Welcome back to The Injustice Wars. Last time, as everybody recovered from Blaze's massive grief-based Fire Fury, Psycho Burner and Vermillion appeared, either protecting Darkblood and his crew or stopping Blaze and co from acting. And in that moment, Darkblood and Raven released the ghoul from the scepter, known only as Horror-Show. Darkblood gave the order to remove all of Blaze's team with the exception of Doctor Fate, since both he and Horror-Show have a bone to pick with Nabu. Black Manta was called upon to get them out of there. So, how's this going to go? Read on to discover...
(Our scene opens up in Black Manta's submarine, where just as we enter, Blaze and company recover from Vermillion's time freeze)
Black Manta: Glad to see somebody hit play on you guys.
John Constantine: (Realizes who's company he's in) Why am I not surprised this Darkblood blighter has you on his payroll, Manta?
Blaze: He doesn't.
John Constantine: Come again?
Blaze: Manta works for us, acting as a spy in Darkblood's operation.
John Constantine: Bugger me. I wouldn't have seen that coming.
Black Manta: Well, welcome to reality, you screwed up cockney.
Hellboy: What the hell even happened in there?
Raiden: The last thing I saw was a giant flash of flame to rival Armageddon.
Blaze: Sorry about that.
Zatanna: Wait, what happened to Etrigan? Last I saw, he and John were swapping places.
John Constantine: Sorry to say, Z. We're the last of the JL Dark.
Blaze: Etrigan is dead. It was in grief over his demise that the Fire Fury went off.
Vandal Savage: Everything after that is a blur though.
Black Manta: Allow me to fill you in. Darkblood released whatever was trapped in that staff Crane was obsessed with.
Blaze: Great. Now we're going to have an angry Fate to deal with.
Zatanna: Speaking of Fate, where is Kent anyways?
John Constantine: Bugger! He's not here!
Black Manta: Darkblood kept him. Apparently both he and the guy from the staff have a bone to pick with the once good Doctor.
Hellboy: Oh this is just freaking great. Now we have to go back and rescue the guy we hate.
Blaze: I'd be doing it for Kent, not Nabu.
Black Manta: I'll get us turned around.
Blaze: We need to make this look convincing. (Slashes Black Manta's wetsuit) Make it look like we took over the sub.
Black Manta: Alright then. (Punches Blaze in the face) Make us both look a little worse for wear.
Hellboy: Way ahead of you.
(With that, Hellboy punches Black Manta with the Right Hand of Doom, shattering one of his helmet's eyes)
Black Manta: There was no need to punch that hard! Do you have any idea how expensive this helmet is to fix?
Hellboy: You said to make it look convincing.
Blaze: It works. Zatanna, Think you can bind Manta and his crew?
Zatanna: Easily. (Takes off her hat) Yleruces dnib Atnam dna sih werc!
(With her spell spoken, a length of rope emerges from her hat and binds Black Manta and all the members of his crew on it's own)
Zatanna: That should hold them convincingly.
Blaze: Good. Now let's go back and get Fate.
(As Black Manta's sub turns around, we transition back to The Nameless City, where Darkblood, Raven, Horror-Show, Enchantress, Killer Frost, and Scarecrow are discussing the minutia of the deal between the ghoul and the dragon with the time frozen Doctor Fate in the background.)
Horror-Show: So if you're to be believed, all I need to do is just work with you for a time, and once you win, you'll make me master of all magic?
Darkblood: Exactly.
Horror-Show: Like I said, I don't take orders from the fleshed.
Darkblood: Then we'll work through an intermediary. Such as Raven, perhaps? Given she has the blood of Trigon, I assume you'd be more comfortable taking orders from her?
Horror-Show: (Thinks about it) Moderately? Between you, her, and Trigon, I'd rather Trigon, but she's still more to my tastes than you.
Raven: Don't get any ideas, I have a husband already.
Horror-Show: Maybe not by the time we stop working together.
Raven: No.
Horror-Show: Give it time.
Darkblood: How about this then? Raven belongs to me, body, mind, and soul, and that is final. And before you try with Enchantress or Killer Frost, the same applies to them. So stop trying to seduce my bride, or I'll take your head off.
Horror-Show: Please, only something stronger than what sealed me away last time can seal me again.
Darkblood: Are you willing to wager that I'm not stronger than Doctor Fate?
Horror-Show: Honestly, no.
Darkblood: I didn't think so.
Horror-Show: Well then, our partnership can begin on good terms.
Scarecrow: And what roll do I play in this? After all, without me, you'd still be stuck in that scepter!
Horror-Show: Of course. How foolish of me. You will play an especially important part in my plan, Doctor Crane.
Scarecrow: That being?
(With that, Horror-Show stabs Scarecrow in the chest with his claws)
Horror-Show: Lunch.
(And with that, Horror-Show absorbs Scarecrow's soul, killing Doctor Crane for good this time)
Killer Frost: If he gets back up from that, I'm going to lose it.
Enchantress: No mortal can survive without a soul unless they've made a bargain with dark forces. He's deader than dead.
Killer Frost: Good, he was a creep anyways.
Darkblood: Now that our bargain has been established... (Gestures to Doctor Fate) What do we do with him?
Horror-Show: I don't care what happens to his host. Nabu meanwhile...
Darkblood: Hold your wrath for now, ghoul. I have a plan for the good Doctor.
Horror-Show: What could you possibly do that would be more satisfying than killing him? (Darkblood whispers something in his ear) Oh ho, for a fleshed one, I like the way you think! But can you do that?
Darkblood: The New Dark Master is more than capable of it.
(Just as Darkblood says that, Reverse Flash runs in)
Reverse Flash: Sire! We have a problem!
Darkblood: This had better be good, Thawne!
Reverse Flash: Black Manta's submarine has been commandeered by the prisoners. They're on their way back as we speak!
Darkblood: No doubt to rescue Fate. We must act fast.
Horror-Show: Do your thing then!
(Without a moment's hesitation, Darkblood unfreezes Doctor Fate, and then imbues him with a massive amount of Dark Aether. But we don't get to see the results, as our scene is ending for today)
And that looks like a good place to end for today. So, Darkblood has an evil plan in mind for Doctor Fate. But what is he doing? I won't spoil anything. But next time, you'll see the dastardly results. So be sure to tune in for that! Same time... same channel!