"Get ready to fight," he said tersely before racing towards it.
'He's a speedster?' she thought. Despite being twice her height or more, he was dwarfed by whatever was coming. There had been a gravity in his voice that hammered home the absolute threat it represented. If such a thing as him was able to feel fear, she was sure that he would have.
Nevertheless, he ran with no hesitation, like it was as natural as breathing. Kara flew after him, surprised by his speed. He outpaced every hero that she knew of except for her cousin and the Flash. She hovered overhead, easily keeping pace from above. "What did he do to piss this thing off?" she wondered.
It was a monster straight from the pits of hell. Thick, veiny bat-wings flapped, creating a terrible gale with each flap. She smelt fresh blood, and the stench of a thousand corpse-ridden battlefields. Dozens of dead bodies surrounded its muscular bulk. Rage burned inside her at the sight of the pointless slaughter.
She had seen the aftermath of conflicts between heroes and villains before. Civilians buried under rubble, injured to the point of being hospitalized. Even being crushed into paste. It still didn't come close to the altar of blood and filth that was spread out before her. Her vision turned red before she halted.
'It's aura's affecting me,' Kara thought. 'Affecting everyone.' She realized that some of the corpses weren't the work of the crimson monster. The wounds were man-on-man; stabs from knives, the scratching of fingernails. The relentless pounding of fists and hammers. And worse deaths that she forced herself to turn away from.
Kara In-Ze did her best to remember what she and heroes across the globe were fighting for. She cast her mind back to the old ladies she'd helped across the road; the lost cats she'd pulled down from high tree branches. In an attempt to forget the scene of mindless carnage, the Argoan did her best to remember the best that humanity had to offer.
She returned her attention to the battle at hand. Far below, the giant brandished a four meter-long spear, the blade itself a meter in length. The daemon's axe was the size of a tank. Untold millions had perished beneath its blows. His own weapon's metaphysical presence didn't come close. Valerian continued to sprint, nevertheless.
He closed the distance.
The two colossi came together as one.
Orthodoxy against heresy. Order against chaos. The lion of light and the lion of darkness; ancient good and ancient evil.
The monster glared at the upstart that challenged it. Its eyes were timeless, and had seen empires rise and fall. Despite his own age and physical prowess, he was an infant compared to it. In him was the bitter resilience of a cornered animal who knew they had no chance; yet fought to the end nevertheless.
For just a moment, the giant shone like the Sun. The monster emitted the baleful, scarlet light of a red dwarf. Both of them shouted, their individual voices becoming an indistinguishable howl of noise. Two utterly antithetical concepts came to a head. Blinding light flashed from the point of impact. An enormous shockwave radiated outwards. Neither of them were anywhere to be seen.
'Did he beat it?' Kara thought hopefully.
As it turned out, no.
Valerian groaned, his guardian spear still ringing with the force of the impact. Runes that had been carved microscopically into his armor thrummed with warp-energy. He was no psyker or daemon. Yet the biomancy of his creation had drawn on the ether, regardless.
Despite his extensive litany of triumphs and battles, it paled next to that of the Bloodthirster. A creature of uncounted genocides and slaughters; how could he possibly compare to it? A monster of millennia, the terror of aliens and men alike? It had drowned in oceans of blood before he had ever risen from the nobility of Terra.
He rose to his feet; a new David against an even more terrible Goliath. The ancient, hopeless bout was soon to repeat itself.
Too bad he didn't have a sling.
He clicked a notch on his spear. The power field stuttered back to life. Without wasting a moment, he drew his Misericordia. Blue lightning crackled about its keen edge. The greater daemon brayed in fury and prepared to charge towards him. He braced himself, drawing the weapons into a guard position.
Twin laser beams stabbed into one of the Bloodthirster's eyes. In his brief moment of respite, Valerian looked upwards.
The laser blast continued, the Bloodthirster letting out a snort of irritation as it covered its eyes. She looked down in shock as she increased the amount of force in her laser vision. The monster's foul red skin barely appeared to be singed. But Kara had gotten what she wanted: the daemon's attention.
