On the planet Earth, there's a country called Qurac. They were once a governorate of the Iraqi federation. Babil (i.e. Babylon) is a neighbor of theirs...as is Bialya. Malatya, a town in Southeast Turkey, is also close.
In this country, it often feels like the war never ends. Many towns, and entire halves of cities, have become rubble. A few mosques, too, have been burned. It's certainly no place to settle down and raise a family. It could use a few more construction firms, though...or a legion of them.
UAVs rule the skies. They were made by new gods and are branded with the hostile trademarks of Intergang. Many airstrikes, they commit; they're often more likely to make thing worse than better. But then, Superman, at least, could tell everyone on the ground that Intergang is an investment that's guaranteed to go belly-up.
On the ground, many sappers lay mines...and other devices. They, too, are just as likely to worsen things as embetter them. They can sure lay mines... They can build bridges, too... Alas, most times, they're asked to build walls...and other less diplomatic contraptions.
By night, the League of Assassins stalks the ruins. They often come with a small staff, if any...and often leave with heavy bags full of severed heads...and still-beating hearts, in some cases. They haven't shrunk Abul and put it in a bottle yet... But then, of course, none of them are coluans.
Every now and then, heroes and vigilantes come to this country in an attempt to keep the violence in-check. Most times, though, while they can make it go away for a while, they can't make it go away forever. Funny; and to think all of these vigs have powers...
Aback a broomstick, the stage wizard Zatara flies. He's in a rainbow-blue robe and a keffiyeh. He's armed with a spruce wand, with which he casts logomancy spells, while mounted.
Glowing and clad in his energy-generated attire, a human Yellow Lantern lands atop an elevated steel I-beam. Up here, he does battle with many of the local tightrope-walking rogues. As a Yellow Lantern, his power ring draws power from emotions such as serenity, joy, and ecstasy. Hence, he tells jokes to himself while clobbering the rogues. He'd better be careful...or the Joker might try to recruit him to become his next protege...
Clad in goggles and gauntlets, the Latino hero Vibe battles the helldogs, hellhogs, and mujaheddin of Qurac's urban rubble. He does so by generating extradimensional energy, via portals that he opens via his gauntlets. Via his goggles, he surfs the multiverse and decides from which worlds to draw which energies...or to which worlds with which to imprison which foes. In addition to all of that, he also carries a mega-rifle that fires extradimensional energy.
The Tricksters often come here; father Jesse and son Walker. They're always happy to spend father-son time together; often too much so, if one asked the Central City cops.
Armed with a jinni at his command, Johnny Thunder materializes his desires; as he does this, thunder often rumbles. He's clad in jewelry that glows with pink light...or whatever not...each time he "makes a wish."
Clad in camo battledress and armed with a ray rifle, Adam Strange comes to Qurac and aids the country's security. These days, he's less of a spectacle that what he would've been used to in his heyday; during which he would've been a metahuman.
Surrounded by a substation, the hero Static absorbs a lot of local electricity. Into the substation, many rogues break in and attack him. He uses his powers of electromagnetism and electricity to turn them into roast...or to cause them to levitate a lot higher than they'd rather. From there, he keeps it up. At one point, he starts levitating himself. He levitates all over the cities, generating lightning and striking the many rogues that attack him.
Cape-clad and airborne, Shazam Jr flies, and provides air support wherever it's needed. Below, he sees a camp of white tents, all branded with the Red Crescent, who seem to be under siege. He lands, casts spells, shoots Living Lightning from his hands, and makes sure that the sleeping patients inside the Red Crescent tents get to sleep longer...without dying, that is. Unlike his foster brother and mentor, Shazam Jr wears a blue suit.
As a semi-amorous partnership, Red Tool and Harley Quinn take on the local rogues; Harley with her huge mallet, and Red Tool with his huge red weapons improvised from hardware appliances. They make a powerful couple. And to think that Quinn initially rejected Red Tool's advances, before becoming his partner... But of course, the Joker was a big part of her past...
Using his elasticity, Plastic Man becomes one of the many rogues in Qurac and starts stabbing them in the back. He also elongates his limbs and throws them from killing heights. He acts as a sling and shoots them to killing heights.
Clad in battledress and a white cloak, Jay Nakamura does battle with some of the local rogues. To do this, he often becomes intangible, and partially invisible. In short, he becomes a ghost. He does this all while having pink hair.
As Nakamura fights, he releases something into the wind. It's an imp. He travels to a bigger fight, enlarges himself, starts shapeshifting, and starts combating the legions of rogues. The imp's name is Mr. Mxyzptlk (Mxy for short). And he was once one of Superman's greatest peeves...if he still isn't. But today, at least, he's putting his talent to better use... Or, so it seems...
