Hiei's Justice

Chapter 4

War World

You know the worst part about being a part of a team that deals with space missions, when you're a demon and know for a fact that the only actual experience you have in space was a mission where at the end of it everyone was mad at you, the team decides you need more space missions. This would be a fine thing to be honest, except because he was a demon and new to the modern world, in a way at least, they gave him a lot of manuals to study on various technology that he now had access to, one such thing was a scanner used to scan a stray asteroid heading for Earth.

"It still amazes me that the people of Earth has an afterlife like this," Hawkgirl absently stated in their ears before the scanning begun, not knowing she was being heard, Hiei had made them a manual on what happens after one dies, it was fascinating to see where some people would go. "Though there are far too many rules, too many regulations, and then the paperwork, even bringing someone back from the dead requires no less than a mountain of paperwork it seems," Hiei tries as best he can to ignore her as he got the required instruments to work on the asteroid.

After putting the stick in the ground and putting a pad on it, Hiei pushed a button and read off of the pad, "thirty two percent iron oxide, twenty one percent carbon, nineteen percent silicon," he stated in a stoic voice as he read from the thing, "are you getting any of this Hawk?"

"As if you were in the next room," she stated from back on the watchtower, all the while him and J'onn and Superman was here in space, "I'm sending you date through backup analysis, even as we speak, three and a half miles across, can you imagine what would happen if it hit the Earth?"

"That's not going to happen," Superman stated as he slammed a large bomb of some type into the asteroid, and then flipped a large switch to arm it, J'onn did the same with another one not far off, then grabbed Hiei and flew back to the ship, while grumbling, "ready for the fireworks?"

They were plenty ready for them, even though they left the scanner on the large rock, though Hiei was assured that it was fine, they had the equipment to spare, it was the beeping that first alerted them, "superman, the computer says there are hydrogen pockets inside that asteroid." From the alarm in her voice, Hiei guessed that means that the boom would be far larger than theorized, Hiei was about to speed over, even as he heard her continue and say, "get away from there before it…," but she never got to finish before the entire thing went KABOOM.

The spark was the only indication, but before long the only thing they felt was the ingulfing heat and inferno from the massive explosion, the only reason the Kryptonian and Martian survived was thanks to their durability, for Hiei it was thanks to him speeding to just behind the ship. That didn't stop the impact though, or the force of the blast from knocking him out with how rough it was and slamming his head against the gold helmet of his grey and gold suit, he floated in space along with the ship and the two others, floating in and out of consciousness.

Hiei woke up just in time to see Superman wake up and exclaim, "J'onn," in worry before shocked back into unconsciousness, Hiei chose not to get their attention until needed, but it wasn't long that he could stay awake, so he hung his head down as well before falling victim to the abyss.

Hiei finally awoke fully when a warrior, dressed in some kind of gladiatorial garb, was talking, "pathetic, the whole lot of you, not a real warrior in the bunch," Hiei didn't even blink as he burned the shackles holding him to crisp, "and you Kryptonian, you're the biggest disappoint…"

"Just shut up," Hiei stated while walking up to them while rubbing at his wrist from the shackles the gladiatorial man turned to look at who had spoken to him, "as a warrior you should know that only a true warrior can be found on a battlefield, not on first meeting," he stared without falter.

Whoever the man was he didn't falter from the gaze either, just turned and walked away from the two new arrivals, Superman rose and easily broke out of the chains, a random creature asked a question, "why didn't you do that when Draaga was here," giving a name to go with the face.

"It's called turning the other cheek," Superman stated and Hiei grunted in disapproval, "we have to find a friend of ours," the two of them walked off and got to a door, Superman was about to punch it before Hiei smacked his head and put a finger to his lips, then melted the lock.

It was time for stealth, and they snuck around until they heard a conversation, "those are the breaks, one minute you're a champion and the next you're croc show," as they drug a squid thing, "got to give him credit, he never begged for mercy," and laid it by an indoor pool of some type.

When they left the two Leaguers quietly walked to where they saw the missing Martian, just as an alien crocodile emerged from the water, Superman warned, "J'onn, watch out," before flying off and punching the croc in the muzzle, Hiei then dove into the pool to deal with the thing.

It wasn't tough at all, a simple mortal flame fire and it was burnt to a crisp, he jumped out and landed without effort, "come on, we should go, and do remember to be quiet from here on out, we're leaving but we don't know what they can do," he suggested to them as he calmly walked.

Though it didn't take long before they got to an intersection, Hiei making sure the coast was clear, too bad robots already spotted them, so they had to run through this building they had no way of knowing anything about while being shot at, one piece of the wall fell off and Superman threw it. Another column destroyed later and more robots were destroyed, and revealing light, Superman grabbed J'onn and flew up while Hiei began to speed along the ground to follow them, but soon ran into trouble as Superman was stopped by a green field but J'onn phased right on through.

