Chapter 34:
"So, you're saying this is a magical trident?" Cado questioned Zatanna. The two were sat at a nearby café, food stacked in front of them. The Saiyatonian had the trident he'd acquired from Aquaman in his hand, eyebrow raised as he used his superior vision to analyse the metal.
"Yes," the magical woman answered, sighing as she saw him poking the tip. "And will you stop doing that?! That's dangerous! You don't know what the effects of that thing will have on you!"
"What? Could it suddenly call out all the fish I could eat?" Cado joked, spinning it around in his hand. "Could I use it as a giant fork? Ooh!" He had an excited look as he spoke his next words. "Could I use it to summon a powerful being to fight?!"
"... I was right when I compared you to 'Conan the Barbarian'," Zatanna muttered, shaking her head.
Cado blinked. "'Conan the Barbarian'? The hell is that?"
"Uh..." Blushing, Zatanna mentally went over the best way to handle this. "A-A sexy caveman-like fictional character."
Cado rolled his eyes. "You women are so weird."
"Hey! Girls have fantasies, too!"
"Uh-huh." Cado brought the trident closer to his face. "So, the trident?"
Zatanna sighed. "Look, all I know about it is that it was forged in Atlantis, for its king to wield its full power. The Atlantians consider this thing sacred. So, the fact that you just have it is worrying."
"Really, I acquired this thing by accident," the Saiyatonian remarked. "During the Kryptonian Invasion, what looked to be an Atlantean attacked me with it. I suspect that - from what you told me - that it was the king."
Zatanna blinked, paling a little. "Please don't tell me that you killed the king," she pleaded, knowing that shit would hit the fan in that case. During her own magical studies, she'd done her research on all manner of supernatural beings and creatures. From the Atlanteans, to the Olympians, and even demons. The Atlanteans - while not being hailed as the most powerful - were still quite formidable.
"No, I didn't kill the king," Cado scoffed, rolling his eyes. Zatanna gave a sigh of relief.
"Well, that's fin-" she started to say, only for Cado to reveal the truth.
"I killed several of the attacking Atlanteans in self-defence, beat the shit out of their king, and stabbed him with his own trident," Cado remarked, a nonchalant shrug following his response.
The witch stared at him blankly, blinking for a good few seconds. She turned to an oncoming waittress. "Hi, could you get me more coffee? I'm going to need it?" When the waittress left, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Cado... why?"
The Saiyatonian held his hands up. "It was in self-defence!"
"You love to use that word, don't you?" she scoffed.
He gave a sheepish grin. "It's in my top 10 most favoured words."
"I'm sur-" Zatanna's speech was interrupted by Cado's tightened face. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I thought I felt somethi-" Eyes wide, Cado moved instantly, pushing her to the side. The same waittress she'd talked to lunged at her, coffee all but forgotten as it spilled to the ground in a heap.
"Hey, what the hell-" Zatanna started to yell, only to pause at looking at the waittress' face. It was covered by an odd-looking starfish. Its texture was a weird blue colour, with what what looked to be a deep red eye gleaming with malice.
"Join me, my future warriors," the woman muttered, her voice monotone but tinted with a demonic intent.
"What the fuck is that thing?!" Cado exclaimed, confused and shocked. The woman's energy... it seemed, warped somehow. Like it was covered in grease and oil, tainted and somewhat corrupted.
"You will join us and become a part of it."
"'It'? What are you-" "Cado," Zatanna gasped, interrupting him. She slapped his shoulder as she pointed in another direction. Confused, he turned to look at where she was pointing at, only to pale slightly.
Unease and horror echoed throughout their entire being as a horde of people, all covered by starfish, suddenly began crowding into the streets. They suddenly turned to look at the duo, speaking all as one.
"You, like everyone else on this worthless planet will join us and become a glorious part of him! You will become a part of Starro!"
XXX
Keystone City
"Disappointing."
The word sounded unusually heavy, not bearing any particular weight. But to a man like Vandal Savage, he'd made sure that his words had power.
The immortal sat in his own lair in the city, its location only known to a select few. And he liked to keep it that way. Which was why his... associate being here made him more annoyed than usual.
