Young Justice: Doom & Rebirth]

by Spaceman

Start: Split from Previous Chapter

DISCLAIMER

I do not own Young Justice or any of the related characters. The Young Justice series is by Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman and owned by DC Comics. This story is a work of fanfiction and is for entertainment only. I am not making profit from this story. All rights of Young Justice belong to DC Comics. All other characters other an OCs beyond to their respective creators and owners. This is a fanfiction for non-profit entertainment.

Note:

Reviews are welcome, Flames are not. Some of these chapters are over ten thousand words, some are over twenty thousand words, and the Epilogue (Chapter 46) is 2-Parter that's over Seventy-Eight Thousand Words Long. NewMystery is also writing something special for the End.

Other works – Story Recommendations

I hope readers enjoy my next (7-Part) story – Nemo of the Myriad World(MHA x Marvel SIOC) - which will be released after Doom and Rebirth.

Also, please enjoy the works of my friend and co-writer NewMystery356.

Another Hero Academia: Out of Time (Ratchet and Clank & My Hero Academia)

So, I'm All-for-One, So What? (My Hero Academia)

Young Justice: The Hunter (Crysis & Young Justice Multi)

Vigorous Vitality (My Hero Academia)

Giant-Slayer series (RWBY)

An Argoan's Arc (Justice League Unlimited)

Chronicle of Zhu series (Legend of Korra)

The Traveler & The Trooper (Star Wars)

Reviews

Alan – Dragons tend to exist on fantasy worlds and Yōkai aren't the same as Infernal demons. Infernal demons exist in other dimensions linked to the flow of souls, while Yōkai are part of the world.

(In Highschoo – the Angels, Fallen, and Devils are Outsiders, while Yōkai are natives)

There are three primary types of Yōkai:

Those born from the elements (nature spirits) like oni of the mountains, dragons of the waters, etc. (They would fall into The Green, The Red, and other elemental planes)

Those born of items that exist for over a century. Those manga of swords and umbrellas coming to life. One animation that comes to mind is Hellboy: Sword of Storms and the anime with girls turning into weapons.

Those born of the dead. The reason there was so many Yōkai during the Sengoku Jidai (Japanese Warring States Period) is because between 1467 (Ōnin War) to 1615 (Siege of Osaka) - a lot of people died. One anime that comes to mind is Curse of the Undead Yoma.

OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla - ^_^

coldblue2015 - I'm doing OK in Newfoundland – home of 110,000 inbred moose and occasional orange sky. NewMystery helps me write and edit my stories and I do the same for him, recommendations are the least I can do. Dracula is a lot smarter in this universe – seriously, drinking blood from solar-powered Kryptonian in the comics – so he's smart enough not to fight Cognito and go the True Blood route.

*DOOM*

Chapter 41 – More Monsters & Magic - Part 3

*DOOM*

Gotham Royal Bank

Gotham City, NJ

Winter 2017

Noon

3POV

It's a cold wet day in Gotham City. The city is covered in wet snow from a recent storm and it's already becoming dirty from soaking up the city's contaminants. Most people are staying indoors from the cold miserable weather and with online options nobody feels like going outside. There are exceptions such as the street cleaners, delivery boys, and police cars.

Many police cars have arrived at Gotham Royal Bank which is being robbed.

"What's the situation?" says Commissioner Gordon to one of his men.

"Five full conversion cyborgs. Looks like military tech." says the man with the scanner.

The Cognito-brand Scanner shows the inside of the bank, like Superman's X-Ray vision. Jim Gordon is glad for the massive company's donations, because if his men has rushed in, they would have been killed. Inside the building are five men dressed in form-fitting black clothing with generic white faces with black eyes and bald heads. Three of the criminals are lean humanoids with light weapons guarding the hostages. Two of the criminals are huge grotesquely muscular with one carrying the money and the other carrying a massive minigun that looks like it could shred a tank.

Thanks to rapid advancements in medical technology, most accomplished by Cognito Medical, humans can vastly improve their health and extend their lives using flash cloned organs and medical nanotechnology. Organic bodies still have limits, so some have opted for cybernetic replacement and enhancement. There are different levels of cybernization, ranging from merely minor implants to full on conversion. In Full Conversion, a normal brain is physically integrated with electronic components to produce an augmented organ referred to as a cyberbrain and implanted in a completely artificial body.

Suddenly, the objects streak out of the shadows and strike the floor around the criminals. The Gotham natives instantly recognize the objects as batarangs, the throwing weapons of Gotham's Cape Crusader Batman. The Cyborgs are quick to target the sources of the batarangs and shield themselves, but before they can fire their guns, the batarangs detonate. A thick gray-white mist fills the bank, and the Cyborgs find themselves blinded. Not only do their high-tech eyes fail to see through the smokescreen, but their Infrared and Radar systems are also blocked. They turn when they hear something tap them but see nothing and they can't fire at random as they would risk harming each other.

The smoke begins to fade, and the Cyborg realizes their fifteen hostages are gone without a trace, beyond the urine stain left by the cowardly manager. Some of them can also see electronic devices stuck to the backs of some of their comrades, which they realize with horror are also on their backs. The devices trigger and HUDs of the Cyborgs become filled with error messages before going into emergency shutdown mode.

Batman emerges from the shadows as the smoking Cyborgs collapse to the ground. He pulls out a device that scans the Cyborgs to make sure they are completely inactive.

He's then followed out the shadows by a tall young man dressed in a matte black uniform with a hooded dark gray cape. Even his face is covered in a featureless black mask. He's a Cognito Pro-Hero known as Evac. The New Hero is one of Queen Jade's followers and a shadow-manipulating metahuman. He's able to travel through a shadow dimension and transport other people through it for quick evacuation. Thanks to this ability, all the hostages are safe at a nearby hospital.

"One advantage of fighting full converts is you don't need to hold back." says Evac, "Even if these guys were decapitated, the cyberbrains have a shutdown mode that will keep them alive for many hours on batteries."

"You have experience?"

"I saw a fully converted bodyguard get decapitated fighting one of Queen Jade's Kijin. Cog had him fixed by the next day. It would have been sooner, but Kijin are vicious."

"No biometric data. No DNA traces. No serial numbers on accessible components." comments Batman looking at his scanner. "It's going to be problematic to identity these five."

"The Cyberbrains themselves will have ID codes. The docs don't want the wrong brain ending up in the wrong body." says Evac, "It's a strange new world. So, where are your regular partners?"

"Vacation."

Evac looks at the Bat with surprise. Anyone in the Bat Clan taking a vacation is more surprising than the crimes he must deal with.

*DOOM*

Main Island, Barclays Archipelago, Carribean

Young Justice Vacation

Winter 2017

Noon

3POV

The Barclays Archipelago is a group of lesser known Carribean islands with thick verdant jungles, mysterious blue-green lagoons, and white sandy beaches. The islands are owned by a universal bank and several corporations, and the islands are vacation spots for the rich, powerful, and elite. In the past, pollution was slowly ruining this tropical paradise, but thanks to Cognito's Cleaners the island has been rejuvenated. Cognito's influence has also resulted in some islands no longer being exclusively for those old businesses.

"It was only a few years ago." says the old bartender near the vast beach with sand like sugar, "I remember the son of a cartel boss showing up with a bunch of supermodels and talking to the spoiled son of a wealthy family. They talked about drugs, brothels, and smuggling without a care in the world. Nobody would say anything because the islands have always been filled with criminals, mercenaries, and spies."

The patron sips his martini, listening to the old man's story.

"These days, Cog makes the rules. That Cartel is gone and these days even the cocaine is becoming worthless."

A few meters away, there are a bunch of young men and women relaxing on the beach. They look like they are in a state of euphoria, but no drug paraphilia can be seen. There is no bag of pills or powders, there are no needles or injectors, and there are not even marijuana joints. Instead, they have gray patches on their body and a device that looks like an I-Phone playing.

One of them is dancing and gets a little far from the group and he suddenly becomes sober. He looks a little confused, then he goes back to his friends and taps the patch again. Once more, the look of bliss returns.

"E-Patches. Cog created these patches that can place you into euphoric state without the need for any chemicals. Cog is known for their solutions, and they found a solution to the drug trade. Why buy snort, swallow, or inject dangerous substances, when you can just slap on a patch and turn it on? When you want to return to normal, just click the off switch or pull it off. No physical addiction and no health problems." says the old man, sipping his own iced drink, "These devices can also be set up for safety. If one of those kids wanders off their beach area, the device would automatically shut-off and he's instantly sober. They also shut off if the person is in a vehicle or operating heavy machinery. Also, It's Cog tech, so it can't be tampered with."

"The governments must be trying to regulate it." says the patron with a British accent.

"Some governments and parents' groups have protested. They believe more funding should go into their anti-drug programs, but they are inefficient. Cog's influence has grown to the point where people are going with the flow of things." says the bartender, "I learned from my old contacts that street price of many drugs has plummeted since those Patches came out and OD cases are also dropping."

Getting people to stop doing drugs is difficult because users don't operate with normal logic. Make a drug illegal, people will break the law if they are desperate. Make a drug legal, like marijuana in some countries, people buy less of the illegal stuff depending on regulations. Cognito essentially created a "drug" without any negative side-effects (beyond psychological addiction) to replace all other recreation drugs, making illegal drugs worthless.

Cognito Anti-Drug Assist programs also help people remove chemical addictions and can even make the former addicts immune to the (illegal) drugs. One big time celebrity had been in and out of rehab for cocaine use, but now permanently sober thanks to CADA Program. He could take enough to kill three people, and not only would he survive, he also wouldn't get high.

"Fascinating." says Assassin-class Servant James Bond as he leaves.

*DOOM*

On the beach, there are many current and former members of Young Justice relaxing. The Team was once a black ops team (unknowingly) created to go against the Light's operations and filled with "sidekicks". The Team lacked stealth and were crippled by the members desire to prove themselves, but over time it's become the junior division of the Justice League. A place where young heroes can work together, train, and go on missions before they graduate to the Justice League.

Cognito's introduction of Corporate Pro-Heroes and Hero Academies has changed things so there is less pressure on the League. The de-empowerment of super-villains has also reduced the workload of heroes worldwide. Heroes have a chance to take vacations, instead of fearing for the world twenty-four seven.

"Logan, you are drooling and you're not a dog right now."

Garfield Logan – the 15-year-old green-skinned animal shapeshifter known as Beast Boy – was invited to The Barclays by his Agent. Thanks to Rita, he has a successful career as a hero and an actor, playing roles on several sci-fi shows. He's even become a role model to the Metahumans that have a connection to The Red and possess animal powers like himself. None of that matters to him, as he looks at his fiancée in a very small swimsuit.

Perdita Vladek – Garfield's 17-year-old beautiful blue-eyed blonde girlfriend and Queen of Vlatava – is dressed in swimsuit that her advisors would call shameful. Thanks to Rorschach injecting her with nanomedicine years ago, she has one of the most physically fit bodies in Europe with a heart that could stop a bullet.

"I can't believe how real you look." says Gar, almost drooling at her.

"The Gynoid Surrogate looks as real as I am." says Perdita, smirking at her fiancée's hormonal face, "It feels real too. I can feel the sun, smell the sea, hear the waves, and see you looking at my breasts."

Beast Boy blushes having not realized he was obvious.

The Gynoid Surrogate is a Cognito creation. Doctor Genus originally got the idea from Ash Grey, who told the man about a comic Robert Venditti's The Surrogates and the Bruce Willis 2009 film based on it. Surrogates are telepresence remote-controlled androids that allow a person to control a robotic copy or avatar using Amusphere, experiencing the world through the robot's senses and moving it like one's own body. Queen Perdita couldn't leave her royal duties in Vladtava, but thanks to this gynoid she could experience everything as if she was there.

"Looks like Cog is going to make another billion with this idea. Not only can you go on virtual vacations with the Amusphere, but now you can travel the world in the safety of your home."

"Did Cognito ask you to do advertisements?"

"...Yes."

"The League isn't going to happy."

"They will get over it. Flash did ads for Cog Coffee and Batman stopped glaring after a month."

"Isn't that because he got him a discount on the Coffee?"

*DOOM*

"Cog never does anything half-assed do they." says Wally West, the Hero known as Kid Flash despite being in his twenties, "When they used nanomedicine to repair your mother's spine, her spine ended up stronger than ever."

"And faster reflexes. I just wish I didn't have to learn that fact." says Artemis, the heroine known as Tigress, "Some lunatic goes on a rampage at an office building, and I arrive to find my mother standing on the criminal."

Paula Crock (nee Nguyen) was once known as the Vietnamese born criminal Huntress and partnered with Lawrence "Crusher" Crock, better known as the mercenary Sportsmaster. A fall during a crime left her paralyzed and she spent years in prison, while her daughters were under the care of her ex-husband. Cognito repairing her spine has made the 55-year-old as energetic as a 30-year-old.

"Did I tell you about spine kid?"

"Spine Kid?"

"Get this. There was this kid - Martinez - at a school for the rich and elite. He came from a poor background and the other students were sure to remind him. His mother had to work herself to the bone to pay the tuition and her son sold some illegal stuff to the rich kids to lessen the burden." says Flash, "Something goes wrong, and he nearly gets expelled. His mother gets severely injured in a drive-by shooting, and his former client and bully messages to taunt him about his mother's hospitalization."

"Sick." says Artemis, disgusted at the cyber-bullying, "It sounds like a vigilante origin."

"Martinez learned his mother went to extremes and stole military-grade cybernetic implant from her hospital. A reflex arc accelerator spinal implant. He has a street doctor implant it into him and beats the rich bullies using the super speed it granted him."

Recent advancements in medical technology have led to a rise in cybernetic augmentation, despite the availability of organic replacements. Nanomedicine allows for longevity, but it still has organic limitations. While there are drugs and nanomachines that can enhance the biological form, there are many who have chosen the power of and efficiency of machines. There are many cybernetics doctors that operate legally, but some are known to conduct illicit deals, such as installing illegal military-grade cyberware for the right price.

"I see why you noticed." says Artemis. Flashes tend to be inquisitive about any incident involving superhuman speed. "Why did the hospital have a military-grade implant?"

"I'll get to that. After using his implant and beating the bully, he collapsed on the street and was taken to the hospital. He would have been arrested, but Cognito Inc stepped in." says Wally, "That whale of a company turned everything around. The hospital that Miss Martinez worked at was running an illegal operation, which is why they couldn't report the theft of military cyberware. Cog exposed them and transferred Mrs. Martinez to Cognito Medical, where she got healed."

Wally sips his drink before continuing.

"Cognito exposed the numerous crimes of the bully families, crippling their ability to retaliate against David's assault. It doesn't help that cyberbullying was recorded as evidence. As for Martinez, his community service is working for Cog."

"So, you're telling me this kid ruthlessly beat up his bully with stolen cyberware and Cog turned him into a Hero!?"

"Bingo!"

"..." Artemis doesn't say much, then collapses back into her chair. "Let's not talk about work for a while."

Suddenly, a kid runs by, and Wally is hit in the face by the sugar sand.

"Hey watch it kid."

"Too Slow, Old Man!" yells the boy as he heads for the water.

"What are they teaching these kids!?" says Wally.

*DOOM*

On another part of the beautiful beach, an African American couple are relaxing in their swimsuits, when the woman turns to her husband.

Karen Beecher (b1995) was a clear-headed student at Happy Harbor High School, where she was a classmate of Connor Kent and Megan Morse. Karen went on to undergraduate studies at Ivy University and became the lab assistant and protégé of Ray Palmer, the Atom. She also learned from Dr. Angelica Spica and Dr. Serling Roquette, the greatest minds in nanotechnology and Pro-Heroes "The Engineers". As often happens, you can associate with a superhero without getting involved and she eventually took the name "Bumblebee" and joined the Team. She sustained her relationship with Mal, though she had considerably less time for him as time went on.

"I have a surprise for you, Mr. Duncan."

"What surprise would that be, Mrs. Duncan?"

Malcolm "Mal" Duncan (b1993) was Karen's boyfriend at Happy Harbor High and friend the Connor and Megan. Sometime later, Mal found out about the Young Justice Team and quickly became their mission controller. When Karen Beecher became a heroine, he did the same to be able to fight alongside her. He became the Third Person to take up the Guardian name with physical enhancements via Cognito nanomedicine. The first Guardian was golden age Jim Harper, the great-grandfather of Roy Harper (Arsenal) and Roy's clones Will Harper (Red Arrow) and Jim Harper (Guardian II). Jim served as Mal's mentor with Cog serving as the physical training, making Mal's training unique.

Karen pulls out a couple of items from her bag. One is a Cognito brand pregnancy test with a very clear positive and a medical report from a doctor backing it up.

*DOOM*

"Looks like Karen told Mal that she's pregnant." says Dick, taking a sip from his drink.

