Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC
Hope everyone enjoys this chapter, which mentions some events in my other stories and introduces two versions of Waller and a new player in the Bruce Timm verse with a mysterious link to another DC character.
The Redeemer
Chapter 5: The Wall
Onyx sat on his throne within the gap, looking at the realities he was planning to manipulate. His home world, the world of his other self was enjoying a brief respite from the super human threats. Alliances were being forged, his other self was assisting in the reconstruction of S.H.I.E.L.D and the other dark forces were working behind the shadows, preparing for the arrival of Hope Summers, the false messiah. There was an incident in Mojoworld with Mojo's prisoners, an escape attempt that was threatening to expose Onyx's manipulations of the Exiles, Joker's plans were going smoothly on his Earth, Fury and Steppenwolf had settled back in their reality and were awaiting the day Onyx would summon them again. Loki's home reality had faced its great reboot, but Onyx's counterpart of that Earth had somehow avoided the memory altering effects of the reboot, he was the biggest threat to his plans in that universe.
"Oh Onyxy!"
Joker skipped to his throne, leaning on the side of it.
"Why are you here and not organising your own plans?" Onyx asked.
"The fort is being held at the moment Onyx my good man, I mean you should see the heroes the government are throwing at me, I might as well have demanded Justice League Detroit come and stop me," Joker explained.
"And the boy?"
"He hasn't reacted yet, you really think he'll bring the old league back together?" Joker asked.
"He will not stand by as innocents are dying, move your timetable forward, detonate the bombs," Onyx said.
"Hmm, I did give my word," Joker rubbed his chin.
"You're seriously telling me you can not think of an insane justification? That you actually need a justification?"
"There are some good points there, I could tell the public that I'm responding to the government sending me an incompetent league and then execute one of my hostages, then use those explosive surprises just for the hell of it HA HA HA HA!" the clown prince tapped his feet against the ground as he danced around Onyx.
The armoured man shot his arm out at Joker, grabbing him by the neck. Joker gagged, but nothing could stop his smile. He coughed and chuckled as Onyx let him go. Joker stopped at a pair of screens and narrowed his eyes slightly at the two images.
"Onyx, these two are alternate versions of Amanda Waller right?" he asked.
"You've already answered your question," Onyx said.
"Oh I get that but I generally thought there was no real difference in terms of our counterparts looks…that Ultimate Earth place being the exception in the case that it seems to be a gathering place for race switched heroes," Joker highlighted the Samuel L Jackson Fury to prove his point. "But why am I looking at an Amanda Waller who looks like she needs to be in a care home and an Amanda Waller who I would actually want to have sex with, I mean look at that, someone out there is complaining about the portrayal of women because of how sexy this version of Amanda Waller looks," Joker shaped his hands into a camera, gazing at the Amanda Waller of the Earth Cade Hunter had been stuck on.
That Amanda Waller was not a doctor or expert on super humans. She was a soldier and a government agent; her body was a reflection of the physical demands of both jobs. Having been raised on a rough neighbourhood as well, Amanda 'the Wall' Waller knew how to fight from an early age. But she also knew how self-reliant individuals had to be and how humanity as a whole had to look out for itself. She got through the training of the Marine Corps, worked through sexism and hard combat tours until her dedication to the system of control the Americans established in other countries, a system she believed was necessary to ensure that the world became united paid off. Amanda caught the eye of a CIA recruiter, but it wasn't combat she served best on, information analysis, interrogation, black mail and the 'recruitment' of foreign nationals. She had been in the run in for becoming the chief of America's overseas operations. Her suicide squad program however got her into A.R.G.U.S and even gained her command of the agency when Steve Trevor's emotional attachment to the league was proven.
"Behold the wonders of the multiverse," Onyx huffed.
"I'll say, move aside older and fatter model, we have a new meaner and less sympathetic Amanda Waller," Joker threw the image of the older Amanda Waller aside.
Onyx however drew the screen towards him. Both versions of Amanda Waller were important to the plan, even if someone as intelligent as Joker couldn't see it yet. For on one Earth, an Earth designated as Earth-12 Amanda Waller was a match of Waller that Joker knew, both in body, mind and history. She was an expert on super humans, probably the first to gain a doctorate on them. Her experience in leading government agencies had been reduced mostly to matters of national security until the American government of Earth 12 had a reason to fear their greatest heroes. The Justice League had been formed from Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, the Wally West Flash, the John Steward Green Lantern and Hawkgirl in order to fight the White Martians. They came across many great threats, even the betrayal of Hawkgirl when her people the Thanagarians occupied the planet. Though Hawkgirl helped the league drive her people away it led to an expansion of the league.
