend off Darkseid's assaults.
Some places were faring better than others but Metropolis was not one of them. They'd been fighting for hours now and what once had been the business sector of the city was now a wasteland of blown out buildings, glass shards, rubble, dead bodies, and flooding from the burst watermains under the now fractured earth.
The city was not overrun but they were just barely holding her. Thousands on thousands of enemies were now goo piles or taken off the battle field but many thousands more still dominated the skies and Superman was very, very tired.
Put he wouldn't give up, never.
Even as the thought entered his mind eight more squads of Parademons spotted him and shrieked in fury. Almost as one they began to dive down and Superman balled his fist and prepared for another battle when suddenly, as if by some instinctive command the Parademons flew right by him.
Confusion swarmed Superman as he struggled to see through the sudden river of Parademons that surged around him but did not touch him. He briefly wondered what had changed their one-track minds from attacking, then, as they all flew past, he saw who had forestalled the creatures.
Darkseid.
Walking clear of the shredding smoke and dust, hands behind his back, Darkseid calmly faced the man of steel. Despite the fighting have raged for hour there was not a speck of dust or debris upon the new god. His boots hadn't been even sullied by the gore of blood and goo splattering the ground. Blazing, ruby red eyes peered intently at Superman, a look that was as malignant as it was casual. "I am impressed, Kal-El. You resisted the invitation to alienate yourself and meet me in the sky."
"After our last few encounters, I've learned better." Superman wiped away a trickle of blood on the edge of his lip with his arm. "Why are you doing this? Attacking earth directly conflicts with your treaty with New Genesis. You agreed to attack no world under the New Genesis Accord."
"This is true," Darkseid freely admitted. "But then I asked myself, why should a god deal with mortals as equals? I need keep no bargain with you. Your very rebellion defies me and I shall see it punished."
Darkseid's eyes flashed and before Superman could move, twin beams shot out of the orbs and struck him.
Superman howled in pain as the Omega Beams sent him flying. The powerful lasers of Darkseid's eyes were one of the few things that could, on their own, hurt him. The beams drove him into the ground sending up a pillar of pavement behind him. He tried to push back against the beams but in his weakened state they quickly overpowered him.
In no time, the place where Superman lay became a steaming crater. The pavement was slagged around the man of steel and this smoke coiled up from the cooling earth.
Darkseid allowed himself a smirk and slowly walked forward to admire his handiwork but he never even got close. A feminine figure flew out of the smoke, her eyes blazing red and her hair shimmering gold.
Twin fists hit Darkseid in his solar plexus, sending the new god flying for two blocks. The new god's moment carried him through trees and buildings until he landed hard upon his back in what once had been a small park. Normally, the new god would have been utterly incensed, but now, now, he smiled.
The new fighter appeared just as he came to his feet and when their eyes met, he smiled. "Finally."
"I wouldn't sound so sure of myself if I were you," Kara shot back as she floated towards him, her fists balled.
"I don't see why not. I have what I want. You're the one I've been looking for," he replied. "The girl who halted the Justice League without even trying."
Kara's eyes flickered from red back to their natural blue. Shock marred her face and her mouth hung open in confusion. "Me?"
"There is a lot of power in you, raw and untamed, I can sense it as thick as the smoke in the air." Darkseid lifted a hand and curled it into a fist before him. "I have a way of honing such power, of turning it into a weapon of ferocity. I can offer you more than this Justice League, this earth can offer you. You don't have to be one of these so called 'protectors' I can turn you into a master."
"I'm not a protector," Kara replied. "I'm not a hero."
Darkseid chuckled ominously. "All the easier then. Join me, see what the other side is like. Batman has trapped you in some fashion, I know. It is his way. I will give you freedom from his, and this world's ideals."
Kara arched a brow, intrigued by the offer. Freedom was what she wanted all along. She would have had it if not for Batman, if not for being the woman she was, the daughter of Zor-El. "How?"
"Become my fury, my pupil, my general and I will give you the freedom of the universe. There will be none above you save me. Serve Darkseid and you will–"
He got no further as Kara slammed into him, sending him sprawling into the dirt once more. Her face was now a grim cast of disappointment and fury. "Funny, I thought you were going to offer me something unique. I'm not interested in working for another boss. Batman's bad enough as it is."
