Author's Note: This basically spun out of my fascination with Abe Sapien; the fact that I could never think of him as anything other than an Aquaman homage. Jumping off of that, I wondered, what other classic/iconic DC characters can I put a dark, pulpy spin on so they fit in the world of Hellboy. Note, this does not count folks like The Justice League Dark who are already weird and horror-inspired, like Swamp Thing and Etrigan. Now, without further ado (Liar!) I present, The Justice League of Paranormal Research and Defense (TM pending)!
Disclaimer: I do not own any incarnation of, in any media, the Justice League, nor any of its attendant characters or concepts. Neither do own any incarnation of, in any media, the story of Hellboy, nor any of its attendant characters or concepts.
JUSTICE LEAGUE/HELLBOY (Part 1)
A motorcycle drove up to the gate. The building behind the wrought-iron structure was identified as "The Metropolis Department of Sanitation." The man checked the address. He checked it again.
Was this a joke? The Sanitation Department? That was the assignment? The Motorcyclist was beginning to suspect that his Academy instructors were playing a prank on him. Not something civilians would expect of the FBI training facility, but Federal agents were human too, and had the sense of humor to prove it.
Still, this was his assignment, so he'd better follow procedure in case this wasn't some sort of secret final exam. He approached the intercom unit and pressed the button.
"What is it?" an unknown speaker snapped. The quality of the intercom was awful; the thing was probably well past its expiration date.
Biting back a noise of disappointment, the motorcyclist replied "Agent Lucas Carr. FBI. Transferred from Quantico."
Immediately, the intercom panel opened up, revealing a sophisticated-looking piece of hardware. Carr marveled at it for a moment before a device that looked like a microscope extended from the device. "Look at the birdy, son," the voice said.
Carr looked into the eyepiece as instructed, only to jump as a bright flash temporarily blinded him in his right eye. Wiping a tear from the offended organ, Carr saw a three-dimensional image of his eye on the "intercom's" screen, soon replaced by his picture and personal information.
The doors opened up without any sort of "welcome" from the voice. Carr snapped his fingers in awe at the sight, then drove his motorcycle up to the building proper. Securing it, he took his bags and entered the structure. Given the James Bond nature of the intercom, he was now quite certain there was more going on than met the eye. Through the doors no doubt laid some highly classified and important operation vital to national security.
He could be forgiven for being disappointed, therefore, when the inside of the building seemed to be nothing more than a gigantic lobby. A nice lobby, mind you, black marble floor with white marble walls and columns. A gold insignia lay on the floor in the center of the room, and across from it was an elaborate golden mural depicting police officers and World War I soldiers saluting each other. On the desk in front of the mural were golden letters spelling out the words LIBERO ET IUSTUS CONGREGATIO.Carr couldn't be sure, but he thought that translated as "A Free and Just Society."
The only other person in the room was a single security guard, standing at attention. Carr thought he might as well start by addressing him. "Hello, I'm Luca-"
"You are late," the guard said. "That's what you are. Five minutes."
"Yes, I-I know," Carr stammered a response. "I'm going to-"
"Section 52. I know," the guard said. "Watch your hands and elbows."
"Pardon?" Carr asked, now very confused.
"Watch your hands and elbows," the guard said, a little louder.
Then the floor began to sink. Specifically, the tile with the insignia on it, the one Carr was standing on, began to sink. It went down on a track, into an enormous, subterranean base. Carr began snapping his fingers again. Repeatedly. This was really something, the sort of thing conspiracy theorists stayed up half the night dreaming up. What secrets lay down here, waiting to be uncovered?
When the platform finally came to a halt, locked in place by four metal clamps, Carr stepped off, walking up to a large set of double doors. These were forged into another mural, similar to the one in the lobby, except this one depicted the American Eagle and Shield, with a group of Grecco-Roman-looking gods standing before it. Underneath it ran the words "Truth.Liberty.JUSTICE." Not knowing where else to go, Carr stepped through.
Inside, he found an ornate library. Countless books lined the walls while statues of saints and angels, carved of stone and gold (don't they ever get tired of gold around here? Carr thought), dotted the room. In the back, a set of spiraling stairs led up to an unknown level. On the right side, the entire wall seemed to be one giant fish tank. Soft music play from unseen speakers.
"Hello?" Carr called out as he walked in, hoping this wasn't a mistake. There were two occupants in the room: a man and a woman playing chess. The man wore dark red goggles. The woman was an attractive blond in a leather jacket. They looked up as he came in.
"Who are you?"
Carr turned. Neither of the chess players had spoken. The speaker sounded like he was to the right of him, which should be impossible, given the giant fish tan-
"I said, identify yourself."