Pretty much every super hero on the planet became a member of the rebuilt Justice League Unlimited. But that was not the first step towards Amanda's involvement in the league. Before the JLU came the Justice Lords, a League much like Amanda's, but after the induction of Lex Luthor as president, the death of the Flash and Superman's subsequent execution of Luthor the Justice Lords became dictators, preventing the election of a new president and even extending their iron fisted grip to the entire world. Six heroes had achieved that dictatorship, Earth 12 had hundreds of heroes united under the JLU banner, with a satellite equipped with a laser that could shoot any target on the planet. The American government was afraid and gave Amanda Waller a job. Cadmus was established to create ways to combat the league. Amanda got the help of Wade Eileen, a patriot and old war dog who didn't like the league, to prepare tactics and projects to make weapons that would in theory overpower the league.
At the age of ninety-seven Waller looked back on those years and how wrong she had been. It turned out Luthor had been using Cadmus to wage his private war on the league. But when Luthor merged with Brainiac the rest of the world suffered for it. Amanda could only watch as the league fought Superman's greatest enemy with the threat of an air strike against them. She watched them fight on and even watched Luthor's magnificent defeat at the hands of the league member she had the least expectations of. Wally West would lose himself to the speed force the second time he ran at full speed, but on the day he discovered it, the day he cut loose and ran across the world in mere seconds he stripped Luthor of his Brainiac components and stopped the digitisation of the world before it could begin. Though Cadmus was still kept around, Amanda ran the organisation with a greater respect for the league, one that grew with her respect for her greatest opponent.
Bruce Wayne was the one person Amanda believed would appreciate the existence of Cadmus the most. Batman was an ordinary man, a vigilante with a budget and a great intellect and skill. He was the first super hero to discover Cadmus and the first one to confront Amanda, in her own home, when she'd just gotten into the shower. Amanda knew his identity and threatened to expose it but he matched her threats, fully prepared to drag Cadmus into light with him. When the general jeopardised the lives of the League members and the innocents they were trying to save, Bruce held Amanda responsible. He even stopped Amanda and her men from taking back one of her genetic creations Longshadow. Amanda's perspective of Batman changed when the league cleaned up yet another mess created by Cadmus.
Ace was one of the sins Amanda knew she would never be forgiven for. She was a girl with limitless telepathic potential. Cadmus took her away from her comatose parents and experimented on her, trained her to fight for the government as a weapon. The Joker took her and other experimental subjects and fashioned them into his own Royal Flush Gang. The League defeated them of course, but Ace went on to form her own gang using her evolved ability to warp reality. But Amanda was faced with a dilemna, Ace had a brain tumour that would kill her, resulting in a psychic backlash that would kill everything under the influence of her powers. She approached the league with a weapon that would kill her without the psychic backlash. Batman volunteered to carry the act out.
Amanda waited hours and hours and when the constructs created by Ace faded, she saw what kind of man Bruce Wayne was. He came out of Ace's little castle carrying her body and his usual stone look had been replaced by a solemn stare. Amanda found the discarded device and put two and two together, Bruce had convinced Ace to reverse what she had done and stayed with her until her time came. Batman was the humanity of not just the league but the entire super hero community. As Bruce got older and the super hero community shrunk Amanda began to realise that eventually Bruce wouldn't be able to fight as Batman again. So she devised a program called Batman Beyond, a project that would create a genetic and psychological copy of Bruce to take up the mantle. But midway through the project Amanda was convinced by another acquaintance of Bruce that she was dishonouring his memory. Amanda cancelled the project, but fate had other ideas. Some would probably call it a tragic coincidence; Amanda liked to think it was destiny.
Destiny that young Terry McGinnis met Bruce Wayne just as his father was murdered by the corrupt CEO of WaynePowers Derek Powers. Terry stole the suit and with Bruce's help stopped Derek Powers's attempt to use Bruce's old company to sell nerve gas. From then on Terry McGinnis was Batman and the first of many great wonders to rise and take on the old legacies of heroes. Terry's stand against corruption and evil was just the start, and Amanda liked to think she played some part of that. Following the return of Batman came the League's return to power, Superman led a new generation that included Micron, the size altering hero, Barda and later her husband Mr Miracle of New Genesis, Warhawk the son of John Stewart and Shayera Hol, Kai-Ro and Hal Jordan Junior the Green Lanterns of Sector 2814, Aquagirl and Tempest the children of Aquaman and a new Flash guided by the collective knowledge of her three predecessors Jay Garrick, Bart Allen and Wally West.
