I do not own any DC Characters used herein, and am only employing them in a story meant for entertainment purposes only.
Man Of Steel
Original Story By Twisted-Wun & LJ58
Edited and Reposted (With Permission) by LJ58
13
"People of Earth," a wiry, big-headed alien in green robes with a gaunt look declared as every digital device on the planet simultaneously broadcast the transmission now being beamed at the planet as Warworld approached Earth from Mar's outer orbital path. "I represent your new ruler, Lord Mongul of Warworld. I have a very important announcement concerning your future. Should you be allowed to have one."
Lois Lane was just one of those watching the astonishing broadcast as the planet-sized spacecraft approached their planet, the news only just reaching the public as 'official' channels had tried to block that news at first, hoping to avoid the panic already spreading as the massive craft neared their planet even as the broadcast began.
"Your champions have already reached Warworld, and while two of your champions have shown themselves barely capable, one is even now fighting for their life. If one, just one falls, your world, and your lives are forfeit to the Mighty Lord Mongul, who, I assure you, will collect. Prepare for your impending service. This won't take much longer," the alien assured those watching.
Those watching comprised over ninety percent of the vastly wired and digital world the planet had become.
The anticipated chaos and hysteria began soon after as the image of the alien was then replaced with the Amazon from the volcano fighting two massively muscled bovine women who were doing their best to pound her into the ground with huge hammers.
Amanda Waller turned to her compatriot in Cadmus, and asked, "What about the Suicide Squad? Are they ready?"
"Even if they were, we couldn't reach that thing until it was literally on top of us. Who else is out there? I didn't get a briefing from Captain Atom before he took off."
"Damn it, Eiling," the stocky woman growled. "You were the one that put him in place just to keep tabs on those freelancing vigilantes. Now we have an unknown fighting for the future of our planet, and you don't know who else is even out there?"
"I know Atom is. Obviously, the Martian, since that freak mentioned two winners. I have to think at least one more if the implication is the Amazon isn't the last champion."
The cocoa-skinned woman paused to eye the screen where Diana had unexpected lunged backward, somersaulting so the hammer blow meant to finish her off landed square on one of the twin bovine's thick skulls.
The second bovine went down hard. The first bawled in rage as it dropped her hammer, and began blindly charging the Amazon with bunched fists. It was a flawed strategy. The Amazon ducked and weaved, and landed obviously brutal blows on her still standing opponent whose strength was now negated by Diana's speed.
"A shame these people had not joined the proper institutions," Wade grumbled. "We could have used them. Directed them."
"I'd think the Corps has enough mindless robots," Amanda quipped. "Still, I am curious. Do you think X-1 is up there."
Wade scowled.
"For all we know, he brought this Mongul here."
Amanda shook her head. "I find it unlikely."
"You're defending that creature now?"
"To his credit, he has not….reacted anywhere near what we feared, or expected. Still, like you, I don't like the idea of that kind of power remaining undirected. All the same, I suspect he must be up there with the others. It would be like him since he seems to be guided by 'heroic' impulses as yet."
"I still wonder if Lane knows more than she's saying."
"If Lois Lane knew anything, it would be all over the front page of that rag she works for by now," Amanda snorted as she watched Diana suddenly launched herself at the reeling bovine, and flew across a quarter of the arena floor to slam the bovine into the nearest wall.
When Diana stepped back, the alien warrior staggered, took three steps, and fell on her face.
The obviously alien crowd in the stands roared with approval as Diana walked back, and lifted one of the fallen hammers laying in the dust.
She held the weapon in both hands, raising it over her head, and then slammed it down, breaking the long handle in half. She smirked as she flung the shattered haft aside, and kept the hammer with the much reduced handle, declaring, "Just my size," and walked back to where four others waited in the shadows.
"Who is that," Wade sputtered as he saw a masked man in green standing near the group that received Diana to congratulate her.
"This may be bigger than we realized," Amanda said, eyeing the apparent human in green. "Because I remember that uniform design from the old files."
Then the Martian stepped forward as his match was announced.
Not, however, before the unseen cameras allowed watchers to see that Superman was indeed in the group of champions.
Wade Eiling and Amanda Waller both only stared as Amanda considered what she had just discovered. That green-clad alien that had been discovered some years past was obviously not the only one wearing that curious uniform. There could well be an army out there. Just as her predecessors had feared.