Kara In-Ze cursed under her breath as a blue Ford Land Cruiser was sent flying her way. Her bright sapphire eyes flared red. The multi-ton car melted into a pile of slag. Her laser vision penetrated through and began to sear the monster's skin.
Then it charged towards her.
It shouldn't have been so fast. It was a blur in her vision and she almost panicked.
Then the golden giant slammed into it.
The beast roared and swiped madly at him. Kara's nostrils filled with the stench of blood and smoke. The giant was huge, easily ten feet tall, but he was tiny next to the monster they fought.
He leapt backwards just in time to avoid one of its strikes. The blow obliterated a stone relief of the Justice League; and caused the apartment block behind it to spontaneously combust.
"We must kill it now, or it will only get stronger!" he shouted. Despite his volume he maintained an air of serenity that served to calm her down, to an extent.
With speed that should have been impossible for titans of such a size, they charged once more at each other.
The smell of burnt ozone filled the air.
A truly enormous spear lighted with a field of blue power. The monster brandished an axe that pulsed with awful, crimson light.
The giant dropped to his knees and slid. A blow that should have impacted his blade flew over his helmet. The axe head buried itself deep in a buttressed concrete foundation. He lunged towards the buried weapon. With every ounce of strength that he possessed, he leapt and swung at the middle of the brass shaft. A great shout of pain and exertion escaped his lungs, amplified by his helmet.
Against all odds, the weapon of terrible power broke in two. Red lightning crackled at the point of separation. Kara's spirit rose at the sight of the small triumph. The little victory that he had scored seemed to grant him a renewed physical presence he hadn't previously possessed. He landed with inhuman grace, brandishing his blades once more.
The great beast howled in fury. Nearly every civilian within a square mile went berserk. Some distance away, the Metropolis PD was forced to euthanize several blood-crazed officers. In a single, terrible cry, the monster had set off the largest incident of non-metahuman violence in the city's history. The screams were distant and muted next to what had caused them, but Kara heard them nevertheless.
He parried a swipe, his very bones straining at the force of the daemon's attack. He side-stepped a crackle from a whip that radiated evil. The golden giant lunged, flourished, and stabbed between the monster's legs, leaving a parting gift.
Embedded in the monster's groin was an ornate, jeweled short sword. It danced with the same energy as the giant's spear. He pressed the cruelly beautiful weapon further into its false flesh with all his strength. To remove the golden thorn would take strength and pain the Bloodthirster could not spare.
What proceeded to happen was both anticlimactic and painful.
The beast kicked him with the side of its hoof. Hard.
He had managed to dodge and only be grazed by the blow. He was still sent flying through the air. Her acute hearing made out the crunch of breaking bones and rent meat. Despite the armor he wore she could hear a cry of pain. Even someone as stoic and impassible as he was couldn't hold everything back.
He grunted as he anticipated an impact that would shatter every single bone in a mortal's body.
Instead, small, white-gloved hands took hold of him by his colossal pauldrons. A small, feminine grunt of strain came from behind. He quashed the slight, skin-crawling unease he felt at her intrusion into his physical space. Against the likes of the Aeldari and their dark kindred, such intimate closeness spelt only death.
"I got you," she breathed, laboring under the weight of tons of metal and flesh. Kara set him down some distance away from the Bloodthirster, who howled impudently at them from below. It brandished a spiked whip that crackled with a sound like crunching bones.
"Thank you."
"You would have done the same for me," she responded nonchalantly.
'Would I have?' he wondered. "It is all but invulnerable to a ranged assault," he called out, using his spear as a makeshift crutch. "We have to fight it in close quarters. Without special weaponry, anything besides the fist and blade is useless."
"Point taken," Kara said. "If you can, help keep it from getting to any apartment blocks. The death toll's probably already in the hundreds."
"I will do my best," he responded. "You will have to be the heavy hitter in this fight. I am not strong enough to endure many more of its blows."
In the privacy of his mind, Valerian wondered if she could defeat it on her own. The alien's strength far exceeded any of his brethren, maybe even the Captain-General. He cast his idle musings aside, and prepared to return to the fray of battle. "Are you ok?" she asked him gently. "That thing did a number on you."
