Chapter 35: Dark Heart
[Third Person's Point of View]
Acnologia is currently on his knees and clenching his stomach with his hands. He is unable to breath... To understand how this came to be, one must turn back time for a bit and see the events that transpired which led to this point.
-Flashback noise-
In one of the canyons of Nevada, a couple can be seen rock climbing.
"So remind me again, why we picked this mesa to climb."
The red-haired woman asked as she continued to climb.
"Because once we're up there we'll be able to see half of Nevada."
Her boyfriend, who is ahead of her, replies which causes her to inquire if there is anything more.
"That's it?"
"Well, we'll also be able to see the three Towns close to the Mesa too."
'Also I'm going to propose but I can't say that while we are rock climbing.'
The boyfriend says while hiding the truth.
"You are so dumped when we get down from here."
The woman mutters before she nearly loses her grip due to losing her footing.
"Ah, a little help here?"
She says noticing that her boyfriend already reached the top.
"Billy?"
Not seeing him do anything, she decided to call his name yet he still did nothing. Angry at this, she climbs at the top ready to tear her boyfriend a new one and once she is at the top, she decides to lecture him, while taking off the rope attached to her gear, before even looking at him.
"Rule number one of rock climbing, you never EVER leave your-"
She stops midway through her sentence due to standing up and looking ahead of herself. Instead of her boyfriend who should be there, something that could only described as several pieces of metal put together to form a futuristic yet somewhat artistic... something which also screamed, metaphorically, Alien no matter which way she looked at it.
Upon further observation, she noticed that some things were moving inside of It and the longer she looked the more horrified she became as she managed to distinguish the things that were inside It, they were spiders.
Her observation proved to be true as silver, red-eyed spiders, about a foot long and tall, with four pointed legs marched toward her which brought her attention to them and caused her to notice her boyfriend's shoe somewhat confirming what had happened to him. She barely had time to scream as the metallic spiders lunged at her.
[AN: This is from Justice League Unlimited episode Dark Heart and one thing that I never got was why the woman lived when they killed her boyfriend, it must have taken some time to get there yet the spider did nothing and after she leaves they start attacking everything.]
After the woman was taken care of, the spiders climbed down and started eating the vehicle that the couple had used to get there before returning back inside It. Shortly after that, dozens of helicopters came towards It.
The landing of such an object had quickly grabbed the attention of the U.S. government which decided to send its army to contain It after noticing the danger it might pose. The fact that it was extraterrestrial already made it dangerous. The helicopters descended near their target and they began containing i-
*BANG*
"Containment has failed and we are taking heavy losses!"
*BANG*
*BANG*
The voice of a U.S. Army commander came over the radio barely five minutes after the containment protocol began. In front of that same U.S. Army commander were metallic tigers that had sprouted in front of their target after the metallic spiders ate the helicopters.
The commander was shooting them with his gun but that dealt no damage whatsoever. Having been given a quick briefing about their target as his team went towards them, he thought he knew what he was up against since after having eaten the vehicle, their target's spiders returned inside like a defense mechanism but now he realized that their target had just done that lure them into bring more food to itself.
"Requesting emergency support; I repeat, we cannot contain them!"
The commander said while firing more bullets out of his gun.
*BANG*
*BANG*
"Sounds like the commander could use a little reassurance..."
Superman said as he flew towards the conflict. Dealing with an extraterrestrial threat, the U.S. government had decided to call the Justice League for help.
"... Let's hope we can give it to him."
Batman finished Superman's sentence from the Batwing.
"We'll give it to him all right, and then some."
Wonder Woman added piloting a Javelin with a dozen other heroes in the back before looking outside the plane and seeing a couple more heroes of the League, who could fly. She could not help but to comment.
"Strength in numbers and all that."
The league had brought all of their available members that were stationed on the Watch Tower, which had increased due to the Time Boom, upon being called by the U.S. government. The Team had also been called upon though it was to help with the evacuation of nearby towns.
The Javelin reached the mesa that the alien object had landed on. As soon as the Javelin touched down, the Leaguers rushed out to face the invador(s). When they got outside, the heroes got their first look at the invaders and could only describe them as a legion mostly comprised of mechanical spiders.
The thing that could be described as the main vessel was spawning hundreds if not thousands of mechanical spiders. Though if one took the time to observe each mechanical creature individually, they would notice that some of them were mechanical tigers.
"It's growing bigger."
Batman states while still in his Batwing before adding.
"And it's somehow devouring everything around it, then converting it into mass."
"And those spider-like things?"
Wonder Woman asked.
"The same and once they're done with the debris from the army's attempt to beat them back, they're going to spread out to the three nearby towns."
