Titans: Where Even Angels Lose Their Way
Lo! 'tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres…
The engine of destruction known as Ignition had first appeared in a bizarre alternate reality created when the Joker had briefly obtained god-like power: he had escaped being erased when normal reality had reasserted itself, and had clashed a few times with the Man of Steel. Words he had spoken had demonstrated Ignition knew things beyond what he should have known about Superman, and while nothing had come of it, there was always the suggestion that one day, the truth of Ignition's existence would come to light, and heaven help Superman then.
In the end, it was all for naught, as Ignition just managed to hear the noise behind him before he turned around and was shattered into pieces, as the grappling forms of Superboy-Prime and the Lord of the Night tore through him like he wasn't there. In the end, there had been bigger things around than him.
The Lord would have liked to have compared it to the irresistible force meeting the unmovable object, but the truth was he was far from unmovable as he struggled mightily against Superboy-Prime, the child screaming in his face as the two battled against each other, their bodies twisting and thrashing through the air as each fought to gain leverage.
"YOU'RE NOTHING! YOU'RE NOTHING!" Prime screamed, his eyes glowing crimson. The Lord snapped his head to the side, the heat vision burning away some of his hair and his ear, as he snarled and twisted his body away from Prime before he brought his foot up and planted it against Prime's armored chest.
"SO'S YOUR VOCABULARY!" The Lord yelled as he fired a massive blast out of the appendage, finally breaking Prime's grip on him as Prime went crashing into the ground, the duplicating villain Riot and the team known as the New Extremists goggling at the sight.
The Lord landed nearby, reforming his gigantic double-bladed katana as black power crackled all around him.
"RRAAUUUGGHHHH!" Prime screamed as he got up.
"Oh shut up."
A moment later the Lord was behind Prime, his sword held out…as Prime's body erupted into a series of spasms, a myriad of slashes slicing against him, the 'blade hurricane' ripping apart Riot and the New Extremists in a massive spray of blood that splattered and drifted over the area. While still caught in the grip of the attack, The Lord turned around, the same dark energy crackling on his palm as he hurled another blast into Superboy-Prime's back, sending the godlike teenager stumbling forward…
Before whirling back around as he inhaled and exhaled, as a wind more ill than anything in nature exploded forth and caught the Lord. He fought against it, but even he could not stand, as he was pulled off his feet and into another collapsed building, which, as usual, further collapsed on top of him.
"Didn't hurt." Prime grinned: indeed, the only sign of damage done by the storm of blades was various scuff marks on Prime's armor.
"YOU!"
Prime turned to the voice, thinking it was those stupid Titans again…and was quite surprised when he found himself facing an old man in a red costume aiming a massive gun-esque weapon at him, the firearm nearly twice as big as the man.
"I'VE FOUND YOU! AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! NOW YOU WILL PAY! PAY FOR ALL…!" The Scavenger yelled.
He was promptly vaporized by Superboy-Prime's heat vision, as the long quest of the old lunatic came to an end with no answers and no one caring to hear them.
"You're stupid too." Superboy-Prime said, and turned his head back towards the rubble he'd blown the Lord into as it erupted, the Lord rising up from beneath it.
"Ha! Give it up! You can't beat me!" Prime taunted.
"So you say." The Lord replied, and charged in anew. Superboy-Prime held his ground, as the Lord slashed out with his claws.
Prime met him with a thunderous punch…
The Lord's form split apart, the punch hitting nothing but air once more, as the Lord's twin forms stopped and then dashed back towards each other, slashing out with sword and claw respectively and sending Prime into a spinning tumble to the ground.
"WHAT! ARGGHHH! STOP IT!" Prime screamed, surging up and barreling towards the twin Lords…as they each split in half AGAIN, Prime missing his attack once more as the four Lord sprouted weapons and carved an X in the air across Prime's body in turn.
"STOP IT!!!" Prime yelled, firing heat vision at the four Lord…who merged back into one, the shot going wide as the Lord then phased over and axe handled Prime right into the ground.
Prime pushed himself back up as the Lord floated down…and split apart, again and again, a score of Lords flying, floating, and zapping all around Prime in a variety of interlocking circles.
"STOP IT WITH THESE STUPID TRICKS!!!!!" Prime screamed, lancing out with more heat vision, slicing through the various Lords, their bodies shattering as the ray hit them. But for all the dancing shadows Prime took down, another took its place, as the Lords' returned fire, multiple blasts exploding on Prime's body…
Prime screamed, flew backwards, and finally showed an ounce of brains as he slashed his arms out, smashing his palms together and sending out a furious thunderclap of force that shattered all intact windows in the surrounding five blocks and blew apart all the remaining Lords…save one. The last Lord slammed his wrists together as well, and another gigantic blast of black power flew out.
The explosion blew a mushroom cloud of debris and smoke into the air, the sound echoing around Metropolis…
And then Prime flew out of the blast, not even slowed down, as the Lord's eyes went wide…
Prime's fist lanced out, impaling right through the Lord's chest and exploding out his back in a black of dark mist.
"GOT YOU." Prime snarled. The Lord stared in befuddlement at the teenager…
And then his body fell apart, collapsing into a black mess that faded at Prime's feet, as he grinned and spat on the ground where the remains had fallen.
"I told you. You're nothing. I'M GOING TO BE SUPERMAN."
"No you're not."
The punch slammed against Superboy-Prime's face, and he growled as he turned to face his new enemy…
And went white as a sheet.
"You don't deserve it." Superboy said.
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly-
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!
In the great murk that could be superhero existence, one task many on the side of good would one day find themselves faced with, sooner or later, was to chose between the lesser of two evils.
It was never easy. And Savior thought having to pick between the Lord and Prime had been bad.
"Jesus Christ." Savior said, as the White Hole ducked under Doomsday's punch and lashed her mace against his back. "Now we have the WHITE HOLE fighting for us? God, we've dropped the ball so hard it's probably ended up in China."
"We're really not in a position to complain." Robin said as he hopped down from a pile of debris, while Beast Boy, Terra, Raven, and Gauntlet supporting Paragon joined the group.
"What's our status Robin?" Savior said.
"Considering who we're facing we've had amazingly zero losses…but there's been multiple injuries, and I don't need to be Raven to tell you morale isn't sky-high."
"Damn it." Savior cursed. He didn't say what popped into his mind next, that they shouldn't have to do this, but the situation had passed ridiculous a long time ago. First they couldn't make a scratch on Prime, and now they couldn't make a scratch on Doomsday. A hero should never say they were out of their league, and should face every villain with an unwavering front that they would do the right thing no matter the cost…but ideals did not always match reality: hell, if they did, this whole crisis would have never happened in the first place.
Doomsday bellowed and punched at the White Hole again. She dodged aside and slashed down with her mace, smashing Doomsday's hand downward as the White Hole leapt up, stepped off Doomsday's arm, and kicked him across the face as hard as she could, staggering the alien as she landed, spun around, leapt back up, and followed her kick with another mace blow, burying her weapon into Doomsday's face once more before the monster swatted her aside. But the White Hole was swiftly back on her feet and charging back in, a wild grin on her face.
"This isn't any good." Robin said. "Even if she wins, for all we know, she might turn around and try and kill us. We need more muscle. Raven, how's magic going?"
"Still uncertain…I could try and rear up for a big spell, but…"
"Right. What about Captain Marvel Jr?"
"Not dead, not crippled, but not happy." Raven said.
"Right…who's left…"
"Weren't we doing this so other superheroes could regroup? WHERE'S THE REGROUPING?" Beast Boy asked.
"I think whatever the untold number of super villains isn't snarling, the Lord and Prime are." Robin said. "Plus communications are nearly nonexistent in this chaos. We…"
"Oblivion." Savior said. The Titans looked at him in confusion. "The hand fusion incident with Gauntlet. Remember that?"
