Disclaimer: I own nothing of the wonderful DC Universe.
Well to the intro of The Monster Within, a story of a SI thrown into the DC Universe who becomes the biggest villain ever.
The Justice League was the first line of defense for the planet Earth and all its inhabitants. Its members were always busy protecting their individual cities and the planet from a wide variety of threats ranging from powerful criminal organizations to literal space gods and their armies. As such the League members rarely assembled unless it was a dire issue.
Today such a day.
The call to gather for an emergency meeting at the Hall of Justice was sent out by the trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The call was not limited to just League members but every hero on the planet. Every single hero who got the call responded expect for the few who could not respond without dire consequences to the lives of innocent people. When the three greatest heroes on the planet and to many in the universe sent a message, you responded as soon as possible.
The common area inside the Hall was filled with heroes ranging from the Teen Titans to the far-off distant planet New Genesis. There was no indication of the meeting starting so the heroes socialized with each other over good food and drinks. The life of a hero was difficult, and it was nice to decompress with others in the same business.
One of the Hall doors opened, and the founders of the League came through to take their seats at the table situated at the head of the room. It was a few more minutes for everyone to quiet down and take their own individual seats then the mysterious meeting began.
Superman widely regarded as the greatest of all heroes spoke first.
"Good day everyone. I wish this were under better circumstances, but we have received an alert that Valmont of the Vega Republic is coming to Earth" he said with a stern face as he brought up a holographic screen from the hall and flicked a file to the hologram projector in the center of the room.
The image displayed a human male in purple and white clothes fitting of a emperor with a face that that could only be described as the pinnacle of attractiveness based on the looks of several woman in the crowd.
A few faces wore grim expressions, especially the Green Lanterns, but most were a little confused at the news although taking it seriously. Firestorm, a recent addition to the League, shifted in his seat
"Who's Valmont? He wasn't in the intro packet." he asked, and it was Hal Jordan who answered.
"He wouldn't be. The packet covers known threats to Earth who have previously tried to invade," The Green Lantern explained. "Valmont is an alien whose activities we've been forced to keep an eye on."
Hal extended his hand, and his ring created a hologram of the galaxy with a small section highlighted.
"Valmont's early life is pretty much unknown to everybody, but his first recorded appearance was in the Vega System. The Vega system before he appeared was a refuge for criminals and other aggressive entities. It had dozens of planets, hundreds of races, thousands of cultures, and trillions of sentient beings. Valmont conquered the entire system and eventually the entire sector establishing the Vega Republic.
The Vega Republic is unique for three things.
The first is their complete and utter hatred for slavery. Any civilization that practices it undergoes the same process. The society practicing slavery gets a message to abolish slavery. If the society refuses a second more strongly worded message is sent. If that message is ignored, then the Republic wipes out the entire society in question expect for the slaves who are either returned to their civilizations or taken to live in the Republic."
The hologram changed to horrifying images of various aliens being torn apart, beheaded, being burned alive and all matters of cruelty with disgusted looks on the faces of the heroes watching it.
The disgust and discomfort were more than apparent on the League members expressions. It was extremely easy to forget that most planets did not have a Justice League protecting them from the dangers of the universe.
Batman as always had a stoic expression. While he was disgusted at the countless acts of genocide, he could see Valmont's logic. Slaves who were by the very definition of the word deprived of everything would naturally feel a great deal of loyalty to the Republic for saving them. It spread good will and enabled a loyal power base. It would take time for the benefits to appear, but it would be worth it in the end. Valmont knew how to play the long game and that made him especially dangerous.
Hal continued speaking "The second thing the Vega Republic is known for is their tradition called Eradication. It's what it sounds like. Any race with the physical power to fight them is completely wiped out and their technological capabilities added to the Republic's. Most of the galaxy is terrified of them and for good reason. Eradications are personally led by Valmont who is responsible for the genocide of thirteen different species and trillions of people across the galaxy."
"Why hasn't anyone stopped them like a rival or the Lantern Corp?" asked Green Arrow sitting alongside his girlfriend Black Canary.
"Vega is off limits to Lanterns. Other nations haven't stopped them because of the third reason which is their powerful military forces." Hal answered back with a nod to John Stewart, another Green Lantern of Earth who nodded back as the audience turned its attention to him.
"The Vega Empire is a military powerhouse of the galaxy despite its relatively young age and small size."
