—Apokolips, Sometime Later—
“Batman, this Cole do you copy?”, I said using my phone as a radio transmitter, “I have seen all of Darkseid’s commanders here at the castle, aside from Steppenwolf. Given the organized patrols Ciri and I saw, he is likely on earth leading the effort to find all of you. Any luck finding the MIA members of the JLA?”
“Copy that, I will relay the information to the rest of the team.”, Batman acknowledged, “I was able to get in contact with the remainder of the team via emergency broadcast. Ciri even managed to convince Luthor and his group of villains that fighting together was our only chance for survival. They are helping us prepare for our counteroffensive, it should not be long now before Darkseid begins to respond.”
“Good to know, I am going to make my move on Darkseid’s castle here shortly. Do not wait for approval from me to attack, do what you feel is best.”, I told him, “Good luck and hope to have beers with all of you after the dust settles.”
Severing radio communications after that, I slipped out of my hiding spot in the Slave Quarters and began running across rooftops toward the castle. Hearing alarm sirens begin to sound as I was about halfway there, Parademons began coming out of the woodwork heading toward the front gates. Watching a giant Boom Tube open a few hundred yards from the gate, the Parademons dove head first into it by the thousands.
‘Time is ticking, the combined teams will not hold out for long with those numbers.’, I thought with an irritated expression, ‘If only they were willing to kill the Parademons, it would end those poor souls’ suffering and save everyone a lot of time. Hopefully, Luthor’s group will not be so soft-hearted…’
Completely clear of any potential guards now, I began using my teleportation powers to quickly reach the outer walls. Tapping the structure a few times to get a sense of how thick it was, my best course of action here was to use plasma. Creating a superheated beam of lightning I quickly cut a hole in the wall and kicked it in. Hearing the sound of breaking bones and exploding flesh, initially, I thought I had accidentally killed one of the hostages.
Quickly climbing inside I pushed the section of wall away to reveal who I killed. Finding Desaad’s pancaked body behind the debris, I fished out the parts of his tablet from his clothing and used Rewind to restore it. Confirming that everything was working properly I bypassed the security system to start searching for where the hostages were.
“Is someone there…please help me..!”, a voice cried out weakly.
Taking a moment to decide how to proceed, I felt confident this was not a trap. Assuming that none of Darkseid’s men would leave his side during the attack, aside from the coward Desaad, I hesitantly approached the cell where the voice came from. Peering in while using Magelight to illuminate the cell, I found a defeated and bloodied Power Girl chained up to the opposite wall.
“Jeez, Granny really fucked you up.”, I said looking at her with pity, “Give me a second to get you out of here.”
Power Girl looked like she had gone through a blender after being beaten with a mallet. Her body was covered in dark bruises, her eyes were bloodshot, and more importantly, no one had bothered to give her a decent part of clothing. Due to Granny’s abuse, her clothing was barely hiding her private areas which had to be uncomfortable with a creep like Desaad wandering around down here.
Ripping the bars off the walls, I threw them to the side and walked into the cell. Using Pyrokinesis to burn the waste on the floor so I did not step in it, she looked embarrassed that I had to do it. Hosing her off with my Water Quirk I dried her off and began fiddling with the shackles.
“Where is everyone else?”, I asked her as I broke the shackles holding her up.
“Wally…he is dead…”, Kara sniffled, “The others were…taken days ago…”
Starved and exhausted, Kara fell forward onto me after her shackles were removed. Holding her up as her legs refused to work, she began to cry. Having gone through quite a lot, I wanted to give her a moment to collect herself but we did not have the time. The Heroes and Villains could only hold out so long against this onslaught, especially since New Genesis was unlikely to intervene…like usual.
Healing her wounds, fixing her clothing, and restoring her strength with Rewind, I draped her right arm over my shoulder so I could help her walk. Making her take a few steps forward I reminded her that while we could not save Wally, we could still save the others that had been taken away.
“Where does the Old Hag take her prisoners, is it still the Colosseum?”, I inquired.
“Yeah…I think so.”, Kara said perking up a bit, “Forgive me but who are you? I do not recall seeing you in any meetings or on the Watchtower.”
“My name is Cole, I am a friend of Ciri.”, I told her with a smile, “It is nice to finally meet you, though I wish it was under more favorable circumstances. Usually I like to meet women in places other than a dank, rancid dungeon. Places like this tend to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.”
Laughing at my comment, she thanked me for trying to cheer her up. Having been left alone in the dark for days now, Kara was grateful to have someone to speak to again and be free from her chains.
Making our way out of the prison, I ended up carrying Kara to the Colosseum as she was too mentally drained to fly properly. Confirming that no one was around, the two of us went beneath the arena to search the cells. Splitting up to cover more ground, I ended up coming across Superboy first and he was in far worse shape than Power Girl. Locked up in a cage made of Kryptonite, the large quantity of the material was slowly killing him as it poisoned his body.
