Capítulo 11: At Death’s Door
Lucien and Superman rolled into the livingroom of an abandoned apartment full of only rats and the rubble that rolled off their shifting muscles. One charged by the sun and the other by unknown magic.
"Fast. But I expect more." Superman said.
Then he moved so fast the friction in the air turned to partial flames. Only then did Lucien realize how cold the air was due to the polarizing extremes.
The impact cracked his skull and sent him through the cieling of the apartment with teeth missing.
Before he could even land, Superman flew with his fists raised, smashing them into Lucien's ribs and driving him through three more floors before outside air blessed his broken skin.
From the rooftop, Wonderwoman threw her shield.
Lucien's reflexes went into overdrive. He caught the shield and held it in front of himself, partially blocking the burn of Superman's heat vision.
He went even higher from the blowback of the blast.
Before he could fall, a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him away from the second blast.
Suddenly he was twisting and spinning through the air above the city streets enveloped in chaos.
"We can't win this, Lucien." Dove said over the animalistic war shouts of Hawkgirl behind them.
"That's not what we're here for." Lucien replied as he tried to keep his food down.
"What are we here for then?"
"Intel. Throw me." Lucien replied.
Dove spun around, exploding with blinding white and blue light that blinded Hawkgirl.
Then she threw Lucien at her.
He reached with his claws extended and crashed into her.
As his weight dragged her back down into the alleys, he punched and elbowed her in the face.
They hit the first fire escape in the alley, breaking it and her wing before bouncing off it and hitting a wall then landing on the floor.
Right between Etrigan and Martian Manhunter.
What a terrible matchup.
Lucien looked from the Martian to Etrigan. Nodding once before ducking as the demon filled the alley with hellfire.
Martian manhunter tried to fly away. Lucien pounced on him and put him in a chokehold. Which wasn't very smart considering the Martian was more of a shapeshifter than he was.
Thankfully, the fire was already affecting him.
The green being twisted and spun and wrapped around him like endless rope. All Lucien had to do was survive and figure out who it was.
"It can't be you. You're not the vampire. Your alien physiology probably makes you incompatible." Lucien whispered to him, "I'm sorry I have to do this but I can't play with you."
"I'll get you, monster!" Martian Manhunter slurred as he began to sweat profusely and fell limp in Lucien's a—
A laser beam blasted through Etrigan's chest from behind. It continued its warpath down the alley and grazed Martian Manhunters shoulder before hitting Lucien.
He flew backward into the streets outside the alley.
A semi barreled towards him from where he lay.
Immediately he pushed up onto his feet.
"SHIT!"
He stepped out of the semi's way.
Superman landed right in front of it, facing Lucien as he allowed the massive car to crash into him.
From the explosion of the vehicle he charged, sending Lucien backward at his speeds he couldn't comprehend until the ground met his face and his skin began to peel as he rolled.
He stopped with his back to a dumpster in a neighboring alley. In a position similar to the one he died in.
Only this time it wasn't a mangy dog coming to kill him.
Wonderwoman landed beside Superman as they entered the alley.
Now in the dark with his eyes focused on nothing but them, he could see the way sunlight faintly bent and shaped around them, never truly falling on their skin. It made them glow a bit.
"They already have their heavy hitters…." Lucien realized. "But that's not it. They have Superman and wonderwoman and still they haven't taken over completely…."
"There's some kind of limit." Lucien assumed.
"What are you thinking about?" Superman asked.
"You can't reach your friends. You're too slow. I can rip off three of your fingers before you move a toe." Superman said.
"But can you really enjoy life as a Vampire? I mean your whole thing is sunlight. And I can tell you're running low on it."
"Don't try to play on my anger. I have none." Superman said.
"I thought I killed your friends?" Lucien said.
Superman looked back to the alley in the distance where Etrigan remained with the Martian in the distance with his supervision.
"I have new friends now." Superman's eyes glowed bloodred.
"Some old— but few." Wonderwoman added with a flash of her fangs.
"I don't get it. What could make you want this?" Lucien inquired.
"What couldn't? We've been doing the same thing for a decade. Making ourselves beholden to the weak. Fighting the same fights and making the same sacrifices just to still be only liked by some. They pass laws to weaken us. Report news in a way to villainize us. It's time to change the dynamic. To look away from the sun and gaze into the shadows." Superman said.
"Great….. so even if you weren't Vampires in this elseworld you would've became the Justice Lords anyway. I hate evil variants." Lucien groaned.
Then, with as much speed as he could muster, he tried to turn and life the dumpster to throw it at the edge of the apartment rooftop to let sunlight in.
The only problem was Superman wasn't lying about his speed.
He was on Lucien in a flash, punching him into the ground so hard a crater was forming. His jaw wasn't healing fast enough. Neither was his orbital bone. Or nose. Or neck.
In the midst of the violent beat down, he took note of a barrel falling straight into the alley. Smelling of gasoline and chemicals and charcoal on tree bark.
Just a barrel.
Red, rusty and marked with a…
green arrow.
"Finally." Lucien thought.
When the barrel hit the alley it exploded with bright red flames.
Superman and Wonderwoman were suddenly screaming with Lucien as they all burned.
Only the vampires burned more.
Way more.
Unnaturally so.
There was something in the explosive gas tank. Something mixed in. He could feel it in the air.
Wonderwoman rose from the flames missing the skin on her face, "Superman! Run! It's holy water!"
The Amazonian lunged at Lucien as he stood up, burning but hunting all the same.
He sidestepped and grabbed her by what remained of her hair, slamming her back into the fire.
"Ahh….. he knows." Lucien thought in reference to Green Arrow.
"I'm aware." Superman groaned as he crawled through the fire to exit the alley of hell.
Lucien was on him then, ripping open his back with deep claw swipes.
"I'm gonna need another day of drinking after this o—"
A morningstar smashed into his face.
Hawkgirl flew in behind it on one broken wing, punching him square in the chest as her speed washed out the flames.
He landed back on the dumpster at the end of the alley, this time beneath Hawkgirl. She looked disheveled and enraged. But she didn't swing.
Lucien held her gaze.
"Look."
She turned around.
The scorched alleyway was empty.
In the sky, two steaming bats flew as the sun's rays twisted around them unnaturally.
"…..son of a bitch."
"Yea."
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
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AvatarOfFeaR Yo! lmk what ya think and thanks for reading! also thanks for the powerstones and collections! sorry about the delay, I had work stuff but that won’t be the norm!
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