The Black Blade
A DC Animated Universe/Game of Thrones/Witcher crossover
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Chapter 1: Secret Origins I
J'onn J'onzz told the six heroes he had summoned to defend Earth the story of how the Imperium had invaded his home planet of Mars and killed off all his kind,leaving him the only survivor.
"I and the last of my people made on last counter-offensive against the invaders, striking at the heart of their base," the Green Martian recounted, his orange-red eyes distant as he relived those memories from so long ago. "We had one final weapon: a biological agent that would force every invader into a permanent stasis," he said.
"Unfortunately, the others did not live to see the weapon deployed." J'onn's eye went downcast. "With my friends and comrades dead, and the enemy closing in quickly, I deployed the weapon putting the entirety of the invaders into stasis."
"Afterwards, I sealed the invaders away and put myself into stasis, awakening once every hundred years to make sure that the invaders had not awoken."
"So, how did the invaders get, y'know, unfrozen?" The Flash of Central City asked the obvious question.
Batman of Gotham City had already come to that conclusion. "The Mars Expedition," he stated bluntly.
J'onn nodded solemnly. "Precisely. Whatever your astronauts did, they had awoken the invaders from their stasis," he said.
Superman of Metropolis opened his mouth, but then the air grew heavy and thick and silent. Everyone tensed up and glanced around, wondering what this oppressive feeling was. The feeling could be described as the moment before an explosive went off. Then there was a rippling in the air and Superman looked up and with a sudden tearing and booming sound, a vortex of yellow-red energy burst into the air just above them.
"A Boom-tube?" the Kryptonian was already ready for a fight, wondering if this was an attempt by Darkseid to invade the Earth when another was already taking. Kal-El balled his hands into fists, anger coursing through him as memories of how Darkseid humiliated him and turned him against the Earth ran through his mind.
The others tensed up as well, ready for a fight. Then dropping out from the Boom-tube was a figure wearing armour and wielding a sword. The figure gave a short yell before landing on its feet and turned its momentum into a forward roll before smoothly standing up. The figure looked human and it wore an attire akin to a medieval warrior or knight, although the material the armour was made of looked foreign or exotic. The sword held in the figure's hand was a hand-and-a-half longsword with coin shaped pommel, a slanted crossguard and blade that was near pitch black and smoky-looking with ripples like water all along the metal. In the centre of the crossguard was a small badge or seal of some kind shaped like three dragon heads in a circle and studded with a large flawless ruby.
An axe with a large bearded blade hung over the warrior's back and the haft of the axe was lined with runes and gold filigree. A small crossbow of an unfamiliar design also hung by the axe, as well as a small quiver filled with feathered bolts. A butcher's hook of bright silvery metal was tucked into the belt of the man as he slowly turned around to looked at the seven heroes.
Everyone tensed up in fear as they gazed upon the face of the warrior. He had fair skin and pale silvery-blonde hair. A jagged looking scar that started from the left side of the warrior's strong anvil like chin before crossing diagonally across the warrior's face, going over the bridge of his long and narrow nose and stopped just above his right eyebrow. But it was the eyes the warrior possessed that had everyone on edge. The colour of them was a deep amber gold like a wolf's but the pupils themselves were vertical slits like a cat or snake's. The seven heroes stared at the cat-eyed warrior who stared back.
After a long moment of staring at each other the warrior snorted softly before sheathing his sword over his back and dusted himself off. "Never seen a Witcher before?" he asked them in a bored tone of voice.
"A witch?" The Amazon Princess Diana of Themyscira tensed up as she readied her sword and shield. She tried not to flinch as those snake eyes bored into her, as if scrutinising her before their owner replied to her query.
"Witch-er. Er suffix at the end. Quite different I assure you," the warrior said.
"Who are you? Are you from New Genesis? Apokalips?" Superman asked as he tried to rein in his first thought of pummelling this potential threat into the ground.
"Draco of Maribor. Witcher of the Wolf School. And I don't know where this… New Genesis or Apokalips are," the Witcher replied to the Kryptonian. "I can only assume that I'm another world," he then said.
"You're from another world, I assume," Batman stated as he gazed at the Witcher assessing him analytically, trying to read the body language of the warrior. It was clear that this Draco was well-trained, highly skilled and very aware of his surroundings. After seeing those bestial eyes, Batman could only guess that the Witcher was a metahuman of some sort.
"What gave me away?" the Witcher asked Batman in a deadpan, a ghost of a smile on his lips. Batman narrowed his eyes at the Witcher as an attempt to scare the man. Little did he know that the Witcher had faced far more frightening things than someone in a bat costume and made a living killing said frightening things.
"In any case, I need to search around for another portal," the Witcher said briskly.
"Another portal? You mean a Boom-tube?" the Green Lantern John Stewart asked as he kept his power ring trained on the Witcher.
"If that's what you call portals on this world, then yes, I need to find the nearest one that'll take me home," the Witcher said bluntly. The Witcher's eyes then focussed on the horizon as he added, "But that may have to wait for the moment."
Everyone else looked to where the Witcher was looking and sure enough, dark roiling clouds of smoke that were expanding indefinitely in all directions loomed over the horizon.
"What's going on?" Hawkgirl asked.
"The invaders are nocturnal," J'onn answered Hawkgirl's question. "They wish to blot out your sun to live in eternal darkness," he said in a grim monotone.
Flash, in an attempt to lighten the mood, looked at Batman and asked him, "Friends of yours?"
