Disclaimer: I own neither the Worm webserial nor Justice League Unlimited. Worm is the creation and property of Wildbow. JLU is the property of Warner Brothers Media via DC. No profit is intended, nor allowed to be made from this work of derivative fiction.
A/N: This work is inspired at least partially by 'An Essence of Silver and Steel' by James D. Fawkes. In a review of that story I wondered what it would be like if Apocrypha(Taylor) had the ability to grant or imbue her mythological heroes to others. (This was before Taylor made the rings) That turned out to be a rabid plotbunny with big pointy teeth and I was fresh out of 'Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch'.
I wasn't exactly thrilled with how this all was coming together so I set it aside in favor of 'Return of Norm'. But the basic idea there, of Danny clawing his way out of his despair to stand with Taylor, well for me it started here. There is more of this, it even starts to explain why Taylor's power is to imbue those she trusts as members of the Justice League. I'm not sure if I'll ever post it though. This kinda stands pretty well as a oneshot.
Light from Afar
May 15 2011
11:15:33AM
11:15:34AM
:15:35AM
:36AM
:37AM
:38AM
Black on orangeish-silver, the LCD digital clock hanging on the far wall blinked steadily through the seconds in the dim yellow light of the bedside lamp. Raindrops thundered against the roof, walls and glass like hoofbeats of the devil's own stampede. On the floor at the foot of a messy king-size bed a thin, balding man sat, knees curled to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. Head thrown back on the mattress with tears streaming down into the scruff of his days unshaven cheeks. The distant rising and falling wail of sirens announcing his hometown, Brockton Bay's death knell.
"Why Taylor. Why do YOU have to fight an Endbringer?"
"Because, it's who I am. It's who Mom raised me to be. It's who YOU raised me to be!"
"You're fifteen!"
"I have the power to make a difference! To SAVE lives! It's Leviathan, Dad. Promise me you'll go to the shelter. Promise me you'll be safe so I can be strong!"
Danny had broken that promise. The half packed suitcase on the bed behind him showed his intent to keep it but by now all of the shelters were sealed. His daughter and her friends were going up against an enemy who killed over a quarter of those who stood against him. Even more among those who were facing him for the first time.
11:17:24AM
And he...
He had gone to his safe under the desk on the wall opposite the bed to grab some important papers to add to the packing. Only, instead of those, his hands came out with the letter from his wife. The one he had not opened because it had a specific date to do so on it.
Seeing it, he had collapsed at the end of the bed, dropping the letter and accompanying box on the desk chair as he did so.
11:17:41AM
Now he was sitting here.
11:17:43AM
At the foot of his bed.
11:17:45AM
Staring through watery glass at midnight dark mid-day skies.
11:17:59AM
Reaching out to the chair by his side he pushed the small box away and picked up the sealed envelope he had pulled from his safe. Alan Barnes had handed it and the small wooden box to him on the day they had read his wife's will. On the envelope in her looping script was written:
Danny – Open May 15th, 2011
Today's date.
May 15 2011
11:19:10AM
Why had she chosen this date to deliver her final message from beyond the grave? He sobbed again. Annette was gone. Three years gone. And Taylor...
Danny shook his head. No. He would not think about what his daughter was facing.
11:25:00AM
Letting his legs slide flat he hooked a nail under the flap of the envelope and slit it open, unfolding the bundle of sheets within.
My Dearest Danny.
Beloved. Strongest man I have ever known. Love of my brightest day. Hero in my darkest night.
If you're reading this, then I am gone and it has shattered you.
My people's gifts have not shown me when, nor have they shown me how this has occurred. What I do know is that as you read this, today is May 15, 2011, Leviathan is attacking Brockton Bay and Taylor, my beautiful, darling girl is one of those bravely standing between that thing and this city.
The foresight of my people is not a gift we can control. It is not a power like that of the precognitive thinkers of this world. If it were, if I could, there's so much more I could do... So much more I would try to tell you.
In the box you were given with this envelope is an object of power. It will help you save this city. It will help you save Taylor. But it comes with a price. A legacy. My legacy. You've known since the night you asked for my hand that I was not from Earth Bet. Now I pass on to you the mission that sent me here. The mission that the injuries of my travel to this dimension blocked me from fulfilling.
Take up my talisman. Swear the oath I KNOW is in your heart, Danny.
Exert your WILL my husband.
There is more of this letter for you and Taylor to read. Together!
Open the box my Love. It is time to let your sorrow go.
It is time to heal.
It is time to STAND!
IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO FIGHT!
This world has heroes. This world has villains.
What Earth Bet lacks are Champions!
Danny Hebert put down this piece of paper and open the damn box!
TAKE UP MY RING!
NOW HUSBAND!
FOR ME!
