Ever since the discovery that the people Luthor was working with now had and were actively distributing high level demon blood, both the League and the Blades had been working non-stop, searching frantically for even the smallest leads that just narrowly seemed to escape our grasp, while having to deal with demonic thugs that were beginning to put some of the League's mid-tier villains, such as Bane and Gorilla Grodd to shame. As they took the smallest break at the Watchtower, the League was becoming impatient. "Where is Sai? Why hasn't he been answering his communications. None of the Blades have. These demon thugs are getting out of hand. And they have info we need on how to beat them." Superman snapped.
"We'll have to do without it. We've got trouble in Metropolis." Batman alerted them. He then brought up an image of the city being attacked by a small group of demonized thugs. "Since we don't know what exactly we're dealing with, we should send a well-balanced group, those with powers and considerable technology. Hopefully, we'll be able to find some form of weakness, even without Sai's help." Batman said.
"Lot of good it's doing us to work with a demon that doesn't even have powers anymore. The whole reason we brought him in was to help us deal with these punks and he's not doing it." Booster Gold said as he walked up to the group.
"I won't say he's good, but he's not that bad. And besides, so far, he's been more helpful than you, golden boy." Green Arrow said as he walked up.
"We can argue about Sai's role in helping this team later. For now, we need to help the people in Metropolis." Superman said. Batman and Green Arrow's sidekicks, Robin and Speedy, soon joined the group and they headed to the city through the zeta tubes.
The Justice League soon arrived at the scene via the zeta tubes and came across a street gang of about 8 members that all juiced up on high-tier demon blood and attempted to rob a bank, ripping the vault off it's hinges. Unlike Copperhead, these men retained a passably human appearance, just appearing quite tall at 7 feet tall and incredibly muscular, still smaller in bulk than Bane, but now at least 10 times stronger than him. And they were more than willing to test their newfound abilities on the heroes that arrived suddenly.
"Heads up, boys! The Justice League's here!" One of the thugs called, alerting the others.
"Whoa. Green Arrow made these guys sound uglier. Although, not by much." Booster Gold said arrogantly.
"Don't underestimate them. Supposedly, Copperhead was able to contend with Lobo for a few minutes when she was injected with the blood." Superman said.
"Still, a few minutes against Lobo can hardly compare against the might of the Justice League! No demon could ever prove a match for an amazon!" Wonder Woman said, rushing in.
Background Music: "A Demon's Fate" by Within Temptation
Batman and Green Arrow both required their sidekicks to come in and assist them. The arrow-wielding heroes fired a variety of arrows at the thug they now faced, using several freezing arrows to freeze their feet to the ground and prevent him from moving, then his elbows and knees, limiting his movements even further. Batman threw something that shocked the two of them, before he and Robin rushed in, Batman throwing a rapid volley of punches and other strikes to pressure points, but it barely felt like he was hitting these intended points, the demonic muscle protecting the more tender areas he aimed for, while Robin tried to power through with stronger hits with his staff, seeming to do a bit more damage than Batman, but at the same time, it was just that: only a bit more damage.
The thugs soon broke free from the ice, however and sent Batman and Robin back, Batman by grabbing him and throwing him back, but he was able to flip and land in a superhero landing pose, while Robin was kicked back, sliding back several feet, but fortunately not crashing into anything. Green arrow began to fire some explosive arrows, catching the attention of the thug that threw Batman, at which point he turned towards him and charged, Green Arrow backing away and firing more explosive arrows to slow the thug down, but he wasn't stopping any time soon. Batman pulled out his grapple gun, firing and hooking onto the hulking hybrid's shoulder, then he reeled himself towards the monster, but the thug simply turned and backhanded Batman, sending him back into a building. He then grabbed Green Arrows and slammed him back and forth over his head.
The other thug stormed up to Robin and attempted to stomp on him, but Speedy jumped on his back and used her bow to choke and restrain him, as well as swinging her leg and slamming her knee into his ribs, allowing Robin to get back up and hit the back of the leg as hard as he could with his staff, bringing him down to one knee, allowing him to hit him in many more vulnerable areas with his staff, but the thug simply threw himself back, bringing his full weight, which was now about 400 pounds, on top of the teenagers, lifting himself up and bringing himself down a few more times, attempting to crush them.
Wonder Woman blocked a punch from one that sent her skidding back, her back hitting a car, causing her to flinch a bit, looking up in time to see the crook that punched her fling another car parked on the other side of the road at her. She caught it, but the crook charged forward, punching through the car and hitting her in the face, sending her flying down an alley. She got up and pulled out the lasso of truth, throwing it at the thug and catching the thug's arm, trying to pull him in, but while she did reel him in a few inches, she found the thug was at least able to put up a struggle. He then suddenly yanked on the lasso, pulling her in fast enough to send her flying towards him, readying a punch. In response, she pulled out her sword and cut the thug's hand off.