"It's some kind of force field," Superman stated as Hiei stopped just before it as well, robots were firing on them now, "go, you've got a better chance of helping us out there, go now," he exclaimed before both alien and demon charged the robots, Superman going down in a few shots.

Hiei wasn't quite as predictable, he easily dodged them with his speed giving him the advantage before appearing behind one and incinerating it with a touch, before burning another two with his flamethrower, he looked over and saw that robots were already gathering to take Superman away. With a slam of his fist on the ground, he sent a wave of fire out from his point and destroyed as many as he could before one robot began to fire at him and got a lucky shot in his back, others did so as well and were more successful with their shots before he too went down.

Hiei woke up again while being dragged, he raised his head and looked over to see Superman also being dragged, it was up to two people, one a yellow skinned and purple suited man and the other a blue skinned and red robed man, "what are these," the purple one asked the other.

"The Kryptonian and the unknown creature, both tried to escape," the one in red stated plainly, so they had no idea what a demon was, looked human just enough but they knew that he wasn't, he couldn't tell if he should be insulted or not though, that doesn't give a very good reputation.

"A pity," the one in purple stated before reaching and cupping Superman's chin, "I was hoping to build this one up with some preliminary matches at least, and just give you to Draaga now," he looked to Hiei, "but now I'll have to make an example of him," he released Superman's chin. "After you lose against Draaga, the Kryptonian will be given to Draaga," he turned his back on them while the robots took them away, it was at that time Hiei knew that there was no going back now, another battle to see who was on top, feels kind of like that Dark Tournament, almost.

Later

It was now time for Hiei's match, he was shackled in specific cuffs meant to block any power, yet he could still feel his even as he heard Draaga yell to the crowd, "let them all come and fight me, let them come from every corner of the galaxy," and the crowd cheered in approval.

It wasn't long before his platform was raised just as the purple guy narrated, "today, Draaga will have a small workout, the mysterious small creature," he was fully raised by the time the guy was done, a robot came and shot a beam into his cuffs before he just snapped them to pieces.

Another robot came in and held out an axe for him to take, in a flash the axe was through the robot and into the ground at the leading man's feet, "I fight with a sword, I fight with ONLY a sword or this fight won't happen," Hiei demanded and it wasn't long before plain sword was given.

Hiei could sense J'onn in the crowd, along with Superman also put up on an observation deck to watch as they thought he'd be slaughtered, the masses seemed to agree with him, but he could hardly blame them, still felt insulted as purple began, "now, let them do battle on… WAR WORLD!" Out of a platform the guy were standing on in the center of the colosseum they were in the middle of came a device, it soon fired at Draaga and shown only a muscle system before he was gone completely, and soon the same thing was done to him, the crowd cheering all the while.

He appeared on a dump of a place, the terrain unbalanced and filled with ruble, the sky red and here came Draaga with his axe ready to take his head off, he simply moved back a bit and let the swing miss him completely, assuming that his strength could at least give Superman a fight. So he knew to dodge the follow-up downward swing from the gladiator with a step to the right, from there it was just dodging his wild and non-disciplined swings from there until they got to a slightly inclined slab of debris, Draaga following along as Hiei knew that he would. Then with a surprise attack Hiei appeared behind the gladiator and kicked out his knee before spinning around him to the left and kicking the guys face to make him go sliding down the inclined slab of debris and throw away his axe, Hiei knowing the sword away as well.

"Since I know it'll be useless against a harder skin anyways," Hiei stated to himself as Draaga came charging up the slab with a roar and both fists ready, the gladiator tried for a left hook before receiving an uppercut coated with a dark fire, "fist of the mortal flame," he called out.

Draaga soared backwards and slammed into a pile of stones, which cracked and broke large pieces off from it, the gladiator rose with a large chunk of stone before tossing it up at the demon, who smashed it with his fist of the mortal flame still active, and ready to still fight. With another roar came another charge, along with getting a random piece of metal and throwing it like a javelin at him, it was just knocked away with the back of his hand while Draaga kept charging, most likely intent on tackling Hiei or something, he didn't get to.

Hiei just jumped up and stepped on his head and let the guy slam headfirst into the inclined slab, "I felt it when you swung at me earlier," he said as the gladiator rose again and charged, "you're nowhere near strong enough to fight Superman," another left hook but was met by Hiei's right.

A contest of wills ensued between them with Hiei fighting with his fist of the mortal flame and Draaga fighting with his strength and force of will as well, that was before Hiei grabbed his wrist and tossed the larger man into a thin stone wall that crumbled under the force of the impact. The demon casually walked through the hole to see the gladiator staggering to get up before sending a wad of dust his way and into his eyes, it didn't bother him as he just felt the guy's energy and heard him through his advanced senses, he tried for a right jab now for an advantage. It was for not though as Hiei ducked under it with his eyes closed before high kicking the larger warrior away from him and added a flame thrower for good measure to send him even further back, giving him enough time to wipe the dirt from his eyes.