"The pregnancy test is a good indication." quips Barb, also enjoying her drink while using an AR computer connected to her sunglasses

Dick Grayson (b1996) to the world is the adopted son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, who was taken in when his famous acrobat parents were murdered. In the world of heroes, he was first Robin, the first protégé to Batman who became the hero of Bludhaven and Team leader Nightwing. Gotham and Bludhaven used to keep him super busy, even when not involved with League business. Then, Rorschach and Cog began the purge. Suddenly, the crime organizations that had been around for decades despite Batman's best efforts to bring them down, were ripped up by the roots. Suddenly, the super criminals that once used Arkham Asylum as a revolving door, were reduced to normal sane people lacking the abilities and skills they used to transcend normal crime. The improved Gotham police can handle most crime, so Dick has found himself having a lot of free time.

"Hey! Let go you Rapper Wannabe!" says a young blue-eyed blonde woman struggling against a muscular man. The man is a muscular African American athlete with brown eyes, black skin, a bald head, and polished chrome-color cybernetic arms. The glare from the Rapper's arms is irritating to the other vacationers.

"Stop being a tease."

Barbara Gordon (b1997) to the world is the brilliant daughter of the legendary police commissioner James W. "Jim" Gordon, Sr. Many criminals have tried to capture Barbaras to force the pillar of honest police officers to follow their demands and they found themselves beaten into the ground by the Bat Family. Unknown to most people, she is a member of Bat Clan known as Batgirl. With the huge drop in crime rate, Barbara is spending less time investigating the physical world and is patrolling the virtual world as "Oracle".

It doesn't mean she doesn't still have the body and skills to kick physical ass. She confronts the metal-armed rapper wannabe about him being too aggressive with women. He tries to slap Barbara across the back with the back of his metal fingers, but Barbara grabs and twists the limb throwing the man to the sandy ground. A rougher hold causes the man to cry out and bad mechanical noises to come from his shoulder.

One of the reasons people go for full conversion prosthetic bodies is because one or two robot limbs are not as strong as the movies would have you believe. Even if a rich man got an arm that could lift tons, it would slam him into the ground or rip off if he did try to lift that much. A cyborg's arm is only as strong as the shoulder it is attached to.

"You bitch, I'll..."

*Thwack! *

Another reason people go full cyborg is an organic body has a lot of weak points, such as man's testicles. Barbara is proving this point by kicking the Rapper hard in the nuts. The move is super effective as the cyborg passes out. The "girlfriend" is recording everything with her phone.

"A little chrome and people think they are invincible." says Barb, "I could also smell the booze."

"He's a nicer guy when he's not drinking." says the woman.

"Will he stop drinking?" says Barb cautiously.

"There is a new implant that can make someone instantly sober." says the girl, "I've got the evidence to force him. He just tried to slap the daughter of Gotham City's Jim Gordon with his metal fingers."

"You recognize me?" says Barb, a little surprised that she is well known, "Why do you still want him?"

"He's rich." says the girl and at Barb's arched eyebrows, "He wants me for my body and connections, I want him for his wealth and influence. I may be a gold digger, but I'm a smart one."

Dick looks out at the water, as the beach patrol come to drag the metal-armed rapper to a more secure area and get a statement from the unnamed girl and Barb. Tim is currently in the water with Cassie and Stephanie. It started off as just playing in the water with the occasional splash, but now the three are competing. Cassie has the advantage in pure athleticism, but Tim and Stephanie are cunning.

Timothy Jackson "Tim" Drake (b2001) is also a ward of Bruce Wayne and a student of Gotham Academy. In the world of superheroes and supervillains, he is the third person to hold the Robin title, after Dick Grayson and Jason Peter Todd. He has been mentored by Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl.

Cassandra "Cassie" Sandsmark (b2006) is the daughter of Helena Sandsmark and the Greek god Zeus. She was raised by her single mother (as are most demigods), though she was often left on her own when her mother went on archaeological expeditions. She eventually became Wonder Woman's protégé Wonder Girl and joined the Young Justice team.

Stephanie Brown (b2003) is the daughter of the Cluemaster (Arthur Brown), one of Gotham City's third-rate criminals. Her father spent most of her childhood in jail or away from the family. When he returned, faking being reformed, she ended up becoming a runaway. Eventually the wheels of Cog came for her father and located her. Due to odd circumstances, she eventually became a costumed vigilante/hero called Spoiler, even getting mentored by Batman.

"A Sky God's kid in the ocean. You're braver than most."

Cassandra turns to see a shark girl in the water behind her. The sexual dimorphism of the Atlantean Sharkmen is very shocking, as males have the heads of sharks and resemble rejects from the 90s cartoon Street Sharks. The females look far more human with white-and-black skin, predator gold eyes with black sclera, and head extensions resembling human hair. She is smiling showing her rows of sharp pointed teeth.

"The Sea God is a lot more chill in the modern era. My deadbeat dad doesn't mess with the Sea God's kids in the air and Sea God doesn't mess with Sky God's kids in the water." replies Cassandra, "So, who are you shark-girl?"

Most people would be crying out in fear if they encountered a part-shark in the water, but the three heroes are aware of Atlanteans from another universe. The shark warriors appeared after their leader – a member of the Dark League – was killed by Ash Grey and joined his Order of the Megalodon. They were joined by their spouses and families, meaning this newcomer is the daughter of an Atlantean Knight.

"Saeko. Tho some call me Sameko"

Saeko is Japanese for "Serene Child", but Sameko means "Shark Child".

"So, how did you end up on this beach?"

"Commander Grey had Cognito set up an Atlantean training center so he wouldn't have to personal train the troops. He even set things up so the ones that get the best scores get special bonuses. My dad is a vice-commander and scored number one on the Leaderboards, so they awarded him a vacation package."

"So, your dad is the bravest."

"No. That goes to the Keeper."

"Keeper?"

"The Knight in charge of caring for the Order's Mascot - Same." says the shark girl in reverence, before she explains who Same is.

Same (Japanese for Shark) is the name of Order of Megalodon's feared Mascot, a creature summoned to this world by Lord of Chaos Klarion while he was high on eldritch catnip. A creature that is believed to be the embodiment of humanity's collective memory of sharks, the myths, the legends, the stories, and the fear they evoke in humanity. The transcendent being can manipulate the environment, summon minions, and transform into any form of shark that has ever existed or imagined. It can swim in the air, the ground, and even solid metal like its water, and can summon massive tornadoes. It can summon any form of creature that qualifies as a shark and can even transform itself into a multiplying school of sharks. It can transform into ancient megalodon, a fiery fusion of shark and volcano, and an atomic shark that can create nuclear explosions. It can become a three-headed mutant with octopus tentacles, a mechanical alien shark, a yokai from Japanese mythology, or undead shark that can devour souls.

Cassie would think Sameko is telling a story, but she remembers some of Black Manta's men were captured and they gave reports of a Shark from Hell. Doctor Fate then confirmed the existence of the Transcendent Embodiment of Sharks, and the fact Atlantis is now a Nuclear Superpower.

"So, is she joining us for the game?" asks the clueless Tim.

*DOOM*

Virgil Hawkins (b2000) is currently relaxing with his girlfriend and his best friend. He looks down at his Cognito Hero ID which shows him as Static. Thankfully, they are away from the other beach goers so nobody can see the ID in his hand.

"So, what are you thinking about?" says his girlfriend.

"I'm wondering if Cog donated that money to Freeman Community just to secure my loyalty."

"Maybe, but the Community Center needed that money and it's not like our Corporate Overlord aren't benign tyrants." says his girl.

Many years ago, the Dakota City Riots resulted in many deaths and paramedic Jean Hawkins was almost one of them. She survived, but her marriage to social worker husband Robert Hawkins became frayed. Eventually, they separated with Robert taking their son Virgil and Jean taking their daughter Sharon. They still lived close enough that Virgil could easily visit his mother and sister, but on one trip he was exposed to an unknown chemical and his meta-ability to control electricity and electromagnetism. Inspired by comics and real heroes, he became the Hero Static and the protégé of another African American Lightning bender - Black Lightning. His parents discovering his hero identity also led to him becoming a Cognito Pro-Hero because of things like pay, insurance, healthcare, etc.

The Freeman Community Center was a charitable foundation in Dakota City run by Robert Hawkins. Cognito Inc dropped a 500 K donation on Center, which also caused a couple dozen other companies to make donations. Nobody wants to offend Cognito Inc, so if Cog donates to any charity, they obediently follow their lead.

"I guess you're right, Shenice."

Shenice Vale wasn't born like a normal human, instead she was a Cadmus experiment. Married scientists Jonathan and Dolores Vale were the lead scientists on the project, and they designed her to be genetically perfect. The Light intended to clone Shenice as a baseline for their super-soldiers, but the Vales had grown attached to their daughter and escaped. When Cognito Inc rose as an unstoppable force that even The Light couldn't counter, the Vales found safety. Shenice is interested in becoming a pro-hero under the crazy name She-Bang.

"Of course, I'm right." says Shenice with confidence, "Cog doesn't need to be deceptive. They are big, powerful, and influential, and they know it."

Virgil's best friend Richie doesn't get involved in the conversation. He occupied with a pair of AR sunglasses.

Richard "Richie" Osgood Foley was just a smart kid from Dakota City, who often got bullied by physical stronger men with self-esteem issues. He used to go to school with his friends Virgil Hawkins and Raquel Ervin, but then things changed. Inspired by other heroes, Raquel convinced the extraterrestrial Icon to become a hero and became his sidekick using a force field belt. Virgil Hawkins awoke as a metahuman due to a chemical exposure and became the protégé of Black Lightning. Richie was left alone by himself, until he realized he was getting smarter and was able to create super tech. Gear ended up joining Cognito but renewed his friendship.

"What are you working on, Richie?" asks Static

"I'm working on a new attachment for the Backpack. I'm hoping it will boost efficiency more than the one designed by those STAR kids. I'm only 30% done, but if I work for several more hours."

*Zap! *

Richie's AR glasses are hit by a burst of electromagnetic energy from Static, knocking them offline.

"Richie, you're on vacation. You should be doing vacation things." says Static.

"Like what?" says Richie, upset about his glasses.

Static and She-Bang point, and Richie turns to see a bunch of girls playing volleyball. They are all beautiful, large breasted, and wearing swimsuits meant to melt the minds of the hormonal viewers. One of the girls turns and smiles at Richie.

"You make valid points." says Richie staring at the curvy girl in the sling shot bikini.

*DOOM*

On a different beach on the same island.

Same time.

Roughly six years ago, Rorschach, Ash Grey, and some of his future brides attacked the underwater military base belonging to Doctor Shiro Ito (the villain Dragon King) and his Daemonite forces. In that base, stolen Cadmus Sigma experiments were found and taken back to Rorschach's base. These were modified clones of the children of Vietnam soldiers. These soldiers known as Team Seven had been the subjects of experimentation themselves by international Operations. Experiments that granted them unstable superhuman abilities. While the original children ended up living "normal" lives, these genetically altered clones awoke with fabricated memories and superhuman abilities under the name Gen 13.

Caitlin looks up from her laptop at her teammates. She is getting more and more distracted from her own business, which is the purpose of a vacation.

Caitlin Fairchild with the help of Cognito resources has become a confident scientist, who spends most of her time in laboratories despite her superpower granting her greatly enhanced physical abilities including superhuman strength, stamina, durability, and speed. According to Cog scanners she even possesses greatly enhanced Longevity. She has been working through her biggest problems - one being that her original self Dr. Fairchild worked for Cadmus Sigma and was instrumental in their creation. The other being the mental alterations made to the clones, such as bisexuality.

"Are you moaning on purpose?"

Roxanne "Freefall" Spaulding. Caitlin's half-sister and gravity-manipulating teammate is sunbathing on her towel. She has taken full advantage of the private beach having a clothing optional policy and won't be having any tan lines. She punk rocker is also letting Rainmaker apply suntan lotion to her body, something she hadn't allowed for years (according to the fake memories)

"No." says Freefall, still in bliss. "Sarah has very talented fingers."

Sarah Rainmaker, Native American beauty, LGBTQIA2S+ and environmental supporter, and weather manipulator of the team is enjoying herself. She also won't have any tan lines and is thoroughly making sure Roxy wouldn't have any sunburns. Caitlin wonders if Sarah has ever had tan lines before, then reminds herself that those memories are fake, and she hadn't seen a tan line in the few years they have been alive.

"I'm glad I took that Masseuse course." says Sarah, with her well-oiled hands on Roxy's well-formed rear.

"This is reason we can't invite the originals." says Caitlin as the lewd duo.

The originals have accepted their clones are family, treating them like younger siblings. Only Roxy has problems with her counterpart, because the Real Roxy was working double jobs to support her child and was depressed about how her life went. Thankfully, Cog got the original Miss Spaulding a better-paying job and their relationship improved. Roxy (the clone) is now Auntie Roxy to Miss Spaulding's daughter.

"Where is Grunge? You think he would be watching or asking to lend a hand." says Caitlin, trying to find a distraction.

Percival Edmund "Grunge" Chang is a party-loving skater/surfer. He is also a metahuman who can replicate the properties of any solid substance he encounters.

"He's surfing on the next beach, but he'll be back in a little while" says Roxy, "He doesn't need to sneak peeks, when he can have me anytime we want."

The rest of the team include the flying pyrokinetic Bobby "Burnout" Lane, psychokinetic gunslinger Cassidy "Razor" Cash and swordswoman Harmony Cash – the children of Zealot and Grifter, the part-Kherabim warrior Jodi "Jet" Slayton - daughter of the hero Backlash, and density-manipulating Rachel "Sublime" Goldman. They are currently playing volleyball with their newest member Holly "Breakdown" Denton.

Holly was another modified clone found at a Cadmus site by Cognito Inc. She possesses the ability to breakdown any molecular structure, even the oxygen in the air. The ability can also be extremely lethal as she can breakdown humans at a molecular level. Cadmus had such an interest in her powers, they isolated her from the other Sigma subjects and cloned her over forty times during her tests, each clone receiving memories of the previous. The 45th clone was the one rescued and it took Cognito Psych years to make her mentally healthy to enjoy life

*Beep*

Caitlin looks away from sexy friends at the message from Grunge.

"What's up, Grunge."

"I just got info on my movies."

"You already showed us your movies."

Cognito Movies has the best collection of movies in the multiverse. This is the main reason their movie industry is unbeatable as they have the most acclaimed award-winning super-hit movies without the cost of making any of them. You can also find any movie imaginable, including Grunge's own movies. In Ash and Rorschach's world – "Grunge: The Movie" was a fantasied story in pages of Gen 13 Bootleg. A parody of Hong Kong movies done in an anime style. Cog managed to find an award-winning trilogy for Grunge's birthday. A box set which also contained the uncut version with uncensored language, puns, violence, nudity, and sex starring Roxy and Caitlin. While the originals would have been offended, the Gen 13 girls enjoyed the movies with Grunge.

"Not those. My script for Dragon Master was accepted. They are filming it on a nearby island."

*DOOM*

Set of Dragon Master XXXI

Island 13, Barclay Islands

April 2017

The film series Dragon Master started in 1985 with the original "Dragon Master" film. It was a typical martial arts film with the destined protagonist avenging his sister and having to fight a crime lord who is also a supreme martial artist. The plot wasn't very impressive, but the breathtaking special effects, excellent fight choreography, and the martial arts of Master Dragon Li turned it into a cult classic. Since then, for over thirty years, new films have been made every three years. After the thirtieth anniversary film in 2015, filming of the twelfth film – Dragon Master and the Land of the Dead - began with a screenplay by Percival E. Chang.

"Another broke one. Li's blows are strong as ever" says one of the workers, picking up a rotten zombie head with a noticeable dent in the skull. He pulls back the synthetic skin like a glove (and thankfully wearing gloves) to reveal the translucent white plastic skull and metal components. He did this to get a better look at the dent in the plastic. "Grab another replacement."

Around him are a hundred more "defeated zombies".

"Chang sure like his zombies."

"You never told me why he accepted screenplay from a no-name writer." says an assistant, carrying cups of Cognito Coffee.

"Chang is a member of Gen 13, the former League team, that became a Cog Pro-Hero Team. Cognito sent over a trilogy boxset of Grunge's work. A film that he writ, directed, and started in. It was good." says the graying Asian Director," Cognito was also willing to pay over 99% of the SFX budget. We could spend more than the combined Star Wars films and Cog would foot the bill."

"I was wondering where the money for this stuff was coming from."

"The plot is a little weird." says the engineer.

"A little weird? In the last movie, the original Shadow Boss was resurrected by his son and kidnapped the sons of the Current Dragon Masters, but the original Dragon Master returned to help his sons save his grandsons. The battle ended with everyone combining their energy to perform the divine dragon fist and annihilate Shadow Boss' soul."

While the original Dragon Master had a basic plot, the second gen films got complicated. They introduced the twin sons of the original Dragon Master inheriting his title and fighting more supernatural enemies. The deaths of Shadow Boss and his son was closing the last chapter.

"Now we have the Dark Dragon, who was sealed away by the original's master and Shadow Boss before he was corrupted, breaking his seal and awakening the dead as his army." says the Director, "At least Dragon Li is still having fun making them."