"This isn't a joke, Flash!" Batman bit out.
"No biggie, can't we just whip up some more of that nerve gas?" Flashed said blithely.
The Witcher then spoke up. "Even if the ingredients for this nerve gas could be found, do you want to wait around for days, weeks or even months as samples are mixed and tested?"
"Yeah, super-speed doesn't lend much to patience," Flash admitted awkwardly.
"Well, I'm sure the other way will be more fun for you all," the Witcher remarked as he turned on his heel and began to walk off.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Green Lantern asked, a little surprised at how the Witcher was just walking away.
"Getting a head start on finding that portal back home," the Witcher said over his shoulder. "I'm sure you can all handle whatever this is," he added.
"That's it? You're just walking away?" Diana asked.
"Witchers don't work for free," the Witcher stated bluntly.
"You expect to be paid?" Batman asked, feeling disgusted with the Witcher's attitude.
"It's my job and profession as a Witcher to hunt and slay monsters," Draco replied as he stopped to regard Batman. "Doing everything out of the kindness of my heart won't put food in my belly," he said bluntly.
"So, you're a mercenary," Green Lantern said with a look of disgust. If there was one thing John Stewart disdained, it was someone who was a hired gun; someone who would only fight if offered payment and often would side with whomever was the highest bidder. As a former US Marine, John disliked mercenaries as they were often without a sense of morals and cared only for money.
"I'm a Witcher, not a mercenary. I don't kill humans, I slay monsters," Draco replied as the pupils of his eyes narrowed into thin slits as he looked at John Stewart. The Green Lantern would later admit that he found those bestial eyes unnerving as they didn't belong on a human face.
J'onn then took a different approach to the matter. "What could we offer you to help us? Name your price."
"J'onn?!" Superman and the other heroes looked at the Martian as if he had lost his mind at the thought of offering payment to, in their eyes, a mercenary.
Draco looked at the Martian for a long moment before replying, "It seems I need information on this world which I sorely lack. I'd need information on where I could find elven ruins that could lead to a portal that will take me back home. Anything else, we can work out later."
"An acceptable bargain," J'onn said as he held out his hand to shake. Draco nodded before he walked over and clasped hands with the Martian.
"Let's go kill some monsters," the Witcher stated.
"So, what's the plan then?" Flash asked as he got over his surprise at how the Witcher accepted promise of payment for information on the world he had found himself in.
"We'll have to take out those factories," Wonder Woman stated boldly as she placed her hands on her wide hips.
"Agreed," Batman said swiftly. "But do we know where they are?" he asked.
The Amazon Princess looked at the Dark Knight, surprised at how a man could so easily agree with her. She wondered if her people's teachings about Man's world were wrong.
"This is no time for rookies in a tiara!" Green Lantern grunted.
"You're one to talk, lantern bug," the Witcher commented. "Especially when you're wearing a ring and have no discernible weapons on you," he added.
"What did you say?" Green Lantern asked, a little insulted at the dismissal of his power ring.
"Enough! We won't get anywhere by fighting amongst ourselves," Superman said, trying to stop an argument from breaking out. He looked at the Amazon, the Lantern and the Witcher reproachfully. "We need everyone we can throw at this, rookies or not."
"Fine. Sorry, your highness," John Stewart said to Diana gruffly, although he offered no apology to Draco who did not appear to care. "Tactically, we have multiple objectives, so we need to split up into teams," he declared.
"Dibs on the Amazon!" Flash quickly said as he zipped over to the Amazon Princess, wrapping one red clad arm around her shoulders. Diana for her part looked surprised and even a little disgusted at the blatant attempt by the Scarlet Speedster at flirting with her.
Batman quickly corrected this. "Flash will go with Green Lantern. Superman, you're with Hawkgirl. J'onn, the Princess, the Witcher and I will go together," he said in a tone that brokered no room for argument.
"You sure about this?" Green Lantern asked the Dark Knight as he glanced over at the Witcher meaningfully.
"I'll keep an eye on them," Batman said stoically as he looked at the three newcomers out of the corner of his eye, curious and cautious as to who they were.
"Then let's get to it," Draco stated. "We don't have all day. The more time we waste, the more time the enemy has to mobilise," he said.
"Agreed," J'onn said monotonously.
"Witcher, you'll have to hitch a ride with me," Batman then said to Draco who asked, "You have a horse?"
Batman gave a rare smirk as he pulled out a small remote and pressed a small button. The Bat-plane rose into the air, humming to life. Draco did not seem too surprised as he said, "A flying machine? Been a while since I've seen one."
"You've seen planes before?" Superman asked the Witcher who gave a ghost of a smile and replied, "When we finish this, I'll tell you some stories."
"I'll hold you to that," Superman said with a smile as he rose in the air with Hawkgirl, ready to take out the Invaders' smoke factories.
Everyone then split off into teams, going in different directions to save the Earth from the invasion.
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TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! Fist chapter of this done and dusted. Just a plot bunny bouncing around in my head that I thought I'd give a shot and see if this gets any traction. In case you haven't guessed it, Draco of Maribor is my character from my Witcher/Game of Thrones crossover, born as Aegon VI Targaryen from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice & Fire series. Now this story isn't truly connected to my Witcher/GoT crossover, it's very, very loosely connected as I'm not sure if this story will be well received by you guys not. Like I said, it was a plot bunny that was bouncing around in my head, so whether this lives or not is up to you guys.
But anyway, I'm sure you all have had enough of me rambling, so I'll just leave this here and see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.