Here we are with the next chapter in the story of Injustice Syndicate: The Rise. Consider this chapter my early Christmas Gift for you all, especially to Mace shepherd, who requested this story and helped me to work out the finer details of it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as now you'll see just what kind of powers Double Dee will have.
*I still don't own Ed, Edd n' Eddy, Justice League Unlimited, or Marvel!*
Enter the Riot Symbiote!
Previously on Injustice Syndicate: The Rise…
"Boy called Ed. You have much righteous fury in your heart."
Ed looked down just in time to see a red ring with what looked like some sort of lantern insignia floating in front of him as it moved to slide itself onto his finger.
"You belong to the Red Lantern Corps." it said.
As it slipped itself onto his finger, Ed could feel power surging through him. It healed him and made him stronger than he's ever felt before. But it also caused his rage to increase even more than he thought possible. Words started to play in his head, and he couldn't help but speak his mind in the most literal sense of the phrase.
"With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so wrongfully dead, your minds twisted with pain and hate, to burn in hell - that is your fate!"
And in a flash of light, one of the Eds was gone from the hospital. On his way to become something even greater than before!
...And to hopefully become a lot smarter than he is now, but that's not likely to happen.
Now...
Still asleep in the hospital after the revelation of the destruction of their home and the events that led up to it, Eddy and Double Dee have remained in a deep sleep as their bodies recovered from the damage sustained to them. Though the physical damage will heal and be a thing of the past, the emotional and mental wounds will leave deep scars on the boys that may remain for the rest of their lives. And the same can be said for their normally dim-witted friend, Ed, too.
Now, Double Dee is not normally a violent child. Quite the opposite, in fact, as he normally attempts to play the peacemaker whenever he and his friends end up in any form of conflict with someone else. Or even with each other.
But after the incident involving Joker and how the Justice League didn't dole out the proper justice, he found himself allowing his long suppressed feelings of rage and hatred to bubble their way to the surface. The Joker took everything away from him and his two friends. Everything and everyone they ever loved! And all he gets is a slap on the wrist by being sent to Arkham Asylum like he was meant to be rehabilitated into society! The Joker enjoyed killing others by the thousands even BEFORE the accident that turned him into a murdering clown, so why would he ever be successfully rehabilitated?
Although, if Double Dee remembers the story correctly, the Justice League did end up meeting a Joker who was ACTUALLY sane and not a murdering psychopath in a parallel universe that they inadvertently visited. They were known as the Justice Lords in that universe, he believes. And those versions of the league weren't afraid to actually kill the bad guys in order to bring about stability to the world.
Granted, they only started down that path because the President Luthor of that universe killed their version of the Flash.
But still, the results speak for themselves.
And yet, even after seeing how taking more drastic measures can lead to a permanent solution, the Justice League refuses to cross the line and just put down those who can not be redeemed like the animals that they have become! Double Dee wouldn't be surprised if they just keep the bad guys alive just so they can look good for the cameras by showing up to put them in jail again!
Bleagh! It makes the beanie wearing Ed-Boy want to wretch just thinking about it!
I know I sound like a broken record by conveying these thoughts that the eds are currently having about the current heroic system, but that's just how they feel.
Double Dee tossed and turned in his sleep, or at least attempted to. The doctors and nurses started strapping him down to the bed to keep him from reopening his wounds after the first night of night terrors that he started suffering from. His mind just could not remain at ease. He could still see and feel everything that happened on that terrible day. He could see Ed trying to fight off the Joker's hyenas, screaming as they mauled him while trying to eat him alive. Still he could hear the dreaded laughter as Eddy was exposed to the, thankfully, low grade Joker Venom and nearly guffawed himself to death.
But most of all, he could still feel himself being burned alive after taking a direct hit from the Joker's flamethrower. How the gas powered flames sizzled his flesh and ate away at his skin as though he were a living piece of tinder in a fire pit.
No matter how much he tried to will it to go away, the memories of that dreadful time just would not allow Double Dee to have a peaceful rest. One that he so desperately needed.
On the outside, however, in the real world, something was happening that would change all of that very soon.
A grey substance started to leak out of the ventilation shaft leading to the room. Whatever it was had the appearance of thick, sludgy tar, yet it moved as fluidly as water or slime. As it landed on the ground with a barely audible splat, the substance seemed to look around for but a moment before zeroing in on its target. And that target was Double Dee Ed-Boy.
It moved quickly along the ground, sticking to the shadows in case someone entered the room. Fortunately for this slime substance, though maybe not so fortunately for the sleeping Ed-Boy, nobody entered the room and the slime was free to do what it wanted. It quickly and quietly slithered and slunk over to the bed in which Double Dee lay, and crawled up the bed post before moving along the frame to the lad's exposed fingers. It could have gone for his face, sure, but something tells me that this 'sludge' doesn't want to suffocate the lad.
Once it was close enough, it began to cover Double Dee, moving along his finger tips and up his arm to his shoulder, spreading along his chest and stomach, down both legs to his feet, then finally up and over his head like a hood and mask. The substance began writhing and wriggling as the body beneath it started to flex and spasm, many changes occurring all at once. In his sleep, Double Dee felt like his bones were being broken and reformed at the same time, in which he's really not too far off. His muscles tore and rebuilt themselves to become stronger and healthier, and even his other vital organs like his heart, lungs, brain, and liver became stronger and began functioning more efficiently.
With a strong flex of his arms, the straps holding them down snapped like a pair of twigs before clawed hands ripped off the rest of the straps and he stood up from the bed. It was still Double Dee, but he was now changed.
Gone was the scrawny kid with short legs with a mind that was stronger than his body. In his place was something else.
It's stance and shape was humanoid, but it stood slightly hunched over and was a towering giant and almost seven feet tall. It has two clawed toes on its feet, and its fingertips have been replaced by claws that looked sharp enough to tear through thick sheets of steel with ease. Its body was highly muscular, a stark contrast to the thin and rather underdeveloped frame that Double Dee was well known for. In its mouth were sharp teeth like needles or daggers, and its eyes were sharp and angular while being completely white. The creature took a look at its hands and gave a few experimental movements of its limbs and upper body before uttering a single phrase.
"How intriguing…" it said in a grave, growling voice that had a slight undertone of Double Dee's own voice. "The merge appears to be a success. We are no longer Eddward, and no longer the Symbiote."
He looked out the window as the left half of the creature's face receded to reveal Double Dee's, a matching toothy, bloodthirsty grin adorning it.
"We… are… Riot." they said in tandem.
With that, the symbiote covered Double Dee's exposed face and proceeded to, surprisingly, exit the hospital room with a certain care and subtlety that Double Dee is well known for, He simply opened the window, stepped out, and closed it behind him before leaping down and disappearing into the night.
'Worry not, Eddy. I'll be back for you. But I need to get stronger so that we can finally right the injustices of this world brought on by heroes who refuse to do what needs to be done!' Double Dee, or rather Riot, thought as he made his way to the wilderness away from Peach Creek.
*To Be Continued…*
Okay, that's two Eds down to gain their powers, one to go. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, too! Please don't forget to leave a review, and I'll see you all in my next update!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