The Director turns to see the original and current Dragon Masters.

The original Dragon Li stands 172cm (about 5ft 8) with the lean (but insanely well defined) muscular build of a master martial artist. The Hong Kong native has brown eyes, tan skin, and short black hair, and shows none of his age. He was 33 when the First Dragon Master was made and is now 65 years old but doesn't look a day over 30. He even still does his own stunts.

"We have a small problem." says Dragon Li I

The current Dragon Master (s) – Brian Li stands 1.83 cm (about 6ft) with blue eyes and shoulder-length wavy black hair. He was 8 years old when his dad became the Dragon Master in '85 and he was 23 when he became the new Dragon Master(s) in Dragon Master VI – Twin Dragons (also known as Dragon Master 2000). SFX wizardry allows him to play identical twin brothers. He's now 40 and looks the same age as his father.

"You would call it small." says Dragon Li II holding up a zombie head in a plastic bag.

If the new film does well, his kids will be the Dragon Masters of the Third Gen. The grey-skinned, red-eyed corpse head in the bag could be a problem.

"That doesn't look like one of ours." says the Director, looking at the zombie head. The film zombies have a dark purple-blue-gray skin tone, milky white eyes and look more necrotic. After many years in the film business, you can tell the difference between SFXs.

"It's not."

"Nobody else is supposed to be filming."

"I don't think anyone is filming." says Brian, "This came from a real corpse that walked towards us on its own. We have real zombies. Dad punched its head clean off."

"Shit. Call some Heroes. Also check our insurance."

*DOOM*

The Main Beach

1 Hour Later.

In the beginning, the zombies were more of a nuisance than an actual threat. Years of media flooded with zombies had given common people enough knowledge to react. Instead of getting scared, running, and hurting themselves, which would make them easy prey for the undying horde, the crew and actors were mostly calm. The fact that many of them were martial artists with many years of experience helped. The fact that some of them were heavily armed to keep away psychotic fans also helped.

Like in a video game, the Level 1 zombies were weak beings. They resemble animated dead humans with blue-gray skin and red eyes with red sclera. They also have human-level strength unlimited by pain or consciousness, but they are also mindless and driven by instinct. One or two zombies are not a problem for a normal human unless you're an idiot. A normal human can easily kill even a physically strong zombie because they still possess what separated them from the animals; a strong mind able to adapt to situations.

The problem is it's never one or two zombies, it's one or two dozen at best and one or two hundred at worst. It's only the sheer number that gave them any problems, which left the movie set stained with crimson.

"The civvies are secure behind the barricades. We don't need to worry about them."

"Now, we have to worry about ourselves."

Then came the Level 2 Zombies. They resemble level 1 zombies, only they have begun to mutate. These creatures are clearly more than animated dead corpses as there is some form of biological activity. All the body fat has melted away to reveal mutated bone and growing muscle. All covered by wet-looking hairless red-purple flesh that stretched too tightly on the bodies. Their mutations allow for stronger jaws with sharp teeth and longer arms ending in blackened claws. They also bones starting to form spikes along their spines.

Caitlin's fist collides with the jaw of the Level 2 Zombie and the jaw explodes. The nearly decapitated zombie goes flying across the mall. It doesn't matter if the skull is still mostly intact because the force of the blow has liquified the brain, ending the zombie's existence. Caitlin and Wonder Girl are smashing zombies left and right, but Caitlin notices Wonder Girl is being more careful with her blows.

"Same weakness as Diana?" asks Caitlin, referring to while Wonder Woman has insane durability, she is vulnerable to piercing weapons. The sharper teeth and claws of the Level 2s could possibly count.

"You should use Cape names."

"Why? Neither of us are wearing costumes."

"You don't even have a Cape name."

"I never found one that suited me." says Caitlin, decapitating another zombie, "It's not like your cape name is very original."

"Hey Girl!" says Grunge, having transformed into a man of metal and holding a blood-stained piece of bent rebar, "Less banter and more bashing. Oh! Fire axe."

"Grunge... is acting professional?"

"He spent three hundred hours playing a new zombie survival game. This must seem like destiny to him."

His "girlfriend" Freefall's solution is a little messy as she uses her ability to manipulate gravity to lift the charging zombies into the air, before smashing them into the ground with hyper-gravity. Thanks to Cog training, she can subject targets to over a hundred times Earth gravity, more than enough to splatter the zombies.

Sisters Harmony and Razor tear through the horde with relative ease. Harmony's blade summoned from a Cog dimensional storage device slice through them like a scythe through rotten reeds. Razor's guns never run out of ammo, and she gets perfect headshots. Even with stronger skulls, the mutant zombies eventually fall to her perfect aim. Jet also joins the duo slicing through the horde with her mad ninja skills.

"We go on vacation, and we end up fighting zombies." says Jodi, pulling her kusarigama from the head of a particularly thick-headed target "It's more entertaining than watching the boys drool, but I wouldn't call it relaxing."

"Next time, let's do a Amusphere Vacation!" says Harmony.

With time-compression, Amusphere Vacations can compress weeks of fun in the sun into a few hours in the real world. It's a lot harder for this chaotic world to interrupt them with comic book craziness.

Shebang buries a group of zombies with a shockwave and Gear's backpack then attacks like a vicious mechanical spider. The two heroes watch as the AI-driven backpack jumps from zombie to zombie, destroying the brains with drills, spikes, lasers, and pneumatic hammers.

"I... I didn't know your Backpack was so violent." says Shenice, wincing at the blood and gore.

"Neither did I." says a worried Richie.

Burnout's flames take out many zombies and he doesn't need to completely incinerate the creatures. All he needs to do is either cause explosion damage to the head or heat the heads to boil the liquid inside and cook the brains.

Static and Rainmaker release lightning down on the zombies and it proves to be effective. While the zombies have mutated nervous systems, they still conduct electricity. It doesn't matter if the brain is smashed, burnt, or fried, once destroyed the body collapses to the ground.

*DOOM*

Shopping Centre

Barclay Islands Shopping Centre was created so merchants could sell needed supplies, expensive sports equipment, and overprized souvenirs to the tourists. They often competed with the hotel shops and the shops close to the beach, but they do have some advantages. One is shelters designed to protect against natural disasters and attacks by SPBs. Zombie invasions are apparently covered in the insurance.

The Level 3 Zombies have appeared, and the Heroes are struggling.

Level 3 Zombies are Level 2 zombies that have completed their growth. They are taller and grotesquely muscular like those injected with Kobra Venom. They also have hard grey skin, cracked in some places to reveal the red-purple muscle tissue underneath. They also have bone-like protrusions on their arms, down their spines, and random parts of their bodies. These extensions of their skeletons make their skulls harder to pierce and their necks stronger, making destroying the brain and decapitation far harder.

Beast Boy can become any animal due to his connection to the Red. This is not limited to modern animals, as he can become any extinct animal from a species decimated by humans to species that have been extinct for millions of years. He can even become demonic and magical creatures that exist in other dimensions, and extraterrestrial animals from other worlds. The only difference between them and terrestrial being concentration and energy requirements.

"Arrghh!" cries out the monochrome shapeshifter as one of his limbs is savagely ripped off. Thankfully, he's in the form resembling a giant squid. Not only can the creature regenerate those limbs, but shapeshifters can also repair damage by shifting their cells around.

"Are you OK?" yells Perdita.

"I'm OK. What about you?"

"It's not like I'm really here!"

Perdita is safe in her home country remotely controlling her Surrogate gynoid body. An artificial body with its pain sensitivity turned down to zero and strength limiters remotely removed can compete with some super powered beings. Queen Perdita even received some martial arts training and advanced Surrogate piloting, so she could help Beast Boy in an emergency. An Island being invaded by mutant zombies out of a Resident Evil game certainly counts.

The gynoid is not looking good as one of the zombies managed to twist her damaged arm. There are sparks as the components of the robotic limb come apart, but Perdita pulls away from her attacker leaving the arm behind. The monster didn't rip off her arm, she disconnected it before it had the chance to protect herself from additional damage. She has numerous tears in her artificial skin, revealing the barely damaged machine underneath.

"Next time, I'm buying the combat model!" says the Queen.

"Next time, we should pay extra and go for the VR Vacations." says Beast Boy slamming his opponent headfirst into the ground.

Tigress was once known as the Archery Hero: Artemis, but she was considered a replacement for Red Arrow – the former "sidekick" of Green Arrow. She used to pose as Green Arrow's niece, because she didn't want to be associated with her criminal family. In another timeline, she would have acquired the Tigress identity while posing as the undercover Aqualad's lieutenant. In this timeline, she gained the name while cross-training with the Cog Pro-Heroes.

She also gained her signature crossbow which uses Cog-patented technology to switch between various arrow bolts, from normal hunting bolts to various trick bolts, like more advanced versions of her former trick arrows. She also has an absurdly sharp X-Ionizer sword, also curtesy of Cog. Another Zombie falls to the ground- head separated from its body – due to the sword, but the sword is starting to fail.

"I'm sure how long my sword will last!"

"Cog didn't make it indestructible?"

"They are still a business and indestructible means no to repeats."

Wally's body vibrates as yellow lightning crawls across his body. He moves faster than any of the heroes can perceive and faster than the monster can react. His hand vibrating at an incalculable speed is intangible, phasing through the grey flesh and dense bone of the Level-3 Zombie's head. As the hand clears the front of the skull, its vibrational frequency changes for a moment and the brain is bombarded by ultra-high frequency shockwaves for a fraction of a second. As the intangible hand leaves the head, it's trained by liquid and pulverized brain matter which become droplets from the sudden deceleration. The zombie's head bursts a second later as Kid Flash returns to normal relative time.

"Holy Shit! When did you learn to do that?"

"A Cog Hero showed me it, but I never thought I would have to use it."

Despite the League Heroes being "rivals" with Cog Pro-Heroes, Cognito has always been generous. Nightwing and Batgirl are glad that Cog supplied the League with Storage devices. The Storage Devices are small machines disguised as belts, bracelets, and rings that are connected to personal pocket dimensions. It allows heroes to store costumes, support gear, weapons, and supplies without any weight.

In the case of Nightwing and Batgirl, this includes a wide variety of Batarangs, which they are using up against the massive horde of zombies. Normal batarangs are next to useless as the creatures don't feel pain and can only permanently die to decapitation or destruction of the brain. The special razor batarangs are sharp enough to pierce the skull but are damaged by the bone. Explosive units are effective but are all one-shots. Cryogenic units can slow targets with their freezing gases, but only if the brain is frozen are zombies permanently taken down. Electric units are effective frying the brains, but their battery packs are quickly draining from the lethal charges.

"In a few minutes, I'll be down to using Foamers."

Foamers are non-lethal batarangs that release expanding quick-hardening sticky foam to incapacitate targets. It is something you use on humans to prevent them from being harmed.

Batgirl jams a set of darts into the body of one of the zombies, injecting sedatives. The drug is so powerful, that a normal dart could render a high-level brute like Killer Croc and Kobra Venom users' unconscious for a day. Half a dozen darts is more than enough to shut down the nervous system completely. The nerves don't just stop conducting signals, they die in a cascading chain reaction.

"I'm down to Tranquilizers."

Robin and Spoiler are also using an arsenal of specialized Batarangs. Robin is also armed with a staff that can deliver greater shocks than an electric cattle prod and Spoiler is also armed with Shock Gloves - a pair of gauntlets that can emit electricity and are normally used by Batman.

Wonder Girl has the most surprising weapon, as she is using a Greek-style sword crafted by Hephaestus - the Olympian god of fire, smithing and metallurgy. While not the same level as Wonder Woman's Magic Sword - which is said to be sharp enough to cut the electrons off an atom - it is still any absurdly sharp sword. Using this sword during normal heroics would be far too dangerous as criminals could easily end up with limbs sliced off before their nerves had a chance to register the pain.

*DOOM*

Hotel

The Heroes need help, they are running low and the Level 4s have arrived.

The Terrifying Level 4 Zombies resemble heavily armored versions of Ash's monstrous Doomsday form. They have huge grotesquely muscular humanoid bodies standing nearly three meters in height. They have cracked gray skin covered by a layer of overlapping bone spikes, creating a living suit of white bone armor Spike that even protects the blood red eyes and massive fang-filled jaws. These Boss-level monsters have spinal bones so hard and dense; blades break if they even attempt to decapitate. They also have skulls stronger than the best Cognito helmet rendering their sole vital organ immune from guns.

Help has arrived and that Help is Me!

I land between the heroes and the Level 4s. I have transformed into my monstrous 2.5 meters tall (8'2) form with glowing red eyes, gray skin, and bone armor. Some of the civvies behind the barriers cry out in fear, wondering if a Raid Boss just arrived.

"Ash Grey!?" says Sublime.

I don't say a word, I just move at supersonic speed and grab two Level 4s as I run by. I hold their struggling forms by their faces. As I hold their struggling bodies by their faces, ignoring their attempts to claw and stab me, I can feel certain skills activate. One of the skills is a bonus against Doomsday variants, and I realize the truth about these creatures! My arms glow with fire as I squeeze, and the skulls of my enemies implode like eggs in hands.

I move again, so fast that the world around become still and silent. I appear Infront of the third Level 4 and deliver an uppercut. The force of the punch is enough to shatter its mutated jaw along the spikes and teeth connected to it. The resulting shockwave from the impact is loud enough that the civvies cover their ears in pain. As for my opponent, he goes flying into the air. I release a small Abyss Roar and the airborne zombie completely disintegrates.

I can hear some kids shouting about how cool I am and comparing it to an anime fight.

I'm not really listening.

"Those zombies were created by the K-Virus."

The Kelipot Virus. The virus was extracted from the body before my awakening at Cadmus Beta and now the progenitor of a zombie outbreak. I let out a snarl as I am PISSED.

*DOOM*

Infiltrating the Facility

Cadmus Facility, Barclay Grand Hotel

Minutes Later

1POV

"Start Talking!"

The Surviving Scientist is a very young man who can't be more than twenty-five. He has forest green eyes, light skin, and short curly dark brown hair. He looks like he should be a actor in a medical TV drama instead of working for mad scientists.

"This was just another cloning facility. The original project was to kidnap important people on vacation – politicians, military personal, celebrities, and wealthy – and replace them with clones under the control of The Light. That project was shut down in its infancy by Cognito Inc expansion. Not only do most of the important people use Cognito Vacations, but Cog's control is also immense."

"The facility was close to shutting down, when the head lost his mind. Something must have gone wrong with medication or the cloning process."

"You know that you're a clone?"

"Yeah. The original was nowhere near as smart or attractive."

"The Head got this crazy idea to replace a ton of people and then on a certain day, they would transform into monsters and take control of the world."

That's the plot to Bio Booster Armor Guyver! Guyver is a series that began in 1985 by Yoshiki Takaya and has spawned many adaptations (which I have ALL seen). The plot is about a human armed with a suit of extraterrestrial biomechanical space armor and his allies fighting against a group called Chronos. Chronos had people that could transform into monsters called Zoanoids and their grand plan was to replace key people around the world and have them transform on X-Day to take over the world. They succeeded in manga and 2005 anime.

"How the fuck did that loon get ahold of the K-Virus!?"

"You know about the K-Virus?"

"I'm the source, idiot."

"You're Project Qliphoth!?" says the scientist, looking like he's about to piss himself.

"Where!?" I ask, adding a growl to my voice. With how deep my voice is, you can almost feel the rumble.

"Samples were stored in remote sites when Cog began raiding the main facilities." says the terrified scientist, "He implanted capsules in some of the clones for tests, when The Light inspectors arrived. They quickly determined the Head was unstable and terminated him. The facility was being shut down, when SHE struck."

"A strange woman that came with the Inspector. She was a curvy African woman with red eyes, dark skin, and short silver hair. She wore a red cloak and had tribal bracelets on her wrists and ankles. She keeps ranting about death and called herself a Necromancer."

"The Inspector with her tried to stop her. He had some sort of magic tattoo on his arm, but she killed him and took the arm."

"Nzambi." I whisper.

"Who?" asks Wally.

*DOOM*

"All those who have tasted death become my children."

Purple lightning crackles across the surface of the cloning tanks. They once contained normal civilian clones, identical to the originals beyond being grown in weeks instead of years and having commands buried deep within their minds. The K-virus was injected into the veins of these creations, and they began to change. Their mutations are controlled by dark magic beyond mortal understanding. Most of the maturation tanks are shattered, their mutated occupants awoke to their mistress's call.

"He's coming."

In the deepest part of the facility is the master of the zombies, Caster Nzambi.

The African Servant sits on her knees inside a ritual circle. She has discarded most of her outfit leaving her only in a loincloth and bracelets. Her normal cold dark skin radiates heat, her magic circuits glowing like phosphorous tattoos on her body. She pants with excitation and exhaustion at the burning pain. She holds a red vial in her hands marked with the biohazard symbol, which is glowing a bright scarlet between her cupped hands. Her body tenses as a bolt of purple lightning strikes the vial in her hand and cascades across her body.

