Chapter Fifteen: The End Begins
The destroyed shuttle drifted endlessly through the void of space. The LexCorp insignia on the rocket was still in tact, gleaming in the light of the stars. This was the space shuttle that Superman had destroyed nearly a week before, when he had attacked astronaught Hank Henshaw before the rocket had even taken off.
"What's that doc?" Red asked, looking out the window of the spacecraft used by the Challengers of the Unknown. Doc had built the spacecraft, and Ace piloted it masterfully. Red and Rocky had been sitting casually in the lounge when they saw the ruined space shuttle drifting.
"Interesting. It's a destroyed shuttle, a LexCorp shuttle judging by the insignia." Doc said, staring out the window. "Ace! Pull over by that wreckage!" Doc called.
"Sure thing." Ace called back, and soon they were hovering toward the ruins. Doc then sent Rocky and Red out in their space suits to search. They quickly suited up and went out into the vacuum of space, stepping onto the devastated shuttle. After sifting through some of the wreckage, Rocky found something interesting.
"Hey Red! Get over here, I think I found something!"
Red moved reluctantly over to his slow-witted friend, almost certain that he had found something stupid as usual. But when he looked at what Rocky had discovered, he nearly threw up in his helmet. It was a bloody, mutilated, scorched human body, torn to shreds by whatever had destroyed the shuttle. Around the corpse's nearly severed head was a helmet connected to an oxygen tank.
"Oh man… somebody here bit the dust." Red sighed, moving a bit closer to the body. Then suddenly, the body's arm shot out and grabbed Red's ankle. "Oh my God!" Red shrieked, leaping backward. Rocky jumped too.
"Red? Rocky? What's going on out there?" Doc demanded through the communicator.
"We- we found a dead guy, and then things went zombie-flick on us!" Red shouted.
"Heellllppp…." The body pleaded weakly.
"Help?" Rocky repeated.
Red had somewhat calmed down, and realized that somehow, against all odds, this person was still alive. Barely alive, but alive. "Um, doc… prep the infirmary. I'm bringing in a patient." He said, leaning down and looking at the man's nametag. "A guy by the name of Hank Henshaw."
Meanwhile, in the ocean surrounding Themyscira…
The weapons were ready, the armies were gathered, the Amazons were moving out. Diana sat on the ship, totally conflicted. She knew that eventually, she would have to kill Superman. She had accepted that, and had no problem with that. So why did she feel so uncertain? She was filled with hatred whenever she thought about him, the things he had done to her, the torture he had put her through, she hated him. But that hate was always dampened, because she just couldn't manage to think about Superman without thinking about Clark. The Clark who she had called friend for so many years. The Clark who had saved her life so many times. The Clark who had given her hope when she needed it most.
This Clark no longer existed, she understood that. But she just couldn't bring herself to completely let go of it. She looked to Philippus, who did not appear to be eager for the coming battle. Hippolyta had been very vague about any actual plan, and as far as Diana could tell, they were just going to rush onto land and demand to have Superman. The Amazons had never been this foolish before, and Diana couldn't believe it now.
"Philippus, this is madness." Diana said sadly.
"I know." Philippus sighed, her voice equally grieved.
"What could have triggered this? Surely they cannot wish to avenge me that badly!"
"Anger does funny things, my dear. It can take the strongest, smartest, most level headed Amazon and turn her into a war-loving hate machine. Anger is a poison, and this man's actions on you have caused that poison to infect nearly everyone on Themyscira."
"But my mother has been angry before, and she's never waged war like this!"
"I am as confused as you, my dear. But-" Philippus was suddenly very quiet. "But I think your mother's anger prior to your return may have led to something else entirely."
"What do you mean?"
"While you were missing… actually just a day before you returned… Hippolyta was growing desperate. She needed assurance that you were alive. At one point in time she locked herself inside the palace and forbade anyone else from entering. I do not know exactly what she did but… but I sensed the presence of Ares on the island." Philippus said grimly.
"What…? You don't think my mother… you don't think she made a deal with Ares, do you?"
"You described earlier that you seemed to wake up from death, correct? Maybe that is more correct than you think. Perhaps it is because of Hippolyta's wager with Ares that you are alive today. But as you know, with Ares… there is always a price to pay."
