Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC

I posted an edited chapter, going back on my original plan for the spirit of Deathblade, you'll see at the end of the chapter.

This chapter, Onyx reveals his ultimate plan and the Throne of Atlantis arc comes close to its end.

The Redeemer

Chapter 10: Life over death

Cade Hunter had a talent for fighting at a young age. But like any professional fighter he had to have had a trainer, someone whom taught him the discipline behind fighter. After having lost to Sven in their first fight, Cade sought a trainer out and found one in a former light-heavy weight-boxing champion. The man became one of the few people Cade could call friend.

"The way you throw those punches it seems like you don't need a real trainer, and if it's the fitness regime you're looking for I heard that whole internet can be helpful," Nathan McQueen was well in his sixties when Cade came to his gym.

His boxing career had been cut short by a weak heart. He began running a gym that attracted only amateur talent. It wasn't until Cade walked through his door that Nathan took a real interest in training someone. He watched the young man slam his fists into the punch bag, as if he was imagining someone specific.

"Your anger can drive your punches kid, but it can also kill the person you hit…or is that what you're aiming for?" he asked.

Cade continued punching the bag, gritting his teeth together as sweat ran down his face.

"Well if you want to carry on the silent treatment son then you'll have to get some push ups in, believe me push ups can make people look especially broody," Nathan explained.

"I am not brooding, I'm just thinking," Cade said.

He stopped punching the bag and rested his head against it.

"Tell me McQueen, a guy with more fighting experience than his opponent, better fitness, better strength still loses the fight, even when he's been through more struggles than his opponent he still loses…how does that happen?" he asked.

It had been a question that haunted him since his first fight with Sven, a fight he lost. He had the abusive parents, the childhood of struggle and tragedy and Sven had his loving family and friends yet Cade still lost.

"I'd say he had a lot more to fight for than the guy who just spent his day punching a bag," Nathan huffed.

"What nonsense, there are plenty of people who have everything to lose but they still lose," Cade said.

"Fighting for something isn't a perfect system, but its still a lot better than being one of those guys who fights for nothing, what do you want to fight for? What do you want to die for? How do you want to die? Are you even willing to die?"

Cade listened as Nathan continued to berate him. Day after day he would come into the same lecture the old man offered, or a variation of it at least. Nathan himself was no stranger to tragedy though; gang members had killed his wife and daughter when he refused to shave points off of a game. In spite of his tragedy though he was still a law-abiding man and though Cade always had the feeling that Nathan knew more than he let on, he didn't ever report Cade to the police even when he would come back to the gym with his fists already bruised.

The Redeemer remembered the lessons he had been taught about fighting. For so long he had been led only by his own skill and will to hurt his opponent. As he rose from the water, cutting apart two of the monsters consumed by their hunger, Cade pictured all of the disarmament techniques that he had been taught by his teachers. Though he travelled the world he always made his way back to that gym in the Bronx. His wings faded and he stepped off of a Trench monsters head, launching himself into the city. The Redeemer flipped in midair, catching the attention of trench creature and Atlantis soldier alike. When he landed the gathered enemies finally got a good look at his new armour. It was red, symbolising the power of Cade's righteous but more controlled fury. The green circles on the gauntlets and chest were signs of his reinforced will. No longer would he doubt himself, or allow the memory of his world to hold him back. His memories would only drive him forward.

"Soldiers of Atlantis, I understand you have your orders and I understand you want justice for what has been done to you, but you will not get it here fighting against the heroes. If you want to help your people, fight the trench or go home, you have been warned," Cade explained, letting his reasonable words hang in the Atlantean's minds.

They raised their rifles and Cade struck, jumping into the air. The energy blasts from the Atlanteans cut down some of the trench fish, which began snapping at the soldiers. A blade slid out of Cade's wrist and rotated until he grabbed the handle. When he landed on the ground, heads of trench monsters smacked the Atlantean's helmets. Cade then swung his sword again, cutting apart the Atlantean guns. He smoothly rotated the sword on his wrist so that the blade would fold into the armour on his elbow. The Redeemer then assumed a fighting stance; his fingers beckoned the Atlanteans to come at him.

'When your opponents angrier then you get him to mess up,' Cade thought back to Nathan's teaching.

He tripped an overzealous Atlantean to the floor, then kicked him in the face. Cade ducked, dodging a punch and then elbowed his attacked in his midsection. He grabbed a hold of the man, pulling him around to ward off the other attackers.

'Friends are sometimes worried about hitting one another, if you're up against thugs who are loyal friends, then use them against each other,' Cade kicked an Atlantean across the face and then threw his hostage into another.

Cade leant back, grabbing the fist of his attacker. He then latched his arms around the man's shoulder and used his weight to bring the man to the floor. Using his free hand, Cade punched the soldier again and again, putting pressure on his arm but not breaking it as he would have before.

'When you're against people who aren't typically fighters you don't have to be rough, sometimes a good punch is all it will take to make them go away,' Cade slammed his fist into the soldier again, knocking him out.