She raises her hands holding the vial and a dark red aura swirl around her and the circle.

The Earth Mother Goddess of the Congo, Africa, whose name became the root word for zombies, Nzambi is the origin of all zombie folklore. The high goddess of the Vili people of the Congo, at once a great empress and the mother of all life.

"Our children sent the message. Come forth destruction, come forth the Destroyer."

Long ago, zombies just referred to slaves risen from the grave. The animated dead turned into familiars of the magic users. Then came George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), which spawned the idea of hordes of animated dead feasting on the flesh of the living and converting other humans into the same. Humans stripped of their humanity and life, transformed into a virus in human form. As the modern era came, other forms of zombies also began to appear. Artificial zombies, Attractive Zombies, Elite, Friendly, Plague & Parasite, Living Zombies, etc.

As a Servant, Nzambi's image was distorted due to the influence of the folklore surrounding her, becoming a self-proclaimed necromancer. When she was summoned to this world by Cadmus, she was merely curious. The more about the world she learned, the more fascinated she became especial with those connected to death and disease.

The vial in her hands is the K-Virus. While there are many other scientific and magical pathogens in the world that can cause zombies (along with many spells and poisons). The Kelipot Virus is special because of its origin.

"A hybrid of man, extraterrestrial, and virus from a dead star empowered by the impure spiritual forces. Corruption, Anarchy, Evil, Darkness, Chaos, Sin. All in a single being. The virus extracted from his blood creates servants in his image. An army of mindless monsters born from the flesh of dead.", says the former mother goddess in pleasure, "I can feel it. The Black. The Divided. He is the embodiment of everything."

There is a loud roar as the remaining clone vats crack and shatter around her.

"Come, Ash Grey. My soul calls your name."

*DOOM*

Emergency Stairs

1POV

A Caster-class Servant summoned "After" the Holy Grail War in Fate/Requiem. In that world, fourteen years before the present, over thirty Holy Grail Wars occurred at the same time. The secret world was revealed, World War III occurred, and the world became post-apocalyptic. In that world, everyone was born with their own Grail and summoned a Servant. This phenomenon didn't stop until the summoning of the Final Servant Voyager.

"Nzambi was a killer who collected the Command Spells by cutting off the body parts of Masters. Before her identity was known, she was called the "Command Spell Hunter" in various wards of Mosaic City. She wanted to release a zombie plague across the city but was defeated by Voyager" I explain as the heroes and me go deeper.

"So. She is a Necromancer servant that summons Zombies?"

"No. She is an Earth Mother Goddess in the form of a Servant."

"Goddess?"

"Earth Mother Goddesses are goddesses that possess the power of creation which originated from a forgotten goddess from approximately 8000 years ago. In fate, the Goddess' power branched out to other goddesses such as Tiamat, Inanna, Gaea, Hera, and others. Unfortunately, Romero and zombie media has corrupted her into this form." I explain as we reach the bottom level, "She is the Earth Mother Goddess of the Congo, but modern media messed up her origin."

"Are you telling us that Gods become corrupt due to modern media in the Fate world?" says Wonder Girl.

"The Servants are affected by the collective will of humanity. Servants gain power from the worship and legends of humanity, so they can also be corrupted by humanity's changing views. Semiramis wasn't involved in the Hanging Walls of Babylon, but they became part of his power because humanity believed she was involved. Vlad Tepes nearly spits blood when someone mentions Bram Stroker because he became associated with vampires."

*DOOM*

Final Level

1POV

The door opens and I'm hit by a blast of dark magic. The magic doesn't damage me, but it does slow me. It's hard to move forward when the ground beneath you corrodes into powder.

The heroes dodge a stream of dark particles that shoot towards them like firehose filled with Black Petro. Perdita is not as lucky as the others as her Surrogate body is struck. The group watch in shock as the artificial body decays, aging centuries in seconds. The clothing and artificial skin is the first to dissolve, but then the mechanical body corrodes and collapses to the ground in pieces.

The Heroes and I look up to see the Boss Monster.

Its upper body is a gray humanoid with a lean physique and long limbs tipped with black fingernails and toenails. It has hairless ash gray skin with bone-white markings resembling tribal tattoos. On its chest the markings resemble screaming skulls. Its eyes have crimson irises with dark red (almost black) sclera. They glow like fire in the darkness of the chamber. It wears a simple black loincloth with bracelets of white bone around its neck, wrists, and ankles. As it moves its body radiates a thick mist of dark particles that flows across the chamber. Anything the mist touches decays – organic matter rotting to dust, metal corroding to powder, and glass melting like candle wax.

I look carefully at the creature's face and notices it resembles me, Clark, and Connor with the addition of African features. The creature lets out a howl, producing a visible shockwave.

The members of the League and the Cog Pro-Heroes witness their deaths. They are shot, impaled, sliced to pieces, torn apart, and violated in ways beyond description. These deaths are so real, most of them collapse from the shock and pain they experience. Those that don't pass out, get to experience death again and again. Eventually, all the heroes lie unconscious and only I remain standing. Unlike the others I'm unaffected by the visible shockwaves of killing intent.

The creature stops howling and raises his hands. The heroes on the ground begin to shake and twist around as if having grand mal seizures. Then they rise to their feet with unnatural movements and pale skin. They stare at me with eyes glowing with a red light before attacking.

"Shit!"

This is a big problem for me in the tight constraints of the chamber. I possess monstrous strength and invulnerability, combined with buffs against anything and everything, but my abilities are focused on death and destruction. I'm good at destroying things but taking down heroes without killing them is delicate work.

The heroes with superhuman strength strike me without any restraint, damaging their own bodies in the process. The zombified heroes don't feel pain, but their finger bones are splintering from punching my impossibly durable flesh. I toss them away from me and they slide across the chamber, but they jump to their feet unnaturally and continue attacking.

Kid Flash is the most annoying opponent since he attacks with super speed and his arms are now as floppy and broken as Izuku "Deku" Midoriya after using One-for-All at 100%. I slid kick his legs, breaking them, but the zombified Kid Flash continues to attack despite not having any working limbs.

After Wonder Girl's sword broke against my neck, I got the idea to use my Doom Vision on the Boss. My destructive beams instantly disintegrate the upper body of the boss, but it just reforms from darkness and mist. I then activate my [Soul Manipulation] skill and see the decayed souls controlling the Heroes and making up the Boss Monster's body.

I grab Robin and pull out the ghost possessing him. It looks like one of Cadmus scientists but it's translucent, greyscale, and looks emaciated to a skeletal. As I hold it, it's pulled into my body, which is emitting light. I can feel the soul pass through the gate of death which is my body into the afterlife. As I absorb the soul, two things happen – Robin reverts into a human crying out in surprise and severe pain from his injuries, and my Party Gamer informs me something is happening.

[̶̨̟̗͔̦̘͉̼̹̺͍̃͛̾̋͋̄̀͌̍̚͘C̴͖̤͖̜̏õ̶̧̥͇͍̍̽̏͆́̆͂͆͊̕̚͝m̶̻͐͐̾͋̎͋̋́̈́̐͘ͅm̴̢̛̗̠̬̜͙̤͙͙̹̹̤͇̓̔̋̓̓̕͝ͅͅa̷̖̭̫̩̽͊̓n̸̠͖̬̮̰̥̓̅̀͋́̌͗̇̊̊̅̓͘͠d̷̡͉̝̣̠̬̐̒̀͘͝ ̷̨́͋Ą̶̛̖͕̩̩̗̤̻̠̰̹͛̓̽̐͊̇͑͒̂̽͋͋̈́͝ͅs̶̰̙̝̎͊̌̅̊́͒̉̎̋̿͗̂s̴̫̼̺̯̲̪̙̩̿͂̈͛̕͜į̴̧͉̝̯̹̮̰̝̯̱̫͉̇̆̂̔̌̄͑͌̓̕m̶͕̙̏ͅi̵̮̬͉͚̐̄̎͗l̸̨͎̼̙̯̖͕̮̩̰͍̬̦̾̐̆̃̓̑͝ȃ̸͓̹̀̌͊͒͐͆́͂̅̚̚t̷̢̡̢̠͎̲͙͈̹̱̫̲͔̃͑͆̾̄͌͑̀͝i̴̢̡̥̥̬̞̜͇͚̹̍̀͂̒́̕o̸̡̨̗͚̝̤̳͐̿͑̽̉̂̈́̾͠ͅn̷̢̨̜̫͚̥̼̬̜̰̈́̉̈́̊͗͌̍̏́̄͝͝ ̵̗͐́̔̅̿̄̾ͅą̵̛̮̝̙͔̗̏̄͌̂̀͝ṫ̷̛͈̟̟̗̤̂͂͋̈̒̕͝͝ ̴̬̫̆͌͘1̴̨̧̡̛̲̻̳̺̬̙͔̱̘̓̃̽͋́͒̑̚͘͜͠ͅ%̷̟͐̌̐͌̎̚̕͜͝]̷͉̘̘̬̠̟̰̝̼̭͇͍͎̈͒̒̍͒̕ ̷̨̖̱͇̻̝̞̯̦̊͛̈́̿̎̈́̈́̿͒̾͊͝

"What the?"

I don't have time to think about it as the others continue to attack and I'm forced to do the same to them as I did to Robin. I rip out the possessing ghosts and absorb them into my body, sending the souls to the great beyond, while forcibly changing the zombies back into humans. Most of them collapse in pain from their injuries, but others try to figure out what happened.

"Why are my limbs broken!?" screams Kid Flash, reminding me of a certain Lightning Breathing Demon Slayer. The Glitched notifications keep happening and with my omnilingualism I realize it's like a download. I'm absorbing something every time I absorb a soul. The problem is I can't do anything other than absorb them since most of my powers don't work on souls!

The Boss lets out a howl that renders the Heroes unconscious again, but this time I can see souls leaping from the abomination's body towards the unconscious bodies. I step forward and use my Soul Manipulation to intercept and absorb them. I then jump forward, despite the floor being reduced to powder by The Boss Monster's rotting effect. As my larger form rams into the Boss Monster, I feel the souls that make it up stream into my body. At first, it's only a couple, but the speed increases faster and faster. The Boss Monster crumbles to dust before me as the darkness is sucked into body like a galaxy into a black hole.

I'm unable to move from my position, as the topless Nzambi appears from the shadows holding a severed human hand with red markings of the command seal. I'm guessing it belonged to her original master. She then eats the hand Infront of me and I remind myself it's not cannibalism if the eater is a goddess. After she finishes, she gets close to me, pressing her breasts against my chest and kisses me with her blood-stained lips (erotic and gross at the same time).

[Command Transfer Complete]

[Nzambi – 5-Star – Caster]

As I feel my movement return, I ask, "You wanted me to become your master? Why all of this?"

"If I had asked, you could have refused and that was unacceptable. The spirits told me about you, so I crafted a plan to bring you to me."

"What about those that have died?"

"Don't deceive yourself, you don't care about them at all beyond the heroes. You only came because of the rewards you could obtain."

"How did you transfer yourself to me? I'm immune to spiritual attacks."

"Your vast power is dedicated to adaptation, making you stronger and immune to what hurts you. Your greatest weakness is not your body or your soul, but your mind. You are held back only by your fear." says Nzambi as she places her hand on my chest, "Your power is sentient enough to see this weakness, so I made it an offer. I would free you of your greatest fear in return for you becoming my Master~."

"My greatest Fear?"

Nzambi steps back and holds her hands near her hips. On her lower torso is a glowing turquoise symbol only visible to my spiritual/magical senses. It resembles an Inmon - a kinky (womb) tattoo found in supernatural hentai. With my spiritual skill still active, I can see a smaller soul inside of Nzambi.

"OH MY GOD!"

I think I just outdid Joseph Joestar. Oh My God!

"Congratulations. You're going to be a father again."

*DOOM*

Kent Farm

Smallville, Kansas

A few hours later

1POV

"So, let's get this straight. On a Vacation to the Barclay Islands, a Servant version of a Congo goddess and self-proclaimed Necromancer broke free of her contract to the Light."

"Literally sliced his hand off."

"The Light had a cloning facility on the island from a failed plan to "replace VIPs with clones". She infected the clones in storage with a variant of the K-Virus harvested from Ash's body." says the elderly Jonathan Kent sitting down his drink, "The zombies invaded the island, but the vacationing heroes fought against them."

"Dragon Li and the other actors also helped."

"You defeated a Boss Monster that could transform the heroes into Zombies, but you cured them by absorbing the souls that possessed them and then you absorbed the Boss, defeating it. Then, Nzambi informed you it was a ritual to transfer her command seals to you."

"Yes."

"She informed you she made a deal with your powers, which resulted in her becoming another of your Servants and pregnant with your child."

"Treacherous power." I say to myself, "Never in my life did I believe someone would use magic to impregnate themselves with my child."

"How are you girls handling things?" asks Martha Kent to my Wives. All six are present and glaring at Nzambi. Nzambi is on the coach, now dressed in Cog Brand sports gear - sports bra, t-shirt, shorts, sneakers, and jacket. Possibly brand socks and panties, but I don't care.

Thankfully my wives didn't react like emotional anime women and blame me for what happened. Instead, they glare at Nzambi with a combination of frustration and annoyance. I guess they wanted to be the first ones impregnated by me.

"It's not that we have a new girl that bothers us." says Jade, shadows swirling around the Goddess of Darkness, "It's that she didn't go through the same channels."

"If you're going to join the Harem, you should seduce or be seduced by the other wives first." I quip from my position on the couch. My wives all nod and so does Lois, much to Clark's embarrassment. Jonathan and Martha Kent are blushing as this goes against their traditional beliefs, but they started rethinking many of their beliefs when they adopted a space alien and then adopted his three clones as family. I'm simply the strangest of the lot.

"I'm sorry for intruding on the territory of other goddesses." says Nzambi, looking at Raven and Jade, "I'm amazed. The fact that you have two ascended goddesses as wives is proof of your power. I would have gone through proper protocol, but my time was limited."

Servants as spiritual beings need magic to survive outside spiritual planes of existence. After ending her contract with her previous master – a Necromancer named Anton Borgia – she was running on a very limited reserve of magic, consuming the souls of a few soldiers controlling the cloning facility.

"Thankfully, only the mutated clones were killed." says Matt "Powerman" Kent, you would think he would have more sympathy for clones, but the increasing modifications of clones has made it impossible for the new generation to not exist as slaves.

"I also offer my apologies to Priscilla and Maximilla Kitaen." says Nzambi

The human-alien chimera twins raise eyebrows and Nzambi continues.

"The original Kitaen family of New Orleans has ancestry tracing back to this world's Vili people. They are descendants of my counterpart's own nobility and priestesses. While joining the gods in celebration and ecstasy is common, stealing from your followers is offensive."

Priss and Max look at each other, a little confused about the revelation.

"I thought Servants were quasi-divine spirits transformed into magical/spiritual familiars." says Matt, "How can they get pregnant by a physical being?"

He's saying physical because he knows mortal doesn't apply.

"I was curious about that myself." says a hologram of Doctor Genus, "Kisuke Urahara and me crafted Gigai – faux bodies for the Servants to inhabit and enjoy normal life. Genetically they resemble the spiritual gene impression of the originals and natives of the regions they originated from."

"Impressions?" asks Raven.

"Servants are the highest form of familiar and their manifestations are just as advanced. They are capable of sweating and bleeding, and on a molecular level they have manifested genetics. Enough resolution and my machines were able to craft bodies using real matter down to those genetic codes." says Doctor Genus, showing a 3D image of translucent blue DNA and a more colorful but identical strain. "What did the Light do?"

"They used cloning. My body may resemble the body I possessed in Fate/Requiem series, but that is due to cosmetic and magical modification. Genetically this body is combination of two women - Mari Jiwe McCabe and Raquel Ervin."

"Vixen and Rocket?"

Mari McCabe is a Zambesi-born American businesswoman and model. She fights crime as Vixen with the aid of the Tantu Totem that allows her to wield the powers of the animal kingdom.

Raquel Ervin is a superheroine Rocket, partner and protégé of alien disguised as an African American Superman Expy Icon. She gets her powers from an extraterrestrial belt.

"Our extended family just gets weirder." I say before turning to Doctor Genus' hologram. "Send the invites to them."

"You already have info written up?" asks Lois.

"We have cards and info packets for every mess that the Light makes." pulling a Clone Card from my Party Inventory.

"Part of some geneticist's plan
Born to be a carbon copy man"

The Clone Cards are devious inventions created by Doctor Genus using techno-magic. It makes any clone that encounters the pieces of paper realize they are clones. These musical cards also play Weird Al Yankovic's "I Think I'm a Clone Now".

*DOOM*

Doomsday Bunker – Expanded

[Location Hidden]

April 21, 2018

Early Morning

1 POV

Four months ago, I assisted Young Justice and Gen 13 teams in saving the Barclay Islands in the Carribean from Zombies. I took the Quest because I was bored, but I didn't know my own powers had betrayed me. They had struck a deal with the Caster-Class Servant Nzambi – the Congo Mother Goddess turned Zombie Queen. She became my permanent Servant and in return she would erase my greatest fear – my fear of babies! Caster Nzambi, now calling herself Nzambi Grey, is currently four months pregnant with my child and I'm feeling stressed.

