Disclaimer :all characters and mentioned universes belong to their respective owners and/or creators.
This is a work of fiction.
'Italics means he is talking to himself /inner voice'
"inverted commas" means a normal conversation.
"different languages" means speaking in a foreign language.
"[Talking to AI]"
ZOD ABOVE ALL
"Ladies and gentlemen ZOD, is an armor. A trillion dollar investment that proved its worth. It is the culmination of humanity's finest scientific minds directed at a singular purpose, protection." The charismatic man continued.
"Protection against extraordinary threats to humanity"
"Did you possess prior knowledge concerning the Invasion?" a reporter asked.
"Of course not. No, what we did was run calculations. Humanity isn't alone in the universe, we were bound to meet extraterrestrials sooner or later, but the question was, would they be as pleased to meet us?" He redirected.
"Would the suit be available to the military?" another reporter questioned.
"In the wrong hands, it could prove to be the decimation of mankind. No single government can or should be trusted with this much power. It would drive an imbalance that would result in catastrophic events"
"But then why should we trust you?"
"Well, we actually did make the world a better place. Even without the suit. So imagine the things we could and have done with it. We at Exel Corp are proud to have been helpful in humanity's time of need once again." He smiled. "And we will always be there when needed"
A thunderous applause sounded through the hall.
"Thank you all. I'd like to welcome the General to the stage"
….
The virtual screen folded back into the panel as the video feed ended. That was the third gathering where I got to talk about ZOD, which was some months ago. I went with the 'suit' story. Let's give the people something to believe in, something that's human and native, even if it's fake, something strong enough to contend with superman, and act as a deterrence. Of course, the general knows the real truth and so does superman. The only available visible video of the fight, was that taken by my armor, no one knows what truly happened during the fight apart from what I showed them, and what Lois published.
Kal is still on the radar, he's been talking about himself and motives on TV and yadda yadda. We've been talking, mostly about krypton and how it was like. I gave him some storage drives containing images and holos of krypton. And when he asked how I got to earth. Same as he did, but with a damaged drive.
Back to the armor.
What if someone tries to rob me? Haha, that'd be truly ridiculous, You do know there isn't actually a ZOD suit right? I am ZOD, and the demon child armor is called that for a reason. But I really did create a powered slimmed down exoskeleton, one humans could use, equipped with the 'flying brick' capabilities. It was my gift to them, when they need it, it will be here.
"Company-wide stocks have been soaring since the gala, sir. We are past an all time high, no, we are the highest, there's no room for us to go any higher, without establishing a state." Jane said scrolling through her tablet. "Val, you may not own the world, but you're a major shareholder"
"Good one, Jane" I turned my seat around from facing the clear windows.
I smiled at her, I enjoyed her sense of humor, it's one of her strongest points.
"Jane, I'll need you to clear my schedule. I'm going away for a while" I said slowly.
Well we were still dating but you and I both know that it won't last. Why? I shoot my load at the sun…from earth. No human can withstand that. I just do this to indulge myself but it has no significant meaning for me. Yes, love isn't all about sex, if I wanted to, I could just poison myself with the right dose of kryptonite to make me pseudo human for a while(then there'd still be the speedforce), but to me, there's no such thing as love….it's almost sad right? But I don't know, what I don't know. I don't know how to love and that's coming from two lifetimes of experience, and I probably never will. I just don't have the capacity for that type of intimate trust. I'm an untrusting type of bastard. Sigh.
I like having her around actually, plus she really does a great job of managing the businesses. Like the pepper potts to my Tony, And now it's sounds like I'm just using her, joy. I really do enjoy her company, but how long will that last? This is drama. I don't like it.
I'll have to take it slow, but moving on, I already achieved my aim for acquiring Kryptonian bodies and ships. It's time for the next phase of my plans.
She raised her head, her gaze on mine.
"Really? I see" she nodded.
"Yeah, I'm taking a vacation. Alone, don't worry it's just to clear my mind. I'll be an a minute away should any problems occur during my absence."
"Oh, OK then" She nodded, sigh I'm sure she means, 'Really, you're telling me this now? Here?' but I can't lie to myself. I am bored of this all of this, sitting around.
I read the stories of how people get reborn and turn out into heroes and all that. How they act as though the world is all sunshine and rainbows, heh, delusional bastards.