The mercenary before him shrugged helplessly. "Things usually are when dealing with meta-humans. The Batman and his ilk, I can deal with, no problem. But our new fishy friend? He can bring down entire ships."
Vandal scoffed. "I did not ask for complaints, Deathstroke! I want results!" A fist slamming onto his desk emphasised his point.
A flex of his jaw hidden underneath his mask was Deathstroke's only sign of annoyance. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to find a way around Aquaman. These meta-humans... they usually have a certain weakness. I'll find it, and then I'll exploit it."
And pay that bastard back for beating the shit out of me, the one-eyed mercenary thought to himself, rubbing his bruised and wounded body gently.
Aquaman had interrogated Deathstroke about his involvement in his heist. He had remained silent, staying strong despite his disadvantages. Aquaman's force and tactics were impressive, but were nothing he hadn't seen before. The Atlantean's tortures only fueled the hate he had for him.
It usually wasn't personal, the people he'd encountered on his jobs. Then again, he usually killed them, so he couldn't form a grudge against them. And sometimes, they weren't meta-humans.
"A sound of disgust escaped Vandal's lips. "Your alias as the Terminator is ringing hollow, Deathstroke." And for good reason, Vandal reasoned to himself. He would have preferred the entire ship sink rather than knowledge of his operation to spread. "I guess I'll have to switch my transportation methods to air instead."
"I don't care what you do as long as I get paid the money I am owed, Savage," Deathstroke responded. During their negotiations, Vandal had promised to pay him half up front and a half later. The mercenary was still waiting for the rest.
"Oh trust me, you will get paid," Vandal chuckled to himself as he stood from his desk. A grin creeped onto his face. "I'm surprised you never asked me why I needed the Atlantean relic that Aquaman searched for."
Deathstroke shrugged, his body growing tense. "I'm not usually one to ask questions while on the job. As long as your instructions are clear and concise, I don't really care what it is."
Vandal turned to stare at the wall on his left, as if he were seeing through the wall with X-ray vision. "It was one of the many things I wanted to collect... before the impending event occurs."
"And what exactly is this... event?" Deathstroke questioned. He didn't like the sound of that. He was still unsure of what the immortal mastermind was up to, but wasn't ready to attack him just yet.
Vandal chuckled. "Of course. You don't know about it."
"'It'?" Deathstroke scoffed. "I'm not really a huge fan of the whole pronoun game, Savage. What is 'it'?"
Vandal grinned, turning to look at him. "Have you ever heard of Starro the Conqueror?"
Deathstroke raised an eyebrow. "Not really. So, you're telling me that this... person is what's having you so anxious? Unless you're telling me that this person is more dangerous than those two aliens roaming about-"
"I'm afraid that is exactly, what I'm telling you," Vandal interrupted with a small smile. "He'll be here soon, from amongst the stars, and come for this planet."
Deathstroke blinked, and then felt the incoming headache. "You're telling me that there's going to be another alien invasion?"
"Yes. This planet seems to be prepping itself for a war against beings far above is in space," Vandal remarked, almost curiously. "However, you will not live long to see the aftermath!"
Deathstroke narrowly dodged as Vandal abruptly lunged at him. The mercenary's eye narrowed as he saw Vandal digging into his coat pocket, the immortal man retrieving some kind of… starfish? But it wasn't any kind of Earthly starfish, for it had teeth. A game of cat-and-mouse ensued as Deathstroke tried to keep the monstrosity away.
Eventually, the two got into a tussle that Deathstroke struggled against. Despite seemingly having no superpowers, Vandal Savage seemed to have an abnormal amount of strength. Once it was in close proximity, the starfish screeched before lurching from Vandal's hands, aiming towards Deathstroke's face.
If not for getting tangled up, he'd have been able to dodge that. As it stood, Deathstroke watched in revulsion as the thing clung to his mask, struggling to burrow through. After a few seconds, a chuckle escaped his lips.
"Should've had my mask removed first, dumbass," he taunted, before Spartan-kicking the immortal backwards, sending him sprawling. Picking out a gun, he shot the thing on his face several times, hearing it screech as it fell off his face, twitching before laying still.
