I own nothing, please enjoy.
Pyrrha's pulse pounded in her ears as she ran. Ran down the stark foreboding halls she called home. Ran from everything she had ever known. Ran towards the barest possibility of freedom. Ran from Darkseid.
But there was no running from Darkseid.
'Someone had.'
There was no escape from the X-Pit.
'There was.'
There was no possible way to leave Apokolips.
'So she would make her own.'
After all, Granny had always taught her to be resourceful.
And today was special. Today the invader would come and all Lord Darkseid's forces would be at their highest alerts but also at their most distracted trying to stop the implacable being. So Pyrrha ran with every bit of her considerable strength using short bursts of her magnebracers to launch herself forward. Haste and panic can make even the greatest of warriors sloppy though and as Pyrrha took a turn too sharply her precious cargo tumbled from her shoulders as the female fury stumbled.
The cloth wrapped bundle let out a pained groan as it hit the ground hard and rolled for a moment. Sunken, skeletal features and a wild mop of unruly blonde hair she would recognize anywhere greeted the warrior as the cloth wrapping her charge came loose. Jaune Arc. The last god born of New Genesis. Her counterpart.
A momentary pang of something in the pit of her stomach struck Pyrrha as she moved to quickly wrap him back up and placed him once more over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. 'I got you into this Jaune. I'll get you out too.' The fury silently promised as she once again picked up speed. The silence in the hallway was a warning. The artillery had all but stopped. She was running out of time.
The invader was faster than he had been the previous year despite Lord Darkseid ordering the defenses tripled. It was against the plan. He was supposed to take at least five minutes longer to breach defenses!
Pyrrha bit back a mental curse at the realization. No matter, she was very nearly there. Jacob's Ladder lay just around the corner and with it salvation. She had very nearly succeeded in her goal! Or that's how it was supposed to be.
"Hello little thief." The soft, sardonic voice of her sister fury greeted her.
"Hello again Cinder." The gilded gladiatrix responded coldly.
"Awwww, didn't you miss me little sister?" Darkseid's assassin cooed as she leaned back against the path to the exit with a smirk. "You wouldn't be planning to leave with our lord's new toy now would you?"
"His name is Jaune D'Arc." She bit back, temper running hot. But Cinder had always had that effect on her. Always needling, always pushing, always challenging her authority as Granny's chosen leader of the Furies.
"His name is whatever Lord Darkseid says it is." The obsidian assassin pushed back as her smirk pulled wider. "Look at you, caring about the new battery like it's actually people. Going against Lord Darkseid? You've gone native little sister."
"This is your only chance Cinder," Pyrrha Nikos promised her sister in arms as she began to flex her magnebracers, the energy pouring off her forearms in waves and warping the metal of the walls. "Get out of my way and go back to what you're good at, stabbing people in the back and running away."
"Ohhh little Pyrrha, if you keep talking like that you'll hurt my feelings. Who taught you to be so rude to your elders," the assassin responded in mock sorrow. "Granny needs to have a talk with you about your mouth. Maybe another six months of having it stitched shut will help."
The gladiatrix grit her teeth as she moved into action. Much to Pyrrha's annoyance, there was nothing in the universe that Cinder loved more than the sound of her own voice. But in this case it gave her an opportunity to attack while her sister fury was distracted. An application of will and a barely perceptible flex of her arm was all that was needed to rip a panel off the wall and send it rocketing toward Cinder with the force of a freight train.
Unfortunately there was still a difference between barely and not at all perceptible and Cinder Fall let herself gracefully drop flat to let the wide piece of metal sail over her body. The metal slab came to a floating rest before the Nikos and she readied it before her as a shield when she heard the tell tale sound of Cinder's palms slapping the ground as she readied her gift. The goddess of volcanoes would be superheating the floor and molding it, reshaping it, into what she desired.
