Immortal Undeath
Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to DC or Marvel. I own Farrah/Persiana and Leon/Crisis.
Chapter 17: Crucifer Returns
It had been a total of two days since the first meeting with Crucifer, and the League and Howling Commandos had decided to split off and commit to their own investigations. Of course, when the League returned to the Howling Commandos base, they found it was totally vacant. Even Farrah's children were nowhere to be found. They had moved on.
Batman was already investigating the base itself for any clue as to where they may have gone. J'onn was running telepathic scans, to confirm that everyone had left,
"I do not sense them, Batman. There is only us here."
Guy Gardner cracked his knuckles,
"Bastard probably knew I was coming and ran away. Punk coward; Crisis is going down!"
Booster looked around,
"So, is this ours or what?"
J'onn said,
"It would appear so, for the moment. I can see why Fury wanted to move; the base had been compromised after Daken's arrival and the theft of Crucifer's heart."
The Dark Knight Detective looked around again and was using a device to scan the computer logs. He shook his head,
"They even managed to wipe the footage and security logs. There isn't anything on these servers."
Steve said,
"Fury knew how to cover his tracks. That's why he's been head of SHIELD for so long. He could do this."
Barry Allen asked,
"So, are we giving up?"
Batman shook his head,
"No, just regrouping and thinking."
A voice cackled,
"Well, don't think too long."
The shadows suddenly came alive and the darkness began to take solid mass as that hauntingly familiar voice became more present. Superman narrowed his eyes,
"Crucifer."
Crucifer emerged, still in Daken's body. Now, he was dressed in all black, and his mouth widened to inhuman proportions, showing off extra rows of teeth. Booster quipped,
"I do not even want to know what his dentist bill is like."
Crucifer launched a massive dark energy attack at the League members. Superman took the brunt of it and was sent flying through several walls of the base. Wonder Woman used her lasso and tried to ensnare Crucifer, but, somehow, the attack passed right through him. Crucifer then waved it away, ensnaring Wonder Woman in her own lasso. Batman tried to launch some gas pellets, but Crucifer chuckled,
"You think that is going to work! I have no weaknesses now!"
He inhaled the gas and spewed it at Booster and Blue Beetle. Ted groaned,
"Garlic!"
Booster wheezed a little and almost vomited,
"Ah, that's stuff's terrible!"
Barry Allen and Hal Jordan tried to hit Crucifer hard and almost got within striking distance when Crucifer seemingly turned into a cluster of bats and then reformed away from the attack. Crucifer laughed,
"Oh, come on now! I made a deal with the dealer of souls Neron! There isn't anything you can do to stop me!"
He raised his hand and enveloped all the League members in some sort of choking shadow cloud. The shadow was totally ensnaring them and was suffocating them.
Superman was thrown far away from the others. He had gotten up slowly and, as he was about to go and help his friends, he noticed something. The Man of Steel knelt down and, wrapped in cloth, was a cross made of pure silver. He held it tightly and knew what this meant. Superman then flew hard at Crucifer and delivered a super strong punch.
The punch connected in Crucifer's chest and the master vampire screamed in agony,
"WHAT IS THIS? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HURT ME?"
He tried to wrap his shadows around the Last Son of Krypton, but, as they came closer, they seemed to back away. Crucifer was perplexed as to this new development,
"What? But, how is that possible? I am a vampire god!"
Superman showed him the cross,
"You are invulnerable, Crucifer. With this. This represents the power of faith and hope."
Crucifer shook his head, frantic,
"But, it is only a cross! It has no power!"
Superman shook his head,
"It does, if one has faith and hope in that it will work."
Another punch was felt, and another, and another. Crucifer was weakening because of that cross. He desperately tried to get it away from Superman, but, he could not. As the ancient vampire clutched it, he began to burn.
Zatanna got loose, enough to cast a powerful spell,
"NUS EHT OT OG!"
And, in a moment, Crucifer's body was teleported away to that of the heart of the sun. And there, he was incinerated to a crisp. Both Crucifer and Daken were dead.
Superman looked at the magician,
"You sent him into the sun?"
Zatanna shrugged,
"What? Vampires don't like sunlight."
She then noticed the cross,
"I didn't know you brought that along."
Clark shook his head,
"I didn't. It was here."
Then, a transmission came on. It was an audio recording with Fury's voice on it,
"If the League is listening to this, you've probably already beaten Crucifer by now. Congratulations."
Steve sighed,
"Nick."
The message continued,
"This message was hidden in a data packet on the cross itself. In it is the location of the remaining canisters of nerve gas we confiscated, as well as files on the Red Skull and something called Axis America that he created in Kasnia. If I were you, I'd look into it. Oh, and, one more thing, having a precog comes in handy when you know you're base is going to be attacked. Fury out."
Superman looked at the cross and, using his X-ray vision, he saw, through the silver casing, a small microchip. The microchip containing the information…
Next Chapter:
Though Crucifer is dead, things are not settled between the League and the Howling Commandos. But, for now, they are in the wind. Stay tuned for an epilogue and foreshadowing of things to come.