"Hard to forget." Terra said: an accident with Larry the Titan had once left Savior and Gauntlet stuck holding hands. Then Slade had gotten involved and had set off events that had ended up with Gauntlet and Savior fused with overwhelming power forced into their newly hybrid form, who, calling itself Oblivion, had caused terrible trouble for the Titans.
"Raven, can you do it again?" Savior said.
"Seems an awful lot like releasing wolves in the house to get rid of the rats." Gauntlet said grimly.
"The whole mess happened because we weren't expecting it and Slade threw in Larry's powers and full unlocking of Old One tech. Maybe if we just use that, and that big magical boost Raven's been saving because she can't be sure if she could use it properly, she could turn us into Oblivion-Lite or something…" Savior said.
"No. It wouldn't work. Your minds would get submerged again: two minds isn't enough to…handle…that kind of…" Raven trailed off.
"She's trailing off! That means she'd had an idea! Or a stroke!" Gauntlet said.
"I…could that work I…"
"LOOK OUT!" Beast Boy screamed, and then Doomsday was flying at them, forcing the Titans to scatter as he crashed to the ground.
"I expected more from someone of your reputation! It's quite sad how often words never match up to the real experience!" The White Hole said as she charged after Doomsday, while Robin swung down from his escape grapple, his eyes darting around.
"…don't just stand there! Anyone who can, BACK HER UP!"
"I don't need your help!" The White Hole snarled as she smashed her mace into Doomsday's bony knee and danced away from his counter punch.
"You don't get a vote!" Robin retorted, hurling some freeze discs at Doomsday. The alien shattered the ice before it could even halfway form, but the attack was followed by Starbolts, silver plasma, and burning energy crashing into Doomsday's head, before hurled rocks from Terra and Rocko caught Doomsday in the back of his knees, knocking him down. The White Hole laughed gloriously as she leapt up and brought her feet down on Doomsday's face again…before Doomsday grabbed her and smashed her into the ground so hard Robin felt the impact a dozen feet away.
Doomsday rose to meet a parking meter being rammed into his forehead via white energy lines.
"HIT IT!" Savior yelled, as Killowatt and Lighting fired every bit of electrical energy they could muster into the makeshift lightning rod, violently snapping Doomsday's head back while he also staggered back…as Aqualad and H-Duo thrust out their arms and hit Doomsday with their own combined water jet, the electricity jumping to Doomsday's whole form as the four hammered away at the giant…
And that was just the warmup.
"Okay NOW!" Raven said, as Scorcher and Hotspot put their hands on the teenager's shoulders…the teenager with golden streaks in his hair…and a black outfit…and a lazy care expression that did not fit the disaster unfolding all around the Titans…and began pouring every single bit of the power they could into his body, the heat of their fire not burning him but causing his muscles to tense, golden lines suddenly lighting up under his skin, the strange energies pulsing down his face, neck and exposed arms, as he raised his hands and sparks of golden energy leapt between them….
Doomsday bellowed and knocked the parking meter from his head, cutting off his electrical shock as Savior fell to one knee, Doomsday's bladed bone knuckles cutting his talent and sending agony through his body.
"And NOW!" Raven yelled.
The black-clad teen thrust out his arms…and every bit of heat Scorcher and Hotspot had pumped into him was instantly transferred to the water mass H-Duo and Aqualad, causing a phenomenon known as a steam explosion: the water was instantly superheated into gas, to an effect that was like a bomb going off, blowing Doomsday backwards and spraying the surrounding area with burning hot water. Fortunately, no one was in said surrounding area except Doomsday.
"Nice work kid. Good thing you popped up." Scorcher said, as she patted the black-clad teen's shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm good at that." Metatron replied.
And Doomsday bellowed as he returned, doing another rampaging bull charge towards his attackers…before the White Hole leapt over them and slashed out with her mace, smashing Doomsday across the face again.
"And lo, the behemoth is completely unfazed. All is right in the world, for the natural order prevails!" Metatron commented.
"…dude, where have you BEEN the past few days?" Beast Boy said.
"In Acapulco. Did you know Mega Man is there?"
Beast Boy didn't get a chance to reply as Doomsday and the White Hole's war caused a giant shard of concrete to be hurled in their direction, and the group scattered once more, as Metatron leapt away and vanished into a cloud of smoke and dust.
That motley drama- oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot!
"N-NO! YOU'RE D-D-DEAD!" Superboy-Prime screamed, as he found himself facing Conner Kent, Kon-El, and who everyone who mattered would have told you was the true Superboy.
"Hardly." Superboy replied. Superboy-Prime screamed and cut loose with his heat vision…only to have it go right through Superboy's S-imprinted shirt like he wasn't there.
But as Superboy flew down and punched Prime once more, it became very clear that he WAS there, despite Prime's efforts and the fact that Alexander had told him he was dead. That was bad enough: what made it worse was that even after Prime had dominated him in every fight they'd had, Superboy's punch had actually hurt, as Prime screamed in terror-fueled rage again and lashed out with his own blow…
It went right through Conner once more. He was literally fighting a ghost.
A vengeful ghost, as Superboy smashed more punches across Prime's face, and then when Prime screamed again and fired more heat vision, leapt over it and kicked Superboy-Prime in the face. He landed next to the insane godling, who fired off another punch and found it had the same effect as the rest.
"N-NO!"
"Normally, I'd have some sympathy. But not any more." Superboy said, as he smashed his own, very solid counter blow against Prime. "You exhausted your supply of excuses. Your world died, you didn't get to be a hero, blah blah blah."
"S-SHUT UP! YOU'RE NOT…!" Prime screamed as he threw another punch: it went through Conner once more.
"YES. I AM." Superboy snarled, replying in twin with his own punches. "I had it worse than you! You just suffered tragedy! We ALL suffer tragedy! I was designed to be a weapon! My whole life was just a state of waiting for indoctrinated codes to be activated and to be pointed at my target! I did terrible things, without any choice in the matter! And I fought back from that! I didn't let it poison me! You condemned us all for being weak? YOU'RE WEAK!"
"I SAID S-S-SHUT UP!" Prime screamed, as he dashed back and flew forward at Superboy.
And once more, he went through him, crashing into another building and bringing it down on his head. Screaming, he tore himself free of the wreckage…and Superboy crashed down on him and drove him against a pile of rubble, hammering blow after blow into Prime's face.
"You're FINISHED." Superboy said. "It doesn't matter WHAT you do. You'll NEVER get what you want. You can kill us all, burn this world, burn this universe and every one like it. Your desires are forever lost. And when you're all alone, that's all you'll have left, tormenting you for every second of your cursed, damned life."
Prime's only reply was a wordless shriek as he tried heat vision again. It didn't even stop Superboy's constant punches, as he hammered Prime through the rubble and down into the shattered ground beneath it.
"Don't you know, Prime? The tyrant dies, his rule ends. The martyr dies, and his rule begins." Superboy said. "Do you hear the sound of inevitability, Prime? Do you hear the drums?"
And Superboy's fist came down…and again…and again…and…
Gone.
Within a second, Superboy had vanished. But not due to Prime finally finding a weak spot. He'd just…disappeared.
Superboy-Prime lay there stunned for several seconds, before he sat up…and saw the Lord nearby, as the shadow demi-god lowered his hand.
"Hnnnhhh. I guess Kryptonian brains aren't as similar to human ones as I'd like." The Lord said. "Pity. I was getting somewhere."
"…what…what…I…" Superboy-Prime said…and realized it.
There had been no Superboy. He remained as dead as before. Instead, the Lord had reached into his head…and just made him think he was there.
