章 11: Chapter 11
A/N: I'm thinking about switching to first person for Marcus from now on. Let me know what you all think.
Chapter 11:
Marcus Light POV:
I was sitting down at the breakfast table with my mother. Everyone else in the penthouse was still sleeping or in the process of getting up.
I checked my phone and sighed. It obviously didn't get any service while I was in another dimension. 'That is a lot of missed calls and text messages…' I thought to myself nervously.
Over the past few weeks, Artemis had called me over 50 times and left me dozens of messages asking if I was okay. "I feel bad." I admitted.
"And you should." Gabriel scolded me. "You can't make your girlfriend worry like that! You should have sent her more than a single text message before you left our dimension for two whole weeks." She chastised me with her cereal spoon.
"She's not my girlfriend, mom." I whined in embarrassment.
Artemis and I had only gone on one date! Albeit, a very fun date that we both enjoyed quite a bit. That didn't automatically make us a couple!
Gabriel smirked at me. "That girl called you 50 times, Marcus…she's your girlfriend." She pointed out teasingly.
I sighed again. Was my mom right? Did I suddenly have another girlfriend? And if I did– "Shit…what happens when she finds out about Kara and Megan then!?" I was starting to panic a bit!
Artemis wasn't like Megan or Kara.
Megan hailed from a world of shapeshifters, where gender was barely even a real concept, and they believed in free love – as long as they were the same skin color, of course.
Likewise, Kara came from a strange society as well. Kryptonians could have whatever relationships they wanted, because all children were born from artificial wombs that could splice the DNA of two or more parents. Kara had told us stories of friends of hers that sometimes had four or even five genetic parents!
Artemis was a regular human girl comparatively, despite the fact that she was a budding Superhero/vigilante. I didn't know much about her home life, but I was fairly sure she came from a nuclear family. I was certain she wasn't going to be thrilled about being part of a harem all of a sudden. While harems were relatively common in the supernatural world, that wasn't the case among normal humans.
I was probably going to get an arrow shot at me once she found out about Kara and Megan…
"You'll figure it out, Marcus! You're the most handsomest boy in the whole world! Any girl will be lucky to have you!" Gabriel exclaimed with a large smile. If she wasn't all the way across the table, I had a feeling I would have been hit with another hug-tackle just now…
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, mom, but we'll see how it goes with Artemis in the next few days." I decided to change the topic and ask about another young woman I hadn't seen in a while now. "How has…erm…Xenovia been?" I asked with a slight pause. I hadn't seen the blue-haired exorcist in a few months, but according to my mother, Xenovia had followed me across the ocean while I was off in the other Dimension.
I practically grew up with the girl in the Vatican, and I knew that I was probably never going to escape her. She was VERY dedicated with her affections for me…
"Xenovia is fine." Gabriel replied with a small grin. "She's keeping busy. I have her investigating a possible stray in a nearby Gotham suburb."
"Another stray?" I asked curiously. Stray Devils usually don't even come to America, and now there was a second one popping up in Gotham in only two weeks? That wasn't normal. Especially considering my presence in Gotham over the past few months had been purging the taint from the cursed city.
"You have a busy day ahead of you, my son. I'll let you finish up your breakfast for now." Gabriel said while standing up from the table.
She wanted to speak to the two interdimensional visitors I had brought with me when I returned the night before. We were fairly certain that Butcher wanted to go back to his home dimension, but we weren't sure about Annie's situation. If she returned home, she would be a criminal…
"I'll see you later, mom." I told her as she left and I went back to eating breakfast.
…
–Lex Luthor–
Lex found his son eating in the kitchen area. Lex poured himself a bowl of cereal and joined Marcus at the table. The whole situation was very quaint and…mundane. It made Lex chuckle.
"Hello, Marcus." They hadn't gotten the opportunity to talk one on one the night before.
"So…you're my father?" Marcus asked him.
"That's what the DNA tests said at least. I can admit, you share some similar features with myself as well. Your devilish good looks are obviously one of those shared features." Lex said while cracking a smile.
"I'm pretty sure all my looks came from mom." Marcus replied with a laugh.
Lex laughed as well. "You're probably right." He could admit to that. Gabriel the Archangel was ridiculously beautiful. Lex really wished he had memories of himself and Gabriel, but according to her…he was almost black out drunk when they hooked up. Lex cursed his wild college days, that night should have been one of the best memories of his life! Lex shook his head, wishful thinking wasn't going to help. He had more important things to focus on, like his new Son. "It's nice to properly meet you…Son." Lex said officially.