Acting quickly, he took out a grenade from his belt and released the pin. He chucked it at the still disorientated immortal. "I know this isn't going to kill you," Deathstroke remarked, turning around to make his exit. "But it'll hurt like a bitch!"
"Deathstroke!" Vandal roared in anger, making to move, but it was too late. The grenade exploded, the explosion singing Deathstroke upon his exit of the warehouse. Usually, he'd confirm if his target was dead. But - knowing Vandal Savage - that explosion was nothing more than a little pinch to him.
No, he had to go back to his base and plan. Because he was not going to fall short of another alien invasion.
XXX
Superman narrowed his eyes as he flew across the skies of Metropolis, his superior sight and hearing letting him know the full details of what was occuring down below. He was just busy in his office typing off a report, before he was tackled by Jimmy Olsen. He would've admonished him, if it weren't for the creepy-looking starfish attached to his face.
Confused and horrified, he grabbed Jimmy to examine him, hoping to determine what was wrong. The teenager's heartbeat and vitals appeared to be normal. Apart from the abnormal-looking starfish, everything was fine. So what was that thing? A parasite? An alien?
As Superman made to move around Metropolis and help more people, his eyesight caught a horrifying image. "Lois!" he yelled, seeing the woman stand on top of the roof of the Daily Planet, a starfish attached to her face.
Angered, he flew downwards, floating in front of her. "I don't know who you are or what you want, but you will release her!" the Kryptonian bellowed, eyes gleaming red.
As the possessed Lois stared at him, a sick, demented grin cross her face. Superman mentally winced, the motion looking wrong on her face. "Release her? Now, now, Clark. Why would I ever want to do that?"
Just before he could even answer, she stepped backwards to allow herself to fall off the roof.
Superman didn't even have time to yell out Lois' name before dashing off to rescue his friend. In the blink of an eye, the woman was in his grasp, being pulled to safety. But as the Man of Steel was floating back to the rooftop, he failed to notice something creeping up his cape.
"Foolish organism," was the whispered insult. The Kryptonian's eyes expanded in horror as he saw a starfish wrap around his neck. He dropped Lois to the ground and tried to pull the invading parasite off his skin, but it was far too late. Before Superman could grasp the starfish with both hands, it latched onto his face, and his whole world went dark.
XXX
"What the hell is going on?!" Cado exclaimed, blasting towards Rao Industries, Zatanna in his arms as he flew.
"I-I don't know!" Zatanna yelled out, panic settling into her voice as she saw innocent possessed civilians come in droves across the street. "I'm thinking it's some sort of evil parasite or something! But how the hell did we not know of this?! I'm pretty sure people would be concerned if a freaky starfish latches onto someone's face!"
Seeing people start to fight amongst themselves, Zatanna couldn't take it anymore. "Drop me."
Cado looked at her incredulously. "What?"
"I said drop me!" When Cado didn't listen, she growled. "Dnib!" she called out, casting her magic on the Saiyatonian. Suddenly, it was like Cado's body was locked up instantly. Suprised, Cado stopped himself out of shock, his body suddenly motionless as it started to dip towards a nearby building top.
He crashed to the ground, Zatanna rolling roughly to cushion her fall. "Ow," she groaned, before she focused. "Pots!" she casted, spreading her hands towards the brawling crowd.
Like Cado, their bodies shackled up as their movements were halted. Though she could tell that they struggled heavily, her magic still held.
The witch sighed, relieved. Now, all she had to do was study... whatever the hell that thing was on people's faces, and try to get to the bottom of-
Her eyes widened upon hearing heavy footsteps. Zatanna whirled around, seeing construction workers and normal people who were corrupted crawl upon the rooftop. Worse, they were heading towards the bound Cado, who had veins popping up on his forehead to show his struggling.
"Release me, dammit!" he roared, seeing the possessed crowd get closer to him.
Worried, she yelled out, "Esaeler!" Instantly, Cado's invisible bonds broke free, allowing him to a kiai to blow every approaching person back. Seeing them sail off of the building, he growled as he caught each descending person, knocking them out gently so that they wouldn't cause problems to themselves or to others.
