Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:
treyalexander63917: Bekka being forced to marry Orion and end her affair with Peter is part of the reason why Peter hates New Genesis, there's another even larger reason but that'll be explored later on. For some of his siblings he gets along with them well enough out of respect but with Darkseid, like all of his other siblings, it's sheer terror of the New God's power and malice that keeps them in line.
Jaeson Chandler: Let's just say that the Multiverse used to be a little bigger before Darkseid and Thanos settled on a 'non-aggression' pact.
David Bennett: I might.
Newavenger92: Yeah, we'll see how and why Faora picked Peter over Zod later. Bekka being married to Orion is part of a large reason why Peter hates New Genesis.
Spawn Hades: Peter having a special place in Bekka's heart is a large reason why Orion doesn't like him. No, she won't be, in fact she may not be alive much longer once Thanos catches up to her. One does not betray the Mad Titan and live…
Marveldcfan: No, most of Peter's siblings would rather see Peter dead and vice versa.
MalignantSilhouette: You should read the new Mister Miracle comic, in there, Orion trumps how he's shown in this story by quite a margin.
gunman: Nah, Darkseid kept them in the dark on just who exactly Peter is just to torment them for a little while, have them wonder and worry over Diana's safety. We're going to be seeing that not all of Darkseid's children are heartless monsters, some are a little more complex then that while others are the very embodiment of malice, like their father. Diana was aware that she was expendable to some degree to her Gods, she just never realized how expendable. In the movie she was never Zod's lover, but in the comics for a time she was. I think any sex between Kryptonians is more recreational then to produce offspring. Part of the reason is because Orion is the more powerful between the two, but there's another reason entirely as to why the Highfather chose Orion for Bekka. William has the potential to reach his father's level but he's young. The most he could do is likely level a small moon where's his father can level a planet single handedly. Apocalypse is considered to be one of the most powerful Mutants alive in Marvel comics, barring any cosmic powered Mutants like Franklin, Wanda or Jean when she has the Phoenix Force.
redx1221: Uh it's not Ghost Rider and even then, the Ghost Rider wouldn't stand a chance against a being as powerful as Darkseid, especially if it was Johnny in control. Now the actual spirit Zarathos in control could beat Darkseid but he was able to take on a multiverse powered Green Lantern and hold his own briefly, that's no small feat. It's like Thanos overpowering Galactus in a telepathic battle, which has happened.
Hivedragon: Well Batman has beaten Superman in the past, but the only times those happened are when he had Kryptonite, and even then Superman wasn't bringing his 'A' game, I mean even in Dark Knight Returns, he not a week before took a nuke to the face and hadn't been able to recharge himself back to full strength with the sun, even Bat's acknowledged it. Diana will begin to question how it is that Peter has got some of the most powerful Furies in his corner after this is all over.
Lord Pepe Jesus: That's just showing how little Orion thinks of Peter, which is not a alot.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used.
Zunn let out a dark laugh as he raised his ax, dark red energy building at the end before a single beam of energy was released from it and sent flying towards the advancing horde of mutated undead Paradmeons and other creatures that once inhabited the ship.
"Heh, if I knew what laid on this ship, I would've come aboard sooner!" Zunn yelled in glee as he kept blasting at the advancing horde, bits of flesh flying as his Parademons rallied behind him and blasted at the undead horde with their own weapons.
Zunn's blood thirty grin grew larger as he saw more and more of the mutated undead Parademons appearing, some of them clearly his own troops that were violently mutated. The son of Darkseid let loose a ear shattering war cry as he brought his ax down, cleaving a undead Parademon in half before he grabbed one of the chunks of the still moving Parademon and threw it towards the horde with a yell.
"Is this the best you can offer me? Walking corpses?" he bellowed with a laugh as he hacked down several more Parademons as he charged into the horde with reckless abandon "I am the lord of Genocide and Slaughter! I have felled worlds with my barehand and filled graveyards the size of moons alone. It will take more than a bunch of rabid rotting bodies that can still move to best me!"
Before Zunn could boast anymore, a large figure suddenly erupted from the ground with a yell, causing Zunn to pause in his advancement and stare at the newcomer with wide eyes.
It was En Sabah Nur...
"Ah fuck me sideways" the New God said with wide eyes as En Sabah Nur raised a transforming arm towards the smaller New God with a dark glare that was intensified by his glowing yellow eyes.
Zunn narrowed his own eyes at this 'Yellow? He doesn't have yellow'
En Sabah Nur growled as he fired off a powerful energy blast towards Zunn who responded by bringing his ax up and using the flat of the weapon to bloc the energy blast. Zunn growled in pain as the majority of the blast was blocked but bits of it were able to reach around the shape of his ax's blade and burn the sides of his head, neck and upper chest area. A few of his Parademons behind him roared in fury at seeing their master under attack and quickly took to the air as best they could in the confined passages and opened fire on En Sabah Nur with their plasma weaponry.