"I will manage," he grunted. "If you can, try to avoid a direct hit from its whip. The Empyrean is a foul weapon, and I would not wager on your resilience to its effects." Kara nodded as she turned to the screaming Bloodthirster. Its eyes glowed like the heart of a volcano, locked firmly on its prey. With it came a sense of unspeakable wickedness that made her shudder.
"Get ready. Exploit any openings that you find, but don't take unnecessary risks."
Despite having only met a few minutes ago, he caught onto her crude style of fighting. He ignored the lightning flashes of pain in his broken right leg. He ducked under a blow that would pulverize a Baneblade. Supergirl charged in at its rare moment of vulnerability, cocking back her fist.
The Bloodthirster howled as her fist connected with its sternum. It skidded backwards half a dozen meters. The Neverborn was dangerously off-balance, still reeling from the force of the punch. Seeing an opening in its guard, Valerian instantly capitalized on it.
He dove forward. He executed a combat flourish that was a marvel to behold. With an awful thundercrack of sound, he swatted aside a blow from its fist, diving towards its Achilles' heel. A perfect artist, he severed its Warp-wrought tendons in one brilliant stroke. The Custodian evaded its hasty swipe, before burying his Misericordia in its kneecap. A terrible scream of hate and bloodlust tore through its throat, making Kara's head throb.
"Now!" Valerian called out. "Hit it with all your strength, for we may not have another chance!"
He retained the elegance and technique of his movements, yet Kara detected desperation. She crashed down onto the nape of its neck and pummeled it as fast as she could. His arms moved like propeller blades. The two both lost track of time as they fought to reduce the daemon into so much meat. When it appeared to be down for the count, Valerian heightened the speed and strength of his blows.
To outsiders they appeared to have gone mad with rage. In reality, that insanity was the only way to vanquish it. The duo stopped when the daemon was a puddle of grease on the ground. Valerian sighed with relief, planting the butt of his spear into the ground and leaning on it. He hid his pain well, standing triumphant despite his severe injury. His inferior strength did nothing to detract from his glory.
"We were very fortunate," he said to her, taking some of the pressure off his spear. "Normally Bloodthirsters are more powerful than this." The Custodian tested his injured leg and winced.
"I could have taken it out myself," she scoffed, as the man coughed violently.
"Perhaps in these conditions," he murmured, "but not in its full strength. I presume the barrier between realspace and the warp is stronger here." She caught the sound of flesh and bone knitting back together. "It was also separate from any portals, and the ritual that spawned it. It was running on fumes. Even then, it was a close one."
Kara turned away from the corpse of the Bloodthirster, alarmed by the sound of screams. He seemed to have heard it too. The slight looseness of his limbs was dissipated by the tension of contracting muscles. The power field on his spear whispered into life once more as he entered a combat stance.
Not daemons. Something far more distasteful. He grimaced behind his helmet. A mob of thousands approached them with expressions of mad bloodlust. He would not hesitate to mow them down when they entered melee range.
"We're not killing them," Kara In-Ze said with a look of determination. She barely had a scratch on her; the alien was clearly more than willing to fight him if need be. He released a sigh of frustration and shut off the power field on his spear. "We didn't go through all this just to butcher them like animals."
"You may have to regardless. It gives me no pleasure to kill civilians, but their minds and souls have been hollowed out. I am sure that all which remains in them
"We're heroes and that's not what heroes do!" she protested. To his confusion she stubbornly maintained her resolve. Kara had to have seen what the masses inflicted on each other. So what was the reason for this blind, irrational optimism? "I don't know how things are done where you're from, but we fight to keep people safe. The Justice League isn't perfect, but we're not wanton murderers; that's the one step that keeps us from becoming monsters. Having to kill a villain, or the embodiment of evil is one thing. But innocent people? At that point we aren't any different from them, just our justification."
'And here lies the key difference between the two of us,' he thought. If she had any idea what the Imperium of Man did to survive only a single day; she would consider him a villain in an instant. 'The ends justify the means no matter how grisly and unpleasant they are. She has not yet grasped what foes we face.'
