Arc 1: Five Years Ago, Part 1: Demon Angels
~The city of Metropolis~
Chunks of debris and clouds of dust lined the roads as a young woman navigated the wide streets she knew by heart. Fearful screams of wounded people, honks of cars going way past the speed limit and the occasional tremor of a building being brought down reverberated around every intersection and corridor, but they were drowned out quickly by horrid screeches and heavy flaps of leathery wings. The young woman didn't dare to look behind when one of the monstrous wails sounded a bit too close for comfort. Instead, she quickly discarded her stilettos and raced through the narrow streets to not get noticed by the flying monstrosities.
When she'd run at least a kilometer from the office she was working in, she found a broken down building in of the biggest shopping districts of Metropolis. There, she wiped the dust off her slightly torn pencil skirt and office blouse, while also grabbing a pen and a piece of paper from her purse.
"Okay, Lois. This is the opportunity to get that Pulitzer. What did you just witness?" The woman asked herself between huffs of breath. It took her a few moments to collect herself, but she finally started to write some keywords of her surroundings.
"Grotesque, greenish creatures, crimson portals from hell, massive metal towers, end of the world?" Lois' shaking hand stopped writing momentarily when she peaked from behind the broken window of the store. The ground suddenly rumbled and a flash of an emerald green light obscured her vision for a bit, but when her eyes adjusted she saw a man in a green and black bodysuit battering the skull of one of the creatures with a massive emerald sledgehammer.
"Take that you fuckers! Green Lantern's in the house!" she heard the man exclaim, smugness thick in his voice. Lois spent no time looking back again and continued to write as words of profanity ringed in her ears.
"Green Lantern in Metropolis, generating some kind of light construct to combat the menace from beyond this world."
Lois peaked again and this time noticed that Green Lantern wasn't alone. Strings of yellowish electricity appeared and dissipated just as quickly as something what could only be described as a red blur streaked past the Emerald Knight and took down various demons closing in on him.
"Lantern, we need to save the people of Metropolis, not go for personal glory to impress that Amazon." From the blur a man in a red bodysuit appeared. Sparks of lightning ionized the air around him as Green Lantern narrowed his eyes at him, while crushing the skull of the demon he had been pummelling.
"Jealousy doesn't suit you, Flash. I called dibs, fair and square. Besides, I know she likes me."
Lois noticed the smug smirk forming on the Lantern's lips, while the one known as the Flash could only shake his head. Lois took the opportunity to scribble some more.
"Central City's very own superhero is here as well." she muttered under her breath as he and Green Lantern argued over what they called an Amazon. Lois pondered the presence of these two masked men. If you could believe the internet and the various news channels on display on the televisions that were still working in the store she was residing in, the entire world was being attacked by demons; Parademons is what people immediately called them. Yet, she saw numerous pictures of the mythical Dark Knight of Gotham out in broad daylight, a rather tall and slightly muscled woman who would appear to be scantily dressed, if not for the rather primitive fashion she wore and an imposing man with scaly armor of gold and sea-green and a trident making the waters on the coast stir. These three were fighting on a turf that was not theirs, yet here they stand. However, the real million dollar question was-
"Why? Is Metropolis the epicenter of the world-wide attacks? No, that can't be right…" Lois mused with frustration as she saw live footage of various places in the world on the different TV's. The Amazonian rainforest was being bombarded by demonic fire, the people of Beijing were running haphazardly away and into each other from gigantic rat-like creatures and England's military were throwing every bit of firepower into the hell-beasts to protect their prime-minister from the carnage.
"Couldn't be Brainiac either, not after he defeated him. Hmm…" Lois looked at one of the TV's again. There was a rather peculiar piece of footage that showed one of the demons wielding some sort of metallic box, while muttering something under his breath.
"That's Metropolis' Bay!" Lois hissed, while immediately getting up on her feet. Small tremors still shook the store she was in, courtesy of the two super men who were still arguing with each other and beating the Parademons to a pulp.
"Jesus Flash, relax! I've got everything under control. See, there are no civilians here to protect so I can just cut loose." The green suited man boasted. Lois sighed upon hearing that and didn't decide to wait for these two to finish up their bickering. She had to go towards the Metropolis Bay, or at least warn Superman of the danger. He would probably know what to do. At first, she wanted to head into the open towards the two heroes, but eventually decided against it. They would probably bring her away from the city, just like they did with most other civilians. No, she needed to be here.