Batman answered.
"Diana!"
In Wonder Woman's ear came the voice of Martian Manhunter who continued what he wanted to say.
"I have the communications feed from the general on the ground, and I'm patching you through."
"This is Wonder Woman."
Diana spoke into her communication piece before adding on.
"Go ahead, General."
An authoritative voice spoke.
"This is General Eiling, USAF. We're in the process of evacuating three towns in the immediate vicinity. Although the help from your sidekicks is appreciated, we need those… things locked down."
"Then the first task is containment."
Wonder Woman replies to which Batman chimes in.
"I've got something onboard that might buy us some time."
The Batwing then flew over the main vessel and dropped a large bomb. Instead of an explosion, a thick layer of ice crept across the blob, keeping most of it locked up.
"Batman... What was that? "
Wonder Woman asked in a confused tone. Upon hearing her question, Batman casually explained.
"Thermionic gas cooled to a few degrees of absolute zero."
Seeing that she had worded her question vaguely, Wonder Woman decided to ask the question she first meant to ask.
"Why would you have something like that on your plane?"
Batman once again explain in a casual tone as if he is stating that the sky is blue during the day.
"I needed to freeze the Gotham River once... long story."
While the main vessel froze, the spiders briefly turned to look at it before they turned simultaneously and resumed their march toward the towns. The only thing standing in their way was the Justice League.
"Move in!"
Superman shouted from the sky before the heroes behind him flew towards it along with him while aiming energy blasts, missiles, magic, or their bare fists toward the mechanical spiders. While the flying heroes went to the side of the mesa, smashing or blasting the mechanical threats on the wall, they were not able to get them all though that was not a problem.
This was because the heroes on the ground held off the rest of the swarms of spiders. Superman was doing what he could though he could not go at full strength or speed since that would cause the swarm to fly away which went against their objective.
He observed every mechanical threat to see if he could learn something that might shut them down and upon finding something he went down to where Wonder Woman was. He landed on a mechanical spider crushing it as Wonder Woman spoke through her communication piece.
"Good job, surround them and close in."
"Hold on a second."
Superman said upon hearing a strange noise from below him. He used his X-ray vision to look underneath the main ship and to his shock, he saw tunnels leading through the mesa and leading straight to them.
"They're right under us!"
His words came too late as hundreds of spiders jumped out from the ground. The heroes were surprised as the Javelin was covered in spiders and dragged underground causing some to lose their footing.
The leaguers although surprised quickly got over it and resumed destroying the swarm that came at them though that moment of shock allowed part of the swarm to get past the leaguers.
"Wonder Woman, can you hear me?"
The voice of General Eiling came in Wonder Woman's ear through her communication piece before the General continued.
"I'm in the town of Goldhanger, two klicks from you. Your sidekicks have managed to clear the other town but we're not going to get everyone out in time."
"You won't have to, General."
Martian Manhunter chimed into the conversation from the Watch Tower before he added.
"The Watchtower is now in stationary orbit over the sight. I am clearing the binary-fusion generator for firing."
Upon hearing that, the General could only say one thing.
"The what?!"
Martian Manhunter heard the shock, confusion and bewilderment and decided to explain out of good faith and because the League would have to explain this either way after the matter was over.
"It converts our station's entire energy output into a single shot. It's a gun with the punch of a small nuclear weapon, General."
'You're telling me that you have a literal Death Star at hand and you never told the U.N this?! And you fucekrs are going to use such a weapon of mass destruction over American soil?'
The General thought before speaking.
"You can't be serious!"
"We're very serious."
Martian Manhunter replied as he was getting it ready then added.
"Now pull your men back. We can't hit the aliens directly, because it could scatter them for miles. So, we're going to burn a trench around them."
On the ground, Eiling ordered the men who had joined the League in combat to withdraw, the heroes themselves also joined them soon after because a massive beam of energy fell from the sky, just past the line of spiders, carving a trench around the main vessel which had grown to cover the whole mesa it had landed on.
*BOOM*
The light was so bright that outside of those who had some sort of shielding over their eyes, everyone had to turn away, out of fear of being blinded. when the light faded, there was a hundred-foot wide, five-mile-deep trench in the ground that left many speechless as the swarm briefly retreated.
"That should buy us some time until they get the townspeople out."
Superman stated before explaining what he had learned through using his x-ray and microscopic vision to look deep into their systems, looking for weak points to attack. He had discovered that at the center of each one was a purple and red core, suspended by black veins.
"I think the main spacecraft is replicating. There's some sort of near-microscopic machine at the center of each one, a kind of… dark heart, building around itself."
