Thoughts
Computer Speech
"Speech"
Disclaimer: DC and the Dragonball Franchise belong to their respective owners; I own nothing.
Chapter 36: Nightfall III: Terror
December 19th
Age 762 (2012), Keystone City
Flash grimaced as he slammed into a wall, a groan escaping his lips as he slid to the ground with a hard thud. That was sure to leave a mark. For such a cute girl, Tula certainly packed a punch. Aquaman wasn't fairing much better than him, but it was obvious that the Atlantean king was holding back as much as he could. The starfish on Tula's face clearly had a mental stranglehold on her.
Arthur was on the defensive for most on his battle with his apprentice. His trident parried every strike she made. But even at a distance, Barry could feel the after effects of every blow. The metal structures that upheld the empty warehouse rattled from every clash the Atlanteans had.
"Tula, stop this madness!" Aquaman shouted as the blunt end of his trident struck her face.
The red-headed Atlantean was flung back but was undeterred as she charged towards her king once more. "Never!"
Arthur's patience wore thin as he dodged her uppercut. If not for his quick reflexes, a punch like that would have rattled his jaw. Her follow up knee to the gut was precise but was impeded by Aquaman's trident, which blocked it in the nick of time. Her frustration was beginning to mount as her movements became more aggressive. Haymakers were unleashed to end the battle as quickly as possible. Aquaman and Tula moved like dancers across the warehouse, the king moving with the fluidity of a man less than his stature.
As Tula stopped to catch her breath, the Flash hopped into the fray. Zooming at super speed he dashed over to the Atlantean woman cocking his arm back as he gathered momentum. Barry was greatly surprised as he suddenly slammed into an azure wall of energy, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"Did you forget about her magic?" Aquaman's grating voice asked.
Oh yeah, of course, her magic. The Flash mentally facepalmed as he dusted himself off. Her magic was what had tossed into the wall in the first place. He was still having trouble processing the fact that magic was even a real thing.
"Just how powerful is her magic?" Barry asked he glanced at the magical barrier that was still erected around Tula.
"She's one of our kingdom's most powerful sorcerer's," Arthur said without hesitation. Till this point, they had been fortunate that Tula had yet to display her full magical abilities, but it raised another question; why?
Aquaman and the Flash were given no time to dwell on it as two slimy aquamarine tendrils burst from Tula's magical barrier. With a hard lunge, Aquaman rammed his trident into the squid-like appendage that attempted to corral him. Barry was simply too fast for his tendril to grab him. The magical tendril stretched as far as it possibly could, but Barry managed to zoom away. With quick thinking, Barry redirected the tendril into a nearby wall where it promptly splattered and was erased.
"That wasn't hard at…." The Flash's celebration was cut short as dozens of more tendrils suddenly spawned from around Tula. And before Barry could properly count them, they were encircling him once more.
December 19th
Age 762 (2012), Gotham, Batcave
"Master Bruce are you alright?" An alarmed Alfred said as he watched his adopted son hobble out of the Batplane.
"It's just been a rough night," Bruce listlessly said as he limped to his computer's chair. "Things took a turn for the worst."
"I heard you over our communicators. What happened out there?" Bruce would often come home with bumps and bruises but very rarely did he come home with his clothes in complete tatters.
"Something has infected the minds of Gotham's citizens." Removing his cowl Batman activated all the screens on his computer. This was sure to be a long night.
"What do you mean?" Alfred asked for clarification. Bruce's tone indicated that he wasn't speaking figuratively.
"I mean this."
The hair's on Alfred's neck stood up as Bruce unveiled a monstrous looking starfish from his utility belt. The unblinking eye in its center sent a chill down the butler's spine. It was almost as if it were prying into his soul.
"What is that?' Was all Alfred could muster out.
"I'm still working on that. But as far as I can tell, it's not from this planet." During his free-for-all in the streets with Gotham's citizens, he'd managed to pry one of the starfish from someone's face. It had been almost sheer luck, but he'd managed to electrify a poor woman to the point where it had plopped free from her face.
"Do you think this could possibly be related to the bogeyman that had all of Gotham's criminals shaking in their boots?"
"I'm almost sure of it." The sound of Batman's typing filled the room as he accessed his databanks. His log of everything related to the mysterious it popped up on multiple screens.
