Disclaimer
I don't own any of the characters I used in this story. They are the property of DC Comics and Warner Bros. However, the story is entirely a product of my own imagination
Chap 8
She sank to the floor, her eyes widened and pupils shrunk. No one was in a position to comfort her, or to take care of the unconscious God. His words struck them as thunder, and Superman was the worst hit.
High father and Orion were in partial possession of their faculties, and helped Light ray back to conscious. He panted, his eyes still filled with the same horror. Superman's look involuntarily turned to him. He did not have to speak any further.
"I don't know how it got to there, but by the time I was there, Darkseid had the white glare of Omega beam around his eyes and Batman was facing him, about three feet away. Never did I see a man stand so boldly even as the death faced him. He uttered in an impeccable tone – 'Please let me get the others out of here.'. Darkseid obliged, in fact he handed him a contraption through which he could see your position. He was given 5 minutes to do it, but he accomplished it in 3 min. And then he handed the contraption back to him and said - 'Thank you! Go ahead!' Within the next few seonds, all I could see was the brilliant glare of Darseid's Omega beam cutting through the fog. And when it was all over, Darkseid spoke – 'So you saw everything! Good! Go tell your powerless God about it! He must've fled with the so called Justice League who couldn't fend for themselves without this soul'Saying so, he thrust a boom tube over his shoulder and it fell straight into my trembling hands. He did not look at me, but he knew I was there. And then, he set his own boom tube and carried… the… remains of Batman away!" He shivered.
There was silence for a moment or two. It was horrible even to think, let alone to picturize. Diana remained on in her position, her back against the metallic wall, her feet crouched close to her chest and her resting on them. The others did not realise that their mouths have dropped open. Superman was sure his heart had skipped a beat or two and that he wasn't breathing. He did not know how to react. He wasn't ready to believe that it actually happened. He cannot die. He never dies he said to himself. Yet if he had to go by Light Ray's first hand account, Darkseid used his Omega beam on him. But…he did not die! He cannot die! He never dies! Nothing happened! Nothing…
Jonn was the first to react.
"Why did he take Batman away?" he asked.
Light Ray tried to offer an explanation, but Orion took over for him.
"He is a God and Apokalips is the place for the dead!" he remarked.
Hawk Girl was the next to react.
"What do you mean 'place for the dead'?" she cried, "What will they do to him…his…" her voice choked.
"It will reach the pit of despair, the place where the bodies of every single one of Darkseid's victims lie." High father sighed sadly, "If I knew this would happen, I would never have asked him to come."
Diana slammed his fist against the metallic compartment holding them. She growled through her tears "Why did you call him then? What was your motive, High Father?"
"You do not speak to the Gods with such indignation, Princess!" Orion interjected.
"Shut up!" Diana cried. "Listen Orion, do not test my patience. I tell you, I don't give a damn to the fact that you are Gods. I have… we all have lost our friend here, and worst of all, for absolutely nothing! He never wanted to come to begin with. He did not want me to go either, any of us for that matter. He was right, as he always is, and we were helpless on your world. You knew Superman wouldn't be able to take on Darkseid. Then why did you ask for him? And why did you want Batman to come? And what do you mean he'll be thrown into the pit of despair. I will not allow that, not till I can draw a breath! I lost him because of you and what bugs me now is there is not a thing I can do about it. SO tell me High father…WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVE??"
If Diana's outburst had done any good, it was that they had gotten to the point which led to disaster and that Superman's mind cleared up. If Diana feels that he's dead, then…He closed his eyes shut!
Orion stepped back. High Father closed his eyes for a moment and let out quick shallow breaths. Then he spoke, in an unusually even tone, addressed to Superman.
"The powers which Darkseid stole from me would be of no use to him, for one God could not have the powers of the other, unless, a man transferred them into his body. The man who does that would of course die. SO, Darkseid and I were after you," he felt a sting of remorse, but continued, "for you were the only one with perfect physical strength to withstand the entire power before transferring it to any one of us. The others would simply crumble even by touching it."
Everyone's eyes were fixed on High Father.
"So, you were going to sacrifice Superman for your powers!" Diana said bitterly.
Superman did not let his expression change. "I would be more than happy to sacrifice myself, but the others, especially Batman, would never allow it! So, you said I was just to fight Darkseid and persuaded me into coming after you, while your true motive was something else."
"Don't get me wrong, Superman!" High Father said, hastily, "I would never have jeopardised your life for my powers, I promise, never! All I wanted was to get Darkseid's hands off them. Darkseid had hidden them in a magical casket somewhere in Apokalips, the location of which no one else knows. All I wanted from you was to fight Darkseid and get the casket back."
"Then where does Batman come in all this?" Superman demanded.