"You dare?!" Darkseid roared. "You dare defy Darkseid?!"
In reply, Kara kicked him in the ribs. "Yeah. I'm not trading one master for another. I don't want one at all!"
Kara lifted a boot to send it down unto Darkseid's head when a hulking, half feral figure suddenly ambushed her from behind. "Father!" the voice roared as it pounced upon Kara, sending her reeling.
Burly arms wrapped around Kara's neck and swung her bodily back and forth as if trying to pop her head off her body. In response, Kara took to the air but had only gotten a few feet before red light flashed out from the ground and the body holding her howled in pain. The arms loosened like death pythons and the creature went hurtling to earth, creating a small crater as it fell.
Kara looked down to see the ambusher was a he, a burly brute with bulging muscles, two electric batons, and a green war harness of his body. The body smoked and writhed with pain as Darkseid stepped over the body. "Fool! Get you gone, Kalibak!"
"But… father!" Kalibak gnashed his teeth in pain. "I can help. Together we can…"
"I need no aid from my weakest seed." He placed a boot on Kalibak's face and began to grind his heel in his eye, causing him to cry out in pain. Slowly, he looked up to Kara. "Do you see this? Utter loyalty from swine like him. That is what I can give you. This is a freedom so few have. Serve only me and I will give you this power: utter control over all."
"Weren't you listening the first time, Stone-Face?!" Kara yelled as she flew back down towards the earth, her fists ready to fly. "I. Don't'. Want. It! I don't want your offer, I don't want to serve you, I don't want 'freedom' you're offering. I may not know much but even having one master over you is no freedom at all!"
The girl meant to take him off his feet with another punch, but this Darkseid had been expecting and decided to end his ruse of offering her power. Far quicker this time, Darkseid brought up his own hand and caught her fist with ease. His face, once calm, was now a sheer snarl. "Then I shall force it upon. You will serve Darkseid, or you will die."
Faster than lightening, Darkseid's free fist went rocketing forward and slammed into Kara's chest. She would have went flying had his other hand not still held her fist and he pulled her towards him and punched her in the jaw with enough force to send her slumping momentarily to her knees. The new god snorted derisively down at her and activated a button on his right gauntlet causing the knuckle guards to snap back revealing rows of Kryptonite.
Looking up through a blackened eye, Kara took one look at the glowing green rocks and rolled her eyes. "That again? Give me a break."
Darkseid snapped his fist up but Kara caught the blow and used his arm to swing the goliath new god into the ground. The earth rumbled beneath them and cracked as she all but thrashed him about bodily. His body only hit the ground once before his feet found the earth and suddenly Kara found herself flying.
She soared up to the blue sky, then, suddenly as if via a miniature boom tube, Darkseid was above his, his feet coming down on her spine. Both headed back down to the earth and Kara smashed face first into the ground with all of Darkseid's strength atop her.
The blow stunned Kara for a moment, but long enough for Darkseid to grab her by the front of her shirt. Her eyes barely adjusted before his Kryptonite laden fist smashed into her face in a dozen lightening fast blow. "I offer you power. The world. All you could want. And you too seek to defy me? You shall not. You shall bend to my will. You will serve Darkseid. I will drag you kicking and screaming into the abyss of my power."
He stopped punching and held Kara's battered and bloody head with both hands, his eyes glowing bright right. "But first, I will teach you who is your master."
The Omega Beams slammed down into Kara's face, the heat enough to melt the rocks around them. Darkseid grinned and let the power of his own natural, much more powerful laser vision bore into her to corrupt and contaminate her mind, to break her and bend her to his will. Closer and closer his head came down to hers, the beams a blinding white now. His forehead was nearly touching her own, then, to his surprise her head shot up and headbutted him with the power to send him staggering.
Darkseid growled in pain and danced backwards. His head swam and when he put a hand up to his brow, he drew it back and saw the black ichors of his blood trickling between his thick fingers.
Slowly, he drew his attention away from the rare sight of his blood on his hand and towards Kara. The girl was floating now, her hair snapping wildly about her, her eyes flashing with murderous rage. The place where the Omega symbol should have been carved on her brow was not there. There was no sign of even a bruise and her black eye was gone.
