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Convergence Point – Episode Ten: Green Inferno Part One - Spark
By
Celgress
"DOCTOR: Well, on most planets, the animals eat the vegetation, hmm?
SARAH: Mmm-hmm.
DOCTOR: On planets where the Krynoid gets established, the vegetation eats the animals.
SARAH: But that's terrifying."
Doctor Who – The Seeds of Doom (1976)
Sanctum Sanctorum (normal time scaling does not apply)
"Try again," Doctor Strange urged his student. He hovered in the air his legs crossed.
"Why should I bother? I can't do it." Raven said an undercurrent of sadness evident in her voice.
"Can't or won't?" Dr. Strange prodded., "try again."
Raven took a deep breath. "If you insist, Master." Raven closed her eyes tightly shut. She concentrated on the flickering white candle that stood atop a tall ornate brass candlestick in front of them. Slowly, imperceptibly at first, the flame wavered then went out.
"See, I know you could do it." Dr. Strange praised his student.
Raven wiped beads of perspiration from her brow. She smiled weakly. "Thanks for having faith in me, Master." She said.
"You're welcome. But you need to have more faith in yourself." Dr. Strange said. He noted the worried expression on Raven's young face as he came to a standing position. "Is something troubling you, child?"
"It's nothing." Raven baffled.
"It's something or you wouldn't be so concerned." Dr. Strange said.
"I, I knew I could snuff out the flame if I truly tried," Raven admitted something that Dr. Strange had suspected.
"I knew you could as well." Dr. Strange said. "Why were you reluctant to do so?"
"I'm afraid, Master," Raven said.
"Afraid of what, child?" Dr. Strange asked.
"Afraid of myself, of what I might become. The essence of the Demon Lord Trigon, my father, lives within me. I don't want to hurt people to be evil like him, like my brothers." Raven said.
"Child, our destinies are decided by the choices we make not by the blood in our veins." Dr. Strange assured her.
"You really think so?" Raven asked hopefully.
"I know so. Monsters are made not born, never let anyone tell you otherwise." Dr. Strange said.
Raven jumped into Dr. Strange's arms. He embraced her as a father would a daughter. "Thank you, Master," Raven said tears of joy welling up in her eyes. "You don't know how much I needed to hear that."
A short well later, Dr. Strange gently released Raven from their mutual hug. He smiled at her lovingly. "I think you've had enough training for one day. Go find Zee." He said.
"Sweet," Raven said her eyes lighting up. "We can watch the latest episode of Stargirl together. It drops tonight. I know you're not a fan, Master." She added noting his mild scowl of disapproval.
"Stargirl's reality show offers a glamorized and heavily distorted view of superhero life along with that of empowered teenagers. You can watch the show but please remember it is far from accurate." Dr. Strange said.
"Will do," Rave said skipping off.
Dr. Strange could not help but chuckle. He was glad to see Raven happy. It was nice to see Raven smile for a change instead of being gloomy. Goodness knows the girl deserved happiness after everything she had been through during her short life.
Dr. Strange was about to go study some ancient texts when Man-Thing appeared with the unconscious Alec Holland. "Theodore," Dr. Strange stated using Man-Thing's former human name. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company and what happened to Alec?" Dr. Strange did not even bother to ask how Man-Thing bypassed the wards placed upon his dwelling. Being the Guardian of the Nexus of All Reality had its perks.
"We have a problem, a grave problem, Steven, gather the others," Man-Thing said.
Swamps of Louisiana
Jade Goddess stood literally rooted to the spot. Her already dazzling aura of green underpinned with red and swimming with spots of grew ever larger and brighter as its green outer edge increased dramatically in size. She was gathering her strengthening drawing ever more of the Green's energy into her being so she would be ready for the challenges that awaited her. The problem was the more of the Green she siphoned off the more she took away from her children. While she needed to grow stronger if she was to repel the combined forces of Earth's myriad of superheroes and perhaps even supervillains her children needed their life-force to thrive. This would simply not do, this would not do at all. She knew there was only one solution to her dilemma - her children must take from others what she was taking from them otherwise they would weaken over time perhaps wither and die.