Draaga wasn't done yet though and grabbed a large slab of stone and charged at the demon with it, "at least you're consistently foolish with you methods," before incinerating the stone slab as the larger warrior attempted to slam it down on him, "now double fists of the mortal flame." Hiei then proceeded to repeatedly strike for Draaga's midsection with his fists set ablaze, and finished it off with a few well aimed fists for his jaw and mouth, the ending move was finally slamming his right fist hard enough into the gladiator to send it into a piece of stone.

Draaga crumpled to the ground, his breath shallow and not just his physical body but it own spirit had been beaten into as well, "a stunning development," a voice from a roaming camera announced, "the smaller creature is victorious, now what say you," he was talking to the crowd. They burst into boos for the gladiator and the display of power and fighting prowess that he displayed, calling for his execution for losing to Hiei, "it's unanimous than, the people have spoken, finish him," there were some in the crowd that clearly thought he just might do it.

Hiei was about to reply when Draaga spoke up, "do it, give me… an honorable death… here… on the battlefield," he begged of him, "how can I live with this shame," it looked like the demon wouldn't do it at all, "don't make me beg you," he still didn't move to do so, "finish me."

"No, I only kill when I dictate it needed, nor do I beg an opponent to kill me after I've been defeated," Hiei walked over to the man and grabbed his throat, "what warrior begs for death after being defeated, that's not an honorable death, that path is for weaklings," he let go of him. Then he turned to the camera, "know this, if I ever fight any one of your pathetic warriors, I kill when I dictate the terms, not based on others," he walked away from the fallen warrior and past the camera, "and spare any last chance offerings, you already have my answer."

Robots have now entered the area with lasers pointed his way, so it wasn't long or without any form of mercy that the one in charge orders, "then destroy him," and highly focused laser blasts were sent his way, with the intent on incinerating him, but for good or bad, it didn't. The pale blue lasers were shooting him with a stream of destructive energy, and yet the only real thing that they were doing was causing him great pain, not enough to make him show it though, felt worse than this when he underwent his operation to get the Jagan, so it didn't kill him. "What, still alive," the man watching sounded astonished, you're a tougher than I thought, unknown creature, but I doubt you'll survive another blast," Hiei said nothing back as they got ready to blast him again, until he heard the chanting of 'Hiei' on the other side of the speaker.

It started off with J'onn, but soon all of them were behind the martian, all calling him by his name before it was decreed unanimously from the crowd that he gets to live, and soon the robots switched to another setting and began the teleportation method of sending him somewhere else.

In the cells

Hiei and Draaga was teleported to the cells, Hiei not wanting to show weakness in front of others remained standing straight, but it was difficult as the beams sent highly fatal levels of energy at him, they would have killed a human or even J'onn in his weakened state, but not him. As always he was a survivor, so he will refuse to show that type of weakness in front of others, he looked up as the other prisoners all stared at him, before they all decided to cheer for him, one short three eyed alien walked up to him, "you defied Mongul, it was great."

"Nobody has ever stood up to him before," a larger alien with a neckless with two skulls on it spoke up, "Draaga tried once, but then he decided he liked living, and after what you did you deserve to live too, a garbage scow that'll take you off world," Hiei raised his hand to silence him.

"I don't care," the demon looked back to the fallen gladiator though, "take him with you though, I don't need someone who only seeks revenge coming after me," he walked past them and almost got to the door before turning around, "and be sure he makes it," before leaving the holdings.

Hiei only had to stay away from people for a few hours before Superman was brought down, showing that they kept him there until after the fight and some more, the man of steel found him in seclusion, resting his aching bones after being put through such a vicious attack of blasts. Knowing the demon like he did, he figured he's in seclusion as to not be seen as weak by the other fighters here, so he made sure nobody got too close, drove quite a few off before he noticed how the victor of the last match was healed now, "how do you feel," Superman asked him.

"Fine," was all he said before leaning back to wait, there was clearly going to be another match, but Draaga was their best, so now the leader will call one or both up, if it's both, then he knows what'll happen, but the preferred method would clearly be just him to, Superman is too soft.

It didn't take too much longer, maybe a day or two before the guards finally came and demanded that the both of them come with them, held restrained by robots gripping both of their arms, Mongul was ranting as they entered, "people want fights, that's what I give them."

"No, you're just giving them a cheap substitute for what they really need, like food, housing, and medicine," Superman talked back to him and got himself a smack for the trouble, you could still hear the disgust in his voice though, the man was no king, just a pour dictator for the people.