"Unless you want to lose the other one, put it up!" She demanded. He growled at this and looked to the stump where his hand once was, both of them watching as it began to regrow. "Great Hera!" She gasped, the shock leaving her open for an uppercut from the fist he still had, launching her a few feet above his head, the other hand reforming enough to throw another punch, sending her flying down the road.
Meanwhile, Superman was taking on two more thugs, still clearly more powerful than these thugs, but they were at least putting up a decent fight. He managed to knock one to the ground, then began to grapple with the other that rushed at him. But suddenly, the thug's hands lit on fire, burning Superman's hands and causing him to shout in pain and pull back, headbutting the thug to send him to the ground. But before he could recover from his shock and warn the others, the other thug got back up and held his hands out, firing lightning from his fingertips, hitting Superman and blasting him into a wall. "Magic..." He realized. "They use magic!" He warned the others, as Wonder Woman's enemy also began to reveal his magic abilities, shooting ice at Diana, but she managed to block it with her bracelets.
The only one that didn't seem to be having any problems was Booster Gold, the demons and there magic unable to harm him through his forcefield as he took on the remaining three demons. "Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that. My bad." He said, casually standing there as two of the demonic thugs were putting everything they had in the way of energy beams and blades of wind into the force field, only for nothing to happen. They stopped from exhaustion after exerting so much energy, at which point I used his energy absorption and redirection to blast all the energy from their attacks back at them, leaving them scorched, slashed up and unconscious, but alive. "Heh. Too easy." He gloated.
But suddenly, a spectral arm passed through Gold's chest, holding a glowing orange energy ball with light flames around it in its hand. The last smirked as he revealed himself from behind Gold, pulling his arm out from Gold's chest and dropping him to the ground. "Ha! These demon powers are awesome! Not so smug without your soul are you, booster boy?" The thug taunted, crushing the soul in his hand. Everyone was shocked at this. Superman observed Gold, using his super hearing and X-Ray vision, desperate to determine any signs of life. Batman also used his cowl's detective mode to look for a heartbeat or brain activity, but there was none. Booster Gold was dead.
"No... Damn you!" Wonder Woman snapped, her and Superman now going all out, Wonder Woman hacking limbs off of thugs and smashing her shield into their head with the force to shatter skulls, Superman also hitting them with the force to bring down any of the nearby buildings if the strength were directed at them instead. Wonder Woman grabbed a car and slammed it into the thug dropping himself on Robin and Speedy, sending him into another car, before throwing the car she was holding at him, crushing him between the two cars, which then exploded. Superman grabbed the last two, the one who had killed Booster Gold and flew at the one flailing Green Arrow around like a rag doll and slamming their heads together, knocking them both out.
End Music
The heroes looked at the defeated thugs, before hurrying to Booster's side. "What happened... What did that guy do to him?" Green Arrow asked.
"They killed him. He's dead." Batman said angrily, clenching his fist.
"But how?! Nothing should be able to get through that forcefield of his." Speedy asked.
"His shield is powerful, but even it has no defense against spectral attacks." Wonder Woman said.
"Spectral... As in ghosts?" Robin questioned.
"Exactly. That monster reached right through him and pulled out his soul. His very life force." Superman said in despair.
"The blades would know about this. Where are they? We contacted them long before this battle began, when we first detected these thugs. Why aren't they here?!" Wonder woman demanded.
"They haven't even made an attempt to contact us. It's as if they're ignoring us." Superman said, looking at the device I gave him so I, or any member of my clan could contact them if we had information they needed, or vise versa. "If they knew about this, they could've warned us and Booster may have survived. Where is Sai?" He asked seriously.
Batman typed it in on his gauntlet, growling at the answer. "He's partying in Las Angeles. In a nightclub called Lux." He explained.
At the nightclub, I sat at a piano, tickling the ivories and playing a sorrowful song to match my mood, my eyes closed as I poured my heart out, an altered version of a song I enjoyed, now more personal and fitting to my situation.
"Deep in the woods, there was a fire~
That burned with a blazing desire~
Desire to burn away all the pain~
A flame that was forced to retire~
With no pyre, it drives me insane~"
I finished the song and lowered my head, a few people clapping, but most of them ignored the depressing, somewhat creepy song. I reached on top of the piano and took a drink of my whiskey, letting out a deep sigh. "Well, that was certainly moving. My club's gone from partying to depressed, so thank you for that." A man said, walking up and sitting on the bench beside me.
"Thank you for letting me play. Really needed to pour my heart out. And have a couple drinks poured in me." I said, taking another swig from my drink.