He'd hurt him…scared him…all without…
The Lord drew back his arm to form his sword…
And suddenly Prime was there, seizing him by the throat, as the Lord's eyes widened.
"Oh."
With a scream that echoed even above the carnage of the battle of Metropolis, Superboy-Prime seized the Lord by the hair and ripped his head right off his shoulders.
The Lord's body fell, dark ichor gouting from the stump where his head had been, as Prime reared back, smashed the head into the ground, and stomped on it repeatedly, screaming all the while, before he finally ran out of air and stopped, leaning over and taking deep breaths for a few seconds.
"…heh." Prime said, reaching down and picking up the smashed remains of what had once been the Lord's head. "No more tricks. Without them, you're nothing. You don't scare me."
The Lord's eyes shifted to meet Prime's.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."
And then the Lord's head leapt from Superboy-Prime's hand, as his teeth became fangs and clamped down on Prime's nose.
"AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Prime screamed, flailing back and hammering at the Lord's head as it viciously gnawed on his face, throwing wild punches that half the time hit Prime's own face instead of the Lord…as the Lord's headless body surged up and charged, ramming into and seizing Prime as the thrashing figures smashed through another building.
Prime finally remembered his heat vision and cut loose…a second after the Lord's head had let go, dropping off from Prime's face.
As the Lord's body surged around Prime, grabbing him around the waist, flipping him over, and smashing him down into the ground admist more battling heroes and villains, burying him up to his knees in rock once more. The shadow body broke apart, surging away and reforming into the Lord's body proper, the shadow form holding out a hand as his removed head dropped into it, the Lord placing it back in its proper spot.
"You can't kill me." The Lord said.
Screaming, Prime broke free and lanced out with another punch. The Lord dodged aside, as Prime smashed through the hero Centrix and the villains Shrike and Shatterfist, none of whom took critical damage to their forms as well as the Lord did.
"You can't hurt me. There is no pain you can inflict on me that I can't bear. No matter your powers, no matter the heights they reach."
"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!" Prime screamed, as he exhaled terrible cold. The Lord was frozen solid, as was everything behind him, including the villains Lady Clay, KGBeast, and Sonar. With one pass, they all shattered into shards of ice and dust, Prime plowing through their icebound forms like an out of control bull before whirling around, as he blasted heat vision at the broken pile of ice that had been the Lord…
Except his body was not a pile of ice on the ground. It was a mass of cutting ice shards flying through the air, as the Lord slashed and sliced repeatedly across Superboy-Prime's body, the ice breaking on impact as the shadow essence emerged from them, returning to a central mass that reformed once more into the Lord.
"You heroes, no matter how you go about it, are all alike. You can't kill the dark." The Lord said. "But believe me, the dark can kill you."
"DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Prime screamed as he charged at the Lord again, as the Lord zapped backwards, almost as if retreating…before he stopped on a dime and flipped backwards, kicking out with his foot in a matter that caused Prime to fly right into it, sending Prime flying backwards and into the side of another building.
"Your destiny is lost, dead in nothingness! And neither you, nor the villains of this world, nor the heroes, will stop me from claiming my own!" The Lord yelled, as he stuck his arm out and shadows began to surge up, forming into a massive spiral weapon. "I am the Lord! All shall fall before me! Ashes to ashes! Dust to dust! MINE IS THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS!"
And the Lord swung his massive bladed shadow auger towards Superboy-Prime. Prime did not hear the last line the Lord said, as he spoke it more to himself.
"Oh hell, look what all your repetitive nonsense had done, I'm babbling crap myself."
And the Lord surged forward, the rending shadows spinning rapidly, as the point slammed into Prime and he was sent tumbling and smashing through the buildings beyond.
Doomsday didn't really have what one could call a memory, in a classic sense: he recognized threats, and his body evolved to counter anything that had hurt him before, but that was about it. Maybe things had changed when the creature had evolved intelligence, but whatever had happened between then and now, possibly due to Dr. Psycho's machinations, had rendered that change irrelevant: at the moment Doomsday was as mindless as ever.
Even THEN, a tiny synapse in the back of his primitive brain was still noting that the insects were STILL stinging him, and he just couldn't seem to squash any of them for all his efforts. Not that this had any effect on Doomsday's choices: he kept doing what he did best, kill people.
Or try, as his hands shot out and seized onto the skull of the White Hole, hoisting her off the ground as he attempted to crush her head between his hands. Had he had another few seconds, he might have succeeded.
Except the While Hole, instead of futilely trying to break his grip, took advantage of her 'perch' and swung both her legs up, burying her bladed claw-toes under the likewise bladed sheath of bone Doomsday had on his lower jaw: his hide on his neck didn't prove much softer, but the impact of her attack was enough for the White Hole to shift further backwards and break his grip, as she did a full backwards flip and scrambled away as Doomsday buried his fist in the ground where she'd just been. She immediately regained her balance, as Doomsday pulled himself free and lunged forward, trying to grab her again.
This time, the White Hole ducked, as she lanced out her own blow and buried her fist with every ounce of strength she could bring to bear into Doomsday's torso. It drove him back a step, while the White Hole leapt and slashed out with her left foot, smashing it across Doomsday's face and sending him staggering back more…before Gauntlet leapt in, swung up his own energy fist, and brought it down on Doomsday's head, smashing him into the street with another spray of shattered rock.
"Stay out of this, meatsack!" White Hole snarled.
"You're welcome. Believe me, as much as I'd like to watch him pound you to jelly, BAD TIME!" Gauntlet yelled, as Doomsday began getting up with his usual roaring…and a pillar of rock smashed into him from below, sending him flying into the air…
And Captain Marvel Jr made his return as he promptly punched Doomsday into the ground again.
"I owe you some…!" Marvel Jr began as he zapped down at Doomsday…and flew into a slashing backhand that smashed him into another pile of rubble.
"Grrrrooooarrrrrr…" Doomsday growled, getting up again…and was met by the White Hole's leaping kick to the face. The nigh-unkillable alien retaliated, his bladed bone knuckles glancing the White Hole's right arm and ripping through her armored clothing and highly dense skin like it was a spider web. It didn't remove the savage grin from the White Hole's face though, as her blood sprayed on the ground, hissing…
And she slashed out her arm, throwing more of the vitriolic liquid into Doomsday's eyes. The alien reared back, clawing at his face, while the While Hole took a step back and swung her mace with all her might into Doomsday's torso. It did nothing…until the White Hole did it again, and again, a rapid three-time blow that finally accomplished her intent: doubling Doomsday over.
She promptly brought her mace down on his bony head, and once more, and…
Doomsday recovered fair quicker than she'd expected.
As she found out when he lashed out with a punch, his bone-knuckle blades impaling into her chest. A moment later the impact from the punch slammed into her, and blood sprayed from all her injuries as she was lifted nearly a foot off the ground from the impact…
And touched back down, Doomsday realizing she was still on his fist, her chest a mass of gore leaking astringent blood onto the ground and Doomsday's arm, more blood leaking from other wounds and her mouth…but the angry defiant madness, the battle fugue, still shone in her eyes and her expression.
"Is that the best you can muster, you kahlin gutorro?" The White Hole rasped.
Doomsday's next blow might have decapitated the war-crazed alien, had Scalpel's glaive not flown through the air and rammed into Doomsday's face: it didn't do anything save distract the alien, but that was enough, as Thunder tore down the street and shoulder-rammed the monster, knocking him back a step…
"Variant 17! 21! 34! Something! Patent pen-OH YOU GET THE IDEA!" Gauntlet yelled before he hurled Platinum Blonde at Doomsday, as she smashed her fists into his face. Before the destroying alien could retaliate, the Shimmer shot out, pulling the Elemental away before Doomsday could repay the favor.