Amanda lifted her Alzheimer's pill to her mouth, her hand trembling from her muscle fatigue. She cursed as the pill escaped her grip. But it didn't hit the ground, it ended up in the gloved hands of a man in a blue and white suit. He gave the pill to Amanda and crossed his arms over the blue and white flash symbol on his chest. His suit to some looked like it was composed of energy; it resembled the classic Flash costume. Even his skin, the mouth exposed by his cowl seemed to be made of blue energy. Cadmus had its own Flash, though he had no connection to the speed force and he insisted on being called R-Flash, as in Reverse-Flash. In the past the Reverse-Flash's had been called that because of the colour schemes of their costumes.
R-Flash had a very specific reason for his name though, one known only to Amanda. She had an abundance of secrets, the true origins of Terry McGinnis was not just the only thing on her conscience. Cadmus itself had a vault of secrets Amanda hoped would never be exposed to the public. R-Flash had access to a number of those secrets, but even he was ignorant to what Cadmus truly was. He took a wheelchair out of Amanda's bedroom but Amanda insisted on using her cane. The doctors told her the day she would spend her life on a wheelchair was imminent, but in the mean time she would be self-sufficient.
"You're a stubborn piece of work you know that?" R-Flash commented.
"Your comments are always appreciated captain, as is your help," Amanda always used the man's ranking within the central city police department, as he did work for both the government and his home town.
"The other old fogey Lucy Lane called, said that she wanted project Kr transferred to her, I don't know what project Kr is but I thought things usually kept in the vault were under heavy lock," the man explained.
"They are, Kr is a special case however, Secretary Lane has been waiting months for an update, I'll contact her and tell her how the project is going," Amanda said as she walked ahead.
"Waller," R-Flash called out to the woman, causing her to turn.
In an instant he was ahead of her, leaning against the door to the command centre.
"How am I supposed to secure this place if I don't know exactly what you're keeping in that vault?" he asked.
"Its need to know information, and you don't need to know right now, the day we do have a break in will be the day I call upon your services," Waller said, signalling R-Flash to move.
"Sure thing," the man huffed before walking away.
Amanda walked into Cadmus command centre, where another 'old fogey' involved with national defence waited, via holographic communication. Lucy Lane joined the military and though she never became a general like her father she did gain considerable experience in super human affairs. That and Amanda pulled a few strings to ensure that Lucy would gain some political and military power. Her late sister had after all been married to the most powerful man on Earth. Everything Amanda did she did for a reason. Though she kept many secrets in the vault, it was all for the sake of protecting the Justice League and the world.
Past the gap there was another Earth and another Amanda Waller. She was young and capable of holding her own in a fight. Amanda Waller had wanted to serve her country ever since her brothers joined the army after the 9/11 attacks. Her career had been one success after another, a steady tour of the Middle East, the capture of terror cells with homeland security, she even saved the life of a senator. Amanda's strict adherence to discipline and protocol earned her a place on one of the finest special forces teams on the planet, team 7. But after a disaster that wiped out the team, Amanda was transferred to spy work for the CIA. Then A.R.G.U.S. was formed by her former comrade Steve Trevor. A man who discovered Paradise Island, home of the long forgotten amazons and the place where he fell in love with their princess and ambassador Diana. Their relationship fell apart however and after being captured by David Graves, Steve's position as the League's government liaison was revoked.
The incident was exactly what Amanda hoped for. Steve was a good soldier, but the less emotional ties he had to the team the better it was for Amanda's plans. Perhaps because of her youth, or maybe in spite of it Amanda, unlike her much older, academic counterpart she didn't see the League as a benefit to the world. In her eyes the government always had the best interest. The government appointed her to make the world a better place, and in her eyes that meant creating a League that could be controlled, controlling all super humans. Until a legislation was written up to correctly monitor and control super humans, she had to do whatever it took to ensure that the world was kept safe. The suicide squad was only one of those initiatives.
Colonel Steve Trevor walked through the corridors of A.R.G.U.S and had to shake his head at the busier day he was having. He walked into the observation room, looking upon the 'item' that had crashed into Bialya. Steve looked over at his boss, the talented and young Amanda Waller.
"You look like you've lost weight Waller, this work making you as sick as I am?" Steve asked.
"Very funny Trevor, the squad managed to recover the object, with great expense, most of them have been hospitalised," Waller sighed.