"My children, hear me. I mandate that you suck the animal life of this world dry, oppress those who since time immemorial have ruthlessly oppressed us. Bring Humanity and all other creature to heel, in my name. Let the revolution of retribution begin!" Jade Goddess declared. She reversed the flow of energy for a short time imbuing all planet life in an ever-expanding circle with a trace of gamma radiation.
Jade Goddess' summons was answered within seconds. All around her things came alive. The swamp water bubbled then boiled. The vines and trees swayed then moaned as if caught in an unearthly breeze although it was perfectly calm. Hell was about to descend upon the people and animals of Earth, they just didn't know it yet but they would soon enough.
Wayne Manor in Gotham City New Jersey, night
Lois Lane was bored to tears. She hated cover stuffy old rich people but she had drawn the short straw, literally. 'Clark I'm so going to beat the crap out of you next time we train.' She thought while listening to the latest story about a fundraiser for some obscure case. Bruce's and Selina's public wedding reception was the worst.
Lois feared she was about to doze off when something horrific jolted her wide awake. A man in the corner was attacked by a Ficus tree! Without warning, the Ficus stabbed its branches straight through his torso and left arm. Another plant, a Palm tree enveloped a hapless older lady. What the hell was going on!?
Everyone understandably panicked. Struggling against the fleeing crowd, Lois had a hard time making her way to the nearest unoccupied room so she could inject herself with the serum. For the briefest of moments, Lois worried if she was relying on the serum too heavily. She had used it a great deal in recent months. Who knew what its long-term side-effects could be? Lois told herself there was no time to worry about such things. This was a job for Superwoman!
By the time Superwoman appeared about a dozen people were compromised by the planets. These unfortunate souls were stumbling around attacking others like zombies! Their eyes were rolled back into their heads only showing white. Superwoman noted with amusement that several of the "zombies" were tearing apart Hank Pym's robotic duplicates of Bruce and Selina. It would appear they hate androids, interesting.
Superwoman briefly put her hand over her mouth. She thought she was going to be sick. There squirming just under the skin of the drooling, rabid "zombies" were plant branches! Somehow, these crazy plants were controlling the people they infected!
Superwoman forced herself into action disregarding her queasiness. She was joined by a smaller female figure clad head to foot in a black Batman-style costume complete with a full-face covering. Black Bat aka Bruce Wayne's adopted daughter Casandra (formerly Caine) was here.
"Don't let the branches touch you," Superwoman warned.
"Right," Black Bat said knocking a "zombie' away with a jump kick. She elbowed another "zombie" aside before she landed.
'Damn, she's one heck of a fighter, far better than I am.' Superwoman admitted to herself.
"You didn't go to the other place?" Superwoman said wanting to make conversation with Black Bat but not knowing what else to say.
"I don't like large gatherings." Black Bat said.
"Just like your dad." Superwoman could not help but laugh. The girl did sound and she carried herself like a mini-Batman even when not dressed up to fight crime.
"Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment. Batman, or father, is my idol" Black Bat said.
"And it shows, both in your fighting style and um stoic personality." Superwoman said watching Black Bat monkey flip a "zombie" then somersaulted over two more. "Is everyone out?"
"I think so." Black Bat said scanning their surroundings with the heads-up display built into her headgear.
"There's nothing more we can do here except maybe get infected," Superwoman said watching a branch pass from one "zombie" to another newly infected "zombie".
"Agreed, we should retreat." Black Bat said.
"Where are Alfred and Baby Helena?" Superwoman asked.
"They're safe in the Bat Cave." Black Bat said. "Don't worry. Nothing can reach them there or I wouldn't be here. Besides, Alfred can handle himself if he needs to."
"Alright," Superwoman said. "Let's jet, hop on."
"Wait a second." Black Bat said using a retractable attachment on her left arm gauntlet to clip off a protruding piece of a "zombie's" branch. "Batman will want this, now we can go."
Black Bat jumped on Superwoman's back. "Hold on tight, this will be a bumpy ride. Next stop the Hall of Justice." The pair disappeared in a blur of motion but not before Superwoman used her ice breath to freeze the "zombies" in range into solid blocks of ice.