MoS
J'onn J'onzz barely stepped into the arena, when he turned around, and walked back up to Kal-El.
"Your turn, my friend," he said, his opponent, a huge, reptilian with four arms suddenly sagged, and seemed to simply go to sleep.
"J'onn," Diana frowned.
"I convinced him not to fight. It was simple to convince him to hibernate once I tapped his mind, and realized he was barely sentient. He's apparently part of a still evolving race still subject to their instincts and primal impulses."
"That seems to describe much of humanity, too," Diana scoffed.
"No lectures, Princess," Hal drawled. "We're still in a no-man's land here. Let's stay focused."
"Agreed," Kal-El remarked, noting with a quick glance that Mongul was getting very agitated. His deeper than usual scowl judging by his earlier appearance suggested he was fast losing patience with his champions. "Let us end this now."
So saying, he stepped out of the alcove, and strode toward the center of the arena.
"Enough of the preliminaries," he shouted, his voice carrying easily. "Come, and face me, Mongul. If you are not merely a pretender to your title."
Almost on cue, the already irritated tyrant virtually growled as he lunged to his feet, and leapt down from his vantage point to land in the arena not nine feet from Kal-El.
"You humans have mocked me for the last time, pretender," he roared. "I have given you a chance to earn an honorable death, or to serve me until you die."
"Neither choice appeals," Kal-El retorted. "Which is why we forged the bargain we did. When I defeat you, you will depart here in peace."
"I'll rip you, and then your planet apart," Mongul swore, and the small amulet on his chest suddenly glowed bright yellow before it exploded with searing energy that blasted out to catch Kal-El full in the face.
He reeled, his companions gasping, and gasping again when they realized Kal-El reeled, but had not otherwise been harmed.
"Not bad," the Kryptonian smiled, and curled up one fist. "Your molecular structure is almost as dense as mine, so I'm reasonably certain you should survive this," he told him.
Right before an incredibly fast right slammed into Mongul's heavy jaw, and sent the tyrant flying up and out of the arena to slam into, and through his throne, before he continued his headlong flight to slam into a support post farther away.
He crashed half through the post before bouncing off it, and falling back into the arena to land in an unmoving heap.
The crowd went deathly silent as they all stared at the unbeatably laying in the dust before the Kryptonian who was slowly walking toward Mongul.
By the time Kal-El's measured steps had carried him to the alien, Mongul was starting to stir. He pushed himself to his knees, and looked up at Kal-El, his visage radiating fury more than anything else.
"No one….beats…..Mongul," he spat, coughing, and then spitting blood.
"There's always someone stronger," Kal-El told him. "Sure you want to drag this out? It can only end one way."
"You're right," Mongul growled with a cheerless laugh, and drew a long, curved dagger from behind his back, and slammed it into Kal-El's chest.
And frowned when the alien steel snapped like rotted wood from the force of the thrust when it impacted the hard chest.
"So. You are a true Kryptonian."
"I did say so," Kal-El nodded.
"You think you've won," Mongul gave a guttural snarl as Kal-El grabbed him by his throat, and pulled him upright. "This is only the beginning, Kryptonian," the yellow-skinned tyrant sneered. "There will be others coming. Many others. And then, after the tests are done, and when the time is right, he will come for you himself. And no one beats him. No one."
"Who? Who are you talking about," Kal-El asked with a frown, shoving the big alien back, and glaring at him.
Mongul recovered, and turned to face his subjects, raising his hands as if he had just won the day.
"My people, rejoice! Mongul has found a worthy opponent. One that will stay and fight in our stead in the greatest, and grandest battle yet to come. Behold, Apokolips' new challenger!"
Mongul turned and sneered at him.
"And may you last far shorter than even I did when you face its master."
"What do you mean," Diana asked as she and the others came up behind Kal-El. "Will you honor our victory, or not?"
"Oh, I will," Mongul sneered. "But he won't. Now, get off my planet. I've new games to find. New victims to crush," he spat, and turned and walked away.
"What the hell is Apokolips," Captain Atom asked.
"I know," Hal said somberly as he formed a new bubble around them, and rose into the sky as the crowds now seemed to cheer them as easily as they had booed earlier. "But you're not going to like it."