My friend Rorschach is both helpful and annoying at the same time. He has already produced more baby supplies than I will ever need, even if Nzambi had triplets (thanks to the deities, she is only having one according to the ultrasound). He's also expanded the Bunker to have huge baby rooms. The rooms have been designed and decorated to stimulate the baby's mental development, while also being absurdly safe.

It's not on the same level as Froopyland – an artificially generated world created by Rick Sanchez to entertain and contain his daughter Beth so she wouldn't depopulate the neighborhood. It does come close with its hypoallergenic "resistant to damn near everything" nano-polymer walls that can stop 50 Cal bullets without damaging the bullets. Those walls are reinforced by a mesh of dimensionally compressed neo-adamantium. They are also protected across dimensions by divine chi formations, psychic crests, dimensional locking fields, and other insanely complex defenses. Rorschach got Doctor Fate's opinion on the defenses and Nabu said it was the most overkill defenses he had seen in his entire existence.

The entire room is climate-controlled controlling temperature, humidity, light level, air quality, sound level, and even paranormal phenomenon such as psychic waves, Qi flow, and metaphasic radiation. If the future baby needs a special environment to mature, the machines can get the environment down to the nanogram.

The Nanny bots look like the love child of a midwife from Star Wars and healthcare Baymax from Big Hero Six. They look like round white sculptures of matronly women made of inflated nano-polymer with some black rubber parts for dexterity. They have flat screen heads with holographic faces which remind me of Echo from the game Overwatch. They can perform millions of medical procedures, generate food (including milk) with precise nutritional requirements and gourmet taste, generate nanomedicines and medical nanomachines, and can defend their wards from modern military firepower. They even possess advanced shield generators like the later versions of the Libertus Units.

My first biological child is going to be safe even if an entire series of apocalypses occurred.

Currently, Nzambi is on my couch enjoying her love of Zombie media. I would even go as far as to call her a zombie fanatic.

When she plays video games it's Plants vs Zombies, Zombies ate my neighbors, House of the Dead, Dead Rising, Resident Evil franchise, Dying Light, and The Last of Us. Thanks to Cog Games she acquired the BEST versions of those games with no glitches, plot holes, or microtransactions beyond cosmetic DLC. I've even enjoyed playing some the games with her, but I still refuse the Amusphere Zombie Survival games where she sits on the top of the Leaderboards as "Zombie Goddess".

When she watches Zombie movies, I either join her or do something else depending on the film. She loves all good Zombie films. Zombieland, Dawn of the Dead, Little Monsters, ParaNorman, The Girl with All the Gifts, Night of the Living Dead, The Last Man on Earth, Ojuju, 28 Days Later, Cemetery Man, Train to Busan, Shaun of the Dead, Re-Animator, Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978), etc. I only watch the Zombie movies that are either comedic or have some shred of hope at the end. Nzambi laughs when humanity is destroyed, but I like survivors in my films.

When it comes to the Walking Dead tv series, I don't watch it. I never watched it in my previous life or read the comics it was based on. Nzambi on the other hand watches and reads the full boxsets almost religiously. Rorschach even supplied her with autographed merchandise and props from the show.

When it comes to Anime, Nzambi and I are truly able to bond.

The (Ultimate) Soul Eater had us laughing with her favorite characters being zombie ninja DWMA CIA member Sid Barett and his weapon partner Mira Naigus. My favorite character was Doctor Stein. Thankfully the Cog version follows the manga more closely and doesn't have that stupid "Courage Punch" at the end.

Hellsing Ultimate was action-packed and made me laugh, though Nzambi wasn't impressed by the vampire ghouls. They were little more than walking targets for the vampire protagonists – Alucard and Seres, but since vampires have mythological roots in zombie lore (originally vampires being a specialized type of zombie that fed on blood and spread disease), she is also a fan of vampires.

Sankarea: Undying Love is a romantic comedy, which is normally not my genre of anime. The couple being zombie otaku Chihiro Furuya and rich girl runaway/suicide victim turned zombie girlfriend Rea Sanka. Nzambi found kinship with the zombie otaku protagonist

Sunday Without God - The story is set in a fictional world, where, fifteen years earlier, human beings lost the ability to have children and to truly die. Those who have died continue to exist, regardless of injury and decay. The anime follows the "Grave keepers," strange individuals with the ability to give rest to the living dead.

It reminded me of a bunch of things – the poorly plotted Miracle Day episodes of Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood, "Reaper Madness" segment of Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XIV, and a couple chapters of the crossover fanfiction Terminal Justice by Overkill AKA Irrational Intelligence, where Death stopped, and the world suffered.

Is This A Zombie? - It is a dark comedy supernatural harem anime. Its protagonist is Ayumu Aikawa – a teenager who was resurrected as a zombie after he was murdered by a serial killer and is now the servant of an Overpowered Necromancer named Eucliwood Hellscythe. The little silver-haired beauty is not good at taking care of herself, but her power is enough to cause disruptions and summon monsters. The joke of the series is Ayumu accidentally absorbs the power of a chainsaw-wielding magical girl and must cross-dress in a frilly pink outfit to fight those monsters. Nzambi absolutely loves the idea of a Necromancer being the most powerful being but is a little jealous about how cute Eucli being.

Highschool of the Dead is a fan service-soaked zombie survival anime in which a bunch of high school students attempt to survive a zombie apocalypse. They must survive a world filled with ravenous monsters and humans who have abandoned morality, while armed with guns, swords, and improvised weapons. The Cog version is better than the manga and more explicit.

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress - This is a Good anime. During the Industrial Revolution a virus transformed people into metallic zombies called Kabane. To survive people must live in walled off fortresses or on armored trains, protected by warriors called bushi. They must use steam-powered guns to pierce the metallic hearts of the zombies. The main protagonists are Kabaneri – people that were infected but retained their minds. Nzambi was fascinated in the idea of metallic zombies, while I just enjoyed Hiroyuki Sawano's God-tier music.

School-Live! is the lovechild of a psychological horror and a slice of life. I didn't watch it because the idea of a bunch of little girls surviving a zombie apocalypse with one of them lost in a delusional state didn't set well with me.

Corpse Princess (Shikabane Hime) - It's reanimated schoolgirls with guns and swords against mutated undead. Each Princess is partnered with a priest and the "reward" for killing 108 corpses is redemption of their souls. It was part of my vast collection of anime that I had back before I became Ash Grey.

"What did she watch today?" ask Blackfire.

"The Empire of Corpses (2015) and Calamity of the Zombie Girl (2018)" I reply to my first wife, "Our zombie otaku loved them."

"What are they about?"

"Empire of Corpses takes place in an alternate 18th Century Britain where Victor Frankenstein's research on animating corpses has evolved into Necroware. Instead of African slaves, the dead are transformed into slave labor. It features a bunch of alternate historical and fictional characters like John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Thomas Edison, and Ulyesses Grant."

"Sounds like one of those Fate Lostbelts."

"True." I say with a smirk, "Calamity of the Zombie Girl is OK. Basically, a bunch of teens called the Occult Research club stole the stone of life that the main character's father used to resurrect her. It had blood violent deaths despite only having seven deaths."

My wives reacted differently to Nzambi's arrival.

Blackfire and Starfire were a little annoyed that Caster-class Servant didn't even meet them before going after their husband. Nzambi has a little friction with the extraterrestrial warrior princesses because the Counterforce was set up to protect the Fate World from alien threats. The Fate World had very few allies not from Earth.

Jade and Raven, ascended goddesses of Darkness and Love, respectively, have adjusted the easiest. They have the greatest understanding of magic and can fully sense Nzambi's nature and intents. It also helps they ascended by absorbing the divine cores of two Unversed Servants, so they have a better understanding of Heroic Spirits.

Priss and Max have the most unique situation. Nzambi considers them members of her tribe and has dedicated herself into teaching them MagiCraft (whether they like it or not). Max has shown an affinity for physical enhancement and body modification, while Priss has creativity. In Fate, Psychic refers to one who has a mutation, an Abnormal Ability gained because of the brain being able to comprehend a "channel" (common sense, or perception of reality) not native to humans. Due to their mixed extraterrestrial blood, they are psychic on multiple levels.

*DOOM*

Magic Training Chamber

Doomsday Bunker

April 28, 2018

1POV

The Magic Training Chamber is exactly what it says on the tin. It's a secure chamber created solely to allow the magical members of the family to test their magical abilities in a safe environment. The inside of the chamber is very basic with dimensionally layered walls of Neo-Adamantium coated by a layer of nano polymer foam padding and protected by anti-magic force fields. In the pure white chamber, there are numerous targets and black-and-white robots performing duties.

Nzambi has developed relationships with the children based on their natures and helps with the teaching of magic with Jade and Raven. Jade and Raven's ascension to godhood means they have other special training and duties to perform, so Nzambi has presented herself as the main teacher.

Daniya Fenton-Gray is a unique existence, being the daughter of a half-ghost and a half-demon. Nzambi was fascinated with the origin of Daniya's father, as a human exposed to ionically charged ectoplasm was transformed into a power hybrid of living and dead. Daniya's own brand of magic is [Ectoplasm Magic] also known as Ectomancy - spells revolving the utilization of spiritual matter.

Currently, two high articulation wooden puppets have been infused with ectoplasm and are dancing on Daniya's platform.

"Where did you learn the Tango?"

"Dad was watching that Arnold Schwarzenegger film True Lies."

Hakudōshi Grey is the immortal heart of a fantasy world's Demon King manifested as a separate being. Hakudōshi's brand of magic is [Curse Magic]. He's able to craft a curse from negative emotions of every individual soul. This ability was limited in the Fantasy World as the Demon King could only craft curses from those killed by the Demon King and his army. On Earth, freed from the influence of Gods and Demons, he can craft curses from the emotions of the living meaning he has access to over 7.5 billion curses. These include Undead curses that even Nzambi is unaware of.

Hakudoshi's target is a Living Test Dummy (LTD) which is essentially a human clone with a biochip brain. These types of clones of incapable of sentience or independent thought, so Cog can use them for human testing without moral restraints. Most human testing is done in computer simulations, so most LTDs are used in unique medical, magical, and combat training. It resembles a hairless albino asexual humanoid dressed in a black top and shorts.

The LTD is hit by a burst of dark purple smoke-like magic which causes glowing purple markings to spread across the clone's body in a vein/tree root pattern. All life signs on the monitors have ceased, but the body rises to its feet, its eyes glowing with the same purple light. Slowly, the flesh turns gray and disintegrates to reveal blackened bone.

"Why did you destroy the flesh?" asks Nzambi.

"In my world, Skeletons are considered more powerful than animated corpses. All the magic used to animate the body is focused on the bones. Since the body weight is greatly reduced, the Skeleton can move with far greater speed."

"Reminds me of that skeleton musician Brook from One Piece." I comment. The straw-hat pirate was athletic in life, but as an animated skeleton he's fast by One Piece anime physics.

Jackie "Jack" Grey, also known as Jack the Ripper, was born from a collection of wraiths. Nzambi instantly formed an attachment with the girl, as her existence resonated with her existence as an Earth Mother Goddess and Necromancer. Nzambi is the most maternal with Jackie. Jackie herself also feels the resonance with the Congo Servant and often stays with Nzambi. As far as magic goes outside of stealth, Jack is becoming proficient in [Water Magic] which makes sense since the wraiths originated from dead/aborted babies being thrown into the Thames River and her Noble Phantasm involving Mist.

She is currently performing tai chi in her section of the chamber, the water in the clear plastic containers around her following her movements. Nazambi wonders if she could call Avatar Korra about getting Jackie Water bending lessons.

Tiamat "Tia" Grey is also learning [Water Magic] which is not surprising since Tiamat's history is about water including her name translating to "Sea". She is even able to go further with [Water Dragon Slayer] magic acquired by Rorschach and Cognito, which connects to her being a Dragonoid. Nzambi is eager to help her, but instead of treating Tia like a daughter like Jackie, she treats her like a little sister. Both contain fragments of the Earth Mother Goddess may be the reason.

She is currently carving a beautiful piece of art featuring many sea creatures. What makes her artwork amazing is she has created a tiny high-pressure jet of water from her magically charged fingertip and is carving a piece of stone to make her heart. It's a beautiful little art piece like something made by a master sculptor for Saint Valentine's Day.

Altera Grey is also known as the Child version of the White Titan and Destroyer of Civilization Atilla the Hun. Magic tests done by Raven, Jade, and Nzambi revealed she has talent in [Sword Magic], which makes sense as she is a Saber-class, and her legend is focused on the Sword of Mars. My wives even managed to convince (blackmail) Archer EMIYA into helping with her training.

Altera is currently levitating a knife, which is cutting Meat, Fruits and Vegetables into precise pieces. If it wasn't for the levitation, you would think she was training for Food Wars.

Abrigail Williams-Grey the Salem Witch and receptacle of Outer God Sut-Typhon/ Yog-Sothoth. She is scared to use magic due to her past, but my (new) family motto is "knowledge is power". It's better to known about problems and face them, than for them to become bigger problems while you're unaware. Abrigail can utilize [Eldritch Magic] -a variation of magic that is usually derived from some sort of Eldritch being, source, or location. When the magic users tried to explain it to me, it made me think of a quote of the Mythbusters' Adam Savage - "I reject your reality and substitute my own.".

A week ago, the girls and I were watching the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. In my original world, there were 18 Good films including personal favs Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki's Delivery Service. In this world Cog was able to acquire an additional 18 more 5-star animated films.

Abby summoned a Fox-Squirrel.

The Fox Squirrel is an animal with a squirrel-like body and a foxlike head which first appears in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and then in Castle in the Sky and has cameos in other Studio Ghibli films. Their appearance is a mix of cats and kitsunes; like Eevee in Pokémon.

While Teto is now a playmate of "big brother" Evo the Eevee, he had to spend a couple hours in quarantine to make sure he wasn't loaded with Sea of Decay spores. Cog is cleaning the Earth of pollutants; we don't need a toxic fungal jungle loaded with mutant bugs to do the job.

Howard P Lovecraft-Gray refuses to learn magic and instead equips himself with every type of defense item. Anti-magic, anti-psychic, wards against dark qi, meta-radiation shields, and other items. Some would think him paranoid but considering he's Lovecraft and creatures straight out of the Cthulhu Mythos exist (his own sister Abby being the biggest example), he may be right to be wary.

It also doesn't help that he has read about "Lovecraftian Superpower" on a Superpower database.

According to the Power database, this definition includes powers that are evil by nature, are unique or abnormal, gained by unpleasant circumstances, produce side effects such as mutations, generally hard to control, and are clearly unnatural. Oftentimes, the user's power centers on forms of body horror, such as tentacles, melting flesh, multiple limbs/eyeballs and cancerous growths.

My Digimon Mastemon is also learning magic – in her case a form of Holy Magic since she is based on the angel Mastema and is a fusion of Angel Digimon Angewomon and Fallen Digimon LadyDevimon. Rorschach somehow increased her cyber-magical power by downloading Cog's latest company-exclusive anti-virus software.

She is currently babysitting Howard.

*DOOM*

Superman Park

Metropolis, Delaware.

April 29, 2018

Early Morning

3POV

It started as a normal day for the city of Metropolis.

Then, reports of young women and girls going missing began to happen around the city. Many of the citizens of Metropolis reported that their spouses and daughters were missing. Then came reports from Gotham City, New York, Chicago, and Houston, followed by more. It wasn't just the United States as soon reports came in from Tokyo, Delhi, São Paulo, Mexico City, and the Atlantean city-states.

Superman was looking for clues in Superman Park, where a young man's wife and daughters vanished. He did find a clue, which is the reason he's now flying through his own stone statue. As he skids to a stop, he looks at his opponent while touching the wound on his chest.

His opponent originally looked a like a human hidden in the shadows of its trench coat and hat, looking like a detective from a Noir novel or pervert ready to expose him- or herself to the unsuspecting. When Superman confronted the man, the coat and its strange shadows were pulled to reveal a creature composed of ash and stone, gray in color with numerous glowing red cracks. With its secret revealed, it had burst into flames and delivered the punch that sent Superman flying.

The creature ignores Superman's heat vision, which fails to damage the ash golem/human torch. It is slowed when one of Batman's Batarangs nails it in the back and releases a cryogenic fog. The creature's fire is extinguished and trapped in a layer of super cold hard ice.

"Next time, I'll leave the investigation to you Batman." says Superman, "I'm injured, so Magic is involved."

"They are a form of undead. When I interviewed Raven years ago about her backstory, she mentioned these creatures. They are people whose souls have been consumed by demons on Azarath. Their bodies were incinerated by the dark magic, but the demons were able to animate the ashes as servants." says Batman studying the Ash Devil, "This one wasn't Azarathian. He used to be an American."

"How can you tell."