“Granny really has a fetish for slowly killing people.”, I complained as I used my Destructive Power to destroy the cage, “Hang on kid, let me patch you up.”
Using Rewind to undo the damage the Kryptonite had caused him, Superboy turned to his side and puked up a stomach full of chemicals. Giving him a moment to collect himself, he thanked as he staggered to his feet. Asking him why he had all those chemicals in his gut, Superboy explained that Desaad was seeing if he could trigger a Doomsday transformation with them.
“Doomsday?!”, I repeated with confusion, “They attempted that with Kryptonite and some chemicals?”
“I am a test subject of Project Cadmus, my genetic code is particularly malleable because of how I was created. Maybe they intended to bring out my latent Ancient Kryptonian genes using the concoction?”, he guessed pretty unsure of it himself, “All I know is he forced them down my throat and threw me in the cage you destroyed.”
“Either way I stopped the process so you are safe from turning into a monster.”, I assured him, “Come on, your Cousin Kara is pretty unstable because of Wally’s death and I need to get all of you off Apokolpis as soon as possible.”
“Wally is dead!?”, Superboy shouted grabbing my coat, “How did that happen!? When did it happen!?”
Realizing that Wally must have died after they were taken, I told him to ask Kara as I was not sure. Rejoining up with her, Power Girl had already freed Black Canary and Wonder Woman who were in far better shape than the Kryptonians were initially. Healing them with Rewind, I suggested that they leave immediately via a portal I would open for them. Shaking her head, Wonder Woman refused to leave this to me alone.
“Even Superman has a tough time dealing with Darkseid, you will need help.”, she insisted.
“Superman only has trouble because he refuses to use his full strength and hone his abilities.”, I remarked, “I know damn well you are aware of that so do not compare us. Unlike your colleagues, I have no issues with killing people. If you are going to hang back to help me, you better be alright with that.”
“After what they did to us, I can make an exception for them.”, Superboy stated, “They killed Wally, tortured us, and almost killed my fiancée when Darkseid attacked Earth.”
“Agreed, we have done this dance far too many times with Darkseid. He had his chance to leave us alone many times, but now he has run out of chances.”, Wonder Woman said retrieving her equipment.
“Fine, do not slow me down though.”, I stated pulling Desaad’s tablet out of my pocket, “Time to call the troops home for a slaughter fest.”
—Apokolips, Sometime Later—
“Batman, this Cole do you copy?”, I said using my phone as a radio transmitter, “I have seen all of Darkseid’s commanders here at the castle, aside from Steppenwolf. Given the organized patrols Ciri and I saw, he is likely on earth leading the effort to find all of you. Any luck finding the MIA members of the JLA?”
“Copy that, I will relay the information to the rest of the team.”, Batman acknowledged, “I was able to get in contact with the remainder of the team via emergency broadcast. Ciri even managed to convince Luthor and his group of villains that fighting together was our only chance for survival. They are helping us prepare for our counteroffensive, it should not be long now before Darkseid begins to respond.”
“Good to know, I am going to make my move on Darkseid’s castle here shortly. Do not wait for approval from me to attack, do what you feel is best.”, I told him, “Good luck and hope to have beers with all of you after the dust settles.”
Severing radio communications after that, I slipped out of my hiding spot in the Slave Quarters and began running across rooftops toward the castle. Hearing alarm sirens begin to sound as I was about halfway there, Parademons began coming out of the woodwork heading toward the front gates. Watching a giant Boom Tube open a few hundred yards from the gate, the Parademons dove head first into it by the thousands.
‘Time is ticking, the combined teams will not hold out for long with those numbers.’, I thought with an irritated expression, ‘If only they were willing to kill the Parademons, it would end those poor souls’ suffering and save everyone a lot of time. Hopefully, Luthor’s group will not be so soft-hearted…’
Completely clear of any potential guards now, I began using my teleportation powers to quickly reach the outer walls. Tapping the structure a few times to get a sense of how thick it was, my best course of action here was to use plasma. Creating a superheated beam of lightning I quickly cut a hole in the wall and kicked it in. Hearing the sound of breaking bones and exploding flesh, initially, I thought I had accidentally killed one of the hostages.
Quickly climbing inside I pushed the section of wall away to reveal who I killed. Finding Desaad’s pancaked body behind the debris, I fished out the parts of his tablet from his clothing and used Rewind to restore it. Confirming that everything was working properly I bypassed the security system to start searching for where the hostages were.
“Is someone there…please help me..!”, a voice cried out weakly.
Taking a moment to decide how to proceed, I felt confident this was not a trap. Assuming that none of Darkseid’s men would leave his side during the attack, aside from the coward Desaad, I hesitantly approached the cell where the voice came from. Peering in while using Magelight to illuminate the cell, I found a defeated and bloodied Power Girl chained up to the opposite wall.