"It's nice to meet you as well…Dad." Marcus said with only a slight pause. "Having a genuine Supervillain as a father is strange." Marcus commented and Lex cracked a wry smile.
"Supervillain? I'm nothing so generic. I like to see myself as more of a visionary these days." Lex had spent years clashing with Superman, for reasons he realized were quite petty later in life. He liked to think he turned over a new leaf and moved on from such petty fights.
"So what do we do now?" Marcus asked him. "Do we…bond or something? Go catch a ball game? Do you like fishing?"
"I don't even like eating fish, I hate the taste. Sports have also never been my thing. I imagine it's the same for you?" Lex asked Marcus.
Marcus nodded in agreement. "My dream has always been to explore the Universe. I was studying at Gotham Academy because I wanted to build my own spaceship one day to tour the cosmos."
Lex smiled at his son. That was a goal that Lex could get behind. Lex knew that Marcus could probably fly around space with nothing but his powers, so Marcus's goal of creating his own spaceship impressed him even more. Lex always appreciated intelligent people after all.
"If you want to accomplish that dream of yours faster, feel free to stop by LexCorp anytime and learn from my scientists. I'll let security know that you have free reign of the compound. You'll learn a lot more there than studying in any school." Lex offered free reign to his Son.
"That sounds awesome!" Marcus replied. "I was thinking about pulling myself out of the Academy anyway. I realized that there's more important things I could be doing with my time than playing as a normal schoolboy."
Lex grinned at Marcus. "Indeed…I hear that you have two alien girlfriends you could be playing with instead." He said teasingly. Lex found something poetic about the fact that the known female relatives of Superman and the Martian Manhunter both ended up in his Son's harem. He couldn't wait to rub that into big blue's face!
Marcus sputtered! "That's not what I meant." He muttered in embarrassment. "...I meant that I wanted to go around helping people more than I have been. Kara, Megan and I were thinking about forming our own team even. One separate from the Justice League and not limited to all their constraints."
Lex nodded. "The Justice League grows more and more constrained by red tape every year." That was actually his, and The Light's doing, but he didn't need his Son to know that just yet. "I had actually considered building my own Superhero team to compete with the Justice League at some point. If I do so in the future, they will have to be very strictly monitored."
Lex had spent hours last night talking to William Butcher, learning all there was to know about the Vought and Homelander. Lex didn't want a repeat of that dimension's heroes on their own Earth. Lex knew that he himself wasn't immune to the inevitable lure of power. There had been many opportunities in his life where he could have granted himself super powers of some kind. It was only his pride, as a human, that stopped him from doing so. He wanted to prove himself a better protector of the world than Superman could ever be while staying human! Despite that, one thing Lex was very interested in was Compound V. He was less interested in the bottled superpowers, and more interested in how the serum seemed to safely alter human DNA–at least for those people who survived the injection. Lex wondered if Compound V could be used as a basis to cure numerous diseases the world over. He grinned at the thought of LexCorp officially coming out with the cure for cancer. Superman would never be able to claim moral superiority over Lex again…
…
–Marcus–
"Are you going to use Compound V on yourself? I was wondering if I could have a few samples for my scientists to study." Lex asked me.
My father explained that he wanted to study the serum and possibly use it to cure disease. I thought that was actually a very noble goal. Not what I would have expected from someone like Lex Luthor…
I would be using the serum on myself. As soon as possible actually.
"I need to get stronger. I severely underestimated that other dimension and what the heroes there were capable of. My Angel DNA should also be able to prevent the serum from giving me any nasty side effects." I explained my thoughts. I wanted, no I NEEDED, more power. A two-winged Angel didn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. I could be a lower-tier superhero, but I knew that the Supernatural world would never take me seriously unless I had at least 8 wings. I wanted to be a true High-Class being without relying on the True Longinus. That was my goal for now.
I reached into my pocket space and pulled out A-Train's backpack. There were about 20 vials of Compound V inside. I saved 3 vials for myself and gave the backpack over to my father. I wasn't really worried about Lex using the Serum to create a bunch of superpowered henchmen. This world already had Metahumans. I knew that Lex could simply hire anyone he wanted with all of his money anyway.