Diana was silent now. Silent and filled with rage. Rage at her mother, but even more so rage toward Ares. He had manipulated all of this. At the request of her own mother, Ares had brought Diana back to life, but at the price of war with man's world. Then he had played dumb about it and struck another deal with Diana, he restored her sight in exchange for going to Themyscira… to set off a war that was already inevitable anyway. Ares was a cruel, manipulative being. This had always been known. But never before had Diana wanted to destroy him so badly.
She thought about telling Philippus of her suspicions, but decided against it. She now understood that war was completely inevitable. Nothing could put a stop to it. So the only thing Diana could do was put an end to the war early, but killing Superman quickly. If that was what the war was about, then it would be over when she had the man of steel's head. Diana grabbed a sword, and closed her eyes. She was ready for the kill.
Meanwhile, in the batcave…
Dick, Hawkgirl, Flash and J'onn arrived in the heart of the batcave not long after. But the sight before them was a surprising one. Question, Huntress, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Zatanna, and Galatea were all passed out on the floor, unconscious.
"What happened?" Hawkgirl said in disbelief.
"Bruce happened!" Dick shouted resentfully. "He doesn't trust anyone. Ever."
Dick ran over to where Batman had left the hypodermic needle that woke them up before, and refilled it with the fluid. He then began waking up the unconscious hero's one by one, replacing the needle each time. He woke up Galatea last, and watched her eyes open slowly.
"Hey." She said, confused about the situation. Dick couldn't help but laugh.
"Why does it feel like this has happened once already?" He grinned.
"It's your fault for always being there when I wake up. What do you just sit and stare at me while I sleep or something?" Galatea sat up, a wide smile on her face.
"Bats gassed us, as you've probably guessed." Black Canary groaned.
"Yeah, he didn't want us interfering in his big master plan." Green Arrow chimed in.
"And I thought I was paranoid." Question said, pulling himself to his feet.
"We must find him. Before he puts his plan into action." J'onn announced.
"I could put up a location spell and find him." Zatanna suggested.
"Don't waste your time. I already know where he is." Galatea responded abruptly.
"How?" Hawkgirl asked, very untrusting of Galatea.
"I had another dream-vision thing. I saw Kara getting ready to blast Superman, and Batman kind of showed up in the background. Metallo was there too… but then there was this flash of green and everything went dark. I think Superman did something to her." Galatea explained.
"Where?" Huntress demanded, already preparing her crossbow.
"Central Metropolis. Cadmus launched their ambush there."
"Figures. She's leading us right to Cadmus!" Hawkgirl shouted, raising her mace.
"Stop it! She's helping, ok? Without her we'd be totally lost right now!" Dick protested.
"If it means anything Shayera, I never really had anything against you anyways. Kara was the only one I ever had a grudge against." Galatea shrugged. Hawkgirl glared into her eyes.
"No, it doesn't mean anything at all, you murdering little bitch." She snapped, stepping closer. Galatea felt her temper flare, and she stepped forward too, but Dick put his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't. It isn't worth it." He told her, and she nodded and eased up.
"We're wasting time here. We can use the telepad to get to Metropolis faster, and maybe we can put a stop to all of this nonsense." Green Arrow said.
"Ollie's right. You guys know how to program the telepad, right?" Black Canary asked, looking to the founding JLA members.
"Yeah, J'onn's kind of an expert." Flash said. "He operates our telepads most of the time."
J'onn nodded and quickly made his way over to device. Hawkgirl followed him, being sure to shoulder Galatea along the way.
"What's her problem?" Galatea whispered.
"It's not just you. She's like that to everybody at first; she has to get to know you before she stops hating you." Flash said. Then he laughed and said, "Actually, I think she's still getting used to me."
Soon the telepad was active, and everyone prepared for transport. "There is just one problem. There are only eight teleports, meaning only eight of us can go." J'onn said.
"Can't the last two just go after?" Flash asked.
"No." J'onn shook his head. "Batman designed this telepad to go into lock after it is used, meaning that after it is used, it cannot be used again until a password is entered. He most likely did this to make sure no one could follow him anywhere." J'onn explained.
"Dick, think you could figure out Bruce's password? You know him better than anyone here." Black Canary asked.
"No, I doubt that I could figure it out. His passwords usually aren't even in English, just as another safety precaution." Dick shook his head.