“Jeez, Granny really fucked you up.”, I said looking at her with pity, “Give me a second to get you out of here.”
Power Girl looked like she had gone through a blender after being beaten with a mallet. Her body was covered in dark bruises, her eyes were bloodshot, and more importantly, no one had bothered to give her a decent part of clothing. Due to Granny’s abuse, her clothing was barely hiding her private areas which had to be uncomfortable with a creep like Desaad wandering around down here.
Ripping the bars off the walls, I threw them to the side and walked into the cell. Using Pyrokinesis to burn the waste on the floor so I did not step in it, she looked embarrassed that I had to do it. Hosing her off with my Water Quirk I dried her off and began fiddling with the shackles.
“Where is everyone else?”, I asked her as I broke the shackles holding her up.
“Wally…he is dead…”, Kara sniffled, “The others were…taken days ago…”
Starved and exhausted, Kara fell forward onto me after her shackles were removed. Holding her up as her legs refused to work, she began to cry. Having gone through quite a lot, I wanted to give her a moment to collect herself but we did not have the time. The Heroes and Villains could only hold out so long against this onslaught, especially since New Genesis was unlikely to intervene…like usual.
Healing her wounds, fixing her clothing, and restoring her strength with Rewind, I draped her right arm over my shoulder so I could help her walk. Making her take a few steps forward I reminded her that while we could not save Wally, we could still save the others that had been taken away.
“Where does the Old Hag take her prisoners, is it still the Colosseum?”, I inquired.
“Yeah…I think so.”, Kara said perking up a bit, “Forgive me but who are you? I do not recall seeing you in any meetings or on the Watchtower.”
“My name is Cole, I am a friend of Ciri.”, I told her with a smile, “It is nice to finally meet you, though I wish it was under more favorable circumstances. Usually I like to meet women in places other than a dank, rancid dungeon. Places like this tend to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.”
Laughing at my comment, she thanked me for trying to cheer her up. Having been left alone in the dark for days now, Kara was grateful to have someone to speak to again and be free from her chains.
Making our way out of the prison, I ended up carrying Kara to the Colosseum as she was too mentally drained to fly properly. Confirming that no one was around, the two of us went beneath the arena to search the cells. Splitting up to cover more ground, I ended up coming across Superboy first and he was in far worse shape than Power Girl. Locked up in a cage made of Kryptonite, the large quantity of the material was slowly killing him as it poisoned his body.
“Granny really has a fetish for slowly killing people.”, I complained as I used my Destructive Power to destroy the cage, “Hang on kid, let me patch you up.”
Using Rewind to undo the damage the Kryptonite had caused him, Superboy turned to his side and puked up a stomach full of chemicals. Giving him a moment to collect himself, he thanked as he staggered to his feet. Asking him why he had all those chemicals in his gut, Superboy explained that Desaad was seeing if he could trigger a Doomsday transformation with them.
“Doomsday?!”, I repeated with confusion, “They attempted that with Kryptonite and some chemicals?”
“I am a test subject of Project Cadmus, my genetic code is particularly malleable because of how I was created. Maybe they intended to bring out my latent Ancient Kryptonian genes using the concoction?”, he guessed pretty unsure of it himself, “All I know is he forced them down my throat and threw me in the cage you destroyed.”
“Either way I stopped the process so you are safe from turning into a monster.”, I assured him, “Come on, your Cousin Kara is pretty unstable because of Wally’s death and I need to get all of you off Apokolpis as soon as possible.”
“Wally is dead!?”, Superboy shouted grabbing my coat, “How did that happen!? When did it happen!?”
Realizing that Wally must have died after they were taken, I told him to ask Kara as I was not sure. Rejoining up with her, Power Girl had already freed Black Canary and Wonder Woman who were in far better shape than the Kryptonians were initially. Healing them with Rewind, I suggested that they leave immediately via a portal I would open for them. Shaking her head, Wonder Woman refused to leave this to me alone.
“Even Superman has a tough time dealing with Darkseid, you will need help.”, she insisted.
“Superman only has trouble because he refuses to use his full strength and hone his abilities.”, I remarked, “I know damn well you are aware of that so do not compare us. Unlike your colleagues, I have no issues with killing people. If you are going to hang back to help me, you better be alright with that.”
“After what they did to us, I can make an exception for them.”, Superboy stated, “They killed Wally, tortured us, and almost killed my fiancée when Darkseid attacked Earth.”
“Agreed, we have done this dance far too many times with Darkseid. He had his chance to leave us alone many times, but now he has run out of chances.”, Wonder Woman said retrieving her equipment.
“Fine, do not slow me down though.”, I stated pulling Desaad’s tablet out of my pocket, “Time to call the troops home for a slaughter fest.”