"Per this information, all of Gotham's big hitters appear to be behind bars. It's almost as if they knew these starfish were coming." Alfred mumbled to himself as he scanned some of Bruce's notes. [1]
"That raises the question of how they knew and who told them?" A dark frown settled on Batman's face as he crossed his fingers together. "I'll have to take a visit to Arkham later on to…."
Batman's words suddenly trailed off as a news alert flickered on his screen. Gotham's number one news reporter, Vicki Vale, appeared on his computer screens looking extremely startled.
"Citizens of Gotham, it's imperative that you get indoors and bolt yourself in. W-w-we thought it was only happening in Gotham, but new reports across America, as well as the globe, are now reporting citing's of starfish mind controlling people." The auburn haired woman paused to take a breath as she heard someone enter the studio room.
"We don't know how or why this is happening, but the government has issued a state of emergency. Stay away from any individuals bearing a starfish on their…Bob?!" Vicki was startled as a man who she was clearly familiar with suddenly dragged her from her seat. The last thing Bruce saw was her flailing arms thrashing against her captor before a starfish latched onto her face. A terrified scream echoed across the studio as the news alert was suddenly cut off.
Without saying a word Bruce rose from his seat. As bruised and battered as he was, he had to get back out there. "I need to get in contact with J'onn."
December 19th
Age 762 (2012), Denver, Police Station
Martian Manhunter growled as his police partner, Diane Meade, lunged at his neck. Her grip was surprisingly strong for a woman of her stature. However, the blonde woman was not prepared for J'onn's sudden use of force as he tossed her across the police office. With a heavy bang, she crumpled against the wall, laying motionless for the time being.
In his human form, John was a demure man. Thankfully he wouldn't have to explain knocking Diane out due to the starfish that was in control of her mind. Though he had taken care of his partner, J'onn still had the rest of the building to deal with. Every officer in the police station had somehow been infected by the starfish. At any given time there were forty to fifty officers in the police station. The sheer scale of this invasion was impressive.
As custom of his detective routine, J'onn had taken a late evening nap before heading out on patrol. Things had been normal before he'd fallen into a deep slumber. But once he'd awoken, the world around him had completely changed. When his eyes flickered open a nasty looking starfish hovered over his face. If not for his quick reflexes, the Martian would have become another mindless drone.
He'd smacked Diane's hand away and their tussle had begun. The new psionic imprint of everyone in the building was jarring. Violence, rage, and domination filled the officer's thoughts. They were being urged to give into their negative impulses. The person pulling the strings had to be an incredibly powerful telepath to control this many minds simultaneously.
The question now though was how to deal with the situation at hand. If the police station had been taken over, it was safe to assume the nearby vicinity had been as well. He could individually remove each starfish with his intangibility, but who knew how long that could potentially take. There were more pressing matters outside the police station to deal with as well. If the puppeteer behind the starfish was taken down, then surely the rest of his troops would follow.
Giving Diane a final glance, J'onn prepared to phase out of the room. He was halted when a device in his pocket flared an alarm. Digging into his trench coat's pocket, J'onn grabbed the circular communicator that Batman had given him. The dark knight had never used it before, even under the direst circumstances, until now. As he opened the device's communication channels Batman's gruff voice spoke.
"I need your help."
December 19th
Age 762 (2012), Washington, Argus headquarters
Chichi huffed an exasperated sigh as she leaned against a wall in the elevator. She'd finally made it out of the lower levels of Argus. The shutdown protocols had been a deathtrap. It had taken every ounce of her abilities to make it out of there in one piece. She wasn't quite at the top of the building yet, but she'd made it to the mid-levels which would provide adequate support for the time being.
As the elevator opened she stepped into a rather quiet hallway. This is odd. Especially considering the time of day there should have been Argus agents pacing back and forth between rooms on this floor. This was the floor that was designated with the task of keeping track of domestic threats. But it was ghostly empty and Chichi could sense that something was off.
As she rounded the corner of a cubicle, Chichi was forced on high alert as a man sprang from a nearby desk. Unfortunately for the man though, Chichi caught him mid-jump and tossed him to the other side of the room.
Already peeved and pissed off from having to escape from the shutdown protocol's, Chichi marched over to her unknown assailant, ready to pounce. Her hands clasped over her mouth as she saw the haunting starfish that was draped over the man's face.
"No! That isn't possible! How could the test subject have gotten up here?" Questions raced through her mind as the princess tried to piece things together. She'd made sure that no one had followed her up here. There had been no other Ki signatures on her trail once she'd left the lab.