Darkseid sent another trace of Omega Beams her way but her body simply absorbed the light, no, he realized, she was taking the power in the Omega Beams herself as if gaining power of their light. She neared him in the crater their landing had form and snatched him around the throat. For the first time in his life, Darkseid felt real pressure around his throat. The tightness of her fingers was like nothing he'd ever felt before. Roaring in rage, he sent a fist to her face and it was like a human punching steel.
Her eyes glowed red as she forced him to his knees.
Darkseid screamed.
Kara's fist came up as she punched Darkseid in the middle of his face. The blow sent air whooshing out of the crater in a column of dust and debris and made the ground in the crater crack.
Darkseid felt the bones break in his face. He felt his cheek bones poking through the craggy rockiness of his face and blood pouring down what once had been his visage. A foot came crashing forward with force enough to burst a few of his internal organs and break all his ribs. The second punch nearly took him to unconsciousness but he knew the girl had pulled back somewhat on the blow. She was going to make him suffer and that terrified him.
Just as he had done to her, Kara grabbed his head with both hands to hold him still. Her eyes shot out beams of light and for the first time ever in Darkseid's millions of years, they penetrated his skin. Darkseid screamed and begged for mercy as the beams began to cut into the top of his head and slowly began to make their way down. She was going to cut his head in two with her laser vision and he would experience every moment up until the point he died.
"No!" Superman yelled, his voice like water dousing the fire atop Darkseid's head.
Kara's beams sputtered out and she looked over her shoulder to see the heroes gathered at the edge of the pit, each battle worn and weary but all of them with expressions of horror as if she was doing something monstrous.
"I don't know how you guys do it here on earth, but back in the Zone the one who deals the blow gets the kill. I stopped him, he's my kill." Taking hold of the back of Darkseid's neck she flew them up out of the crater. "If I don't, he'll die anyway." She looked towards Batman with a novice's expectancy. "Unless you want to do the honors, Batman," she added quickly, her eyes searching for his approval. Even Atal'amar had showed signs of approval when she'd done something right.
Batman looked at her grimly. "Put him down."
A sinking feeling began to form in Kara's gut. Hadn't she proved herself worthy enough to be a member of this gang? Was this still not good enough for them? "Why? Didn't I prove myself here? I stopped him, didn't I?"
"You did," Superman said as he took a step towards her and then looked up towards the sky. Above them, boom tubes that were re-opening to receive retreating ships, Parademons, and hell hounds. Apokolips had been licked with Darkseid taken down and they were on the run. "Your actions here have stopped the invasion, but we're not going to kill Darkseid. You shouldn't have done… that to him. Boring into his head with your laser vision. We're not torturers and you need to understand that no matter what, we don't kill."
Kara gaped disbelievingly at Kal-El's words. Not kill. Not kill this supreme evil being who had destroyed so much of his turf? "I know you don't like killing, Kal-El but surely this… thing justifies it. Look what he's done to your city, your people. In the Zone we would never let this stand, not to our gang." She gripped Darkseid's bleeding head tighter, readying herself to snap his neck. With all the heroes around she was fairly certain she wouldn't have time to slice his head in two with her laser vision but she would finish the job and make certain he at least never came back to battle them.
"We're not like him, Kara. We stand for goodness and justice. He'll be given over to New Genesis to stand for his crimes and they'll decide what to do with him," Superman explained grimly. "Let him go. Orion will take it from here." He nudged his head over to the large man in red and chrome colored armor.
Kara turned her attention to the grim Orion. "You will kill him, then?"
Orion shook his head. "As much as I would like to, High Father does not believe in killing. We shall see if he lives after this damage you have wrought and figure out something else."
"What else?" Kara demanded, her eyes roving the ranks of heroes now standing behind Superman. "This isn't the first time you fought him. You let him live and it won't be the last. Why don't you do what needs doing? Why don't you let me do it?"