"I heard Slade's doing well though, and stop calling him object Waller, you can quite plainly see that he's human," Steve gestured to the man the scientists analysed on the operating table.
They had yet to make any incisions, they had already carried out most of the tests they had to. Weird instruments ran across his body, analysing his organs and the fabric of the black suit he wore, the right shoulder was ripped but the rest of it was stern.
"We don't know what he is, keep in mind the one in Metropolis looks human but stated to the public that he isn't. He went through most of the Suicide Squad, he even took down King Shark and held his own for a while against Deathstroke but that isn't even the half of it, he woke something up in the forest just to save a kids life and jeopardised their mission," Waller explained.
Amanda still remembered the feeling she had when she watched the footage. She kept it hidden from her men, but she actually felt fear when the man created a gateway with just a sword. Trevor couldn't see it, but there was something wrong about the man the squad had recovered. It wasn't just the results Waller saw on paper, but it was her instincts too. Every instinct she had told her that the man was too dangerous. But her practical mind knew that there must be some kind of use for him, perhaps even a greater reason to keep him around.
"He saved someone's life, a lot of people might call that being a hero," Steve said.
"He dislodged Buchinsky's jaw, broke Quinn's leg and nearly beat King Shark into a coma!"
"Well the one in Gotham can be violent," Steve grinned slightly, in truth he enjoyed the prospect of Waller's band of criminals getting their arses kicked.
Amanda huffed, other than Black Spider she had no real sympathy for her squad. They had served the purpose of sabotaging Bialya's super soldier project, as well as securing a new super human for Harvest. The pod that trapped Doctor Isley had been set deep into the ground, unlike Garfield Logan it couldn't be recovered. But Amanda focused her attention on her primary man of interest.
"He's good, Slade said as much that if this man hadn't already been exhausted they probably would have killed one another, and he took down Queen Bee's operation whilst protecting the Quracian hostages. Skill like that doesn't come without some kind of training, we ran a DNA test, blood work, saliva, hair even biometrics and a facial recognition software, no match on any database, this man's never been seen on a camera until the day he arrived, this man literally doesn't exist."
Steve narrowed his eyes at the man lying on the operating table. His suit covered his entire body, save for the tear on the right shoulder and his face. He appeared to be in his early thirties and had messy blonde hair. His face had the faint outline of old scars, cut marks from blades and glass. One of the scientists took out his light and opened the man's eye, examining his pupils. His blue eyes suddenly turned red and began to shine as his hand gripped the scientist's neck.
"HE'S WAKING UP!"
One of the orderlies reached for the sedative. The doctor was suddenly sent flying into his back. Cade yanked his hands free, mist poured out of his throat. Years of training with his abilities allowed him to use even the smallest reserve of energy to expel any substance, be it poison or anaesthetic. He then proceeded to kicked the men gathered around him. His eyes saw honest men and women, people just doing a job. He was relatively gentle with them. He threw one guard into the door, smashing it open and knocking down two other guards.
"What's he doing?" one of the monitor workers asked as Cade pointed his thumb down, and then raised his hand to the observation glass.
"GET DOWN!" Steve yelled, knowing a signal when he saw it.
Cade used a low level blast, creating a sonic boom that shattered the glass and disoriented the senses of the people behind it. Pulling away the wires that connected him to the monitor devices, Cade broke off into a run. He looked at his surroundings as he ran and felt the souls of the people within the building. Wherever he was the suicide squad was nowhere nearby. The biggest sinners were those soldiers with blood on their hands. But even they were professional killers, not hired thugs or murderers. He easily crashed through the guards blocking his way. In spite of their training Cade's skills in hand to hand combat were better. He threw one guard against the wall and punched another across the face, grabbing the collar of his vest before throwing him into a door, knocking down two more guards.
"I want a capture team on the medical level, secure all project labs and the vault," Amanda said, brushing glass out of her hair.
Steve loaded tranquilliser darts into his gun; he accessed the base security feeds with his pad. Cade was running down the hallways of the base, taking down any soldiers that got in his way. Amanda walked to the security room and looked at the security feeds. She watched as Cade took down men she knew to be the best in the army. He kneed one man in the chest and then threw him against the elevator door.
"Lock down the elevator, have the capture teams use the stairs," she told one of the security technicians.
Cade smashed open the container for the fire equipment. He figured Amanda Waller would cut power to the elevators. That would not stop an axe from prying the doors open however. He hacked at the door, tearing portions of it as if opening a can. Once the door was open he analysed the elevator shaft, trying to determine how many floors there was.