Latching onto a point further behind her Pyrrha launched herself backwards with fractions of a second to spare as a vicious axe of black obsidian with a glowing metal core tore through the thick, improvised wall of metal, bisecting it with ease and Cinder following closely behind it.
She was trying to push the advantage, keep her on the back foot and go in for the kill. But Pyrrha had no intention of letting her sister control the tempo. With an immense exertion of effort the gladiatrix pushed forward, meeting the assassin's charge head on. Every step left a rippled dent in the floor as she pushed forward towards Cinder, fist cocked back to tear her opponent's head off and the now two metal slabs slamming together for a three-pronged attack.
It was Pyrrha's trademark, brutal, overwhelming force brought to bear against the enemy with no avenues of escape. Something the Nikos was aware Cinder knew just as well she knew her sister's preferred tactics. Which was why, in that moment of desperation, she made a move she knew her sister would never expect, she ran.
At the very last moment before impact the Nikos juked to the side and used magnetic repulsion to slide scant millimeters off the floor and avoided her opponent entirely even as she used that same repulsion to right herself and continued her mad dash to the ladder. For the first time in her life the fight didn't matter, domination didn't matter, Cinder's stupid disobedient attitude didn't matter. All that mattered was getting to the top of that ladder and getting her charge to safety.
The floor turned to molten metal and obsidian spikes rose up to meet her and still the Nikos pushed through. Sharp but brittle glass stabbing into before ultimately shattering against new god flesh as she maintained a death grip on her charge just before something hard against her middle back, sending Jaune toppling off again.
"There's no running from this fight little thief!" A guttural growl rang out from behind her and Pyrrha turned to see the true form of Cinder Fall.
The glamours she normally wore were stripped away to reveal a skeletal left arm made of jagged black obsidian as well as shards of the same volcanic black glass covering the left side of her face and surrounding a socket that would be empty if not for the molten orb trailing a wing of fire resting in it. A being of beautiful, fearful, savagery was the image Cinder tried to cultivate when revealing her true self but Pyrrha couldn't resist the small smirk that graced her lips every time she saw it. After all, she was the one who had taken the eye and arm from the assassin.
Still though, the gladiatrix could acknowledge that this was a problem. The glass Cinder had fused to her body was infused with her sister's power and therefore stronger than normal by many orders of magnitude as well as her having absolute control over it at almost any range.
With a grunt of frustration the Nikos tore another metal panel from the wall and positioned it and herself between the fallen New Genesan. Cinder was on edge, blood thirstier than usual, and completely ignoring Jaune to focus on her. That was a problem but it was also an opportunity. "What's this Cinder? Smudge your make up? Or did you just want to show off the gift I gave you when I assumed command of the furies?'
"When you TOOK my command you little thief!" The obsidian beast snarled as she lashed out with her glass arm, sending a spray of black, diamond hard, razor sharp shards speeding towards the Nikos who ducked down and to the right, pulling D'Arc behind her. The screech of tearing metal told Nikos what she already knew without looking. The obsidian shards of Cinder's arm had torn through the three inch thick slab of metal like tissue paper. Still Cinder continued her savage rain of black hail as she vented her hate towards the young captain.
"I was Granny's favorite! I was mentored by Barda herself for centuries! And then you show up, frail little thing that you are and have the gall to take that which is rightfully mine! Well you've finally lost now Nikos! I'm gonna mount your still living head on my hearth and ask Lord Darkseid and Lady Salem to give me your little toy to warm my bed while you watch!" The obsidian assassin raved as she lashed out again and again with the razor shards of her glass arm. Which was honestly….. problematic.
Cinder tended to flail when she lost her temper, Pyrrha knew that and had capitalized on it more than once before. But then she had never been protecting someone else at the same time. Jaune's weight on her shoulders threw off her balance and left her slower than she would normally be. On top of that even in his emaciated state the boy was tall and had a large frame that she had to cover as well as her own. Pyrrha needed something new, something her sister wouldn't expect, to even things up. Luckily she had just the thing.