Superman took a step forward, his hands out. "You don't understand–"
"I understand, cousin, it just doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense! You live your lives in a vicious cycle that never ends. I thought that was a hell of the Phantom Zone but you willingly let yourselves live it here. I want no part of it! Let no one say I ever fell into the same stupid loop. For the good of this gang, I end it now!" Kara screamed and began to twist.
"No!" Superman shouted. His eyes glowed ruby and he sent a line of heat into Kara's chest, blowing her back.
"Father!" Kalibak suddenly roared as he appeared against the rubble. With a heavy stomp that sent a shockwave blowing everyone back, Kalibak scooped up his mortally wounded father and raced for a closing boom tube. Flash was on him in a second but one shoulder check from Kalibak sent him flying.
In less time than it took to figure what was happening, Kalibak was through the boom tube.
"He won't get away from me!" Kara shouted as she flew up. "I'm going to finish this!"
"Angel, don't!" Superman flew up to meet her but Kara flew towards him, bowling him over with her enhanced strength.
Just as the tube was closing, the black streak that was Kara flew through. The portal shut with a massive thunderclap and all that was left was a bit of smoking stone where it had opened. Kara, Kalibak, and Darkseid were gone.
8888
Apokolips
The hell-world that was Apokolips was always burning, but it burned excessively hot this night.
Rumors swirled upon the planet that Darkseid was dying or was already dead. Stories of how a woman had beaten him nearly to his end and had sliced his head in two with her laser vision swirled like the flames spitting up from rocky heat vents on Apokolips's uninhabitable surface.
With none knowing the truth about Darkseid, chaos ruled the world.
Those who had curried favor in the upper echelons of Apokoliptian society were all vying for power to fill the gap left by a now inert Darkseid. Desaad was waging war with Glorious Godfrey. Granny Goodness was fighting with Virmen Vunderbar. A shoot out was taking place in the lower bowels of the planet by forces loyal to Simian against forces loyal to Dr. Bedlam. The Furies were fighting amidst themselves, each settling grievances and trying to become leader of the group that would serve the new regime. Those who were not fighting for power had taken ships and fled off-world, knowing that without Darkseid holding the leash their lives would be forfeit.
None knew were Darkseid was and no one cared. No one tried to rally the immense forces of Apokolips in case of a counter-invasion. Everyone's thoughts were solely upon themselves.
All but Kalibak.
Standing in open ground where the boom tube had ejected him, Kalibak stood waiting for the next pulse of the tube to send out the woman who had followed. His father was safe, or at least as safe as he could be, not far away, hidden underground in nothing but an empty bunker. As far as Kalibak had seen before he'd left his father there was the faintest hint of the shallowest of breathes. Despite the slim chances of survival, Kalibak hoped his fathers continued to breath. He hoped he knew it was Kalibak who had rescued him when all others had deserted him.
Carrying his two massive batons that crackled and fizzed with electricity, Kalibak steadied himself and when the portal boomed open, he did not look away.
The bright white light of the portal turned the figure flying out into slim silhouette until the tube closed behind her and the fire light from the flaring pits showed her true form. She was trim with long blond hair and blue eyes. She wore no armor or costume but Kalibak knew she didn't need it. He had seen what she'd done to Darkseid.
The girl stared at him hard for a moment then her eyes scanned the surrounding area, searching for others or Darkseid, when she found nothing her gaze rested back upon Kalibak. "What trick is this? Where are the rest of your forces?"
"There is no trick. I stand alone and I tell you now that you shall not slay my father. I, Kalibak, shall not allow it." He bent his knees in a defensive stance, bracing for her attack, knowing he didn't stand a chance but would give it his all anyway.
Kara knew his attitude, one of defiance and bravery even if he knew he's be beaten. She had had the same one when Atal'amar had allowed her to join his gang. "Why do the others not come to fight me? I'm on your turf now."
"The miserable dogs war with themselves," Kalibak replied with more than a little bitterness. "They only fear my father, they care nothing for him."
"And why should you?" Kara asked. "I saw the way he treated you in the fight. I've seen belligerent slaves treated better than that." The Omega Beams hurt like nothing she'd ever felt and Darkseid used them callously upon his own son, chastising him for his loyalty.