He took the backpack from me and looked at it like Christmas had come early. "Thank you, Son. This could advance humanity into another age if the research pans out. I have to catch a helicopter and return to Metropolis now. Tell your mother I'll be in touch. Feel free to visit LexCorp anytime as well." With that said, Lex headed to the elevator.
Once he was gone, I stared down at the three remaining blue bottles in my hand. A regular human would only take a single dose, but something inside me told me to take three times that amount. They were supposed to be injected, but I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference for my biology.
"Bottoms up!" I said as I unscrewed all three of them. 'What's the worst that could happen?' I thought while downing all the contents.
…
"Marcus… Marcus, are you ok?"
I blearily opened my eyes and shook away the dizziness I was feeling. "What happened?"
"We found you sleeping at the kitchen table. Are you ok, Marcus?" Kara asked me. She was standing with Megan. My two girlfriends both looked concerned.
"I'm glad you're feeling better, Megan." I told her. She got hit by a huge bolt of lightning the day before. I was thankful Mom was able to heal Megan so quickly.
My albino alien girlfriend smiled at me. "Thanks! Are you ok, though? The Compound V didn't have any side effects, did it?" She asked while looking at the three empty vials on the table.
"I'm ok, I feel pretty good actually." I could feel more Light Energy flowing through my veins. I felt magically four times stronger than I had been before!
"Your wings are out." Kara pointed behind me.
"They are?" I turned my head and smirked at the sight behind me. Another pair of wings was poking out of my back. I was now a Four-Winged Angel! Interestingly, my wings looked a bit different now as well. They had a golden sheen to them, it almost looked metallic. As I focused on them more, I felt a new ability manifest in my mind.
Did I gain a new power as well?
I felt like something would happen if I tried to flex my wings now. It was a strange feeling. I decided to give it a try.
SHING!
"Woah! That's cool!" Kara exclaimed while leaning forwards. "Your wings just turned golden! They look like they're made of some kind of gold alloy now." Kara pointed out. She flicked a feather with her finger and it let out a solid "ding" noise. All of my feathers had turned metallic!
I reached back and touched them. The soft feathers had become harder than steel…and razor sharp! I eased back on the flexing feeling and my wings reverted to their normal softness.
"I guess it didn't take long for you to figure out your new power. Those wings look really sharp. Maybe you should change your hero name to Razorwing?" Megan suggested.
"Hmm, that actually sounds kind of cool." I pondered her suggestion. I was thinking of calling myself Nephilim still, but that might be a bit too much on the nose.
Razorwing… I actually kind of like it.
I retracted my four wings and stood up to stretch. On top of having more Light Energy flowing through me, my muscles also felt stronger. I think the Compound V also made my physical body tougher.
"So, we're back in Gotham. What do you two want to do now?" I asked Kara and Megan.
"I want to move out of my Uncle John's smelly apartment. For a famous Superhero, he lives a very frugal–and cramped life." Megan said.
Kara nodded in agreement. "I'm definitely moving out of the Kent's farmhouse. My cousin's foster parents are nice, but I'm definitely a city girl. Where do you live Marcus?" Kara asked me.
"I'm pretty sure Supervillains and bounty hunters destroyed my old apartment. I'll have to find a new place to live in Gotham." I explained. It was a good thing I tended to keep all of my most valuable possessions in my personal storage space.
"Gotham City is actually a lot nicer than I was expecting it to be. Kal-El was always telling me that it was a dreary crime infested hell hole." Kara explained while looking out the window. "It doesn't feel dreary at all though. The sun is shining in the sky, it feels nice." Kara closed her eyes and let the sunlight shine on her.
"My Uncle John told me something similar." Megan added. "I was expecting some kind of crime ridden noir city straight out of the 1950's."
I took a moment to explain to them both why I was living in Gotham City in the first place. The entire city had been cursed and corrupted with dark energy for over a century. That led to an almost never ending dreary fog blanketing Gotham's skyline. Sunny days were incredibly rare. My existence, along with my Grandfather and the True Longinus, had been steadily purging the darkness from the city.
"So you have to live here for at least a few more months?" Kara inferred from my explanation.
I nodded. "It'll take a bit longer since my Grandfather returned to Heaven, but the dark taint shouldn't stay around much longer." After that, I could live wherever I wanted.