The Redeemer stood up and looked down the corridor of flooded buildings in his path. Even though deprived of his ability to see people's sins, he could still feel their spirits. There were people inside the buildings, too afraid to come out as the Justice League continued fighting with both the Atlanteans and the Trench. He squeezed his hands into fists, it was just like his world, the super powered beings fought and the normal people were caught in the crossfire. Cade drew his sword and rushed focused on the enemies that needed fighting. He hacked and slashed, not losing himself to fury but cutting like a chef, peeling away everything that was making the situation worse. Cade kicked an Atlantean off of Cyborg and backhanded another that attempted to attack Black Canary from behind.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled.

He slid his sword back to its inactive state, smirking slightly as the guns of the Atlanteans fell apart, followed by the heads of the trench creatures. Cade narrowed his eyes as Hawkman swung his axe at an unarmed Atlantean.

"I said…" Cade lunged forward, kneeing Hawkman in the head. "ENOUGH!"

He stood between two forces that seemed determined to draw one another back, ignoring the real problem.

'The problem with bar fights kid, is that sometimes it can get so confusing that people forget who pulled the first punch, and a lot of the time they don't care…unless they're the ones trying to stop the fight,' Cade mulled over Nathan's words.

"THIS IS WAR!" Hawkman yelled.

"THIS IS A DAMN PLAYGROUND FIGHT!" Cade screamed back. "You Atlanteans are looking for justice, these are the people who can give you it, they are not an army trying to defeat you…or at least they shouldn't be," he cast a fierce gaze at the Leaguers. "I understand you've all been given orders by your kind, but these monsters have changed the situation, we know whose responsible for the attack on Atlantis and in turn this attack," Cade explained.

"Vulko, he's the one," Cyborg said.

He stepped forward and showed the Atlanteans the surveillance footage he had recovered. Some of the Atlanteans widened their eyes in shock; others seemed unconvinced or were debating with themselves whether to believe the heroes.

"If you want to help your people, then stop getting in our way, get home, or find Vulko, just stop fighting a war that in the end will only decimate both sides because believe me when one half of the world fights the other no one makes it out the winner."

"He's right my fellow Atlanteans!"

The Atlanteans and the heroes turned to the streets and saw Kaldur standing with Tula and Gar.

"We are fighting a losing battle anyway, because all of our anger has been misplaced," the young man explained.

"Nonsense, King Orm will find a way," an Atlantean soldier said.

"General Rodunn is dead, we have lost our commanders, we must pursue this new information we have been given until our king gives us new commands," Kaldur said as he walked towards the Atlanteans. "I know it is no comfort to your people surfacer, but I did not want this conflict, many in Atlantis didn't want a fight, but we could not simply ignore the deaths of our people," he explained, looking at Cade.

"I understand more than you know, but if you're really sorry for all this death caused by your attack, then find the one truly responsible and get an answer from him," Cade said.

Kaldur lowered his head before he began leading his people. Cade saw something akin to guilt in the boy's eyes; he was a boy, barely eighteen and already fighting a war. His friends were probably a year younger than him too, the same age Cade and Sven had been when they had been pulled into the crazy world of spirits, mutants and aliens. Except those teenagers were a part of that world.

'In a way, I suppose I was part of that world too,' Cade thought.

He had begun seeing the sins of others long before Sven began seeing people's heroic qualities. On the very day Muramasa had been created and the living world had been linked with the spirit world, the spirit of justice flew from the portal and latched onto Cade. Before barely reaching his teens Cade had seen the worst in people. Looking at the Justice League he could tell they were flawed people, but for once he could not see sin.

"We need one team to track this Vulko person, another for evacuation and a third for drawing the trenches attention," Cade explained.

"Who put you in charge?" Hawkman demanded.

"He kind of put himself in charge when he broke up our fight," Black Canary said.

"But who are you?" Cyborg asked.

"You can interrogate me later, right now the priority is the people, if you look in the windows you can actually see them," Cade huffed.

"He's right, Hawkman, Element Woman and myself will track down Vulko," Batman said.

"Element Woman and Hawkman should stick to evacuation, you and Cyborg can focus on tracking Vulko since you're best at it," Batman thought over Cade's plan, but showed no signs of disagreeing.

"I am a warrior," Hawkman growled.

"Wrong, you're whatever these people need you to be, and right now they need your wings, how much weight can you take?" Cade asked.

"The answer is a lot, Hawkman you are on evac duty, you too Element Woman," Batman said.

"I'm just happy to be helping," Element Woman said.

"Cyborg and I will continue tracking Vulko, you all rejoin us once you have enough people clear," if it wasn't already obvious, Batman was clearly the smarter one of the league.

"How am I supposed to help with evacuation?" Hawkman asked.

"Fly up to windows and start carrying!"

Cade was a teenager again, running across a pavement. Nathan stood at the end of that path, holding a stopwatch. He watched the man run with a relentless fury, as if he was chasing after someone. The former champion checked his pulse monitor too. It was Cade's birthday, or at least tomorrow, the last day he could be considered a teen. Ever since Nathan had met Cade he carried himself like an adult, the kind of adult who carried his burdens. Cade kept on running even as he passed Nathan. The older man sighed, in a way Cade was running from a lot of things in his life. He couldn't move on from the death of his first love, couldn't move on from his abusive parents and their crimes, he couldn't even move on from the crimes he saw committed everyday, he carried the sorrow and anger of the victims. Years went by, Cade became a man in his late twenties, he became a capable fighter, the greatest fighter in the world and yet he still went to visit Nathan, even when Nathan had to move into a care home because his mobility had gotten worse.

