Chapter Ten: Revelations and Planning

On a chair in the centre of a space craft, in the middle of a room lit in gloomy light, clad in gold and black metal armour, sat a tyrant and a humanitarian. Sat Helspont. He was a humanitarian to his people, unwilling to kill them if not necessary. Why would he? He loved his people! Every single subject was important to him. He was aching, physically aching, whenever he thought of the degeneration of the great Daeminite body. He himself had to change out of that noble body in order to survive. But not all can make such a trip. Sometimes, a part of the voyager between bodies is lost on the way. The outcome is terrible. They become monsters, disgusting, revolting acts are committed by such people. It is too risky, and it is not their fault that their bodies are decaying. No, it is that of his mother, the queen of old.
But he, Helspont, is the ruler now. And he will save them all. All of them will live thanks to him! He just needed a few ingredients. A few bits of technology. His superior mind, great power, mixed with the technology his scientists had been able to create had made his plans even more possible. He knew that Earth was the true goal, always. His brothers could not see it.
Those fools! If only they could understand what I was doing, what I was thinking! They wanted to conquer worlds, ignoring the problem with their faulty bodies. Such arrogance! They wouldn't believe that they were dying even as they killed world after world. He had to defeat them. So he went off to the planet they were conquering. That's where he met the third Kryptonian. It was odd, at first it'd seemed like Superman, but he was master of that world. And he didn't even know of Superman's existence. For a planet that was destroyed, Krypton sure had quite a few survivors. After Helspont dealt with his brothers, he went to that planet. It was a strange one. Strange in that it was in the right order. There was a hierarchy, people knew their place. Knew their worth. It worked and it was a haven for Helspont. But that Kryptonian, Emmet, was as stubborn as his look-alike. Not that it mattered. He may have been closer to beating Helspont than Superman had been, but Helspont will always stand strong! Helspont always won.
Always.
Helspont had defeated Emmet, defeated his planetary defences and made sure to decimate a few large cities, just for good measure. Leaving that planet, with the threat of return, had been pleasing. A few days after that victory Helspont had learnt of the advances in technology. And a plan had started to form. It was interesting how all the ingredients he needed were on that small planet: Earth.
And then Helspont thought not just to save the people, but make them better! Why not be able to breath underwater? Why not be able to grow plants and control the ecosystem on every level? Why not be able to control the weather? It was all just too tempting. Too ripe. And with Superboy as the donor, the one that could be used to connect all these different samples of DNA, a new breed could be established. One of greatness, one of power! Nothing could stand in the path of the Daemonites, nothing!
In that room, in the centre of a spacecraft, the fire sitting inside an armour of gold and black smiled. The wide, dark eyes shrank and glittered. The smile was true, it was real, and it was thirsty to be proven correct.
With a hand he pressed a button, summoning forth a minion, a subject. A person he had trained to make sure that the invasion would proceed as planned. He'd seen one of his bravest soldiers beheaded. That strike was dishonourable, pure opportunism. Helspont was never one to consider honour a factor, but this... This boiled his blood.
The doors opened and in stepped a man. He had brown shells sticking out of his body. A Daemonite. His body had been less affected by the degenerative genome than others, and his mind was ever keen. Though he had the power to do so, he refused to move bodies. Most warriors preferred the Minotaur bodies, but he wanted to stay true to himself. So did Helspont, but a sacrifice had to be made. It had to be done. But he admired his general for his steadfastness in this decision.
"What is the status of our incursion fleet?" asked Helspont. Hand wrapping a fist. His great figure in the chair, his dark and menacing aura enveloping the room.
"Sir, the fleet is ready at your command. What would you want us to do?"
"Invade them. Hit them hard."
"Sir, our fleet of both robots and soldiers cannot defeat the Kryptonian. And that is if we assume that the force can take out the rest of the Justice League."
"I will take care of Superman, he was little threat before, he will prove the same again. As for the rest of their League, they will find it hard to be everywhere at once."
"My thoughts exactly, sire. I thought it best to start by invading nations far from theirs and force them to spread out."
"Excellent. Send these forces now, I will go to the Himalayas, where I met Superman for the first time."
"Yes, my Lord."
The man went out and the doors closed behind him. Helspont stood up and revelled in his powers. It was time for him to act, and his body was begging for some movement, for some work to be done. It was time that this planet was taken under Daemonite control.
It was time.

"They'll try and spread us out, make us unfocused. That way they can overwhelm us," said Batman. They were all in the Watchtower's conference room. Above the table was a hologram of the Earth, as well as a hologram of the ships of the Daemonites. Thanks to GL's ring, most, if not all, of the Daemonite fleet had been scanned. They were all sitting around the table. Emmet standing a bit beyond the table. Far enough for him to be excluded from the group, close enough for him to be included in the discussion.
"So where do you think they'll hit first?" asked Flash, probably eager to go fight them already. Sitting down was not agreeing with him. It never did.
"I don't know, could be anywhere," said Batman.
"We could use some more help," said Wonder Woman.
"Is there anyone in particular we should ask for help?" asked the Flash.
"I have alerted the Justice League of America as well as the Teen Titans and the unaffiliated: Firestorm, Nightwing, Starfire, etc. They have all been notified and they all agree to help," said Batman.
"I'll assemble the Amazons if the need arises," said Wonder Woman.
"And I the Atlantians," said Aquaman.
"We will set task forces to stop them, but I think that Helspont will come into play as well," said Batman.
"He will try to draw me out, hoping that I will take the bait and fight him," said Superman.
"And you will," said Batman, "and Emmet will be with you. Hiding until the opportune moment."
"Finally! I have waited a long time to fight this monster." Emmet was breathing heavily and his gaze was stern. He was ready and prepared for the upcoming battle. He wanted this. Hungered for it. He won't betray me, thought Superman.
"Have we got communications with all teams?" asked Wonder Woman.
"Yes," said Batman.
A blip came up on the screen. Then another.
"Are all teams up and running?" asked Batman.
"The Justice League of America is prepared," said Martian Manhunter.
"Teen Titans are ready," said Red Robin.
"Alright, we have two attacks, one is in Hong Kong and the other in Madrid," said Batman.
"The JLA will take the one in Hong Kong," said Green Arrow.
"We've got Spain," said Red Robin.
"I've got another, smaller incursion in the Himalayas," said Batman.
"That's him," said Superman.
"Alright, go ahead."
Superman left the room, Emmet was right behind him. Wonder Woman quickly came over to him as he entered the tube close to the air lock. She put a hand on his shoulder and he turned around. He was angry, aggressive. But his face displayed fear, doubt. That was not usual for the man of steel.
"Clark, you always hold back. That's why you were beaten. Don't do that this time. He will not die from your strikes. You will know when you're about to give him that final strike. Trust yourself."
"Thank you, Diana."
"And remember: we are all here to back you up at a moment's notice."
"Come, Superman," said Emmet, "it is time for us to depart."
"Go get him," said Wonder Woman, and she kissed her man. She knew it could be taken as a sign that he would not return. But that was not how they thought: it gave him strength. Courage. It was noticeable. She enjoyed their ability to help one another get stronger.
Superman looked into her eyes, her kind and tender eyes. She was beautiful. And she was also a fierce warrior. It was time for him to also be that second thing now. No remorse. No holding back.
He turned and left the room. He didn't say it, neither did she. It wasn't their style, but they both knew it. Knew it deep down.