"Oh please, such a child," Mongul turned to Hiei when he spoke, "hitting because you know he's right, your just a piss pour dictator, that's all you are," the purple suited man backhanded the demon so hard that Superman was sure it gave him whiplash, "you hit like a schoolgirl," or not.

"Someone else once thought they could talk like that to me," Mongul gained a smirk, "it was Draaga and the mob loved him and he wanted to change things, but I convinced him the old ways were best," he turned to the blue skinned man, "show them," he ordered and so they were. After a few beeps on a device by the guy in red, an image was shown on a screen, it was of an observatory looking cannon, "its power can decimate a planet, and that's exactly what I would have done to Draaga's if he hadn't cooperated, I can do the same your worlds."

"That threat is as empty as that crown you wear upon your head," Hiei commented and had the larger man turn to him, "what do we care, our worlds are already gone, and we don't really care about any other world, you have nothing," he mocked back, and it was true, for him at least.

"Are you sure," Mongul turned to Superman as he spoke, "because I think one of you does care," the man bowed his head, "now listen carefully, if you want to save a planet, Draaga's planet for instance, you're going to have your first fight, against me, and you're going to lose badly." The man was just oh so pleased with himself now, thinking he's trapped them, "understand," neither spoke, Hiei because he knew that J'onn heard the conversation and that he'll have backup thanks to Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, "I thought so," so it was decided.

Mongul figured out that Hiei was weaker than Superman and chose Superman to make an example out of, all the while the demon would watch from a viewing platform until J'onn and the other two destroyed the destructive cannon, all the while the demon cursed the man of steel. Mainly because the man couldn't have just acted like he didn't care, and even if it didn't work in sparing the planet, the only fault would lie with Mongul, this is why he hated dealing with hero types, all they had to show for everything they did was weakness to exploit. "Today, the fight of the millennium," an announcer brought everyone out of their thoughts, "history in the making, Superman versus the Great Mongul himself," as everyone was distracted with the fight, they got a visitor that wasn't supposed to be there, Draaga.

"That idiot and his suicidal honor is going to get himself killed," Hiei stated as he turned and simply incinerated the robots guarding him to dust before casually strolling out, noticing how the former gladiator snuck around to try and find the demon, but was failing immensely at it. After following for a few minutes, he came up behind the larger person and, knowing none were looking, he appeared before the big brute, who immediately charged him, but was easily killed this time as Hiei bisected him with his sword of the darkness flame, "die well Draaga."

Send the sword away, Hiei did a quick scan around the area for the cannon and found it, with a great show of his speed, he began running towards the devise and soon reached it, and thankfully it was just in time for Green Lantern and Hawkgirl to arrive and save J'onn from lasers. Green Lantern protected the Martian with his ring while Hawkgirl came in with her mace and took out three guards in one swing, the demon came in at the correct time and punched one with his right hand before heal dropping his left foot on another before flipping over some laser blasts.

One of them was able to get to the cannon though and pushed the last button to fire the thing, but Hawkgirl quickly got to the end of the barrel with her mace and sent the blast back, thus destroying the cannon and saving Draaga's world, Green Lantern protecting them with his ring. They flew up as fast as they could, knowing that the battles were fought on the moon of the planet, so it was there that they saw Mongul with a laser axe ready to strike down Superman, "game over," they heard him say, just as Lantern was about to do something, Hiei acted first.

With a burst of speed not many could hope to follow, Hiei generated a black flame from his right hand, and with a call of, "sword of the darkness flame," took both arms of Mongul before he could deliver the finishing blow, "I usually don't interfere," he let the flames die out as he turned.

"Good thing you did, and did so without killing him, you're learning," Hawkgirl commented as the rest of them finally touched down, "you know Draaga was the one to show us the way, had a brand mark in the shape of your hair," she mentioned and thought it was clear what she wanted.

"I ran into him while watching the beginning of the fight," Hiei stated as they gathered together and let Green Lantern surround them in his green light, "it's annoying having to talk fools down from fighting again, that's why I don't fight in these types of fights," they began levitating now.

"I didn't get a chance to really finish reading that section of the manual you made for us," Green Lantern commented as he flew them, "the one about community service for demons, that what happened to you," the demon absently nodded, "thought so, wonder what'll be waiting when I die."

"I don't know, for all I know the only one that'll be able to go to spirit world is the Bat," the other four looked to Hiei shocked, "I have no way of knowing what Lantern or the red fool will go through when they die because of either the ring or his speed," he admitted to the other. They looked down sad, their own afterlife expert just said that he doesn't know about the fate of two of their teammates, not knowing if they'll go to heaven or hell, or if there was a place worse than hell, "though the Bat is fine I'm sure, one of your human world's heroes," he reassured.