En Sabah barely gave the Parademons a glance as he approached Zunn while his form was pelted with plasma rounds and grabbed the New God of Genocide and lifted him into the air and glared into his eyes. Zunn made to punch En Sabah Nur but was rewarded with being slammed into the wall, causing him to drop his ax to the gore stained ground as En Sabah Nur gripped him by his head and forced the smaller New God to look into his eyes.
"Aww, is this the part where you tell me that you've always loved me?" Zunn sneered at his elder sibling while a energy canon was put to his head, ready to fire.
En Sabah Nur growled at Zunn as he prepared to fire before a web line suddenly latched on to the side of the canon and yanked it to the side, forcing the discharged energy to fire into the wall beside Zunn's head. En Sabah Nur blinked in surprise before a Venom blast nailed him near the eye, forcing him to drop Zunn before twin beams of heat vision blasted him square in the chest, sending him flying back into the horde of undead Parademons that were amassing in the corridor.
"Your welcome" Peter said as he suddenly appeared in front of Zunn with narrowed lenses.
Zunn glared up at his half brother before he climbed to his feet, ax in hand, and glared into where he knew his brother's eyes were "I didn't request your assistance"
"And yet, you got it" Peter responded with a scowl "And it's only because I know that if I didn't save your worthless hide your twin would have whined and complained for a century about how I should have saved you. I just spared myself the headache"
Zunn growled at Peter before he noticed Diana, Carol, Psylocke and Faora standing there, watching him with varying degrees of distrust and anger, though in Diana's case he noted revulsion. He sneered at them before he returned his attention to Peter "At least I don't have to rely on my whores to fight my battles for me"
"Those 'whores', as you so rudely labeled them as, are more than capable of killing you, Zunn at my command" Peter responded coldly.
Diana bristled at this "I am not your whore!"
"Be the only thing you'd be somewhat good at probably..." Carol muttered under her breath, but still loud enough for Diana to hear.
Before the Amazon could respond, a enraged roar from En Sabah Nur caught everyone's attention. The assembled group of non mutated or possessed New Gods and Parademons turned to see En Sabah Nur's eyes glow even brighter along with his veins.
"What's happening to him?" Psylocke asked with a disturbed look on her face, she could feel the psionic power rolling of En Sabah Nur, both his own and whatever had it's hold over him.
"The artifact that was found, the one me and Sabah came here for in the first place, it's like this psionic entity" Peter said as he studied his brother's possessed form "For the weaker minds, they go insane and eventually die and or mutate into the things we've been fighting lately, looking for more victims to either posses or mutate. The stronger minds, like Sabah there, come under it's possession and act as it's physical extensions"
"For what purpose?" Diana questioned. Peter shrugged at this "No idea, it hasn't been to incline to share what it wants aside from trying to kill me"
"What about the Make us whole thing" Carol said as she saw the undead Parademons behind En Sabah Nur were starting to converge on one another, their flesh ripping apart and joining together into some grotesque being.
"I'll let you know when I figure it out" Peter said as he also noticed the Parademons behind En Sabah Nur and the one's Zunn brought with him also starting to show signs of losing control of themselves 'Gotta have to destroy that thing quick before it breaks through my suit's Psionic dampers or takes control of the rest of the Furies or worse William'
While En Sabah Nur's child was still young, and a long way from being on par with his father in power, the young New God was still powerful enough he could crack a moon if he pushed himself hard enough. And Peter was willing to bet that the psionic artifact would be capable of such a thing.
"Should have brought Medien with us" Peter said with a shake of his head.
"I'd rather you didn't" Zunn said as he raised his ax and fired off a energy blast towards En Sabah Nur and the massive wall of moving Parademon flesh behind him.
"Who?" Diana questioned as Carol and Faora both joined Zunn in attacking En Sabah Nur and the mutated anomaly behind him with their respective energy attacks.
"Medien, half brother that's a walking, living psionic dead zone" Peter explained as he reached down to pick up a blood stained energy rifle and began to remove it's energy core.
"A psionic dead zone?" Diana said with confusion.
"If your a telepath or can manipulate psionic energy in any shape or form, you won't be able to in his presence" Peter explained as he pulled out the energy core and quickly examined it before he nodded as he covered it in webs before he tossed the web ball to Carol.
The blonde beauty caught the web ball with confusion before she looked up at Peter "What's this-?"
"Redemption" Peter simply explained.
Carol blinked at Peter's words before her mind finally connected the dots and she paled slightly "Oh..."
"Yeah, sorry, but you know how anal I am about failure" Peter said with a simple shrug 'Plus, gotta keep face with the likes of Zunn here. Can't risk him spreading rumors that I can't keep my people in line'
Carol glanced at En Sabah Nur and the mutated mass of Parademon flesh that was starting to take the shape of some sort of worm like creature with a large tooth filled maw in the center, numerous large tentacles with barbs sticking out from them, and several large sacks filled with some sort of glowing yellow energy located around the mouth and chest area of the creature. The blonde haired woman swallowed nervously as she stared at the mass of rotting flesh moving behind En Sabah Nur as he morphed his arm into a powerful canon with several barrels on it, each glowing with energy.
