Chain 196: Injustice

Chain 196: Injustice

Location: The Watchtower
Identity: Drop-In, Insurgency (Human)
Drawbacks: [+400] Priority Target

[Free]      Time To Kick My Ass
[200/1400]  Time To Go, Plas
[Free]      Moral High Ground
[400/1400]  Incorruptable
[Free]      Official Files
[400/1700]  Power Stipend (+300)
[600/1700]  Enhanced Reflexes
[1400/1700] Extreme Shapeshifting
[1700/1700] Enhanced Senses

Every world I go to, I take a piece of it with me. I've gone over this before, of course, but it's still an interesting thing to see. Some places give me next to nothing and I have to fight to grasp it. Some places give me a megacorporation on a silver platter, some give me knowledge, and some alter me in ways unforeseen.

But the most interesting thing about being here? Enhanced reflexes and enhanced senses means that I effectively have combat precogniton; I can operate at human standards and outperform anyone who isn't on the level of a Kryptonian or an Amazon. Sure, I can't hit hard, but I can hit EFFECTIVELY. Doubly so when considering other abilities that lend themselves to this... though I think I'll leave the shapeshifting unannounced. Keeping an ace up my sleeve, if you will.

Which brings us to now: a conversation with one Green Lantern months after I arrived, in Opal City. Long after I got kicked off the Watchtower because it was in crisis mode and I wasn't technically in the League yet.

"So what exactly is the problem?"
>"You showed up on the Watchtower the day after Metropolis was destroyed-"
"You know I was brought there to join the League, damn it! I went over this with Wonder Woman!"
>"And you're constantly saying criticizing us, undermining us!"
"I thought you were trying to be heroes, not dictators!"
>"And we know you had a hand in stealing the pill. You clearly aren't part of the solution, which makes you part of the problem."
"Oh, I'm the problem here. Right. You know, for a Green Lantern, I'm surprised how yellow you are, Hal Jordan."
>"You have some nerve."
"Oh, save it. I can see you working up the stones to attack me - what with that combat precognition and all. You don't want me to be on your side? Fine. I'll go solo."
>"You don't get it, do you? You're too dangerous to let go."
"Right. I'm sure the Guardians would agree with you. Pretty sure you'll be wearing a different color in the future, this regime is putting itself in place with fear."
>"Shut your mouth!"
"Feel free to try. But first I have a quick question. What happens if your ring ends up covered in yellow paint?"
>"... don't you fcking dare."
"That's a trick question, by the way, you really should have been paying closer attention to your surroundings."
>"What in the hell-?"

And thus the reign of Glass Jaw Jordan came to a sudden and immediate halt by way of knockout. Sure I cheated a bit with out of jump powers in order to have the paint bomb detonate and coat his entire right side at the right moment... but I can still blame that on combat precognition. A little. Meanwhile I stole his ring, cleaned the paint off of it, and immediately got whisked to Oa. Turns out slipping on a ring that didn't belong to me, with the former ringbearer being covered in yellow and emotionally compromised and thus incapacitated, triggered some hidden protocol. Whoops.

Screw it, this universe CLEARLY runs on the rule of cool, because that's way more cool than it should be.

The Guardians were not happy with me, until I explained everything. And I do mean EVERYTHING, from start to the current day, as to what was going on with Earth. And then I asked them to do something a little different. NOT interfere. They didn't like this one bit, until I clarified what I meant: Clark Kent was an adoptive son of Earth, and thus this became a domestic conflict. They still didn't like it, but they accepted it - Hal would be remanded to Oa for retraining, Earth would be a pariah, and the Green Lantern Corps were to stay out of Earth's business.

"How about amending that last bit?" I asked. "Undeclared residents are to stay out, instead. We've got a pretty large extraterrestrial immigrant population, after all, and it would be hypocritical to say 'only THESE aliens are allowed'. That way if someone wants to immigrate, they can."

That being a good point, the terms were amended and an interdict was established around Sol.

On my way back, of course I lacked a ring, but I was brought back by Kyle Rayner in a hard-light construct. At least, until we were intercepted by the Sinestro Corps. They saw me as an amusing target, and had no problems escalating to murdering Rayner by yanking off his finger, and thus removing his power source, to leave him to die in space. At which point the hard-light bubble dissolved around me, leaving me open to space as well.

This annoyed me, so I elected to cast a modified bubblehead charm on the wounded Rayner to encompass the whole of his body, then turned toward the Sinestro Corps who had taken a defensive stance, having expected me to die and unhappy at the unexpected happening. I smiled at them and inclined my head. "That was rude," I told them cheerfully. "You must learn of consequences."