I am human at heart, I am selfish. Ever since I died and came here, I swore to achieve my dreams and aims I set for myself, I swore to never to die again, and there things that can still kill me, weapons that can make me bleed. I am a scientist and I was now in the body of a Kryptonian, I'm sure you're thinking 'hey maybe you can take a break nothing on earth can kill you'. Things can, I may be slightly immune to the effects of kryptonite but it can still cut me. But that's far from the point. I am a researcher, an explorer at heart, I want to explore, to learn, to discover and invent. And make myself stronger while at it. Not just sit around acting hero, I've built up an image so solid that if I called myself God, people would bow in worship. So it's time I acted.
I have made the world a better place. No, really, I have. The reason none of you hear me talking about Lex Luthor, is because there isn't one. He's dead, period. A minor accident when he was 'drunk driving' after a college party, took care of that. Heh, what did you take me for a superman clone? I'm not that good at heart. And just look at Gotham.
After batman went dark, during the whole joker killing Robin, stint. I stepped up to the stage. I actually provided jobs, real paying jobs that basically crippled the need for crime. Vigilantes weren't needed anymore. Because criminals weren't around, since I helped families put sufficient food on their tables and gain advance Healthcare, all at the price of next to nothing.
Listen, I brought the level of healthcare to such a degree that Hiv/Aids and Cancer was treated as the new damn malaria. I advanced tech to such a degree that people had supercomputers for household devices.
Of course, for the crime families that I didn't actively control, I took out of the scene, without ever lifting a single finger. Deathstroke was an excellent mercenary, and couple that with the tech I provided him, heh, he was nigh unstoppable in cleaning messes. I especially enjoyed watching him while I had a boring workday at the office.
Heh, I look at the masses and their current state of life, and say to myself 'I genuinely made the world a better place'. But it's time I move on, not to the next adventure, but stage. Out there, somewhere is power waiting to be claimed, out there in the multiverse of countless realities are things beyond the scope of understanding waiting to be read, to be interacted with, dimensions beyond the fourth. Out there are beings beyond gods, thought based lifeforms and so much more. I'm not sitting around anymore. But first.
/X/
In one of the basements of my mansion, I looked at the joker who was now just a bag of skin and bones. He doesn't even laugh anymore. How sad.
"Knock knock" I tapped on his head enough to rattle his brain. His eyes shot open in fear and he hysterically crawled away, his breathe turned ragged, tears poured out of his open eyes.
The joker, was truly afraid. He had gone through the worst nightmares ever invented, he regained his sanity and lost it so many times over the course of the many 'Sessions' he had with this man. He wondered if his victims felt the fear he did now. The gut wrenching fear, that caused cold sweat to permeate his body. The terror that caused him to shake and tremble. The nightmare before his very eyes, the devil in human skin. In all his life he had never prayed harder for the Bat to show up miraculously out of the shadows like he always did, and rescue him. But what walked out of the dark was a man instead. One with a harmless smile on his face, the gaze of his blue eyes like that of a hawk, more penetrating than that of the bat. It caused the joker to ball up, tucking his head deeper into his knees.
"Hello joker." The man said with a sick glee in his voice that caused the joker to flinch.
"I'm sure you're wondering what'll be today. The helmet of truth? no too messy. Ant drills? Too boring. Heh, get it boring.
No, today my good jester. Today you are set free" the joker snapped his head at the man in shock. Was he really going to be set free, was he going to see the skies again. Was he going to be able to breathe fresh air and feel things other than pain. Joker himself was a genius, he knew such thoughts were far from the reality of his situation. But he had to hope. Heh, the joker hoping.
"Free from life" the man stated. Joker's eyes widened in terror. He turned to beg, he kneeled and tried to speak through his aching throat. He wanted to beg for another chance, he would never harm a living soul if he could just be given another chance.
"You want to beg? You want another chance?" he nodded at the words of the man.
"I'm sure your victims begged the same way. I'm sure all those children cried just like you are now."
The joker trembled.
"Look at me" the man said. Joker raised his head, he heard the familiar, terrible chirps, the laughter of electricity. Red strands of lightning danced on the man's eyes. Painting them a sinister red, the gaze of death. Fear personified, that man was the devil. Joker opened his mouth to scream. A beam of red touched his form, all he felt was heat. The joker turned to ash as did the ground below him.
"I can see souls" The man said as he raised his head, stared at thin air and shot beams out of his eyes. But these beam were almost transparent. Thin strands of red lightning surrounded the almost transparent beam as it struck thin air. An ethereal mass in the visage of the joker appeared and began to burn.
