The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[AmenRa]

"What was that sound I heard?" Kara asked, looking to the Martian Manhunter for answers.

"The sound you heard was the second piece of the Crystal of Knowledge, the Crystal of Water. It has been unearthed from its hiding place," the Martian Manhunter explained to her. "The Crystal resonates with power, and it calls out to you, its song touching your Kryptonian blood. It wants to be found, and it calls out to its master to bring it together with the others.

"Just like the one given to you by Rose, each crystal has its own and unique voice. Travelers from your world used the crystals to leave trail markers for others to note locations of interest or study, or to mark places of sanctuary and shelter. Some crystals contained scientific data, others could open interplanetary travel gateways."

J'onn J'onzz bent to look into Kara's eyes, his face a mask of seriousness. "The Crystal of Water has been found by Zod, and this means he is one step closer to joining together all three to form the Crystal of Knowledge. If this happens, he will be unstoppable, for he will control all of the knowledge of the twenty-eight known galaxies at his fingertips."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Alfred

The girl had grabbed her ears, but The Martian had seemed to know his business, tending to her.

And then he revealed horrifying news.

Alfred looked stricken. "We've tarried too long, I fear."

He shook his head, and glanced back at the house. He'd bragged of its pillars and mortar, but how strong would it stand if such a villain accrued such power?

He leaned down, and placed a firm, surprisingly strong hand on J'onn's bent shoulder.

"Is there no way, sa'," he begged to know, "no way at all, to wrest this artefact from the tyrant's grasp?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Pete, Bruce, Jamie, Gabe, and Ceri

Chloe frowned at Damian, and was about to open her mouth, to ask him if the works of Alan Moore were standard reading for arch assassins of dubious repute, or this had been an extracurricular activity on his part. If so, she had pegged him more for the "V for Vendetta" type of guy? Or maybe "The League of--"

But before she could get a word in edgewise, Merick was there with one of the boldest displays of oration she'd ever encountered. There were politicians in Topeka, Hell, in D.C., who would give their eye teeth, their livers, and whatever was left of their mortal souls to deliver an address that inspiring.

Pete was grinning and wiping a tear from his eye. "You tell 'im, bro. You tell 'im good."

Bruce even seemed impressed, wrapped up in that cool dark facade of his, to which Damian's facade seemed so similar. He didn't even care that Chloe was beaming like a small sun at Merick's declaration of intent, the man said it straight out and he said it well: "Now that," he growled, nodding respectfully to Merick, "is what I call a Saint Crispin's Day Speech."

Chloe grinned, and whirled to face Damian.

"You hear that, Ozymandias?" she wondered. "We have what looks like a Nite-Owl in Bruce, here, and Doctor Tennylson is maybe acting a little Rorschach? But I don't see any Doctors Manhattan. The only Gordian Knot I see here is you. So quit distracting us with idle notions of superheroic philosophy, we've got a planet to save."

"Speaking of which," Jamie mused, sunglasses once more in place, "didn't we have a Big Gun on order?"

Chloe frowned: "J'onn said they were here--"

But then J'onn's telepathic voice rang clear in her mind: 'We have no more time.'

Chloe stiffened, and all the colour went from her face, and her little gasp prompted even Gabriel Sullivan out of his stock-still stupour: "Chloe? Sweetheart, are you all right?"

She shook her head at her father. "J'onn says we're out of time. Our ruse isn't going to work; Zod's found the thing already."

Ceri cracked her knuckles. "So we take it back from him. Or die trying. Let's not waste Merick's words."

 

[camerindrake]

Black Hood stood up and started walking to the table. He then looked over to Chloe, "Meteor Rock that is how we will beat him. If in its purest of forms he will be on his knees within feet of us getting to him," He looked at the rest. "Then we take it. If he trys anything or is able to think around the contaminated crystal of his home world then we make him think twice." He then began walking to the door where Alfred was with J'onn and Kara. He then turned for one last coment, "With this town I am sure we can get our hands on the weapon relatively easily."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Alfred

Alfred heard voices in the hall, and stepped to stand firmly against the door, just having a lean, delaying anyone who might try to come out before The Girl was good and properly ready. It was Master Bruce's notion, as far as Alfred knew, that she be given the chance to keep her face to herself, and he intended to give her that chance.