"Tell us everything," Kal-El told him. "For I don't recall anything of this Apokolips in my father's archives, extensive as they were."
"It's not a very pretty story," Hal told him. "And it doesn't have a happy ending. Nor will it if Darkseid is involved here," he said, leaving Warworld behind, and heading for Earth. Which wasn't very far away now, though the planetoid was now moving away, proving Mongul, at least, did keep his word.
"Superman is right," Diana called him. "Tell us everything."
"It began, I'm told, eons ago when the leader of a race that call themselves the New Gods first faced the master of Apokolips….."
MoS
"Did we win," Jimmy asked as the screens all went blank after that impressive punch from Superman sent the yellow giant flying. "Is it over?"
Lois was still staring at the window, where the shadow in the sky was getting smaller and smaller.
"I think so, Jimmy," Lois murmured, her gaze thoughtful. "Only…. I can't think it's really that simple. These things never are, you know."
"Huh?"
"Trust me," she told him, still musing over what she knew, and how much more she obviously didn't. There was a story out there, and she knew it was huge. She just didn't have any idea how to get it.
Yet.
MoS
Mongul sat in his private chambers brooding.
Since the Kryptonian had departed with his human cohorts, he had not said a word. Not eaten. He had done nothing. Simply brooded.
Never. Not since he first met Darkseid himself, had he ever been so handily beaten.
He. Mongul. Scourge of the galaxies. He had shattered worlds. Left others to tremble at just the hint of his passing. He had crushed more enemies than even he could remember. Yet that impossible Kryptonian in that garish costume had beaten him like he was a stripling.
"This…..is not over," he promised himself. Whatever else Darkseid had planned for that pathetic world, or its ilk, he would have his day yet. First, however, he had to plan. So he sat, thoughtful, and continued to brood.
MoS
"Batman," the colorfully clad Kryptonian spoke even as he landed behind the grim detective in the heart of the fabled Batcave.
The detective barely spared him a glance before turning back to study whatever was on the computer before him.
"Why are you here," he growled, not bothering to ask the obvious 'how' as Kal-El looked around, and a glimmer of an idea began to form as he considered what Batman had here.
"We need to speak. I know you heard what Green Lantern said of Darkseid, and his nefarious quest."
"I leave the cosmic matters to those that can handle them. Gotham is my primary concern. Just now, that means a seven foot meta that thinks he's a crocodile is threatening my city. You can see where I would prioritize."
"I understand that. I could assist you, if you like, but we do need to speak."
"Fine. Follow me," he said, and turned toward a receding ramp where a sleek, black boat shaped as much like a rocket as a bat sat near a recessed dock in one side of the massive cave that set under the huge, old manor house above.
"I could carry….."
Even though his opaque lenses in his mask, Kal-El could feel the potency of that glare.
"Or I could follow you," he amended, masking his faint smile as the man dropped down the final few feet to land in the cockpit of the boat that came to life with a shrill whine of rocket turbines even as he reached for the controls.
Kal-El easily shadowed the boat as it surged through the waters in a hollowed out cavern added to the original caverns from what he could see of the bored rock.
"So, talk," Batman growled as they left the cavern, and he turned to enter a huge harbor that led right up to the Gotham City docks on the far side.
Docks that were fed by the sewers, which was where he was headed.
Kal-El, who could easily hear him without the transceiver he was now wearing, continued without preamble.
"Considering what we are facing, I think J'onn is right. I should join the League."
"You hardly needed to invade my cave to tell me that," Batman grumbled, still annoyed at how easily the Kryptonian had tracked him down.
Not that he would ever admit that.
"No. But the rest of what I need to say required a personal audience," Kal-El told him. "I think we should go public. Formally. Let the people know who we are, and what we're doing….."
"You'd cause even more panic," the detective spat. "We barely put down the hysteria from Warworld showing up, and you want to add to it?"
"I'm not saying we tell them our battle plans, or the scope of what is coming. I do think we should let them know the League isn't a threat to them, or the nations' governments. We should let them know we are here to help spare the planet…..any threat. Whatever it might be, and from wherever it might originate."
Batman said nothing as he slowed the craft, and turned slightly away from the docks, heading toward a high wall where three, huge drainage pipes seemed to flow with fresh sewage at an alarming rate.