"AAAHHHHH!" A the ethereal visage released a shrill scream so loud, it cracked and caused whatever glass materials in the basement to explode. The joker's very own soul was not spared from the man's ruthlessness.
And thus was the death of a clown. The man stretched out his hand and drew back a condensed microscopic marble like ball with a metallic glint. He smiled and turned around to leave.
"Lights on" the soft purr of running machines sounded through the metallic corridors. The white brilliant lights, illuminating the chambers.
I walked into the lab, taking off my suit and contacts and putting on the lab wear, then performing all checks. I walked past various objects and devices that lined the walls, heading to a liquid geo interface.
"Hope, prime machine #12 for testing and implementation"
[Yes, sir]
The liquid geo interface split apart to bring a small glowing cubic box to view. It was an inch in all dimensions. I pulled out the marble like metallic ball I had been able to extract from the joker.
This metal was dionesium sium, a miracle metal that had rejuvenating powers. It's corrupted form made up the Lazarus pits. It was one of the reasons why the joker was so young in this reality. And it was bonded to not only his body, but his soul as well. But what exactly was it?
Remember when I said nth metal brought hawkman and hawkgirl back to life through reincarnations.
Well this was another form of nth metal, from what I could gather, only five forms existed, and when these forms are brought together, laws can be bent. But I didn't have all five forms, I only had three, electrum, dionesium and purified nth metal, neither did I know where in the universe the remaining two were, that was if they were the only ones out there.
When did I find out that I could see souls and affect them? After the iris in my eyes turned golden. My exposure to more yellow sun radiation had began to take its effect, I was exponentially more powerful now than I was during the invasion. My power levels were increasing exponentially, it was like I was turning into superman gold. And considering that I had microscopic yellow suns hanging on the roofs, I would constantly grow and evolve more. I made use of this world's ray palmer research to get those to work. I planned on acquiring different forms of solar radiation, yes, I'm looking at you white stars and quasars. All in due time.
But back to the dionesium.
The purest form of dionesium I had obtained yet was one extracted from Vandal savage. The man was an immortal because he got exposed to the meteor that carried it the metal to earth during the prehistoric times.
Moving on, what did I need these metals for? Well I was creating something I would like to call a miracle machine. This tetra-cube was something I liked to call the tesseract, that would power the said machine. I know, creating a tesseract should be impossible. Heh, not anymore, not when you have the mind power of a kryptonian under a yellow sun, and the speed force to top it off.
When fully completed the miracle machine will change everything, it would basically become a cosmic cube. With something as simple as a thought command. It will alter reality to your standards with nothing but your thoughts, do you need more explanations? This will turn the wielder into a God, simple.
To wield it isn't as simple as it sounds. No, not only do you need a higher level intellect, you also need the willpower for it, because it ran on the manifestations of such concepts. That's right, concepts can be physically materialized here in the DC universe. Just look at the lanterns to prove my point. You just needed the right tools to harvest it.
Trust me when I say, it took awhile to get here. I crunched calculations that would make any of the acclaimed geniuses drop to their knees in horror, no, that sounds too pale in comparison, I crunched calculations that could bring gods down. It took light-years in God perception to get this far, which would translate to less than a week in real time.
The octachoron cube spread out in a geometric pattern, it's dark, pure black center coming to view and with it the gravitational pull of the room increased to 300,000 times the level of earth's, they were minor metallic groans as the metals retained their structure, with increased masses due to the added ridiculous gravity. I slotted the round metallic pellets into their spots, inside the miniature artificial gravity well which held them in place.
An electromagnetic shield came to life cutting off the effects of the well and restoring the environments natural gravity. This was why my lab was on the far, far side of the solar system. The blue glowing plates drew back together, folding themselves back into a cube. The cube was now hovering over the table. The instrument readings showing that it was now functional. Success, for now.
"Hope integrate tesseract into miracle machine system. Keep mother boxes running at optimal settings"
[Connection to miracle machine in progress. Test #12 initiated. Mother boxes are stable, beginning integration stage]
Did I ever mention that I created my own mother boxes? The new gods and apokoliptians were able to make theirs so why couldn't I. All it took was a look to understand the whole schematic and reverse engineer it from there. Kal-El, was really putting his house to shame man, they were supposed to be the scientists. What the hell has the kryptonian been doing? Playing human, is what.