He relented. "Very well. Just don't blame me when these spiritual ailments spread." The Imperium was many things, most of them grotesque. Yet despite its faults, the Ecclesiarchy's religious fanaticism guarded well against Chaos. He doubted that the comparatively decadent populace here would measure up.
There were hundreds and thousands charging towards them. They were still recognizably human, but there was no humanity in them. 'Only broken bones and shattered bodies, but they will be alive. But can they truly be considered alive, at this point?' The horde came closer and closer. 'Only time will tell.'
Kara In-Ze took a deep breath. She held it in for several seconds as they drew nearer, her face lined with concentration.
He could only use a feeble fraction of his strength, the absolute bare minimum, or they would surely die. It was a slight irritation to him, but something his kind had to learn early on. The mass of them would still live, albeit with their bodies shattered.
A gale of freezing air howled out from her mouth. Several dozen of the Chaos-mad rabble froze into blocks of ice. But she was unable to maintain it forever, and had to stop, taking several deep breaths. By that point the mob had closed in with them. He confined himself to the very lowest limits of his strength and began to strike out.
Valerian struggled not to unleash the fullness of his wrath. He restrained his limbs, knocking out three men with the effort it took a mortal to raise a hand.
"It's not your fault," he said after a moment of pained silence. "We are not invincible and no matter how well we fought, people were going to die." Valerian's humanity was not so gutted that he felt nothing at their deaths. He paused after a moment. "Well, I'm not invincible. I'm not so sure about you, however."
Supergirl looked behind him and let out a breath of frustration. "Right after we get all the work done, they decide to show up."
His helmet pinged a warning, and he turned around. Four shapes descended from on high. One was a green-skinned, muscular humanoid. The faintest whisper of mental tendrils brushed against Valerian's psyche.
The second was a towering, eerily human-like alien with a faint resemblance to Kara. Their respective insignia, the emblazoned red S, was identical.
The third was a scantily dressed woman with black hair, blue eyes and an athletic build who stared warily at him, a hand resting on the pommel of her sword.
By far the greatest threat was the one in black. All biological datums told him that he was a mundane human. Albeit, one in peak physical condition. Yet he conducted himself with a certain hidden ruthlessness that separated him from the rest. The same sort of presence carried about by commissars and the High Lords of Terra.
Despite his lack of powers, he would stop at no lengths to crush anything in his way.
There wasn't anything overtly threatening about him, but Valerian reminded himself to be especially weary of this one.
At the end of the day, it wasn't the Astartes or Custodes who'd held the line for ten thousand years against unfathomable horrors; it was the endless trillions of the Imperial Guard.
And an unwarranted dismissiveness towards them had brought many transhumans low.
"Put your weapons down," the one with a resemblance to Kara said. "We don't mean any harm."
"Nor do I to you, but you don't look like you're about to invite me to sit down for some amasec." He disabled the power field on his weapons, and sheathed his misericordia. He lowered his guardian spear to a more relaxed position. "Nor would I blame you, considering what I've brought with me." He was still ready to spring into battle if need be. 'Hopefully this won't be necessary.'
"He didn't attack me Kal!" Kara protested. He turned slightly, surprised by the alien's defense of him.
They had interacted for minutes only, and he had brought hell itself upon its city; and she was defending him?
He supposed he would never understand the ways of the xenos.
"We know that, and we're grateful for his restraint too," the alien called Kal said. "But for now he's a security risk."
"We're going to need your weapons if you're coming to the Watchtower," Batman said.
It wasn't a request.
'I have to get back.' No victory in Imperial history comes without compromises, no road was paved without some bad stones. He decided not to fight.
"Handle them with care, for they are more precious than any other thing on this world," he warned.
Wonder Woman strained beneath the weight of it. He handed his second weapon, and then his third.
His weapons were dear to him. It hurt to see such priceless, finely-wrought masterpieces leave his possession. Ultimately they were only tools: even his beloved Gnosis.