'Times like this where I wonder if staying on Hala to face execution at the hands of Ronan would have been more merciful' Carol thought before she took a deep breath and shot off towards En Sabah Nur and the large undead monstrosity behind him.
"What's she doing?" Diana said with wide eyes.
"You'll see" Peter said, completely calm on the outside while on the inside he was sweating bullets 'Please don't die, please don't die' please don't die'
Carol shot under En Sabah Nur's energy blast in a blur, pausing only for a millisecond to fire off a powerful proton blast right into his face before she flew behind him and rammed the energy core right into the mass of moving flesh. Blood, puss and the odd glowing yellow substance sprayed in her face, briefly causing her to nearly gag at the stench before she kicked off the undead entity and flew away back towards the rest before she could be grabbed by the tentacles and either ripped apart or worse.
"Faora, shoot the energy core" Peter said as he glanced at the Kryptonian once he saw Carol would be free of the blast radius.
"Easy enough..." she said as she aimed for the glowing energy core and fired off a small burst of heat vision right at the energy source.
En Sabah Nur's eyes narrowed as he saw the heat vision race past him and towards the energy core. He growled in annoyance as the weaponized solar energy impacted against the energy core and ignited a powerful explosion of plasma energy that engulfed the undead Parademon gestalt and to some extend himself as well.
"Think that killed him?" Zunn asked as he squinted through the bright light that engulfed the corridor briefly.
"It's En Sabah Nur" Peter responded dryly.
Zunn hummed at that as the light died down to show En Sabah Nur still standing, his armor a little scorched but otherwise he was unharmed. The New God growled in anger as he took several steps towards the group and formed on one arm a large blade with energy running up and down it's length while in the other hand a ax with a serrated blade was created. He then began to approach the group with a dark scowl etched on his dark features.
"Now what?" Zunn demanded as he glanced at Peter with narrowed eyes.
Peter's mind began to race as he stared at his elder half brother. Of the six of them, the Parademons were next to useless in a fight against someone of Sabah's caliber, only Diana and Faora were the only ones physically capable of facing En Sabah Nur head on. Psylocke wasn't what one would call a heavy hitter, her skills and powers were for more covert actions and Carol under the right circumstances could hold her own against En Sabah Nur, but she'd need to absorb a tremendous amount of energy to do so.
'And me and Zunn stand little to no chance against him' Peter thought before he felt the ever foreboding tingle at the base of his skull just moments before a possessed Barda literally tore through a section of wall with a enraged yell.
"There's Barda" Warbird commented as she came to stand next to Peter with glowing photon emitting eyes.
Peter nodded "So where's Gr-"
Before he could finish his question, Grail suddenly tore through the ceiling and seized Diana by her helmet and yanked her up into the upper levels before anyone could react. Peter gaped at the hole his wife was pulled through before his precognition went haywire at the same time En Sabah Nur's energy canon hummed in the air. Faora saw this and quickly placed herself in between En Sabah Nur's weapon and Peter and planted her feet in the ground as crimson red energy erupted from the canon and blasted right into her torso.
'By the fucking grace of Rao!' Faora thought with gritted teeth as the sheer intensity of En Sabah Nur's energy attack began to melt her armor.
Normally Faora would be immune to the heat but the lack of yellow sun energy and using what little remained in her constant use of her heat vision had greatly reduced her power. The Kryptonian criminal slowly advanced on En Sabah Nur, her feet leaving shallow footprints in the ground as she physically pushed herself against the energy current before she launched herself at En Sabah Nur with a yell and slammed her fist into his face.
KOOOOOM!
The force of the impact rattled the hall as it sent En Sabah Nur stumbling back several feet before he shook his head and slammed his plasma canon into Faora, sending her flying into the wall. En Sabah Nur then raised his foot and slammed it into the woman's form, sending her completely through the wall before he glanced at the rest of the non possessed New Gods. He nodded towards Barda before he forced himself through the wall that he sent Faora through with a grunt.
"Well now what?" Zunn said as he raised his ax towards the advancing Barda "Your most powerful pawn and your wife are gone"
"So I've noticed" Peter said nervously as he glanced over Barda's shoulder to see a faint light down the long corridor 'The cargo bay is just right there. And with Barda here, Grail and En Sabah Nur busy and Lemenus dead, there shouldn't be anything other than the undead mutated members of the crew, or whatever is left of them, guarding the artifact'
Peter then glanced at Zunn with narrowed lenses "Send your Parademons to rush her"
"Why?" Zunn said with a frown "They'll be butchered within seconds against her"
"Seconds we can use" Peter countered.
Zunn grumbled at this before he gave the signal for his Parademons to charge towards the snarling possessed Fury. The nearly endless horde of Darkseid roared in challenge as they rushed Barda, firing off their energy weapons or spewing fire from their mouths. Barda was stopped only momentarily from the sheer number of Parademons before she quickly and literally began to tear them apart limb from limb.