"Nigel, did you just save the WHITE HOLE?" Savior asked, putting Platinum Blonde down nearby while set himself down next to the alien.
"I don't know WHAT I'm doing any more." Scalpel commented, as Legend returned and fired off several blows into Doomsday's side before Doomsday flattered her with another punch, the dimension-lost girl crashing into a nearby streetlight and nearly bending it in half from the impact, while Robin reappeared near Savior.
"Anything from Raven, Savior?" Robin asked, his utility belt finally exhausted of weaponry of any kind.
"I think if there was, Robin, she'd have told you directly." Savior said, as Gauss Lad flew in with two more street lights, wrapping them around Doomsday before Scorcher blasted them with intense fire to meld them together, briefly immobilizing Doomsday as Terra, Gauss Lad, Lost, Rocko, and Peregrine II teamed up to hurl as much debris as they could at their enemy…
For four seconds, which was as long as Doomsday's makeshift bonds lasted before he ripped himself free and punched the sports truck Gauss Lad had thrown at him, the impact so great it virtually ripped the truck apart and sent a storm of metal shrapnel the heroes were forced to break off the attack to avoid. The group was saved from a follow up attack by both Speedy's, as they emerged and hit Doomsday with some more explosive arrows.
"God DAMN it." Speedy II, Nathaniel Parsons, cursed as once again the effect proved he may as well have just left the arrows in the quiver. "Maybe you shouldn't have wasted your Phantom Zone arrow on that goddamn Prime."
"Maybe you should realize…" Speedy III, Mia Dearden began: she would have finished with 'that constantly taking the Lord's name in vain doesn't make you look cool, you jackass', if but for Doomsday charging to attack them. A smoke arrow and some frantic scrambling let them get out of the way, though as soon as the Elementals renewed their attack on Doomsday they returned, firing more futile arrow shots into the monster alien's hide.
"Robin…" Savior said.
"I know." Robin said; he was loathe to retreat but this was getting nowhere. He didn't want anyone to die, but if he didn't…
"What tricks do we employ now, fearless leader?" Gauntlet said, while Doomsday punched Rocko apart (again), ripping through Floral's plant vines as she futilely tried to protect her teammate (again). "We've tried mass projectiles, overloading equipment, allies who would all too happy to murder us, blunt trauma, a tactical nuke I didn't even know Peregrine HAD, MORE blunt trauma, begging for mercy…black Superman?"
"…what?" Robin said.
The beams of red energy flew out and detonated on Doomsday, and for a moment Robin felt a surge of hope.
Which swiftly turned into confusion as the firer dropped down…and was wearing a green and black costume. And was African-American. Which wasn't quite what Robin had expected.
"…huh." Gauntlet said. "Bout time."
"Fear not Titans!" The new hero said, as more adults dropped down or appeared around him. "Even in the darkest hour, there is light, and that light is…THE MANNERLY SOCIETY OF GENTLEMEN!"
"….HUH?" Beast Boy said.
"Ah yes, we haven't met. We hail from Gauntlet's home town of Uberton! I am Hyperion, an attempt to create an artificial Kryptonian!" Hyperion said. "To my left is Tachion, Mistress of Speed! And…"
"RAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHH!" Doomsday bellowed as he charged into the Mannerly Society, and Hyperion began to see how well his existence had succeeded as Doomsday promptly introduced his fist to Hyperion's face.
"…and the one now being used as a baseball bat is Die Spinne, mistress of webs and webmistress of the Uberton Superhero Archive Online. The short one who just broke his bowie knife on Doomsday's eyeball is Wulf, the Welsh Wonder. And finally there's Victory Lad, ex-government agent but not ex-patriot! Yup, those are his bullets glancing off harmlessly." Gauntlet said.
"…why did you just finish his bit?" Bumblebee said with some confusion as she popped up.
"I figured everyone out there needed to know who they were." Gauntlet said.
"The Ubertron reinforcements are arriving then?" Robin asked.
"Well considering things, the plan was probably all to arrive at once…" Gauntlet said. "But sometimes we have a tendency to…rush ahead. Not that we don't need the help."
"No. No, definitely." Robin said.
"Figures your whole town would be overexcited." Savior said, though his comment was phrased as a non-malicious observation.
"Not the whole town." Gauntlet said. "Just…a lot of it."
Brutale was anything but excited. First he'd gotten his ass kicked by Nightwing up in the Arctic…and now he was getting his ass kicked again. The worst part was that this time, his attacker was…
"The Amazing MARMOT MAN? WHAT THE HELL?" Brutale yelled, hurling daggers at the rodent-themed costumer adventurer, who dodged out of the way.
"You'd be surprised how few names are left." Marmot Man said as he leapt in with a punch.
"YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY MARMOTS!"
"And you aren't particularly good at being Brutal with a silent e. Nighty-night!" Marmot Man said, and punched Brutale's lights out.
Hardhat was really beginning to regret his decisions. First he'd run away and left the rest of the Demolition Team to die at the hands of OMACS. Then he'd decided to take part of this so-called Battle of Metropolis.
And then he'd attracted the attentions of Shade (not THE Shade, who felt protecting Opal was far more important than Metropolis), whose black liquid-based form proved ineffective for Hardhat's ground and pound style combat: he simply reformed after every punch.
"…parlay?" Hardhat asked after all his blows did nothing.
"Sorry, unconditional surrender or nothing." Shade said, as he wrapped a tendril around Hardhat's arm.
"Crap…"
"…no…" Alexander Luthor cursed: as if the situation hadn't gone to hell badly enough, reinforcements were arriving…
And Nightwalker was still alive, as she slashed her sword at his head, Alexander barely getting out of the way as the razor sharp blade sliced a small wound just below his left ear. He countered with another anti-matter blast, but his balance was severely disrupted by the attack and he completely missed her. It was only by chance that her follow-up orb attack did so as well, flying over his shoulder and exploding on a wrecked car behind him.
"Damn you! DAMN YOU ALL!" Alexander yelled, firing more blasts: Nightwalker did a series of backflips to avoid them, and Alexander couldn't keep up the pressure long as he stopped firing, glaring at Nightwalker even as his computer informed him of more newcomers showing up. "Damn you all to hell."
"Hell, Luthor?" Nightwalker said. "Hell is empty. All the devils are here."
And she charged forth again.
"SO YOU'LL HAVE A PICK OF PRIME REAL ESTATE!"
"Not by your hand." Luthor said, his hands glowing gold as he fired once more.
Athena Jones really wondered why she was here.
Well, she knew WHY she was here: she was technically a MSG reserve member, despite being a powerless street detective type who generally fought with thugs with guns: she was really out of place in the unbelievable power levels that were clashing here (nine thousand didn't even begin to cover it) . But she did have her own gun, and she knew how to use it, so she could probably do something if she picked the right target…
She quickly found out where she WASN'T going, as she saw a line of destruction being carved across Metropolis about a mile away, various damaged buildings collapsing outright as something smashed their way through them…
A moment later two figures flew out of the demolition of the last one: the blue and red one attacked immediately, as the black one dodged and flew back towards two more buildings.
The red and blue one gave chase, as the black one slammed on the brakes and charged in turn.
The impact between them shattered the buildings around them into a billion pieces, and blew Athena off her feet and nearly made her deaf at the same time. For a moment she lay on her back, wondering if she was having another corn flakes and mayonnaise pizza-based nightmare…then she felt the earth shake again, and realized she wouldn't be that lucky.
"…Roger, this is Jones." Athena said, as she pulled out her communicator (or rather the one that had been tossed to her about 35 minutes ago). "We have a situation on Main Street. There's some sort of meta fight going on here…"
"This whole mess is one BIG meta fight Jones, what makes this so exceptional?" The man on the other end replied.