He looked towards the bat-themed mortal. 'It will take you a century to decode the genelocks, and if you try to use it; it won't end well.' Valerian had recognized the greedy look, akin to that of an overenthusiastic techpriest. He supposed it fit well with the gadgets that were on his belt. Nothing next to the Imperium's best, but far above most of what could be found in 21st century Terra.
Part of him wanted to boast of its impenetrability, but he decided not to. "In all the years of my life, I never thought that I would surrender myself without a fight." He had no delusions about his current combat state.
"All we have are some questions," the one called Wonder Woman said. Her fingers brushed over a golden lasso that hung at her waist. For some reason his skin crawled when he looked at it. He knew it was not an ordinary piece of rope. He was not sure if it was warp-tainted or not, but told himself to avoid its constriction at all costs. "It's not every day that you get a golden giant bringing Hades itself upon Metropolis."
"I understand," he said hesitantly. "As you might have guessed, I'm hardly in fighting condition." That wasn't revealing the entire truth. Even disarmed he estimated he could slay all of them but the eerily humanoid alien named Kal. If its size was proportional to its strength it probably significantly outstripped Kara in raw power.
A small distance away, a small, sleek gray spacecraft touched down gently. The vehicle bore no resemblance to the brutal, bulky shapes of the Aeronautica Imperialis' airborne fleets. It seemed fragile in comparison; with more of a resemblance to Aeldari fighters, though devoid of its eerie alien grace.
'This is of human make, no doubt.' A hangar door whirred open from its posterior side.
"We'll need you to get on the Javelin, okay?" Superman said. "It won't be a bumpy ride, unless some of those things can fly."
"You have no idea," Valerian said.
"Do you understand the amount of damage that I can bring about up here?" he asked. Not simply with the raw strength of his physical body. His armor systems swam with murderous data-djinn. He could set off a Haywire grenade, frying the Watchtower's circuits beyond repair. "I don't understand why you put a potential threat in the most vital station that you possess."
It wasn't something he planned to do. He just didn't understand their apparent recklessness.
"Without getting stopped by us?" Wonder Woman asked with a sarcastic look. On the outside, the woman didn't seem to consider him a threat. He saw the well-hidden micro-tremors and stress lines on her face. The woman's heartbeat had started to race for a moment before she quashed it.
"I didn't say that you wouldn't stop me," he responded calmly.
"Wreaking havoc in Metropolis is a lot worse than doing it here." Batman crossed his arms. "Even if by some miracle you killed every Leaguer here, the Watchtower would self-destruct."
"And your planet would be devoid of its most important protectors," he shot back. "I don't think it was a good idea for you to bring me here." Even more surprising to him, they had left him unrestrained. From his limited interaction with Kara, he thought that they were too squeamish for killing. Apparently not the bat one, at least as a last resort. "Yet inexplicably, you have. I still wish to know why."
If the so-called League permitted his presence in their headquarters, they were taking a gamble. They didn't consider him an enemy.
Yet.
'I cannot glean anything from his mind, Bruce,' Martian Manhunter informed Batman warily. 'All I see is golden light, and the further I descend I risk scorching my soul.'
'Don't try to push any deeper, and get out,' Batman responded. 'There's no point in provoking him if we don't have to.'
The Shield-Captain slowly turned his head to face the green-skinned alien. No words were necessary to convey his silent threat. Trying to rummage around inside of his head would not end well for the Martian.
"That thing you fought," Batman began, "what was it?"
"I do not know the degree to which your world knows of the Great Enemy. I will be as concise as possible," he took a deep breath. "It has many names; Lord of War, Fist, Murder Lord ; Bloodthirster," the final name rang with a particular menace. "It is the greatest rank of daemon among the Chaos God of war," he began. For some reason he appeared reluctant to say its name. "It was weakened upon entering this dimension. I assume the barrier between realspace and Warpspace is stronger here."
Batman further grilled him. "And where exactly did you come from?"
"From the very planet that we are orbiting now," he answered cryptically. "In infancy I was raised among the nobility of Terra. I was offered up to the Emperor's Ten Thousand by my family, along with thousands of others. I do not know their names, nor do they know mine. Somehow, I persisted where many failed. Now I am counted among their ranks, though I am far from home."