John extended his hand upward and created a construct of a blue skinned humanoid in purple armor carrying some sort of gun with two angelic metallic wings on its back.
"This is a Angelspawn. There are the primary soldiers of the Republic. They function as shock troopers and if necessary, cannon fodder. Post battle analysis has revealed Angelspawns are genetically created creatures with demonstrated high levels of personal physical strength, durability, stamina, agility, reflexes, and speed. Angelspawn have shown the ability to use their wings as blades, able to cut and piercing with a refined edge. They can transform any part of their body into different objects making them extremely dangerous in close combat. Their single ranged ability is powerful energy blasts fired from either their eyes or hands. They don't require any sustenance as well."
The image changed to a slender silver metal humanoid with four tentacles extending from its back. Its eyes and mouth perfectly formed circles giving a disturbing look to it.
"Above the Angelspawn is the Sentinels, robotic commanders of the Angelspawn. They typically operate from a distance but will enter the battle if pressed enough. They are made of an unknown metal that has proven highly resistant to damage, if even when damaged they show an incredible self-repair mechanism. Their primary weapons are energy blasts powerful enough to wreak planets. Sentinels have shown vast technopathic abilities and Sentinels has proven themselves to be master tacticians and strategists making fighting them quite difficult. One of particular interest is Sentinel Ten who participated in the second Lantern-Reach War."
The image ended and the attention went back on John himself.
"After Angelspawn and Sentinels is the people of the Republic themselves. Their composed of a wide range of races from Coluans to Tamaraneans and even a small Czarnian population if rumors are to be believed. They occupy most of the Republic's military leadership and seldomly take the field having over all command of all Angelspawn and Sentinels.
"At the top of the food chain is the people at the capital of the Republic, Karna. They are rarely seen outside of the capital nowadays, preferring to stick on their home world so information on them is scarce. What little we know are the Karnaians are as overpowered as Big Blue."
This prompted smiles and chuckles all around. Even Superman himself smiled at the old joke.
"Karnaians are near Kryptonians in all physical stats. They possess telekinetic and telepathic abilities on a planetary scale. They are completely immortal. They can harass magic and have been noted to have the ability to manipulate energy on a fundamental level. The good news is not all of them have the same skill level and none of them seem to have the desire to leave their homeworld."
The smiles changed to worried and a few frightened expressions. The more scientific minded heroes from what could be seen of their faces paled at the mention of energy manipulation.
"At the top of all this is Valmont himself. He created the Republic and is its head of state, so he has command over everything and everyone in the Republic. He hasn't been seen in person outside of the Republic in the last five hundred years until now. It's reasonable to assume he has all the same abilities of the Karnaians in addition to whatever other abilities he has hidden."
The smiles had long faded at that point. Nobody could blame them. Anybody in Superman's weight class was often a world destroying threat and beyond the capabilities of a large portion of the league to stand against and win.
"What do you mean hidden?" asked Captain Marvel known to only to a few as the kid Billy Batson.
"Valmont is well known to incorporate everything ranging from magic to the latest technological advancement in its arsenal. He has even altered himself to give himself more power."
There was not much anymore that could seriously upset Batman anymore since being introduced to aliens, magic, and alternate dimensions but the thought of a criminal that took advantage of the countless methods of power throughout the universe certainly kept itself at the forefront of his mind. The various heroes and villains of earth and the greater universe had established a status quo where an individual would for the most part stick to their specialties and Batman was secretly grateful for it as it gave him an advantage over almost everyone. The few that did not were some of the most dangerous beings in the universe and each one had a file in the oblivion contingency.
Batman stood up and look at everyone.
"Valmont is coming to Earth and we must be ready for his arrival. We don't know why he's coming here but the worst case must be prepared for, so we need to ask ourselves how we are going to defeat this enemy?"
Authors Notes
I have been looking for a good villain SI in DC story for a while and there is almost none compared to the hero ones. This motivated me to write one for myself.
Please leave reviews as they are every writer's bread and butter.
A couple things I want to establish for my readers.
The SI has knowledge of the DC Universe but that does not automatically transfer into power. There is a difference between knowing someone is a tactical genius and fighting them on an equal level.
The DC Universe is the very definition of crazy awesome. In this story I fully intent to have some fun with it. It is a universe where literally anything can happen.
Karnaians is a name I come up with for the purposes of this story. Karna is really a planet in the DC universe.
The Vega Republic has some serious weaknesses that will become clear throughout the story.