"He's still wearing his Cog-brand watch." says Batman pointing at the devil's wrist, which is wearing a polished gold watch that is not only unharmed from the heat and cold, but still ticking.

"One good thing about Cognito is they don't lie about performance."

Suddenly, the Fire Devil's flames reignite with such intensity the inner layer of ice becomes hot gas and explodes outward, sending shards of ice in all directions. Free from its prison, it moves with surprising speed and swings its arms which have become fiery blades.

Its attack is stopped by an absurdly sharp sword slicing off its head. A sword held in the hand of Wonder Woman. The red glow fades from the devil's eyes as the fires are extinguished. Even the glow from the cracks also fades and the dark ash pales to a lighter shade, before disintegrating. All that remains of the Ash Devil is powdery ash, a few bone fragments, and a $12,000 Cog Watch.

"Diana?" asks Superman, surprised she arrived since she was visiting her island home this week.

"Many of Amazon sisters are also missing on Themyscira. My Mother suspects demons and this confirms it."

"We need to talk to Raven." says Batman.

There is a flash of light, and a white silhouette of a raven appears. When the light fades, Goddess Raven stands before the main trinity of the Justice League.

"The people that have been kidnapped are homo magi or those with strong magical blood. They have been kidnapped by the Cult of Skath to breed with their lord and master, my father Trigon the Terrible."

"How do you know?" asks Supes.

"The Gamer just gave Rorschach and Ash a Quest."

[Party: Doomsday Clock]

[Invite Superman]

[Invite Batman]

[Invite Wonder Woman]

[Quest: Walpurgisnacht]

*DOOM*

Sender Brocken

Brocken, Northern Germany

April 30, 2018 - Walpurgisnacht

Sunset

1POV

The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz Mountain range and the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe.

"The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils. German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took up the legends in his play Faust." says the guide in German, "The Brocken specter is a common phenomenon on this misty mountain, where a climber's shadow cast upon fog creates eerie optical effects."

I'm not here for the tour and neither are my friends.

"Today the Brocken is part of the Harz National Park and hosts a historic botanical garden of about 1,600 alpine mountain plants."

FM-radio and television broadcasting make major use of Brocken. The old television tower, the Sender Brocken, is now used as a hotel and restaurant. It also has an observation deck, open to tourists.

Currently, the tourists are more interested in my group; Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Giovanni Zatara of the Justice League.

"Are you sure this is the place?" asks Superman.

"I can sense a magical gate's presence." says Giovanni, "It wasn't here the last time I visited."

"When was that?"

"A European vacation with my wife."

Rorschach, Raven, and Me of Cognito Inc.

"Unless Rorschach's Gamer is trolling us." I say, standing where the map tells me to. "What are the other core members doing?"

"Manhunter is busy with the Martian embassy after the 'White Beetle' incident. Flash is involved in a major charity event that he can't cancel. Aquaman is dealing with the current Atlantean crisis, and the Lanterns are helping another Sector with a crisis. Some sort of invasion of alien parasites." says Rorschach, "Also, Batman. Upgrade the cyber-security on the Watchtower computers."

I swear Bruce's eye is twitching. Rorschach likes to break into Justice League computers, just to mess with the Caped Crusader.

Rorschach pulls out a key like something out a video game and fiery portal opens. Wonder Woman and Zatara stay behind to act as our anchor, while me, Raven, Rorschach, Supes, and Bats enter the portal. It reminds me of the portal of Hell... but weaker?

*DOOM*

Our little group exits the fiery portal to a place that looks very familiar to Raven and me. We are standing on an altar of grey stone with torches composed of metal rods and glowing purple crystals.

"Welcome to Hell; or at least a Piece of It."

It's an island of volcanic rock floating in space, surrounded by other fragments of broken landmass. Its surface is a desert of ash and volcanic sand with the occasional crumbling fragment. The place looks like it was the site of immense geothermal activity, but now everything is ice cold and crumbling away. It's extremely dark with the only light being alien stars and the occasional weakly glowing magic crystal. The large islands are linked by walkways.

The eerie silence, only interrupted by our footsteps, ends when there is a thunderous sound. We look up to see an asteroid shatter against a magical barrier, which is briefly visible due to the ripple of mystical energy.

"This place is a fragment of Hell." says Raven, "It's dead and decaying, but someone created this pocket dimension using these fragments."

"Obsidian wiped out the Pillars, so any magi could claim a fragment that was not infested."

"Infested?" asks Superman.

"After conquering Hell and wiping out of most of the demons, Obsidian Black took up gardening. If this place was still in the Hell Dimension, it would be covered in black trees." I reply to the Man of Steel.

"The altar, barriers, and walkways are new." says Raven, "There is no wind inside the bubbles, so you can still see the footprints."

"This pocket dimension is where the girls were taken. The pocket dimension has multiple access points connected to points around the Earth. This place is one thousandth the area of Earth, which allowed those responsible to move a thousand times faster by travelling through this place." says Rorschach, looking at a sensor device built to look like Star Trek Tricorder, "The others are closely monitored, but this one is connected to the Brocken. It must have been an early experiment. The magic is disrupted so they can't place magical sensors."

Walpurgis Night (an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German Sankt-Walpurgisnacht)) is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia, and is celebrated on the night of 30 April and the day of 1 May. In German folklore, Walpurgis Night was believed to be the night of a witches' meeting on the Brocken.

Rorschach then turns and fires his gun. A bunch of invisible demons become visible, resembling glass statues as they are frozen in time. The pack of demons resemble canines only with more monstrous physiology including long claws and rows of sharp teeth.

"They did leave behind some guard dogs."

"I've disabled the collars. Their masters won't be able to detect their deaths." says Raven, her hands glowing a faint magic purple. A similar glow around the necks of the hellhounds. As time freeze effect on the bodies of the Hellhounds end, I'm quick to react. I grab the necks of the hellhounds and break the supernatural strong spines with a twist. There are half a dozen dogs, but I have broken the neck of the sixth before the first hits the ground.

As the corpses hit the ground, their magical camouflage fades to reveal how ugly the creatures are. They are immense canines with oily black wrinkly skin, mangy looking dark red fur, red eyes that are fading to milky white, and numerous sharp horns like thorns from a rose. They are so disgusting I automatically use my skills to coat by hand in fire to decontaminate. I may be immune to all pathogens and contaminants, but I can still get grossed out and even after many years my Corvid habit of washing my hands constantly doesn't fade.

"Found them. There is a Ziggurat approximately six-and-a-half kilometers that way." says Rorschach pointing towards the bridge, "It's towards the center of all these islands."

Rorschach pulls out a Superman S-shaped Emblem or I should say the symbol of the House of El and Kryptonian character for Hope & Resurrection. The item from his inventory is far too thick to be a sticker, but he places it on Superman's chest. The Emblem moves so it's in the center of Clark's chest before it expands to cover the emblem on his costume. A golden liquid then spreads from the emblem and covers Superman's body before "hardening" into a protective suit. There is even a clear helmet covering his head that allows his vision powers to work.

He looks at his hand, scanning the suit with microscopic vision. Rorschach showed me this item before, so I know he'll see golden Catoms (claytronic atoms) linked by subatomic forces and energy fields and powered by micro verse yellow suns in the emblem's power core. Every Catom is radiating yellow sun energy and can also generate blue energy in an emergency.

"A self-regeneration nano-synthetic meta-combat solar suit. Individual nanometer-scale computers created from Nth metal and powered by micro-verse solar batteries. Perfect for keeping Flying Bricks from getting smashed by magic in dark places."

"You had this for a long time?" asks Batman, having noticed the age of the Emblem.

"Alex got something similar for Kara and Lois found out." says Rorschach with a masked smirk, "Don't worry Batty, if Clark gets mind controlled or goes insane, the suit can be remotely armor locked."

You think Rorschach was calling Batman paranoid - which he is – but he also has a point. In the Justice League vs. Teen Titans film, the Justice League got possessed by Trigon's minions. In Justice League animated series, the League except for Flash was possessed by snake men spirits due to the fragments of the Heart of Darkness. In Young Justice, there was the Starro-Tech created by the Light. Superman had been mind-controlled/turned evil more than thirty times in the DC media, and that wasn't even counting the alternate realities where he was "raised" to be evil, if not outright converted because of "one bad day".

*DOOM*

The Ziggurat is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. It has the form of a terraced compound of successively receding levels. They are essentially older, blockier versions of the Pyramids. I know about them because of Blade Runner's Tyrell Corporation and the site of the final battle against the Briarwoods in The Legend of Vox Machina.

We arrive without being seen by the kidnappers, their allies, or their victims. There are four groups, one on each side of Ziggurat. They are currently at "The Northern Point" - the name being just added as Cardinal Direction are hard to determine in a pocket dimension with no magnetic poles.

The kidnappers are all dressed in blood-red hooded robes, but what they wear underneath ranges from regular clothing to military-style uniforms. Batman recognizes them and is quick to inform us.

"The Church of Blood." says Batman, "A violent international cult, run for centuries by the descendants of the founder, all called Brother Blood. Originally based on Zandia, they have set up sects all around the world.

The Church of Blood originated in the small European country of Zandia. Beginning in 1202, Christian knights of the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) pillaged Zandia and massacred its people. An unnamed priest led the Zandians in fighting back against the Crusaders and ultimately drove them from their country. Shortly afterwards, the priest had the pit in his church filled with the blood of slain Crusaders. A year later the priest bathed in the pit of blood, which he claimed gave him strength and immortality. Since then, the new Baron Blood murders the previous one to inherit the title.

"I personally killed Sabastian Blood IX in front of his followers and turned his Blood pool into powder." says Rorschach. "I completely incinerated the body, leaving no ashes. I also made sure he didn't have any heirs with his wives, mistresses, followers, or maids. I even did a full scan of Earth for his genetic signature and found nothing. I don't know who's leading them now."

A planet-scale DNA test may sound extreme, but Brother Blood claims more resurrections than Zagreus. He could have been resurrected by an actual supernatural force, he could have been cloned by Cadmus goons, or it could be just some random dude posing as him for the power and influence.

The allies of the Kidnappers are more ash demons, hellhounds, and some form of devil. It's very generic looking. Lean muscular humanoids with red skin, glowing yellow eyes, and bald heads. They all have curved horns, pointed ears, claws, bat wings, and spade-tipped tail, with the only unique features being flames on the tips of the horns and tail, kind of like a Charizard from Pokémon.

The Prisoners are all young women ranging from late teens to early thirties. The new arrivals are still dressed in normal clothing but are in trances due to the necklaces around their necks. The older prisoners have been stripped of their clothing and are dressed in translucent pure white robes (resembling nightgowns) with the same necklaces.

"Let's see." says Rorschach, using his tricorder, "N'gari crystal slave collars. Mass produced. Low quality. Keyed to the Blood of the Leader. Suppresses the freewill of the wearer. It inflicts pain if they attempt to escape. Will decapitate them if they do escape."

"Vulnerable to sonic emitters. N'gari crystal breaks at a frequency of 666 hertz." says Batman holding his own device, probably having "Bat" in its name, "We break the collars using the sonic emitters, then..."

"...I use my chrono-lock to make sure none of them get hurt. Frozen in time means even if this place becomes a firestorm, they will be unharmed." finishes Rorschach. "Raven, you'll block magic and communications, so they can't detonate the collars."

"Already done."

Superman and I are just listening, looking at each other, and then turning back to our smarter teammates.

The plan quickly forms.

*DOOM*

"Do you think this is enough? We've been grabbing girls with even the slightest magical potential." says one of the higher-ranking guards.

"Those not protected by magi wards or magical secure areas." comments his comrade.

"I mean how many brides does a God need?"

"Enough to ensure his ambitions?"

"It was a rhetorical question."

Suddenly, there is a surge of magic, and a powerful spell goes over the area. The effect is making it look like a purple fog. One of the guards attempts to summon a light ball, but the spell fails producing a burst of purple electricity. The zap makes him cry out in pain and burns his hand.

"Don't use spells! Switch to tech!"

"What's that sound!?"

There is a strange sound, the flashes of light can be seen in the fog and feminine cries of shock can be heard. When the fog disperses, the prisoners are frozen like statues with their collars broken and half of the Church members are already unconscious. The high rank then turns to see Superman, Batman, Rorschach, Raven, and me – Ash Grey the Doomsday.

"We are so screwed," says his comrade.

"Shut up, Dave."

Batman and Superman are quick to rush to capture the human prisoners, while the female prisoners are frozen in time and due to the laws of thermodynamics immune from harm. As for the demons, they rush to attack them and Rorschach, but stop dead in their tracks when they see me. I'm in my full monstrous form and they can see my resemblance to Obsidian Black – the walking apocalypse of hell.

"Hi!" I say with a big toothy smile as my eyes glow, then I release my Doom Vision. The Devils of the Inferno are very resistant to heat to the point they can dive in molten lava, but my ocular beams of heat, plasma, and radiation make them burst like balloons of pasta sauce. Their remains rain down on the Hellhounds which ruins their invisibility trick.

Rorschach's method for getting rid of the fiery Ash Demons is unique. He pulls out a green-and-gray machine looking like a car battery with handles and a lid. As he slides it across the ground, I realize the box bears a strong resemblance to the ghost traps featured in the Ghostbusters franchise

I mean the REAL Ghostbusters, not the Filmation's Ghostbusters – A comedic 1986 animated series based on a 1975 tv series The Ghost Busters starring two detectives and a Gorilla. That show was made to piss off the people at Columbia Pictures who created the far better and far more famous 1984 film Ghostbusters. That movie spawned two great animated films The Real Ghostbusters (1984) and its 1997 sequel Extreme Ghostbusters, along with a collection of film sequels, video games, comic books, and the odd fanfiction.

While I'm thinking about the two series in my head, the Ash Demons melt into loose piles as their essence is pulled into the Demonic Alien Containment Box.

"That's almost all of them." says Rorschach.

"Almost...?" asks Superman before an invisible blade bounces off his new suit. If he had been wearing his normal hero suit, the magical blade moving at superhuman speed would have sliced his spine apart. Superman turns to face his invisible opponent when black shadowy tentacles pierce the air Infront of him and pierce his unseen opponent. The same happens in eleven other places and it's clear that Raven cast the spell.

The dozen would be invisible assassins collapse to the ground and become visible. They are very tall, very thin humanoids with translucent pale skin that shows transparent veins and even translucent bones, making them look like plastic anatomy sculptures for extraterrestrials. They have long limbs ending in long fingers, large black eyes, and smooth heads with large black eyes and small mouths. It's like Slenderman and a Roswell Grey had sex and then drank Griffin's formula from H. G. Wells' The Invisible Man.

"I sensed the murderous intent of these things." says Ash, "I turned on my skills and I could see the blackened spirits that pass as souls for these things."

"They attempted to hide their magic, but it just makes voids in the ambient magic." says Raven, "Jade's Shadow Kahn would call these things insults to proper invisible ninja... if they could speak English."

"My mask sensors detected their motions. It takes more than stopping your breathing and heartbeat to fool the best of Cog's security." says Rorschach, "Thankfully, Raven cut their spirits, so they won't resurrect themselves when we walk away."

"I could see movement in the Fog, so I guessed there were additional enemies." says Batman.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" asks Superman.

"Some of us thought you could detect them, while others wanted to prove the quality of the Cog Suit." says Rorschach.

"Can you guess which ones?" I say with my shark grin.

*DOOM*

After an hour, the four sections around the Ziggurat have been cleared. The cultists are unconscious and secured. The kidnapped girls and women have been freed of their collars and placed in frozen time to protect them. The humans are being removed from the pocket dimension by Cog's robots and the demons have been exterminated. Raven's magic has made sure that nobody inside the Ziggurat realizes how screwed they are.

As we venture deep into the Ziggurat, we can tell that the structure is ancient, possibly thousands of years old, and has only recently been restored using modern technology. It's hard to tell since the time between earth and Hell is different. It's been nearly seven years since Raven, and I took a trip to Hell and close to two hundred forty thousand years would have passed in Hell. I look at some of the markings on the wall, a mural showing dozens of different demons fleeing from a very familiar monster – Obsidian Black.

We can hear chanting and finally reach the main area while cloaked by Raven's magic.

Brother Blood stands before an altar. He's a tall, athletic man with red eyes, pale skin, and shaved head. His eyebrows indicate he used to have white hair. He's dressed in dark red clothing with grey decoration and a long cape with a hood. He also wears a helmet made of bone, but I can't identify the demon skull. He gazes into the wall of dark red supernatural fire and four glowing eyes appear in the dark flames.

"My Lord, the ritual is ready. The chosen are ready to be your vessels to sire your legion."

"Do not fail me, Brother Blood. My daughter's ascension has let her escape my grasp; I need new toys to open the portal to the mortal plane." says the universally feared demon lord – Trigon the Terrible.

"We have gathered many women from around the world. One of them will be strong enough to bear the Key to your release."

"Be wary of the Heroes, Brother Blood. Many of my followers have underestimated them and paid the price. You must... I sense you, daughter."

