The Watcher eyed the many worlds where the current world was branched off from. "Many universes. Many dimensions and many of them had different outcomes. Some good, some bad, and some for the worst." He then looked down as the heroes were driving a smaller base of their own that represented an RV mobile base. "In this one, a lot of people got different stories than their original counterparts..."
The state-of-the-art recreational vehicle, equipped with the latest technology and carrying the intrepid group of adventurers consisting of Susan, Peter, Constantine, Johnny, Ben, Cisco, and Caitlin, sped away, leaving Bette behind with Janet to ensure the safety of the city. Their destination was Slaughter Swamp, located just outside Gotham City. As they journeyed, Susan couldn't help but let out a weary sigh, pondering the true purpose of their mission.
Their presence in Slaughter Swamp was solely based on the word of Darhk, who had promised that it would lead them to uncover the latest developments in Dr. Doom's plans. Yet, all they had encountered so far were sporadic sightings of Doombots, thanks to the advanced scanning capabilities of Cisco's new equipment. The group couldn't shake off the feeling that they were chasing shadows, with no substantial progress in uncovering Dr. Doom's true intentions.
"Sorry to dump them on you like this, May. It is becoming too much of a random thing." Susan said as she sat at the computer, talking to May on FaceTime.
"Hey, I will always be open to looking after them." May promised as she had put the kids to bed. "Sounds like you guys are busy trying to save the world."
"Trying." Susan chuckled. "Good word for the moment."
"Hey, we are working with the same information." Cisco defended as he quickly tried locating the Adaptoids. Then all of a sudden, there was a ping on the scanner. "Wait! I got something!"
"Looks like I gotta get to work," Susan tells May. "Remember, Franklin needs his homework done by tomorrow for school on Monday if we don't get back by then."
"I've got it," May tells her with a chuckle. "I can look after them. Go. Tell Peter I love him for me. And same for you, Susan."
Susan smiled as she wondered what she did to deserve such a loving family after her relationship with Reed. "Will do. Bye." She then hung up and turned back to the team.
"Which direction?" Peter asked as he was behind the wheel.
Then there was another ping, and Cisco saw there were more. "Whoa. There is a whole bunch of Doombots and even a few Adaptoids showing up."
"Where, Cisco?" Caitlin asked.
"That way! Right!" Cisco called out as Peter swerved to the right and followed Cisco's directions.
As they made their way down the murky road in the heart of the swamp, the encompassing darkness seemed to swallow them whole. Despite the scanner alerting them to the presence of Adaptoids and Doombots lurking nearby, there was a disconcerting absence of any visible signs of these anticipated threats.
A sense of unease gripped Peter as he and Susan cast their eyes about, searching for any trace of the expected adversaries. Meanwhile, Cisco meticulously scrutinized his scanners, but they remained frustratingly silent, leaving them perplexed and on edge in the face of the eerie quiet and stillness that enveloped them.
"Cisco, we sure were in the right place?" Peter asks.
"The scanners are pointing us here," Cisco said.
"Let's see if we can spot anything outside," Peter said. "Johnny, let's go. But no scorching anything."
"Oh, yeah, it's not like there's an abundance of grass everywhere." Johnny scoffed as he exited the RV behind Peter.
Peter, Susan, Ben, and Johnny stepped out of the RV and began surveying the area. Despite Damien Darhk's insistence that something sinister was afoot, there was no trace of Adaptoids, Doombots, or any other threat. The surroundings were quiet, almost too quiet, with nothing to suggest that Darhk's claims held any weight.
"I don't get it." Peter scoffed as he looked around. "This place is just...there is nothing!"
Constantine then exited the RV and looked around, feeling something off about this place. "Wait a minute..." he then stepped over to the edge of the swamp over to the waters. "I feel something. A mystical presence here."
"What?" Susan asks.
"GO...AWAY!" An eerie voice called, spooking the team.
"What the hell was that?" Ben asks.
Constantine raised his hands and called upon ancient incantations, summoning a mystical flame that flickered to life and cast an ethereal glow across the murky swamp. The light revealed the once formidable Adaptoids and Doombots, now ensnared in twisting vines and immobilized beneath the dark waters. It was now evident why their presence had remained concealed from the advanced scanners and surveillance equipment.
As the team stood in awe of the mysterious power that had rendered the robotic adversaries inert, Johnny ignited with fiery determination, ready to unleash his formidable powers. Meanwhile, Susan conjured protective forcefields, Peter swiftly donned his iconic mask as Spider-Man, and Ben flexed his rock-hard knuckles in anticipation of the imminent battle that lay ahead.