The last person in his grasp tried to claw at him, but he swiftly knocked them out as he stared at the starfish attached to the person's face. Frowning, Cado used his heat vision at a low level to burn off the attached limbs of the starfish. There was a screech from the creature, its resistance making it harder to burn off. But he managed to do so, quickly holding the creepy being by its face, avoiding getting it anywhere near his face.
Cado growled. "Alright, who the hell are you?!"
The starfish squirmed, before its body wriggled. It took Cado a few seconds to realise that it was laughing. "It's amusing, thinking you pathetic humans try to oppose a higher being. Very well, fool. My name is Starro, and I am your new god." (1).
The Saiyatonian sighed. "Great, another villain with a superiority complex. And what exactly is your schtick, huh? Infect people to do your bidding?" He scoffed. "Some 'god' you are."
"Oh, don't worry. My apotheosis will commence soon. But let's not dwell on that. My control will soon encompass this planet, all will bow before Starro the Conqueror!"
Cado snarled. "Yeah, right. Where's your main body?"
"And what makes you think I have one?"
"Leeches like yourself always have a sort of hive queen. Someone who controls all of you starfish. There's no way you don't have one, given the number of copies of you around here."
"Ooh, clever. Unfortunately, you'll never find out. Because everything you own, everything you love, will be mine. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.
Growling, Cado threw the starfish up and fired off a ki blast, incinerating the parasite into ashes. He stood there, trying to formulate a plan.
"What are we going to do?" Zatanna eventually asked, walking up to him.
"We'll meet up at Rao Industries. We'll use our satellites to locate all of the necessary places in the world. Then try and see if we can locate the hive mind behind all of this mess. We kill that, hopefully, we kill this Starro guy."
Cado got his Rao Glasses out, hoping to talk to Bulma. After a while, it went through. "Bulma, I need you to use our satellites to-"
"I'm afraid that Bulma isn't available at the moment," a voice called back, making Cado freeze. "Please, leave a message after the beep."
Cado was stiff, hearing the sound of Bulma's voice. It sounded evil, demonic, even. A stark contrast to her normal, sweet - if irritating - tone. "What have you done?" he whispered, getting Zatanna to look at him worriedly.
"I've just made myself at home with what this planet considers the most powerful place in the world," Bulma's monotone voice spoke back to him. "Though I must say, it was rather exciting to break inside."
"I am going to kill you," Cado swore, an unholy rage gathering in his eyes. "If you touch any of my mates, I will-"
"You'll what?" six other voices called back to him, making his stomach feel like a lump of lead was settled in it. "Oh, go on. Don't spoil the details."
Cado's body shook, in anger or in fear, he didn't know. He clenched and unclenched his fists, horror settled on his face.
"Cado?" Zatanna's hand rested on his shoulder as she shook him. "What is it? What's wrong?"
He didn't answer, trying to sort his mind out.
"Oh, come on, lover," Cammy's voice called out over the link, striking a chord in Cado. "Aren't you going to respond?"
"This is your fault," Aika accused over the link. "If you hadn't been spending time with that little magician of yours, then maybe you could've helped us."
"Maybe you could've even saved us," Chun-Li hissed. "If you weren't so distracted with your little pet, you would've been more useful."
"So, allow us to show our appreciation, lover boy," Bulma spoke ominously, ending the comm link right there.
Cado's eyes were wide, stuck between horror and anger. He'd failed his mates. If he'd paid more attention to them - no, the planet. If he would've used his senses properly, he could've located this Starro vermin and destroyed practically all of his copies.
Instead, he'd failed. His arrogance - no, carelessness - had caused this. His mates and the civilians had been possessed, right from under his nose. He'd trained his senses so much that he wouldn't allow anyone to get the drop on him, and yet that sense of caution hadn't extended to his loved ones. How could he have been so stupid?
A slap connected to his face, snapping him out of his thoughts. He saw Zatanna cry out and cradle her hand with her other one. "Goddammit! That was a stupid idea!"
Cado blinked. "The hell was that for?"