Carr jumped back as a . . . creature swam up to the glass. It was human-shaped, but with blue skin, a small nose, and big, black eyes. Wide tissue stretched between its arms and torso, and it had gills on the side of its neck. Despite this it spoke English perfectly well. In fact, its voice was commanding, imperial even.
"I'm sorry," Carr said. "Are-are you talking to me?"
"Well, he does already know who we are," a female voice said. Carr turned and saw the man and the woman had gotten up and were walking towards him.
"If you're supposed to be the new recruit," the man growled, "you're late." Carr could see he was very pale.
"I'm afraid we must beg your pardon, sir," spoke a fourth voice. Carr turned around and saw a fourth ma—person walking up to him with the aid of a cane. He was an elderly man, dressed in an older suit. He spoke in a soft voice with a British accent. "I've tried to instill some manners into my adopted children, but they all seem reluctant to learn."
The goggled man growled again. "Speaking of which, you didn't call to tell us you were coming home, Alfred."
The old man shrugged. "I suppose you are right, Master Bruce, but one mistake I make does not excuse the many you have all made over the years."
Turning to Carr, the man continued. "My name is Sir Alfred Pennyworth. Formerly of the British Office of Foreign Affairs, and founding member of the Department of Extranormal Operations. Allow me to introduce three of my adopted progeny: Bruce Wayne, Dinah Lance, and behind you is Arthur Curry."
Carr turned back around. "It has a name?"
"He has a name, Agent Carr," Alfred reproved softly. "Master Arthur was a young man when he was found, washed-up in front of a lighthouse in Amnesty Bay. The lighthouse keeper, one Thomas Curry, adopted the boy, naming him and teaching him the ways of our world. When Mr. Curry died, Master Arthur came to live with us."
The old man paused, looking behind Carr, somewhere into the past. Blinking to dispel whatever illusion he was under. "Now, as to why you are here, as you entered the Lobby, there was an inscription."
"A Free and Just Society," Wayne said.
"It's what our organization was founded to protect," Pennyworth explained. "But, I'm afraid it's not always terrorists who threaten that society. No, Agent Carr. I'm afraid there are thing that go bump in the night."
"And we're the ones who bump back," Lance added.
"Indeed," Alfred remarked.
Basic Challenge:
Eh, I'll be honest with you folks, there isn't much of a challenge here. The basic idea is to give some of the "normal"/"iconic" DC characters a dark, pulpy, paranormal make-over a le' Hellboy as opposed to the folks in Jusicte League Dark or Agents of S.H.A.D.E., who are already designed to be weird and off-putting. Here's a few examples I'm working with:
1. Aquaman as Abraham Sapien (obviously)
2. Batman as a Vampire (wow, I'm on a roll in terms of obvious choices)
3. Black Canary as a Banshee (and three for three)
4. Cyborg as a Victim of Alien Tech he can't exactly control (Basically, how he is in the NEW 52, a decision I both enjoy and hate because on the one hand it fixes the weird question of "how is Victor Stone or his father able to create highly advanced, super-tech when they're ostensibly normal people, but it also seems like a cop-out. And tying Cyborg's creation back to Darkseid is kind of lame and works better in the more limited scope of the movies than the comics where he has his own adventures separate from the other heroes).
5. Hawkman and Girl as Shapeshifters (able to turn into actual hawks) and/or Anthropomorphic Hawk People (like in Stan Lee's Just Imagine)
6. Green Arrow as Trained Monster Hunter
7. Superman as The Last Son of Mars (basically, what if Superman was secretly Martian Manhunter using his shapeshifting powers to blend in. I like this idea as a way to put an actual superhero into this universe and wonder what the others would have to say about it. Alternatively, he becomes this world's version of Hellboy).
8. Wonder Woman as an Amazon (Kind of on the fence about this one. Yeah, there are good ideas you could play with, but how to separate that from her normal character?).
Author's Notes: OK, I'm basically just ripping off the first Hellboy movie, a practice I normally find frustrating because I know everything that's going on, is going to happen, and what everyone will say, but helps me here, by giving me a basic framework to fit the story in.
Fans of the DCAU can obviously tell that "Aquaman" is that universe's depiction of the character (at least in mannerisms) in the body of the live-action version of Abe Sapien. Not that I have anything against the comics' version or the animated one, I just like how inhuman-looking, yet refined the character was in the Guillermo Del Toro films, and that became Abe Sapien for me. The animated version was too human-looking, and acted too much like an average guy to be interesting except as . . . well, an Aquaman rip-off.
Also, yes, I stole the gold murals from CW's The Flash (I just love those murals), and Bruce has the goggles Langstrom wears in Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Because, Vampire.