Afterward, Kyle and I made it back to Earth after I regrew his finger and gave him his ring back, after I made him promise not to tell anyone what he'd seen. He was confused... but grateful. While the Sinestro Corps did not make it to Earth as they had planned, my actions caused Superman to get a Yellow Lantern ring. Which he declined to take off for some time. It didn't seem to poison his mind any further, but it caused a great deal of friction between him and the other loyal Lanterns, who eventually just left the Regime behind, citing the Green Lantern interdiction. (They tactfully did not mention that they were technically allowed to interfere, being citizens on Earth.)

Meanwhile I put in my lot with Batman in a more official and overt way. Sure, this mostly meant I was a part of the fight and used my apparent combat precognition to be impossible to hit even to those with superspeed, but it worked. The whole mess with Trigon and Mr. Mxyzptlk happened, and part of the aftermath was that Superman gave up his ring - the thing proved practically useless while trying to protect him from the magic of the fight before he could get out, and he gave it to a reluctant Hal Jordan. And in the wake of that whole mess, the two sides agreed to an informal cease-fire. It went about as well as you would expect, though, considering Victor Zsasz made it into the Batcave and tried to kill Alfred Pennyworth. Poor guy must have gotten himself too worked up. As he prepared to land the fatal blow, he blew a blood vessel and died of a cerebral hemorrhage, or at least that's what the autopsy said.

There definitely wasn't anyone hiding in the Batcave, invisible, using telekinesis to incapacitate him and tear open an artery, no sir. None of that here.

Which led to the next step: turning myself in to Superman directly. The timing on that was pretty good - he'd just killed Lex Luthor and there was a bit of a showdown going on between him and Billy Batson. Which I interrupted when I walked in completely unannounced. The timing truly couldn't have been better; Captain Marvel's mouth was covered in ice and Superman's eyes were glowing red.

"Hey, uh, I'm here to surrender," I told the assembled heroes, startling them. "I've had enough of this war, if you've escalated to the point of killing people on live TV... yeah, I'd like to not die, thanks. Much rather be alive in prison."

Wonder Woman was the first to react, unsheathing her sword. "After all you've done... you think you can just surrender?" she asked, her tone showing the aggravation of the day. "By all rights, I should-"

"Enough," interrupted Superman, glaring at Captain Marvel before tossing him to the side, and muttering, "We'll finish this later." He strode over to me as I stood there, with my hands up. "I half expected you to walk in here with a suicide vest, but all you're wearing are your clothes. No games. What are you here for, really?"

I shrugged and repeated, "I'm surrendering, obviously. Had an epiphany, watching that on television. I've been no better than the worst from before all of this and it's not worth it, fighting you all - I'm not against the Regime itself, just the methods, but at this point why resist? It doesn't matter how you got here, does it? What matters is that the Regime is here to stay. Who could stop it now?"

He looked skeptical. "And you'll surrender yourself to justice? No resisting?"

"That's what I'm doing now," I answered.

"Diana," he prompted. With a nod, Wonder Woman sheathed her sword and instead brought out her lariat; I did not resist being bound. He nodded to himself as he stepped toward me. "Why did you come here?"

"To surrender," I found myself compelled to answer. But my lips kept moving. "I wish to save the lives of Billy Batson, everyone in this room, and everyone on Earth in descending order of importance."

He glanced over his shoulder and frowned at the slumped form of the knocked-out Captain Marvel, before looking back at me. "Save them from what?"

"Primarily, you. You will attempt to kill everyone in this room. Secondary, Brainiac. He will arrive in roughly five years and attempt to commit global genocide. Other high priority threats include Darkseid, a cabal yet to be established that will be subverted by Brainiac, a black ops task force of metahumans compelled by cortex bombs, and universal incursions," I said.

With a snort, Superman said, "You were lying when you said your powers were limited to combat precognition. You knew. All this time, you knew exactly how this was all going to go. What did you expect throwing yourself at our mercy was going to earn you?"

I actually laughed, but the rope forced the answer out of me anyway, "A faster death than I'd see at the hands of any of those threats. All of my experience in this universe leads me to believe they'd take their time at best."

The Flash glanced around the room uncomfortably, but the others didn't notice. "Fine," Superman said. "A quick death? After everything you've done, the problems you've caused, I'll give that to you. Is there anything else you want to say first?"

"Just final words to each of you."

When I said nothing else, Wonder Woman muttered, "Appropriate. And those are?"

