The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[ChasNicollette]

Lar and Raya

The sandstorm tore the air, and the two of them huddled together with the embrace of old old friends as they helped each other stand up against the blast of the wind.

M'onel's lungs were on fire, and this had nothing to do with the stinging whipping searing sands.

"Almost home," Raya whispered in his ear. "Almost home. Almost home."

And M'onel went to nod, went to make appreciative noises, but then a blast that had nothing to do with the gusting wind or the buffeting sand crashed between the two of them, driving them apart.

Raya groaned and she staggered and her side had been slashed, a long thin cut.

Instantly her hand went to her side, and even as she drew her long gleaming knife, she confirmed with relief that the pouch in which she'd placed The Crystal was intact.

"Keep going!" she roared, grabbing M'onel's hood with one hand and hauling him to his feet even as she watched a displaced patch of sandstorm, an unnatural gap against the wind, watched it spiral back around towards them.

"Phantom!" she crowed, and as it dove for her face with a chittery supernatural chiller of a scream, she slashed its semicorporeal form down the middle with her blade.

The blade had been forged in the darkest ages of Krypton's history, when Krypton had its own sorcery, and there were few things in the 28 known galaxies that were resistant to magic.

Phantoms included.

It shuddered and dispersed and scattered and she powered onwards, hurrying harder now.

She pushed M'onel ahead of her, and she felt him seething with pain as he pushed himself harder and harder still. "Where there is one there is more. More are coming."

"Thought they were unusually quiet today," he mumbled.

"Old Kryptonian proverb," Raya growled, as they stumbled towards the campsite, "'few are good fortunes but beloved, yet we despise bad fortune as it hunts in packs.'"

"Your proverbs suck," M'onel declared bitterly.

"This is true," Raya admitted.

...and they burst into the tent, caked with onyx sand and each with their own blood.

Raya held her side, and she glanced from Var-Sen to Kara Zor-El, resolute but disturbed: "Crystal secured. We need to go. Right now."

"Turns out we're not the only ones what don't like it here," M'onel groaned, shaking his head. "Who'da thunk it?"

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I reached out and grasped Merick's hand.

"Don't let go, and don't blast anything without checking with me first."

Shadows engulfed us and we emerged in Shadow, before the throne in the ruins.

"Magic. It's what I draw my power from. Shadow is a realm of magic. Here I am stronger. Here I can do things that I can't do back home, like shadowstep blind."

I called upon me need, and Shadow answered me. Power poured into me, a raging torrent of energy. It kept building, higher and higher, until I released my will.

"Take me to Rose."

Shadows swirled around us and we emerged in a cold rain. I saw Rose standing a short distance away, facing off with a figure fighting what appeared to be a suit of armor.

Zod.

 

[ChasNicollette]

"You don't have to stay anywhere forever."

Death was about to say something, but then she seemed to glance over her shoulder as if something had distracted her. Something (perhaps) unexpected.

"Heya Ted," she murmured whisper-faintly. "Been awhile."

But then Death took her hat off, and she smiled sadly at J'onn.

She leaned on her umbrella as she might have leaned upon a cane.

"No," she declared. "I'm not here for you, J'onn J'onzz of Ma'aleca'andra. If you were going to die, I think you would have done it by now."

She hooked her umbrella over her wrist and reached into her top hat and produced a little packet of Kleenex, offering this to the great sad hunter of evil-doers. (Though if he took this from her, she would be careful, lest he brush her fingertips with his own.)

"I was there for them, at the end," she murmured softly, "For K'hym, and then for M'yri'ah. I was there, just as you were. And I was there for all of your people, of your breed, of your stripe, of whom you are the last. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She shook her head, softly, slowly. "It wasn't personal. I just... I have a job to do, and I do it. And I'm not supposed to take sides, or play favourites, but I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Death of The Endless smiled gently at him. "You know I haven't taken H'ronmeer yet? You're the last of your kind, the only Martian left who believed in Him, this god of Fire and Death, and He's hanging on just for you. He won't go unless you do. There's so many gods I've taken over the years, so many gods from all the planets in the sky, who gave up, who walked away into the Dreamlands from which they'd once emerged, even when there were thousands left, whole thousands who still praised their name. And this one... H'ronmeer... you're the last one left, and He still won't give up."

She shrugged her shoulders subtly, a reverent smile on her face. "You're not given to surrender, J'onn J'onzz. You never have been. And He likes that about you."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick listened to Wraith. He was in awe of what he saw. He so badly wanted to let go of that hand. To explore the ruins. To run amongst the magic land.