"Okay, now what genius?" Zunn said as he scowled at Peter.
Peter simply stared at Barda for a second before he glanced at Warbird "You up for a re-match?"
"Yes" Carol said with a nod.
"Good" Peter said with a grin as he quickly snatched Zunn's ax from his grip and shoved his elder half sibling towards Barda, the force of the pushing putting the surprised and enraged New God within arm's length of Barda.
"Grr, DAMN YOU PE-" Zunn began before he was cut off from Barda seizing him by the face and slamming him head first into the ground.
Peter quickly fiddled with Zunn's ax while Barda slammed Zunn repeatedly into the ground, walls and even ceiling. Betsy couldn't help but chuckle at the display as she erected a psionic forcefield before them to stall Barda when she was done smacking Zunn around "Is it wrong to find this amusing?"
"With him? No" Peter said with a snort before he handed the ax to Carol who looked at the weapon in surprise.
"I'm not qualified or trained to use-" she began before Peter interrupted her.
"Just absorb the energy from it. Not enough for you to transform, but plenty to hold your own against Barda for a few minutes"
"And where will you be?" she asked as she took the ax and began to drain it of energy, her wounds healing and power levels rising.
"Ending this nightmare" Peter said with a sigh as Barda finished slamming Zunn into a wall before she threw the groaning New God aside and turned her dark glare on Peter and the two New Goddesses' beside him.
"Make us whole" she whispered as she ran forward and slammed her fist into Betsy's shield, breaking through it with little effort.
"Take her" Peter ordered and watched as Carol flew forward, ax still in hand, and slammed her fist right into Barda's head.
The blow completely destroyed Barda's helmet, sending fragments flying everywhere before Zunn's ax was planted right into her armored torso. The New Goddess screamed in pain as Carol pushed the ax's blade deeper into her chest with a glare. Before Carol could react, Barda grabbed her wrist and yanked the blonde into a powerful headbutt that sent Carol flying back.
"Betsy" Peter said as he glanced at the purple haired Goddess "Try to keep her off balance with psionic based attacks. I'm willing to wager that whatever is controlling her can't fight off a two pronged assault like that effectively, especially since it's influence is spread over so many others"
Betsy nodded as she turned towards Barda as the Fury made to grab a still dazed Carol and launched a powerful telepathic assault that caused the New Goddess to pause momentarily. Carol used this opportunity to blast a Photon burst right into Barda's still bleeding chest wound, causing her to yell in pain before she was tackled to the ground by Warbird.
"Now or never" Peter said as he ryshed past Carol and Barda's fight and headed straight for the cargo bay, hopefully to put an end to this nightmare.
...
Several levels below Peter, Faora let out a choked cough as she slowly picked herself back up, her left side throbbed in pain and her vision was starting to blur from the blow to the head she took earlier from En Sabah Nur before he put her through several walls when he brought his foot down on her. She had just regained her footing when suddenly En Sabah Nur crashed through the hole that Faora made, his glowing eyes glaring into her own.
"Make… us… whole" he growled out darkly as his arms formed into clamps of some sort.
Faora spat out a glob of blood as she narrowed her eyes at the god like being before her, even when she was fully charged under a yellow sun En Sabah Nur was a difficult opponent that even her power can't stop, so fighting him when she's been without a yellow sun to re-energize her powers for several days now, well her odds weren't looking to good.
"But I'll be dammed if I fall to something like you" she hissed in anger, her eyes glowing red from her heat vision.
En Sabah Nur let loose an inhuman roar as he charged towards Faora. Said Kryptonian decided to meet him half way and charged towards his form with a yell before she jumped up and slammed her fist into his face, the force snapping his head to the left before she sent another punch to his head with equal force, and then another. Soon the air was rippling from the numerous blows that Faora was dealing to En Sabah Nur's face. His armor cracked and dented from each blow before it quickly repaired itself just as fast.
Suddenly En Sabah Nur lashed out and grabbed one of Faora's fists and held it in a painful grip. Faora winced as she felt one of her bones crack and break under the New God's grip before she was brought into a headbutt so powerful that if she was hit any harder, Faora's neck would have been broken.
'Really wishing it was Grail I was fighting' Faora thought as she was sent flying into a wall before she slumped to the ground, her armor broken and falling apart. She raised her head shakily towards En Sabah Nur as he approached her, his hand contorting into a spearhead and began to raise it over his head.
"Make us who-" he began before he stopped and his head snapped in the direction of the Cargo bay with narrowed eyes.
En Sabah Nur hissed as he turned and began to make his way towards the cargo bay before he was blasted in the back of the head by a burst of heat vision. Sabah paused and glanced over his shoulder to see Faora had climbed back to her feet, favoring her right sight more then her left and holding one of her hands close to her body as she glared at him with red eyes.
"We're... we're not done yet!" she said with clenched teeth.