"Not to worry you, M'Lady," he prompted softly, "but if you're going to put that mask on, soona' might be betta' than lata'. (If you don't mind my saying so.)"

 

[AmenRa]

"Is there no way, sa'," he begged to know, "no way at all, to wrest this artefact from the tyrant's grasp?"

J'onn J'onzz stood to his full height, and he looked down at Alfred Pennyworth. The butler could see a look of determination in the Martian Manhunter's eyes. The Martian still held Kara, and he helped her along as he and Alfred walked together into the house.

"There is a way," he said.

He then spoke without looking at anything, but looking away from anyone, and instead piercing the fabric of space/time with his eyes.

"The others, with their powers, will support a mission to recover the Crystal of Water. Watchtower will assist Kara and Rose on a mission to track and locate the third and final Crystal.

"And I will accompany those who will face Zod," he finished.

 

[Wyldfire]

Diana was worried for her new friend Kara, but she made herself stay back from the one who called himself J'onn while he helped Kara through her mysterious pain. She quietly followed behind them into the large house. There she looked at those assembled. It would seem Kara had many friends with gifts from the Gods.

"There is a way," J'onn said, "The others, with their powers, will support a mission to recover the Crystal of Water. Watchtower will assist Kara and Rose on a mission to track and locate the third and final Crystal."

"And I will accompany those who will face Zod," he finished.

At this Diana stepped forward. "If Kara agrees with this I will as well, however, if she disagrees I will follow her direction."

Diana looked to Kara for word on how this was going to go down. If any of the men here thought to disagree Diana would correct them. One just does not go against the will of a daughter of the Gods.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

"J'onn says we're out of time. Our ruse isn't going to work; Zod's found the thing already."

Shit! I thought we would have more time. I thought we would have the big green guy & this "Chosen One" here when we hit this guy.

But he couldn't be allowed to get his hands on the crystal! I saw what he did under his own power. With more added, he would be unstoppable.


The others were ready, but they still needed one thing.

Time.

I shifted forms, encasing myself in my black armor.

"Come as soon as you can, I'll stall him."

With that I let the shadows roll over me, and before Ceri could stop me, I was gone.

An instant later I was in Shadow standing before the throne, the empty sockets of the skull staring me in the eyes, then an instant later I was surrounded by water.

Welcome to Honduras.

I swam up until my head slowly broke the surface. Looking around I could see. It didn't take long for me to find Zod. He stood above the others, still like a statue, watching them toil in the dirt. But his eyes never stopped moving. He was searching for it.

He knew it was close.

I swam closer to the shore until I could stand, then I made sure I had cover about thirty feet away.

It was time to start the fun.

I concentrated, and darkness enveloped the camp, centered on Zod.

Lets see how he handles this.

 

[Lunaramblings]

The energy around Merick darken, coalescing in a manner giving the appearance of life.

Merick looked hard at the images of Honduras. He pictured. He FELT.

In a moment there was a swoosh.

Merick was gone.

Merick was suddenly falling. He was several thousand feet above the ground. And falling faster every instant. Instinctively he formed a cocoon of sorts. A body armor,only millimeters thick but impossibly strong. He could see the destroyed town very far below. He decided in an instant. He swooshed once more.

Thankfully, Merick had sense enough not to arrive in the kitchen. He instead chose the front yard. Merick smashed into the ground with near terminal velocity.

For a second he was unsure if he was alive. He flexed his arms, legs, turned his head. He was fine. Then he was on his feet and swooshing back to the kitchen.

"Okay, that totally was a rush. Anyone that wants a piece, let's role." Merick's form was a shifting mass of energy. He had no trouble seeing through the haze. However distinguishing his in this form was no easy task. His face was impossible for any human to see. Merick reaches out, arms wide, awaiting those leaving for battle.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

She descended at a distance from the place, having already resolved to keep from exposing J'onn to her fire. The fire quaffed, she landed almost silently in the dark world, the small copse of woods that ringed Wayne Manour.