Riding the winds, Monkey Prince arrives, all the way from China. As he lands in the streets, he begins many whirlwinds. He conjures a pair of nunchaku and starts doing battle with any and all of the local rogues who attack him. He throws many of them into the whirlwinds; there, they get trapped inside...and very sick. The Monkey Prince is very agile and can improvise his tail into a weapon as well. He is, in fact, a clone of the legendary Monkey King, the main character of China's very first novel.
Aloft, Mad Hatter pilots his hat-shaped hovercraft. Below, he pits his "Boonie Company" against Qurac's rogues. His Boonie Company consists of kidnapped and brainwashed Gotham cops who've been forced to wear military boonie hats. Via these hats, the Hatter controls them, via mind control. They fight on his behalf; never once, of course, do they disobey orders...although they can die. But then, as far as Hatter is concerned, better them than himself...
Aback a broomstick, Willoughby Kipling, another wizard, provides air support. He, too, is armed with a spruce wand. He's also armored...with medieval chain mail garments beneath his wizard's robes. It seems that he's a knight, as well as a wizard.
Past a pit just outside one of the towns, a speedster speeds. Several times, he returns. Each time he does, he leaves a corpse; each one is of a rogue he's just taken down. This speedster is Kid Flash; his suit is black and gold. He's from the future...and an alien to both the Speed Force and his own powers.
Within the breezes, another imp flies. He flies around, enlarges himself, and starts doing combat with the local rogues. This mite calls himself the Bat-Mite.
Here and there, portals from the Speed Force open. From them, speedsters race out. Faster than anyone can keep track of them, they run around, playing mean tricks on the local rogues, dooming them. These speedsters are Flash and Impulse. The Flash wears a blue suit and is from the future. Impulse is, too...although from a lot earlier in it than the Blue Flash.
Arming and piloting the Bat-Mecha, Bernard Dowd takes on the local rogues. Normally, he's just a lab tech. Red Robin, though, seems to believe in him...a lot, in fact...
From the Bat-Mecha's shoulder, a speck leaps, falls, and swells. He's a Hong Konger nerd named Ryan Choi...and he wears a red-and-blue suit. As the Atom, he starts fighting the local rogues. To dodge their strikes, he shrinks. To clobber them, he grows. To get around, he flies.
Never too far from here, Danny, a sentient street, has become a forward military base. Hence, for this role, he calls himself Danny the Bivouac. Whenever he's not doing this, he's the ever-modular HQ of the Doom Patrol...as well as one of their teammates.
Danny hosts a certain association of denizen humans who call themselves Dannyzens. As denizens of Danny the Bivouac, they've been reborn as Dagestanis (i.e. Northeast Caucasian types of various races). Many have now become ragtag warriors and have assembled a military unit called Danny's Dagestani Division. They dress as pirates, mount horses, shout very loudly and happy, and ride off to war, wielding semi-automatic rifles and other low-level weapons. Mostly, though, they aid Qurac's security...as Danny already means to by being here.
Aloft, Dane, a demon-human hybrid, flies via angel's wings. From his harnessing, a scabbard hangs. From it, he produces a blade. As he chambers it, it starts generating fire; it becomes fire, in fact. He soon dives, lands, and starts doing battle with the local rogues. They don't stand a chance against his flaming blade. One would think that none of them believed in Allah...
Atop a high-tech levitating surfboard, Booster Gold is on the offensive. He's armed with a pair of chrono-submachine guns. There's a lot more where that comes from...and it's all from the future.
Surrounded by the local rubble, two of the Blue Beetles have at it with the local rogues; Kord and Reyes. They're mentor-and-protege to one another; Kord's the mentor, and Reyes is the protege.
Standing atop an armored bus, Arsenal, armed with a compound bow, shoots many trick-arrows at anyone who attacks him. With him, every shot counts. He's trained way too long with the Green Arrow (and Deathstroke, occasionally) for otherwise.
Whenever he can, Nite-Mite, another imp, leaps out of Arsenal's raiment, enlarges himself, and goes on the offensive, helping Arsenal out with CQ affairs. (Close-quarters; not charge-of-quarters...) Nightwing, Nite-Mite's regular partner, would want this, after all...even if Arsenal is just as likely to receive Nite-Mite as a pest as Nightwing himself once was...
