Chương 56: The bigger stage III
(3rd Person POV)
Batman presses the trigger ...
... But no explosion is heard like Superman expected, no ... something else.
*TZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*
Hundreds of thousands of Volts run through Superman's entire body and cause all of his muscles to spasm ... AT THE SAME TIME.
"NNNN", Superman tries to scream but his vocal cords are electrocuted. He is lying on the ground in front of Batman, with the latter looking down on him.
This angers Superman. He grits his teeth and tries to find the source of this electrocution. He had to admit that something that can hurt him to this extent is rare and to think that he didn't even realise it was on him ... he was impressed, to say the least. But to his shock, he doesn't find anything.
What's happening here is something much more complex than he thought. It was a masterpiece of electrocution on Batman's part. And to understand it, we have to turn back the pendulum for a few minutes. To the very brief exchange between Superman and Batman.
.
(Flashback a few minutes ago)
We see Superman trying to grab hold of Batman. But Batman is having none of it. He floats like a butterfly through the tackles and grabs of Superman and every time, Superman comes close, a finger tap here and another one there, across his entire body.
It was preparation. Preparation for what he knew, he would do later. He had come to understand the anatomy of Superman thanks to his X-ray in his suit. The gas he used in the very beginning contained radioactive atoms that had a half-life of a few hours. But, he could also trigger them whenever he wished, remotely.
So when he was attacked and used his knowledge of Kryptonian anatomy, he pressed Superman's nerves at very specific places across his upper body. After that preparation was complete, he only had to grab his remote control and trigger the atoms to send out electrons. These electrons spread through the entire body and when enough of them hit the nerves ... they caused the electrical signals, that Batman had blocked with his taps, to 'ignite' and a storm of electricity shot through Superman's entire body, causing his muscles to spasm.
(Flashback end)
.
Superman looks at Batman and clenches his jaw. He pushes through and as soon as the charges stop, he shoots towards Batman. He is only a meter away from him, though. Superman backhands Green Lantern and then looks at Batman.
!!!
He suddenly stops moving. His eyes are about to pop out of his head. Slowly he looks down only to see ... Batman's arm inside his chest and his hand ... around his heart.
"Listen here. I have my hands around your heart. So if you don't stop, you will die. We're not working with those Fire-breathing monsters. We were attacked, just like you.
Green Lantern's ring said they were alien. We thought maybe you would know what they were, but it turns out that we didn't need your help after all.", Batman explained.
"Yeah, what Batman said- Wait, what?"
"I already know what this is. And it's not looking good.", Batman said.
"I've never seen a creature like that before and neither one of those boxes. And you say you know what it is?", Superman asks.
"Yes. But we should clear the area first."
Flash does just that and uses his super speed to clean up some of the debris when new choppers arrive.
"Great. Just what the Flash needs. More bad press. Thanks, Lantern."
"This isn't my fault."
"I'm not a vigilante. I don't want to get lumped into this.", Flash says.
"You wear a mask."
"I never break the law."
"This is the military. That means Lex Luthor won't be far behind.", Superman says.
Batman drops into the sewer with Flash and Green Lantern right after him. Superman is not sure whether he should follow.
"Come on."
"Why should I come with you?", Superman asks.
"Because you're like us.", Batman explains.
"No one's like me."
"That's not what the rest of the world thinks, Superman."
"You look extra serious.", Green Lantern remarks.
"I always am. You should be too."
"About what? Superman? Or the cube? Do you know what it is?"
"Yes."
.
.
- Detroit -
- S.T.A.R. Labs- Superhuman studies -
"It was recovered from the wreckage of Superman's battle earlier this morning."
"Did it belong to Superman, Sarah?", Dr. Stone asks.
"We don't think so. It's been hard to determine anything about it, starting with the metal it's made of."
"However, we have picked up some kind of signal broadcasting from it. And we've found similar broadcasting coming from New England, Washington D.C., Central City and Coast City."
"I suppose it hasn't gone unnoticed that those are all places of super-human activity."
"No, Dr. Stone. It's clear that the Super-humans are involved in this."
"Dr. Stone? Your son is here."
"I don't have time to see him right now."
"He seems pretty upset. Again."
"Huff. For God's sake ... let him up."
.
"Dad?"
"Victor, I'm in the middle of some very important work.", Dr. Stone says.
"You said you'd be at my game today. You promised, Dad. The scouts were there. They were there to see me. The coach said every single one of them offered full scholarships -"
"Victor, you don't need a scholarship. I'm paying for your school."
"Pay for someone who needs it. I can play football for them. M.X.U. was there-"
"M.S.U. is a fine university, but you shouldn't be spending your time playing games."
"I like it. I'm good at it. I can go pro, Dad. Everyone says so."
"Open your eyes, son!", Dr. Stone says losing patience, "Look at the world we live in today! We're witnessing the birth of a new race of people. Sper-humans. Beings who can fly, tear through buildings and outrun race cars.
They will make what you can 'do' obsolete! Do you understand? Catching footballs and scoring touchdowns is a joke!"
"..."
"You're never going to come to one of my games, are you?", Victor asks.
"No."
.
In another location
"An abandoned printing press?", Batman asks after Superman brought the others to a 'safe' location.
"I don't have a base of operations.", Superman says.