She landed in a crouch, and rubbed her forehead, her hair in a bit of a tangle.

It had been a long day. And it wasn't over yet.

Be strong, she mused, breathing deep. We can be scared when this is done.

She saw J'onn, and Alfred, and Kara, and... um... that new girl with the dark hair, almost as beautiful as Kara. (Maybe "beautifuller," in a way.) She saw them enter the house.

Rose had about gotten her breath back, ready to go, when a humanoid figure fell from the sky and pounded into The Earth with a sound not unlike a footfall of a god.

Rose stumbled, fell back, landed on her butt, eyes wide. (It hurt a little more than it had when she fell on the football field, because now she had something in her back pocket.)

"Dude," she blinked. "What?"

The dust cleared, and a green man was standing there, checking himself for leaks, running diagnostics.

Rose blinked. She had had no idea anyone could take that kind of hit, she wondered who green man was...

Swooosh. Gone again.

But that was Merick's thingy, swoooshing? Green Man was Merick?

"Woah," she breathed.

She picked herself up, dusted herself off, and ran towards the house at full speed, a good 70 miles per hour. When she reached the front porch, she simply eschewed the front steps, leaping up over the front railing with a little bit of a vault at the end.

Rose glanced back over her shoulder at the railing.

It was weird, how she could be such a clumsy fool most of the time, and then occasionally do something glorious.

All you need to succeed, Rose wondered, echoing her mother, is a clear heart, a clear head, and no fear.

Rose shook her head and followed the others into the house.

 

[AmenRa]

Zod

They had dug into the water, through a cave, and now they shovelled wet clay and sticky mud through the cave's mouth. Zod watched them, the shrill ringing of the Crystal of Water a subdued symphony to his inevitable triumph.

And then everything went black.

Darker than even the night, it was as if Earth's moon had eclipsed. But Zod knew no such thing had occurred. He stilled himself, and then he opened up with the extraordinary gift of sight that all Earth-bound Kryptonians possessed.

Except it didn't work. General Zod's x-ray vision could not penetrate the blackness that encased him.

His hands clenched into fists, he spun three hundred-sixty degrees, his face a mask of rage.

Zod didn't become a general of Krypton's army because he was dumb. He knew this darkness was no natural phenomenon.

"Show yourself to me!" he roared into the night, frightening at once the already scared workers he had enslaved. "Come forth and kneel before Zod!"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

J'onn seemed to know much about her world, including the part of the Crystals and their purpose. Kara began wondering why, if her parents meant for her to find these Crystals, did they not give her a direction sheet or a map? Things would have been a lot simpler had they only thought for a moment.

But it seemed that she was destined not to take life for granted, and to use all the resources at her disposal to figure it all out.

Life was a bitch that way.

Kara reasoned, then, that the reason she could no longer hear the piercing shriek from the Crystal was because Zod had obtained it for himself.

Though she felt somewhat uneasy by the fact that she had to face Zod eventually, Kara still had pretty strong friends gathered about her. Even Alfred, a man she only knew but for a few moments, had given her courage. She could tell that he had quite a bit of experience under his belt, even if those small bits of experience didn't have anything to do with super-powered aliens.

"Do... do I really need to wear a mask? It doesn't feel right," Kara said.

Why should she hide? If these people were her friends, her comrades in arms, then why should she be the one to wear a mask? If Kara was to wear anything it would be the silver wrist guards that she presently wore, a small reminder of her proud heritage.

J'onn, as if sensing her hesitation, directed her inside the mansion. His words were hopeful and direct, and he began planning their strategy, leading up to the part where Rose and herself would track down the third Crystal. Diana stated her intention to follow Kara to whatever end, and it brought a warm smile to the young Kryptonian's face.

"So when do we start?" Kara asked, though she knew the answer would come down to just two words: right now.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Alfred

"Do... do I really need to wear a mask? It doesn't feel right," Kara said.

Alfred smiled at her. (This, in his ever-so-humble opinion, was the wisest thing anyone had said all evening.)