"The manager tells me you're still causing the carers trouble," Cade said.

"I'm sitting in bed, I'm going to wash when I'm good and ready and they come in at 07:30 wanting to get me washed and dressed and out of bed. That and it's a guy choosing to get me up, what kind of man willingly gets a job where he has to wash another man's balls?" Nathan ranted, grabbing his cane so he could walk with the only family he had.

"I admire them for the work they choose to do, although you have a point about their timing, they feel overworked by the manager staff what with people calling in sick some days," Cade explained.

Cade opened the door and Nathan nodded his thanks. They walked slowly through the corridors of the care home, it was the middle of the day so some residents were either sleeping or sitting in the lounge taking part in some kind of activity Nathan never had an interest in. They went out into the garden, which was nothing special. Nathan himself was more interested in moving, when Cade came round it was the only time he had the motivation to actually walk a distance more than his bathroom. Even though Nathan had children, none of them visited him. Cade was his family, his son in a way. Time and time again Cade had chosen to go to him over a swordsman in Germany, and not even because he needed his training, but because he needed to be around him.

"I read the obituaries in the papers, your mother recently died," Nathan said.

"Cancer, or something like that, I never visited her," Cade said.

"She was still your family."

"So was my father and I killed him remember."

"And you could have killed your mother too, but you didn't, you are not so blood thirsty as it seems," Nathan said.

"I kill because I have to Nathan, not because I want to," Cade said.

"Really? You have to kill people who are already going to jail? Your father was destined for prison, the cops were on their way and you killed him, it had nothing to do with justice, it was revenge pure and simple Cade. He hurt you as a child and you wanted him to suffer when he already had. It's the same as all those other murderers you take out, you're claiming revenge, not justice for their victims, a silent punishment with no one knowing about it, justice is bringing the crimes to light so that the entire world can see the monsters for who they are," Nathan explained.

"That's a load of crap, people don't care Nathan, up until its them being wronged, they read a murder in the paper and they go 'oh how terrible' before moving back to whatever they were doing in their lives," Cade nearly drew blood from his hand from how hard he clenched his fist.

"That's what life is Cade, moving on to the next event, but you're stuck in the past Cade, you are so set on the belief that Laura was this amazing and perfect girl, so was I when it came to my wife…but you know something Cade, she didn't turn out to be as perfect as I imagined, she smoked, she farted in her sleep, she'd always conveniently forget our anniversary and then have a go at me whenever I'd apologise for forgetting…but I never regretted marrying her and spending what time we had with one another because that is life Cade, its filled with imperfections that make it worth living. You're still young Cade, don't throw your life away."

The old boxer went back to his home and Cade went about his usual business, kill one criminal after another. He went back to the home the next day, only to see Nathan's room empty. Cade knew the man wasn't dead, he would have felt the death of someone close to him.

"What happened to Mr McQueen in room 34?" he asked the front desk.

"Oh, excuse me, let me get the manager he knows, would you like to have a seat?" the receptionist asked.

"I'd rather stand," Nathan crossed his arms together, waiting for the manager.

"Hello, Mr Hunter right? You're friends with Mr McQueen?"

"Yes I am, which you would know if you came out of that office enough," Cade said.

"I don't quite appreciate the implications of your tone Mr Hunter, I know this is a stressful time but there's no need for hostility," the man explained.

"Where is Nathan?" Cade asked.

"He had an episode just last night Mr Hunter, he was taken to the hospital and is currently in the emergency…"

"How did it happen?" Cade interrupted the man.

"Are you his next of kin, because I can't divulge any more information than I already have."

Cade remained silent for a moment before looking to the receptionist.

"Miss Conile, right?" he asked and she nodded, surprised because they never spoke to one another. "Nathan told me I'm his only visitor, I visit every week, I take him out for the day on holidays, I'm always sending cards, never making promises I cant keep. Nathan was a former light-heavyweight boxer, he stopped because he developed a heart condition but he kept on running his gym because he didn't want his condition to rule his life or define it, he met his wife and they stayed married for thirty years before she died of Lung cancer, he closed down his gym for a while so that he could visit her everyday. They had three children, two sons, one called James who works as an accountant and another called Liam who works as a chef, his daughter hasn't made contact with the family for years so he never had any idea what she does. I know all these things because he told me, because I'm the person visiting him, helping him take his pills whenever the other staff are too busy, keeping him exercised with walks because your staff are too busy, but I understand that sometimes they cant give everyone what they want just like I understand you're a busy man so sometimes you cant mingle amongst your staff."

