Title: The Trials of Faith Part 5: Cold Logic
Author: Majin Gojira
Category: Crossover/Action/Drama
Rating: PG-13
Type of Crossover: Wold Newton Universe based Crossover. This means very little comic continuity is kept, especially after ret-cons. For latter convenience, I'll post a character sheet of characters that appear along with an origin and short history thereof.
Summary: This is it! The big finish! The Heroes of New York vs. the Sentinel! And in the end, Faith has to make one of the hardest decisions of her life…
Author's Note: It might help if you re-read the pervious chapters, since they have been edited and changed slightly, several times over…Oh, and I apologies not only for the delay, but the brevity. I've always aimed for about 5,000 words a chapter, and this one is very short.
Legal Stuff: Repeat ad Nauseum
Distribution: ASK! Damn you!
Ships: None…ever.
Faith ran in a blur of motion through the streets of New York, Gotham and Metropolis. Nothing was allowed to get in her way as she raced to face a foe she knew in her mind she could never defeat. Twenty-foot tall robots were not on a slayer's normal list of enemies, but she would do the best she could.
She leapt into the air and landed on top of one of the many vehicles clogging the streets. As the traffic continued to move, she leapt from vehicle to vehicle. If the nearby police officer had bothered to look in his radar gun, he would have seen the speed Faith was traveling at: an astounding thirty miles per hour; twice as fast as the world record, and she was not in a straight run either. No, she was hoping from the roofs of speeding cars onto others in a desperate race to save the lives of those who would trust her so readily. Trust she hardly knew, and was not ready to abandon.
It did not take long for her to spot the towering red and purple hued menace of metal and plastic. She could begin to see the battle's sway, in favor of the machine. It had already managed to incapacitate several of the gargoyles with a sticky-white substance that held even their strength in check. Indeed: only Goliath, Angela, Hudson and Lexington were still free and attacking the mechanical monster. The others were stuck to any nearby surface: be it wall, lamp post or sidewalk. For as long as the battle had been going, the Sentinel showed no signs of any damage so far. The gargoyle's claws could not penetrate the powerful NT-20 synthetic diamond armor that coated the metal monolith. Their futile slashing and clawing created long orange sparks over the robot's armor.
Faith made a quick scan of her surroundings before leaping into battle. She headed for a lamp post and with a long, mighty and strained pull, she uprooted it. It took some extra twisting and tugging to rip the wires from the base allowing her to charge into battle with the improvised club. She waited until the Sentinel was within range and slammed the metal tube on the robot's tremendous head. The metal pole deformed and bent to the contours of the behemoths armored cranium. She let go of it in shock—the tube still clinging to its head—as its head snapped around and its eyes shone a malevolent orange.
"MUTANT LIFE SIGNS DETECTED" it boomed, "PROCEEDING WITH CAPTURE AND IDENTIFICATION"
Faith dove to the side as bolts of yellow shot forth from its eyes, heating a small portion of cement where she stood only seconds before to a bright orange with heat. As it did, the gargoyles resumed their assault, landing on the armored back of the machine, trying to work their talons in between the heavy plates and rip them off. Lexington took to trying to unscrew the bolts with his claws. With this, he was having some amount of success as the large hands of the Sentinel tried to swat the nuisances aside.
Before Faith could think of her next method of attack, a car flung through the air, striking the Sentinel in the chest. The machine lost its balance and began to fall, the gargoyles quickly scattering as the titanic form toppled to the ground. Faith turned to see who had attacked and a smile grew on her face as one of the most well known citizens of Metropolis stood before her. The Man of Steel himself: Superman.
The Sentinel righted itself faster than any of them expected. But as it did, a glob of white covered the Sentinel's 'eyes'. Spider-girl had joined the fray, and used her webbing to blind their mutual enemy. But even with it's 'eyes' covered with webbing, it continued to move uninhibited until a golden rope was flung around its torso. Holding the rope were two grand symbols of the power, conviction and zeal of the United States of America: Wonder Woman and Captain America.