Stepping forward Pyrrha let Jaune roll from her shoulders again as gently as she could manage. Ten heartbeats, Pyrrha had measured it once. That was how long it took for her mental command to reach the subspace pocket the gift had been stored in. How long it took for it to process the command and jump to her hand. Ten heartbeats as the Nikos' hand closed around the haft of a grand spear when once there was empty air and sent it flying directly towards Cinder's stupid, stupid face.
Pyrrha felt a momentary surge of sadistic glee watching her sister's eye widen in surprise and panic before she sidestepped and threw an arm up to knock the weapon off course. The Nikos merely flexed her will in response and in a flash of bright, white light the spear reappeared in her hand just as she clashed with Cinder Fall. The razor tipped head of her polearm screeching against the jagged glass of the assassin's arm.
"You got a new toy little sister," the assassin commented through gritted teeth as the two clashed.
"An engagement gift from my fiance," Pyrrha quipped as she sent a mental command to the motherbox built into the weapon to let loose a charge to shock her opponent. Lightning erupted from the weapon in a violent burst as the motherspear performed one of the three preprogrammed tasks built into it. At any point in time Pyrrha could, with a simple application of will, command it to return to her hand, let loose with a powerful offensive charge, or form an incredibly powerful force field to protect her from harm.
The electricity poured into Cinder Fall causing her muscles to seize as she dropped hopelessly to the ground. Nikos followed her down, a knee on either side of her sister's torso as she held the tip of her spear to the assassin's throat.
"I think he spoils me too much honestly, but you know how these New Genesis boys are." The gladiatrix joked as she gazed down into the hate filled eyes of her closest sister. Her most hated enemy. The taunts came easy with the familiarity of practice but unlike before they left a bitter taste in her mouth.
"This must be pretty familiar huh Cinder? After all, don't most of your missions end up about like this? With you on your back and waiting for someone to thrust?" Of course that being said she was still absolutely going to give the older fury seven different flavors of hell.
"I swear I'm going to kill you in the most painful way imaginable Nikos. There will be no escape from us. Darkseid IS." Cinder swore, and Pyrrha could see the truth of her promise in the assassin's eyes. She would never stop, never give up, she would always try to come for her life. For a brief moment her grip tightened around the spear and she moved to stab down before a memory of sunny voice cut through battle haze and pragmatism.
Well I think you're a good person even if you don't.
With a sigh Pyrrha dismissed the spear back to its pocket dimension before wrapping a hand around her sister's neck to hold her head still. "Enjoy leading the furies again sister."
WHAM!
Pyrrha's free hand slammed down into her sister's face with a brutal right hook before she reared back and did it again. And again. And again. Pyrrha rained twelve earth shattering blows against her sister's face and head leaving it a messy pulp of flesh and glass shards. But not enough to kill her, a proper fury could easily withstand this much even if they wouldn't get up in a hurry. Granny had personally made sure of it.
With a sigh and groan Pyrrha stood up and away from Cinder's limp body. Her right hand was torn and split from the glass shards embedded into her sister's face. Her clothes and armor were ragged and torn. Lacerations from the hail of obsidian covered her face and arms. Her hair was a mess and the battle high that once left her feeling exultant now just left her tired and drained. But she had won.
Gingerly the gladiatrix moved to her fiance, still unconscious and wrapped tightly in the cloth and ascended the ladder. Not even caring to climb in the conventional way she used her magnebracers to push against the floor and walls of the tight tube to ascend as she cradled the young man in her arms.
Soon enough the hatch at the top swung open, releasing the young duo to the surface of the planet and once again Pyrrha summoned the motherspear to her hand.
"Motherspear, open a boom tube." The gladiatrix commanded. But nothing happened. "Motherspear! Open a boom tune!"
"All interplanetary boom tube travel is currently blocked." Explained the gentle voice of the living computer inside her weapon, and something inside of her shattered.