Cryptic, but with nough information to catch their attention, satisfying some of their curiosity.
Not enough to provide a meaningful advantage over him.
"Who is the Emperor?" Diana asked.
"The greatest human being to ever live. Ten thousand years ago he saved humanity from the worst crisis in all of history. He single-handedly reconquered the Sol system when it was wracked with civil war and alien invaders. We were among His first creations, but there were twenty others. They utterly eclipsed us, His guardians, and they were the heralds of humanity's ascension."
He paused.
"And they were the heralds of its damnation."
A tone of deep sorrow bled into his voice. It was the first emotion that he had displayed ever since meeting them. Seeing such a stoic allowing emotion to bleed through could not help but draw their attention.
"The Imperium won, but it was a pyrrhic victory among pyrrhic victories. The Emperor was mortally wounded by His most beloved general. All but a few of his loyalist primarchs were dead; and the rest soon were slain or have disappeared from Imperial history. The fabric of Realspace itself has been wounded from their battle, and has only grown more frayed ever since. "
He paused. "There have been many threats to humanity since its ascension ages ago. Some say the alien, others the heretic. Most of all it is the Primordial Annihilator; who has been present before, during and after our genesis. It may persist forever," the silence remained.
Valerian clasped his enormous fingers together. "If there are any sorcerers on this planet that are in your confidence, I would not inform them of it, for the risk is too great. Too many have fallen to its clutches over the eons. Some had the best of intentions, some did not. Both have descended into perdition as a result of their folly.
Make no mistake; the Empyrean is not something to be trifled with. It is not a toy. It is not something like atomic energy that can be safely harnessed. It is evil incarnate; it swims with abominations that despise life and goodness itself. Those who dismiss it. Those who ignore the dangers of the Warp at their own peril do not deserve respect, but the barrel of a loaded boltgun. They do not bring about revelatory new knowledge, nor wonderful arcane science that shall enrich our collective knowledge. They bring about only the damnation of themselves and the people around them."
The shield-captain knew this was a bit hypocritical, considering the sorcery that had gone into his own post-human flesh. They didn't need to know about the means of his creation. That the Warp was at once humanity's worst enemy, yet also vital to its interstellar empires.
"Considering it was able to exert its influence over so many, despite its weakness…" Valerian paused. "I am not the master of daemonic lore among my brethren," he admitted. "Nor among the Imperium. There is only so much that I can reveal without it being a grave danger. All I can say for now is to beware of the eight-pointed star and other symbols of the Ruinous Powers. I do not know the extent to which their powers reach here, otherwise I would reveal more."
They left Valerian unmolested in the Watchtower's observation bay, but sealed off his access to all other parts of the space station. In a nearby module, they scrutinized him like scientists around a petri dish.
Then the attention of the Trinity of the League switched to Supergirl.
"You know the first thing that you should have done is called for backup," Diana said sternly.
Kara In-Ze resisted the urge to wilt beneath their combined gazes. "It's kind of hard to think straight when you're fighting for your life. Especially against something like that. "
"The combat analysis can wait for later," Batman cut her off. "Besides what he revealed to us, what do you know about him?"
"He speaks a strain of Anglicized-Latin," Kara told him. "He didn't tell me a whole lot about himself. His name is Valerianus. Valerian."
"The 3rd century Roman emperor," the Caped Crusader surmised.
"I had to take Latin in high school," she said off-handedly. "I hated every minute of it, but at least it was good for something!"
Still remembering their recent dress-up, they started to grill her about her encounter with him. "Did he tell you anything else besides the details about the Bloodthirster?"
"No, that was about the extent of our interaction," Kara said. "He doesn't seem like a huge people-person, if you know what I mean."
"You're good to go Kara," Clark said gently. "Thank you for helping to stop that thing."
The best criticisms always came with some sort of praise. She beamed up at her foster cousin before leaving the room. With a sigh, the Man of Steel turned to face the video feed along with his other comrades.
"It seems my translation left much to be desired," Martian Manhunter stroked his chin. "I cannot penetrate his mind, so all I could do is attempt to match words to meanings."