"I'm amazed it took you this long, father." says Raven, emerging from her magical darkness, "You used to be able to detect me anywhere in the galaxy and now you can barely sense me a few meters away from your altar?"

"You are no longer a child, Raven. You became stronger in the fires of Hell. You defeated your siblings and claimed their power as my sole heir. Then you stole the core of a Goddess and ascended. Your ascension surpassed my expectations." says Trigon with a bit of pride in his voice, "Unfortunately, your ascension means I can't simply control you and I needed to find replacements for my plans."

"I'm enjoying being an only child." says Raven, then she notices Brother Blood's lecherous stare.

"My apologies, Lady Raven. My name is Sabastian Blood the Tenth. I was overwhelmed by your beauty. Truly it is the power of the Dark Goddess of Love." says Brother Blood, "When I first heard of you, I knew it would be our destiny to meet. I even approached your father. When I heard of your ascension, my heart filled with joy."

"Lust turns man into fools." says Trigon, who is remarkably calmer than most incarnations, "Before your ascension, daughter, this man could have been your husband."

"I already have a far better husband."

"Hello. My name is Ash Grey the Doomsday." I say as I appear from the illusionary magic. I then appear next to Brother Blood and deliver an uppercut. I don't hold back as much as I should for humans and Blood's jaw explodes, sending fragments of bloody tooth and bone everywhere as he flies back. Even his bone helmet loses a horn when he smashes back into the ground.

"Ash Grey the Doomsday. An Immortal Beast of Death and Destruction, whose mere Fragment destroyed all of Hell. I'm mildly impressed."

"Your thousands of years old and as far as the records tell, you've only had a dozen kids in that time. I'm not impressed." I taunt while thinking "I have more kids than I know what to do with."

"I will admit I was more concerned with conquest than children. Most worlds are not as well defended as your own. Also, the more children you have the more likely one or more will betray you."

"I've read about Greeco-Roman mythology, so I can see your point. After what happened to Ouranos and Cronus, you think Zeus would be less a horny Idiot."

I swear Trigon is smirking. Is Zeus that infamous!?

Brother Blood is back on his feet and his jaw has already regenerated. It happened so fast that his face was steaming from the cellular activity. This makes me think it's a biological form of regeneration, instead of being purely mystical.

Brother Blood triggers a magical transformation. His skin shifts from white to blood red and his red eyes glow with fire and double to four. His ears become pointed, his teeth become sharp, his lips blacken, and his face becomes angrier and more ridged like a demon. It reminds me of the vamp faces in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. As for his body, it becomes larger, more muscular, and his nails blacken and become claws.

Brother Blood leaps at me and punches me in the face, only to release a cry of pain. I didn't feel his punch, but Brother Blood's fingers look mangled from the impact with my ash grey skin. There are idiots in Metropolis, mostly out of town criminals, who have tried to punch Superman, but Clark always moves so they don't hurt themselves too badly. I don't care if this fool turns his hands in hamburger.

"You're a lot calmer, Father." says Raven, with a raised eyebrow, "You used to roar with the slightest problem with your plans."

"When your husband's avatar, Obsidian Black, destroyed Hell, I was able to absorb the mystical essence to increase my power. It also affected me, allowing me to stay calmer. I'm no longer limited by my rage."

"I can imagine it makes you far more dangerous."

"Thank you for the compliment, daughter."

Brother Blood unleashes a blast of dark magic resembling a vertical black tornado surrounded by red lightning. My spiritual sight also allows me to see the nine blackened skeletal souls of the previous Brother Bloods. The vortex of dark curses washes over me, and I can feel the floor rot underneath me. I rush forward through the dark magic and deliver a punch that sends Brother Blood flying across the chamber, through a pillar, and flying outside to land in the cold volcanic sand.

"Where did you find this idiot?" I asked Trigon.

"A place called Cadmus. The ones known as The Light crafted a copy to take the place of the ninth and take control over the Church of Blood." says Trigon, looking at Brother Blood's exit with disappointment, "I must admit he knows nothing of subtlety. Most of my churches and cult would not have alerted the heroes with mass kidnappings."

"Cadmus quality control is shit." says Rorschach, "I think I'm going to have to punish those fools."

*DOOM*

While Ash and Raven are showing Trigon what a little bitch Brother Blood is, Batman and Superman are doing what they do best. They are saving people.

Seven "brides" were not outside with the four cardinal groups. These magic users were exceptionally powerful, so Brother Blood focused on controlling them. He even had them forcibly possessed and bound by daemons of Trigon.

Zatanna Zatara was captured with her student Traci without her father being aware. Superman and Batman are glad Giovanni didn't follow them into this pocket dimension or he would be freaking out. Zatanna has the potential to be the most powerful magical user in the world and in many incarnations of the DC Universe is the most powerful. She is firing a diverse number of spells without uttering a word.

Circe was a princess of Colchis in the Caucasus region. It was said that she was the daughter of the Sun himself and that her radiance was a gift to man. Her status as a villainess is questionable as her conflicts with Wonder Woman and the Amazons is more of a conflict of interests and Ancient Greek morals. She has magical power on the level of a lesser goddess, so the blasts of eldritch magic she is generating cause the entire area to shake.

Traci Thirteen's magic involves bad luck. It doesn't appear as strong power at first, until you realize the scale of her probability and how bad things can go when you have constant critical failures. Batman already has several broken ribs from a few failed dodges of Zatanna and Circe's magic. Thankfully, despite Traci's power reducing the Cape Crusader's Bat-Luck, the upgraded Bat suit keeps him moving and surviving.

Enchantress of the Shadowlands is one of the most trusted followers of Queen Jade and was sent to investigate the missing girls, when she was caught in a trap. Enchantress managed to kill hundreds of the Church of Blood members and their demon allies before her capture. She darts in and out of the darkened shadows, releasing spikes and blades of animated darkness at Superman. Thankfully, the Cog-made solar suit blocks the strikes that he fails to dodge. If he was still wearing his original clothing, those ethereal blades would have easily sliced through Superman's magic-resistance-lacking flesh with ease.

One is a young woman who normally has green eyes and curly red hair who manipulates the demonic plants around her. On Earth, she controls plants and communicates with animals, helps farmers and pet owners, and helps police take down criminals. She is famous for her hatred of polluters and animal abusers as the European Cog Heroine Druidess.

The demon plants appear as numerous purple vines covered in thorns with invisible absurdly sharp tips. These vines whip around the battlefield at supersonic speeds producing the characteristic sound of bullwhips. The purplish-red flowers of those vines also produce blinding clouds of toxic pollen and gases. A normal human would be dead in seconds as the toxins burnt their skin and rotted their lungs. The Cog Suit makes sure the Kryptonian's air supply is medically fresh, even Tho he doesn't need to breathe and only requires sunlight to survive.

Another woman is a dark-skinned Indian (Hindi) woman dressed in traditional saffron robes. On Earth, she was an important magical leader in India and helped form relationships with Cognito after the "Rakshasa Invasion". Sarika's magical power is centered around transport, allowing her to open portals to transport people to safety and transfer supplies during an emergency. Sarika's portals can be deadly as they can inflict spatial cuts. Superman must be sure to avoid having part of his body through one of those floating portals or she can close the portal and sever that part.

The final "Bride" is the most dangerous as she is Wanda Maximoff – The Scarlet Witch. She was the daughter of the mutant supremacist Magneto whose experiments left her in a mental institution. She was freed by Mystique but was brainwashed into becoming a member of The Brotherhood. She only found some happiness when The Brotherhood was rescued by GI Joe and the team became the chaotic heroes the Misfits. She is far more powerful than Traci Thirteen in probability manipulation and possesses a strong connection to chaos magic due to the Elder God of (her) Earth Chthon.

Superman cries out as he's knocked into one of Sarika's portals and his arm is sliced off. The brides smile at the blood.

Suddenly, there is a blinding flash of light that erases all shadows from the room. The brides cry out in severe pain as while it would be painful for a normal human, they are transformed by daemonic possession which means four eyes with supernatural sensitivity. It's like throwing a flashbang in front of someone wearing night vision goggles.

Glowing purple/blue rings appear and contract on the bodies of the brides before they can react. As they tighten around their wrists, ankles, waists, and necks, the brides feel their magic and other powers being cut off. They are left floating helpless in the air, before they are all drawn to the center. Stuck together in group hug, they hear a beep below them.

"Who says who you gonna call?" says Rorschach, quoting Ray Parker Junior from the Ghostbusters Theme Song. The containment unit activates, and the black four-eyed daemonic spirits are pulled out of the women and into the device. As the spirits are absorbed, red skin reverts to normal human colors, glowing four eyes returns to human two, and all the other mutations vanish.

"Where are we?" asks Zatanna, looking at the binds and the other women.

"Reminds me of my last orgy." says Circe, "Only more clothing and less swearing."

"Who was swearing?" asks Traci.

"Diana." replies Circe with a smile.

"Can we get an explanation to why we are here?"

"It would be difficult to explain..." says Superman.

"Brother Blood and the Church of Blood kidnapped you to be the brides of Trigon the Terrible. They used daemons to control you girls since you're all so strong. Supes, Bats, and me just saved you. Raven and Ash are taking care of Brother Blood." says Rorschach. He moves his gloved hand as if clicking a button and the women are lowered to the ground and the glowing bonds break into particles and vanish into nothing.

"...or not." says Batman, as he watches the body of the fake Superman dissolve into particles, including Superman's bloody severed arm. Batman was aware of the entire fight, but he didn't see the point in which Superman was switched with the fake.

"Isomorphic Automatic Mobile Knight Projectors." says Rorschach, "I'll give you 30% off, but only because You're Batman."

*DOOM*

Brother Blood is back again, and his body has mutated further after absorbing more demonic power. He's now grotesquely muscular with bizarre proportions and his skin warped and tore in some places. He now has horns, tusks, long ears, bat-like wings, and a long reptilian tail. There are also numerous bone spikes coming out of his spine, shoulders, and protecting his front like armor. His hands are now covered in Hellfire and small balls of Hellfire are forming around him for a barrage.

"Enough playtime." says Raven, transforming into her own demonic form and unleashing her soul self. The black avian shadow wraps around Brother Blood before devouring him whole. Trapped inside the depths of Raven's divine soul self, Brother Blood can only roar in pain as the demonic power is stripped from his body and soul. The roars become screams as demonic form reverts to a mere human. Human Brother Blood is then spit out of her soul self like watermelon seed.

"I made a promise to my daughter, and I intend to keep it." says Raven, as she mystically binds Brother Blood and levitates "It's time to wrap things up. It's been the calmest talk we have ever had, father."

"Goodbye for now, daughter." says Trigon the Terrible, as his eyes vanish from the flames and the flames are extinguished.

Suddenly, the Ziggurat begins to shake, and earthquakes are impossible when you're resting on a chunk of land floating between dimensions.

"That idiot Blood got his power up from draining the Argent crystal of the Temple." says Rorschach and at my raised eyebrow explains, "It provides the barrier that keeps in the breathable atmosphere and makes the gravity strong enough to walk on. It also keeps the pocket dimension from Imploding!"

"Let's Go!"

*DOOM*

1m 02s after departure – the barriers holding the nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere of the islands burst like bubbles, creating hurricane force winds from the decompression. The gases quickly dispersed across the pocket dimension.

1m 04s after departure – the gravity spell of the island fails, dropping from earth norm to the normal gravity for island-size chunks of debris. The walkways between the island crumble and some of the island collide.

1m 06s after departure – the pocket dimension implodes at speeds approaching the speed of light. All the matter is compressed to such a super-density, it forms a singularity. That singularity unable to feed after consuming all available matter, also disappears. In the depths of the Bleed, a bubble pops.

*DOOM*

Sender Brocken

Brocken, Northern Germany

April 30, 2018 - Walpurgisnacht

Sunset

1POV

I tumbled out of the portal and landed on the observation deck. I look around to see Superman, Batman, and Raven already getting back on their feet. I also help the Ziggurat brides get to their feet as well.

"Zatanna!?"

"Dad!"

"Traci?"

"Hi, Mr. Zatara."

"Wow. You're a Big One." says Circe, placing her hand on my chest.

"Circe!?" yells Wonder Woman.

"Hello Diana."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was one of the cult's prisoners."

"How could you have been captured!?"

"Even goddesses need their beauty sleep, and I was staying at a friend's house."

"Friend's?"

"One of many Lovers, Darling."

"..."

"Don't be jealous."

"...!"

I can hear Diana whispering and my omnilingualism translates. Themysciran Greek curses and...?

"Oh my."

Diana turns at my words.

"You heard?"

"Ears like Superman and I can speak all languages." I reply. I'm not that surprised, but I can imagine many fanboys passing out at "negotiations" between Circe and Amazon Royalty.

"So, what happened here?" I say changing the subject.

The building is not in good shape and there are dozens of men stripped to their underwear and tied tightly with magical ribbons. They all look Eastern European and are swearing in languages from those regions. There is a silence spell on them, but I can read lips due to my Skill. Around the room I see the remains of various firearms – some sliced apart, some crushed, and some disassembled into its components. There are also many broken chairs and tables.

"A bunch of terrorists showed up." says Giovanni, "They have no connection to the Church of Blood or the kidnappings. Just a group of European terrorists decided to show up at the Broken."

"Hero Luck?" I chime in. No matter how insane the probability, a hero will always have the strangest encounters be they hero, villain, or event. Even Cog Pro-Heroes suffer from this.

"The kidnapped victims are all being cared for all Cog Facilities." says Rorschach, "They will be cleansed of all contaminants from non-regional pathogens to demonic energies. We will also make sure to check for demonic parasites and hidden surprises. Any traumatic memories from the kidnapping will be erased and any hidden commands also removed. Each one will also get a full metaphysical cleansing, just to be sure."

"I could go for a cleansing. I find them to be very relaxing." says Circe, rubbing her hands down her body, "I also want a chance to meet the other me."

Among the Servants of the Fate-Unversed World is a version of Circe, also known as Caster of Okeanos. It's understandable that many of the famous people (heroes as they are called in Fate) would want to meet their Heroic Spirit counterparts. They are versions of themselves shaped by the collective will of humanity, their traits amplified, and their history transcended by legend.

"You will be a bad influence on yourself." says Wonder Woman to Circe.

*DOOM*

Trigon's Realm

Same Time

The massive material form of Trigon the Terrible sits on an equally immense throne. Outside the structure, there is a never-ending storm of fire raging across the volcanic hellscape. The temperatures are hot enough to melt lead, but it matters little to numerous fire demons and elementals that call this realm their home. These flames are not fueled by geothermal activity deep beneath the ground like on Earth. These fires are fueled by Trigon's authority as a corrupted god, the same authority that can turn mere mortals into stone so their souls can be harvested at his leisure.

"My daughter and her friends believe this day to be a complete victory, Good." says Trigon the Terrible, as he closes his viewing portal, "A total victory against one of my plots, means they don't see the hidden."

In the shadow of his throne stands a woman dressed in a hooded robe. She has a very familiar face with four glowing yellow eyes, crimson skin, and long black hair. She is identical to Raven's demonic form, except her horns are far smaller.

"You are a mere copy of my daughter, but when a Key is needed a copy will do."

*DOOM*

Realm of Death

Psychopomps (from the Greek word psychopompós, literally meaning the 'guide of souls') are supernatural creatures, spirits, entities, angels, demons or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to guide them.

They have gathered.

The first is Pale Rider, the Reaper. He is the Death imagined by Judeo-Christianity and Western Folklore. He appears in many forms to many people. Sometimes he is a white skeleton clad in black robes and carrying a Scythe to harvest souls of the dead like a farmer might harvest wheat. Sometimes he might appear as a rich noble on a pale horse reading to pass judgement on the souls of the fallen. In his current form, the Pale Rider is dressed in biker leathers decorated with silver spikes and skull imagery. His skin is pale, his hair is white, and his eyes darker than the abyss are hidden behind shades.

"It's been a long time, my friends. The recent chaos has made it difficult for us to meet."

"How is your steed?"

"(Sigh) Once he was content to be a spirit in the form of a horse, but these days he wants to be the most impressive motorcycle." says Pale Rider, "At least he got over his Ghost Rider phase."

"What's the current model?"

"Cog-Auto"

"That company again."

The second is Ala. is a beautiful African woman dressed in the clothing of the Igbo people of Nigeria. Her clothing is marked with two symbols – the scales of the python and the crescent moon. In Odinani, Ala rules over the underworld and holds the deceased ancestors in her womb. Her name literally translates to "ground" in the Igbo language, denoting her powers over the earth and her status as the ground itself. She is the female Alusi (deity) of the earth, morality, fertility, and creativity in Odinani.

"Cog has been a great benefit to my native lands and all surrounding countries. Clean water, food production, health care, elimination of poachers and warlords. I have time for hobbies in the first time in centuries."

The third and fourth are Mictlāntēcutli and his wife Mictēcacihuātl. In Aztec mythology, they are gods of the dead and the king and queen of Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. They appear in the form of Nahuas, like the people and empire that worshipped them. Around their necks are gold necklaces with turquoise skulls. In their divine forms, they would skeletons wearing necklaces of actual skulls.