En Sabah Nur stared at her for a moment before he turned towards her with his spear contorting into a canon and took aim at her. Faora narrowed here eyes as En Sabah Nur fired on her and quickly blitzed past the energy beam as fast as she could and slammed her fist into En Sabah Nur's gut, knocking him back before she blasted her heat vision right into his glowing yellow eyes.
The results, were nearly immediate.
"GAAAAAAAHHH!" En Sabah Nur howled in pain as he closed his badly burned eyes, smoking emanating from his closed and bleeding sockets.
Faora used this opportunity to send a blur of punches into En Sabah Nur's face, putting everything she had into her punches, knowing that if she relented for even a second, it'd all that Sabah needs to retaliate and kill her. One of Faora's punches sent En Sabah Nur wstumbiling into the wall before the Kryptonian criminal tackled him through it and into the next room. En Sabah Nur growled in anger as his eyes began to rapidly heal and he climbed back to his feet while Faora stood a few meters away, blood and sweat pouring down her face as she charged up the last of her solar energy reserves.
'Have to time this right' she thought as En Sabah Nur glared at her with healed eyes as he raised both arms and brought them close together and began to form a large energy canon that possessed one massive rotating barrel with what looked like the Omega Effect building within.
Faora took a deep breath as the canon quickly charged up before she flew straight towards the massive weapon and fired her heat vision off right into the barrel with a yel. En Sabah Nur's response was a dark snarl as the heat vision collided with the volatile energy within his canon and sent off a powerful detonation that completely destroyed his two arms and scorched a good portion of his upper torso and head and engulfed the area in a powerful, fiery explosion that could be felt throughout the whole ship. The force of the explosion sent Faora flying through dozens of walls before she came to a painful stop inside the hanger bay itself, taking William and the Furies and Parademons still stationed in there by surprise.
"Faora!" William said as he approached the downed Kryptonian and saw that while she was badly burned, she appeared to be still alive. He quickly glanced at several Furies and nodded towards Faora while he glanced through the hole that she made and was greeted to a sight that chilled him to the bone.
It was his father, two bloody stumps where his arms should be, half his face partially melted and charred and a single glowing yellow eye boring into William's very core. His chest was burned and dented and with every step he took, bits of armor and skin would fall of En Sabah Nur's from.
"F-Father?" he asked nervously as his father came to a sudden stop before the yellow energy in his eyes flickered before fading.
En Sabah Nur swayed back and forth for a moment before he collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, causing William to shriek in terror as he raced to his father's side and kneeled down next to him as best he could in his armor.
"Father?" William said as he checked his father to see if still lived.
He received no response as several Furies that weren't tending to Faora rushed to En Sabah Nur's aid and began to run scans over his form and began to treat what wounds they could.
"Will he live?" William asked in a low voice.
"We do not know my lord" one of the Furies said in a cold waspy voice.
William didn't respond as he gazed at the broken form of his father with an unreadable expression on his burning skull of a face...
…
Carol let out a sigh of relief as she slumped to the ground, her face battered and bruised from her struggle with Barda. Betsy, who was far better off as she avoided any direct contact with Barda, glanced down at the exhausted blonde before she turned her attention towards the beaten Barda "We should secure her before she awakens"
"Sure, let me use the Nth metal cuffs I brought with me" Carol said with a sarcastic eye roll "Why not just ram that sword of yours into her head and be done with it?"
"She is Scott Free's lover" Betsy said as she crouched down to better examine Barda's mind with her own "And he is a close ally of lord Peter's. We cannot risk the dissolution of their alliance if we kill her"
Carol frowned at this before she nodded "Fine, I'll take her back to the hanger"
Betsy nodded before she glanced towards Zunn's still unconscious form "What about him?"
"He's not my concern" Carol said indifferently as she hoisted Barda's form over her shoulders "I'm sure William has sent Parademons out to search for us by now. They can retrieve him themselves"
Betsy hummed at that as Carol took off back to the hanger in the blink of an eye, leaving the telepathic assassin alone. The purple haired woman glanced up at the whole that Diana was dragged through earlier with narrowed eyes and mentally debated if she should see if the Amazon was alive. While she hated the fact she was with her Peter, and would gladly end her if given the chance and would go unpunished for such an act, she also recognized the Amazon's value from a tactical standpoint. Should Faora fall, and Betsy was willing to bet that she may have given the powerful explosion she felt only a few minutes earlier, Diana was the only being on the ship still standing that could go toe to toe with En Sabah Nur.
"Dammit it all to the Source" Betsy hissed in annoyance as she leaped up through the hole and quickly scanned the area to see which way Diana and Grail's battle went before giving chase.
...
"Let go Grail!" Diana yelled as she let Grail tear her helmet off before the Amazon rammed her fist into her dark counterpart's gut, knocking the wind out of Darkseid's daughter and sending her flying back into a wall with enough force to dent the alien metal.
Grail slumped to the ground with a pained groan before she glanced up at Diana with narrowed eyes. Diana responded with a glare of her own as she slipped into a defensive stance.