"A short superman in some sort of armor is fighting something made of shadow."
"What do you mean made of shadow?"
"You almost sound like you know what I'm going to say." Jones said.
"I'm praying I'm wrong, we have enough on our plate right now!"
"All the same sir, there is NO overreaction. Send everyone out! EVERYONE! Even The Kitchen Sink! And…and…" Jones said, before trailing off.
"Jones?"
"A gigantic building sized clawed hand made of dark energy just ripped itself out of the ground, pointed its fingers inward at the superman, and fired blasts from each one that combined on the superman in a detonation that rattled my fillings. From four miles away."
"…I'll see what I can scrape together."
"And the superman-type just flew out and punched the shadow thing into the ground."
"Fine, you have my attention. Keep observing and stay low."
"On one condition sir."
"What?"
"Remind me to kick Marmot Man's ass for convincing me to come along!"
But see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes!- it writhes!- with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued!
"ARE YOU SURE THIS IS A GOOD IDEA!" Punk Rocket yelled: it was the only way to be heard over the chaos.
"Of course! This battle is pointless! The only benefit to it all is PROFIT!" Professor Chang yelled back, as he and his erstwhile allies finished tearing down the bank wall. If Chang knew the anger the quite insane Doctor Psycho would have had had he seen this, and what had already happened to some of the people involved in this massive battle 'disappointing' his lunacy, Chang might have thought twice about robbing the bank. But what had seemed like a sure thing had rapidly turned into a chaotic mess between a quagmire, a blitzkrieg, and Ragnarok, and Chang had quickly decided he was getting some compensation and getting out. And with some 'local help' as he defined it, that being Cinderblock, Overload, Atlas, Adonis, Punk Rocket, Kantarou, Malchior, Johnny Rancid, and even Puppet King (who was basically an annoying tagalong), he'd turned to just that, ripping open a bank to steal the vault's contents. Providing the villains didn't win, it could takes weeks before anyone noticed it was gone.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?!" Superboy-Prime screamed as he zapped towards the Lord again: the Lord dodged aside and kicked Prime in the back, sending him tumbling across the sky for a moment before he turned around and charged back, slamming into the Lord for a moment before the Lord twisted backwards and kicked Prime into the sky.
"Not the first to have asked." The Lord growled, as Prime screamed and fired heat vision down towards him: the Lord dodged it by counter-attacking, lancing up and slamming both fists into Superboy-Prime's gut even as a shadow tendril seized Prime's cape and yanked, hurling Prime away from the Lord as he thrust out his hands and fired a gigantic spray of black blasts into Prime, the insane teenager momentarily transfixed by the explosion before he flew out of it and punched the Lord across the face, the blow echoing across the sky.
"…that the best you can do?" The Lord snarled. The smoke rising from his face betrayed his supposed indifference, but Prime was too out of control to notice, as he lanced towards the Lord once more…
Into the Lord's awaiting arms, as more shadow tendrils surged out and seized Prime, and before even the teenager's beyond-fast reflexes could react the Lord went into a death roll and fell towards Metropolis, the two crashing into the roof of the Emperor building and promptly tearing the proud structure into pieces as the Lord 'spun-struck' Prime down through floor after floor after floor, dust, smoke, and debris exploding out from all sides in a rapid-fire downward sucession, as the Lord hammered Prime through the landmark…
No one heard Prime's scream save the Lord, as the last explosion of force abruptly increased by ten times as Prime punched the Lord out of the building, the impact literally snapping the building in half.
Prime ripped his way out, scanning for his enemy as the shattered top half of the edifice fell into the streets below, sending various superhumans scrambling for cover. Though the building was empty, there was still a strange sense of sadness in its destruction.
The tragedy was lost on the Lord, as he pulled himself up from where he'd landed…while Chang and his associates stared at him in shock from where they lay, the impact having knocked them and their bags of money to the ground.
The Lord floated up to his feet, affording his 'peers' a glance.
"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Prime screamed as he charged in.
"Yeah." The Lord said.
And he thrust up his arm.
"YOU SAID IT!"
The last thing Chang and his associates felt was an odd cross between having their hair stand on end and chewing on tin foil.
And then they all disintegrated, the screams torn from their flesh or otherwise stripped forms as the Lord blasted gigantic columns of destructive dark energy from below him, a whole city block and everything in it consumed in the attack as Prime was blasted upward by its terrible power. Unlike its other victims, his only scream was rage.
The Lord lowered his arm, before he afforded the blackened remains that now surrounded him another glance. He wondered what they'd seen in their last moments. Him, or their own lives.
"Was it worth watching?" The Lord mused, and flew up after Prime.
A moment later the Puppet King's smoking form crashed to the ground. The Lord's attack had been designed to disintegrate flesh and metal, as he'd been directing it at Prime. In an odd quirk, that apparently hadn't covered wood.
And even as the groaning midget began crawling away, down among the dead men, the Lord and Prime met in the heavens, as they clashed in their never-ending struggle to decide the fate of the earth below them.
Hyperion might have been an attempt to clone Superman (again), but much like the first time this had succeeded, he had not turned out an exact copy of the original: case in point being as Doomsday charged to attack him once more, Hyperion ducked under the blow and kicked Doomsday in the genital area as hard as he could.
If it had anything to affect, or if those parts of Doomsday were as well protected as the rest of his body, Hyperion didn't know, as the low blow seemed to have as much of an effect on Doomsday as the rest of his punches. And speaking of punches, that was what Hyperion felt again, as he was hammered into the ground.
A moment later Doomsday's bladed hands were coated with thick, sticky goop, as Die Spinne got out of the way and Tachion blazed in, hitting Doomsday in the softest spot she could as many times as she could with her armored hands, which wasn't much before she was forced to retreat: her time-based speed powers let her keep going after the Speed Force had been destroyed, but there were times when said Force's abilities to negate impact were (quite literally) sorely missed. Doomsday's fists smashed into the ground where she had been, as Victory Lad ran up on Doomsday's back and emptied his armor-piercing rounds into the back of his head. Why Victory Lad though Doomsday's skull would be any softer than his hide (perhaps an addiction to first-person shooters…), no one knew, and it was only luck that Victory Lad was just tossed off Doomsday's back in a barely glancing blow instead of being cut in half by a proper impact, Wulf leaping up and grabbed Victory Lad as they both crashed to the ground.
Robin wasn't precisely sure what Wulf said: it sounded like a sentence that lacked any sort of vowels, as the 'Welsh Wonder' popped reinforced-metal claws from his fingertips.
"You said it Wulf, this is a pretty hairy situation." Victory Lad said as he slammed a new clip into his weapon, before looking at Robin. "So, you actually going to do anything, or just dump it all in our laps now?"
"Watch and learn, proxyman." Savior said as he dropped down, as Raven emerged from the shadows nearby, with Starfire, Argent, Lightning, Thunder, Lost, Kurai, Halo, and both Speedys with her.
"Are you sure about this, Friend Raven…"
"I haven't done enough." Raven said, as she turned around and threw open her cloak, as her body disappeared into inky blackness. "DO IT!"
And so all the Titans thrust out their hands or weapons and fired directly into the portal Raven had become, as the other end of the portal flared into existence right in front of Doomsday's face.
He took the combined blast on the chin, and Robin blinked. Had he finally seen some chips of bone fly off of Doomsday's face?
Hyperion took advantage of the attack to add his own blast, as he hammered Doomsday with a follow-up shot of his Megavision, as Die Spinne floated down and wrapped Doomsday in more webbing as he was distracted. Hyperion moved to attack again…
Except the White Hole violently shoved him out of the way first and charged in with a furious scream, before she leapt and smashed Doomsday with her mace again.