"Publicity stunts might be your forte," Batman shot back as he parked the boat to one side of the flowing drains, and raised a hand. "But I favor doing the job without stopping for media events every other minute."
A grapple fired, and Kal-El sighed as he followed Batman up and into the center drain as the man kept going without looking back.
"I'm not saying we hold press conferences every other day. I'm just saying we trust the public with our mandate. Let them know who we are….."
"Oh? You want to give our true identities, too, Kent," he growled. "Not that you are," he added just as quickly as an astonished Kal-El only stared at him as he hovered over the muck that Batman walked through as he studied a small GPS screen in his gloved hand. "Kent, that is. We both know that was an assumed name, and you likely have another one by now since Dr. Luthor's lackey 'killed' your last cover. I don't know it. Yet. But I will. I'm good at things like that," he quipped. "Just as I'm smart enough to know that going public is not a good idea."
"I don't think….."
"You faced Cadmus," Batman stopped, and turned to eye him.
"Yes," Kal-El murmured, a little uneasy at how much Batman seemed to know without cause.
"Yet you still don't realize what they are. What they truly are."
"I saw enough to guess….."
"You're still not part of us. Not really. Or you'd know what Cadmus' primary goal is here, alien," Batman spat. "The meta I'm hunting. Killer Croc? He's a psychotic, and a cannibal. Huge. Strong. And, yes, a hybrid crocodile of sorts. He was one of Cadmus' early failures in genetic manipulation. They're not improving the race out there. They're trying to make ways to control us. All of us. Whatever their propaganda they hand out to their drones and pawns, Cadmus is about control. All of us lock-stepped, and marching in unison to one drummer."
"Who," Kal-El asked.
"Even I haven't figured that one out yet. I've been busy. Doing something about the day-to-day threats that endanger the little people down on this planet's surface, where you…..demigods sometimes forget to look."
"I see more than you realize," Kal-El scowled.
"I don't doubt it. But do you pay attention to details?"
"Your meta is twenty meters southeast of here. Alone, just now, but he's moving on an intercept pattern that suggests he's hunting."
Batman scowled, then looked down at his GPS.
"Take me to him," he demanded, and Kal-El scooped him up under the arms, and flew through the tunnels so fast that Batman's vision blurred before it settled back into a dull gray patina as his special lenses allowed him to use what little ambient lighting illuminated the tunnel around him.
"Just ahead, and to the right," Kal-El whispered now, conscious of their prey's own hearing. "Would you like….?"
Batman was already moving.
He swept forward, catching the hulking, scaly manbeast in the side, driving him back as the meta gave a very convincing feral roar as he reacted to the attack.
"Batman," Croc snarled. "I'm going to rip out your organs, and use your bones for toothpicks this time," he said, turning to face the cowled hero who stood before him, undaunted by the brute's size or strength.
Kal-El watched the powerless hero use skill and his own devices to attack the human crocodile, and was genuinely astonished to see the man use his own speed and proficiency to undermine the stronger meta's sheer power. Fast as Croc was, Batman was just a little faster. Strong as he was, Batman's martial strikes were supremely accurate, and tore roars of pain and rage from the human beast.
Only Batman was still only human.
Be it luck, or desperation, one of Croc's big fists slammed into the armored torso, and sent the grim detective flying to bounce off a low-hanging drainage pipe. Stunned, Batman was easy prey for the lumbering creature that charged him in the same instant Batman went flying.
Until Kal-El moved, putting himself between the two.
"I think it's my turn," he told Croc as the big manbeast drew up, and glared at him.
"What are you, a clown? That outfit sure belongs in a circus," he sneered.
"My outfit isn't the issue," Kal-El told him. "I suggest you surrender now. It'll be less painful."
"For you, maybe," the killer smiled a toothy grin. One filled with malignant intent.
Then he lunged, and clamped down his powerful jaws on Kal-El's right shoulder.
Before he backpedaled, wailing in pain as broken teeth dribbled from his bloody mouth as Kal-El shook his head, and eyed the remaining teeth.