"Grail, you must break whatever has taken hold of you" Diana said as Grail pushed herself back to her feet with a snarl.
"Make us whole" she hissed with glowing eyes before she charged towards Diana at speeds no normal human could follow.
Diana steeled herself and waited for Grail to send the first punch, allowing her to dodge it and send her elbow flying into Grail's collarbone with enough force to shatter steel. Grail barely made a sound as she grabbed Diana's arm and sent her knee into the Amazon beauty's stomach, knocking the wind out of Diana before the Amazon princess caught the second knee coming towards her and sent a jab into Grail's midsection. Grail doubled over in pain as Diana grabbed her by the head and lifted the New Goddess over her head and slammed her into the floor, nearly sending her through and into the corridor below. Grail gritted her teeth in pain before she shot her head up and slammed it into Diana's, nearly breaking her nose before she tackled her to the ground and proceeded to wrap her hands around the Amazon Princess's neck.
"H-Hera!" Diana said with wide eyes as she felt Grail starting to choke her.
She responded by sending a barrage of punches into Grail's face and torso, each blow possessing enough force to rival a nuclear detonation. Grail responded by tightening her grip on Diana's throat before a punch to her own throat by the Amazon forced her to loosen her grip in response. Diana used that moment to wrestle Grail off and secured her in a headlock.
"Stand down Grail!" Diana said in a strained voice as she struggled to hold Grail.
"Make us whole" she hissed darkly as her eyes began to glow red and yellow before she unleashed her Omega Beams.
The crimson beams zig zagged through the air and around to strike Diana in the back, causing her to scream in agony and allowing Grail to break free and kick Diana squarely in the chest, denting her armor and sending the raven haired woman flying down the halls with a thunderous boom. Diana slammed into a metal pillar at the end of the hall and bent the large metal beam with the sheer force of her impact before she slumped to the ground with a groan of pain.
'By Olympus!' Diana thought with a wince as she felt that last kick had apparently cracked or broken a rib or two.
The former Justice Leaguer pushed herself back to her feet as she saw Grail rushing towards her with a dark sneer before she sidestepped Grail, grabbed her by the nape of her neck and drove her head right into the metal beam she was kicked into with a grunt. Grail let out a pained yelp as Diana pulled her back and sent several powerful jabs into Grail's face before Diana grabbed her by the head again and brought her into her knee with enough force to shatter the armor around her knee and break Grail's nose. Diana released the dazed New Goddess before she sent a heel kick into Grail's face, aiming for her bleeding, broken nose for maximum effect and followed it up with a powerful uppercut that sent the gray skinned woman flying into a blood stained wall.
Grail's glowing yellow eyes flicked briefly as the influence over her mind briefly wavered before Diana appeared and slammed her fist into Grail's midsection, knocking the wind out of her before she was grabbed by her hair and slammed into the wall. Diana let out a yell as she slammed it into the ship's hull again, the metal cracking and denting from the force of the impact before Diana gripped Grail by the back of her head, her fingers digging into Grail's scalp, and pulled the enraged New God-Amazon Hybrid's head back once more and slammed the snarling woman's face into it again and again.
The hall seemed to shake under the force of her impacts as Grail's face collided with the wall, denting and cracking the alien metal. Diana pulled Grail back and stared into the bloodied woman's face with a glare as memories of her past crimes against the Earth and the people Diana cared about raced through her mind.
"I'd be lying if some part of me wasn't enjoying this after all you've done Grail"
The daughter of Darkseid hissed at Diana as her eyes began to glow red in preparation to fire off her Omega beams. Seeing this, Diana slammed Grail's head back into the wall before she pulled her foot back and kicked the New God in the back, sending her flying through the damaged wall and into the other room. Diana watched as Grail's form slumped to the ground without a sound. The Amazon princess, after catching her breath, slowly approached Grail's body and began looking for any signs that the powerful woman was still conscious. After several seconds of no movement, Diana relaxed a little as she kneeled down next to the woman to see if she was even still alive.
"Is she dead?" the voice of Psylocke spoke up from behind Diana, causing her to look over her shoulder to see the purple haired new God standing there with a blank expression, having just arrived in time to see Diana put Grail through the wall.
Diana regarded her for a moment before she shook her head as her gaze flickered back to Grail's body "No, she still lives"
"Hmm" Psylocke sounded before the two women felt a powerful and violent tremor rake through the ship.
"What was that?" Diana asked as she stood up with Grail in her arms.
Psylocke didn't reply, she merely glanced in the direction of the ship's cargo bay with a worried frown before she broke off into a sprint towards it, leaving Diana standing there in surprise before she too followed the Fury with a unconscious Grail in her arms.
…
The first thing that Peter noticed as he entered the cargo bay, was how oddly quiet it was. No machinery running or no growls and hisses of the undead Parademons that once inhabited the ship. He casted a quick look around to see if perhaps he was being watched but noted that nothing was there.