"…well, she's rude, but I guess we can't be choosy about allies at the moment…" Hyperion said, flying in and punching Doomsday across the face even as the White Hole smashed another blow into Doomsday's knee. Doomsday ripped free of the webbing, but his attack was interrupted as Paragon returned and lanced a flying knee into the back of Doomsday's head, even as Wulf clambered onto Doomsday and tried to claw his eyes out.
Wulf ended up hurled off again, as Doomsday grabbed Paragon and Hyperion and smashed them together before turning his attention back to the White Hole…as she bashed him across the face with her mace again. Doomsday roared and fired off another blow.
The White Hole met it with her mace.
It broke off a bone knuckle.
Even as the weapon shattered completely, leaving the White Hole empty handed. She grinned through a mouthful of blood.
"Only way to feel…!" The White Hole said, leaping up with her fist cocked.
Doomsday beat her to the punch, literally, a thunderclap of force sounding in the Titans' ears. Only Tachion, in her 'delayed state' saw just how viciously the White Hole's neck wrenched from the blow, as the alien flew across the street and crashed through a crumbled building, more rubble tumbling down after her impact. Tachion didn't think she'd be back.
Which could be bad in the end, as Victory Lad and Fuzzball's gunfire didn't even get Doomsday's attention as he stomped over to Paragon, who had been knocked dazed again…
As Captain Marvel Jr dropped down and seized onto Doomsday's arm.
"CAPTAIN MARVEL!"
And Hyperion pulled Captain Marvel Jr away at the last second before the magical lightning bolt could turn him back into his normal self, leaving Doomsday to take the full brunt of the magical lightning, which staggered him once more. Platinum Blonde waded in and smashed her fist into Doomsday's side, even as Legend leapt up and began pounding on Doomsday's head, while Hyperion and Captain Marvel Jr returned and began hammering Doomsday as well. Doomsday bellowed and swung at his attackers, only for Tachion to move them out of the way of his attacks as the four instantly restarted their attack, even as Paragon, Gauntlet, and Scalpel joined in as well, and Starfire, Raven, Argent, Scorcher, Kurai, and a badly hurt Red Star fired off concentrated blasts, focusing their attacks on Doomsday's head and face as the strength attackers brawled with him. Terra and Rocko added the last piece, as they lashed out with their power and upturned the ground under Doomsday's feet to keep him off balance and unable to retaliate.
"…holy crap, I think we might actually pull this off." Savior said, while the mass of attackers hammered on Doomsday: Savior could swear he saw Doomsday's counter-attacks begin to slow down…
"Don't forget who he is." Robin said. "Maybe we can just…wear him down enough to make it easier…but…"
Savior didn't reply, but the dim hope remained. After all this terrible tragedy, maybe the good guys could still win yet…
The sky crackled with power, lightning flashing in the dark clouds as the Lord and Prime charged at each other, as the Lord's cloaks lanced forward and turned into stabbing 'stitchwork' blades to precede his attack. Prime punched his way through them, while the Lord slashed out with his claws, slicing across Prime's torso…and got smashed with a counter-backhand he wasn't able to dodge, sending him tumbling away briefly before he righted himself.
Prime fired off another blast of heat vision: the Lord thrust out an arm and fired off his own blast to counter it…and found Prime's solar blast cutting through his own attack like a hot knife through butter, the twin beams tearing through the Lord's own and ripping through his body…
Which shattered. Prime realized about a nanosecond before the Lord lanced in from his left and kicked him in the face as hard as he could that he'd been faked out again.
"The fox and the cat." The Lord said, musing on the Aesop as he reformed his twin-bladed katana and swung in to attack again. Wondering if despite it all…
No. Doubts were for the mortals. And he…
Might as well have been that, it seemed, as he slashed out with his weapon and Prime grabbed it again.
"How many times are you going to use this stupid sword?" Prime taunted, breaking it once more before smashing his fist into the Lord's face, sending the Lord flying across the sky again.
The Weather Wizard barely missed colliding with the shadow god, and nearly dropped his power-granting wand in the process, as cold sweat broke out again on his brow. Why had he listened to the command to try and do something about the clouds? All the Weather Wizard had been able to determine was that they weren't in any way natural, and with the sheer destruction going on around them, he, like more than a few others, was thinking of getting back to Keystone…
He was looking at him.
The dark man who he'd almost gotten flattened by was looking at him, and he didn't look happy.
"…unwise." The Lord said, and raised a hand.
Superboy-Prime crashed into the Lord, and the two went tumbling away from the Weather Wizard: the shock he was frozen in finally broke as he turned to flee, beckoning the winds to carry him away from this as fast as they could.
As the Lord surprised Prime with a head butt, moments before seizing his armor, even as his fingers burned at its touch.
"No one gets out." The Lord said.
And he hurled Prime after the Weather Wizard.
Prime barely noticed the form he impacted against, as he bounced off…only to be caught by a Lord blast and sent flying off into the distance.
And Weather Wizard…felt cold, as the last nerve signals from his shattered back blinked through his system, his wand falling from numb fingers…
Nothing to carry him. Nothing left but to fall. His last fall, after a lifetime of so many.
At least before black fingers seized him.
Perhaps Mark Mardon, in his last moments, thought for a second he had been saved. Then he remembered his life path.
There was no saving for him, as the Lord pulled him up to face him.
"No one."
And the Lord stabbed his claws through the Weather Wizard's chest. Strangely, the rogue barely felt it.
"…Clyde…" He whispered.
The Lord tossed the body aside, not watching it plummet into the growing ruin of Metropolis, instead looking at the blood on his claws.
He knew why he'd killed Mardon: he could have interfered with the Lord's cloud cover. It was the fact that the Weather Wizard had been trying to do that in itself…
Strange. What drove his supposed ilk to stay? He knew why the heroes did…why did the villains? Did they not realize what was happening?
Would no one, in the end?
Would the Lord have to fight the whole world to claim it?
Prime's scream of insane rage preceded his return, The Lord snapped his black eyes towards the noise, as his claws vanished into a bloodsoaked clenched fist.
Of course it would. If that was how it went.
If the whole world stood against him, then the whole world would fall before him.
And if Superboy-Prime thought he was exempt, then he was sadly mistaken.
"ENOUGH."
Prime's fist shot over the Lord, as he dodged away from the attack and returned his own blow that Prime didn't dodge, slamming his fist into Prime's face and leaving a bloody imprint on his visage as the teenager was driven back.
"I've. HAD. ENOUGH!!!!!" The Lord yelled as he reformed his sword, switching from his katana to a gigantic Zweihaender before he charged forward and slashed Superboy-Prime's body and armor. The sword failed to cut like all his previous slices, and Prime retaliated with a blast of heat vision at the weapon.
It vanished into whispering shadows first, reforming in the Lord's other hand as he slashed Prime across the face. Prime let out a wordless cry of rage and countered with a punch, sending the Lord tumbling across the sky once more.
"That's it…that's it…" The Lord said, as he swung the sword at Prime and fired a piercing blast from its tip. Prime dodged away from it, the blast exploding in Metropolis Bay before Prime rammed both his fists into the Lord and the two went tumbling across the sky again, briefly trading punches and slashes before they broke apart.
Prime chuckled viciously, as smoke wafted from various places on the Lord's body, while his own form bore no such marks. The Lord glared at Prime in turn, but he seemingly couldn't deny the difference.
"You can't DO enough." Superboy-Prime taunted. "No matter what you do, it doesn't hurt me. Now, I'll REALLY hurt you!"
And Prime flew at the Lord again, smashing into his body…as the Lord's form broke apart, growing viscous and seizing onto Prime as he flew on, the insane teenager giving a yell of surprise as he found himself caught on a makeshift hook, the Lord reforming his body where he'd been before.