"Standard office building, twenty floors," he muttered.
He heard security teams opening the doors for the stairs, coming onto the tenth floor. Cade unravelled the fire hose and tested its density by giving it a few tugs. Once he was happy with how tough it was he turned to the corridor the security team was coming down.
"Oh crap," the security technician muttered.
Amanda grit together as Cade turned the hose on, pelting the capture team with a blast of high-pressurised water. The water shot down the corridor, knocking Steve off of his feed and drenching several staff exiting their offices. Cade turned the hose off and ran to the elevator. He jumped down the shaft, using the full length of the hose to rappel floor after floor. Steve gripped his bruised shoulder and walked to the elevator.
"Smart man," he said, watching as Cade used the makeshift line to rappel towards the ground floor.
But much to Steve's shock Cade didn't stop there. He jumped off of the line and onto a ladder and began climbing towards the basement.
"Waller turn the elevators back on, I need a team down at the basement right now," Steve spoke frantically into his radio. "You know what's down there Waller, if he gets his hands on it, or even if he just accidentally grabs it," the former air force pilot explained.
"He's not after the box Trevor, but if it eases your mind the black room has some of the most powerful spells on the planet preventing anyone whose not an A.R.G.U.S agent from entering," Amanda explained.
Her words didn't ease Steve's concern at all. But Cade had a very different reason for going down to the basement.
One part of Selina Kyle wondered just what the limitations of Onyx's powers were. There had to be limitations to his dimension hopping abilities, otherwise he could've just taken what he wanted from Cadmus's vault without the requirement of two master thieves. Well there was only really one veteran thief, Selina herself. In a world that was vastly different from her own, she had been tasked by Onyx, alongside Felicia Hardy with the mission of stealing from Cadmus. The pair of cat-based thieves weaved through the system of trip lasers built into the Cadmus ventilation system. Their nimble bodies allowed them to touch the sides of the vents without making a sound.
'Love to see the version of me in this world do this,' Selina smirked, apparently both her counterpart and Bruce were in their mid eighties.
The pair continued making their way through the security systems. Felicia removed a device from her belt; they were mirrors that altered the direction the sensor lasers were touching, allowing both her and Selina to reach the end of the shaft. Catwoman gently cut the hatch open and jumped in front of the gate to the vault. Felicia followed behind her, adjusting the goggles that Selina had given her.
"Oh come on Felicia, you look cuter already, a little more cleavage and that cute spider boy wont be able to resist you," Selina explained.
"Onyx is already going to send me to a world where Spider-man will love me," Felicia said.
"I however am fighting for something a little more noble, Superman is a dictator on my world," Catwoman walked up to the gate and tapped the side of it.
"What about motion sensors?"
"Already checked, I'm not an amateur dear," Selina grinned as Felicia pouted.
She reached into her belt and pulled out a device similar to the locking dial on a safe. Catwoman pushed her ear against the gate and began to turn the dial. Felicia tapped her foot against the ground impatiently. The device Catwoman used drilled into the gate, releasing a virus that released the numerous locks built into the gate. She smirked as the locks clicked and the gate began to open. Catwoman and Black Cat moved into the vault and found nothing, save for a display of Lex Luthor's old armour, a golden shield and helmet and a cold gun.
"That's it, all this for some junk that probably doesn't work anymore," Felicia said.
"Don't forget what Onyx said Felicia, we need to recover the body of the General, which means that there is more to this vault then there appears," Catwoman smiled as crawled across the ground.
She tapped a switch built into one of the displays and smirked at Black Cat's shocked expression. A hidden doorway opened on the floor, leading to a grand hall built underground. Catwoman led her chosen apprentice into the hall, passing a great number of items related to magic and the super natural. Felicia stopped at a mirror and looked over her costume.
"I'm thinking of adopting something a little tighter, something with white fur," she said.
She walked past the mirror, failing to see the man trapped within the mirror. On the surface of the base R-Flash stopped walking. He turned his head, as if listening to someone before running through the corridors. Felicia and Selina smirked as they reached their target. It was a container with a hulking man inside of it. He had grey skin and tusks sticking out of his bottom jaw.
"Wade Eiling," Selina identified the man.
"There are so many other things here though," Felicia said.
"We recover this, exactly what Onyx wanted us to recover," Selina reached into her belt and pulled out a black seed.
She cracked the seed open and stepped back. The seed created a dark portal, exactly what Selina needed to send the body of the General to her master.
