DC/Marvel: Access Denied
Chapter 14
By Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations contained in this story are ©2003 by either DC Comics Inc. or Marvel Entertainment Group and are used without permission for fan-related, non-profit entertainment purposes only. This original work of fiction is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine and may not be reproduced in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.
Earth-CA …Holocaust sensed the presence of two very strong minds approaching him and smiled. It had been too many days since he had engaged a real challenge and he welcomed the opportunity to test his mettle once again.
The front window, a magnificent piece of glass over three inches thick, shattered like it was only paper thin as Wonder Woman tossed Darkseid through before leaping in right behind him. Bullseye did nothing at first, unsure of how to react. Two acolytes moved to engage Darkseid and the assassin made his decision.
Two ink pens, thrown with uncanny accuracy, pierced the soft eyes of both acolytes and killed them both. Holocaust threw Bullseye a wicked grin. "You can't remain loyal to anyone, can you?"
Bullseye extended his middle finger and then whirled to face several more guards that were entering the floor via the elevator. He knew his place for the moment and left Holocaust in the hands of the more powerful beings in the room.
Holocaust ignored Bullseye for the moment and instead moved to stand only a few feet away from Darkseid. "Welcome, master of Apokolips, you have done me a great service," Holocaust said, bowing low at the waist. He brought his head up and winked. "I thought it would be many months before I could find transport to your world to personally oversee your execution."
"You dare to presume you are the better of Darkseid? Many dead fools believed as much," Darkseid replied as Wonder Woman came to stand next to him.
Holocaust straightened. "I presume many things, oh weak Darkseid; I presume that I am the only one to ever rid this miserable world of its heroes, something you have never been able to do." He swept his arm in a gesture meant to encompass the entire room. "From this modest base of operation I have succeeded where you have met your greatest failures! It is also here I will impregnate your bitch, another task you were never…up to performing."
Wonder Woman's face betrayed her revulsion at the thought. "I will take my own life first."
"I only need you from the belly down, whore," Holocaust said as he licked his dark teeth.
"Never has great Darkseid even imagined that such a foulness could be given form." He reached down and took Wonder Woman's hand and seemed to gain strength from her. In truth, he was afraid for the first time in his life. Now Darkseid began to understand so many things about life that he had never even imagined. He cast a quick glance at the woman whom he loved so much that he was willing to sacrifice everything to be with her.
What had it been that had made her rebuke him finally, so many years ago? He had hoped to forget but the memories were burned into his mind. He had charmed the warrior princess when she had agreed to be a hostage in one of his grand schemes to add the Earth to his empire. In the weeks that followed, she had found herself attracted to Darkseid and his simple view of life. Darkseid believed that the universe could only find peace if all of the chaotic elements were removed, a philosophy that was very close to Wonder Woman's own.
Their affair had been passionate and surprising, but Darkseid's pride had gotten in the way. It had cost him her love and only now, when the end was near, did he swallow that pride. Still, he wished his old comrade Thanos, the Titan, were here to be by his side as well. This was the sort of thing he had lived for. "Why do we speak, let us end this."
Holocaust shrugged. "If you are so anxious to have me take your love as my bride, then so be it."
A wave of telepathic power washed over them and it took all of Wonder Woman's willpower to fight off the commands. Darkseid was completely unaffected. Instead he called upon the power of the Omega Beams and fired a blast at Holocaust.
The beams, normally able to reduce any matter to atoms, simply burned away the clothing that Holocaust wore. His pale body was a mass of muscles and scars, evidence of self-inflicted injuries. "I was hoping she was going to undress me…"
"Bastard!" Wonder Woman screamed as she launched herself at Holocaust. Her blind fury caused a telepathic backlash and Holocaust stumbled back. He managed to get his arms up in time to grab her by the wrists. "You are evil and you must be expunged!" she said as she head-butted him.
Darkseid was next to them and he punched Holocaust hard in the side. Darkseid was a being of great personal strength and the blow echoed through the room but it seemed to do nothing to their foe. Instead, Holocaust seemed to enjoy the pounding and he squeezed harder against the bracers that Wonder Woman wore on her arms.
