Earth-3 Issue Two
"They're Coming"-Part Two
By JoeyJoell
Two Days Earlier, New York City
Looking ahead at the morning city sits a small around ten year old boy. Grit and grime covers his face, his clothes filthy and a tattered blanket covering him. He stares ahead, in wonder of the rising sun. It brightens the city that was once shrouded in darkness just mere moments ago, he now sees the city that never sleeps in its full glory. Clamp. Clamp. Softened footsteps from behind him, he tries to ignore it but he worries. He worries they'll take him back.
Kid: Please, don't take me back.
?: Take you back to where?
The child turns, seeing a huge man, his biceps the size of the boy's head. He wears dark blue, a red and blue symbol covering a lot of his chest. Smoke rises from his red glowing eyes, but his face is of innocence. A large red cape blows in the wind behind him as the child stares in awe.
Kid: Home... with my parents.
?: Your parents? My parents abandoned me as a mere child.
Kid: Why?
?: I wasn't strong enough for them.
Kid: My people hate me. I'm always failing, or I can't do this or that, they... hurt me. I'm not good enough.
?: They cast me out, left me for dead. Did they do the same to you?
Kid: I ran away.
?: Why?
Kid: I told you, I'm not good enough.
?: I've heard that many times before, when I found them again.
Kid: What did you do?
?: I proved them wrong, I became stronger than they could ever imagine.
Kid: I wish I could be better.
The colossal man looks down at the child, the red in his eyes depleting for a second.
?: Come with me. What is your name?
James: James Olsen.
Two Days Later, Luthor Mansion, Metropolis
A woman with wild curly hair stands in the doorway, she's a brunette. Thick framed glasses guard her eyes, her eyebrows poking out of the top and a band aid stuck on the top right corner above them. She clutches her laptop to her side, trying to hide it. Before her stands Lex Luthor, wrapped in his bathrobe, his face surprised to see her at his door.
Lex: Lois, please... I can't.
Lois: Please, you're the one of the only men in this country I know who cares right now.
Lex: Fine.
Lois brushes past him, walking behind him as Lex struggles to keep up and turn.
Lois: I need you to log me onto a secure server.
Lex: Why can't you do this yourself?
Lois: You know which kind of one I mean.
Lex pauses, his eyes widening.
Lex: Why?
Lois: Just do it.
The Narrows, Gotham City
Red Hood Narration:
Ever since New York, I've noticed the sun has started to rise later than usual. They're saying it's the ash naturally moving through the sky, and it'll pass as the days go by.
His hands bound together, the hooded hero swings his arms, his fists smacking a police officer across the face, the metal that holds his wrists strengthening the impact against the man's cheekbone. He releases his hands from each other, the chain still keeping the wrists within a small distance of each other. Leaping forward, he quickly wraps the chain around the throat of another cop, choking him out, leaving him to sleep.
Red Hood Narration:
Now it almost never rises in the Narrows.
Three cops are left, all loading their guns as the Red Hood jumps into the line of fire, the first to fire almost hits him, the lead skidding past his cape as the shooter stares, mesmerised. In his confused pause, Red Hood is able to boot him in the face, his nose almost exploding in a cloud of blood. Two remaining, soon to be one.
Red Hood Narration:
Which means overtime, which is good.
Red Hood is almost distracted by his victory as he almost forgets about the gunfire from the two dirty cops. He back flips, taking cover behind an abandoned and ruined car, a bullet jumps through the windshield, the large shards of glass falling to the side of the hooded vigilante. Reaching in through the now destroyed window, he rips off the rear view mirror and throws it at one of his opponents, it knocking him out cold. Now noticing the large shards, he starts collecting them as the fall and leaps out of cover. Throwing himself across the alley to avoid gunfire, simultaneously he launches the glass shards from his hand and they pin the last cop to the wall through his clothes.
Cop: Dumb mother...
The Cop fires a shot, Red Hood throws another shard which pierces his enemy's hand.
Cop: YOU SON OF A...
Red Hood: Shut up before I rip your tongue out.
Cop: You don't kill.
Red Hood: I'll make sure you don't lose too much blood, Allen.
Allen: What do you want?
Red Hood: Mad Julie Madison is in Gotham. I did a little digging and found out she was being transferred from Belle Reeve... by you.
Allen :What!? I had nothing to do with that!
Red Hood: Why did you let her out of the cage, Allen!?
Allen: I didn't!
Red Hood throws a shard of glass into his thigh.
Allen: Fuck you! It... it was some old guy, British accent! He went by... uh... Outsider! Yeah, Outsider! Drove around in a black limo, didn't see the guy in the back, that's all I know, I swear!
The Red Hood puts back on his hood, which was removed in battle, Allen's face shrivelling up.
Allen: YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE ME HERE!
Red Hood: Someone'll find you eventually. Whether they find you dead or alive is out of my hands.