"I am saying these things because I understand your job, your position and most of all I understand him, Nathan is the father I never had and I'm pretty sure if you ask him he'll tell you I'm like a son to him. Now I am asking you, begging you even to tell me why the man I consider a father is in the hospital so that I at least know why he might die," Cade's voice had grown slightly hysterical at the last part, and the others looked at him sympathetically.

The manager lowered his head slightly, mulling over whether to divulge the information to Cade after his speech. He certainly made his point and the manager acknowledged he hadn't seen Nathan's children since he was first bought to the home.

"Mr McQueen's heart rate extended past his usual limit when he suddenly attacked one of our staff, I am very sorry," the man explained.

Cade shook his head, the anger clear in his eyes.

"No," he said, his friend would never have attacked, only defended himself and never without reason. "The man he 'attacked'."

"I am sorry Mr Hunter but that is the one piece of information I can not give, not even to his real family."

Cade walked away furiously, he needed answers.

The Redeemer flew through the corridors of buildings. He could no longer feel the souls of others, so he had to rely on his eyes and ears. Cade looked to the other League members, within moments of rallying them they were already getting to work. Black Lightning and Black Canary were helping clear rubble, applying first aid techniques to people who had been underwater and guiding them to Cyborg for transport. The hero multitasked, running scans for Atlanteans matching Vulko's age. Likewise Batman chose more direct means of searching and helping people. He prowled the rooftops, remotely controlling a bat shaped VTOL (much to the shock of the league) the aircraft had a ladder attached to it and Batman sent it from one building another, picking up people and then dropping them off at dry land. A.R.G.U.S likewise responded to the incident but were still late. Cade didn't know whether their delayed response time had been because of him or something else he had sensed before his powers faded. Right now that didn't matter, Cade continued flying underneath buildings, getting people out of the water. With simple thrusts of his hand, he pushed the water out of their lungs so that they could breathe again. He experimented with his powers, creating barriers and lifting rubble off of civilians so that Element Woman and Zatanna could carry them to safety. He threw the debris into the trench monsters, hitting them with flurries of makeshift shrapnel.

"HELP!" he heard in the distance.

Cade dashed in the direction he heard the yell come from. He slid his sword out and cut down several trench creatures. What he found in front of them made him widen his eyes. Two civilians were already dead, ripped apart by the monsters. Cade squeezed his hands into a fist and looked up, Wonder Woman and Superman were taking the bomb out of the city, throwing it into the sky. He jumped to the rooftop and looked towards the battle with Aquaman and Ocean Master. Pillars of water were rising from the ground, lightning was flashing from the sky. On that battlefield, Aquaman and Ocean Master slammed their tridents together.

"All my life I've only ever wanted to save you Arthur," Orm said as he blasted Aquaman.

He grabbed Arthur's shoulder and threw him into a flooded building.

"When I was a child, I was told of the terror the air breathers brought upon us, and when I learned I had an older brother trapped up here I wept."

Orm walked into the building, his crown hid the sorrow in his eyes.

"I begged the royal guard to come and save you brother, to bring you home, that is why I took the throne, why I built the Atlantean army. But you found your way back to us first, I wept again that day…because I loved you as any brother would!"

He tapped his trident against the water, generating an electrical pulse that put his opponent through a world of pain.

"You have chosen your home Arthur, you have chosen the surface over Atlantis, over your family. I will show this world that Atlantis will no longer fear it, DETONATE THE BOMBS!"

"NO!" Aquaman yelled.

Cade walked through the corridors of the hospital; luckily he saw no sin in the place of healing. There were a few thieves being treated for gunshot wounds, courtesy of police and in some cases targets they didn't expect to be packing. His focus however wasn't on them though. He pulled back the curtains across Nathan's room and put the flowers he had bought on the bedside table. The former champion had been connected to heart monitors and he even looked his age, weak and dying just as Cade sometimes pictured his mother in her final moments, helpless, incapable of fighting the disease she had deserved. Nathan on the other hand didn't deserve it, a former thug he may have been, but he made a good life for himself, a weak heart but strong resolve, Nathan was everything Cade had wanted in a father and he silently admitted that that was the reason he liked Nathan. The old man opened his eyes, looking to Cade and then at the flowers. It drew a huff from him as if he was saying, 'flowers, really?'

"I told them to call you as my next of kin in case something like this happened," Nathan said.

"Messages probably didn't get passed along," Cade shrugged.

"The family came round to make sure I was dead, I got to disappoint them one last time, I got one last fight too, knocked the bastard clean out," Nathan explained.

"So you were protecting yourself?" Cade asked.

"Its just the one person Cade, the rest of the staff are good people, I caught the guy squeezing the arm of a resident too hard, the poor man cant move his jaw to talk, or his body to protect himself. He got hit and the bastard saw me before I could report him. The man came up to me and threatened to make my life at the home a living hell if I told on him, I refused to be intimidated and then he tried to hit me…my last great knock out, its probably going to sound sick but it felt good to punch someone again," Nathan smiled.

"That bastard wont get away with this," Cade snarled.

"Don't do what you're thinking of doing Cade," Nathan sat up, leaning his back against the wall as he shot a glare at his student.

"And why shouldn't I, give the scum a taste of what he's putting others through," Cade said.