"No," he reassured her. "I suppose it's not strictly necessary. But certain parties have taken to wearing masks themselves, and the trend does seem to be catching; we thought to extend you the option, that's all."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri, Pete, Jamie, Chloe, Bruce, and Gabe

"I'm in," Ceri never hesitated, never blinked.

Pete nodded firmly, strapping Wraith's first-aid kit to his hip and then pulling that dime-store mask onto his face. "Good to go."

Jamie tugged off Kyle's sunglasses and set them down, striding quickly to Ceri's side. Once he got there, though, it seemed like he didn't know quite what to say...

He bit the inside of his cheek, hands in pockets, and he murmured softly: "You take care of yourself, Weeping Angel."

Ceri smiled at him, touched his cheek. "Watch your own arse, Fireplace Man. I won't be here to do it for you."

She lowered her hand, and softly breathed: "F'annwyl."

Jamie's eyes never left hers: "In saecula saeculorum."

Ceri again rested the shotgun across her shoulder, and then stepped towards Merick's embrace.

Pete was about to join her, when Chloe called out softly. "Pete. Don't get dead. It's no fun at all."

Pete nodded to her, easily. "Y'know me, Sullivan. Nothin' but good times for ol' Pete Ross. What kinda good times m'I gonna have when I'm dead?"

Pete, too, moved in close to Merick.

Chloe chuckled, but then Bruce, in his scary mask with the pointy thing on its side, touched her shoulder. "'Overcome or perish,'" he murmured.

Chloe nodded, remembering their little adventure from the day before, and she choked up a little, overcome with emotion. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she blinked her eyes at the man, trying to stay on keel: "'Spartan,'" she quoted softly, with feeling, "'return with your shield, or on it.'"

And then Bruce, too, moved in close to Merick.

Gabe stood, and put his comforting hand on Chloe's shoulder.

Jamie had his hands in his pockets, and while his eyes were dark and sad his face displayed no feeling at all.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

OK, I think I got his attention. Now to keep it.
I dropped the Darkness, then when he was looking away I fired a darkbolt at him hitting him in the back and knocking him forward onto the ground.
I immediately went into shadowform and moved to some trees about fifty feet to the left. Once I got there I dropped shadowform, then dropped a darkness field back on Zod.
My plan was to keep this up, suprise attacks that would do nothing but embarass and piss him off until the others arived.
Not a great plan, but it's all I had.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dale opens one of the suitcases and draws out a bandolier of non-lethal shotgun rounds. As he dons it he glances around the kitchen, allowing his hands to wander over objects. The long sleek blade of a knife, the thick shaft of a rolling pin, the sharp tines of a meat fork. Finally his hands come to rest on the most unassuming of items. A dish towel. About two feet in length and a foot or so wide. Dale grins as he picks up the dish towel. He runs it through his fingers. Dale turns, picks up his shotgun and steps to Merick's side. Grinning at Ceri, he says simply, and in a manner of voice both reverent and soulful, "I wouldn't want to go anywhere with out a wonderful towel. A towel is about the most massively useful thing an operative can have. You can use it to keep warm on a cold night on watch, to lay on in the sand. To use as a zipline handle in emergency, to block harmful gases, smokes and the like. It is even darned handy for a bit of hand to hand. Yep, any man that carries his towle is a man not to be trifled with lightly."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri, Jamie, and Gabe

Ceri nodded easily, though her eyes examined the veterinarian with subtle worry.

"When Claire and I studied parkour in Paris," she nodded, "our teacher told us that there is no obstacle which cannot become an advantage. There is no object which cannot become a weapon. I imagine a towel would be similarly useful."

"Very Arthur Dent," Jamie agreed, though with only about 25% of his usual exuberance. "(Now there was a nice man.)"

Gabe, one hand still comforting on Chloe's shoulder, touched his other hand to Jamie's shoulder. "Sir? Are you okay?"

"Who, me?" Jamie blinked at him, and took on a not-quite-convincingly cavalier expression. "I'm always okay."