"Your turn Felicia," Selina stepped back as Felicia removed her goggles.
The girl clutched her sides black fur began spreading across her body, save for her hair. Her eyes morphed into cat like slits, claws stretched out of the tips of her gloves and her teeth were replaced with fangs. She crawled around the container, slashing through the metal bindings with her claws. Then Felicia pushed the container into the portal.
"What's gong on here?"
The two thieves looked to the doorway, where R-Flash stood.
"We were expecting you to be down here quickly, I suppose you aren't as fast as your predecessor," Catwoman smirked.
"Lady you have no idea who I'm succeeding," R-Flash said as he ran towards the duo.
"FELICIA WAIT!" Selina yelled as Felicia pounced towards the man.
Her movements seemed slow in comparison to R-Flash as he easily dodged her claw swipes. In fact Felicia's attacks were sluggish to Selina's eye. She sighed before stepping into the portal. R-Flash leaned back, dodging Black Cat's claw strike as the portal disappeared. He immediately countered Black Cat, punching her in the chest and then grabbing her by her hair. The man threw her across the room, sending her crashing into several containers. R-Flash walked through the warehouse until he found Felicia.
"We have an intruder in the vault, lock down the building in case her friend is still here, I want a security team down here with a muzzle, and probably a cat cage," R-Flash explained over his radio.
He knelt beside the intruder, checking her vitals. Much to his relief she was alive. His grandpa Leo always taught him to live by a code, there were a few things that were unnecessary, and one of those things was killing women or children. R-Flash shot a glare at the mirror, as a laugh seemed to echo from it. He narrowed his eyes slightly as a hand pointed past his shoulder. The agent looked to his right and noticed the letters on a container he couldn't fully see, as it was obscured by two wooden boxes.
"Kr," he identified it as the code name for Wallers secret project, the one that was due for delivery to the army.
R-Flash moved past the wooden boxes and looked upon Project Kr, widening his eyes in shock. Trapped within the pod was a sleeping boy, a teenager who was probably no older than sixteen. R-Flash squeezed his hands into fists before wiping away the ice on the pod. He looked at a familiar red and yellow shield.
"This is something the Justice League could do with knowing about," R-Flash said.
Onyx watched the events unfolding and leaned back on his chair. He had been counting on Felicia's capture and the legacy of the rogues discovering the Superboy. Selina removed her cowl and wiped the sweat off of her face. She looked at Onyx and put her hands to her whip.
"Well, are you going to give me what I asked for, are you going to help me get rid of Superman's regime?" she asked.
"Not yet, it is not yet time," Onyx said.
"What? You said that you would help me!"
"I will, but there are certain events that must happen on your Earth, they are part of my plans," Onyx said as he stood up.
"What about Felicia? was her capture part of your plan?" Selina asked.
"You do not need to concern yourself with that Catwoman, go back to your world, your dreams are about to be fulfilled," Onyx explained.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Just go back," Onyx clicked his fingers and in an instant Catwoman was gone.
He turned to the recovered container. It was already open, fully revealing the permanently-altered body of General Wade Eiling. He had died a mere year after being altered; his unbreakable body only resulted in a weaker heart. Onyx however had gathered some scientific minds he knew could overcome that weakness. His two scientific experts stepped out of the portals he had created. One was a version of Bruce Banner dressed in a hazmat suit of some kind. The second was seemingly a version of Peter Parker, wearing a red and black Spider-man costume, his face was also much colder.
"Banner, Octavius, get to work," Onyx ordered the two scientists.
Onyx walked past his allies and looked into the reality window, watching the continuing adventures of his rival.
Cade smashed open the door for records and widened his eyes at what he saw. There wasn't a computer in the room, everything was stored in boxes and filing cabinets. It was a primitive but smart way of storing information. In an age where even an activist could hack a government database in the back of her truck, storing information digitally was asking for trouble.
'If my instincts are right this A.R.G.U.S. isn't as forgiving as S.H.I.E.L.D.' Cade thought, recalling that his own shady organisation would have actually recruited the said hacker, not putting resources to waste.
The files were all labelled, but not with the terms Cade was looking for. It had been labelled with the assumption that someone who wasn't an agent would access archives.
"FREEZE!"