Before any of the others could comment, the air was filled with the roar of a jet engine. The Bat-Plane flew low through the concrete canyons with its only lethal weapons armed. Twin missiles launched from under the jet and shrieked towards the crimson colossus, striking it with tremendous force and clouding the streets with smoke. The jet turned up and prepared to swing around to survey the damage.
Through the smoke, Faith could see a large patch of glowing orange consolidate in a relatively small circle. The Sentinel stepped forward from the smoke unharmed!
Twin beams shot forth from its 'eyes': burning away the webbing, freeing its optic beams for use more accurate use.
It turned and put one of its massive hands on the golden lasso around it and gave a sharp tug. For all the strength and power of Capitan America and Wonder Woman, they could not ignore physics. Their light bodies were easily pulled off the ground and their grip on the rope compromised. Both ducked and rolled away as the Sentinel pulled the unbreakable rope up and over it's body and tossed it aside.
The Sentinel scanned the area again, assessing the situation. Eight humanoid life forms its programming told it were to be identified as 'mutants', and two humans in a jet. Its sensors read the presence of several other 'mutants' who would arrive within minutes. It computed its options and ran through all the possible scenarios in the span of thirty seconds where it remained motionless.
The heroes waited around the machine, waiting for its next move, when its voice boomed out again: "SWITCHING TO FULL COMBAT MODE"
The Sentinel's chest opened and expanded, revealing a camera-like lens in the center of its chest as well as six evenly distributed ports around the lenses. Ports on its shoulders opened up, revealing mortar shells. Its arms modified themselves. The right arm split into three symmetrical cannons and its left arm split into a twin-clawed hand with one similar cannon placed between the claws.
"Full Combat Mode?" Lexington asked in horror
"Guess it's done playing with us" Faith growled.
As the Bat-Plane made a second pass, the Sentinel fired a volley of 6 missiles from the evenly distances ports in its chest. Quickly doing on the defensive, the plane veered right, taking the missiles with it.
The Sentinel turned to the others and began to unleash a volley of energy blasts from the three cannon on its right arm. The heroes dodged the blasts, whose technicolor bolts created large craters in the street.
Spider girl began to unload her webbing at the base of the robot's feet in a wide spray. At first it slowed him down, and then its feet stuck fast to the ground. She continued tying up the arms and then the head, binding its joints together. Attaching two lines of webbing to the titan and depressed a small switch on her web-shooters. Thousands of volts of electricity shot through the Electro-Webbing she had sprayed the Sentinel with. It seemed to screech in pain but then in a blinding flash, the electrical arc was dissipated and the webbing evaporated! Spider-girl regained her wits just in time to dodge the immense claw of the metal monolith slicing into the building she hung from. Even then, the blow took down the wall of the building and despite her superhuman reflexes she was partially buried under the rubble.
Superman and Wonder Woman leapt towards the Sentinel—only to be blasted back by an orange beam from its chest—a Plasma Grenade. Both heroes steaming bodies flew down the street as it then began to unleash a full volley of beams, missiles and mortars at the gathered heroes. The volley quickly turned the immediate area into an area akin to Europe during World War Two: a sea of burned out buildings and cratered streets.
Captain America, veteran of that war, was unintentionally given the home-field advantage! Leaping from behind a destroyed truck, he flung his shield at the monstrous machine. If skimmed across the NT-20 armor on the first pass, but on the return, severed one of the arm-mounted canons. The Sentinel fired back but Captain raised his shield and deflected the bolts of energy before diving back under cover.
"He's only armored on the surface!" He shouted, "He's vulnerable inside!"
Suddenly, the Bat-Plane flew overhead again, passing over the Sentinel from the rear—causing the missals following it to strike the metal monster's back, toppling it over, and opened two massive holes in its armored hide.
Hudson, Angela and Goliath, hearing Captain America's words, struck whilst the Sentinel was still righting itself—tearing into the arms and disrupting the complex machinery inside them. The arms refolded to normal mode as the Sentinel stood again.