I lowered my head. "In another universe, we would have worked together to save the world, but this universe has a bit more rot than most. This fills me with sorrow, but I can't take your decisions from you." I looked at Wonder Woman and said, "Diana of Themyscira, it pains me to see you subservient to a man, but the heart wants what it wants." I turned to a yellow-suited Hal Jordan, who'd declined to go to Oa. "Hal, you remember what I told you about what color you wore. It doesn't suit you, but that's your choice to make. Thank you for not ripping Guy Gardner's arm off, though." Looking over Superman's shoulder, I continued, "Raven, Cyborg, you two just... suck. You really need to just lock yourselves in a bedroom and get over all that latent sexual tension." Briefly making eye contact with a nervous looking Flash as I ignored the confused "what?" in stereo, I shook my head slightly and glanced pointedly at the exit, and then locked my gaze on Superman, falling silent.

"Too late for second thoughts now. You're done? Nothing to say to... what was it you called me? The Great Tyrant?" he asked with a snort as he advanced.

"I only have one things to say to you," I responded. "You won't like it, but it wouldn't really surprise anyone back at home."

A cruel smirk crossed his face. "Fine. What is it? One last chance to call me a tyrant? Dictator? Murderer? Whatever it is you prefer these days?"

"No, no," I said, as lowered my head. "The standard counter-charm to a tyrant is, of course, Fiendfyre." Living flame billowed from both my hands as the last word left my lips, growing far faster than it had any right to - Superman moved to strike me through the sudden wall of flame, only to pull back his arm abruptly, seeing it covered in blisters, his suit burned. Wonder Woman pulled on her lasso but found my feet held fast; the Fiendfyre advanced toward her and she dropped her end of it, leaving me still bound. But the wall of flame cut between the Flash and the others, leaving an opening toward Captain Marvel... and the exit

"Oh you magnificent son of a bitch," breathed the Flash, noticing the passage before he and Captain Marvel disappeared through it in a crimson blur; Superman moved to follow but the flames had already blocked his passage. The living flame freed me as it began to race around the room, phoenixes screeching, hydras hissing, thestrals letting loose bone-chilling shrieks, all while I stood in the middle of it unmolested. Hal Jordan shielded himself, Wonder Woman, and Superman, while Raven shielded the remainder, but the flames pressed in on the shields.

Despite the sound of the flames, my voice rang clear over it. "I'm tired of doing nothing. Tired of not just decapitating your Regime, but I had hope that without certain influences you might make better decisions. And so I'm done. We're not going to deal with any more injustice, we're going to finish this now, and then I'm going to spend the next five years putting civilization back in place like it belongs."

"Azarath, Metrion-"

"Avada Kedavra." A sickly bolt of green stopped Raven in the middle of her incantation as it slid through her shield effortlessly, and as she collapsed, the brief shrieks of a few people burning to death caused the remaining three former heroes to blanch beneath their golden shield. I spoke again, addressing them as everything else in the throne room burned to cinders. "Look, I came here because I really wanted to face justice. But I knew what you'd offer. A quick death isn't justice. But then, neither is sending Victor Zsasz to kill Bruce's butler - bruised ego much, Kal-el? Doesn't matter now, though." I let the flames dissipate enough so that they could see me, still wrapped in the golden lasso. "I knew from the start how this would go, and I tried to remove any outside influences I could, because I believed you could overcome this. But Diana, you're not just a warrior, you're a dyed in the wool murderer. Kal-El, you turned your back on your adoptive home and chose to become a murderer. You've killed hundreds - directly, personally, killed hundreds. Not that brain-damaged clone. You."

With a shimmy of my body, the lasso came loose from around me and pooled at my feet; I clapped my hands, the scorched walls of the room shifting, hidden behind the rumbling walls of flame. "Hal, you're going to Oa. You don't get a choice this time. Diana, Kal-El, I'll offer you an option. Imprisonment, but remaining alive, as I had wanted for myself before this action was necessary - or a clean death. What'll it be?"

The two I had named looked at each other briefly, then nodded; it was only by pure reflex that Hal Jordan dropped his shield for them to go through, before hiding within it again. The two charged forward through the flames to strike me, and... well, I admit to a bit of treachery and showmanship with that. They both hit me.

My feet did not leave the floor, and my body... well, it's invulnerable. It's been invulnerable. They had plenty of power behind their blows, but they didn't have the metaphysical back end that Darkseid did; I didn't feel it. But the flames dropped when they did that, and the both of my hands went to latch onto their throats. Not enough to completely cut their air off, but enough.

"Death it is," I idly commented as Superman began to convulse in pain in my grip.

"Kryptonite," Wonder Woman wheezed as she looked around the room, grappling at my arm, kicking at my side ineffectively. The walls were visible, now. And they were glowing a dull green. "How..?"