"So you really are a blade of vengeance as opposed to a fist of justice, how sad Cade, you live for everyone else's revenge," Nathan said.

"Are you saying you don't deserve revenge? That others don't deserve it? Are you saying that I should just let things be, that I should forgive and forget and turn my back to the crimes committed by others?"

"HELL NO!" Nathan yelled, causing his heart to spike and the hospital staff to look over at them.

Nathan remained silent, letting the interest fade before he looked at Cade.

"Why do you fight?" Nathan asked.

"I fight for those who cant protect themselves," Cade said.

"Really? Cause right now it seems like you're making excuses for your own self satisfaction, you couldn't avenge the death of the woman you love, so you'll avenge all the other crimes, no matter how pitiful they are, don't get me wrong, you must never forgive the crimes committed against others, that lies in the hands of the victims alone, you kill the people who wronged them and so what, their crimes haven't been brought to light, the victims don't get the closure of knowing that the person who wronged them wont ever commit a crime again," Nathan explained.

"It isn't enough," Cade growled.

"For the world or you, you lost the woman you loved, well boohoo Cade, there are dead people all over the world, that's no excuse to add more bodies to the pile, now promise me, promise me you'll let the police do their work because they know and they will not let this man get away with what he's done."

"You mean the police came?" Cade asked.

"They aren't completely incompetent Cade, their eyes are on that home and they know who to look at. Just promise me you'll let real justice take its course this time, this one time for me Cade because I want to go knowing that I didn't cause you to kill someone, for you to add more burdens to your life," Nathan explained.

"It's…not enough," Cade said hesitantly as he turned and walked away.

Nathan shook his head as his heart rate began to increase. He breathed heavily, continuing to shake his head in denial, refusing to let Cade do what he was planning. The man felt his bones creak as he climbed out of bed. He yanked the wires of the monitors free and began limping after Cade. So close to death Nathan stood on the edge of the spirit world, he saw what others couldn't, the spirits that clung to Cade, or rather the spirits Cade couldn't let go.

"Nathan don't, please stop this," Laura said.

"Old man, those machines are keeping you alive," Cade's father said.

"Shut up, I'm going to do what you couldn't do," Nathan said.

"Mr McQueen why are you doing this?" Laura asked.

"Because I love him like a son, no, he is my son," tears fell down Nathan's face as he marched forward.

"Mr McQueen get back in bed," a nearby doctor said.

Nathan punched the man in the jaw, shoving aside and pushing past two nurses.

"CADE!" he yelled.

Cade stopped half way out of the exit. He immediately began running back, shoving through crowds of doctors and nurses.

"OLD MAN!" Cade yelled, sliding to his knees.

He stopped at Nathan's side. The man had fallen onto his back, his heart finally beginning to give out. But through all his pain he found the strength to grip Cade's shirt.

"Don't add me to the weight you carry, don't waste your life trying to fix all the injustices in the world, you already carry to many people, don't carry me," Nathan spoke weakly, weaker than Cade had seen him before, but their was a ferocity to his voice.

He wasn't asking or begging Cade to let him go, he was telling him to let go. The man's hand fell to the floor and he slowly closed his eyes. Any last words he had were left unspoken, his mouth hung open and Cade looked at the man he admired so much. He felt his heart stop beating and stepped back as the medics began to apply CPR. Every other person around him remained silent, as if all sound had left his ears. He had become unable to hear anything, other than the charging of the defibrillator, the doctor's voice saying 'clear' and the bounce of old man's chest when the pads touched him.

"No," Cade whispered as the doctors checked Nathan's pulse.

Again they charged and again they shocked the body. But it was all hopeless and everyone knew it. Even though the reality sank in Cade continued to shake his head.

"Not another one," he said, another person in his life was dying and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

For all his power there were things he couldn't stop. He raised his head and screamed as loud as he could.

Everything happened so fast for the Redeemer. He couldn't even process what he had done, what his instincts had driven him to do. The Atlanteans and the people of Boston however saw it all happen, despite how impossible it seemed to Cade. Superman and Wonder Woman dealt with their bomb by simply throwing it into the atmosphere. Cade however rushed through Atlanteans and trench creatures alike. His sword cleaved through the bomb, not once or twice but several times. He cut everything into ribbons, even the ignition material. The ribbons were cut as well, becoming nothing but mere dust, anything that was left of the bomb was useless now. Ocean Master looked up at the sky, gritting his teeth together as he watched the bomb explose.

"What about the second bomb?" he asked over his radio.

"It's a little bit useless now," an Atlantean soldier said, sheepishly looking between Cade and the bomb.

'This is what I am capable of,' Cade thought as he watched the water begin to move away from him.

It was the sign of a wave, bigger than the city could handle. He slid his sword into his wrist and took to the sky, leaving a trail of dust behind him. Superman and Wonder Woman widened their eyes as the armoured man flew past them. He span in midair, facing what he knew would be coming.

"Its over Orm," Aquaman said to his brother.

"NO!" Orm yelled. "MY CROWN WILL FLOOD THIS CITY!" his crown let out a series of humming sounds and a subtle glow that signalled what Cade feared.