'Odd...' he thought before he proceeded deeper into the cargo bay, keeping on alert.
As Peter moved deeper into the cargo bay, he felt an odd brush against his mind, a feeling he's long associated with telepaths. At first it was a simple brush, nothing to worry over and Peter thought for a brief moment it may have been Psylocke before it began to increase in intensity with every step further into the bay he took. Within moments the feeling began to feel like someone was shouting directly into Peter's ear all the while smacking him in the back of the head and forehead, leaving him a bit dizzy.
'Note to self, improve suit's psionic dampers' Peter thought as he nearly fell to his knees as the pain increased tenfold as he came within sight of the artifact that was the source of this nightmare.
It wasn't very tall, only ten feet tall and possessed a double helical structure of z-DNA with a ominous yellow pigment surrounding it. Peter took another step towards it before the yellow symbols on it pulsed and the pain in Peter's head forced him to his knees as he clutched his head in pain.
"AGGGGHHHH!" Peter growled in pain as he fought to keep himself conscious.
"Make... Us... Whole... Peter..." a dark whisper echoed in Peter's mind, the pain briefly relenting.
"W-What...?" Peter gasped out as he nearly fell face first into the ground but used his arms to break his fall.
He was met with silence as the artifact continued to glow in the darkness, illuminating the bay in a ominous yellow. Peter gritted his teeth as he began to stand again, the mental assault returning with a vengeance and growing even worse as Peter neared the glowing artifact before it suddenly split apart to reveal a glowing vortex of yellow energy within. Peter had all but collapsed to the ground and let out a mute scream of agony as it felt like his mind was being torn apart. Even Darkseid's assaults on Peter's mind were never this painful and the ruler of Apokolips made sure to drag out every bit of pain a mental intrusion from him would cause for what would feel like hours.
'Come on Peter... push through it' Peter thought as he desperately began to crawl towards the artifact, his vision blurring to the point he had to rely on the bright yellow glow of the artifact to know he was going in the right direction.
The artifact saw this and the yellow psionic energy within seemed to turn into a raging inferno, causing the air around it to grow hot and the ground beneath it to crack and burn. Peter thought for a moment he was inside a Solar Pit with how intense the heat was as he finally grabbed one of the sides of the now split artifact and gazed into the inferno before him.
Floating in the center of the artifact like a core was a single yellow stone that shined brighter then any yellow sun he's looked at. Even with his suit's lenses polarizing and him closing his eyes he could still see the bright glow from the stone.
MAKE. US. WHOLE.
The words echoed through Peter's mind like thunder in a storm, causing him to wince in pain as it felt like his head was about to be split open. Peter did his best to push through the pain as he made to grab the stone before it glowed again and this time everything for a brief moment went dark and silent.
...
"Peter... Peter... Peter..." a soft voice echoed through the darkness before Peter found himself standing in the crystal plains that occupied the higher, more remote parts of Apokolips.
Peter glanced around for the source of the voice before he was greeted to the sight of Bekka in a simple white dress. Peter's breath hitched at the sight of the New Goddess as he took a step forward and spoke in a uncertain tone "B-Bekka?"
She stared into his eyes with a small smile as she held her hand out "Peter..."
The spider based New God took several steps towards her, his hand out to take her's before he suddenly stopped in confusion as he stared into his love's eyes. Where he once saw adoration he saw... nothing. No trace of emotion in her eyes that didn't seem to glow as brightly as he remembered. Bekka saw this and smiled softly as she began to slowly approach Peter, a slight sway in her hips.
"Peter?" she said with a giggle as she stepped close to Peter and placed her hands on his chest, which he now noticed was bare.
Bekka looked up into Peter's eyes with the unnerving calm smile as she leaned up on her toes and brought her lips close to Peter's ear and spoke in a low sensual whisper "Make... Us... Whole"
Peter's eyes suddenly widened as he stepped away from the now frowning Bekka, his arm raised and his Venom Blast charging in his hand. He narrowed his eyes at 'Bekka' and spoke in a low hiss "What the hell are you?!"
'Bekka' simply stared at Peter before she spoke in a dark tone to rival the likes of Darkseid himself "Make us whole..."
She began to approach Peter while he backed away, still hesitant to shoot at the image of his love "I said, who are you!?"
Peter's question was met with silence as Bekka's eyes began to glow yellow and her skin began to pale and chip away to reveal a glowing yellow light beneath "Make us who-"
ZZKKT!
A venom Blast to the head cut off whatever the fake Bekka was about to say and Peter watched as her form began to disintegrate like ash as the glowing crystals around him began to darken and fade.
"Make us Whole..."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Peter said as he looked around for the source of the voice.
"Make us whole..." it repeated.
"Hello?" Peter said as he looked around himself erratically for any signs of whatever was speaking.
"MAKE. US. WHOLE!"