But Faith was waiting there with a 'stop' sign, she threw it through the air like a javelin with all the strength in her body and through sheer luck, her improvised bolt managed to hit the Plasma Grenade launcher, imbedding the bottom tip at the edge of the weapon's lens. Before the Sentinel could react to this new development, Superman and Wonder Woman struck the stop sign with massive blows that drove the projectile all the way through the Sentinel. Electricity arced over the machine and it lurched and jolted about out of control before finally freezing up and collapsing to the ground like an unbalanced statue, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and debris, the light of its eyes fading away as it 'died'.
A quiet fell over what seemed the entire city as the civilians slowly came out of hiding. A cheer built up amongst the newly gathered crowed. Faith just stood, absorbing the cheers, a smile came to her face—but as she looked around, she remembered the other heroes. They acknowledged the cheers gratefully, but were more concerned with helping their fallen comrades. Faith snapped herself out of her euphoria and went to help pull Spider-girl out of the rubble.
Hoisting over her shoulder, her cell phone suddenly sprang to life. Holding the limp superhero in one hand and the cell in the other, when a voice she did not want to hear assaulted her ear.
"Congratulations, Ms. Faith." Lex Luthor intoned. "That certainly was an impressive display."
"Hardly the time for idle chat, 'L'" Faith hissed through clenched teeth as she took a misstep and aggravated a bruise from the battle.
"Of course, I'm calling to tell you that your mission in here is now complete. Congratulations."
For an instant, Faith's world was a blur. She was free. Free! It was over…but it didn't feel like it was over. Though she had just been pardoned, she still felt it. The guilt of what she had willingly done. What she had accidentally done. What her anger and lack of control had caused her to do. It was all still there. The threat she gave Elisa for that one comment…
"There are five basic torture methods, detective. If you tell ANYONE about my son I will personally introduce you to every single one of them!"
She stood there, silently contemplating everything that had happened to her since she arrived, all of the friends, all of the enemies:
"But you shall not forget them! No, you have placed yourself in their way. So they shall haunt you until your final death!"
"It's like a drug; Helpin' people. It feels good every time you do it. Even if you don't get any recognition for it…it just feels right."
That is when she made her choice.
"Send me back." Faith whispered.
"What?" his surprise was audible.
"Send me back. I'm not ready to be out in the world again." She insisted.
"Are you sure about this?" Luthor pressed, "This is a one time offer and nothing that happened here will reflect on any paroles you'll have in the future. Are you really sure you want to go back?"
"…Yes"
Luthor was intrigued by this latest development. He thought for a moment. "Very well then. Go with Captain America and Wonder Woman. They will know what to do."
Just because he found Faith's choice surprising, didn't mean he was not prepared for such a decision. Disappointing though it was, it ruled out several plans he had waiting for her, but others were still viable.
Lex Luthor the Third, president of the United States, hung up his phone and turned to the man in front of him: General Jake Taggart.
"General Taggart," Luthor began. "The weapons test went as expected. The weapons for Mechagodzilla seem to be functional as do some of the systems. The nanotubes proved viable, but the program governing the machine's actions did not keep up with its possibilities. An Artificial Intelligence for something the size and scope of Mechagodzilla is simply not feasible."
"I figured as much," General Taggart stated, "despite the advances made, too much computing power is put into simply standing up to let a machine like that fight effectively."
"This leaves the Mechagodzilla program with only one option left: the VR control unit. Get the technicians to begin installing the VR control system in Mechagodzilla."
"Yes sir." General Taggart paused, "If I may ask sir, are you going to ok the Sentinel Program?"
Luthor nodded, "No, despite me and my family's illustrious history with Metahumans, there simply are not enough of them to warrant the drastic claims of Dr. Trask. I'm going to suggest he seek psychiatric help in dealing with his prejudices" Luthor grinned slightly.
"Thank you, Sir." General Taggart saluted, turned on a pivot and exited the oval office, leaving Luthor alone to contemplate all that had happened that day.
Some Time later.
Faith walked down the prison corridor to the visiting area. She was a little curious as to who would be coming to see her. Partially fearing a government agent of some kind, she was almost floored by who was waiting for her on the other side of the visitor's area. She slowly sat down and picked up the phone.