"This is probably the most merciful thing to do with someone like you," he remarked, and dropped a light fist on the broad, thick skull, driving him to his knees into the reeking muck. He then lifted the unnatural humanoid up, and pried open those dangerous jaws, and began to deftly pluck out the sharp, lethal teeth that Croc obviously used to live up to his appellation.
"You all right," he asked as he continued his somber work on the unconscious manbeast as Batman walked up beside him to eye him.
"Peachy," came the curt grumble.
"I suppose you think I'm overstepping myself by removing the obvious danger from this beast?"
"You don't know how often I've wanted to do the same," Batman admitted, eyeing the last, bloody tooth to fall into the sewage as Kal-El then simply flung the limp body over one shoulder.
"Indeed," the Kryptonian murmured without so much as a hint of a smile. "So, where do we take him?"
"The cops can have him. I'm sending a message for pickup….."
"I thought you didn't get along with them," he remarked as they headed for the nearest exit from the sewers.
"I don't. But I have a….contact who will know where to send the police when I send a signal."
"Convenient," Kal-El murmured, and looked up at the manhole cover overhead. "Shall I take him up for you?"
"You might as well," Batman scowled.
"Would you like a hand," he asked, rising from the sewage, and betraying the fact not even the water seemed to have touched his boots. They didn't even appear damp.
Batman frowned at that one, but merely scowled, and headed for the rungs that led up the old, stone wall.
Kal-El did allow a faint smile at that, and then flew up, pushed the metal cover away, and then shifted his grip on Croc to rise up out of the open manhole, dragging the big meta behind him.
Batman wasn't far behind as he gracefully rose out of the manhole as if he had not just been slammed into unyielding metal by a creature ten times stronger.
"Ready to talk yet?"
"I don't think we have anything else to discuss," Batman spat.
"Then let me give you another perspective," Kal-El told him as he dropped Croc on the street beside the open drain as police cars already began to swarm them as if drawn by something else.
"I'm listening," Batman said as he ignored the police around them to raise an arm, and fire his grapple.
Kal-El easily rose into the air after him, ignoring the shouting police who were now swarming the block, and more than a few had weapons aimed at them, as much as at the unconscious, and now toothless meta.
"By going public, you also undermine Cadmus' subtle, but obviously effective claims that we are all a threat to the freedoms and security of the nation, or the world. We show people we are aiding them, and Cadmus cannot use your own silence and secrecy against you," Kal-El went on as he followed him.
Batman frowned as he now perched on a rooftop, watching the police bag Killer Croc rather than eyeing the alien that hovered in the air just beside him.
"You do make a valid point there," he finally conceded. "I'll consider your argument. Meanwhile, I would prefer if you didn't mention my cave. To anyone."
"Of course not, Bruce," Kal-El remarked a bit smugly, and when Batman spun around to glare at him, he found him gone.
Just gone.
He snorted, shook his head, and then muttered, "So that's what that feels like," he said, and didn't waste time searching the skies as he turned to finish his patrol of his city.
After all, whatever else happened, he still didn't trust even the League to protect his city half so well as he did. They had other concerns. He understood that. Only to him, it always came back to Gotham. His heart and soul remained here. It always would.
MoS
"Lois," a familiar voice drawled as the reporter turned so abruptly she almost fell as she gaped at the familiar hero just landing on her balcony beside her.
"Superman! Where have you been? What have you been doing? We thought you left Metropolis, and did you know that…..?"
"Slow down. I know you've got questions. I will try to answer those I can. First, however, I need a favor," he told her with a faint smile.
"A….favor? Anything," the brunette grinned.
"Good. Call James Olsen."
"Jimmy?"
"You're going to need him. I've got a story that is going to make your paper live up to its appellation. By tomorrow, everyone on the planet will be reading your story," he assured her.
"My story? What….story?"
"Trust me," Kal-El smiled at her again as she fumbled with a cell phone. "You're going to love it."
MoS
"'The Justice League,'" Batman scowled, eyeing the banner on the Daily Planet that read, "Justice League Unveiled! Saving Our Planet From Itself!
"I think it's kind of catchy," Wally grinned as he lounged near the console, all but inhaling a bag of cookies.
"Reporters," Batman scowled, and turned from the monitor showing the online copy of the paper. "This is your doing, isn't it?"
"Actually," Kal-El said, walking over to read the story on the monitor. "I believe that addendum to your team logo was Ms. Lane's contribution to our public makeover."