Using the store's emergency exit, she moved out of the building and through various little bystreets where she eventually found her way back in the open. She didn't see the two costumed crime fighters again. Rather, only streaks of green and red were left behind. Both were headed towards the coast, which was exactly where she was about to head. Before she could take another step though, the ground began to shake. She froze when one of the monstrous creatures had landed behind her, but unlike Rexy from Jurassic Park, this crimson-goggled demon could still see her clearly even when she stiffened herself. Slowly, she turned around and saw the monster's razor sharp teeth protruding into a grin.
Lois could only lament her stupidity to get back in the open, but the demon could barely do one step himself as another rumble shook the ground from under her. With a loud crack, the brick tiles gave away and the demon was launched into the air by a streak of red and blue.
Lois sighed in relief as a handsome hunk of a man levitated in front of her and slowly placed his feet on solid ground, barely a second later than when he launched the demon away.
"Don't you think that this is a bit extreme to wander the roads in search of a story?" Superman, Metropolis' hero of justice, asked with a kind smile on his face. His vibrant blue eyes gazed at Lois deeply, while she uncomfortably dusted off her blouse.
"Well, someone has to tell the people what's happening right now." the Daily Planet journalist retorted back. "And I'm not the kind of gal that would run away if there's only a tiny bit of danger in the air."
Superman could only shake his head with a smile as Lois began to scribble some more on her piece of paper, before her eyes glazed back at him.
"Tell me, Superman, is there anything you could tell me about the sudden appearance of these... Aliens? And why are so many super powered heroes fighting in Metropolis, while the whole world is under attack?" Lois stressed 'Alien' very carefully, particularly because the man in the azure blue bodysuit, crimson cape and belt and a symbolic S on his chest was in fact an alien himself. Superman however, didn't take it in stride. Rather, before she knew it, she was suddenly scooped up in his broad arms.
"Hey, what's the big idea!" Lois shouted furiously as the g-forces battered her when she was dragged into the sky. Superman however, could only smile mischievously. When they finally came to a stop way up in the sky, he began to speak.
"The Batman of Gotham told me that these 'Parademons' come from some kind of portal with a very specific tune when they appear. It's as if the portals themselves roar the word 'boom'. I can hear them from all across the planet, but most are gathered here in Metropolis for some reason."
Lois listened intently as Superman told her what he knew. At times like this she found it difficult to focus, particularly because the Man of Steel was exceptionally handsome. His looks were easily comparable with celebrities like Bruce Wayne, but unlike the playboy billionaire, Superman's eyes shone with kindness and sincerity. He truly wanted to help the people he'd grown to love, while the Gotham's most notorious resident had quite a mask plastered on his face when he did his occasional speeches about making Gotham a better place.
Also, for some reason, Superman reminded her of Clark Kent, a colleague and already one of her best friends. Their faces and posture were similar, but while Clark was awkward and weird, Superman was confident and charismatic.
"Those towers you see in the ocean are where the people are being held, but Aquaman is already taking care of them." Superman ended. Lois wanted to say something to him, but the words were caught in her throat when the Man of Steel's eyes narrowed.
"There's something big coming. These demons are hailing someone, probably their leader." He stated while he started to fly towards the coast. Lois held on for dear life as Superman rushed through the sky. Before she knew it even, she was back on solid ground.
"What are they saying?" Lois quickly asked before Superman could fly off.
"Something about 'Dark side'. "Superman answered, before she witnessed him flying off into the distance. Superman had placed her back on the sidewalk of the boulevard, but not far enough to not see the upcoming climax. While hiding behind a corner, she noticed that one of the demons was being surrounded by not only Superman, but by Green Lantern, the Flash and other heroes she'd only seen on TV as well. She could clearly see the dark stature of the Batman of Gotham, who was thought to be a mere myth during the Zero Year. Also, she witnessed a woman with a bluish leotard and a red breastplate wielding a sword. Her curly black hair was waving in the wind as she was kneeling in front of some sort of, cyborg? And there also seemed to be a blonde haired man with golden scale-like armor, a sea-green bodysuit and a golden trident in his hand standing close to them. Aquaman was his name.
"Damn it Jimmy, if only you were here to put this on camera…" Lois thought with a grimace. Lois wanted to go, but Superman's words spoke true when she heard an atrocious 'boom' erupting from the demon. A hideous scream rattled through the air, which sounded like 'Dark side'. From there, a massive crimson portal opened, revealing something far more monstrous than the screeching demons.