"You should buy a house here then. One big enough for all of us! Your dad is super rich right? Make him pay for it!" Megan suggested shamelessly while latching onto my arm. She placed a quick kiss on my cheek. 'Make sure the master bedroom is big enough for everyone…' She whispered directly into my mind.
I looked at her in surprise. "Can you read my mind now?" I thought I was protected against that?
Megan let go of my arm and shook her head, easing my worry a bit. "No. Your mom just taught me how to project my thoughts directly into an Angel's mind. Your mind works differently from an ordinary human's mind. That's why I was struggling to do it before. I can also connect to Kara's mind now as well!"
Kara folded her arms. "I'm not really a fan of mind reading or telepathy, but I understand it can be useful during missions or fights."
"Your mom also told us both about someone else as well." Megan added. "...A certain blonde girl named Artemis?" Megan asked me.
"Oh…"
"It would have been nice to know that you already had a human girlfriend." Kara said as well.
I sighed again. I was going to have to deal with this sooner rather than later. I gave Kara and Megan a quick explanation about Artemis and the date we went on the night before I met the two of them. To my surprise, neither of them seemed particularly bothered after hearing about Artemis.
"It's rude to keep a lady worrying about you. Since you've been with us for two weeks straight, you should go talk to her." Megan suggested. "In the meantime, Kara and I are going to go and collect our things. We're moving out from our relatives' homes as soon as possible."
"I'm hoping I can grab my stuff from the Kent's house without them noticing." Kara added. "I don't want my cousin interfering and trying to dictate my life!"
I gave Kara and Megan both a kiss goodbye before they left the hotel room. I could sense that my mom was currently speaking to Gabriel and Butcher, so I chose not to interrupt them. Artemis had called me over 50 times at this point, so I decided to go see her in person and let her know that I was ok and not dead.
I walked onto the hotel balcony and once again spread my new wings. At least that meant I didn't have to worry about hiding my abilities anymore. Even if my bounty had been rescinded, every villain and bounty hunter in Gotham now knew about me. I flapped my wings and took off towards the direction of Artemis's apartment complex.
DING DONG!
I rang her doorbell a few minutes later. There wasn't an immediate answer that anyone was home. "Maybe I should have called first?" I second guessed myself out loud. I was very nervous with how this conversation was going to go…
"Yeah yeah, I'm coming." A voice I didn't recognize called out from the other side of the door. It swung open, a beautiful girl with dark hair I didn't recognize had answered. She was a few years older than Artemis. I wondered if this was her sister? Also, wasn't she supposed to be some kind of villain? "Well now… Hello, handsome~ Who might you be?"
"Hi, you're Jade right? I'm Marcus Light. I'm Artemis's…friend." I introduced myself while flashing a small smile.
"Get the fuck out of here!?" She said bluntly in disbelief. "Artemis landed a guy like you!? …Wait? Didn't you have a bounty on your head? How are you even still alive?" She asked me in wonder.
"I'm pretty tough. A couple tough guys tried to claim that bounty, and they all failed." I bragged.
She looked me over more scrutinizingly. "Hm, interesting…Were any of those guys a blond man, wearing a hockey mask, called Sportsmaster? I haven't heard from him in two weeks." She said.
"That guy? Yeah, he was the first to attack me. I think he went down with only a single punch or something?" I tried my best to remember. "Honestly, he wasn't really a threat…" I trailed off with a shrug.
For some reason, Jade started breaking down and laughing. "Hahaha! He went down in one punch!? Hahaha, what an asshole!" She patted me on the shoulder while laughing. "I like you, Marcus! Come on inside, Artemis is still sleeping, but I'll wake her up!"
"Thanks?" I followed her inside the small apartment. It was pretty rundown to be honest, but I would never judge someone else's economic situation. I was raised by the church after all.
"If things don't work out between you and my sister, I'm always available, handsome." She winked at me before heading down the hallway, presumably to wake up Artemis.
BANG!
I started snickering when Jade randomly kicked in a door…
"Artemis, wake the fuck up! Your missing boyfriend randomly showed up on our doorstep! Why did you never mention how ridiculously hot he was!?"
"What!? Marcus is here!?" I heard Artemis yell in surprise, followed by the sounds of her rapidly scrambling around her bedroom. She stumbled out of her room a few seconds later. She was wearing mismatching clothes, and her hair was frizzy, but she still looked cute to me. "Marcus! You're ok!" She had happy tears in her eyes. She ran forward and engulfed me in a tight hug!