Atal'amar and the rest of the gang had treated her poorly many times as well but that was because she was new, they didn't know her well, and they wanted to toughen her up. They'd have never treated their own blood or the friends they'd made in the gang in that manner. Once she had passed their own measure of her, she'd have been family and family didn't treat family the way Darkseid had treated Kalibak.
Kalibak tapped the handle of one of his batons to his battle harness. "Because he is Darkseid, lord of Apokolips and my father and by saving his life this day, I shall earn his love and respect."
Kara slowly lowered herself until her feet hovered over the ground. "I get the loyalty. This is your people, your gang. You'll fight for it when no one else will because you understand what it means to belong. But trying to earn someone's love…." Kara shook her head. "Take it from me, it doesn't work. I been there, trying to do your best to earn favor. Maybe they won't beat you so hard if they like you, maybe they'll give you something extra to eat, maybe if you earn it, your father won't look at you like you're the thing that murdered your mother."
Her words and tone told Kalibak that she had gone into a type of introspection and he knew it was a prime moment for attack but instead he eased his grip on his batons and straightened. "I must try," he sighed as if there were no other option.
"Even if it means your death?" Kara asked.
Kalibak nodded somberly. "Even then."
"You don't want to die, do you?" Kara tilted her head a little, as if at another angle she could see if she was dealing with a fanatic zealot of not.
The large son of Darkseid snorted at the notion. "Certainly not. I am no martyr."
"Good because I don't want to kill you," Kara replied with a faint smile. "To tell you the truth, I didn't even want to be back there fighting. I can't stand that planet or its people."
Kalibak arched a shaggy brow. "I've never heard a defender of earth speak so," he admitted.
"I'm not a defender of earth. At least, I don't want to be. That place is Kal-El's home. Not mine. Things are so strange there. I don't understand so much of it. I don't get their ways and they don't accept mine. They don't like killing, even if it was needed. They don't take. They form gangs that don't simply serve themselves. It's insanity."
"Apokolips is little better," Kalibak spat disdainfully. "There is no loyalty save through fear. Everyone plots and schemes and would waste their time trying to undo the other. Mettle means nothing without malice or guile. No one fights for the sheer art of it or the pleasure of slaying one's foe. All his farce and egos run unrestrained, keeping us tied to this… ugly hell-world."
"I wasn't going to say it, but I did notice this place looks like shit," Kara replied with a laugh.
To his ultimate surprise, Kalibak laughed with her.
Their laughter rang over the flaring firepits and stony ground and once their mirth had faded Kara's hard glared softened to something bordering on curiosity. "If you don't like your world, and I don't like mine, why don't we get out of here?" she asked suddenly. "I'll bet you know much more about the galaxy than I do. I don't even know where this planet is."
The idea pleased Kalibak, nearly making him smile. He almost said yes then caught himself as images of Darkseid's bloody face flashed through his mind. His father would live most likely but what would he say if Kalibak was to simply go? "I cannot, my loyalty is to Darkseid." Kalibak shook his head.
"Consider this then, Kalibak, if you don't go with me then I'll have to kill you and rip this planet apart to kill your father. You go with me and we skip all that. I don't kill your father, you save his life, and we hop of this shit world without going back to my shit world," she explained with smile.
Kalibak considered her offer a moment before he too broke out into a grin. "I agree, though I must say you are like no hero from earth I've ever met."
"I'm not a hero." Kara shook her head. "Hell, if I go back, Batman will probably zap me back to the Phantom Zone for coming out here to kill Darkseid. I go to kill one of the universes biggest threats and I get punished for it. Go figure on that one. No, I'm not a hero at all, I'm just me… you can call me K- Angel."
Kalibak nodded sturdily. "Very well, K'Angel." He smiled suddenly at her, revealing that he was making fun of her blunder.
Kara rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. "Smartass," she snorted then looked around. "Which way to getting off this rock? Can you fly?"
"No, but I have a ship that will take us away from here," Kalibak informed her as he put away his batons. "Its mother box matrix can send us anywhere in the navigated universe from the Source Wall to any barely formed planet. Where would you like to go?"
Kara shrugged. "Nowhere uppity. No place like earth. No place like this. Maybe small place where we can grab a few beers and a burger. Do they have burgers outside of earth? I kinda liked that the best about that whole dump."