"They told me my lawyer was here to see me. You my lawyer now, Wes?" Faith jabbed, but her tone of voice was calm and measured.
"Hello, Faith. How are you?" Wesley answered, simply.
"Still alive. Never thought I'd live long enough to see you paying me a visit."
"A lot's happened." He certainly looked like a lot had happened. Scars, stubble and a look in his eyes she had never seen before…
"Whatever it is suits you. I mean, you're looking... good."
"You know what's going on in L.A.?"
"Seen the news, sure. Never-ending night, rain of fire. Team Angel must really have their hands full." It reminded her a bit of the Sentinel's short rampage. She couldn't help but wonder if anyone she saw there was over in LA right now lending a hand. What could keep them away from a disaster of that magnitude? The heroes who did travel were likely there. She was going to ask if they were there, but Wesley spoke before she could form the words.
"You don't know the half of it."
She guessed that meant that they were not. What could be worse than the situation in LA that was keeping them busy? She leaned forward.
"But you're here to fill in the blanks for me. Why?"
"We need you."
Definitely no.
"Well, uh, I hate to wet the paper for you, Wes, but I'm kinda unavailable right now. Maybe you want to check back in a few decades when my parole comes up."
She turned down legit freedom. Nothing he could say would get her to help them now.
"You need to know—"
"It's Armageddon again. I dig. The last thing you need's me in the mix. Besides, Angel'll come shining through in the end like he always does."
"Angel's gone, Faith."
Faith froze. Her blood ran cold; she could here the mocking laughter of Nyralethotep in her mind.
"Angelus is back." Wesley finished.
How? Angel…he was gone and a monster was in his place. The laughter grew more contemptuous. She chose to go back, was this the price?
Faith locked eyes with Wesley and flatly told him: "Step away from the glass"
The End
(Closing notes: HA! You thought I was going to fully go into an AU with all the Wacky Crossover Madness I pulled! That is not the spirit of the Wold Newton Universe. Canon remains canon (in all but the most extreme cases), no meeting/crossover can really change that. And this is no exception. Overall, I don't really like this story, it's incoherent and jumbled plot is fun, but not well organized. There may be a future sequel detailing the entire "Jamie Lloyd" connection, but that's an iffy statement.)
This is the Character Back Story/History list
(1) Faith – Faith first appeared in 1998 on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is the main character of our story. She was a Slayer, much like Buffy, but had a lot of issues with commitment, rejection, cruelty and sexuality…she eventually messed up, went evil, then repented and turned herself in. This is where we meet up with her in our story. Her Wolded history will be mostly revealed as the story progresses. For those who didn't read the story and want to know: Her real name is Jamie Lloyd. Her mother is Laurie Strode/Meyers (Halloween), her father Martin Lloyd (Halloween 2) and her uncle is Michael Meyers (the entire Halloween series). For fans of the Halloween series, only 1, 2, 4 and H20 are considered canonical. The others can be considered trite ploys by Hollywood to make money.
(2) Lex Luthor the Third – as explained in the story, this is the grandson of the old Superman Villain, Lex Luthor. He is currently president of the United States of America, and is still somewhat of a megalomaniac, power-hungry 80's businessman that he became post "Man of Steel #1".
(3) Batman/Bruce Wayne Jr. – 3rd man to hold the mantle of Batman, and son of the original (and unless you value your spleen, NEVER call him Jr.). Everyone knows the origin of Batman, his family kept up the job as the original grew too old to do it with any regularity. At this point, Bruce Wayne Jr. is around 52 and thinking of retiring his cape and cowl, but much like his father, he's to stubborn to quit yet. His mother was Bruce Wayne's first wife, Julie Madison (a not-so-well-known star from the 1940s).
(4) Alfred Pennyworth – though this is only a guess, it is still likely that Alfred is still in the employ of the Wayne family (him not being the first butler of the family). He is still rather old at this point in time, and thinking of retiring after Ms. Wayne (Bruce's daughter—explained fully below) comes of legal age.
(5) Bane – What you know from the comics generally holds true, as he is still only a recent creation. Most of his back-story is explained in the story, with no further need here.