'This means that the only way to neutralize them would be from the inside and at an atomical level.'
Batman thought inside the Batwing before speaking.
"We need Ray Palmer, in Boston. Superman, you'll get there fastest, get to him, explain the situation, and get his help."
Had it not been for the Watch Tower being out of commission after creating that trench or the fact that Flash, along with Kid Flash, were currently not available Ray Palmer would have been here in a matter of minutes either via teleportation or Flash bringing him here.
Superman was the fastest option available since Triton who had not been to Boston could not teleport there.
"Good idea."
Superman said while nodding before flying as fast as he could without damaging his surroundings. As he took off, he spoke to the others that were staying there.
"Hold the line!"
[1 Hour Later]
Superman can be seen flying towards Nevada with a tiny man sitting in his ear while having a conversation about the nightmare of nanotechnology. As they do so, they hear Batman's voice from Superman's communication piece.
"Got an ETA yet?"
He asked in an agitated tone which Superman noticed after Batman added on.
"We need you!"
"Soon."
Superman reassures his fellow leaguer before inquiring about how the situation progressed while he was away.
"How's the trench holding up?"
To his question, Batman replies with a sarcastic and rhetorical question.
"What trench?"
Batman flew over the swarm of spiders and he glanced down at what was once the trench. Barely ten minutes after Superman had left, the spiders had spent a half-hour using their own bodies as a series of bridges, allowing their brethren to scurry across them only for the leaguers to destroy those bridges while the main vessel continued to eat the matter surrounding it and producing more minions until it had completely grown past the trench.
On the ground, many of the Leaguers were getting tired due to the seemingly endless battle that was ahead of them. The Team, which at this moment, was composed of Triton, Robin, Artemis, Aqualad, Supergirl, and Miss Martian had joined the leaguers in their battle.
Due to the intensity of the swarm, Robin, Artemis, Green Arrow, Red Arrow and other none powered heroes would have been forced to retreat to the Bio-ship after running out of ammo were it not for Triton using Alchemy to create more ammo and weapons for them.
It did not help that unless you completely destroy them, each would regenerate back to its optimal form. As most were getting tired and started losing their ground, they heard a series of small voices saying the same thing.
"Mini-Us to the rescue!"
Before they knew it a dozen small bubble-sized blobs that each resembled Triton started attaching themselves to the heroes and soldiers who were startled at first but quickly noticed that their fatigue and injuries were gone. In a single instant, they felt like they had just woken up from a good nap and were at full strength.
"Heal the injured and tired like Boss said!"
Each of the dozen small bubble-sized blobs said as they went around healing the heroes and soldiers. Meanwhile, the Batwing fired a pair of missiles, destroying a pack of spiders, before flying off.
"That was the last of my useful armaments."
Batman state before adding on
"I can't do anymore."
As he pulled away, several dog or tiger-like robots burst through the ice and landed atop the Batwing. After securing themselves, they began to tear at the plane. Batman opened the cockpit and knocked a tiger off, then threw a pair of explosive Batarangs in front of him, the wind resistance brought them towards the two beside him, destroying them.
Only one was left, and it was inches from ripping off his face. In response, Batman pulled the eject-lever, launching himself out of the plane. Before he could get far, the last tiger fired lasers from its mouth, destroying his parachute as Batman thinks to himself.
'They can shoot lasers out of their mouths? Why don't they use them- never mind, they are bigger concerns.'
Now, Batman was in free fall.
"Batman to all points."
He said as he fell then added.
"I could use some air support. Since I can't fly. At all."
He was only a hundred feet from the ground when he spoke once more.
"Now would be good."
*Clap*
At merely twenty feet from the ground, Batman was teleported near Wonder Woman. Using the reflex he had honed for years, he managed to roll himself into standing up in a way that looked effortlessly. Batman briefly looked at Triton who was fighting a legion of spiders by himself with just his fists and legs when Superman landed next to him.
"The spiders are forcing us back and the mothership is releasing mechanical attack tigers to protect them. Where is the Atom?"
Batman explained to Superman before asking him a question which cause the Atom to speak in Superman's ear.
"Getting sweaty in here, is that Batman?"
"This is a losing battle."
Wonder Woman states before adding on.
"If we destroy one, the main vessel breeds three more!"
The Atom comes out of Superman's ear as he gets bigger or in the other's point of view, returns to his normal size. Wonder Woman spoke first, upon seeing him at his regular size.
"Welcome to our nightmare, can you help?"
Upon witnessing the scenery before him, he could only say one thing as a scientist of his field.
"Look at those, its amazing."