"I've seen from experience. Someone only sings and drinks like that when they've lost something. So, what is it you've lost?" He asked.
"Everything." I said.
"Well, I'd imagine someone who's lost everything has a lot they would want, so tell me: what do you desire?" The man asked me.
Suddenly, a felt a powerful sensation rush over me. Something that made me want to tell this man my greatest desire. Demonic influence. It's a power certain demons of the highest level like my father has. With my powers, I could resist them easily, but without... "I want my power back." I explained.
"Ah, yes. I've heard through the grapevine one of the Blades had been sealed, but I found it a little hard to believe." He said.
"So, you know who I am. And I'm aware of who you are as well, Lucifer Morningstar." I told him. Of course, as family to the goddess of Hell, I had full knowledge that there are other versions of Hell out there, such as the Netherrealm, Demon World, Inferno, etc. Unless one of these worlds were invading the human world, we generally ignored them and their rulers, but we always kept an eye on them.
"Interesting. Well, I must admit I am a fan of your work, keeping hostile demons out of this world and properly punishing the worst of humankind, I'm still trying to convince the detective to let us do that. Although, I must say, that bit with the hospital did hurt my opinion a bit. The same for my brother there, but he's always been a bit upset any demons are free to roam this plane." Lucifer said, gesturing to the well-built form of his dark angel brother, Amenadiel.
"Well, he can deal." I said, turning to Amenadiel and giving a wide grin, revealing my razor sharp teeth. Luckily, one thing that seal couldn't change was my anatomy.
"Speaking of deals, I'm assuming you didn't simply come here for a drink." Lucifer said.
"It's certainly a plus, but yes, I was hoping I could ask you a favor." I said.
"I'm listening." Lucifer said, gesturing for me to continue.
"You're clearly aware my powers have been sealed. I admit I take some blame for the hospital, but the loss of my powers just isn't something I can live with. I need the seal gone and my powers back." I explained. I took off my trench coat when I sat down to play the piano, so I simply turned and pulled down the back of my collar enough to reveal the seal.
"Ooh, a bit of Johnny's work, I see." Lucifer said as he noticed work of the seal.
"Yep. A drunk conman and magic asshole in gold with another man inside him 24/7. And people can you a man whore." I said.
"Clever. Well, I might need a little help getting rid of this thing, but get me a couple others who could help and you've got yourself a deal. And in exchange, you'll deal with this demon blood crisis. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before the detective runs into someone who's juicing on the bad stuff and I'd rather not have her in harm's way." Lucifer instructed.
"It's a deal." I said, shaking his hand.
"And just what deal are you referring to?" Batman's voice came from behind me. People noticed the dark knight and began to flee.
I sighed at this. "You are aware stalking's illegal, right?" I asked, putting my trench coat back on.
"You're the last person to speak of what's legal. Why haven't you and your clan been answering us? Some thugs are starting to gain the ability to attack souls." Batman snapped.
"If someone isn't answering your calls, that probably means they want to be left alone. As for the soul attacks, we're aware. Painfully aware." I said.
"And you didn't share this information with us? Booster Gold is dead now because you and your clan withheld information! Whatever pain you're talking about, it can't possibly measure up to the blow the League's taken. We lost a powerful teammate and a friend." Batman said.
I growled and stood up. "Don't you dare assume we haven't suffered! You lost a friend, big deal! I lost family!" I snapped. "You think just because we don't do things your way that we're monsters worse than the scum you deal with and spare from the death they deserve. We're still living creatures that care for our own. So to the fact you lost someone as well, I can only say... Good." I told him.
Batman growled and punched me in the gut, grabbing my head and trying to slam it against the piano, but Lucifer put a hand on my chest to stop me from going any further, easily holding back Batman's strength. "Ah-ah-ah! As much as I'd like to admit, that was a low blow and he perhaps deserves his head bounced off something, I'd ask that it not be my piano, or anything else in my club, thank you." Lucifer said, pushing Batman off me.
"A pleasure doing business with you." I said as I stood up.
Batman stormed up to me once again. "You're going to have your father bring him back now." Batman ordered.
I pushed him back. "First off, don't ever think you can order me or any member of my clan. Second, my father would never waste his energy to bring back that dumbass. And third, he can't. No one can. Once the soul has been destroyed, that's it. No heaven, no hell, no purgatory. You're gone from existence." I told him.
"We can attest to that." Amenadiel said, walking up. "If your friend was truly hit with an attack that destroyed his soul, he's gone. There's nothing anyone can do to change that. I'm sorry. It happened with our brother as well." He said.
Batman looked down sadly at this, before looking back up to me. "Let's go. We need to go to the Batcave." He said.
I chuckled at this. "You're crazy if you think I'm going anywhere you with YOU, in that crazy deathtrap of a car of yours, without my powers." I told him.