The bracers were magical in nature and therefore would never bend to Holocaust's will or strength. The creature realized this and in frustration he shoved Wonder Woman back. Darkseid backhanded Holocaust with a strike strong enough to knock down the Washington Monument.
It didn't even break the skin.
"You do not understand, little god; I am complete now. I have absorbed enough essence of life that I am invincible." He threw his head back and let loose a primal scream. "I am the omega of the universe; the end is here and you should welcome it!"
Wonder Woman punched Holocaust in the groin and it was evident that he had felt the pain. "Welcome this, monster!"
Darkseid saw Holocaust's pain and knew that he had been correct in guessing that only a truly magical being could harm the monster. And indeed, he thought as he let loose with another blast of the Omega Beams, Diana was magical enough to bring to joy to dark soul, wasn't she? "You will fall!" he promised. It was an empty one, though, for even mighty Darkseid had his limits and the liberal use of his powers had drained him significantly. It was only his fear of not winning that kept him going.
On the other side of the room, Bullseye watched in awe as punches, kicks and blows were landed that should have shook the building apart. It was a testament to Reed Richard's genius that the Baxter Building was able to handle such punishment.
He picked up an ashtray and planted it firmly in the skull of the last remaining acolyte. Around him were bleeding and quivering corpses, a few even making some strange moaning noises. He wondered if they realized their folly before they died? It made no difference now, as he knew he had to do something to help. He was the inside man in Darkseid's plan and that meant he should know what to do.
He was aware that magic hurt Holocaust, but the monster had become so powerful that he wasn't sure that would be enough. He quickly looked around at the remains of the scientific equipment and weapons and realized that all he had was a bunch of junk to offer to the fight. Darkseid screamed and Bullseye turned to see that Holocaust had torn out his eyes. Wonder Woman was on her back over some chunks of broken concrete and not moving.
"I'm dead if I don't move," Bullseye commented to himself as Holocaust took a huge bite out Darkseid's shoulder. The assassin pulled out his cigarettes and quickly lit one and turned to throw down the match when he saw a large door and three dead technicians.
The door said "Negative Zone – Stay Out" and there was a post-it note that said "No duh" in Ben Grimm's blocky handwriting underneath the sign. Bullseye inhaled deeply and looked back to Holocaust who was kicking Darkseid back before preparing to have his way with Wonder Woman.
He looked back to the door and smiled.
Godzilla knew he had done something wrong and he stopped his march of destruction to try and burp. It didn't work and another sharp pain went form his stomach down to his tail.
His first reaction was to go drink some water, but it hurt more when he moved, so he tried to be very still, wondering what it was that was hurting him so. His brain, though large for a reptile, simply was not adept enough at drawing conclusions to let him know that the Hulk was not simply going to lay down and be digested.
Another blow and though the best did not know it, the Hulk had broken through the stomach lining and was now tearing its way towards the Kryptonite source of heat in the monster. Godzilla was an incredible being and was able to take pain in large amounts. Internal damage came with job of being a towering monster and it was some thirty seconds before he realized he was being torn apart from the inside out.
Deep within the monster in a wet and warm environment, the Hulk rages as he had never raged before. So deep was his fury that he was actually popping blood vessels in his head and neck as he mindlessly beat his way toward the all-comforting radiation. Even the child-like and innocent personality that had personified the Green Behemoth was now long buried, covered over by a rage that simply would not stop. The Hulk had become an elemental force of anger and he would not be stopped until he killed everything.
Guts and gore meant nothing to him as he held his breath and by touch alone fought through the mass of organs and innards that made up the large creature that had swallowed him. Had he been of the mind, the repressed personality of Bruce Banner would have pondered why his alter ego was so enraged. Never had the Hulk been so furious, so determined to smash.
As it was Bruce Banner was dead. All of that which had made him up had been burned away from the Hulk's brain. It seemed unfathomable but the change was quite permanent now. Anger had overcome reason and science. The primal rage that had allowed man to overcome his environment and make it to the top of the food chain now was personified by the seven-foot tall man beast that was destroying something that could kill Superman.
Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of bashing intestines, the Hulk touched the large chunk of Kryptonite. It was warm and it tingled his had as he touched it. Its green glow was soothing but not calming enough. In mere moments, the Hulk knew he had to destroy the Kryptonite so he could move on and smash something else.