It was all for nothing then. The plan was pointless from the beginning if they couldn't get off planet and soon the other furies would be here to recover the two of them. Jaune would be returned to the wheel and she would be made to face the omega sanction.
Hot, angry tears filled the fury's eyes and spilled forth freely at the unfairness of it all. It was the perfect plan. The perfect moment! She was supposed to get them both out of here and she had failed!
Bonelessly the Nikos dropped to her knees as she cradled the still form of the man she was ashamed to admit she had developed the weakness of love for. The boy who had spared kindness for far longer than any being had a right to. A weaker person would have sobbed, but her face remained still as stone even as tears poured from her eyes. Even as something new that had been forming in her broke inside. Silent and stone faced she cradled him as she waited for their inevitable ends.
She did not expect the end to be accompanied by jingle bells.
Quickly Pyrrha looked up to see the form of the great invader. Dressed in his trademark crimson and seated in a flying sled of some sort pulled by deer. "Ho ho ho, are you ready to leave Ms. Nikos?"
Something of her dumbfounded confusion must've shown on her face because the invader let loose with a deep belly laugh before wiggling his nose and Pyrrha found herself seated behind him in his sled and wrapped in a warm blanket.
"Well what kind of Santa would I be if I didn't reward someone's very first attempt at good behavior?" The being chortled as he snapped the reins of the sled and the vehicle took off into the sky far faster than Pyrrha had ever experienced before. "So where am I taking the two of you?"
The answer came to Pyrrha immediately, the place where the only other people to ever escape Darkseid had gone. A place where there were beings and gods strong enough to make Darkseid himself pause at the thought of open invasion.
"Earth," the young warrior murmured, "we're going to Earth."
/Genesis of Justice\\
An old man took in the gentle hills rolling by in emerald waves more vibrant than any gem mined from the depths of the earth. A cloudless sky so deep and rich a blue that one could be forgiven for believing it to be fake. A sea of clean, clear, pure water that he could see into the very depths of even from his elevated perch. In a word the old man was in a paradise to rival heaven itself. This was the view the old man took in as he sipped his tea alongside his much younger friend.
The old man stilled as he sensed a familiar energy pass over him. It may have been a little on the nose but Kringle's personal energy always left a phantom sensation of laughing children, the taste of sugar cookies, the smell of peppermint, sunlight glinting off of a fresh clean snow, and the warmth of a crackling fire. The sensation was streaking through space at a speed that could be reasonably confused for instantaneous teleportation and he could feel two young energies along with the king of the Winter Court.
The energies were vague and aethereal as was often the case of those that were still young and not quite so set in their ways. One was blood and leather and metal holding something quite different deep down inside of it. There was a sensation of warmth and flame? But not violent… it was very nearly too faint to tell but almost accompanied by a phantom scent of cinnamon. The other was so very weak it was almost lost behind the other two but the old man could sense something like a dull beat from the signature. Like a drum, or a heart.
"It seems your lost lamb has escaped the lion's den Izaya." The old man stated as he raised his cup to his friend in a quiet toast of celebration.
"You know they call me Highfather now." His companion grumbled good naturedly as raised his own glass, and he had to admit the title certainly fit on aesthetics alone. His friend was very nearly a true immortal, whatever age he looked was simply the age he believed he should look. For Izaya that was a powerfully built man with a leonine mane and beard of bright silver hair. At a look he seemed to be a fifty year old earth human yet still nowhere close to being past his prime as muscles rippled across his arms and torso.
"Izaya, you have grown to be a good man and a wise leader," the old man acknowledged with a sip of his tea. "Your command of the Alpha Effect and loyalty to the Source as its oracle can be questioned by none. My pride in you and what you have accomplished knows no bounds. But I'm not going to call the little boy I taught to hold a staff Highfather."