"I worry about Cognito's level of power. They can resurrect the dead, implanting the souls into new bodies. This could upset the balance between worlds."

The fourth is Ereshkigal. In Sumerian mythology, Ereshkigal was the queen of the underworld. She surprises her fellow deities by not appearing in either her form or the form of a past follower. Instead, she has taken the form of counterpart from the Fate-Unversed Earth. This form is not that of the Goddess Ereshkigal, but that of a Pseudo-Servant where she has possessed the soul of a human with a similar wavelength to her own, Rin Tohsaka. The major difference being her hair being golden blonde instead of black like the mortal magi.

"The souls do not enter our realms, so we have no claim on them. Instead, the souls are drawn into Rorschach's Phoenix system and placed in bodies grown from the flesh of the original. This isn't Immorality, but an extension of longevity."

"Why do you like that?"

"I decided to change my form. I think it looks cute~"

The fifth is the Morrígan. The phantom queen of Irish mythology. The Morrígan is mainly associated with war and fate, especially with foretelling doom, death, or victory in battle. In this role she often appears as a crow, the badb. She incites warriors to battle and can help bring about victory over their enemies. The Morrígan encourages warriors to do brave deeds, strikes fear into their enemies, and is portrayed washing the bloodstained clothes of those fated to die. She is currently in the form of a pale fairy woman with long flowing black hair and dressed in dark clothing that reminds viewers of crows.

"I'm more concerned with another Goddess of that world and Ash Grey the Doomsday." say Morrigan, her hair moving in a way that would make people think of "ruffled feathers". "Nzambi, self-proclaimed Goddess of Zombies, is giving birth to a child fathered by Incarnation of Death and Destruction."

"I haven't felt anything like this since Gaea and Tartaros spawned Typhon." says Thanatos in seat number eight. When the primordial incarnations of Earth and deep abyss of Greek Hell came together to create the father of all monsters, deities around the world had sensed the being's conception. The serpentine giant was one the deadliest monsters in Greek mythology and even sealed it's roar became a volcano. "

"We cannot interfere in the actions of another pantheon." says the Sixth, "While Rorschach and Ash have not declared their divinity or taken territory under authority, Raven and Jade have already set the foundation."

"And what will happen if the child causes a zombie apocalypse and wipes mankind from the Earth's surface."

"Then we will have to wait until Cognito restores them or move to the new colonies."

The sixth is Anubis - the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. He's currently in the form of a distinguished Egyptian man with a strong build, dark amber eyes, dark skin, and long pure black hair and beard. He's also dressed in a completely black suit. In Mythology and Art, Anubis was depicted in black, a color that symbolized regeneration, life, the soil of the Nile River, and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming.

"Always the cold and logical, Anubis."

"Emotions are part of living, Santa Muerte. I have no need for them."

The seventh is Santa Muerte, also known as Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Our Lady of Holy Death). She is dressed in the gold-decorated red robes of Roman Catholic Saint, but instead of being a female skeleton she has taken the form of a beautiful Mexican matron with kind brown eyes and long black hair.

"To think the only think I was worried about was Zagreus and Nico's little trip."

The eighth is Thanatos – the Greek personification of Death known as Mors to the Roman Pantheon. He's taken the form of handsome Greek teenager with the body of an Olympic athlete. He has jade green eyes, olive skin, and short curly black hair. In the past, he used to be a bearded man carry a sword, but he became younger and more attractive over time. Now he's dressed in expensive brand sportswear with angel wings symbol on the back. He has a very sleepy look on his face behind the sunglasses, something you expect more from his brother Hypnos – the god of sleep.

Zagreus is the son of Hades and Persephone, the King and Queen of the Underworld. He died at his birth, but he was restored to life by Nyx – the Goddess of Darkness. What's interesting is a fragment of his existence was reborn as the son of Zeus and one of his many mortal lovers. Nearly killed by the manipulations of the Jealous Hera, the child was born from Zeus' divine body as Dionysus – the God of Wine. With the Age of Greek Gods over, the two "soul brothers" have been partying around the world. Unfortunately, Nico di Angelo – the demigod son of Hades from another universe and adopted in Cog family – is getting dragged into the adventures.

The ninth is Baron Samedi of the Haitian Vodou. He's a mature African American man with a lean body, wise brown eyes, soil black skin, and short night black hair. He's dressed in a top hat, black tailcoat, dark glasses, and the best dark suit to be buried in. He's also drinking a glass of Rum made by Cognito's own genius. He would be smoking, but he's been cutting down recently.

"Anything interesting happening in your area, Baron?"

"Nothing major. While the Loa are excited by Nzambi return to being a mother goddess, the mortals are still the same. Some of the Mambo and Oungan noticed a chance in their control, but the zombies remained leashed."

Originally, before Romero film changed the world's perception of things, zombies were merely servants. A criminal or evil man is punished by a priest or priestess (oungan or manbo) and forced to work against his will. Many scientists believe the original zombies were merely people poisoned by a drug to act like animated corpses. Now with the opening of Spirit portals, the Black and other elemental spirits have created a surge in magic users. These days, any Vadou magi can animate a corpse.

"I told the Devil Hunters association that I would handle it!" yells the tenth into his phone.

"Problem?" asks the Baron.

The tenth is Yama of Hinduism and Buddhism. He's currently in the form of a (Hindi) Indian businessman with an overweight heavy form, long black hair tied back, and a thick beard. He's dressed in an expensive business suit of a wealthy man of Mumbai. He has numerous gold-and-turquoise rings on his fingers and a belt with a water buffalo belt buckle. He's also talking on a smartphone to some of his subordinates.

"Problem after Problem. Yōkai atavism. Metahumans with spiritual powers. Young Devil Hunters that don't have a clue. A surge of Ainu spirits. Some moronic Necromancer attempted to summon the dead of World War II to punish Japan!" says Yama, sounding tired and angry, "I'm grateful to Cog organizing the mortals as otherwise I would be more overworked than I already am!"

"I understand your pain."

The eleventh is Hel of the Norse Mythology. She has taken the form of a beautiful Norwegian woman with ice blue eyes, pale white skin, and long flowing blond hair of an elf. Her hair covers one side of her face, alluding to her true form which is living on one side and corpse on the other. She is dressed in simply clothing and barely bothers to wear clothing in her own realm. She is the ruler of a place that bears her name in the coldest depths of Niflheim - a realm of primordial ice and cold. Those dishonored that do not die in battle and go to Valhalla end up in her icy hall.

"Archeologists are digging up every mystical and legendary site they can find. The European governments are interested in magical resources unrestricted by magi communities. Unfortunately, this has resulted in an infestation of Draugr."

The draugr or draug is an undead creature from the Scandinavian saga literature and folktale. They are shape-shifting undead that usually protect treasures and mystical sites. They are known for greed, bloodthirst, and their ability to inflict deadly curses.

"Idiots don't realize it was restricted for their own safety. Mundane beings aren't meant to deal with supernatural threats. It's the reason gods and superhuman exist."

The twelfth is Izanami-No-Mikoto of Shinto Mythology. She has taken the form of a beautiful Japanese woman, identical to her original form. The form she possessed before she gave birth to the god of fire Kagu-tsuchi which ended her life and transformed her into undead ruler of Yomi. Her beloved Izanagi came for her but was repulsed by her corpse body and fled. His cleansing from the trip to Yomi gave birth to the shining sun goddess Amaterasu, the mysterious moon god Tsukiyomi, and the barbaric storm god Susanoo. She is currently dressed in a beautiful dark kimono.

She doesn't say a word. She observes everything around her and listens to every word, but she says nothing.

The thirteenth and final member of the Death deities is Chernobog of the Slavic Mythology. He's taken the form of large Eastern European man with large muscles, dark eyes, pale skin, and thick black hair. He also has thick eyebrows and a trimmed beard. He's dressed in dark clothing with a large fur-lined coat. He looks like he should be attending a heavy metal concert in Prague instead of having a business meeting.

"The last major topic is the final destruction of major necromancy relics around the world." says Chernobog, "Let's be quick about this. I want to get back to my partying."

"You've been partying for centuries."

"The last time anybody celebrated by name was that Fantasia film back in 1940 and they spelled my name wrong. When deities lose followers, but don't fade, all they can do is enjoy life like a mortal." says Chernobog, remembering his animated incarnation from Night on Bald Mountain. "Let's get back to the Necromancy."

Necromancy is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events; discovery of hidden knowledge; returning a person to life, or to use the dead as a weapon. Sometimes referred to as "death magic," the term is used in a more general sense to refer to black magic or witchcraft.

It's banned in many magical communities and taboo among many religions.

"Nico got help from Cognito to destroy a Lich in Israel."

"I thought bone-conjurers were banned."

There are also several references to necromancers – called "bone-conjurers" among Jews of the later Hellenistic period – in the Bible. The Book of Deuteronomy (18:9–12) explicitly warns the Israelites against engaging in the Canaanite practice of divination from the dead.

"The Lich was far older having existed before second millennium BCE. The Lich attempted to reignite conflicts in the area, so it could claim the souls and knowledge of the people. He was stopped when his actions were discovered by Nico, and he reported them to Cognito Inc."

"What was he doing in the area?"

"Tourism. He was just enjoying the beauty and history of Israel when he found the undead minions."

"Must be a case of Hero's Luck."

"How was the Lich defeated?"

"His soul container was found and destroyed by Ash Grey."

The group used to call the soul jars of Liches – Phylactery as introduced by the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, but it was later deemed offensive to Jewish people. Phylactery (from Ancient Greek φυλακτήριον (phylakterion) 'protectant') originally referred to tefillin, leather boxes containing Torah verses worn by some Jews when praying. Apparently, even the Gods of Death find the need to be politically correct.

The group merely nods at Ash Grey involvement. He's become a famous incarnation of death and destruction, to the point some of the Gods have considered inviting him to one of their meetings. Ash's ability to destroy items of power was revealed to the world when he ate Klarion's magic gem - Ambre Jeune Perdu. He also consumed cursed items from Themyscira, Doctor Fate's Vault, and Atlantis. There are even rumors he consumed the soul fragments of Cosmic God.

"Anything else."

"Trigon is on the move again."

All the Gods of Death swear in their native languages.

*DOOM*

Egyptian Desert

Greater Bialya

July 30, 2018

6:50 p.m. - Sunset

3POV

Black Adam also known as Teth-Adam and the Ruler of Greater Biayla stands in the sands of Egypt as the sun dips below the horizon. He is away from his wife and children, because his nation is facing an evil of the ancient past. One that had been sealed beneath the sands for thousands of years and long forgotten by the world.

His opponent is a Mummy – a mummified corpse brought to life by the darkest of magic. He was once a Magi Priest of the ancient world who delved into forbidden knowledge wanting to destroy an Immortal being, but in the process was corrupted by the dark forces he sought to control. He was mummified alive, but he still lived despite the removal of his organs. His body was fed to the sacred scrab beetles, but the corpse continued to move. Eventually magic was used to seal him inside his own tomb deep beneath the sand. He stayed there until archeologists uncovered him.

The mummy looks like he's been dead for a few days instead of a few thousand years. He has pale gray skin, glowing red eyes, and no hair. He's wrapped in linen bandages that have darkened to red purple with the evil miasma released from his body. It stands on a floating mass of sandstone surrounded by an aura of darkness and miasma. He's surrounded by flying insects and an army of animated corpses follow his path on the sand below.

Black Adam is not alone against his opponent. He stands with three heroes of history and legend.

Three Servants of the Fate-Unversed World, the Heroes of Ancient Egypt.

A handsome dark-skinned man with black hair and golden eyes. A man dressed in the black, blue, and gold of ancient ruler. A Pharaoh of ancient Egypt who governed over a vast empire. A wise ruler and exemplary statesman who, while fighting the Hittites, eventually made peace and brought about a thriving prosperity to ancient Egypt by means of "cultural exchange and interaction". He was the foster brother of Moses before he became the Prophet of the Abrahamic God against the Egyptian Gods. He is Rider-Class Servant, Ramesses II known as Ozymandias.

The second is a dark-skinned young woman with purple hair and wears very revealing clothing with Anubis-like ears, golden earrings, and an elaborate necklace. A magic queen who held the throne in the Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, even if only for a short time. It has been assumed that she caused all the influential men who deliberately murdered her beloved brothers to die by drowning, and then took her own life after accomplishing her revenge. She is the Caster of Egypt – Nitocris.

The third is beauty in modern clothing with long green hair that moves like snakes. A tragic queen who left her beauty in history. She was a brilliant woman who manipulated the political arena to secure a future for his people. In many literary works, she is told as a bewitching beauty who indulged in love and misappropriated her country, but the truth is the exact opposite. She called herself the incarnation of the Goddess Isis and excelled in many groundings, having spent her whole life to protect Egypt's Ptolemaic Dynasty to the end. The Last Pharoah, Assassin Cleopatra.

The Mummy lets out a scream that stretches its decayed mouth and the skies darken. They are darkened by immense swarms of insects, Lice, gnats, flies, locusts, scarabs, and other insects in numbers that surpass a biblical plague. These sky-blackening swarms are infused with dark magic, so it would only take a single bite or sting to disable normal humans with sickness. In sheer numbers, they could strip the flesh from the bones of the people of Cairo in minutes.

Suddenly, the insects stop moving to the Mummy's will. Instead, they are now dominated by a far greater will. A woman with long brown hair dressed in insect-themed protective armor appears letting her cloaking deactivate. On the world of Earth Bet, she was a bullied loner who awakened as parahuman with the power to control anthropoids. She was a nameless hero, a villain and warlord called Skitter, and she could have become her world's most feared savior - Khepri of the Golden Morning. She is Taylor Hebert, and the Mummy is in Trouble.

The insects rain down on The Mummy's army of animated dead and devour. The corpses can't feel pain, so they don't make any sound, but the air is filled with the buzzing and chewing of insects. One by one, the undead soldiers collapse as rotten flesh is stripped from bone by sharp mandibles and magic is leeched from the bones. Soon the entire army of ten thousand dead are now lifeless bones in the sand.

The Mummy lets out another horrific scream and raises its arms covered in pitch black magic, but Taylor fears nothing when she commands her army. Her emotions are dispersed into her swarm, so with an unnatural movement and coldness, she points. The swarm flies into The Mummy's wide-open mouth. In another timeline, she would have done the same to the Superman espy of Earth Bet – Alexandria, killing the invulnerable hero by suffocating her. The Mummy as an undead doesn't need to breathe, but its body does have limits. Its body inflates from the mass of insects forcing their way in, some of the insects crushed by the pressure into ooze filling its cavities. Then it happens. The Mummy explodes from the pressure. The cloud of magic and miasma disperses in a shockwave as rotting flesh and bone scatter across the ancient sands. Those scraps of flesh are soon consumed by the swarm of insects.

"Impressive, Lady Taylor" says Ozymandias, "I can see why your counterpart borne the name Khepri. That attack could match those of a Heroic Spirit."

"I'm not sure I would go that far, Ozymandias." says Taylor with a blush.

"If the Great King says you are worthy, you should believe the great King."

Taylor claps her hands, and the swarm begins to glow with a golden light. There are loud hissing sounds as dark miasma streams off the insects. The insects purge themselves of the dark magic, most of the smaller insects don't survive, their lifeless carcasses crumbling to dust and mixing with the same. Some insects like the scarabs do survive, shining gold after being completely purified.

"That was exhausting." says Taylor.

"We thank you Miss Hebert. All Greater Bialya thank you." says Teth-Adam, "I can imagine this extermination would have been far messier without your expertise."

Despite both Black Adam and Queen Bee belonging to The Light, the relationship between them and Cognito Inc is "friendly". If The Light isn't doing stupid things that give Rorschach more work to do, the Light isn't either tortured or pranked. The Light still does get pranked for doing dangerous and stupid experiments, which recently resulted in full nude photos of Queen Bee and Black Adam ending up on the Internet.

Teth-Adam didn't really care. For the average person in ancient Egypt, both men and women of the lower classes were commonly bare chested and barefoot, wearing a simple loincloth or skirt around their waist. Slaves might not be provided with clothing. Servants were nude or wore loincloths. Although the genitals of adults were generally covered, nakedness in ancient Egypt was not a violation of any social norm, but more often a convention indicating lack of wealth; those that could afford to do so covered more. Nudity was considered a natural state and in dirty jobs of Egyptian Nile region preferred.

Queen Bee decided if she was going to be exposed, she would be the sexiest Milf in Africa and the Middle East.

*Beep*

Taylor pulls out her Cog communicator and looks at the latest report from Cog Net's Hero Site.

"Is something wrong?" asks Teth-Adam.

"Clowns. I hate Clowns."

*DOOM*

END OF CHAPTER 41

UP NEXT

New Heroes.

New Challenges.

Techno-Demons

Trigon

Chapter 42

Ashen Wings and Dark Claws

September 16