Even as Godzilla stumbled and fell, the Hulk took both arms and wrapped them around the giant rock.
Hawkman kicked the Abomination ahead of him and straight into the path of the falling Godzilla. The gamma-mutated creature had no warning as the giant lizard's bulk smashed weakened bones. The Abomination was nothing more than a bloody puddle when Kid Flash popped up next to Hawkman. "What the hell happened?" he asked as he looked at Hawkman's mace. It was covered with blood and fecal matter.
"He pissed me off," Hawkman said as he replaced the mace on his belt. If Kid Flash wanted to say anything, he didn't. There was a general rule among super-heroes that you weren't supposed to kill, yet he had seen the Winged Wonder purposely push his sparring partner so Godzilla would crush him.
During the Limbo Wars, Hawkman had killed many of Mon-El's forces and nobody had admonished him. Was it right to do so now? Kid Flash knew that the answer would have to wait and it was something that their team leader would have to deal with. "We need to get out of here. Super-Woman wants us to regroup back home and come up with a better game plan. Where's Wonder Woman?"
Hawkman pointed up to the top of the Baxter Building. "Her and Darkseid…"
"Darkseid? He's here?"
Hawkman slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, and if you would let me finish my story…"
"There's no time! We have to go help her!"
"You just said we had to leave," Hawkman said as he pressed a button on his belt buckle. He tapped it again to allow it to synchronize with Kid Flash so that they would all be drawn back to Earth-T at the same time. "Spider-Man is dead, killed by that guy under the dinosaur."
"Yeah, about that…"
"Don't try to lecture me, junior," Hawkman said with disgust. "I don't go around killing people for no reason but this guy had it coming…"
"Oh, so now you're the judge, jury and executioner?" Kid Flash screamed. He had not realized just how much the killing of the Abomination had bothered him.
"Yeah, I am. I'm the one with the law enforcement background. I'm the one with the military training. I'm not a scientist, or an industrialist or worse," he lowered his voice, "a loser who accidentally gained his powers. I earned my abilities."
Kid Flash punched him so fast that Hawkman was on the ground before he realized he had been hit. "You're too arrogant for your own good," the younger hero said.
Hawkman shook off the blow and slowly got back up to his feet. "That was lucky…"
He was down again, this time a punch to the gut he never saw coming. The mace came off of his belt and rattled down the street. Hawkman said something in his native tongue and then rolled onto his chest to push himself up. When he was standing, Kid Flash was still standing where he had been. "This isn't the time for this," he finally said.
"Fine, junior; you and me can settle this back home…"
"Where you'll be kicked out of the Wardens…"
Hawkman laughed. "For what?"
"Murder."
"Murder my ass," Hawkman said as he walked over to pick up his mace. "You have no idea what happened here. I'm claiming it was self-defense and then it's my word over your suspicions."
Kid Flash said nothing for a moment and then cast a glance at the pool of green blood that marked where the Abomination had died. Hawkman was right; he hadn't seen the entire battle. It was a technicality but if he brought charges up on Hawkman and couldn't prove them, the Winged Wonder could request that Kid Flash be removed from the team.
He had no choice but to assume that whatever he saw was within the guidelines of good heroing. "Fine, but I'll be keeping an eye on you."
Hawkman took off into the sky, away from the Baxter Building and Kid Flash considered going and helping Wonder Woman. He was outgunned in this fight and knew he had to get to Florida. Still, Hawkman's attitude towards killing bothered him and he realized that eventually it was going to cause problems with the team.
He wanted to count it off as having to do with the way people were affected by the air in this world, much how he and Bruce had gotten into a fight, but he knew better. He had seen the smile on Hawkman's face but he honestly did not know enough about the man to determine if that was normal. Had the Limbo Wars changed Hawkman or simply released him. What had actually happened then?
The story Hawkman told was that he had tried to stop the forces of Mon-El from getting into the Prime Universe. Had it been necessary to kill them? But then, he remembered, Arsenal had killed Mon-El and nobody had said anything about it.
He definitely had some issues with his teammates now and he could not wait to get back home.