"To unlock the casket and send the powers back to the ultimate God! And then I would, spending may be century on thorough meditation and rituals that please him, get back my powers. Till the powers reach the ultimate God or into my own body, the threat from Darkseid will not end."
"But how could Batman help if the casket was magical?" asked Hawk Girl, "You would need me, or Wonder Woman!" Batman's words reeled in her mind about this possibility, and she almost uttered a cry.
"Batman was the only person, the only person in this entire Universe who was capable of opening that casket, other than Darkseid! It can only be explained by the maker of the casket, I had consulted him. Every casket made can be opened by only two in the entire Universe. One is the owner, the one for whom the casket is made for, and the other is one of his choice. Apparently, Darkseid had chosen Batman, confounding but true. May be he never thought Batman would know, or anyone would know. So Batman was my only hope. You see Superman, I needed him more than I needed you, and he was a threat to Darkseid more than you can be. I really don't understand how he ran into Darkseid, but he did only the obvious on seeing him."
Silence prevailed again.
"Do you support what Darkseid had done?" Superman asked, disgusted by High Father's casual take on the issue.
"All I tried to do was to explain why Darkseid was so desperate to kill Batman! You did not lose him for nothing." High father said.
"Why didn't you tell us all this when you first came to us?" Superman said, trying in vain to hide his temper which was too conspicuous in his voice.
"I did not have the time to. Believe me, I did not! I had to get you all out of watch tower as soon as possible, for Darkseid was making his way towards it, to get you, and perhaps Batman." he almost cried.
"I hope you're not hiding anything now, High father!" Superman spoke, unmoved by the confession.
"No, I am not!" High father spoke in the same tone.
"Then let's get to Apokalips, now!" Superman rose.
High Father protested. "No, it'll be of no use! All you can do now is get the casket back, but that will not prevent Darkseid from gaining it again. More so, if he captures you and uses you for the purpose I mentioned, you will be dead, and Darkseid will have all my powers."
"Well then, the rest of us will go!" Green Lantern offered.
"And do what?" High Father said sharply.
"No use high father!" Superman said in an even stronger tone, "I have decided and I am going to Apokalips, the entire league is, and as I said, not for you, for our friend! We have a score to settle with Darkseid and will get Batman back!"
"Don't be foolish, Superman! He is dead now, and all you can get is his corpse." High father said.
"Don't …use that word, High Father, with all due respect, I am not in good humour. If you think it is foolish, then I don't mind being foolish. He is my friend, and I will get him and your casket back. And don't worry about Darkseid, I will make sure he doesn't even dare to look at New genesis again! If he were not an immortal, I wouldn't mind crossing my line either. You can do whatever you want with the casket, frankly, I don't care! But we are not going to let Bruce's sacrifice go to dogs."
Saying so, he grabbed the boom tube from Light ray without warning. He turned it on, but it didn't work. He tried again and again, and finally it opened a portal into the hyperspace, but it collapsed within seconds and the device started to fume as if it were on fire.
"Damn it!" Superman cried, dropping the device.
"Darkseid must've fiddled with it!" Light ray suggested.
Superman threw a sharp glance at him, and then turned to Jonn.
"Do we have any more of these?" he showed the burnt device.
"No. The only one we had, was in Batman's utility belt when we set off. He wanted to make sure we do not run into trouble if his plug in into the javelin did not work." Jonn replied.
Batman! Superman repeated in his mind. It was still hard for him to digest that he was no more. He could swear that of he didn't keep his mind busy, the thought of his death would give him a nervous breakdown. He wasn't distressed, somehow he didn't want to cry, although that had to be the natural reaction. He realised that the others felt the same way, especially Diana! They were bitter with vengeance, but not distressed. Something is not right! He cannot die…
"So we still have the Javelin!" GL remarked. Superman snapped back into senses.
"Way ahead of you guys!" Flash said as he zoomed in, "But no luck. The chip which Batman had inserted is burnt out too." He showed a fuming chip.
"Flash throw both of them out!" Jonn uttered with a great sense of urgency.
"Of course!" Flash said, as he zoomed away, taking the other fuming device. The gas emanating from the burnt circuit boards, which is otherwise harmless unless exposed to it for a prolonged period of time, could be fatal in the environment of a satellite, which was restricted when it came to Oxygen supply.
"We're out of luck! Do any of you have any?" GL turned to the Gods.
"No!" they shrugged.
"What about the one which you used to come here for the first time?" GL asked High Father.
"It is in New genesis now!" High Father remarked.
"Then we're stuck!" GL cried.
"For now!" Jonn said, "I can try to make one using the designs Batman left in the computer. But it might take at least a week!"
"We cannot wait for so much time, Jonn! Get on it, right now! You have use at your disposal, to do whatever you say!" Hawk Girl said. The others looked at each other and nodded.
"Then let's do it!" Jonn rose.