Ambush Bug has improvised one of his TV news cameras into a Gatling gun. And there seems to be a lot of ammo, where that comes from... But then, it seems likely that this Gatling gun draws power from some ammo factory, and teleports the ammo into the Gatling, so it'll always be loaded... He probably got some of the ideas for that from Bloodsport, another user of teleporting weaponry...
Yes, a lot of vigs often come to Qurac to aid the ever-contracting cops and militias with the country's security...or otherwise lack thereof. They haven't caused the third Desert Storm yet...but as far as some of them go, it certainly seems likely that they're taking dangerous steps in that direction...both as political figures and as pathological damage-causers. But then, where would any society be without its warriors?
This is Abul, the capital. It, too, has seen way too many hard times. During WWII, Qurac was allied with the Axis; seldom, though, did its armies get to participate in any of the big battles of that war. Qayid, they called their leader, back in those days... (The Germans would've called theirs a Fuhrer, and the Italians, theirs a Duce, and so forth.)
This year, the Qayid is Hurrambi Marlo...as it has been, nonstop, for the past three decades. Qurac, it seems, is a republic in which there are no term limits for the administrators. Such seems to be a common pattern in the Middle East. And yet they wonder why the new gods of Dark Genesis have such a reverent opinion of them...most days...
An attack on the Qayid's mansion is underway. As one might expect, the Qayid's estate has many domes and minarets...as well as a very high and thick wall running around it. Most of the vaults are barreled, and most of the doors and windows are horseshoe-arched.
It takes the main invader a while...but he finally bursts down the doors to the Qayid's office. With first a pistol and then a sword, the Qayid attempts to defend himself. Alas, his efforts are soon subdued. Before long, he leans backwards against his desk.
It's Goldface. He's a villain from space. His body is made entirely of organic gold. And as if that wasn't impressive enough, he can also improvise the gold chain, which he wears ornamentally around his neck, into a chain whip. He can also change into a black human named Keith Kenyon, if need be.
"Ah, so admirable," he speaks...smiling and walking in circles around the vigilant Qayid. "All leaders on Earth, it seems, are omnipotent." He giggles. "Fire a nuke into their forehead, and it just bounces right off!"
Goldface giggles more, and puts on a cute little act, suggesting the Qayid's "omnipotence." The Qayid, as one might expect, is not having fun...
"It's so nice to think," Goldface continues, "to think that humanity can count on its leaders so much... Nothing bad ever happens to them! And it's all because their leaders are so responsible, by spending their childhoods becoming metal, and spending their wee years as adults learning how to absorb their critics bullets...as they will all surely have way too many critics, once they assume daddy's little power..."
"I don't know who you are," Qayid finally speaks, "but I swear on every Quran in this country that hasn't yet been burned that justice will see you doomed for your insolence!"
Goldface scoffs. "You must've been under-exerting yourself there, buddy, for some reason." He shrugs. "I didn't feel a thing. One would think that if you were really omnipotent, you could force me to regret what I'm doing against my will." He shrugs again. "Why don't I? Why do I feel just as good about what I'm doing now as I was?! Hmm?!"
The Qayid is speechless.
Goldface changes his left arm into a huge broadsword. "It's still very nice to know, though, that any one of your subjects could just...drive this blade, right through your chest," Goldface commits this very atrocity, as he speaks, "and not only would you not feel it...but it wouldn't kill you, either! You'd be just as strong as ever...like Allah himself being insulted by the most lowly street rat in Jahannam. Now, ain't that a wonderful thought...hmm?"
Goldface listens. Alas, the Qayid doesn't respond. He can't; he's dead.
"Hmm? What's that?" Goldface slaps his face several times. "Hey, man! I'm talking to you! Why won't you do your job?!"
Goldface finally pulls the blood-dripping sword from the fallen Qayid's chest. His corpse falls on the floor, and lands on his back. There, he lies, as dead as all of the prophets of Islam. He's breathed his last breath...and has said his final speech...memorable though it wasn't. It's almost as if he never knew his subjects well enough to know that they all hate speeches. But then, he was raised in politics...
Goldface stands over the fallen leader's body, changes his arm back into an arm (albeit one made of organic gold), and cleans it. He places his fists on his hips, and scoffs. "I never know why I come here," he admits. "It seems like leaders ALWAYS bluff about being omnipotent... If one didn't know better, they'd say that Allah wasn't omnipotent, either..." He shrugs. "Ah, well; the search continues, right?"
On wings and engines of gold, Goldface leaps through a horseshoe arch, falls a little, and soon returns to the skies. He fights and brings down a passing Intergang UAV while doing so. It lands in an olive tree on the mansion's grounds...and sets it ablaze.