"There are a few places like that," Kalibak mused. "We'll find something, test our luck." He began to walk away and beckoned Kara to follow. "I assume I'm to use my own credit chips to pay for this little getaway we're taking?"
Kara fell into step beside him and gave him a sly smile. "With our might, who needs money?"
Again, the pair laughed.
8888
Zarzap's Honky-tonk Picking, Line Dance Kicking, Razorback Sticking, Barbeque Chicken, Laundromat Bar & Grill
Nauseating smoke filled the main room of the long-named establishment sitting on the edge of the Seta Asteroid belt. One hundred light years away from the closest civilization, the Seta Asteroid belt was a place one intentionally went to get lost. The moon-sized asteroids numbered in the millions and it was nearly impossible to navigate. Freak electrical storms cropped up frequently, making navigation systems fizz out and the smaller chunks of rock could absolutely obliterate shields around space crafts in a matter of hours.
No planetary or galactic alliance had claimed the Seta Asteroid belt frankly because there was so little out there and it was so dangerous. Zarzap's Honky-tonk Picking, Line Dance Kicking, Razorback Sticking, Barbeque Chicken, Laundromat Bar & Grill was the only restaurant known about in the entire sector and it was only criminals and criminal types who knew about it and how to get there.
The place was packed with outlaws from Thanagar, Moi, Daxam, War World, and more. Some were on the lam from their home planets for committing crimes that warranted planet-wide searches, others were hardened murders who had committed atrocities and were being pursued by the Green Lanterns, and others had committed crimes so unspeakable that in many sectors of the galaxy they were kill-on-sight.
Lobo came there because he liked the cozy atmosphere, the beer was cold, and the burgers were to die for.
Had some tourist board found the little gem that was Zarzap's they would have been singing its praises for years. From it's homemade burgers that were made of some questionably radioactive plants Zarzap grew in the basement of the restaurant, to the oily fries, to the beers and the infamous Beer-shakes, a marvel of ingenuity managing to combine the power of three bottles of beer with a vanilla milkshake all made coming to Zarzaps worth the trip.
Lobo didn't come often and he never came when he was looking for bounties. He respected Zarzap, a large, lumbering alien from a now extinct species. He had once been a career criminal known as the World Breaker before he used all his loot to make the restaurant and retire. Four hundred years ago two planets had promised unbelievable fortunes for Zarzap to be brought to justice. The bounties on his head were to remain as long as he lived, and the rewards were promised to be honored as long as their worlds stood. So, Zarzap had solved the problem by blowing up both worlds.
No one had dared lay a bounty on him after that.
Of course, with no bounty on his head, Lobo had nothing against Zarzap at all. Lobo didn't dislike criminals, in fact, he understood them a lot more than anyone else, it was just that in his profession they made him the most amount of dough.
Standing at the bar, Lobo switched off between biting his burger to guzzling his beer as he enjoyed the solitude in his corner. Though he wasn't after anyone in the bar, they all knew Lobo and gave him a wide berth. No one started shit with the Main Man.
Lobo was in an uncommon mood to share some conversation and some company but he understood that his reputation proceeded him. He had already scared off two brothers wanted in the Oragi sector for robbing eighteen cred-banks. He couldn't scare conversation out of people so he contented himself to watching the people in their booths and tables and watching the buxom waitresses. Zarzap knew how to hire help, that much was certain.
A smiling waitress skimmed passed him and he lifted a hand to pinch her playfully, when another waitress came in through the front door from her cigarette break. She smushed the cig under her high heel then jerked a thumb out the door. "Zar, you may wanna put some more burgers down, I seen a ship just come in past the asteroids."
Zarzap turned to face the bar revealing his huge face with elephant-like nose that hung down and wrinkly skin that was nearly hiding two beady eyes. "What kind? I told Darro and his boys the next time they came back here I was gonna break their dorsal fins and turn 'em into meat for a new burger."
The waitress leaned back out the door. "It ain't Darro. I think it's an Apokolips ship."
Zarzap and the rest of the bar, including Lobo all laughed. "Yeah," Zarzap snorted. "One of Darkseid's ships come here? That'll be the day."