Then they were in the middle of a battle. He saw Rose. She looked bad. His heart shattered a bit.

"Help Rose. I'll be..." Before he finshed he had gone. He wasn't in that dark dank room long enough to even be truely seen before he yanked the interception crew out. "Back." Merick finished as he arrived on scene with the crew. He jumped directly to Rose's side.

"Hey Rosy! Brought the posse. Who're your friends." Merick asked as he appeared beside her. Then let out a blast of force in concussive waves directed at the army before them. Waves of Emerald Force, like a tidal wave, crashing forth, easily fifteen feet high and twice that across.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Edmund Tennylson, or as he was known while under the mask, Deathstroke The Terminator took only a second to get his barrings. He click the last piece of the staff into place and glanced at Ceri and Bruce.

"You be careful out there, I gave that perty young blonde my word. I don't break that easily. Now let's kill us some commie bastards." Edmund didn't charge. He didn't run. He moved cautiously. Moving slowly, and deliberate. The opposite of how his son had fought not long ago. He was deliberate. He was methodical. He was deadly. As he passed Wraith he clapped him on the shoulder, "Watch yer ass out there son. These bastards are trained killers."

Deathstroke came up to his grandson's side. His HUD was reading life signs on the people before him. He was giving mental commands to the computer inlay. Designating friend and foe. He locked on a target, an officer and he leveled his staff like a rifle and blasted a bolt of golden energy at the man.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Old Haunts.

Shadows swirled and leaped.

And a number of them were gone.

Left behind were Chloe, and Dale and Marcy. And Gabe and Gabriel and Jamie and Pete and Alfred.

"Good luck, Masta' Bruce," Alfred murmured. "Good luck, Little Ceri."

The lights flickered, and staggered, but stayed on.

The little standby indicator on the bank of computers winked out, and Jamie gave that a funny look. "That's odd. Did we have a nuclear event after all? I didn't think that computer could turn off like that."

Jamie glanced skyward. "I wonder what's going on out there."

"No way to know," Chloe shook her head. "Source of information's gone. We're cut off. And since I'm the information guru, that means I'm going to be useless for awhile."

She glanced over at Pete, who was struggling to tend to Dale.

("Well," Chloe murmured. "Not completely useless.")

"Your old man beat the shit outta ya, huh?" Pete grunted, putting the pressure on, throwing aside his wadded-up bloodied-up useless strips of ski-mask. "My dad's a big guy and all, but he was never into corporal punishment."

Chloe walked towards them, biting her lip, full of purpose and full of fear.

Because when J'onn had jogged her memory, set her straight, she had remembered everything that had happened while she'd been dead, and she'd understood what all of it meant.

There was no such thing as a one-sided coin.

And she reached out, fingers trembling, scared out of her mind. She was useless right now. No input made The Watchtower useless.

She needed to make herself useful. "Hey, Pete? I think I can handle this one. Just this once."

Pete glanced up bewilderedly. "What?"

Gabe looked up from the purring cat and blinked worriedly at his daughter. Something had come over her... something he recognised.

Something he'd seen in her mother, once or twice. And there was a catch in his throat. "Chloe Anne?"

Jamie arched an eyebrow, and then turned pale. "Hang on. Hang on. What?"

...and then golden-white light coruscated on Chloe's fingertips.

"I'll be right back," she murmured.

And she touched her fingertips to Dale Tennylson's heart.

"Chloe?" Gabe whispered, eyes so very very wide.

Light filled the room with a eye-searing flash and many there were forced to look away.

...Dale's wounds were gone, inside and out, in that instant, oh so very gone, and Chloe dropped to the floor of the bunker like a puppet with her strings cut.

Gabe and Pete screamed at the same time: "CHLOE!"

Alfred's jaw dropped. "Oh. My. Giddy Aunt."

Jamie stared in wonder. "Oh. That's. That's just... that's lovely."

...and Chloe woke up, sitting on a now-familiar couch, blinking her eyes and finding herself sitting next to Ted "Wildcat" Grant.

Ted seemed suprised to see her, and impressed. "Hey. She's out, but she left us cookies."

True enough, there was a plate of cookies on the coffee table, still warm and steaming. Chocolate chip. And for Ted there was a glass of cool frosty milk, and for Chloe there was an almond mocha with extra whip in a mug.

There was a note, written in an impeccably beautiful hand: 'Gone out. Had to run an errand. Back soon. Hugs and kisses.'

Ted was crossing something off in a little notebook, and counting on his fingers.

Chloe helped herself to a cookie with an air of resignation, but was surprised to find that the cookie was practically perfect in every way.