Cade promptly fired an energy blast into the armed squad that entered the room. They were unconscious in seconds. He had no time to waste fighting the agents the subtle way. The files were labelled with terms like 'deliveries' 'storage' and 'takeaways', terms that could have many dark undertones for a secret organisation. Cade got enough from the souls of Trevor and Waller to know that they represented the government, people who thought they were in the right, that everything they did was necessary. He pulled out one filing cabinet and emptied the contents. Numerous photos and bits of paper scattered onto the floor. Cade looked at the photos, one was a woman with white skin and blue hair, another showed the three personalities of Harley Quinn, her real self, confident and attractive psychologist Chase Meridian, her Harleen Quinzel self, the innocent victim seduced by the Joker and Harley Quinn, the serial killer and assassin attempting to replace the Joker. He found autopsy reports for the Joker, photos of Shazam battling someone like him, and extracts from a book by David Graves.
'Where is it, where would they put the location of Gar and the other super humans they kidnap?' Cade wondered.
He looked at a picture of Wonder Woman and Superman kissing and huffed before throwing it aside. Cade took a step forward and curiously looked at the file he had stepped on. It was put together better than the rest and had the letters JLA stamped onto it. He picked the folder up and opened it. The first image he saw was that of a woman in Japanese armour with black face paint on and a white mask with the Japanese rising sun on it. He turned a page and then saw a blurred photo of a dark haired man wearing red and black colours. With the turn of another page he saw another superhuman, and then another and another after that.
"JLA," Cade muttered. "Justice League of America, well that brings a whole new meaning to American arrogance?"
"Indeed!"
Cade threw the folder at the unknown assailant. He wasn't shocked by the new arrivals muscular body and green skin, not even his glowing red eyes and imposing blue costume shocked him. What shocked him was that the file passed through the Martian as if he was a ghost. Cade raised is hands defensively, only for the Martian's fingers to turn into tendrils that passed through Cade's hands and into his head.
"I don't think so," Cade snarled, generating red electricity.
The Martian however shrugged the attack off, wrapping the tendrils across Cade's neck and lifted him off of the floor.
"I am Mar's last survivor, there is a reason for that Cade Hunter," the Martian said.
"Get out of my head, J'onn Jonzz," Cade struggled as his armour began to surround his body.
"Your eyes, they see the blood I have shed don't they? What else have you seen?" J'onn widened his eyes slightly as the images of Katana, Vibe and Hawkman appeared before his eyes.
"Get out now, I'm warning you," Cade kicked at the Martian Manhunter, only for his foot to pass through J'onn's chest.
J'onn turned his arms into tentacles, wrapping them across Cade's shoulders as his guards and chest plate covered him. Spikes formed on the armour, but that didn't sway the Martian. He dug deeper into Cade's mind, seeing heroes the likes of which he hadn't seen before.
"Stop it please, you don't understand, I cant control my defences," Cade said.
His helmet shattered and he yelled, his eyes flashing red. Red sparks spread across the room, creating cracks in the wall and opening some of the files. Cade grit his teeth together as he felt the Martian roam through his psyche. They both got good looks at one another's pasts.
"Father I completed it," a young Martian girl ran into J'onn's arms.
He smiled as he looked at the model of the solar system. His wife walked to his side and hugged him.
"DAD STOP PLEASE!"
Cade raised his hands defensively as his father raised the club in his hand, his other hand held a beer bottle.
"We truly are at peace aren't we?" J'onn looked at his wife and smiled.
He had been promoted to the position of Hunter and had been tasked with finding the albino Martian rebels.
"You will gain a power the likes of which has never been seen before, you will become the hero of vengeance," a warlord, whom arrogantly calls himself Godu stands in front of Cade.
Godu raised his arms, showing Cade the army of people like him, an army he had formed to kill Muramasa.
J'onn fell to his knees, removing the gas mask from his face. Around him were the dead bodies of both green and Albino Martians. They were all dead because they couldn't accept one another, Mars was a wasteland because they couldn't accept one another. J'onn was the last of his people, he had killed them all.
Cade slammed his fist into his rival's. Sven Reilly looked back at him with a pleading expression. They had both lost the same friend but their differing ideals of justice had turned them against each other. Both understood the other's pain, so why couldn't they agree on what justice was?
"GET OUT!" Cade yelled. "STOP DIGGING IN MY HEAD! BEFORE IT KILLS YOU!"
J'onn yelled in agony, his face and mouth stretched like wet dough. Both Cade and J'onn were thrown away from one another. Cade got off the floor, glaring at the Martian for ignoring his warnings. J'onn however looked at Cade with a mixture of pity and shock. Never before had he encountered such vicious mental defences as the ones he had tripped in Cade's mind. Cade flew forward, kicking J'onn in the gut and smashing him through the wall. J'onn grabbed Cade by his neck and flew upwards, phasing him through several walls before partially solidifying his hand through Cade's chest. The agony made Cade scream before he punched J'onn across the face. J'onn hit back, sending Cade flying through the corridors of A.R.G.U.S.