"Then we have to pick two people to stay behind." Green Arrow sighed, looking among the group.
"I vote Galatea!" Hawkgirl shouted.
"We need her; she's got more muscle than anyone here… excluding J'onn, of course." Question pointed out. "Perhaps I should stay. We all know I'm not much good in the field of combat."
"But you're an irreplaceable asset when it comes to everything else, Question. Chances are we'll need you at some point." Huntress argued.
"Guys, there's no need to fight about this." Zatanna interrupted. "Truth be told, I think I could more useful elsewhere."
"Why is that?" Dick asked.
"I can hop locations with the simplest of spells. I could go out and gather reinforcements, in case things get any uglier." Zatanna suggested.
"Makes sense." Question agreed. "Who else?"
"I'll stay behind. I'm leader of the Birds of Prey now, I need to gather up the team and explain the situation to them." Black Canary said.
"No!" Huntress interrupted. "With your sonic scream, you could be more useful against enemies like Superman than I could. I'll gather up the Birds of Prey and tell them what's going on, you go and fight." She insisted.
"Ok. So it's settled then, Huntress and Zatanna won't be going with us." Dick nodded. "Everyone in agreement?" There were no objections.
"Be careful." Question warned Huntress.
"Me be careful? Honey, you're the one running out on a suicide mission against Cadmus and the man of steel!" Huntress laughed.
"Alright, let's move out then." Flash said, and the eight here were going each stepped onto the telepad, and in a bright blue flash, were sent away to Central Metropolis. Zatanna left through a magical rift, off to find reinforcements, and Huntress left on a stolen batcylce, headed to gather up the Birds of Prey. Everyone knew that this nightmare was almost over.
Seconds Later, in Central Metropolis…
Batman prepared to fire the portal, when in a blur he was struck by Superman, and sent tumbling into a chunk of debris. Superman picked the dark knight up by the throat. "You're slowing down Bruce… your trigger finger used to be a lot quicker than that." Superman taunted. Then he began to squeeze, suffocating the hero.
Batman took advantage of Superman's currently weakened state, and jammed the spikes on his gauntlet deep into the man of steel's ribs! Superman cried out in pain and leaped back, blood coating his left side. Batman then made a mad dash for the portal generator, when there was a bright blue flash, and suddenly a group of eight heroes were present. Dick, Galatea, Question, Black Canary, Green Arrow, J'onn, Hawkgirl and Flash had arrived on the scene.
"Shayera… sorry to J'onn's still alive." Superman said, glaring them down.
"John's just fine. Him and Diana broke out." Flash called. Superman's eyes suddenly gaped wide open.
"The game's over Clark. You have no leverage now, and we're taking you down." Dick said sternly.
"That's impossible. Diana's dead… I should know, I've been enjoying her corpse for quite a while now." Superman grinned. Batman stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he heard this. He then turned around and faced the corrupted hero down.
"On second thought…" Batman said, kicking the Phantom Zone Generator away, "I want to do this the old fashioned way." He then punched Superman in the jaw so hard that he found himself brushing chunks of Kryptonian teeth off of his knuckles!
"Ooh… did I hit a nerve?" Superman smiled wickedly. He stood up, laughing. "You know I have to say Bruce, you do have good taste. Problem is she was just a bit too feisty… so I was sure to take the fight out of her, along with the heartbeat."
"You…" Batman muttered, clenching his fists. "Clark… or Kal El, or whatever the hell you are right now… I hope you have all of your affairs in order." Batman removed his utility belt and threw it to the side, wanting to use only his bare hands for this.
"Don't lie to yourself Bruce. If you had the guts to kill, then why on Earth is the Joker still alive… huh?"
"Batman lives by one golden rule. Never take a human life. And until now, I've always considered you human… but that's no longer the case. You aren't human anymore, you aren't even Kryptonian anymore! You're just a monster. And I can kill you with absolutely no remorse."
"Do it then. Let's see if you really have it in you, Wayne!" Superman called, flying toward his enemy. But then he suddenly lost all strength and fell to the ground. He remembered that were still some chunks of kryptonite from the bullet embedded in his shoulder. "Damn it… this'll put me on an even playing field with the rodent." Superman then looked over the group of heroes surrounding him. "And with this whole group here… I actually don't stand a chance." He muttered hatefully.