"To snap you out of it," the witch replied, shaking her bruised hand a little. Wincing, she muttered, "Laeh." A green glow surrounded her hand as it healed itself. "As I was saying, you need to snap out of it. I'm guessing something bad happened at your headquarters?" Given the situation at hand, she didn't need him to clarify on what had happened.
A slow nod was her answer.
"Well, we can fix this," she muttered, somewhat optimistically. "I mean, you fought in the Kryptonian Invasion, didn't you? And you didn't seem to back down when Zod came to Earth. So, do the same thing for this one."
Cado sighed. "In that invasion, I relied mainly on my fists over my sense of diplomancy. Now, the only thing I can punch or blow up are possessed civilians, and I-" He blinked, slowly processing information in his brain. His head tilted to one way, his face scrunched up in concentration.
"What is it? You come up with a plan?" Zatanna asked, hopeful.
A small smile creeped onto his face as hope surged in his chest. "Yeah. But I want to go to Rao Industries and check up on my mates. Keep them from killing themselves, or killing others."
Zatanna made to speak, only for Cado to grab her and quickly move out of the way as a laser fired at the place where she previously was. The two whirled around to see Cado's droids circling the area, their attention focused on them.
Remembering Bulma's ominous warning, Cado frowned. "Having my own machines go against me. Why the hell didn't I see this kind of thing happening?"
Zatanna rolled her eyes. "'Brilliant scientist creating machines that rebel against him.' That trope is so cliché that it's embarrassing that you fell for that."
"Wanna know what else is cliché? An actual sorceress pretending to be a stage magician." Eyes glowing red, Cado used his heat vision to fry several of his droids, feeling a tinge of sadness. He'd created these droids, so knowing that the amount of work put into them was being undone by his hand...
He pushed the regrets away, demolishing more and more that kept on coming. Zatanna raised her hands, magic dancing at her fingertips.
"Gninthgil fo stlob nommus I, em ni detstevni rewop eht yb!" she called out. The skies turned dark as clouds quickly gathered. Immediately, bolts of lightning started to rain down from the sky, frying most of the droids. A good chunk of them, however, were able to handle the magical lightning, despite the heavy signs of damage.
Gritting his teeth, Cado used his Multi-Bullet Volley technique to put a quick end to the army of robots.
Descending down, he grabbed Zatanna and warped to the inside of Rao Industries, appearing on the top floor. There, he could see the terrible scene of his mates, wearing Starro's starfish on their faces. They looked up from the monitor to stare at him.
"You shouldn't have come here, Cado," they all spoke as one, creating a creepy environment. "You'll ruin all of my fun."
Cado glared at the group, his heart hammering heavily in his chest. "Release them," he hissed angrily.
Bulma gave a creepy smile. "Did you really think that your little toys were the only defence I had against you?"
Frowning, Cado grew confused as he tried to figure out what she was talking abo-
His eyes widened, his hearing picking up a whistling sound. No, not a sound. Several of them. And they seemed to be heading for their direction.
He glared at the creature possessing his woman. "You launched government nukes?!" he yelled, more concerned than actually frightened.
"But of course. This mind is a brilliant thing, after all. Launching those things and hacking into government databases was nothing but child's play." The possessed woman stared at her hands in wonder, as if she herself didn't know of her full capabilities. "I'm able to do a number of things, far more efficiently - I think - to punching and kicking."
She stomped her feet, pressing a button behind her that allowed slits to form around the possessed women. A hard-light barrier appeared between the group, causing Cado to narrow his eyes.
"I managed to whip this up in my spare time," the blue-haired woman commented. "And don't be getting smart ideas, lover boy. Any contact with this shield will allow it to detonate. It won't kill you, of course. But for the rest of us?" She smiled, not needing to finish her answer.
Clenching his teeth, Cado turned to Zatanna. "Take care of the missiles."
The woman's eyes went wide at his request. "Are you insane?! I-"
Holding her shoulders to interrupt her, Cado leaned in and whispered. "I need to make sure that there aren't any more traps set up in this building. You help deal with the oncoming missiles."
Glaring at him, she could see that he wasn't going to budge on this. She growled, before stepping towards a window, opening it. A nearby droid popped up, about to blast her, but Cado solved that problem with a quick ki blast.