FOR TAYLOR!
BE OUR CHAMPION!
GO!
The lights flickered and the electricity went out.
Danny was no longer able to see the relentless advance of the clock yet he still felt its unending march. In the watery gray dimness of the storm that was an integral part of the Endbringer's attack he reached out and grabbed the box.
Time, Annette had said.
It was time.
\ || /
- (IOI) -
/ || \
Rain sheeted down like endless layers of sodden blankets as Danny dragged himself through the doorway onto the roof of the empty apartment block. Leviathan had been hemmed in again. This time in the residential area just west of the waterfront warehouses. Only about a mile south of his and Taylor's own home.
He had run here on foot as the deluge from the sky and the water's flooding from the bay made driving suicidal. The whole way he had been trying to activate Annette's ring, wishing beyond all reason that she had left him at least some sort of directions.
From here, he could see the current fight clearly. Legend leading the flying blasters, sniping away ineffectively at the beast which had claimed both Kyushu and Newfoundland.
And then he saw her.
Taylor. Imbue. Wearing her preferred form in the red, white, blue and gold of the Amazonian Princess. At her side, Alexandria of the Triumvirate. The two of them alternating blows to the beast's head until Leviathan's water echo slammed down. Alexandria's greater experience allowing her to dodge the tons of falling water. Taylor, not having developed the same senses, being slammed to the pavement, stunned.
Desperation warred within him. Annette's letter said he he must swear an oath for the ring to activate. All the way here he had sworn. Oh how he had sworn. He had sworn to his wife's memory. He had sworn to the ring. He had sworn to humanity. He had sworn to a God he had never quite stopped believing in.
None of it had worked.
Now, watching Taylor stir in the debris, instead of fear, he felt... He felt... Pride! What a daughter Annette had gifted him with.
Annette.
He remembered bits of something she whispered that near-tragic day twenty years before. A memory of the day he fought Lustrum over Annette. He had not realized it at the time as he stood bleeding, nearly falling over but it must have been the last time Annette was able to use the ring herself.
He remembered a green glow and Annette's growling scream of pain.
But he also remembered words.
Words of strength.
Words of focus.
A mantra. A pledge. An oath!
As those words built within him, he felt his will to honor Annette, his will to stand with his daughter, his will to save this city burst forth. As it did so, those words swelled within his chest, rising and escaping first in a low growl.
"In brightest day!"
A green glow flickers from the ring on his finger as Taylor's friends charge forward, some to attack, others to help her out of the rubble.
In the command center, a young woman in a wheelchair stared at her monitors. "Someone get me a close-up of that tallest rooftop in grid C-12! Audio too!"
Now the words came firmer.
"In darkest night!"
The glow flashed, caught, sputtered and became steady. Danny saw Emma, dressed in a white leotard with a red cape. He recognized her from Annette's stories. Power Girl, Kryptonian. Virtually indestructible. Of course Taylor would have given her best friend that power. Especially after everything the two of them had gone through to rebuild their friendship. Screaming as she charged the beast, red beams flashing from her eyes to burn it.
He focused on the beast facing off with the best the world could muster.
This time the words came with steel behind them.
"Though evil strains and bares its might!"
Spreading up his arm, the glow was followed by a form fitting black and green sleeve.
Falling back, unable to quite reach her, Taylor's heroes regrouped for another charge. No, not Taylor's heroes. Annette's heroes. He remembered what she called them, The League. The JUSTICE LEAGUE!
Problem was, each of them would fade. Taylor's imbues were temporary. Even those she imbued on herself would not last. The fight had been going on now for almost a half hour. It would not be long before their time ran out.
Tattletale struggled to see through the rain-drenched camera lenses. Something critical was happening on that rooftop. She thought she could just make out words under the wind and pounding downpour.
Danny was Brockton Bay born and and Brockton Bay raised. In his bones he could feel and hear the anguish of his city.
Now the words came louder, power building within them.
"Bereft take strength, for we stand, and we fight!"
The glow spread across his chest, a wedge of green driving down through black from his shoulders. At its center a white circle within which a green circle stood bordered by two horizontal bars.
Pulling herself out of the muck and debris, the young girl wearing the mean of a daughter of Ares himself turned toward that green glow.
Words of strength projected forth across The Docks.
"Behold My Power!"
Now fully covered from his neck down by the glow, he thrusts the arm with the ring to the heavens. There is no way in HELL he is letting his daughter charge in there again without HIM!
A green flash washed over the battlefield.
In the command center, Tattletale blinked. "No way. No Fucking WAY!"
The final words coming with a shout nearly as loud as the light.
"GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!"
"Huh, Wait!" Taylor blinked. "I never made a power ring!"
A giant green fist wrapped itself around Leviathan and began to squeeze.