Luthor Mansion, Metropolis
Her fingers zapping and zipping back, forth and sideways across the keyboard, Lois Lane types in some ridiculously long codes to access secret information. Lex stands behind her, a cup of joe in his hands, his bath robe hanging from his shoulders and tied around his waist.
Lois: Sorry for being so... rushed.
Lex: I'll say, Speedy Gonzales eat your heart out.
Lois: But I need to show you this, you're the only one with the resources to let this info ou...
Lex: No, I already got into enough trouble last time you asked for a favour like that.
Lois: Fine, but I still need your help.
Lex: Wait a minute, when you knocked on my door you said that you knew what happened to New York.
Lois: Not "what", it's "who".
Removing her hands from the keyboard, Lois sits back and waits for something to load on the screen, Lex hunches over, getting closer to it.
Lois: Some footage sent to the military just as the attack was starting.
A page opens to reveal some footage from a security camera during the destruction of New York. There is no sound, but the visuals paint a picture strong enough without it.
The video shows a mass amount of people sprinting for dear life away from something terrible, something so destructive that it paints fire across the edge of the screen, racing after the many people whose screams are imagined in the heads of the viewers.
Lex: I... I...
Lois: It's here.
In the monster made of fire is the silhouette of a caped man, his eyes burning with red light as he stares at his path of destruction, a vague smile seen.
Lex: I... I need...
Lois: Lex, are you okay?
Lex sits down on the floor, his head leaning against the edge of the table.
Lex: Nobody cares, Lois. That's the thing, nobody cares. New York just got fucking obliterated and nobody's even batted an eye. I just... I just want to do something about it.
A Gotham City Apartment Complex
Making his way in through the window, the Red Hood lands on the ground with a slight, almost undetectable tap. He forward rolls to soften the fall, and then springs into his detective frame of mind. Instantly, he checks the drawers to the side of the wall, opening each drawer to find nothing but clothes, each categorised for different types.
Red Hood Narration:
First rule of searching, check the obvious places first.
Dropping down, the blood warrior checks under the bed but finds nothing but dust, dust and Detective Crispus Allen's playboy collection, that is. The vigilante checks all of the obvious hiding places, part of his rule, behind the fridge, in every cupboard, in his wardrobe, everywhere.
Red Hood Narration:
Second rule, check the phone that's blinking for messages.
Red Hood lifts the phone.
Outsider (Phone): Good job on letting Ms Sawyer loose, she'll be good for the city.
Red Hood Narration:
Margaret Sawyer, dirty cop from Metropolis, found with dead children in her basement.
Outsider (Phone): Come collect your reward, I'll send one of our followers to give it to you.
Red Hood Narration:
Shame, I was looking forward to meeting with this Outsider.
Red Hood (In best Allen impression): Where should we meet?
Outsider: The usual place, outside the Cop Shop on Iceberg, we'll do it tomorrow.
Wayne Manor, Gotham
The Outsider puts down an old 1920's styled phone and picks up a platter from a kitchen side, he walks through the vast and wondrous mansion until reaching a large room with a traditional fire. Above the fire is a well kept painting of two Gotham titans, Thomas and Martha Wayne, it's beautifully painted, the brush strokes hardly visible but the texture still there. Their eyes follow you as you move and every detail is immaculate. The Outsider looks up at the painting.
Outsider: Hmph.
Opening the head of a bust of Genghis Khan, he presses the big red button inside and the whole fireplace opens up to a staircase. The elderly man slowly steps down the stairs into a cave, a bat flying by and then an owl snatching it in its talons.
Outsider: Bruce.
Bruce: Pennyworth.
He reaches the bottom of the stairs, to his left two cases holding two suits, one the Owlman suit and the other a smaller but equally as hi-tech suit. Before him sits Bruce Wayne, the Owlman who stares up at a gigantic screen.
Outsider: I wish you'd get rid of that bloody painting.
Bruce: I can't just destroy another man's art, that would be disrespectful.
Outsider: Speaking of art, what's that little beauty on the screen?
Bruce looks to his left, a case holding the power ring in it with a camera looking into it, which records footage directly onto the screen.
Bruce: It was recovered during a meteor shower in Coast yesterday, the Coast University said it held more energy than anything they had seen before. I had Jordan sneak it out.
Outsider: How is Jordan?
Bruce: Dead, he put it on and it tore him apart limb from limb, it said he was unworthy.
Outsider: It talks?
Bruce: It hasn't since. But I'm going to auction it off to the highest bidding psychopath. I figured the "worthy" one could cause enough damage with it. By the way, where is Talon?
Outsider: He's out causing trouble, I suppose.
Bruce: He's supposed to be watching the hatchlings.
Outsider: I thought Mr. Langstrom was supposed to be doing that.
Bruce: They killed him and ate his corpse.
Outsider: Speaking of, how are the hatchlings?
Bruce: Sleeping.
The Outsider turns to his side, looking out into the cave. On the sides stand almost a thousand capsules full of sleeping children, their skins pale, their eyes open and a light blue.
Outsider: I can't wait until he comes.
TO BE CONTINUED...