He began to back up cautiously, looking for any possible way to escape. Then his eyes darted to Kara, who was lying half-consciously on the ground, the kryptonite bullet next to her head. He smiled and quickly snatched her up off the ground, levitating slowly into the air and grasping her throat threateningly.
"I'll kill her! I swear to God I'll kill her if any of you move!" He announced.
"Dick, now's your chance. Hit him." Black Canary said. Dick had prepared a high-voltage tazer to take Superman down. But Superman had noticed this, and if Dick fired Kara would be dead before it even hit.
"I can't… I can't let Kara die." Dick said, backing down.
"I can!" Galatea cried, flying off at super speed. But Dick quickly shot a grapple that wrapped around her let, and he pulled her down to the ground.
"Don't. Please don't. You can't give Bruce any sort of excuse to send you back to Ryker's." Dick pleaded. Galatea nodded resentfully and stood down too.
"Good." Superman announced. "Now… you!" He said, pointing to Green Arrow. "Kill Batman!" He demanded.
"No!" Green Arrow protested.
"Ok then." Superman said with a smile, squeezing Kara's throat so hard that blood literally gushed out her mouth!
"Stop!" Batman demanded.
"Come on Bruce! What happened to that killer instinct you supposedly just had? Where's that now?" Superman mocked. "Let's see if you really have it in you! Let's see if you have the guts! You can take me down right now and let her and I both die, or you can let me go and be the gutless loser you've always been!"
"Look at yourself Clark! Look what you've become! You're suddenly willing to kill your only blood relative just for sport! How can you live with yourself?"
"At the end of the day, she's just another victim. Just like everyone else." Superman reasoned.
Then there was a sudden flash, and blood spurted from Superman's shoulder blade, and he fell to the ground screaming. Behind him stood The Question, holding a dropped Cadmus rifle.
"Good shootin' Vic!" Flash called.
"Too bad that super hearing of his was drowned out by his own ego." Question said, dropping the gun and helping Kara to her feet.
"You shot me in the back… real heroic Vic!" Superman taunted.
"Look who's talking." Question retorted.
Batman drew a baterang and prepared to finish the man of steel off, when there was a sudden blast of heat vision from above! It struck Batman in the back and blasted him into the concrete. Everyone looked up to see two Superman Drones circling above! One of them zoomed down and punched Question in the chest, sending him flying through a window. It then spun around and struck Kara in the head, causing her go tumbling. A Superman Drone then pried the kryptonite chunks out of Superman's bullet wound.
"Why are they helping him?" Galatea asked frantically.
"Because Lex Luthor isn't done with him quite yet." Dick growled, readying his escrima sticks.
Black Canary let lose a sonic scream, but it had no affect on the Superman Drones! They then stood shoulder-to-shoulder and released a wave of super breath than blasted her off her feet.
Green Arrow opened fire, but the arrows glanced harmlessly off of the SuperDrone's metallic bodies, and then they super-speeded over. One broke his bow while the other threw him like a fastball into an over turned jeep, and Green Arrow hit the vehicle so hard that he nearly split it in half!
J'onn moved in for an attack, but one of the drones released a blast of heat vision while the other fired super-breath. The super breath expanded the flame of the heat vision, and nearly incinerated J'onn! The Martian dropped to his hands and knees, burning alive.
"Something isn't right… it seems like they've already been programmed to fight us! They know exactly how to beat each of us!" Hawkgirl realized.
"No surprise there. Luthor's probably been storing up data on us for who knows how long." Dick agreed. Galatea attacked one of the drones with a flurry of wild punches, denting the machine up, but not doing a whole lot of internal damage. The second drone shot her in the back with heat vision, and the one she had been punching elbowed her in the head, ramming her face first into it's knee, and then drop kicked her across the battlefield.
"Galatea!" Dick shouted, attacking, but he too was quickly neutralized. One of the drones went in for a kill on Dick, when suddenly it was sucked up in a large red portal! The same quickly happened to the second drone.
"What the…" Black Canary muttered, then she looked up and saw that Supergirl had risen and activated the Phantom Zone generator!
"Now it's your turn Clark." She said, firing on her cousin, who was beginning to fly away in all the confusion. He avoided the portal, but when it opened up behind him, a pair of large, monstrous arms jutted out and grabbed him by the shoulders. The arms of Doomsday!