"This isn't up for debate." Batman snapped.
"If my kids can find Wayne Manor and the Batcave, I can find it. You go, I'll be along shortly." I told him.
Batman growled, but knew he couldn't start another fight with Lucifer and Amenadiel there. "Don't keep me waiting." He warned, leaving.
I finished my drink. "Well, thank you for the drink, Luci. I look forward to our business in the future." I said.
"Indeed. Until next time, Sai Knife Blade." He said.
I narrowed my eyes at this. "It's Sai KUNAI Blade." I told him.
"Is it? I don't care." He said. I rolled my eyes and left.
I pulled up to Wayne Manor on my living demon motorcycle, Dragonsbane, parking right next to a Lamborghini and getting off the bike, along with my passenger. Clayton, my butler who is also a werewolf and therefor the perfect bodyguard, got off and took off his helmet. "Do you believe this to be wise, Master Sai? Batman could have easily laid out any number of traps for you." Clayton warned me.
"That's exactly why you're here. He's planning on dealing with essentially a normal human, not a werewolf." I told him.
"Ah, quite right." Clayton realized.
We reached the door and knocked on it, none other than Alfred Pennyworth opening the door. "Ah, you must be the infamous Sai Blade who's been at war with Master Bruce for nearly 5 years now. And the father of the boys who nearly destroyed the Batcave." Alfred said with a glare.
"I was always willing to end things and let bygones be bygones. Bruce simply wasn't. As for my boys, you'll be happy to know they were grounded for their actions." I told him.
"Very well. Come along. Master Bruce is expecting you." Alfred said, allowing us inside and leading us to the entrance to the Batcave.
As we walked through the house, Clayton took note of how everything was maintained. "And you are the sole caretaker of these grounds, Alfred?" He asked.
"I am indeed." Alfred confirmed.
"Incredible. This estate isn't much smaller than the home of my own employers, but even I find myself having to rely on the aid of a vampire to keep the place maintained." Clayton said.
"Well, you're certainly kind. I'm sure it's merely due to the larger number of occupants you must maintain the grounds for." Alfred said, opening the entrance to the Batcave. We then descended down to the cave itself, walking up to the main platform, where Batman sat at a massive computer. "I've brought Sir Blade and Master Clayton here as instructed, Master Wayne." Alfred told him.
"I wasn't expecting you to bring anyone with you." Batman said, turning to me.
"Again, if you think I was coming to the Batcave of all places alone, you're insane." I told him.
"Clayton S.M Valkenhayn, at your service, sir. Please, don't mind me, I am only present in case of the unlikely event you were to turn on Master Sai. At which point... I would paint the walls of this cave with your blood." Clayton warned, turning into his werewolf form for a brief moment, before returning back. "But, for some reason, I don't believe that eventuality will come to fruition." He said.
"Like a good butler, Clayton is there~" I said in sing-song.
"If I wanted to take you down, I wouldn't have waited until you were in one of my most carefully defended locations to do so." Batman told me.
"Fair enough." I said, looking around the lair.
"Pay attention. I need you to look at these." Batman said, showing several images of mutated, demonized thugs the League had fought in the past few days. "Do these resemble any demons you've fought in the past? And if so, can you offer any insight on their notable weaknesses." He asked.
"It's going to be a lot more complicated than that. It's not just like, you dose up with fire demon blood and you become a fire demon. The blood mixes with your DNA, notes your physical capabilities and adapts accordingly. It's never going to be an exact science. But, in general, they have the same weaknesses as any other demons: salt, holy water, divinely blessed or demonically cursed weapons, specialized anti-demon metals and Enochian magic." I explained, before noticing a picture of Batman's son Damion... with a giant bat monster beside him. "What... is that?" I asked in shock.
"It's Damian and his pet bat-dragon, Goliath. He released him recently, though." Batman explained.
"Ah. Well, if you're in the market for a new pet, you know the islands my family live on are filled with dragons and things like that. Or my brother's working to give sharks lungs and legs and make them land creatures, I could see if he'd hook you up with one." I said.
"I'll pass." Batman said.
"Fine. So, what did you even need me to be here for in the first place? I don't see why we had to come here, as opposed to the Watchtower. I mean, I'm grateful for not having to take those Zeta Tubes again, but I'm not feeling that much safer here." I said.
"I need you to tell me if I have the proper equipment on hand to be battling these demons." Batman said.
I sighed. "Honestly, my clan is even starting to face issues with these monsters. So, with the League operating the way it does, without the proper resources, I don't think you can. The reason I was at that bar was to drown my sorrows and lick my wounds from a fight I just barely managed to walk away from. When some of the people closest to me weren't able to at all." I said, thinking back to the day before, when my family was changed forever...