"Don't fret Chichi, Starro just wants you to join us."
Spinning on her heels, Chichi turned to face the cacophony of voices that were calling out to her. The entire floor of Argus agents had starfish attached to their faces!
"How did this happen?!" Taking a frightened step back, Chichi tried to gather herself. There was nothing she could do to for them now, but it was imperative that she escaped with the command key that Steve had given her. The situation was bad now, but if those mind controlled Argus agents got a hold of the command key the entire solar system could potentially be at risk.
"Don't be afraid Chichi, joining Starro is a beautiful thing."
The ox-king's daughter was snapped back to reality as the choir of agents spoke once more. The starfish were creepy enough, but their unified voices were the things nightmares were made of.
"I think not," A smirk wiggled onto Chichi's face as she took a bold step forward. "Solar Flare!"
Seething white light flooded the room, blinding everyone, save for Chichi, as she took the opportunity to dash back onto the elevator. Digging in her pocket she grabbed the key that Steve had given her. During the moment where she'd been forced to run for her life, she hadn't taken the time to properly assess it. But as the elevator rose through the floors, she marveled at its workmanship. There was a glowing ethereal light that surrounded it as she held it up.
This is the same key that Steve had used to access the hidden room that held information about the Saiyans. Hopefully, I can use it to gain knowledge about these mysterious starfish. [2]
December 19th
Age 762 (2012), Coast City
Hal Jordan smiled as he eyed himself in his bathroom's mirror. His wink could not be contained as he observed how good he looked. The black tuxedo he wore cost an arm and a leg but was well worth the price. Tonight was one of his rare night off from work. Not his work as a pilot, but from his job as a Green Lantern. Well, actually, it wasn't a night off, but Hal had decided to give himself some much needed personal time.
Guarding sector 2814 was a tremendous burden. He hadn't been a Green Lantern for too long but the responsibility was already beginning to weigh down on him. The stress from knowing that Frieza was in his sector in search of the Dragonballs was gnawing at his bones. If it were up to him he would've been on Namek helping the Earth's heroes retrieve the mystical objects, but intergalactic politics wouldn't dare allow it. What good was having the Universe's most powerful weapon on his fingers if he had to shelve it when people were in need?
He rarely saw eye to eye with the Oans and especially not on this topic. But there was nothing he could do about it. So instead of burying his head in the sand and crying about his frustrations, he'd decided to take Carol Ferris on a date. Carol had been the apple of his eye for as long as he could remember. His extended stay on Oa had halted his plans on finally making a move on the heiress, but he was finally back on Earth to rectify that mistake.
Any minute now the brunette goddess would be ringing his apartment's doorbell. They had plans to go eat at PF Chang's and after that, they would attend a broadway show. It wasn't really Hal's type of thing but Carol loved her musicals. But if things went perfectly as he hoped, Carol would be the one hitting high notes by the end of the night. Seemingly on cue, the doorbell finally run.
At last, she's here. Taking one final look at himself Hal exited the bathroom, flicking the lights off as he hurried to the front door. The excitement he had when he turned the doorknob twisted into horror as opened the door.
"Starro wants you to join us, Hal."
A big thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 35
A/N: I know, another short chapter. I've been gone for over a year so I wanted to give you guys as much content as possible to make up for that. But the next two chapters that will wrap up this Starro storyline will be much longer, I promise. The poll about my chapter lengths is still up though, so make sure that you go vote on that.
[1]: This is in reference to chapter 27
[2]: Way back in chapter 20 chapter I had briefly made mention of Argus knowing about Vegeta destroying planet Arlia. That key is in reference to how Argus knew about the Saiyans.
Q/A:
DRAGONDAVE45: No, you wouldn't be out of line for thinking that.
ENDDRAGON369: SSJ4 might appear but that won't be until much later in the story though.
supercomicreader421: The Android saga and Cell saga will be much different. I won't skip or summarize any parts of those sagas. This version of Gohan takes after his father so he will be training unlike in canon. Trunks is going to come back with someone else, not going to spoil who though.
ZhaWarudo: Thanks for the review and your criticism is warranted. Being completely honest, I haven't given this story the maximum effort it deserves. Hopefully, going forward, I'll be able to bring this story to its full potential. There's a lot of stuff that needs work, writing-wise.