"It's not a dialect anywhere in the extant historical record," Batman observed. In a recording he played the golden giant's words on repeat. The Watchtower's computer systems cross-referenced it with the Romance languages, along with ancient and more recent strains of Latin. "He's a bit garbled, but not incomprehensible. Most of the root words are unchanged, though there's significant linguistic drift. It seems that he's using a dialect that's extinct and archaic for his time to speak with us."
From the camera feed, they watched him. He rose from his oversized chair and gracefully strode towards the edge of the viewing bay. It was without any apparent malice, so they did nothing to interfere. He crossed his enormous arms and stood still. His gaze was fixed on the planet gently spinning beneath them.
"He hasn't told us," Diana began, "but I'm guessing that he's not used to Earth looking like this."
"Considering his universe seems to be the epitome of Murphy's Law, that's probably not far off the mark," Batman noted.
On the Watchtower's camera feed, Kara entered the observation chamber. She stood at the periphery of the spacious room, watching him from a distance. The younger heroine clearly wanted to speak with him, but, for some reason, hesitated.
"When did Kara get in there?" Superman asked with alarm.
"I wouldn't be too worried about her, Clark," Batman leaned forward in his chair. "He doesn't seem like the type to randomly go on a murder spree. And he does seem aware of his own limitations. For now, all we have to do is watch. And if things get out of hand, we're not too far away to put him down."
For around a minute, she remained where she was, standing some ways away. Then she slowly approached him, her face curious. Valerian was aware of her proximity, but remained still. "Are there any more of those things out there?"
"If we are fortunate, there are none forthcoming. It takes great ritual power to summon one of those abominations. Great carnage, and a level of expertise few, if any, on this world possess. Besides, 'twas a rare and cataclysmic event that accompanied the one we fought. I think it will be some time before we must worry about their like again," he responded.
"The Justice League has dealt with worse things than that. Whatever comes for us, we'll be able to handle them."
A moment of silence passed. "For this world's sake, I hope you are right."
"I doubt the Neverborn will be the main problem," he continued softly. "It is their human allies that you must worry about. They lurk like cancerous cells in an able-bodied host. " He remembered mowing down Terran civilians in their thousands, tens of thousands. It had not given him any pleasure, quite the opposite. "They will exploit your mercy and use it to drive their accursed weaponry into your back. It was through mortal treachery that this whole mess started in the first place."
"Do you ever take that helmet off?" she asked him, out of the blue.
"I do on occasion, but I shall remain hidden behind it for now."
"Do you hide your face because you're ugly?"
"I think that beauty is subjective, to an extent," he said cryptically. "I do not know what mortals or aliens think of my physical appearance, nor do I care."
"I think you might be insecure about how you look," she argued.
"I think most of your foes will be more distracted by your garb; or lack thereof," he shot back, still staring at the void of space. "You seem to be more concerned about flaunting your body than defeating your enemies in a timely manner."
"At least I'm not dressed like an oversized mustard bottle," she said and blew a raspberry at him.
The chief League members tensed up as they waited for his reaction. His arms moved to his sides. There was a quiet, brief sound that filtered strangely through his helmet. After several seconds, she realized it was laughter. Subdued, but it was there. A sign that there was something human in his outlandishly golden armor.
Fortunately for her, he did not have the murderous pride of a Space Marine. His brother Navradaran deserved credit for that. Telling him to dwell amidst the mortals of Terra helped ground him in reality. At the end of the day, was he really so unique or important? Could he not take a joke or insult?
He was only slightly less expendable than a Guardsman, in the grand scheme of things.
It was pride that had brought about the Horus Heresy.
If he had pride, he would have refused to fight alongside an alien; and the Bloodthirster would have crushed him beneath its hoof.
And he was created for them, not the other way around.
"Do you pester everyone you speak to like this?" he asked after a deep breath. The display of mirth faded as quickly as it had arrived.
"Nah, just you."
He grunted and turned to the view of the planet once more. 'What a strange creature.'