I inclined my head toward Hal Jordan. "You have an appointment on Oa, Hal, unless you prefer I make a different choice. I owe the Guardians that much." I turned my attention to those in my grip and responded, "Simple transmutation. The universe is built on math, though alchemy could be called the art of fudging the numbers. I think all could agree that my patience was exemplary, letting you chart your own course and hoping you'd make different choices. But you have all taught me a very important lesson--"

At which point Hal, who had been skulking toward the door, decided to strike me from behind with an energy construct. Which was completely ineffective, the spiked fist shattering against my body. I snapped my head around to where he was almost instantly, turning it a complete one hundred eighty degrees, eyes wide and a too-large grin painted on my face. "HI HAL WANNA SEE MY LASER EYES?!"

"Sweet Christ!" he exclaimed, falling backward as my eyes glowed. Then faded.

"Hahaha! You should see the look on your face! Nah, I wouldn't hit you with the laser eyes, I'm saving those for a special occasion," I said with a grin. "Diana, did you see that?! I scared a Yellow Lantern!" I moved my arm to hold her out to the side, twisting it so she could see Hal picking himself off the floor as his ring droned about fear being detected.

"What the FCK are you?!" he asked, a shield and yellow constructs beginning to form around him as he hoped to attack me again.

I was suddenly compelled to open my mouth and spoke my name in Correspondence.

It turns out that Lanterns are meant to be able to survive the corona of a star, judging by how Hal was still there and intact, even if his shield was fractured and his other constructs shattered. Although the half of the room behind him disappeared. Also the building. "Whoops, my foot is still touching the Lasso, my bad," I muttered, turning my body to align with my head which I kept fixed on Hal. Wonder Woman was a bit singed on one side, Clark was... really not feeling well, given his groaning and lack of resistance. "Asking someone like me what they are is dangerous when they're compelled to speak truth, just so you know. But as I was saying... I really should thank you. This is the second time I've been pitted against an evil Justice League, and I think it means I shouldn't bother to hold back in such a world in the future."

Wonder Woman moved her body in an attempt to draw her blade, but only got shaken vigorously for her trouble and the half-drawn blade simply tumbled to the ground. I started walking out of the kryptonite-converted chamber and out of the new exit to the building, giving Superman a chance to at least breathe, but the visible damage to the building had already attracted attention, especially with the media already on watch. I marched past Hal to find myself on live television, dangling the world's two biggest fallen superheroes-

And then Hal hit me again with several constructs simultaneously, one of which packed a pretty good punch for firing a hard-light laser beam. I stopped mid-step and slowly turned back toward him, staring in utter disbelief at his blatant stupidity. "You really... oh, that's the last straw."

Then I started charging toward him, swinging a flailing Kryptonian and Amazonian as improvised weapons, intent on making sure Glass Jaw Jordan's record was made to be 0-2.

"IT'S TIME TO BEAT A MOTHERFCKER WITH ANOTHER MOTHERFCKER."

Five years later:

"This is all my fault, you know," I muttered quietly, looking down at the world below, fires visible on the surface even in orbit in the wake of Brainiac's attack.
>"It is," my opponent agreed, his expression impassive but his tone amused.
"I could have just stopped holding back, and done what I needed to do, and none of it would have happened. But I hesitated."
>"You deny what you are. Call it what it was. You. Were. Weak."
"I was. I didn't want to believe heroes could really fall so far. That one bad day would have that effect."
>"Why do you lie to yourself? You knew what would happen. You didn't want to get involved. You put forth the minimum effort."
I was silent for a long few moments, before I answered, "I hate that you're right."
>"And you gave the world back to those shaved apes, and now the world burns."
"Would you not call that an overstatement?"
>"Hardly even a mild one. Your stay is very temporary, and gentle correction does nothing for those who refuse to remember. Without your shadow hanging over them, they will forget the lessons you taught. The lessons of pain and fear that they were spared. They will tear each other apart, and this world truly will burn."
"Which is why I didn't seek to put them under my heel in the first place. The backlash would have been worse."
>"You know nothing. Merely cowardice."
"You would call it that. Well, call it whatever you wish, I will very politely disagree."
>"It amuses me to watch you break, even now. However, you did keep your word, granting me vengence for Kalibak."
"... He's no more dead than you are."
>"Technicalities. The insult has been repaid, Kal-El is dead at my hands, his corpse incinerated, and the price agreed. I will leave this world and its occupants to their fates. But we have unfinished business, and this merely delays the inevitable."
"I have little doubt of that. I still don't know why you chose to come for me in the first place, though, with our timelines mismatched. I don't suppose you'd care to humor me before you depart?"
>"When you lie on the ground facing my wrath, betrayed by those closest to you, you will understand the true power of a god. You will understand inevitability. And in that moment... I will grant you the mercy of death."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "The worst part of this is, you're talking about what's already happened from your perspective, aren't you?" I asked him. Darkseid merely smiled mockingly at me in answer, before summoning a boom tube and stepping through it.