Chain 234: DC - The Fourth World

Chain 234: DC - The Fourth World

Location: New Genesis
Age: N/A
Identity: New God
Drawbacks: [+700] Echoes of the Multiverse, To The Final Curtain, Banished, Death of the Jumper, Darkseid's Attention

[Free]      New God Physiology
[Free]      Kirby Krackle
[Free]      What May Be
[Free]      What Must Be
[Free]      Ray of Light
[Free]      I Give My Word
[0/1900]    Power Stipend (+200)
[800/1900]  Anti-Life Comprehension
[1600/1900] Life Equation
[1900/1900] Mobius Chair

Ah, this has been a long time coming, I must admit. The New Gods are... well, they're really not all they're cracked up to be, to be terribly honest. If you buy the hype, the New Gods are the platonic ideal of a concept, made into sapient form, and have advanced science and (arguably) some sort of connection to the Source.

In all reality, they're about as petty as the Greeks' gods, they're insultingly idiotic, and frankly they're not a whole lot more capable. Sure, they've got a shiny veneer on things and they exist in higher dimensions, but they're not concepts given flesh and are no better than anyone else. Aside from Highfather going 'but I know the will of the Source' and actually being somewhat right, that is.

So it's probably not a huge surprise that he singled me out as someone who did not belong, didn't like that I didn't simply bow before his declarations, and exiled me from New Genesis. Or well, it might've been the fact that I abused my abilities as an achron to get very detailed information on Metron's chair at my earliest opportunity and made my Comfortable Throne into a near-perfect copy of it. Granted, no one but he and Metron were aware of it since I changed the timelines in order to keep the knowledge but erase the obtaining of it, but... well, it's a little tricky.

Granted... the universe deciding that I don't belong is a bad thing, but Infinity Man is not the worst threat I've faced in my time, no matter how capable. Especially when I can rely on my knowledge of the timeline so that I don't get blindsided, and use the Mobius Throne to evade him where necessary and only engage him where it's necessary. Or entertaining. Because, let's face it, this universe exists for the purpose of entertaining those outside of it, just as my travels happen for the same reason.

Huh, existential thoughts much.

In any event, since I can't go to New Genesis (only in part because Highfather points Infinity Man at me the second I show up), the clear thing to do with my time is troll the frick out of Darkseid in between running around with the chair to try and plumb the depths of DC's two greatest mysteries. After all, Darkseid has been a thorn in my side all this time, and with the ability to travel through time that the chair gives me, I can in fact play into the assumptions he's made about my living backward through time. In between my appearances on the worlds I've already shown up on, I appear on other worlds to act to stymie him, being careful to keep my power to a certain level.

Right up until the end, shortly before the New Gods are all scheduled to be killed. That's when it's time to face him on Apokolips. And I do - most of his minions are brushed away, and I make it clear that my business is between him and myself. This doesn't prevent the parademon hordes from being winnowed down, of course, but they're mere cannon fodder and they don't matter. The only thing that does is the red-eyed and stone-skinned man that I stand in front of, in his throne room.

"Once, I would have called you a miserable wretch," Darkseid stated, his hands folded behind his back.

"Once upon a time, I would have been, but that was a very long time ago," I responded, with a smile on my lips that did not reach my eyes. "I am both greater and less than I once was."

"What is your purpose here? Tell me, why should I not end you where you stand?"

"Don't worry," I responded. "You know by now I'll speak nothing but the truth to you. After all, you know that I've been travelling between pieces of your multiverse, stealing pieces of power from each one. You think I'm somehow impinging on what you see as yours, living life backward from your perspective, until you'd thought you killed me. It's all quite amusing to me, to tell you the truth."

"Anti-life," he uttered.

"And life. Two sides of the same coin. You know, I should tell you that you're really quite popular where I'm originally from. Far, far further afield than your multiverse, far past the Source Wall. Your rise, your falls, all chronicled. You have quite the following there. Watching your minions squabble amongst themselves while you try and fail to be tyranny incarnate, over and over. Dying from your failures, then miraculously returning because it's just too amusing to let you stay dead."

Darkseid shook his head slightly. "A curious point of view, if an irrelevant one."

I continued after giving him that moment to speak, not missing a beat. "The three things those from my home remember the most is a certain Kryptonian beating the pulp out of you over and over, a baseline human besting you several times and once shooting you with a radion bullet to fatally wound you, and the most important thing... the one time you tripped on the stairs on Apokolips and died immediately. Mm, and the time the Amazon put out your eyes."

He scowled, but said nothing.

"You think you're strong, don't you? You think your strength will save you from an inevitable end? How droll," I said, the unkind smile now a grin. "The good old days will not return, though the rocks may melt and the sea may burn. No, I'm teaching a lesson here. You, Darkseid... you are a very fancy speed bump with a bad haircut and a miniskirt. You are weak, and weak things die. This is the truth, this is the lesson: You are not the platonic ideal of tyranny. You are the platonic ideal of failure, and your purpose in life is to inevitably fail, with only temporary successes, over and over, until your son grants you the merciful release of death. Or until the Source changes your story to be one of an even more ignoble demise."

Darkseid lashed out with his Omega Beams, but... well, those are rather moot when you can teleport. "Just thought I'd give you a farewell speech. This will be the last time you see me," I said, patting him on the shoulder after having appeared behind him. The crimson beams zig-zagged their way through the air back toward me, but before they could reach me, I stepped in between again and left Apokolips.

From there, I proceeded to the Source, to either get Infinity Man called off or to find an alternate direction to go in. The Source Wall is an entertaining concept, but it's meant to stop the ignorant, and those who would hope to seize its power for themselves.

Frankly, reaching the Source is easy, and requires a simple invocation.

"Dear editor..."