"You must not fight too often with one enemy! OR YOU WILL TEACH HIM ALL YOUR ART OF WAR!" The Lord yelled, as he retracted his body and yanked Prime into his fist, the blow sending Prime tumbling in turn across the sky.
"THAT DIDN'T HURT!" Prime yelled, as he charged back at the Lord, who dodged aside.
"Yes, and that's all you need, isn't it? So strong, so tough, who cares about anything else? How could anyone else stop you?" The Lord said. "You need to learn a better game, you stupid child. Running with a pat hand too long is death."
"DON'T CALL ME STUPID!" Superboy-Prime screamed as he flew at the Lord again. He flew right into a snarl of cloak, before the Lord slammed his knee into Prime's torso to double him over and then rammed an elbow into the back of his head, sending him plummeting downwards for a bit.
"You see, there's being invulnerable, and then there's being unstoppable…"
Prime flew back up, crashing into the Lord once again as the two grappled across the sky.
"And I know the difference." The Lord said. Prime landed a punch across his face, but the Lord held his ground even as the impact nearly tore his head off again. "Never played chess, have you? Another game you should learn. You learn how to plan out all your moves in advance, knowing exactly when to put them in play, how to react to your opponent's moves…and when to make the last ones."
"SHUT UP!" Prime screamed as he cut loose with his heat vision: the Lord's body opened up and Prime's attack flew through empty space.
"Like this. You have superhuman hearing! Can hear a pin drop from ten miles away! Good for you!" The Lord said.
A black sphere abruptly formed around the pair, and Prime, for a second, abruptly became aware of all sound dropping away. The Lord had locked the two in an absolute bubble.
"Also bad." The Lord said as he slammed his hands over Prime's ears. "I did this with your 'fake' once. He got an annoying person. You, get Krakatoa erupting."
Black power blazed on the Lord's hands.
"Magnified 25,000 times."
It was a good thing the Lord had sealed the two in a bubble to keep all the power within focused on Prime. The noise he sent hammering into Prime's brain probably would have rendered everyone deaf in twenty square miles.
And as the sphere broke apart, it was clear that even Prime couldn't shrug something like that off: the Lord had neatly bypassed his invulnerability. For a moment Prime almost fell, and then lurched around, his eyes glazed, punch-drunk, a low gasping noise of surprise and confusion issuing from his mouth.
The Lord spoke up again. Guessing Prime's ears might be…off, he spoke mentally into his mind.
"You said I couldn't hurt you." The Lord said. "I can. And for thinking otherwise, you ARE stupid."
Superboy-Prime stared with an almost drugged expression before his rage finally threw off his fugue, as he screamed once more and charged at the Lord.
"Oh, that displeased you? Then you're really going to hate this." The Lord said, as he dodged aside: Prime gave rapid chase, howling his anger all the while. "Now, that invulnerability biomatrix of yours, it's damn potent. Even I can't seem to pierce it, which is really saying something…but you see, that natural shield of yours, it's designed a certain way. Most of it is focused on your outer epidermis, and beyond. It's why your outfit, cape, and armor haven't been damaged in the fight. But, as said, that's where it's FOCUSED. The problem with that is…"
Prime screamed once more.
And the Lord shot out his hand, black smoky energy surging out and flying right into Prime's mouth, shooting down his throat and into his stomach, lungs, and heart.
"The inside's not as well protected as it could be."
And the Lord detonated the energy within Prime's body, setting off a blast that was the equivalent of the shadow god firing the Watchtower's old nuclear energy cannon down Prime's throat. Prime's eyes nearly popped out of his head, as he staggered back and then hunched over, smoke pouring from his mouth as he coughed, gasped, and tried to draw air back into his agonized innards.
"You know, you should feel honored. You really can't use the same tricks twice in this world of ours…and here I am, having to use them on someone like YOU." The Lord lamented. "You should have stayed in your supposed paradise child. No matter how strong you are, the real world's worse. And that's why it belongs to me. Not you. Never you. NEVER."
"Augh, guh…auAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH I'LL KILL YOUUUUUUUUUUU!" Superboy-Prime bellowed as he charged at the Lord again, but his punches were slower, sloppier, Prime's anger unable to overcome the fire within him. The Lord suspected he might have even been able to dodge without his time magic, but he didn't take the chance, as his eyes narrowed.
"You know what the difference between you and me is?" The Lord said. "I'm willing to face pain. If it gets what needs to be done accomplished…but you? You ran from it. And now you can't stop. Which is really bad for you, as I'm afraid you're out of places to run." The Lord said, as he dodged Prime's attacks. "There's a reason I've been doing this the way I did. Taking all your attacks, retaliating with all my so called 'pointless' ones in return…taking the pain. Because to beat you heroes, even ones as ruined as you, one has to know you. Body and soul. Your soul's beyond me, but your body…I wondered, for a moment, if even I could figure it out. It was close." The Lord said. "But I did. And I'm afraid my 'sound and fury' attacks weren't the culmination. No…just the last…confirmations. Of something you would never consider."
"RAAARRRGGGHHHHH!" Prime snarled, as he threw another dodged punch. For a moment, the Lord almost felt sorry for the child. There was a certain tragedy in those who couldn't grasp their fate.
"You're invulnerable to magic."
And the Lord dashed backwards and threw up his hands.
"BUT YOUR SUIT'S NOT!"
And black energy surged out and slammed into Prime's blue and gold armor, Prime stopping in surprise at the Lord's words, as the Lord poured on the power…
…and Prime grinned.
"What's this? Trying to break it? You can't break it, it's-UUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Prime retched as it suddenly felt like someone had stuck a needle of liquid nitrogen into every cell of his body. Unlike the last two attacks, it didn't HURT…but…
"What are you DOING?"
"Just replacing the yellow sunlight your suit constantly feeds into your cells with my own power. Like I said before. Magic can't hurt you. But it can affect you."
"YOU THINK YOU CAN DEPOWER ME!? I'M STRONGER THAN ANYTHING IN THIS WHOLE UNIVERSE! IT'LL NEVER WORK!" Prime screamed as he charged forward and smashed a punch across the Lord's face, his strength still apparent despite the bizarre wrenching coldness within him. The Lord took the attack, but he also didn't relent, as he continued pouring his darkness into Prime's being.
"STOP IT! STOP IT!" Prime yelled, as he threw more punches into the Lord's face. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?!?"
"Your cells…charged with solar energy…such power…it grants…" The Lord said through clenched teeth "I have no doubt…your body can adapt…and reject my energies…but it's not a switch. You can't just flick it off. While my power is forced into you…it's like getting sick! Your body needs time to return to normal, and while it does, it goes crazy! Stops working properly! And I suspect…!"
And the Lord abruptly cut off his power as he charged in.
"THAT INCLUDES YOUR DAMNABLE INVUNERABILITY BIOMATRIX!"
The Lord punched Prime in the face.
Once again, Prime was driven back.
But this time, as he recovered…a trickle of blood issued forth from his nose.
He felt it, somehow, over all the other abuse the Lord had caused him in the past moments, as he reached up and touched the red flow. It wasn't the first time he had bled…but in Prime's insane mind, it might as well have been.
"…no…"
"…check." The Lord said.
Superboy-Prime's head snapped back as the Lord zapped towards him and caught him under the chin with a vicious upward kick, sending Prime flying upwards as the Lord blurred and reformed elsewhere as he lashed out with another kick, burying it in the small of Prime's back once more and sending him tumbling across the sky again.
"NO! NO!" Prime screamed: he could feel the blows, they were hurting him…
And the Lord wasn't done as he reformed in front of Prime and slashed his claws across Prime's face: he barely made a scratch…but this time, there WAS a scratch.