Pushing the window open, she fell out, quickly muttering a spell before she crashed into the ground. "Noitativel!" she intoned, her body hovering by will of magic. Zatanna forced herself to move at high speeds through the air. Her eyes widened upon seeing the metallic blobs in the sky, even with her human eyes.
"Oh my God," she breathed out, her face paling upon seeing the weapons of mass destruction fly through the air like a rain of impeding doom. Shaking her hands, she did her best to calm her racing nerves, knowing that the task before her would be monumental.
Zatanna took a deep breath, before she raised her hands. "rewop fo reirrab a ekovni I ,em ni detstevni rewop eht yb!"
A translucent shield of light formed around the upper air of the city, rising up to meet the opposition. When the first missile hit, Zatanna grit her teeth as she did her best to maintain the onslaught. Her body lowered from the strain as she perservered.
However, through the crook of her closed eye, Zatanna could see more missiles fall to a direction different from where her barrier was. "Goddammit!" she exclaimed, sweat falling from her brow. Holding her hands out, she called out her barrier spell again, this time producing another smaller, weaker shield that barely managed to protect the civilians.
She cried out in pain as explosion after explosion rocked her shields, weakening her magic further and further as she tried to maintain the shields. Eventually, her magic failed from the strain as she collapsed, landing on the ceiling of a high enough building. She grunted in pain, wincing in pain and guilt as she could faintly hear some explosions ring through the air. She knew that many people were likely to have died from the aftermath, with extreme injury being the only suitable option.
Back with Cado, he quickly used his X-ray vision to scan the building, seeing more and more traps laid out before him. Eyes glowing red, he fired off his heat vision at each hidden crevice and trap. More droids popped out, but they were quickly taken each systematically, his anger making him move more faster.
"Very impressive," Starro-Bulma commented. "But it doesn't change the fact that-"
Immediately done with dealing with each obstacle, Cado warped inside of the barrier with his possessed mates. Knocking them all out with simple chops, he fired off a blast of heat vision at the starfish attached to their faces. It took a while, but he managed to burn it off of their faces.
Holding all of his mates in both arms, Cado did a manual sweep of the building, seeing if there were any more inconveniences. And he found them. "Godammit," he muttered, using super speed to dash downwards and land near a terribly-covered crevice.
Sighing, he called out, "Come on out! It's me."
Apparently, that wasn't enough. There was a blur of motion, before Harley burst forward, a gun in hand. "Die!" she yelled out, shooting at him without pause. He used his tail to swat away the bullets, annoyed. Bullet-proof he was, his mates weren't.
"Will you come down, you crazy bitch?!" the Saiyatonian yelled, annoyed. He slapped the gun out of her hand with his tail, before slapping her body to the left, making her collide with the nearby wall.
Poison Ivy stepped out of the crevice, already sighing upon seeing his annoyed face. "Look, Harley was just a little... trigger-happy. After that crazy blue-haired woman got possessed, she turned this place into a warzone. We had to do our best to hide."
Cado rolled his eyes, knowing that the green-skinned woman was covering for her. "Right..." he muttered sarcastically, knowing that the clown had unresolved hatred for him due to him killing the Joker.
Deadshot and Mr. Freeze slowly popped up out of the crevice, armed with their respective weapons. They lowered them upon seeing the Saiyatonian with the unconscious women in his grasp.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank God it's you," Deadshot said, relieved. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'll tell you that later," was his reply. "Although, I will tell you what the hell we're going to do."
"And what's that?" Mr. Freeze asked, worried.
Cado kept on looking off into the distance, as if monitoring something. "We get back-up."
XXX
Central City
The Flash rarely, if ever, teamed up with a fellow hero.
He didn't know why. Maybe because other heroes couldn't handle all of his awesomeness. Who couldn't? He was the 'fastest man alive' after all.
But truthfully, Barry didn't know how to properly act around different heroes. Superheroes like Batman or Superman would have him fanboying over them, ruining his image even further. Heroes like... well, he didn't know what to classify Cado as, but he was another person who he was nervous of meeting. Mostly because of him being scary.