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Black Hood walked over to the grouping and looked back at the door.* He was uncomphertable, It may take only a small amount to bring a Kryptonian to its knees, but he would feel more comphertable with a bit more Kryptonite.* The Kryptonite they had was pure, at most it had been ground to a powder for the shurikens, still unprocessed still pure.* He was known for overkill.* He wasnt worried when it came to the moral issue of killing Zod.* Every story he heard of him from Superman to Matrix all tell of Zod being responcible for destroying the entire Kryptonian civilization.* He is who currupted the Brain INteractive Complex the drove the crystals into planets core.* Essentially creating the Green and Red Kryptonite.* So Black Hood would hold no remose for the fate of a being responcible for destroying Billions.* He chose that fate when he went from being defender to conqurer.* Much like the fate Black Hoods grandfather was delt when he chose that to save the world he would have to destroy humanity.* Black Hood delt with that issue after his fathers death.* It was on the top of his list.* Though the smile that Ra's had on his face at Black Hood's choice left him sick.Black Hood finally spoke, "I would be more comphertable if we had more Kr..... Meteor Rocks at our disposal.* But if we need to, we can make do."* After a pause, "Bruce get that ring on as soon as we hit Honduras. We won't know where Zod is or how close we will be to him when we land."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Alfred and Rose

He heard the front door behind him open and close and, intrigued-- and a little bit worried this might be someone he'd need his shotgun against whom to defend --Alfred glanced back.

The pale redhead girl. A friend.

"'Ello, missy," he smiled a gentle smile, "glad you could join us."

"Hey, Alfred," Rose smiled back, though nervousness seemed to sleet through every cell in her body. "Did I miss anything? Merick just did a killer faceplant into your front lawn."

"Ragamuffin," Alfred opined dourly, his eyes flickering in the direction of the front yard. "I shall have to call the landscapers. As for what you've missed, I wish I had better news: the bad man has recovered his little toy, and there's them who are eager to go on the offensive."

"Kyle?" Rose suddenly got a worried look on her face, went even paler, looked like she might want to push through the knot and into the kitchen. "Kyle didn't try to solo the instance boss, did he? Only he's a little bit bad-ass and a lot impulsive and it would be just like him to--"

Alfred put a hand on her arm. "I'm not aware of details. Meanwhile? You've other concerns, I think. The Martian wants you and Krypton's Daughter to go after the next piece of the puzzle."

Rose, understandably, found herself taken aback, blue eyes wide. "Oh. (I didn't think we knew where that was.)"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick grimaced angrily. He was drawing on his emotions, stoking the energies with his fury.

"Listen here you overbaring, obnoxious, Neo-goth-emo prat! I have had enough of your self-indulgent whining. I don't care if your ccomfortible! We are going to war. War is not the place for comfort, it is the place to make a stand. We stand together or not at all. We have made our choice. Now stop whining and make yours. The emerald energy pulsed and throbbed as Merick spoke. Gone was the timid sweetness. Mericks voice was booming and furious. The voice of a warrior. The voice of Conviction.

Merick through a hand toward the group assembled. Suddenly Pete, Dale, Ceri, and Bruce were surrounded by shimmering energy. "Last Train to Hell is about to roll out? Everyone got there tickets?"

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Damian walked up to Merrick and looked him dead in the eyes and his voice deeper than it ever had been spoke, "If you go into war unprepared people die, Merrick. I have seen it. I have seen good men die. Red Hood formerly an ally of my predicessor got killed by a psycopath wielding a crowbar. The psyco beat his skull in until his brains were splattered on a werehouse floor. You know what was the main cause. He ran in half cocked. And not all Gods are willing to beat the walls of reality to bring you back. I'm in, Merrick. I hope you are prepared, Merrick, to face a would be God."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Bruce

"'Our officers and men behaved like men who are determined to be free,'" Bruce murmured. "'Mad' Anthony Wayne. He was a brigadier general in The Revolutionary War, and an ancestor of mine."

Bruce looked at his counterpart, the mysterious Black Hood, David Damian Cain. Looked at him hard.

And then extended his hand.

"It doesn't matter what we go to face," he suggested. "Whether demon or god. We are men and women of Earth, creatures of humanity, and I believe that makes us, potentially, the equal of any demon. The equal of any god. It doesn't matter the odds stacked against us: what matters is our determination."