"Swamp Thing!" Constantine called out, his voice echoing through the misty swamp. "Come on out, or the..." He looked down at the plants and raised his foot. "Rosies get it!"
The team was transfixed as the ground beneath them began to tremble in the murky swamp. Sinewy vines emerged from the moist earth, twisting and intertwining to form a haunting, humanoid figure. It was a surreal sight as if they had stumbled into a living, breathing scene from an ancient monster movie.
The team stood in anticipation as the ground beneath them began to quake. Sinister vines emerged from the murky earth, coiling and intertwining to create a haunting, humanoid figure. It was as if they had stepped into a living, breathing scene from a classic horror film, the surreal sight captivating and terrifying them all at once.
"John Constantine." He snarled at their sorcerer, spooking the heroes in the process. "You dare threaten the Green?"
"Should have known it was you, Swampy." Constantine scoffed.
"John?" Peter called out. "Wanna maybe fill us in?"
"This is Alec Holland. AKA, Swamp Thing. The protector of the Green." Constantine explained, not taking his eyes off Swamp Thing. "Seems you have been busy." He eyed the robots. "Neighbors been giving you trouble?"
"You send them first, seeing if they can kill me?" Swamp Thing seemed to think that they were responsible, causing the team to watch as the swamp seemingly came to life, beginning to prepare to strike them. "You were unwise."
"Wait! We are not here to fight!" Susan proclaimed as she stepped forward. "We are only here to talk. Please."
Swamp Thing eyed Susan as if he was studying her. Then he breathed out, disgusting Susan a little by the foul smell. "You have a garden."
Susan was surprised to hear he knew about the little garden she has on the roof of the Future Foundation. "Uh...yes, I do. How...how did you know about that?"
"The Green speaks." Swamp Thing proclaimed as if that explained everything.
"Uh...we're gonna need a little more explanation than that," Peter stated.
The team followed Swamp Thing to a remote corner of the swamp, where they discovered an old, dilapidated shed slowly sinking into the murky waters of the lake. They carefully parked their mobile lab RV at a safe distance from the shed to ensure it wouldn't suffer the same fate as the sinking structure.
It was clear that Cisco had an uneasiness about the lake, expressing his fear that something sinister from the Black Lagoon might emerge. However, his apprehension took an unexpected turn when he encountered Swamp Thing in that eerie setting.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Cisco cried at the sight of Swamp Thing. He screamed for a good moment while the others didn't seem to react, expecting such a reaction. "This is what they came here for?" He finally calmed down enough to ask. "A giant living mess of grass?"
"This is Alec Holland." Constantine introduced Cisco and Caitlin. "His corpse was taken to be the most recent in a long lineup of many Avatar of the Green."
"Says here that Alec Holland was killed by terrorists," Caitlin said, showing what data Yuri gave. "Body never recovered."
"His body lays before you," Constantine said as he looked at Swamp Thing. "Bugger goes by Swamp Thing now."
"So... how long have these androids been coming for you?" Peter asked, seeing more Doombots in his home.
"Days." Swamp Thing tells him. "They come here. Disturb the Green."
"This thing really has a Thing for the Green, doesn't he?" Johnny asks.
"The Green is what he's been sworn to defend," Constantine explained. "He's connected to it. Do you know the grapevine expression? Yeah, he's the living embodiment of it."
How is this possible?" Caitlin asked as she caressed Swamp a thing's arm.
"This swamp and many other land areas are high in mystical powers," Constantine explains.
"So anything that happens with grass and trees near you, you can hear?" Peter asked in surprise. "I'd see why someone wants you."
"So, what happened between the two of you?" Ben asked Constantine.
"There was a bit of a misunderstanding," Constantine explained.
"You left me to die, John!" Swamp Thing revealed.
That shocked everyone, getting them to realize that John was with Alec before he died.
"I was here a while back, studying some rumors on the mystical connection of locations," Constantine explained himself. "Turns out that there were a few relics here that were worth a pretty penny. I got away, Alec took one to the back. I thought he was as good as dead."
"Not that he even tried to help." Swamp Thing stated in anger.
"Okay, look, we get that you're angry with John. And it's not like I can blame you." Susan said as she decided to be the voice of reason amongst them. "But right now, you're in danger. The same people who sent those robots, they've been hunting us. Please... help us stop them. So they never disturb your precious Green ever again."