 

[Lunaramblings]

As Chloe touched Dale and that sweet joyous light poured through him, everything changed. The wounds healed. The ruptured kidney that was slowly poisoning him, the collapsed lung that made his breathing ragged and harsh. the bruises and contusions. The cuts and scars. All gone. Then, something happened.

In Dale's mind there was a struggle. The walls that had been torn asunder were rebuilt. Dale's mind knit back together, and expelled the psionic disease that it had contracted as it viewed the horrid creatures in their horrid worship. The Ravager was forced back in his cage and the door was slammed shut.

"Wow..." Dale staggered and stumbled.

"Darling? What the Hell did she do?" Marcy hit the floor and wrapped her arms around Chloe. She held her to her breast as she cried. "What did you do?" Marcy looked at those around her. "I cant hear a heartbeat. I cant feel a pulse. Someone. Help."

Dale wept a bit and looked at Gabe. He had no words.

 

[Wyldfire]

Diana stayed on her knees. She'd tried and failed. She given Aries everything she could and even in that he left her alive, left her to live in shame. She had cast her die, and it had, as Uncle Ted would say it, crapped out.

She heard the gunfire and startled at it, looking up. She saw Ted Grant hit the ground, rounds cutting through him. One of Mother's oldest friends. The only man she'd ever known since before coming into the World of Man. Diana snapped, the pain and broken bones forgotten. Rational thought forgotten, Diana of Themyscira screamed. And as she screamed she moved.

She hit the closest group of soldiers like a missle. She couldn't make fists but she could still use her arms like clubs. There was no thought in her attack, it was pure instinct. Pure Themysciran warrior instinct. Had there been rational thought left to her Diana would never strike anyone as hard she she clubbed and kicked. The soldiers fell under her wrath. They fell critically injured or dead under her wrath.

If there had been anything resembling a thought it would have been "Wouldn't Aries be proud of what he created."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

Chaos reigned in China.

Merick was blasting Chinese forces, his grandfather was cutting through them like they were nothing. Ceri and Bruce were running among them, wolves among sheep.

I had different prey in mind.

I moved forward until I could see the armored figure battling Zod and let loose a blast that hit Zod full in the face, knocking him back away from the armored figure and into a jeep, crumpling it and sending him reeling.

"Death got boring Zod, so I came back." I yelled at him.

The stone I kept clenched in my fist. This time he was going down

Meanwhile, back at the plane.​

"Odin, status report."

"The alien AI has taken over every major power production plant and communications server on the planet and shut them down. No power is being generated, and communications grids worldwide are down. I have managed to keep a few of our grids open, but there is a chance that they may be detected and shut down. We are effectively cut off from the world."

Bekka leaned back in her chair, hands steepled in front of her face, thinking.
She had quite a lot of thinking to do.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara Zor-El was only just beginning to understand her part in the world, even if she was trapped far away in the Phantom Zone. Along with Var-Sen, Kara readied herself for the journey out into the harsh world that was the Zone.

"I hope she hurries back. My friends could really use our help right around now," Kara said.

"Zod is there," she added.

Kara could remember her hands holding onto the Crystal of Air... holding onto that shard of her destiny until she was forced to let it go.

Zod would pay...

Raya and M'onel came rushing into their tent, apparently having been chased there given their conditions. Raya was clutching at her side, and Kara looked at her with both concern and anticipation.

"Crystal secured. We need to go. Right now."

Kara nodded her head, but she looked to Raya for direction and guidance.

"Where's the gateway? Which way?"

Their tent, however, would soon be swarmed with Phantoms (nearly all of which had absolutely no desire to remain within the Zone for much longer). Kara fled with her companions towards one of the nearest gateways, their bodies being constantly hounded on by the harsh climate of the Phantom Zone. Kara, meanwhile, was constantly thinking about going home... back to Earth where the warm Sun would reinvigorate her body.

She hated being vulnerable and useless...

She hated being stuck in a barren wasteland.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Life Before Death.

Pete tilted Chloe's head back and pressed his lips to hers as Gabe Sullivan awkwardly attempted chest compressions at Pete's direction.

"C'mon, baby," he breathed. "Y'ain't leavin' me. This place is a dump, and you're the prettiest thing here. You go bein' dead, that'll kill me. What am I supposed to do without scenery?"

Alfred touched Gabe's shoulder with one hand whilst rolling up his sleeves with the other. "Hold her hand, lad. I'll do me part."

Gabe nodded, and withdrew, and held Chloe's hand as Alfred commenced the chest compressions in his stead.