The tesseract was folding space around it in microscopic levels. I could see it. Four circular metal rings extended around it, blue and black electric chains danced around it.
[Integration in progress. Readings highly unstable, imminent failure expected, deploying safety measures]
"No, disable safety protocols" It will work. It just had to stabilize itself first but it would work. Or a black hole that would devour earth's solar system would be born.
It needs something more, vibrations. More vibrations, the song of creation. All things have vibrations, the atoms are always in a state of constant kinetic motion.
I pushed the speed force in me. Speed force clones created from my lightning ran about and vibrated at the frequency I needed them to. A song was being created, a song only few could ever hear. The song of creation. And in the background lightning rang and roared until it didn't anymore, at the speed of light, there are no sounds. But I heard the vibrations. Something was missing, something I could provide.
Shapes and colors began to form around me. Matter was being conceptualized. A meta-singularity formed and source energy materialized, channelled by the rings, wisps of dark matter ebbed into it, not antimatter, dark matter. It's important that you understand the difference. Because as the energy seeped through, I saw something in there. I had no time to dwell on it now. This was a critical process.
The veins on my neck became visible as I tuned my voice and sang a verse. "~~|~|~~". A Shockwave of energy spread out, and then an explosion of silence. Pure deafening silence. Parts of the lab were on atomic fire. A blue light shone in the center. A ball of energy that looked like a mass of carefully laid out equations, drawn by the hands of God. In the blue ball was a dense mass of metal flowing in a spherical circuit matrix.
The miracle machine was created. By my very own hands. This was more than an accomplishment to me. This was….a miracle forged by my very own hands. The ball flew into my open palm. The gravity Flux and force fields barely affecting me, but the same could not be said for the environment. It would right itself and then take on a more natural gravity.
I held the ball in my hands, a smile was etched deeply on my face. The songs of stars returned, the Flux stabilized. And my machine functional, even though it was still incomplete.
'Open doorway' I sent it a basic command. One it should - bhhmm- have no trouble accomplishing. A blueish-grey round portal was created before me. I could see space warped around it. And on the other side I could see my destination.
…
Circular pods lined the white insides of the genesis chamber. In these biomechanical wombs were fully grown bodies of humanoid beings, they had a resemblance to humans, but with ash grey skin textures.
I slotted the miracle machine into to a larger system of circuits. The soft whirls and purrs of machines began. I place my hands over the large complex machine and directed my will at it.
'Bring them to life' Nothing happened…in the first five seconds. A colossal amount of energy was being sucked from the miracle core. The energy flew in thin air without the needs for circuits or conducting mediums.
It went into the pods, a blue glow began to light inside all the pods it had entered. Fluctuations of energy occurred as the pods shook and squirmed.
[Active Life signs detected]
What did I just do? Create a perfected doomsday army. Using the bodies of kryptonians as a baseplate. Some human DNA and synthesized daxamite DNA. In each pod was a fully grown body submerged in plasmatic fluids and Lazarus waters to aid in their birth.
Lex created an abomination. I was creating a perfect life form, it took awhile but I did perfect the process. They weren't large monstrosities that Lex's creation was. No these were going to be intelligent beings, who would serve my every purpose.
Why would they do it? It's the way they were created...no. Not like how the kryptonians did it. My command included the subcommands. The miracle machine was making their existence in such a way that it would never contradict mine and then grant them life. It was literally soul coded, for them to not go against me. When they would be born, they would create an imprint with the first life form they made contact with.
Like chicks from an egg.
Doing all this took a lot of juice from the machine.
I can see it dimmed now than it was earlier. I had to complete my machine, it would be in due time.
Burst! Splash! The first pod exploded in a mass of biomatter and fluids.
Thud The female humanoid landed heavily on feet in a bend. She slowly straightened her form, clenching her arms and looking at them. I saw the subtle movements of her limbs, eyes and ears, the soft breaths she was taking, examining the environment and her body as well. She then raised her head. Her unique eyes on mine. They sharpened to slits, and she dashed at me. I still stood in place, watching her.
She was testing the waters, seeing if I was who I should be. In an instant she was right at my face. Her height slightly lower than mine.
She reached out her cold wet hand and slid it across my cheek.
"Father?" she said in English, the languages I had mainly used in their database download. And then nodded again "Father!" she said louder with a happy tone, asserting it, and wrapped her hands around me. In a hug. She was strong. "Yes, my child." I said tapping her head full of white, platinum hair.