"NO! S-STOP! STOP I-I-IT!" Prime screamed, before the Lord slashed down and smashed both fists into Prime's face and then seized him and kicked him back upwards, the Lord's form splitting apart and following Prime, each extra body turning into a blade that slashed upward across Prime's body and drove him further into the sky.
"HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"AND FOR THE LAST TIME, SHUT UP!"The Lord yelled, as he reformed above Superboy-Prime and punched downward, sending Prime shooting back towards the ground, as the Lord's gigantic blade flew back into his hand.
"And THIS, child, is MATE!"
And the Lord spun the sword up and hurled it down at Prime like a lightning bolt, the point impaling on Prime's armor and sending him rocketing down even faster…
While black power crackled across the Lord's body and focused on his left hand. For a moment, he tried to think of something to say.
And then let his action speak for him, slamming his hand down and firing a gigantic blast after Prime, as it blazed down and slammed into the sword and Prime, riding him all the way down.
The sound of Prime being brought down to earth seemed to shake the world in and of itself.
At the very least, it shook Metropolis, as the whole city spasmed under the impact. More broken buildings fell. Gas lines ignited. Heroes and villains alike were thrown off their feet.
And Nightwalker was sent sprawling on her face as her balance was badly altered, her sword clattering on the ground in front of her as she lost her grip on it. It was only due to luck Alexander didn't join her on the ground, as he adjusted his stance.
And Doomsday fell down, squashing Gauntlet beneath him (a Gauntlet energy shield kept anything really bad from happening), as he finally punched away Platinum Blonde and then Paragon, as he began breaking free of his semi-trapped state.
"Crap! More force! Give them time to recover!" Robin yelled, and several other Titans leapt in or opened fire.
Nightwalker looked up at Alexander, as he looked back down at her…while his energies exploded anew on his hands.
"…Go AHEAD." Nightwalker sneered. "That's WHO YOU ARE NOW."
"I can live with that." Alexander said.
And the Lord stared down at the crater Superboy-Prime had left…in dull, stunned shock.
Prime was GETTING UP.
It was slow, it was agonized, but he was getting up, as Superboy-Prime pushed the rubble off of himself and slowly began to rise to his feet.
And for a moment, the Lord's composure slipped, as the black rage and hate that burned at the core of his being slipped across his features…and then began surging through his limbs.
"NO." The Lord said, as he raised his hands.
The clouds rumbled. Black power crackled through them, the Lord's cloaks flowing around his body as the energies above began pouring into his form.
Superboy-Prime fully stood, looked up into the sky…and screamed a defiance that would have made any hero proud.
But Prime was no longer a hero.
And the Lord would NOT be defied.
"I. SAID. ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
And the Lord thrust his hands down as he put every single aspect of himself into the last strike. He'd thought his sword-impact would be enough. He'd aimed to shock Prime's vulnerable system into submission, and had essentially hit every single cell in his body with the force equivalent of 50,000 times Earth's gravity.
And it hadn't worked.
So the Lord went straight up to 250,000.
Whatever the dinosaurs had heard in their last days had probably sounded a lot like what happened.
The impact didn't shake the Earth, it virtually picked it up and rattled it around like a snow globe. The crater Prime was in octupled in size, even as the ground on either side was ripped apart from the sheer force being hammered into it, the ground tearing apart a long scar across Metropolis.
One third of the shattered city had already been razed. The Lord's final blow took care of another third, as dozens of blocks shattered, broke down, or otherwise disintegrated…
Including the Titans' battleground. Except theirs was even worse, as the ground, severely weakened from all the abuse already thrown at it, collapsed in on itself.
"OH N-!" Was all Robin could get out before Doomsday, the Titans, and their allies disappeared into a sinkhole with several blocks worth of buildings collapsing in on them, some of the fliers frantically attempting to keep clear…and being hammered down anyway by the sheer volume of rubble, the battleground's destruction swallowing them all in the end and leaving seemingly no remains.
And it wasn't just there, as Alexander's blast slammed into the ground next to Nightwalker as he barely avoided falling once more from the terrible force that had been brought down on the city of Metropolis…as a building nearby shattered at its base and began to come down between him and Nightwalker.
The last thing Alexander heard from her was a very bad word, and then he slammed his hand on his World View as it carried him away from the collapsing structure. Alexander didn't stop his retreat for another good thirty seconds before he stopped.
"…damn them." Alexander said. "What have…they…"
Then his eyes seized on a certain piece of information on his World View, as he reached out and enhanced it. It couldn't be…
The World View was doing an astonishing amount of calculations, and one of them was keeping track of all the Society's life signs. Alexander had already seen more than a few go dead as the Lord and Prime's fight carried out its terrible collateral damage.
But it had ALL the Society's life signs.
And Alexander couldn't believe what he was seeing, as he watched Superboy-Prime's vitals give one last jerk.
"It can't be…"
And then flatline.
And as Alexander stared at the holograms, he began to wonder if there was some mistake, some malfunction. This was impossible. Prime was unbeatable. He had known Prime, Clark Kent, most of his life, and the boy was almost too stubborn and stupid to lose, even if he hadn't had the powers of an angry god.
And yet…the flatline continued.
Up in the sky, a hundred or so feet above it, the Lord looked down at Prime's form, laying in the epicenter of the wound the Lord had carved on the world. Again, he mused…
As he listened to Prime's last breath rasp from his lungs, and then his heart stop beating.
"…the rest…is silence." The Lord said. He wondered briefly if he should go down and rip Prime's armor suit off, but after a beat, decided there was no point. It could feed all the energy it wanted to Prime, there was no longer any hand behind the wheel.
The crisis was over.
Long live the crisis.
Now what?
Now, Alexander Luthor thought, he would lose, unless the remnants of his villain army could gather together and beat something which had just killed the man who had fought off dozens of superheroes, including some of the strongest on the planet, at once, and laughed at their attacks…
But wait…Prime was, as said, on par with a god. Surely anything that had bested him would be pushed to their utter limits. Maybe a last ditch attack could work. Maybe this could all still be salvaged…
And then it happened.
The Lord had prepared well for what he'd planned to do, ever since he'd gotten some idea of the forces in play.
Yet he was still nearly finished, virtually all of his power expended in his efforts to stop Prime, especially his final attack. He was a perfect target, much like Alexander had been.
But he was not Alexander Luthor.
Luthor had fallen to darkness.
The Lord was of it.
And it was all around him.
And he knew what it had to do.
"…come…" The Lord said, as he began floating up again.
Calling on all the darkness below.
"Give it to me…give me your angers, your regrets, your grudges and hates…give me your poisons, your venoms, your vitriols…give me all the shortcuts and failures that led to this…give me what you all are. Give me your definition, so I may define…" The Lord said, as he began feeding on every bit of darkness, of all concepts, in the battlefield below, as he felt his strength returning, even as he floated up and his dark clouds surged and roiled above him.
His sword returned…and transformed into a staff, as his power, not fully restored but greatly replenished, surged and burned through him, ripping and tearing through the skies.
"You should have listened…you could have heard them…and now you will…now you all will…"
The power raged around his staff, as he held it out.
"For this is a new world. And it will be mine." The Lord said. "And what is a crisis…without shadow demons?"
And the Lord swung his staff up, and black power erupted upward and exploded into the clouds, as they began to burn with even greater energy.
"I hear them…I hear them…and so…" The Lord said. "To you, world of mine. From one magnificent bastard's tongue to another. HERE. COME. THE DRUMS!"
And the clouds split open, and legions of shadows descended, eager to devour all those who would oppose them below.
And as Alexander watched the Lord's armies descend on Metropolis, he began to briefly wonder if, after all his brilliance and efforts, he had somehow, all along, backed the wrong horse.
Out- out are the lights- out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.