However, he didn't know how to feel about meeting his new partner, given his worries. Especially if their first meeting was during another alien invasion.
Flash grimaced as he slammed into a building, a groan escaping his lips as he slid to the ground with a hard thud. He looked up to see Aquaman being knocked back by his opponent, also bearing a starfish on their face.
He slightly turned to look at the man. "You know, when I met you on the docks, and agreed to help you with the whole 'starfish crisis', this wasn't what I had in mind."
Aquaman wiped away the blood from his chin as he glared at the scarlet speedster. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's usually not this much chatter in a battle."
"Right, sorry," Flash acknowledged, rubbing his head sheepishly as he stood up. He turned to face the possessed opponent. "So, you know this chick?"
Aquaman grimaced. "Yes. She is... my ally, Tula."
"Ally? Your words wound me, Arthur," Tula mocked. "We both know I was nothing more than the little Atlantean that you had to babysit!"
The newly revealed Tula walked forward, a Starro starfish attached to her face (A.N. - She has her Prime Earth appearance). She curled her hands as ice started to properly form itself into her own personal trident.
Barry tensed. Sheesh, and she's a cutie, too. Damn, that makes it even harder.
However, he knew he couldn't underestimate her. For such a cute girl, Tula certainly packed a punch. Aquaman himself wasn't fairing much better than him, but it was obvious that the Atlantean king was holding back as much as he could.
With a roar, she advanced on the group, Aquaman running to meet her charge. As the two clashed, Barry could see that Arthur was on the defensive for most on his battle with his apprentice. He parried every strike she made, his palms seeming to repel the ice construct.
"Tula, stop this madness!" Aquaman shouted as he moved out, striking her face just as her trident sliced at him.
The red-headed Atlantean was flung back but was undeterred as she charged towards her king once more. "Never!"
Arthur's patience wore thin as he dodged her uppercut. If not for his quick reflexes, a punch like that would have rattled his jaw. Her follow up knee to the gut was precise but was impeded by Aquaman's movements, which blocked it in the nick of time. Her frustration was beginning to mount as her movements became more aggressive. Haymakers were unleashed to end the battle as soon as possible. Aquaman and Tula moved like dancers across the warehouse, the king moving with the fluidity befitting it.
As Tula stopped to catch her breath, the Flash hopped into the fray. Zooming at super speed he dashed over to the Atlantean woman cocking his arm back as he gathered momentum. Barry was greatly surprised as he suddenly slammed into an azure wall of energy, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"Did you forget about her magic?" Aquaman's grating voice asked.
The Flash mentally facepalmed as he dusted himself off. Her magic was what had tossed into the wall in the first place. He really needed to be careful.
"Just how powerful is her magic?" Barry asked he glanced at the magical barrier that was still erected around Tula.
"She's one of our kingdom's most powerful sorcerers," Arthur said without hesitation. Till this point, they had been fortunate that Tula had yet to display her full magical abilities.
Aquaman and the Flash were given no time to dwell on it as two slimy aquamarine tendrils burst from Tula's magical barrier. With a hard lunge, Aquaman rammed his trident into the squid-like appendage that attempted to corral him. Barry was simply too fast for his tendril to grab him. The magical tendril stretched as far as it possibly could, but Barry managed to zoom away. With quick thinking, Barry redirected the tendril into a nearby wall where it promptly splattered and was erased.
"That wasn't hard at-" The Flash's celebration was cut short as dozens of more tendrils suddenly spawned from around Tula. And before Barry could properly count them, they were encircling him once more.
XXX
(Intergang HQ)
Cado arrived with his group, seeing members of Intergang with guns in hand mowing down any possessed people. Some guns were aimed at them upon seeing them in the air, but Bruno quickly stepped forward, hands in the air.
"Woah, woah, woah!" he quickly uttered. "Let's not be shooting our customers! Usually, they aren't super-powerful aliens that won't shoot beams of death at you."
"Thanks for the concern," Cado muttered sarcastically as he dropped the group of people in his hands, showing extra care to his mates.
Zatanna - who'd joined them - glared as she surveyed the area. "You're killing all of these innocent people?!"