As if on cue, the remaking pods burst open, with the other creations bursting out. Performing the same examinations their sister and leader did.
She looked on at them, and they focused on her. It was like a wolf pack looking at their queen.
She then pointed at me "Father!".
"FATHER!" They shouted in joy and then all nine of them slammed into me at almost supersonic speeds. And they didn't let got. Ten grown ass women and men held and huddled on me like chicks under a mother hen. My life just got more complicated didn't it?
"Okay children. Father has seen you all. Now let's get you clothed" I said tapping the backs of those I could. And rubbing the heads of others.
They obeyed and gave me room, with silly smiles on their faces. But the first born still held onto my hand. I looked at her, and she looked back with clear eyes. Like it was all normal, like this was how it should be. She was sticking to me like glue.
In two days of being born, the children had reached a matured adult mentality. Their intelligence, was like that of Kryptonians. Meaning not only were they intellectual gifted but they also began to suck up knowledge like a dry sponge dropped in water.
In two weeks after that, they had fully mastered their abilities and learned to utilize it in creative ways. They didn't have a bioaura like I did, no, what they had was an electromagnetic aura. It was weaker than a natural bio aura, that was due to the process of their birth. It was a small price to pay. They made up for it in their physical capabilities, I mean what'd you expect? They are all doomsday level individuals. Their physical attributes was astounding. Another unique thing about them would be their bone protrusions and armor, it began to express itself a week after their birth. Most of them had it on their knuckles, and others on their elbows. But Vel-Zod, had it on her forehead, like an exquisite crown which matched her white hair. It was a natural show of authority, she was their leader after all.
Yes, they all came to me for their names. It wasn't an easy week, Vel was the one to choose first and she wanted nothing other than a V before her name.
I don't know when exactly, but a month after their birth one of them had been watching warhammer 40k, and he introduced the others to it, from that day on, they began treating me like the Emperor of mankind.
And here was a prime example of it. They stood tall in discipline, like straight mighty pillars. Each of them bearing the house crest of ZOD on the chests of their armors, which looked like slimmed down versions of space marines and in their hands were deadly weapons. Some held maces, others warhammers and battle axes. And in the forefront of them all stood Vel, her armor bore the house crest and a uniquely crafted insignia around it, a slim sword strapped to her waist. All the weapons were created from nth metals, their might was indisputable.
We were in the Sanctuary, a highly advanced all black and gold spaceship, intricately patterned circuits covered its outer shell. It was fully tricked out with state of the art phantom and concept drives, light years ahead of tech in this world. This spaceship could travel to the the ends of the universe. And if I needed to, I could apply my speed force around it to generate enough power for dimension travel and time as well. Like a cosmic treadmill.
This was going to be the first mission aka the 'crusade' as they began calling it.
And they stood in order, awaiting my command, my words.
"I am glad to call you all my children. I am pleased with all of you. Because you all have put in your very best, I know you will never disappoint me. This is your first mission, but not the last. Show your might to your enemies and bring them to your feet."
"WE WILL TRAMPLE ON DARKNESS AND SUBDUE ALL WHO RISE TO OPPOSE US!" They shouted in answer.
"You my children are glorious"
"IN ZOD WE TRUST. IN FATHER WE MUST! FATHER LET YOUR LIGHT FOREVER SHINE! NOW AND FOR ALL OF TIME!"
BHMM! They tapped their weapons in harmony.
I grabbed the hilt of a giant greatsword, laying before me. I took a moment to once again admire its craftsmanship, the intricate gold patterns wrapped around the silver. The children had pooled together all their powers to build this for me. They called it the sword of divinity, it was crafted very close to the center of the sun, with gravity beam hammers and boson wave generators. It was so heavy that it took five of them to be able to life it properly.
I won't lie, it was quite beautiful.
I raised the sword overhead and pointed it forward.
"Onward to victory" I was going God hunting. Specifically one in a hell world.
"VICTORY!"
[Ignition successful. Drives online and fully functional, all systems activated beginning jump in 3...2...1]
And thus was the start of the crusade to hell.
*BOOM! ZOD is back in full force! And he now has his army of Armageddon! All to hunt an unsuspecting God.
Guess which one it is.
I hope you all enjoyed it. If you did don't forget to hit that like and fave button. (It really motivates me, for real) don't forget to leave your feedbacks and reviews, let me hear your say on things.
I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY, Till we meet again.
Pool out!
VICTORY!*