"Ha! True enough old friend!" Izaya barked a laugh and despite the light tone he had put on the old man could tell that the news was a weight off of his friend. The ambient energy surrounding him had been like a spring wound too tight and one could not tell whether it would release or snap first, all that could be certain was the results would be explosive. Now though the tension was beginning to bleed off as the gathered power began to dissipate and return to the Source.
"Still though," the lord of New Genesis breathed out in somber tone, "wisdom of the Source and my trusted advisor or not, it doesn't feel right having left young Jaune to wither in Darkseid's clutches for so long, especially after what they did to Scott." The tension continued to bleed out and like a balloon Izaya seemed to deflate. All of a sudden the old man could properly see his friend for what felt like the first time in a very long time. He realized that the lines that crossed his friend's face were the result of both the worries and fears of a father who had been through too much and the duties of a leader who had been at war for longer than some planets had existed. Somewhere along the way, the old man realized with a deep pang in his heart and his gut, the little boy who had nothing more than to be a warrior had gotten old.
The moment dragged on as two men who had lived too long and felt too much stewed in silence and watched the pinks and purples and oranges of the sunset as the sun sank below the waves of New Genesis. Eventually though the old man let loose with a cough as he looked to change the subject. Time is the one thing that was guaranteed to change a man more than any other but he still had never been one to let an awkward moment continue too long.
"Well ah," He floundered a moment as he tried to cut through the tension. "It seems that they're on their way to Earth. Would you like me to send them back to your flock friend?"
Izaya seemed to chew the inside of his mouth as he considered for a moment before shaking his head no. "That won't be necessary. We both know they would've made their way to your planet eventually anyway. Scott can hopefully keep an eye on them and maybe they can get him to call home more often." He groused in the way that only a parent can.
With a smoothness and grace that seemed almost unnatural for his apparent age and powerful build, Izaya stood from his place on the hill where the two were sitting and bent to crack his back before turning to the old man. "I'm going to deliver the good news to Jaune's family, can you make sure he calls home soon?"
"Of course my friend," the old man responded with a soft laugh. It seemed his friend had decided to embrace the 'Father' part of his title in mannerism as well as appearance. And with that the old man leaned on his cane to help himself up and prepared to make his way back home.
"Safe travels my friend," Izaya said and held his arms open as the old man leaned into the brief hug. "What name do you go by now? Last time I saw you, you were Henkel."
The old man smiled at his friend and once again he could see the boy he had been, staff in hand so many millenia ago, "This body is named Ozpin, a good man. Runs a school if you can believe it." He laughed as he rested both hands on his cane.
"Ha! You've always been a teacher Zoroaster, the question is whether or not you admit it. Safe travels and call again soon!"
"Merry Christmas, Izaya," Ozpin smiled in response before he stepped to Earth. There were no flashing lights or wellsprings of power. One moment he simply was and the next he wasn't. With nothing but the Highfather's claim to say that he had ever been there.
/Genesis of Justice\\
Rockin around the Christmas tree,
At the Christmas party hop,
Mistletoe hung where you can see,
Every couple tries to stop,
"Hey kid! I've got some thoughts on the next show, your buddy over there with the wings offered me a pair of Thanagarian handcuffs. Says that they're impossible to be broken out of and were stress tested by big blue." Scott Free, patron deity of freedom from bondage, superhero for over half a century, and, most importantly, loving husband and escape artist extraordinaire turned to see the diminutive form of one of his oldest friends on planet earth holding a pair of incredibly large bindings. Heavy, bulky things very obviously designed to lock away his hands from elbow to wrist as well as nullifying any special powers that the old man waved around with a grin on his face as he chewed an unlit cigar in the side of his mouth.
.
"Obie, Obie!" Scott laughed as he held up one hand in mock surrender while the other held a mug of eggnog. "It's Christmas! Let's leave work until next week at least." He bargained with a jovial smile as he bent down a bit to pat Oberon on the back.