"I would like to learn your kind's language," he began, changing the subject. "Not of the alien planet from which you hail, but the one beneath us. It is somewhat trifling to be restrained to an extinct tongue which I seldom use."
"What, you don't like our little secret squad language?" she asked.
"No," he said. "Not that I bear any ill-will towards you, but it's been extinct for eons. I may be the only person in the Imperium who is fluent in it. It will be more useful to speak the lingua franca of this version of Sol."
A few seconds of silence passed. "You've been staring at the planet for a minute straight," she said. "Why?"
"The Terra of my age is a withered husk of what it is in this time," he responded. "Its natural beauty no longer remains."
She stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.
"Imagine this planet, but the oceans are sucked dry. There is no blue sky. No grassy farmlands. The air is choked with pollution. Most people live in apartments barely large enough to fit inside.
Their lives consist of eighteen hour manufactorum shifts, with a slight reprieve every Sanguinala and Emperor's Day. There are quadrillions packed into hives that pierce the atmosphere.
It is terrible, and it is inhuman,
"After the Age of Strife, one of the Emperor's goals was the restoration of Terra's forests and oceans. He succeeded, partly, but the healing He wrought was undone by the betrayal of His sons.
"Simply put, this is the closest likeness to the Emperor's vision for Terra that I shall ever see. It is not a sight that I ever expected to lay eyes upon." He remained in reverent silence.
"Remember what we fought down there. That is what is marching towards us. Perhaps it is inevitable. Perhaps there would always have been a Great Betrayal. Perhaps the Imperium would be doomed by an Archtraitor or alien threat no matter what the Emperor did." He would not normally utter these words. Yet, the Throneworld was besieged for the first time in nearly ten millennia. The shield-captain could not help a slight pessimism, even if loyalty to the Emperor was encoded in his very genes.
"No matter the case, we must be vigilant until our last breaths. For now we shall rage against the dying of the Light, until the very last of the Ten Thousand falls. To do otherwise would be a betrayal of everything the Emperor stands for."
"Maybe the Emperor knew that he didn't stand a chance," Kara guessed. "That His victory was probably going to be pyrrhic no matter what, but chose to fight anyway." There was a long pause. "I think that's what someone would do if they really cared about humanity. Even if its existence was hellish."
He looked at her, then back again to the verdant planet beneath him, and spoke no more.
'Receiving sympathy from an alien?' Valerian thought to himself as she awkwardly left. 'How far I have fallen.'
Some time later, after intense debate between the four most important members of the League, they returned as one to see him off.
"You are a most generous man, bat," he began before stopping himself. "Or should it be: you are a most generous bat, man?"
Kara In-Ze smacked her forehead, groaning in second-hand embarrassment. Martian Manhunter's face twisted with a small smile. Superman sighed, seeming to be genuinely pained by the corny joke.
"It seems that my sense of humor leaves much to be desired," he commented. He received his arms back with great relief. Before he left Kara approached him again.
"I have a feeling we're going to run into each other again," she said, fearlessly meeting his stare.
"Indeed," he murmured, "whether that will be for better or for worse, only time will tell."
"…Take care of yourself," she said after a few seconds of pained silence.
"I will do my best." He halted. "I would say the same, but I don't think there's a lot of things on this planet able to hurt you, so it's sort of a moot point."
"You really can't accept a goodbye without pissing someone off, huh?" Kara asked angrily..
"I suppose not." There was a definite tone of amusement in his voice. He seemed to especially enjoy riling her up, and he did a good job of it, too. "We will meet again, Kara In-Ze, I am sure of it." The hangar door of the piloted Javelin began to slide shut. His enormous
Batman looked at the older Kryptonian with a rare grin. "I don't know a whole lot about this Emperor, but He seems to have made his servant just to get under your cousin's skin."
Superman smiled along with him, but a sense of unease remained.
He knew that things were never going to be the same after this.
Author's note: Aquillon in The First Heretic tells Argel Tal that Custodes consider it the height of insult to loan mortals one of their weapons. In The Regent's Shadow Valerian loans Aleya his Misericordia. I guess this means no-weapons loans is a very fluid rule for them, or Valerian is an eccentric compared to most Custodes.