The citizens still in Boston looked up in total horror. The skies were flashing with lightning but it was nothing in comparison to the wall of water heading towards Boston.

"IT WILL THROW THE OCEANS DOWN UPON IT!" Orm had been consumed by his anger and desperation; he did not want to lose to his brother so easily. "AND I WILL SHOW YOUR WORLD THAT ATLANTIS IS NOT AFRAID!"

Cade put his hands together and then threw them forward, as if he was pushing against a wall. Blood leaked out of Orm's nose; the sheer will it took to summon a giant wave was already damaging his brain. What he saw however was not enough to shock him out of his vendetta. A gigantic blue wall that had covered the coast was holding the tidal wave back. Particles seemed to be flying into Cade's armour, fuelling his will, which in turn fuelled his power. He snarled in pain, like Orm his mind was strained but he would not be beaten. His helmet cracked, as did the green crystal on his chest. The blue glow in his eyes however remained as he pushed his hands forward, and in turn pushed the water back. The rage of the oceans seemed to pass into Cade as he yelled, the wave faded back into the ocean, which began to grow calmer despite the war taking place in the flooded city. Cade looked at the rooftops, at a black haired man with a gold staff. He looked down at the battle between Orm and Arthur. Aquaman put his trident on his back and picked up a nearby taxi cab.

"I was as happy as you to discover I had a brother Orm, to feel like I wasn't alone," he said as he threw the car.

Orm thrust his trident forward, sticking it into the car. He then slammed it against the ground and turned towards his brother.

"But I am alone, that's the life of a true leader," Arthur rampaged towards him, moving too fast for him to keep up with.

Aquaman was a child of two worlds, Atlantis and the surface. He had grown up on one, facing many years of pain adapting to an environment away from water. Orm however had spent his entire life in the environment best suited for his people. Both were strong kings and good fighters in their own right. Arthur however was not just a force to be reckoned with in the ocean, but on land as well.

"THAT'S WHY I NEVER WANTED THE CROWN!" he yelled.

Orm let out a blast from his trident, the electricity spread across Arthur's arm but it didn't deter him. He punched Ocean Master across the face, shattering his helmet and knocking him to the floor. Arthur stepped on his brother's wrist, keeping it away from his trident as he looked at his brother, covered in dirt from the ground he hated so much.

"But it have to take it, so yield, yield the throne," he commanded.

Orm looked up at his older brother, he was as angry as he had been since coming to the surface. But he also saw a much more controlled anger and a strength that overpowered his intellect. His helmet was shattered and the trench numbers were growing.

"I yield brother," he finally spoke, wiping the blood from his nose.

He was smiling in satisfaction, Vulko, the man responsible for all of the death on both sides. Cade landed behind him, glaring at him. The Atlantean turned and raised his hands in surrender.

'No,' the Redeemer thought.

It couldn't end like that, a simple surrender and everything would be all right. Cade yelled as he tackled Vulko, punching the man repeatedly. He flashbacked to his youth, a time he had spent punching a bag and imagining the guilty. Vulko was the guilty, he had manipulated everyone to trigger a war and achieve his own ends. Like the American government for the invasion of Iraq, provide false Intel and people will rally to your cause. People would turn their outrage on those whom were also victims of the manipulations of others. Like the people of Cade's world had done to the heroes when Stamford happened. All of the truths were revealed to them, that Nuke was the force behind the explosion, that his powers had been boosted by Damage Control in hopes of triggering a tragedy. They blamed the heroes for the Skrull invasion, they praised Osborn and named him a hero. People named their own villains, Vulko could not be allowed to live for what he had done.

"Do it, kill him, make him suffer for everything he has done!" Cade looked to his side and saw the avatar of the spirit of justice.

Or rather he saw what he had turned justice into, vengeance. Taking on the form of a metallic wolf, floating above the floor without legs, energy seeping from its body, the crescent moon on its back glowing, the spirit of justice cast its eyes on Cade, waiting for him to decide the punishment it had come to expect and even hope for.

"King Orm has fallen, kill Aquaman!" a soldier of Atlantis commanded his troops as they approached Arthur.

The young man drew his trident from his back and slashed at the monsters of the trench.

"Orm has yielded the throne, I AM YOUR KING NOW!" Aquaman yelled, standing over his people.

The troops looked at the defeated Orm and the victor. Kaldur in particular looked at the man in awe, deciding that he was a man worth following. He was the first of the Atlanteans to bow.

"You've killed so many people, do you really think it'll matter what kind of path you seek now?" justice asked Cade.

Cade ignored the creature he had created. He rejected the spirit just as he had let go of the spirits of his loved ones. His silent decision was to seek redemption through his actions, and to fight for justice without the visions of a spirit or the cries of ghosts influencing him.

'Sometimes life is just as much a punishment as death,' Cade thought as he picked Vulko up by the collar of his shirt.

The spirit widened its eyes in shock, feeling rejected and incomplete. It let out a roar of fury, in the same voice as Cade, for it was Cade's anger that had given him sentience. The spirit continued roaring as it flew into the sky, beyond Earth's atmosphere and beyond the very dimension its former host occupied.