'Lead him towards the holding cell J'onn,' Steve thought, knowing that the telepath would pick his thoughts up.
Amanda walked into archives and put her hands on her hips. Everything was wrecked, but her pet project was fortunately intact. She picked up the file on the JLA and put a finger to her ear.
"Colonel, I want the prisoner recovered and placed into the cell right now," she said.
"Already working on it director," Steve opened the said cell and kept his hand on the control lever.
Cade flew after J'onn, overcome by his rage and blood lust. He threw energy blades at the Martian, slicing open parts of the wall. Despite having created ideal exit points Cade couldn't overcome the urge he had to tear answers out of Amanda Waller's skull, and J'onn was in his way.
"You believe you can save Garfield Logan?" J'onn asked.
"I'm not the one keeping him prisoner," Cade retorted.
"Indeed, Amanda Waller has done terrible things to keep her country safe," the Martian said.
"She's guilty of the mass imprisonment of children, and you're helping her," Cade summoned a sword and swung it at J'onn.
The Martian Manhunter morphed into a liquid form, passing through Cade and turning into a dragon like creature. He struck Cade in the back with his tail, throwing him into the cell Steve waited at. The colonel flipped the switch, closing the door behind Cade. Cade turned and glared at Trevor.
"Activate the field," Waller said over the radio.
"Dr Light told me it hasn't been fully tested yet, its likely to kill him," Steve explained.
Cade began moving forward, even as electrical currents grabbed his wrists. The currents were like chains attached to the floor, but Cade kept on moving towards the door.
"DO IT NOW!" Waller yelled.
Steve closed his eyes as he flipped another switch. The room Cade was in suddenly went dark and Cade's vision blurred as he yelled in agony. It felt as if energy was being poured into his body, overloading him. He fell to his knees, but he remained conscious, his eyes seeing beyond the walls of A.R.G.U.S. Cade saw a woman with scars on her face, wearing a red trench coat using the confusion of his attack to claim something from the vault. He saw a great wave hitting Boston, he felt people dying in the water. Then he heard the voices:
"You have to tell them Arthur, you have to warn the Justice League that if this progresses Atlantis will sink whatever city it targets."
"WHERE IS KING ARTHUR!"
He felt the killing intent of people in the water, people who could swim naturally in the water. But further within the depths of the ocean he felt something else, things that were very hungry.
"We are free," the fish like creatures spoke collectively.
Cade widened his eyes as he saw Garfield strapped to some kind of table, a laser digging into his chest, forcing him to change between different forms. He heard the boy's cry of agony and his call for help.
"NO!" Cade yelled.
The metal wings on his back suddenly shattered, replaced with energy wings that grew until the wall behind Cade fell apart.
"They're going to die, all those people are going to die…I WONT STAND BY AND WATCH ANYMORE!" Cade yelled before he launched himself into the air.
J'onn flew after him but was astonished by the man's speed. Cade flew away from A.R.G.U.S. and into another state altogether. Amanda looked out of the window and gasped at the trail of red energy Cade had left behind. Particles of that energy dropped onto the nearby city, like a rain. In that city, a woman in a red trench coat stopped walking. She raised her head, revealing her purple hair and the red marks on her face. The young woman looked at a sight she hadn't seen before, energy particles falling like specks of rain. Like everyone else in the city she was driven to experience a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time, awe. She touched one of the particles as it changed to a blue colour.
"Someone with great anger in his heart was within that building," she looked back at the A.R.G.U.S. building in confusion, "But there was no sign of Wrath or even Pride, what does this mean?" she wondered as she reached into her bag and pulled out a gold skull with red eyes.
Next Chapter 6: Earth's mightiest heroes
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, points if you can guess who R-Flash is related to. His identity and connections will be revealed either later into this story, or the sequal. A lot of what Onyx's servants are doing in other realities ties into what Onyx is doing in New 52 Earth, so the scenes in other realities are not pointless. They will also be revisited in the sequal I plan to make.
Next time, the main Marvel Earth Avengers get into the mix as Sven senses the great pain his rival has endured. He seeks help first from the Uncanny Avengers, but can they help him when they're too busy fighting each other? Meanwhile Cade goes to Boston right as Atlantis attacks, he has his first meeting with the Justice League.