"Don't leave me," he murmured. "Not again."

He'd felt like this before.

The days following The First Meteor Shower, while rescue workers travailed 'round the clock to dig Chloe out from under the wreckage of their house. The panic, the horror, the dread. His poor little girl.

Not knowing was the worst part. Not knowing her pain, not knowing if she was alive or dead, not knowing if he'd ever hear her musical little laugh again, not knowing if he'd ever see her super-serious right-the-world's-wrongs face... even at that age, she was already a crusader.

It was lead weight in his chest. Osmium. A fist of superdense weight trying to punch its way out of his heart.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead and he felt that weight in his chest all over again.

"One, two, three, four," Alfred growled, and fighting back half-frenzied tears, Pete breathed into her lips.

"I ain't no handsome prince," Pete whispered, catching his breath. "But I'm the best you got right now, so work with me, okay? Kiss of Life means you wake the fuck up. Work with me."

Gabe glanced worriedly at Dale, and then at Marcy. "I missed it. There was this light. What happened? What did she do? What did she do?"

Jamie stood there with his hands in his pockets, a little white around the cheeks, a little aghast.

"She'll be all right, I think," he murmured. "I've seen something like this before. Me brother and I went to this prestigious school in London, a place called The Valeyard. And one of the boys in my brother's form was this... this lad from Scotland. And he could..."

He shook his head, and looked away from Chloe.

"Well," he murmured. "Let's not talk about that."

He hunched down, the coat billowing around him as he sank to a crouch, gazing at Chloe's face.

"Suffice it to say," he shrugged. "Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only moved around. Basic principle of The Universe, that. And what dear little Chloe's done is she's moved her energy to Doctor Dale. Took a lot out of her, though, dunnit? So now she's moved herself somewhere else to recharge. Probably some sort of undetectably subconscious state. Maybe even a transcendental realm, not unlike The Dreamtime from Australian Aboriginal myth. Probably glorious. Colours and things. (Wonder what it looks like?)"

********​

"...kinda embarrassing, really," Ted opined, standing at one of the windows and frowning out at the city, sipping pensively at his milk. "I ain't been killed since The Seventies. But you get that much lead flyin' at ya at once, there's not really any other place you can go but down to the mat."

"Does it ever get any easier?" Chloe wondered, hugging her knees as she sat there on the couch, tapping her finger upon the glass of the fishbowl and annoying the two goldfish inside. "Ever ever?"

Ted arched an eyebrow. "If it were easy, it wouldn't be death. Ain't supposed to be easy. Don't matter that it's somethin' that ya can walk away from. Still bein' dead, not some right hook followed by a ten-count."

"Point, I guess," Chloe acknowledged ruefully.

"Ain't without its costs, neither," Ted murmured. "Don't matter how much you pay The Piper up front, when that final bell rings, they'll be after you to cover the spread. My buddy Mitch and I, we talked about this a whole bunch back in the day. No way 'round it, we're bending the rules, and somehow the rules gotta bend you back."

"That's a comforting thought," Chloe winced, helping herself to another cookie. "I don't suppose it'll ameliorate things that I'm being self-sacrificial, here? I mean, I wouldn't have gone back under if I hadn't healed a man."

Ted turned, and downed his milk, and pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Maybe. Maybe not. No good deed goes unpunished, like th' sayin' goes. But that's the thing about Life, isn't it?"

Chloe took a big swig of her almond mocha, and regarded Ted with questioning eyes.

"Nobody gets out alive," Ted grinned grimly.

And then, without warning, without any warning at all, Ted clutched his chest, and sank to one knee, grunting, hissing with agony. "Goddamn, that's a pain in th'--"

--he vanished, and the glass he'd just emptied shattered on the floor.

Chloe sat there alone for a moment, and sighed, and went to go get a dustpan and brush. "'No good deed goes unpunished.'"

 

[ChasNicollette]

"The Mummers' Dance"

Merick snapped into the world from someplace outside of it and blew the crap out of a bunch of the soldiers gathered 'neath the frozen rain.

Rose grinned at him like the rising Sun and she half-collapsed from fatigue. Holding up that much ice and blasting that much fire had seriously winded her, and she'd already been exhausted. Every molecule in her body hurt, but her friends were here.

Her best friend and her boyfriend and some dude in blue and orange with a killer blasty quarterstaff and some other guy in black with a funky lopsided mask, and...

...and her mom.

Rose gazed in horror for a moment, mixed horror and gloried wonder as her mother and this guy in black waded through the ranks of the soldiers like a well-oiled machine, two parts of the same unit, ducking and weaving and slugging and kicking and Rose's mouth hung agape.