Whatever mysteries this man held, whatever shattering burdening darknesses he carried with him, Bruce knew that he was good in a fight. And they needed a man good in a fight; they needed all the help that they could get.

Merick wasn't wrong that Damian's attitude seemed unrealistically focused on munitions when time was at a minimum and they already had a man out in the field-- maybe dying --waiting on them to come riding in, bugles blaring, cavalrymen of yore.

But Bruce believed Damian's skill on the battlefield would help more than it would hinder, by a long shot. And thus he extended his hand to the man who shared his face.

"Are you determined to be free, Damian?" Bruce asked him, brooking no hesitation.

 

[AmenRa]

Zod

He raised himself up, levitating within the darkness, the remnants of mud and swamp clinging to his face. His head rang with the impact of the bolt of dark energy.

It didn't take Zod long to understand the nature of the attacks he faced.

They were born of the supernatural.

Magic.

Only the weak would use such a thing.

"Coward" he shouted, turning around, his eyes randomly blazing heat through the darkness and into the jungle around him. He did not care what he burned, only that it burned. The jungle trees, the bushes, a haphazard rodent that wandered across the path, and even some of the men who still, even fearfully, dug for the crystal within the cave.

"You attack Zod with pitiful old science," he told the unseen foe, "and yet you are too afraid to face him without hiding behind this fold of night!"

Zod slammed his fist into the ground. The entire land shook and swelled with the impact. The trees swayed and threatened to break, the animals fled, the water spouted.

And still the darkness remained.

 

[AmenRa]

Martian Manhunter

He arrived in the room where Chloe waited with her computers just in time to see the second part of the Honduras mission fade from existence.

Chloe's tear did not go un-noticed by the Martian Manhunter.

He understood.

"Your team is assembled," he told her. "It is now time for you to put all of your effort into locating the BRAIN InterActive Construct. The AI will know the location of the last piece of the Crystal of Knowledge, or it will be close to finding it. I am sure part of its mission parameters allows it to take human form if necessary in order to infiltrate and subdue.

"This means you can trust no one," he concluded, "except those around you now. Listen to Rose, she will explain all to you about Krypton's Chosen One. You must find the last Crystal before the Zod's artificial intelligence or all will be lost.

"The fate of humanity rests with you and the three others in the room beyond, Chloe Sullivan. I go now to assist the Wraith in his fight against Zod."

He lowered himself to look into her eyes. "I know this is much to burden the shoulders with of one so young," he told her, "but on my world a person was measured by what they had inside themselves, not by their age. My daughter was such," he said to her, "and so are you.

"Make your father proud," he finished. He gave a nod of respect to Gabe Sullivan, and then the Martian Manhunter turned on his heel and left the room.

He passed through the room where Alfred waited with Kara, Rose, and Diana.

"Kara Zor-El," he said to her with a curt nod, "your light will guide your friends through the dark time to come. It has been an honor to watch you grow into a strong, young adult worthy of name of the House of El. Your father and mother would be very proud. I look forward to the coming time when we shall stand against evil and oppression, the same as we do now."

J'onn J'onzz nodded in greeting and good-bye to Diana, and he moved towards the door. He passed by Rose, where he stopped for a brief pause, reached out and clasped her tiny hand in his. He held it for a brief second, then exited Wayne Manor.

Once on the front lawn, the Martian Manhunter lifted off for the sky, becoming a blur as he accelerated towards the speed of light and vectored his direction for Honduras and General Zod.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick and the assembled troops arrived in Honduras. The trees were blazing. The jungle full of noise. Merick was not particularly surprised to see the large blot of pure darkness, unmolested by the light of the flames.

Dale was the first moving. He was taking a flanking action. Skirting around the outside of the perimeter. He seemed to move with a quickness and agility unlike anything he had shown to those gathered previously.

Merick roared, "For Earth, for those we love, and for those this bastard has killed. Bring hell to them! Tonight we stand, or we die trying!" Merick fired a blast of energy, thicker than a tree trunk directly into the darkness. He didn't care who he hit. Or how hard. Tonight there would be blood.