"I find myself agreeing with Flash," J'onn stated in his sonorous tone, "Which, I know, is quite the surprise."
"To say the least," Diana agreed, but glanced over at Kal-El, and asked, "And did you find anything else out on this mysterious Darkseid? Is he really as bad as Green Lantern indicated?"
"Worse," Kal-El nodded. "This…..would-be ruler, as the Lantern indicated, obviously wants to rule everything, and anything he can't rule, is simply obliterated. Warworld is just one of his tools from what I was able to find out. He uses Mongul to flush out threats to his own power, and if anyone, or anything rises to challenge his own pawns, he then attacks them himself."
"That's not good. But how can you be so sure?"
"I…..have a guest at my place. Someone that was behing held on Warworld," Kal-El told them. "She used the chaos following our departure to break out, and follow us. Last night after I returned Ms. Lane and Mr. Olsen to Metropolis, we had a very long chat about Mongul, and what Darkseid is up to out there."
"You have a refugee from Warworld on Earth," Batman all but hissed.
"She was hardly a willing guest," Kal-El told him. "Besides," he smiled blandly. "You might like her. She's got almost as much attitude as you."
"Where is she now? When do we meet her," Diana asked.
"Now, if J'onn has the transporters repaired. I left her my transceiver, since I didn't require it to reach the Watchtower. I also think she would make another fine addition to our group."
"Another alien," Wally shrugged. "Why not? Seems you guys are crawling out of the woodwork lately."
All eyes went to the scarlet speedster as J'onn only sighed.
"Hey, I'm not complaining. Just tell me, is she strong? Or gorgeous?"
"She's a warrior," a new voice drawled from behind them, the Martian having simply activated the transporter locked on Kal-El's beacon when he had mentioned it.
All of them turned to stare at the voluptuous woman. With wings.
Not quite as voluptuous as Diana, the redhead was still obviously well-built, powerfully muscle, and carried a mace that dangled from a belt at her side.
"A Thanagarian," J'onn murmured as he eyed her. "How surprising."
"Not so surprising as you, Martian. I heard the White Martians had wiped out your kind generations ago."
"They almost did," he agreed. "I am the last."
The woman gave a grunt, then muttered, "Then you might have some worth as a warrior."
"Why the mace," Wally blurted. "I mean, I figured a space-chick would have a ray-gun, or something cool. Not some old antiquated…"
Wally's howl echoed across the fourteen feet he moved to evade the sudden swing of the weapon that crackled with energy even as the Thanagarian wielded it.
"Shayera," Kal-El sighed.
"He seemed to require a demonstration," the redhead muttered sourly, eyeing the wiry hero.
"He's an idiot," Diana cut in, "But he's our idiot. What manner of weapon is your mace. I am guessing it is more than it seems?"
"All Thanagarian weapons use Nth metal," the winged woman smiled smugly. "It's the most powerful element in the cosmos, and can disrupt even magic."
"Magic," Kal-El frowned. "You're saying magic is real?"
"Magic. Gods. Demons. And more," Batman nodded. "Even I've faced some of them in my time."
"Intriguing," Kal-El murmured.
"Let's skip the lectures, and get to the introductions," Wally suggested. "I'm Flash," he told Shayera, returning to where he stood earlier in the blink of an eye.
"Obviously. Your women must be sorely disappointed," Shayera remarked.
More than a few sniggers sounded as Wally blushed behind his mask.
"Let's get to the point of this meeting," Batman scowled. "We're told you know things about Darkseid," he fairly demanded of her.
"More than I wish, and less than you require," she replied cryptically. "I do know that Darkseid is a blight on the universe. A curse that even the best and most powerful warriors in existence have yet to best as yet. Frankly," she said, eyeing them, "I'm not sure you people have a chance does he decide to face you himself. You might beat a few of his drones. Maybe even some of his generals. But Darkseid? No one has ever faced him and lived except the Highfather."
"The who-what," Wally frowned.
"The ruler of the New Gods," Kal-El told them. "And, hopefully, allies, if we can somehow reach them in time to appeal to them for aid."
"Because we have a way to contact guys from outer space now," Wally asked uneasily.
"I do," Kal-El told them.
Batman eyed him coolly.
Continued…