…
Peter's eyes suddenly shot open and he was greeted to the sight of the glowing yellow stone within the artifact. Peter's eyes narrowed as he pushed himself to his feet and shoved his hand into the artifact. The result was a massive discharge of pure, raw psionic energy hitting Peter at point blank range, causing his suit to tear and burn before it began to repair itself just as quickly. Peter repressed the urge to scream in pain as he reached for the artifact, all the while listening to the words 'Make us whole' echoing in his mind.
"Come on, come on, come on... almost there" Peter repeated as his hand neared the stone, his finger tips just brushing the surface of the glowing stone.
It was then, for a moment, Peter was met with the image of what looked like a golden armored gauntlet of sorts with several glowing lights emanating from the knuckles and the back of the hand before it was gone just as quickly.
Make. Us. Whole.
Peter shook his head as his vision began to blur and his head throbbed as if his own father were pressing down on it. He pushed his shaking, burning arm deeper into the glowing core of the artifact before he grabbed the glowing yellow stone and discharged a powerful Venom blast right into it, creating a powerful explosion that sent Peter flying dozens of meters across the room before he slammed into the wall and his vision went dark just before he made out Psylocke's running form in the doorway.
Had Peter stayed conscious for a few more seconds, he would have noticed his suit seemingly absorb the yellow stone into itself...
…
The first thing that Peter felt when he awoken inside the Subjugator's medical bay, or what passed as one on a Apokolips warship, was pain.
"Holy shit that hurts!" Peter hissed as pain flared across his body, mainly in the torso and head while his arms and legs felt numb but still operable.
"You've awoken" the voice of Diana echoed through Peter's ears, causing him to look around and find Diana sitting at the foot of his bed, her helmet missing and her face covered in grime and blood.
"What are you doing here?" Peter asked with a curious expression.
"Making sure you lived" Diana said with a simple shrug.
"Aww, how sweet of you" Peter said with grin before it fell as he stared blankly at Diana's own neutral expression "And the others? Are they all still alive?"
"Warbird is reporting to Granny Goodness as she's the only high ranking Fury still conscious at the moment and Psylocke is seeing if the others are completely free of the artifact's influence. En Sabah Nur is currently in a 'chamber' of sorts as he heals from his battle with Faora, Grail is awake and watching over him along with William. The Agooma, after we were all extracted from it, was promptly destroyed and the wreckage burned up in the atmosphere of the planet it was orbiting before a full orbital bombardment was commenced over the course of an hour to ensure that if anything survived, it would be destroyed" Diana revealed.
Peter nodded at this "Good, good..."
"And Zunn-" Diana said with a look of disgust on her face "-is reporting to Kalibak that he's succeeded in retrieving us from the Agooma and destroying the artifact that caused this whole mess"
"Wonder if he mentioned that Lemenus was killed" Peter said with a snort as he climbed out of the bed, his suit automatically covering his form.
"I doubt it, he doesn't strike me as the type brave enough to tell Kalibak such a thing. And if he did, I'm certain he made it seem like it was your doing" Diana said as she watched Peter stretch for a few seconds before he nodded in satisfaction.
"And you'd be right" Peter said with a snicker as he rolled his shoulders "But Kalibak knows better than to take Zunn's word for it. He'll probably grill me about what happened, growl and moan about how one of my Furies killed his and then find a new one to lay with. He usually does"
Diana frowned at the reveal that Kalibak will quickly replace Lemenus with a new Fury before she noticed that Peter was walking around with a slight limp in his stride "Will you be alright?"
"I'll be fine by the time we get back to Apokolips" Peter said with a wave of his hand "Fast healer"
Diana hummed at that before she stood "Well, if you need me, which I hope you don't, I'll be retiring to my assigned quarters as we return to Apokolips"
"Don't you mean our quarters?" Peter said with a raised brow.
"Nope, mine" Diana said as she made her way out of the makeshift medical bay.
Peter watched her go for a second before he shrugged "Your loss..."
Peter was about to follow before he noticed something off about his suit. The New God frowned as he ran a quick check of his suit's systems before it showed that an unknown energy source was being stored inside his suit's subspace compartment. Peter frowned as he accessed his it and was greeted to the sight of the glowing yellow stone from the artifact.
"Whoa..." Peter blinked in surprise as he examined the stone 'How the heck did this get inside my suit's storage compartment? Maybe I subconsciously stored it before I blacked out...'
Peter stared at the stone in silent before he heard someone approaching. He quickly placed it back in his suit's storage space as a Parademon entered the room and bowed to Peter.
"Lord Darkssseid is hailing usss" it hissed darkly.
Peter nodded at this as he passed the Parademon "I take it Zunn and Grail will be there as well?"
"Yesss" it said as it followed Peter to the ship's bridge.
Peter hummed at this while he mentally prepared himself for his conversation with his very irritated and very angry father.
'I can already feel the broken bones' Peter thought with a dark laugh as he made his way through the ship's halls.
…
And done.
Next chapter, several weeks after the events of the Agooma, the wedding between Darkseid and Mortalla approaches, bringing Diana into contact with more of her new 'family'.