The massive humanoid possessed greyish skin that looked more like uncut onyx than organic material, but with a speck of ash on it as well, a blue armored bio-suit with a crimson gem on his chest and fierce crimson eyes that bore through everything he looked at. The monster eyed his surroundings and when he noticed the heroes standing their ground against him, his body started to glow a fierce red.
"Oh no-!" Lois could only mutter as a shockwave erupted from the giant. She immediately pulled her head back behind the corner as a wave of energy flowed past her at ridiculous speeds. It was as if an atomic bomb had erupted from the monster. She was lucky that she was standing behind a building, because otherwise she probably wouldn't survive the shockwave.
When the rumbling died down, Lois pushed herself back on her feet. With still ringing ears, she peaked from behind the corner again to see all the superheroes sprawled on the ground with heaps of rubble either next or on top of them. The monster eyed them all dismissively, until his eyes focused on Superman, who slowly got up from the wreckage.
Lois witnessed the monster grabbing Superman by the waist and despite the ringing in her ears, she could her his screams of pain. While she could only watch helplessly, she noticed that the sky had darkened abruptly.
"Huh, why are there clouds forming?" Lois wondered. It was still sunny in Metropolis when the attack came and the weather forecast stated that no rain would come today. She noticed the massive behemoth stopping his squeezing onslaught on Superman and started to frown rather strangely. Before she could wonder why, a sudden streak of golden light almost pushed her off her feet. Then, immediately after the streak of light she heard a loud bang, a sound not unlike a fist shattering tiles of concrete. Another shockwave erupted when Lois peaked again, this time pushing her against the wall behind her.
Adrenaline surged through her as she hastily pushed herself back on her feet and ran towards the spectacle. When she finally moved around the building, she witnessed the monster of a man lying in a rather big crater as a golden-haired fighter loomed over the monstrosity. Sparks of blue electricity cackled around him like a second aura as the man kept clenching and unclenching his fists. She noticed the rest of the superheroes pushing themselves up from the rubble and eyeing the man carefully, but all of them then looked upwards, witnessing another golden fighter. She couldn't see what it was doing, but she couldn't ponder that for long. First she saw a streak of a shining yellow, but then the rumbling started.
Lois had no way of getting out of this one, but someone grabbed hold of her just in time as a massive explosion rocked the city. Shards of glass, piles of concrete and tubes of metal flew all around her as she was whisked away from the danger site. She closed her stinging eyes for a moment, but when she reopened them she noticed that she was literally outside the city's boundaries. Back in the sky where she came from, a bright light shone as dark clouds were pulled towards him, as if the being of golden light was a magnet. Metropolis now looked as dark as Gotham always was and the wind started to pick up speed as the area around them slowly started to ionize.
"Miss Lane, are you all right?" Lois' eyes turned to Superman, who was wincing slightly, probably still from the pain.
"I'm quite all right. Thank you Superman." She gave the Kryptonian a relieved smile as she was placed back on her feet.
"Are these your alien friends?" Metropolis' most famous reporter joked, but Superman's eyes remained uncharacteristically serious.
"I don't know who they are, but their eyes show an emotion I'd never thought I would witness in people." The Last Son of Krypton stated, while placing Lois back on the ground and turning his back to eye the spectacle in the distance.
"Demon Angels! DEMON ANGELS!" A bald man with a rather large girth shouted, while he held out a Holy Cross.
"Demon Angels?" Both Superman and Lois asked simultaneously, while the man continued to speak.
"God's vengeance towards the wickedness of man and demon kind! Shining like an angel, but the heart and soul of a demon. Have you seen their eyes!" Although Lois didn't know what he meant, Superman started to grimace.
"What do their eyes show?" Lois asked as Superman started to levitate.
"Wrath, Lois. Blind and unbridled wrath in a greenish hue." Was what the Man of Steel said as he shot himself towards the epicentre. Lois could only ponder the word the religious zealot was shouting as she watched the superheroes and their newly-found allies facing off against the grey menace…
….
Greetings, readers. I had this idea for a long time coming. I've written quite a lot of it already, but most of them are more like bits of pieces that don't align well currently. Still though, I just had to post this. Hopefully you'll like it! Don't know when I'll post the next chapter, but I've a lot of time on my hands in around 2 weeks so I'll probably finish it then.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I don't want to spoil too much though, so you might not get the straightest answer. If you desire though, you can always try :)