"We can not fight two wars my people, but do not fear, the surface will stand with us against the trench, join me my people and help me drive these creatures BACK TO THE DEPTHS THEY BELONG!" Aquaman yelled.

He rushed towards the trench with the Atlantean army and the heroes of the surface world. Kaldur sliced through several monsters with his water swords, and Gar and Tula ran alongside him, blasting monsters left and right. Flurries of beams flew into the creatures, the gunfire of the Atlantean soldiers joined with the water drills controlled by Mera. She would be the Queen of Atlantis, and thus controlled a power befitting a queen, the very water around her was her weapon as she obliterated one trench monster after another. Aquaman impaled a monster on his trident and widened his eyes as another creature of the trench jumped towards him. Orm suddenly stabbed his trident through the creature's gut.

"You are my king now too brother," Orm said.

'And sometimes we make our own villains,' Cade thought as he looked at Orm and Arthur.

His feet slammed to the ground, and both Aquaman and Ocean Master looked towards him. The Redeemer dropped Vulko at Arthur's feet and held up the staff of the dead king.

"This is the man responsible for everything, all of the death and suffering, I turn him over to you, but you have to make this promise…he pays for everything he's done, to your world and to mine…he serves a sentence on the surface, he gets held up as the one responsible for all of this because he is the one responsible for all of this," Cade explained.

"Arthur, my king, please understand why I did this, you needed to be the king again it had to be you," Vulko said.

"But Atlantis was at peace," Orm said.

"Not now it is, this war was necessary, to make the surface world aware of us, so that Arthur could unite us," Vulko lowered his head as Arthur glared.

"You, did all of this, on some hope that the surface world would accept us?" Arthur asked.

"If not, then I knew that seeing their cruelty would open your eyes my king, do you not see? They are like Black Manta, they will never accept us," Vulko said.

"Why Vulko, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!" Arthur yelled, punching Vulko into the trench.

"Because I love Atlantis, and I love you like a son," Vulko said.

"This staff can drive them back right, use it, and make sure he's punished," Cade snarled, placing the staff in Arthur's hand.

Arthur hesitated and Cade dreaded that he would let the man die, that he would begin again the cycle of blood that he had used as a punishment in his world.

"I had a father, his name was Tom Curry," Arthur said as he pointed his staff at the trench. "TRENCH! RETURN TO WHERE YOU CAME!" he yelled, releasing a telepathic wave that spread from one monster to another.

One by one the monsters of the Trench began their retreat, scampering back into the ocean and retreating from the battlefield. Arthur looked at the staff and then at Vulko, he remembered what Cade had said about punishing the guilty. They looked up as Superman and the other members of the Justice League began landing around them.

"I told you to focus on the people," Cade said.

"And we do not take orders from you," Diana glared back at the armoured man.

"Calm down Diana, everyone is safe now, thanks to you and we're thankful for that, but there is still an issue to be dealt with," Superman explained.

"Indeed, the guilty need to be punished, Aquaman turn your brother into our custody," Wonder Woman said.

Cade widened his eyes slightly, as he saw Aquaman actually consider placing the blame on his brother he had a vision of sorts. It wasn't a literal vision, he no longer had spirits giving him visions, rather it was his own imagination and experience. People often created their own villains where he was from, sometimes the simplest act of misunderstanding, or a decision that may have been right at the time could be devastating. Orm was already on the path towards becoming Aquaman's greatest foe. Whilst Vulko was the master behind it all, Orm had led the charge towards Atlantis. Was Orm an innocent being punished unnecessarily? Or someone like Cade, a man who needed to earn his redemption through action? Those were the questions that haunted Cade as well as the choice of whether to intervene in this debate or not? What should he say and should he say anything at all?

Onyx gripped the sides of his head, he snarled in fury and showed an anger that his servants had never seen before. Mar-Vell and Amora backed away as his eyes glowed red. He created a portal and unleashed an optic blast on an unsuspecting reality. His servants looked on in horror as an Earth blew up before their eyes. The man's anger faded and his helmet disappeared as he turned to Amora and Mar-Vell.

"What was that Earth?" Mar-Vell asked.

"An insignificant Earth, its destruction doesn't matter because suffering was not possible in that world, that world had never known conflict in its life, no person there ever had a violent thought," Onyx explained.

"A world of peace, and you destroyed it…why?" Amora asked, looking at her master in shock.

"Because its destruction doesn't matter, it was a convenient Earth to unleash my full rage upon," Onyx opened another portal, creating a window of which to view another Earth.

"I don't understand, I thought that Cade Hunter losing the power of the spirits would be a good thing," Mar-Vell said.

"Well it isn't, if anything it sets our plans back, the spirit has been rejected yet it has not found another host, it...wishes to stay with Cade even when he has rejected it completely," Onyx explained, narrowing his eyes with a contained fury.

"My Earth, the Earth of your other self, Loki's Earth, the Earth where he has instigated a great reboot and this third Earth you spoke of, these as well as Joker's reality, the reality Cade Hunter occupies and the Earth you sent our spies to, these are the Earth's that are vital to our plans right? And this third Earth, six Earth's from each Multiverse that will help us achieve our goals…which we have no idea what they are," Amora huffed as she walked around her master's throne.