"Never a bad time to start thinkin' about the next act Scottie," Oberon shot back but backed down nevertheless. "Eh, maybe I'll go bother Shilo about it instead. He needs to get a bit more practice if he's gonna go from your understudy to a showrunner."
"You know…" Scott drawled out as his friend and manager seemed to be locking well and truly into work mode. "Jacob and N'vir were both REALLY excited to see their Uncle Obie tonight. Said that he always brought the best gifts and told the greatest stories."
The words seemed to do the trick as Oberon stilled and chewed his stogie in what seemed to be mild consternation. "They did eh? And not a word about that putz Orion or Lightray?"
"Not a single word." the new god promised and thanked the source that he had decided to grow out his beard for the winter. The combination of it and his eggnog made it much easier to hide his smile.
The typical surly frown that normally graced Oberon's face pulled into a wide smile as he began chuckling before dropping the alien handcuffs on the kitchen counter and patting him on the arm. "Well it wouldn't be right for me to come for a Christmas party without spending some time with the rugrats would it?"
"It absolutely would not," Scott agreed with his best solemn nod as he waved away his friend who would no doubt be going to spoil his children.
No sooner had this occurred than he felt a pair of familiar, strong arms wrap around his shoulders and he looked up to see the familiar bright blue eyes of his loving wife staring down at him. "I take it you got the kids to babysit Oberon for the night?"
"Stories of show biz and our brave and the bold days until well after they fall asleep." Mr. Free promised his dear, dear Mrs. Free as he went up on tip toe for a kiss.
"Outstanding," Barda quietly cheered as she gently pressed her lips to his before breaking away from the embrace and grabbing his hand. "Now c'mon, Carter and Shayera brought the Christmas edition for cards against humanity, Jay dropped by Dallas before coming out to grab tamales, and Ted and Shilo already broke out the brandy."
"No Red?" Scott questioned as he followed along, maintaining the hold on his wife's hand.
"Not this year," Mrs. Free shook her head, "He said he was going to spend it at the Hunkels this year since Abigail hasn't been able to get around as well lately."
"We'll need to go visit them for New Years then." Scott promised himself and received a nod and a more insistent tug from his wife in response as they made their way to the den from the kitchen. At that moment though, the jovial ring of their doorbell interrupted their progress.
"Go join the others," he suggested with a small smile and nod. "I'll go see who it is."
The bell rang twice more as Free made his way towards it before he was met with an insistent knock instead as he wrapped his hand around the nob. "Alright, alright I'm here- Kris!" This was a pleasant surprise! Father Christmas himself usually came by to visit at some point during the holidays but never on Christmas Eve.
"Come in, come in! Where's Mary? Is she not with you this yearrr…" He trailed off as he took in the singed and soot covered appearance of his friend as well as the two teenagers behind him. One skeletally thin blonde boy and the other a redhead in Apokoliptan armor. Gods the both of them.
"I need to talk to you about something, Scott." Santa himself opened in a somber tone.
Scott could already feel the headache building.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Not much to report this week. Send me a review and let me know what you think lol. Next chapter up will be for Between Shots and Songs and after that is a first chapter an AU story drawing some inspiration from some of my favorite PS1 era games and leaning on RWBY's classic JRPG roots lol. I'll figure out which story to focus on from there based on audience reception lol.
Fair warning I am actively working on the next chapter of between shots and songs right now but I don't know if it'll be ready by next week since someone else just quit at work and now we're down to three people to cover three shifts in a day. Not looking forward to the overtime even if the pay is good lol.
I will however say this chapter was a blast to write and I got to play with a lot of different stuff in fun ways. The story is kind of a general DC crossover but I will be leaning into the young justice animated series for early story beats and setting details though I'll be adjusting and adding in a whole lot of things that I like from general DC (Don't be surprised if Kenan Kong makes an appearance or there's a whole lot of JSA and Lantern Corps love lol.)
Y'all have a great day and remember! Don't forget to love each other.