"That's a lie, but it's not important for now."
"Hey Flash.", Green Lantern whispers to the Flash.
"What?"
"I say we ditch black and blue and figure this out ourselves. We don't need them. Batman's a prick and Superman doesn't know what this is."
"But Batman said he knew what it was."
"That's right. It's both a beacon and something else. I am 87% sure that it is also some form of portal device, that connects two points in space.", Batman said appearing out of nowhere.
"What? Why 87%? Where did that number come from?", Green Lantern asks.
"I just made it up."
"... WHAT? Are you joking?"
"Indeed. Now focus."
"If-"
*PING PING*
Suddenly, the cube begins to hum and releases pulses of energy. Batman's sensors are going haywire.
.
"Dr. Stone? Something's happening!"
.
"What's it doing?", Green Lantern asks.
"It's punching a hole through space-time and connecting to somewhere. GET DOWN!", Batman screams.
.
*BOOOOOOOM*
.
A loud explosion takes place as space is pierced and a boom tube opens up, to somewhere ... rather dark.
Thousands of Parademons stormed out of the portal to Earth, an invasion was taking place.
.
.
- Washington D.C. -
In an office, Colonel Trevor is watching multiple TV at the same time about what the public thinks of the new Superhero Diana of Themescyra.
[She believes in Zeus for God's sake.]
[Never mind what she believes in, look at what she's doing she's skewering people!]
[There've been dozens of innocent bystanders injured because of Super-humans like this Amazon.]
[She spent her life training for war.]
[What war is she even talking about?]
[She caused over one hundred million dollars in property damage.]
[Superman's caused three hundred.]
[She's still worse than any of them ... except the Batman from what I hear, but she swings that sword with a smile.]
[Forget Zeus, these Super-humans are gods and they're real.]
*Sigh*
"DIANA?!"
"She's gone, Colonel Trevor."
"I can see that she's gone, Ben. She was supposed to wait for me. What happened?!"
"She was flipping through TV channels. She was arguing with them ... as if they could actually hear her. Until she saw a report about winged monsters terrorizing people in Downtown D.C. That's when she took off. You're worried about her out there, huh?"
"I'm worried about everyone else! Diana's always looking for a fight! And she always finds one. Why didn't you stop her?", Trevor asks.
"You're kidding right?", one of the agents asks and points at the hole in the wall, where Diana jumped through.
.
Meanwhile, Diana is looking for the Parademons she saw on TV. She does not understand why people are looking at her weird. She seems to believe that as soon as she wears this costume, she is a hero and people should understand that.
[Picture]
During her day job, she knows how to fit in, but when she has her suit on ... it is strange. But the truth of the matter is, she just doesn't care.
"Has anyone seen a winged creature?", she asks and goes around asking everyone. She is getting frustrated that no one remembers her since her time in the Second World War.
"DIANA!"
"Steve, you're here."
"You need to come back to the Pentagon.", Steve says.
"You sound like my mother."
"I'm your appointed liaison. I don't like it any more than you, but-"
"Steve, I've been away for many years and this place has changed so much since then. It is filled with so many wonderful things. Ice Cream and Rock and Roll and ... many more wonderful things.
But there is also a darkness that lurks here too. One I'm going to fight. That's what I'm here for. That's why I'm staying to fight."
"... You do know that Ice Cream was around last time as well, right?"
"I didn't have time for exploring."
"Right ... World War II and the like. I just don't want anyone getting hurt. Especially y-"
*PING*
"What was that?"
*PING PING PING*
"Not a harpy.", Diana says and prepares her sword. Hundreds of Parademons appear on the roof of the house next to them and jump down, attacking her.
"But it is a fight. Excellent! Leave them to me!"
.
.
- Detroit -
- S.T.A.R Labs - Superhuman study -
Parademons are picking up humans and taking them with them, to somewhere no one knows.
"Professor Ivo! They took Professor Ivo!"
"VICTOR!", Dr. Stone screams as he sees his son, who was affected by the boom tube's explosion, slowly dying.
"Doctor Stone, your son is gone! He is gone! We need to get out of here! We need to go!"
"I'm not going anywhere, Thomas."
"But-"
"I already saw his mother die. I REFUSE TO WATCH HIM DIE TOO."
.
.
(Batman POV)
- Metropolis -
Thousands of Parademons are coming out of the portals. I knew this would happen and took some precautionary measures, to ensure the populace won't die. The problem is, I couldn't have stopped this that much anyway. Darkseid has to be dealt with and the sooner Earth understands its place in the Universe, the better.
Seeing what seems like Judgement Day for everyone else, only puts a small smile on my face. I can't help but think back to my stay in Hell some time ago. Just a casual Tuesday.
*Woosh*
I dodge the claws of a Parademon and punch it three times. I don't even look at the result because I know ... he is already dead.
*BOOM*
I move like water and punch through the head of another Parademon. I don't even take my hand out and simply perform a kick to the back, hitting another one.
I move through the hordes of demons like the Doom Slayer that I am. Nothing is safe. They will all die ... Congratulations Darkseid ... you played yourself.
The nanomachines form my blade and I take it into my hands. It is time to get serious. You asked for it ...
________________________
Play Doom music.
Our boy is familiar with this shit. And someone will wish he had never messed with this planet.
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