(6) Lady Shiva – Another rather recent addition, though she is starting to show her age a little (be that she first appeared as a teenager in the late 70's/early 80's). She is a deadly assassin with a death wish and superb martial arts ability—she even bested Batman.
(7) Batgirl/Lana Wayne – the Daughter of Bruce Wayne Jr. (Batman) and Kara Kent (Supergirl, the daughter of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Yes, he could father children. He's not "Punch a hole in time" strong in this universe, people!). She inherited only a minor bit of her grandfather's super-abilities to the point where she is just above peak human performance. Born in 1977, she took up the mantle of Batgirl in 1990, and has been the third person to do so. With no real male air to the "Batman" name at this point, it is likely that she will take over the mantel and simply call herself "the Bat".
(8) The Scorpions – this is the New York gang that inspired the Marvel, Spider-man Villain "The Scorpion". They are known for poisoning victims with darts and acid sprays—hence the name.
(9) Ben Grimm – Aside from some exaggeration, this is version of Ben Grimm is similar to the original in terms of personality, but his history has a much darker turn: he is of a rare breed of Lycanthrope—spawned by the infamous Edward Hyde. He is, in fact, related to him. Edward Hyde also passed on his Lycanthropy to the Incredible Hulk. Though in both cases, it took a fierce dose of radiation to bring out the latent curse. Ben Grimm and the other members of the Fantastic Four did go around the world helping with disasters (and they did indeed clash with Doctor Doom on occasion), but they disbanded in the 1970s under less than happy terms. Ben has spent most of his time alone in New York, helping keep his neighborhood safe from street crime when he can.
(10) Gwen Raiden – No, the Academy she went to was NOT the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Her Grandfather was the product of a German Electric-soldier experiment that later escaped and became better known as the Spider-man villains "Electro" and "The Shocker". There was a period in his life where he was powerless, and that is when he fathered Gwen's father, who passed the genes for electricity production, absorption and projection down to her. "Lucky" is such a positive word for this…
(11) The Kingpin – as explained by the story, he is a clone of one of the Luthor Brothers: Lawrence (the others are better known as Prince Zarkon and Dr. Evil, among others). He is responsible for turning Mr. Edward Hyde into the monster known as Doomsday (when you implant the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" Hyde with Bionic Limbs (a-la the "6 Million Dollar Man"), Kryptonite Spurs and finish the package with some primitive gene therapy and some DRI (Demon Research Initiative) findings, you get one hell of a monster!). Like all of his family, he is bald and generally 'evil'.
(12) Spider-Girl/May Parker – the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane-Watson. She inherited her powers from her father (obviously), though they have a much more sinister origin. The Parkers were part of a breeding cult set up by the Nine (evil organization with delusions of creating genetically superior humans through selective breeding. In the not-so distant future, they will have agents known as Familiars, and one renegade member of this origination will create super-soldiers for the government under project Manticore…this is why I love the Wold Newton Universe). The Parkers were of a special line of Blind-Seers that produced two types: blind humans who could see the future, and superhuman blind fighters who could also have brief glimpses of future events. Peter was born with these genes dormant, it took the science-fair accident to spark them, though he did not go blind like his not-so-distant cousin, Matt Murdock—the Daredevil. He passed on these genes to May (who, when she was kidnapped, had undergone extensive gene therapy to ensure that they came out).
(13) Dr. Egon Spengler – of All Continuities, really. Not just from the movie or jut the cartoon—all of them. No further information needed.
(14) Broadway – A Gargoyle from the series of that name. Like the other Gargoyles, little has changed from what is known from the show.
(15) Angela – See Above
(16) Arisen Lupin III – The self-proclaimed Gentleman-Thief. Lupin the Third is the grandson of the original Arisen Lupin, the first Gentleman-Thief. He is a distant relation to Remus Lupin's family of Wizards, being that Arisen's side of the family is predominantly French and Squib/Muggle. He goes around the world looking for new challenges to test his criminal mind, often he ends up stealing from other crooks.