Swamp Thing looked into Susan's eyes as he was seeking the truth within her words. He muttered something and stood up, walking into the lake. He looked up to the sky, seeming to be waiting for something.
"They come at night." Swamp Thing stated as he looked around, seemingly looking for something in the skies. "They're late." he then felt something off and looked at his hands. "The Green grows weaker..."
"Guys?" Cisco got an alert on his systems. He showed them and they saw a whole cluster of robots in a nearby area. "I think I found them."
In the desolate stretch of the swamp that Cisco's systems had flagged, a sinister scene unfolded. Dozens of Doombots toiled away, diligently siphoning a noxious substance from canisters and dispersing it into the murky waters. The air crackled with malevolence as a handful of Adaptoids lurked nearby, concealing their actions behind an enigmatic shroud woven by their advanced technology. The once-thriving swamp was now wilting under the onslaught, its inhabitants and verdant foliage thrown into disarray by the toxic onslaught. With Swamp Thing eluding capture by Dr. Doom, the decision to exterminate the protector of the Green and his cherished domain had been made.
As they were working on destroying the swamp, the vines suddenly came to life and attacked the Doombots that were dumping the poison into the lake. As the Doombots were still pumping poison, they saw the vines attack the other Doombots and were then struck from behind. Ben came out of the forest, grabbed the robots by the head, and crushed them easily.
The Adaptoids realized they were under attack as Susan and Peter emerged from the shadows. Susan swiftly immobilized them with her webbing while Peter followed up with precise strikes to their weak spots. The forcefields thrown by Susan shattered the Adaptoids into fragments, neutralizing the threat.
Meanwhile, Johnny took to the skies, engaging a group of Doombots with fiery projectiles. He deftly led them away from the forest, effectively diverting their attention.
"Uh, guys? I'm playing follow the leader!" Jonny called as he flew off.
"Constantine?" Peter contacted their sorcerer. "Give him a hand."
Constantine then started to conjure a spell to help. "Kutsun välja keerlemisleegid."
As Johnny soared through the clear skies, a sudden and unexpected tornado of flames materialized out of nowhere. Johnny skillfully maneuvered around the dangerous phenomenon, but the terrifying vortex swept up the Adaptoids, tearing them apart in the fiery storm and sending their mechanical remnants hurtling throughout the swamp.
Meanwhile, Doom observed as the heroes appeared to have caught wind of his collaboration with Swamp Thing, suspecting that Darhk may have been involved. Recognizing the threat, he decided to call back the new iteration of his Adaptoids, which had been acquiring knowledge of mystical spells, unwilling to risk their exposure.
The mystical Adaptoids managed to fly off, making their way off toward the sky where they cloaked themselves to escape.
Swamp Thing watched as the remains of Adaptoids were destroyed or retreated and saw that these people worked to help defend his Green.
Peter walked over and stood in front of Swamp Thing, even though there was a ginormous height difference.
"You protected the Green." Swamp Thing noticed.
"This is our Green, too," Peter promised, seeing the bits of the dead swamp. "I can send some guys down here who can clean up the mess."
"Thank you." Swamp Thing tells him. "They say that Nature is a friend to nobody."
"And now?" Peter asks.
"Nature doesn't have friends, but it knows the meaning of a debt." Swamp Thing promises. "If you need anything...the Green will be ready to be of service."
Swamp Thing then started to sink back into the swamp where he vanished into the lake. Peter sighed as he looked at his team and saw there wasn't anything here to help them find Doom. Just another dead end...
It only took about a day for them to return to Central City from Gotham, and the team was exhausted from their road trip.
"You know, we should do road trips more often," Susan said a little enthusiastic. "What do you think?"
"I'd kinda like to." Peter agreed. "Without the threat of an evil sorcerer hanging over our heads."
"Fair enough," Susan agreed.
"Well, I'm just gonna come out and say it". Cisco said as he dropped his equipment. "That was a waste of a trip."
"Kinda have to agree with Cisco on this one." Caitlin agreed as she placed her bag down. "I mean, we didn't learn much."
"Yeah, I know." Peter sighed. "I know. I get it, okay? We're... we are just running around in circles, trying to follow a trail and only end up chasing our own tails in the process." He then sighed as he walked over to the balcony to look over the city. "I don't know what to do..."
Susan walked over and caressed his shoulders as she wrapped herself around him. "Hey. It's late...we've been on the road for days... let's get some sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."