This caused Wonder Woman and Superman's eyes to twitch as what they were seeing was anything but amazing. It looked like a combination of a horror movie and futuristic based science fiction. Superman quickly got over that and spoke.
"Ray, tell them what you told me."
As if on cue, Ray spoke.
"These things build copies of themselves, using whatever material is around. They'll only stop when everything is gone."
"So this isn't about these three towns."
Wonder Woman said to which Ray replied.
"No... They'll go coast-to-coast, then across the seabed. They'll use rock, metal, plastic, plant life…"
"People."
As Wonder Woman and Superman became horrified while imagining the damage they would cause, Batman finished his sentence.
"Yes, and destroying the replicating machine isn't enough. You have to get to the system's core control."
Ray said before explaining what needed to be done.
"We destroy the mothership!"
Wonder Woman states thinking that is what Ray meant which caused Ray to further explain what he meant.
"You have to understand, that making metal out of rock is a microscopic process. The core control is issuing control at an atomic scale you can't just smash a machine the size of an infection. Leave a crumb of it intact and it will start all over again. You have to get m- hm?"
His sentence was cut short due to a strange light catching his attention. Ray along with the Justice League trio looked to see lighting travel the ground that separated the swarm from them before the ground beneath them shook.
*RUMBLE*
Before anyone could say anything, a huge ten thousand-tall metallic wall erected itself around the swarm closing them inside it. Batman observed the material that the wall was made off and muttered something that only Superman could hear.
"Nth metal."
"What is goin-"
Ray spoke but he was interrupted mid-way through his sentence.
"All of you fall back! Boss got this! I repeat! All of you fall back! Boss got this!"
The dozen small bubble-sized blobs that each resembled Triton announced to everyone. This caused most to retreat regardless of what was going on it would take some time for the swarm to climb up that wall.
Batman walked towards Triton while Superman and Wonder Woman decided to fly up and see if the wall had completely enclosed the swarm. Upon arriving at the top of the wall, they saw that statues of Acnologia, wielding a trident that was pointing inside, were stationed all around the top of the wall.
There was also a small ball of light at the center of the wall, right above the main vessel. Upon basking on that light Superman felt stronger which confused him for a moment before understand that that small ball of light was similar to Earth's yellow Sun.
"You guys shouldn't be here, Boss is about to blow the swarm up!"
A small bubble-sized blob that each resembled Triton appeared and spoke to them.
"You can't! If you do that then it will only scatter the swarm if the wall breaks down due to the explosion."
Superman states which caused the small bubble-sized blob that each resembled Triton to chuckle and then speak in a mocking tone.
"Wow, you are dumb! The Wall is made of Nth metal. It will not break even if you guys shoot that laser beam from your Watch Tower."
Superman's eye twitched before Wonder Woman, who had been observing the swarm, spoke.
"And the swarm is unable to break it down."
Before Superman could say anything, Batman contacted them before explaining to them, Acnologia's plan, which upon hearing it, the Dark Knight could not find any comment against the young Atlantean's plan.
You see, during the whole ordeal, Acnologia had been observing the invaders carefully. Due to learning of his bizarre weakness, he wanted to make sure he knew as much as he could about them before having his shadow eat them, the latter of which had been decided upon learning that they ate matter to replicate.
As he was fighting them, Supergirl had informed him of the Dark Heart that was inside every one of those spiders when Wonder Woman, who was close, informed them that the Dark Heart was also inside the main Vessel.
As he was fighting, Acnologia proceeded to do the calculation of how much power would be required to eliminate the whole swarm... after he ate a Dark Heart along with what would be able to prevent the swarm from scattering while also protecting the heroes and soldier from said attack.
When Superman arrived with the Atom, he paid attention to their conversation and learned about the system's core control. Upon hearing that, he knew that the ability he gained from the Fog machine was perfect for the task of allowing his shadow to eat the system's core control.
Acnologia then touched Hawkman's mace which was made of Nth metal, he then clapped his hands then brought them to the ground before using Alchemy to create a wall made of Nth Metal as a distraction for the piece of his shadow, now in a foggy state, flying through the swarm.
The blinding light and the erection of the Nth metal wall allowed his shadow to go unnoticed and by the time Superman and Wonder Woman reached the top of the wall, it had already infiltrated the main vessel.
When Batman came to question Acnologia's sudden action, the latter told him that he intended to blow the main vessel up, which was not a lie, and if that did not work then he planned to turn this Nth Metal Wall into water and envelop the whole swarm before instantly freezing it.
Whether the main vessel was eradicated or not, the result would only be positive for them as it would for one, reduce the number of mechanical spiders and two, it would immobilize them upon failure.