(17) Gigen – Lupin's trusted friend and expert marksman.
(18) Goemon – A skilled swordsman from Japan who has aided Lupin on many heists.
(19) Owen Burnett/Puck – Aside from what the authorial notes indicate, nothing else is worth noting.
(20) Elisa Maza – from "Gargoyles", little changed from the series.
(21) Matt Bluestone –As above (though he did once work with one Fox "Spooky" Mulder when both worked with the FBI).
(22) Brooklyn – As above
(23) Lexington – As above
(24) Hudson – As Above
(25) Goliath – as Above
(26) Bronx – As above
(27) Draco Malfoy – Yes, its 2003 and he is all grown up. He's about as old as Faith is, actually (early 20's) and he's still a self-interested little prick. He has even made deals with some of the "darkest creatures" known to him.
(28) Nephren-Ka – If ever there was an Amalgamated Character in this series, Nephren-Ka is it. He is a goa'uld – a parasitic worm that takes human hosts and controls them completely. He is a servitor for Nyralethotep—one of the Outer Gods, who serves Azathoth—the blind idiot at the center of the universe and the embodiment of the cosmic principle of Death. Nephren-Ka and Nyarlethotep both work to spread chaos and madness throughout the human population because they like it, but they usually forgo maddening the masses and take personal interest in one unfortunate victim.
(29) Nyarlethotep – He is the messenger. The heart and soul of the Outer Gods. He is the only one to have a true personality. To him, causing madness and insanity is more important than death and destruction. One day, it is said, that he will destroy humanity or the entire planet. He is a mocking figure, contemptuous towards his masters: Azathoth—the Daemon King and Embodiment of Death; Shug-Niggurath—the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young and Embodiment of Life; and Yog-Sothoth—the embodiment of Time and Dimension. These constitute the unholy trinity of the Wold Newton Universe. Some know him better in comics as a being known as "The Mad Titan Thanos" and "Darkseid", but he is one being…with a thousand forms.
(30) Dr. Daniel Jackson – Like the other characters from Stargate SG-1, his history is generally unchanged (except when previously noted)
(31) Colonel Jack O'Neill – as above
(32) Major Samantha Carter – as above, though she is related to the not-so-well-known "John Carter of Mars", and the unfortunate Randolph Carter.
(33) Dr. Bolivar Trask – Scientists and human supremacist, creator of the Sentinel's in the X-men Comic book. Last I checked, the X-men were possibly going to be included in the WNU, but the article regarding them has yet to be written as far as I know, so I am corrupting the character for my own purposes.
(34) Sentinel – a giant robot of doom, only a recent development, based on the Marvel Comic's character of the same name and is designed to serve the same function.
(35) David Zanatos – as the other Gargoyles characters, he is generally unchanged except when noted.
(36) Superman (II) – Grandson of Clark Kent, Samuel Kent has taken up the mantle of his now crippled Father (thanks to Doomsday-Hyde). Interesting side note is that he is actually Asian; his mother is named Mei-Lei, daughter of one of the survivor of a clan of elite martial artists who defeated a Dracula Soul Clone and the legendary Seven Golden Vampires. Confused yet? You should be! For more on the Superman Family, check the Wold Newton main site, linked in the first chapter. If the link doesn't work: Google it!
(37) Wonder Woman (III) – The third generation of Wonder Woman, Granddaughter of the original, Lyta Trevor. Look to the World Newton Universe main site for a full article detailing the difference between Wonder Woman here and her comic book counterpart.
(38) Captain America (I) – The original, near immortal, revived Steve Rogers. An article detailing all of the changes has yet to be formalized, but information can be found on the Wold Newton main site. The character is essentially the same, minus certain outlandish experiences.
(39) General Jake Taggart – a major character in the Marc Cerasini Random house Godzilla novels. Namely: Godzilla 2000, Godzilla at the Earth's Core and Godzilla vs. the Robot Monsters. He ran G-Force and Project Mechagodzilla. The character has no changes but is obscure enough to warrant an explanation.
(40) Wesley Wyndham Price – Major character in Angel. His role is unchanged.