"Innocent?" Bruno snorted. "Lady, anyone coming in like a mindless horde to attack us is hardly innocent. I've seen the Walking Dead. I know my shit."
"Uh, I think Alien is a more accurate comparison, boss," one of the henchmen muttered, getting him to hum in agreement.
Furious, Zatanna made to argue more with him, until Cado put a hand on her shoulder. "Enough, Zatanna."
"How can you side with him?!" she exclaimed, shock and anger clear on her face. "Instead of trying to help these people, he's killing them off like flies!"
"Zatanna, we don't have time for this," he hissed, pressing harder. Snarling, she used a spell to produce a spark of lightning, forcing his hand off of her. It didn't hurt, but he let go of her hand anyway.
Cado turned to Bruno. "Bruno, we need a place for the others to hide. I'll try and take care of this Starro guy then."
"Starro?" Bruno blinked, face paling. "That's who we're fighting?! I heard the stories, but... to see that it's happening to our own planet..."
"What can you tell us about this freakish plague thing?" Deadshot questioned, grabbing some guns off of the ground. When some distasteful looks were sent his way, he shrugged. "Hey, when my own supervillain origin happens kicks in, I'll gladly use whatever powers I get from that. But until then..." He cocked his gun. "... I'm playing to win."
Bruno smirked. "I like him."
"Bruno," Cado growled.
"Right, right. Anyways, this Starro is a plague. He moves from planet to planet, infecting its inhabitants like a parasite, drawing on their power and lifeforce with each victim he ensnares. I heard he even wiped out Mars, apparently."
Cado nodded, digesting the information. "And I'm assuming that this Starro has a 'main brain', so to speak?"
"You'd be correct."
Cado smiled. "Well, that's something. So, we kill the head Starro, the rest vanish. Now, we need to-" The Saiyatonian paused, shock creeping onto his features.
"Cado? What is it now?" Zatanna questioned, annoyed. When he turned around to face behind him, the rest followed. And they were shocked.
The good news: they'd found the main Starro. The bad news: they'd found the main Starro.
The man that was standing before them was gigantic. He was easily ten feet tall. The axe in his right hand was nearly the size of a grown man. Pitch black armor draped his entire being, adding to his menacing image. Nothing about his face could be seen, save for the piercing red eyes that shone from his horned helmet. What was most noticeable though, was the large starfish on his chest.
"I've heard you've been looking for me," Starro's voice rang out, a deathly whisper that seemed to carry more volumn than the roar of a dragon. Some winced at hearing his voice. They could've sworn that they could hear him in their minds as well as their ears! "Well..." Starro raised his arms. "Here I am."
Glad I managed to get this out of the way.
I wanted for this filler arc to be just one chapter, so I could move onto the Themyscira arc. But then I thought that I'd rush it too quickly, and make it seem so meh. So, I decided to split it into two, with the conclusion happening next chapter. Hope y'all liked the chapter.
Also glad I raised the stakes in this arc, so there's that.
Now, I'll move onto Guest reviews:
1.) No, he won't wish to be a full Kryptonian. That'd kill the whole premise of the story. I'm glad this story is your favourite, but I'm not changing things like that.
2.) He's angry at Superman because he killed the chance of his race growing. They'll patch things up later on. Cado will be singing a different tune as the story progresses. I do get that I'm not exploring much of the elements I'm putting out. I'll try to work on that. Thanks.
3.) I do get you, but it's an annoying and hypocritical trope that bites heroes in the ass more times than they can count. And yeah, Supes could hang out with Flash.
4.) Yes
5.) Just going to focus on current stories. And thanks.
6.) Thanks.
So that's that. Also, Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Hope you enjoy. Also...
No Nut November is coming to a close!
To all those who have stayed strong (including me) well done. To all those who failed... shame on you. And don't give the pandemic as an excuse, dammit! You should be better than that.
I was going to put a lemon in this chapter to fuck with you all... but I decided that that would be too mean. Plus, I'd struggle not to bust a nut as well, so there's that.
Thanks to all those who f,f,r and r the story. Luv y'all. Haters can go fuck off.
Read and Review!