CXLVIII
Darkseid vs. The Justice League
Part Five: One Second
Bruce Wayne once again found himself in his own personal, painful Hell – which meant that his spirit was now back in his physical body. His ribs, gut and right leg were a blazing inferno of screaming nerves and new fractured bones.
But at least he hadn't gone into shock… yet.
Push it aside, Bruce…
The pain didn't matter… all that mattered was getting the index finger of his right hand over to the touch screen of the watch on his left wrist – all within one small second. His world became nothing more than tapping an icon on his watch amidst green agony… Failure wasn't an option.
He had gambled both their lives – and possibly even the Universe - on the results of this single second of time, and his ability to activate that awaiting icon.
It now hung on this one second. Everything hung on this rapidly depleting second…
His very life went into moving that damned right hand, pushing it agonizingly slow through an emerald wall of resistance amidst the growing panic that he had risked too much, that he should have listened to his wife… If he were even a fraction of a second late, the Tachyon Cannon would still fire a beam into Darkseid's chest…
But only after it had passed through Raven's head.
Which meant that his wife would perish by his hand…
And so would he.
Would it be suicide?
Push you idiot!
Three-quarters of a second into it, Bruce Wayne had done what no other Earthly mortal could have ever done… He had moved his right hand half way to its target. The scream of his unbearable agony from a shattered body carried along the dark sands of Kahndaq as he continued to push with inhuman strength against the supreme will of a God and his flying machines.
Half-way was not enough. The icon or they died.
But that was when a miracle happened…
The emerald beams of the Manhunters suddenly stopped.
The mountain of effort that was pushing his index finger now slammed it against the smart watch in a double-tap that was closer to a boxer's one-two punch. Enough?!
He just kept tapping and tapping frantically.
But did it work?!
Did he make it in time?!
His wife…
Author's Note:
Cliff-hanger!
So, if Raven were to survive and then choose six Gods, she would have to follow the glorious Captain Marvel tradition of using the first initials of the Gods' names as acronym. That is, the six Gods (or heroes) names would have to begin with:
M.
For example, Captain Marvel had: "The wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, the speed of Mercury."
Guesses?