"Diiiiieeeee!" The monster called from inside the Phantom Zone. Bits and pieces of the two Superman Drones were falling out of the portal. Doomsday had already destroyed them! Now he was moving onto Superman, pulling him violently into the portal.
"No! No! No!" Superman screamed, struggling to resist. "Kara! I'll kill you for this! I'll rip out your intestines and strangle you with them! You'll regret this you little-" But before he could finish his sentence, Question threw a rock and hit him in the head knocking him the rest of the way into the portal.
"Watch your language." Question said proudly. But something was wrong… the portal wasn't closing!
"Um… what's going on? Why won't it close?" Supergirl shouted.
"What did you set it to?" Batman asked.
"There are different settings?" She was shocked to hear this. Batman groaned and looked to the device.
"No! You set it to release everything in the Phantom Zone!"
"I- I didn't know… can you reverse or something?" She asked.
"Yes, give me a moment to-" But before Batman could tamper with the device, a beam of heat vision shot out from inside the portal and sawed it in half!
"No! I won't be locked in this hellhole!" Superman's voice called out from the inside.
"Oh… we're all doomed." Flash sighed, slumping down. Occasionally Superman would appear through the portal, but he would quickly be pulled back in the by the murderous hate machine known as Doomsday. The problem was anything else that might get out…
Then there was a sudden light. More things began escaping through the portal, most of them small things just slipping past, but all of them deadly. Then a series of shadows began to emerge…
But soon there was a sudden light, and the portal began to close. "What's happening?" Galatea called.
"It's J'onn! He's closing the portal telepathically!" Hawkgirl shouted. J'onn was struggling with all his might, this was possibly the most difficult thing he had ever done. The portal finally closed, but unfortunately, at the very moment it did so, Superman began to pry through, Doomsday still holding on. The portal closed, and Superman was free, Doomsday's severed arm still holding onto him! Superman quickly threw the arm down. Then he blasted an overturned tank with heat vision, and caused a massive explosion! By the time the smoke cleared, Superman was gone.
"Damn!" Batman screamed, punching a hole in the wall of a building! "I can't believe I let him slip away…"
"We have to find him. He couldn't have gotten far, if we split up and search the area-" Dick started to say, but Batman quickly cut him off.
"Don't waste your time. I already know where he's going." Batman said.
"Where?" They all asked nearly in unison.
"Where else…? He's going after Lex Luthor."
"Let's head out then!" Flash said, and the group began to move.
"Hold on, no reason to go on foot." Black Canary said, nodding toward a still operational Cadmus jeep." I say we take that thing." Everyone nodded and began moving toward the vehicle.
"Once second." Green Arrow called, taking out the piece of kryptonite that Batman had removed from Galatea's arm earlier. "I picked this up from the cave, thought it might come in handy." He said, then he walked over to the destroyed, smoldering body of Metallo.
"Do it." Batman nodded. Green Arrow placed the piece of Kryptonite inside Metallo's destroyed chest. Now that he was powered again, his body began to reconfigure. After several minutes, Metallo had risen again. Green Arrow began to ask for his help on the mission, but Metallo cut him off.
"Where is he?" Metallo demanded.
"He's after Luthor. Will you help?"
"Superman and Luthor both in the same place? Hell yeah I'm going, it'll be like killing two birds with one vengeful stone!" He said, standing.
"Let's go then. He's still weakened from the ambush, and he wont kill anyone else!" Dick announced, pounding his right fist into his left palm.
"I'll meet up with you guys there, but first I have something I need to do." Supergirl said, beginning to fly off.
"Where are you going?" Asked the Question.
"To find the one person who might be able to help him." She said distantly, flying off before nay more questions could be asked.
But as the group was starting up the jeep, Flash suddenly froze and pointed up. "Uh… guys! I think we have another problem right now!" He shouted. Everyone looked to where he was pointing, and realized what the shadows that had escaped the Phantom Zone were…
On a building above, looking down on the heroes with absolute superiority, were the Justice Lords.
-Just for the record everyone, I know the Justice Lords were never in the Phantom Zone, so no one complain about that in the reviews. You'll understand why I used them when you read the next chapter.