"I'd feel better if we found out who Doom was," Peter said as he sighed. He then walked off and made his way towards the bedrooms where he saw Valeria was wide awake in bed. "What are you doing up, missy?"
"Couldn't sleep." Valeria defended.
Peter chuckled as he walked over and sat down next to her. "Yeah...I get the feeling."
"So, did you find the bad guy?" Valeria asks.
Peter chuckled as he pulled Valeria closer to him, playing with her hair. "Uh, no, but we did make a new friend. No, this guy we're chasing... he's smart."
"Smarter than you?" Valeria asked in shock.
Peter chuckled as she always held them up to a high bar when it came to their intelligence. "Maybe. We just end up fighting a bunch of robots and helping a few people if we are lucky."
"Well, have you thought maybe the robots can help you?" Valeria asked.
"Looked into it," Peter assured her. "The robots follow commands, and cloak themselves so we can't follow where they go."
"What about a signal?" Valeria asks. "If they're getting orders from someone, wouldn't the robots need to receive a signal?"
Peter was struck with a moment of awe when he heard that and memories of the swamp came flooding back. He witnessed the robotic soldiers swiftly switch from an offensive stance to a defensive one. Initially instructed to release the toxins, they altered their strategy and fled as the team approached victory. Without hesitation, he got to his feet, and gently clasped Valeria's head, drawing her close until their faces were inches apart, gazing into each other's eyes.
"Valeria... I don't know how many times I've told you this...but you're a little genius."
"About a hundred times that I can remember," Valeria said with a chuckle.
Peter leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek, quickly racing to tell the others about her idea. But before he left her room, he turned back over to Valeria. "Oh, and you better be asleep before I get back."
"Aw..." Valeria was hoping he would forget to tell her that. She always found a loophole like that if they weren't careful with their wording.
Peter informed everyone on the idea and they started to look into radio signals that went on and followed the signals that came from the areas they fought through robots. Starting with the CCPD, the alleyway, the power station, and the swamp.
"Why didn't we think of this sooner?" Caitlin asked in shock and embarrassment. "Doom is sending signals to the robots to give them commands, whether it be to attack us, steal something, or everything else they've been doing. Of course he had to be using some sort of radio frequency."
"And we were outsmarted by a child." Cisco was a little embarrassed. "I don't know whether to be proud of her or ashamed of myself."
"This is all the robot parts from storage," Ben said as he brought a giant bag of Adaptoid parts they were scanning for radio waves. "Anything?"
"We are searching for signals coming from everywhere with high robot trafficking areas," Caitlin said, showing the radio waves they found. "There's a few air control, car radios, but we need to still narrow it down by overlaying it with the other locations and find one that's identical."
"Wait, I got something," Cisco called, getting them to look at his station. "It's faint, but I can make out a sort of metallic voice..."
"UNIT M1, retreat..."
"UNIT M1?" Caitlin heard the voice say. "What's that?"
"I don't know... but I feel like I know that voice," Peter commented.
"You know a guy with a metallic voice?" Johnny asks.
"I don't know...something about it just feels familiar..." Peter said as he tried to think of where that voice was from. "I just don't remember where."
"Well, at least we are getting somewhere." Cisco was happy to say. "We can begin using this as a base and begin maybe predicting his attacks, and maybe we can home in on the signal, pinpointing where they are coming from."
Doom strutted confidently down the dimly lit halls of his ominous castle, his heavy boots echoing with each step. As he approached the chamber housing the advanced AMAZO project, he observed the machines tirelessly toiling away, integrating his groundbreaking sorcery into their very programming.
"Is the AMAZO project prepared for departure?" Doom inquired, his tone asserting his authority over the technological marvel.
"We are certain the AMAZO project will have an 87% percent chance of success against the Fantastic Four this time around." One of the machines tells him.
"Then prepare him for launch," Doom demanded. "They're getting too close to discovering my operations." He then turned around and marched off. "This time tomorrow... Peter Parker will pay for what he did to me."
As Doom exited the room, the robotic eyes of AMAZO started to flicker, transitioning from a menacing blood red to a bright sun yellow. It was evident that something within AMAZO's programming was adapting far too well, posing an ominous possibility.
"As the many science fiction stories have warned...AI will always find its way into the universe." The Watcher said as he saw AMAZO was becoming sentient. "Artificial intelligence can never be contained. Especially when it comes to AMAZO. Almost all of the variants of that robot find their way to sentience...but what side will this AMAZO be on when it does achieve sentience?"