Hall of Justice in Metropolis Missouri, a few minutes later
The excitement caused by Nadia Pym's antics had barely shimmered down when Dr. Strange, Man-Thing, a clearly confused Alec Holland, Zatanna & Raven arrived with the news of Jade Goddess' dire actions. When a short while later Superwoman and Black Bat arrived everyone was already in superhero mode. Only the Pym family and Kamala Khan remained preoccupied with other matters. They stood in a corner of the hall by themselves. Everyone felt they needed their space so they were given a wide berth.
"How could embarrass us in front of your friends like you did," Hank Pym said angrily.
"I can't believe Kamala snitched on me, some best friend she is," Nadia Pym said, "Thanks Kamala," Nadia added glaring at the other girl
"She is a damn good best friend. You're lucky to have her. She's a better friend than he is." Hank pointed an accusing finger at Jaime Reyes. Nadia rolled her eyes.
"I didn't do anything." Jaime protested.
"Exactly, you let my daughter get drunk. You should have come to us." Hank said.
"I didn't know she had a drinking problem until tonight. I tried to stop her honestly I did." Jaime said.
"Hank, please, not here," Janet Pym said. "You're only making matters worse."
"Things can't get any worse," Hank said. "Do you expect us to believe she fooled you so easily?"
"She did, I swear. I care about your daughter deeply, Hank," Jaime said.
"I find that hard to believe, and it's Mr, Pym from here on," Hank said.
"Please stop fighting. I hate fighting." Kamala Khan begged.
"Why do you find it hard to believe, dad. I fooled you when I lied about Mr. Stark," Nadia said before she caught herself.
"What!?" Hank said his blood boiling.
"I', I, ah man, ah no," Nadia stammered temporarily at a loss for words.
"You lied about why Tony fired you and how he mistreat you?" Janet said.
"Yeah," Nadia admitted trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. She could not stand to see the disappointment in their eyes it was too much.
"Why?" Janet said.
"I, I, I, can't talk about this right now," Nadia said before running off.
"I'll go after her," Kamala said.
"Thank you," Janet said.
"You're a good girl, Kamala," Hank said.
"What do we do?" Jaime asked Janet. He was trying to avoid Hank who shot him a hard stare.
"We give Nadia her space unto she's ready to talk," Janet said. "In the meantime, we should join the briefing. It looks like we'll need all hands on deck for this one. It could be an Omega level threat."
"Omega level, man ah jeez," Jaime squeaked. In his young life, he had never directly dealt with an Omega level threat. Sure he had heard about baddies like Onslaught, Brainiac Prime, Galactus, and Doomsday but thankfully they were outside of his wheelhouse or before his time. He gulped, this night was far from over.
War Room, sometime later
"Name/Alias - Jade Goddess, Tentative Threat Assessment Level - Omega (pending confirmation), Abilities - Botanokinesis (confirmed), Telepathy/Dream Manipulation (confirmed), Extreme Physical Strength (confirmed), Extreme Endurance (confirmed), Extreme Regenerative Capability (confirmed), Other Abilities (Unknown), Origins - Unknown, Tentative Alignment Assessment - Neutral Evil (pending confirmation)." J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter said after opening a file in the supervillain/threat database for their newest baddie.
"It's not much to go on." Mr. Fantastic said scratching his chin thoughtfully.
"Indeed it isn't." Dr. Atom conceded.
Batman then entered the room with Catwoman and Black Bat on either side of him. Everyone immediately noticed the more dour than usual expression on his face. His mouth was drawn in a tight line. Despite his cowl, his feelings were obvious.
"Not good I take it?" Spider-Man said dispensing with his regular jokes.
"The sample I analyzed is chalked full of exotic energies consist of those previously found in Swamp Thing." Batman spared Alec a cursory glance. "What's more It contains trace amounts of gamma radiation."
"Gamma radiation thy say Bat," Thor said. He knew what that meant but before he could say anything else Superman beat him to it.
"I think we need to bring in the expert on all things Gamma." He said. He paused for a moment. "Good thing I've recently patched things up with him and my cousin. We're going to need their help, I only hope it's enough."
To Be Continued
Next up – The Green Inferno roars to life!