"Hey, Artemis. I'm back." I said while hugging her back.
…
–Xenovia Quarta–
Xenovia was upset! Her beloved Marcus had just returned from his mission and she wasn't there to welcome him back! An interference had sprung up with the worst possible timing!
An annoying stray devil had been sensed hiding out in a Gotham neighborhood by Lady Gabriel.
Xenovia was asked to eliminate it, and of course she would never reject a stray hunt! 'Devil's are vile abominations that all need to be purged from existence!'
Marcus had once pointed out to her that all Devils were technically Nephilim like himself. They were created by Lucifer who was a Fallen Angel, and Lilith the first human woman. Technically, that made Devil's half human and half Fallen Angel, even if they would never admit it…
That made Xenovia hate Devils even more! 'How dare these monsters have anything in common with Marcus!'
"Girl, what the hell are you wearing?" A voice called out to Xenovia while she was walking down the sidewalk.
Xenovia was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice other people around her. She knew that was sloppy. Some stray Devils are capable of hiding their foul auras, she could have been ambushed while she was distracted!
Xenovia turned to the woman who had called out to her. She was a strange looking human woman, who was dressed like a clown for some reason.
"I am wearing the proper female exorcist outfit issued by the Vatican." Xenovia replied curtly. "You shouldn't stick around here, I am hunting a vile abomination that has taken up residence somewhere nearby!" Xenovia proclaimed.
The clown woman tilted her head as she inspected Xenovia's outfit. "You're telling me the church gave you that slutty bodysuit. You know it doesn't hide a single one of your curves, right?"
Xenovia blushed. She and all the other female exorcists were well aware. "Y-Yes…well, that doesn't matter. It's bulletproof and resistant to Demonic Energy and Tainted Light Energy!"
"I have no idea what any of that is, but whatever floats your boat I guess… I'm Harley by the way!" The clown woman said cheerfully and held out her hand to shake.
"I am Xenovia Quarta!" She said while shaking Harley's hand. Xenovia was raised to be respectful to all people and didn't want to come off as rude. "If you don't mind, I really need to get back to my hunt. The Stray Devil could be attacking someone else as we speak!" Xenovia said.
Before she could turn around, Harley grabbed her arm and grinned. "What's a Stray Devil!? Why are you hunting it? Do you want some help? I love smashing in people's heads!" She said showing off her baseball bat to Xenovia.
"I appreciate the offer, but Devils are dangerous." Xenovia warned. "They are monsters that have escaped from hell and feed on human flesh and souls!"
A wide smile spread across Harley's face. None of what Xenovia just said seemed to scare her. In fact, she seemed excited. "Really!? That's so cool! So you really are an exorcist!? I love that movie! You have to let me help! I want to smash in a Devil's head! All my friends will be so jealous when I tell them! C'mon, please? Can I help? I'm pretty strong, you know!" Harley rapidly spoke in excitement.
Xenovia bit her lip. She shouldn't get a regular human involved, but her years of training allowed her to see that Harley was in very good shape. The clown woman was rippling with compact and hidden muscle. She came off as whimsical, but held herself like a true warrior. Xenovia reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial of true Holy Water. "Pour this all over your baseball bat. It will hurt the Devil a lot more."
Harley took the vial of Holy Water and started bouncing up and down. "Woah! Real Holy Water!? Watch out world, the Exorcist sequel is coming out, and it's starring Harley Quinn! Let's do this shit, slutty church girl!" Harley grabbed Xenovia's arm and started excitedly dragging them in a random direction.
Xenovia sputtered. "I'm not slutty! I have someone I love wholeheartedly! The most perfect man in the world!" Xenovia proclaimed loudly.
"Really!? You can tell me about him as we walk then. Harley Quinn loves a good romance story!"
…
–Starlight–
Annie January woke up with a start. She found herself in a room she didn't recognize as memories came flooding back to her. "Holy shit! Homelander attacked me! Where am I!?"
"It's alright, you're safe now." A gentle voice said from nearby.
Annie glanced over and her breath hitched. Possibly the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen was sitting in a chair next to her bed.
"Who are you?" Annie asked nervously. She had no idea what was going on, but thankfully she seemed to be safe.
"Hello, I'm the Archangel Gabriel. Marcus's mother. It's nice to meet you Annie, or do you prefer Starlight?"
Annie's mind blanked out… "A–Archangel!!?"
XXX
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