Acnologia also added that those that could fly should head up and intercept spiders if they managed to get blown out of the wall. Once those that could fly were in position, Acnologia teleported to the top of the wall and spread his shadow to cover each one of his statues.
The shadow tendrils completely covered the trident portion of each statue before a ball of light and fire appeared in front of each shadow-covered trident. Acnologia was using his own Sunshine through his shadow for aesthetic purposes... also as a distraction for his shadow to return.
He had also increased the gravity inside the Wall to prevent the swarm from climbing up though it was also to prevent anyone from noticing that the system's core control had already been taken care of before he blew the main vessel.
Acnologia raised his right hand up as each ball of fire and light started to grow bigger and brighter, causing some of his shadow to retract a bit. The light almost blinded some heroes, no one noticed his foggy shadow returning back to him as he brought his right hand down he uttered one word.
"Begone."
The ball of fire and light shot toward the main vessel, instantly melting the ice and exploding upon coming into contact with it.
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*RUMBLE*
The ground shook for a bit as a huge collum of flame followed by smoke shot upward from the Nth Metal wall. When the smoke cleared, the heroes who were tasked to block any spiders that might be blown up saw that the main vessel had been disintegrated along with the rest of the swarm.
In fact, there was barely any intact piece of them left as most of them were melted into a puddle if they had not been vaporized. Acnologia quickly transmuted the Nth Metal Wall into water before enveloping the remains of the swarm in water then instantly froze it before speaking.
"And... fridged."
A few hours later, the Army arrived and began removing the frozen dead robots what other pieces of frozen remains they could find. The process was overseen by General Eiling. Superman approached him.
"I don't suppose you need any help destroying that. Wouldn't want that technology falling into the wrong hands."
'Wrong hands? WRONG HANDS?! YOU MEAN LIKE YOU GUYS THAT BUILT A FUCKING DEATH STAR!'
The General thought before speaking.
"We could learn a lot from this."
He then added while looking at Superman dead in the eyes.
"It almost beat the Justice League, after all."
"Why would you need something to do that, General?"
Wonder Woman ask with her arms folded over her chest.
"Oh, I don't know..."
Eiling starts before adding on.
"... Maybe because it turns out that the Justice League has had a secret, space-based weapon of mass destruction all along."
He glared at her before finishing.
"And we're going to be talking about that soon, believe me."
"Hm, gotta a point there though you don't seriously believe that piece of scrap metal is capable of beating me. Do you?"
Acnologia chimes in to which the general retorts in a confident tone.
"With proper instruction, it would."
Acnologia looked at the general in the eyes as the dozen small bubble-sized blobs that each resembled him entered the aura that surrounded his body, a few strands of his hair temporarily turned white before he started bursting out of laughter so hard that it caused him to kneel down and clench his stomach with his hands.
-End of Flashback noises-
The General gritted his teeth before he ignored Acnologia and saluted Wonder Woman.
"Ma'am."
Then he got onto a helicopter and left, just as the Justice League was gathering together.
"Amazing..."
The Atom said before adding on.
"... Show him a weapon that destroys its creators and everything other things it saw, and he wants to play with it."
He turned to Superman before asking him a question.
"What's to stop history from repeating itself right here on Earth?"
Superman gave him a determined look.
"We are."
Acnologia stopped laughing as he got up and then added.
"And next time, I could... Oh, I don't know, transmute the main vessel into graphite from the beginning instead of evacuating civilians."
His words caused everyone to look at him before Supergirl annoyingly ask the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Then why didn't you do it at the beginning!?"
He looked at her and then at the rest before he shrugged his shoulders then spoke.
"I said I could take care of this in five minutes and I recall someone saying that it would be best if I help the civilians escape and trust the league to handle it."
He finished his sentence while looking at Superman. The Atom suddenly realized something before he muttered something in a defeated tone.
"So I was brought here for nothing."
He then sighed as he spoke.
"*Sigh* Oh well, at least I got to see something interesting."
He ended his sentence with a smile while thinking about the bright side. After that, the heroes went their way, some returning home to rest while others went back to patrol their city. It would take a while before the Light gets their hands on the remains of the Dark Heart.
[AN: The time Boom affected a lot of things and I was tempted to continue the part but I decided that when something changed because of the time boom, I would just say it as it comes while the story progress.
Also I just realize that I never really set a time for my release on this fic outside of it being every Friday EST so I decided to make it clear about which time its going to be release at, its still Friday EST. Its going to be at 12PM EST.
Note that that is an estimated timing that it could be publish sooner or some time later than that timing but it will be on Friday EST. At least, I will try to make it so.
Want more? Like Thanos, I want those STONES!!!]
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