"Do not think to play games with me Amora, there is an entire Multiverse of you that I can take as replacements," Onyx snarled.

"I simply demand answers, it is my right, I have done everything you have asked, endured your savagery and cruelty, I deserve answers," the Enchantress suddenly leapt towards the armoured man.

"MASTER!" Mar-Vell yelled.

He charged a blast, but widened his eyes as Amora gripped the back of Onyx's head and pulled him into a dominating kiss. She moaned, running her fingers through his hair and swirling her tongue across his upper jaw. Onyx ran his hands across Amora's back and felt the strands of her hair around his fingers. The Enchantress let out a moan of satisfaction, she had won. Her eyes suddenly opened in horror, her green pupils began to take on a black colour. Amora pulled away from Onyx, clutching her throat as black oil gushed from her mouth. Onyx rose from his throne as his helmet covered his face.

"Your enchanting kiss wont work on a being incapable of love Amora, I am the darkest parts of Sven Reilly," his voice echoed through the gap, and the multitude of allies he had gathered watched the exchange, some like Carnage in enjoyment, others like Loki with caution, for they wondered how long it would be until Onyx turned his rage on them.

Amora wiped her mouth and looked up at Onyx. He looked down at her, rightfully so. She and others of her kind claimed the titles 'gods of Asgard' yet were nothing in comparison to the pure evil that was Onyx. If Amora was likened to a goddess, then Onyx was beyond a god. He took to a knee, only to further humiliate Amora by grabbing her chin and forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"You are angry, good, use that anger for the task ahead," he raised his other hand and dark energy formed an apple, black as the night sky, the darkness flickered for a moment before being replaced with the false image of a golden apple. "Give this to our guest, the Robert Reynolds I captured from that other Earth, he'll give anything to gain the power his wife has and you are free to use whatever cruel means you have of getting him to eat it," Onyx explained.

Amora grit her teeth together as she took the apple from Onyx's grasp.

"You are worse than me Onyx, worse than Loki, worse than Loki, perhaps even worse than Thanos and Darkseid, you are pure evil," she said.

"What is the goal of pure evil? One suffering of course, and those whom serve under evil will avoid that suffering, so count yourself lucky Amora that you are a willing servant because I could have always made you an Exile," Onyx turned away from Amora and walked back to his throne.

Amora widened her eyes and turned to her master, still gripping the apple.

"Impossible, it was the Timebreakers whom made the Exiles and Weapon X, they triggered an event that fractured reality, requiring the Exiles to fix it by restoring timelines," she explained.

"A false mission created by me, false information created by me, a false race created by Muramasa on my orders…when I discovered the gap and its power to traverse time and reality I called on Muramasa to create an entire race based upon the reality hopping Builders. Then I created the crystal palace and had the Timebreakers gather specific individuals whom would be easy to manipulate."

Magik widened her eyes, temporarily regaining control of her body. She fell back into her brainwashed state however, her eyes were empty but her soul screamed.

"Why do you think the Tallus was so vague? It was because I wanted the Exiles to go in blind, to cause catastrophe on every mission, then there was the Weapon X group, did you ever wonder what the point of their bloody missions were, and why I put Hyperion on that team?"

"Because he was displaced just like all the others," Amora said.

"No, none of them were displaced, they were just taken from their home realities, that story along with the fate of reality was a fiction I created to manipulate them. Reality is not a fragile window, it an ocean, chaotic at times but constant, I was not sending the Exiles to different realities, but different points in the timelines of other worlds. I sent them there to create paradoxes, that would then correct themselves, resulting in the creation of another reality…I repeated this process with every reality I sent them to, they have not been repairing reality but creating new worlds and new suffering for me to draw power from, then with my godlike power I will use the six Earths to draw all the other Earth's together, creating a single Earth of absolute suffering."

"My Earth, Loki's Earth, the Earth Hunter is trapped on and the Earth Sieg is trapped on, and these Third Earth's you speak of…what are they?" Amora asked.

"Loki's Earth has faced a great reboot, as has the Earth Cade is trapped on, Sieg has spread his influence to the original two Earths, uniting the greatest heroes, these are four parts of the ingredients necessary to create a new world. For if there are worlds where the heroes are united there will also be worlds where the heroes are divided, if there are worlds where the heroes are alive then there will be alternatives to that world where the heroes are dead. The third Earths do not yet exist, that is why we are spreading our influence across multiple worlds, destroying those that will not and can never become the kind of Earth necessary for our plans, the corrupt spirit of vengeance picking an unworthy host was vital to that plan yet it lingers over Cade, like an obsessed lover it wants only him, the only man with the courage and will to defy ME!"

In his anger he destroyed another Earth.

Next Chapter 11: Judgement

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, next time Cade decides Orm's fate, whilst in the Marvel world Cap decides what to do about Cade and Amora enacts another part of Onyx's plan.

The spirit of Vengeance/Deathblade will return