Holy geeze, am I ever not used to that.

"Hey Rosy! Brought the posse. Who're your friends." Merick enquired, blazing emerald force and burning with emerald fire.

"The girl going Wolvie Beserker Style on the hapless Communists, she's named Diana, she's Kara's friend," she murmured, "I guess we lost a guy in there, Diana called him 'Ted,' and I don't know who the berk in shiny brill armour is."

Rose opened her mouth to introduce the man beside her, and then realised she didn't know his name. "Um."

"John Constantine, wotcher, 'ello, 'owzit?" John waved casually, squinted eyes never leaving the battle, especially the dark-haired older woman. "Tardy to the party, mate, good to 'ave you along."

...in the midst of the battle, as Wraith darkbolted Zod and secured Lex a breather-- whether Lex felt he needed it or not --masked Bruce and Ceri shared a look even as they fought.

"Still got that ring?" Ceri wondered, whirling a booted kick across a soldier's face.

"Been itching to use it," Bruce replied, his voice once more like jagged iron mixed with gravel.

"Go on, then," Ceri jerked her head in Rose's direction. "I need to visit with me daughter, and then I'll be right along."

"Done and done," Bruce nodded, and began pounding his way towards where Lex and Wraith did battle with The General.

As Ceri blew through the ranks and landed beside Merick and Rose and John, Rose was staring worriedly at Wraith.

"Wait, what was that bit about death?" she mumbled.

"Never mind him, luvvie," Ceri murmured, "he's a right tough bastard. You look half dead yehself."

"'Laundering has rendered pulpy,'" Rose admitted sheepishly, wearily.

"I'll bet it has," Ceri harrumphed, smiling faintly. "Tough little thing. See you've met your Uncle John, though. (Hulloh, Hellblazer.)"

"'Ello, Weeping Angel," John replied. "Is this Rosy, then? (You're supposed to be a brunette, little girl.)"

"I saw this movie, 'Practical Magic,'" Rose mumbled, "and Evan Rachel Wood had dyed her hair red to be Nicole Kidman's daughter, and I just thought... wouldn't that be cool if I looked like a crazy witch-girl."

John nodded, impressed. "I like her already."

"Is Ted here?" Ceri swung her gaze around the crowd.

"Eh, he's dead," John grunted, shaking his head.

Ceri stiffened, and shot him a blazing, fierce gaze: "John. How many? How many is he at?"

John blinked, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. "Erm."

"John," Ceri growled, "how many?"

"I'm not his damn bluddy minder," John snapped back, "he could have slipped and broken his godforsaken fucking neck in the shower last week, I don't read his tupping arsefaced weblog, for Gordon Bennett's sake!"

Ceri's eyes flashed desperately out to the thick of the battle, searching for Ted's fallen form. "Shite. Shiteshiteshite."

A man with a half-frozen rifle nudged Ted's bullet-riddled corpse. Just to be sure.

And then screamed as the corpse's eyes shot open, its hand shot up, grabbed the gun and yanked it out of his hands.

Ted bounded to his feet and hauled off with a straight left that shattered half the man's face and put him to the ground in an eyeblink.

Then he clutched his chest again, and wheezed, and coughed up half a dozen bullets and half a gallon of blood.

Wiping his mouth with his hand, he shook his head and launched back into the fray.

"Hat's back in the ring, kids and girls," he growled. "Time to Wildcat."

John smiled faintly, and took a puff from his cigarette. "That many, evidently."

Ceri grinned a woozy grin. "Thank The Lord. Merick, John, take care of me daughter. I'm going to go help her Uncle Ted."

...and with that, she launched into the fray anew, razors emerging and singing like liquid metal through the air as she sliced and slashed her way to Bruce's side.

Reached Bruce's side just at the same time as Ted did, and they worked as a wordless machine, pounding their way through Zod's defences towards The General himself.

"Merick," Rose mumbled. "My family is totally crazy now. How 'bout yours?"

 

[AmenRa]

Zod

Broken, but by no means beaten, Zod fell back into the ranks of his foot soldiers.

He had been weakened by Kryptonite and assaulted by any number of fists, feet, armored and unarmored forms, and even dark magic.

But he still had possession of the Crystal he had taken from Kara.

And he knew the other piece rested in the console in the cave.

Which meant there was only one more piece to acquire.....

Through the onslaught of attacks, Zod touched the strange metal bracer he wore on his left wrist. Kryptonian glyphs merged on the metal surface, and overhead, seemingly out of nowhere, an all too familiar Black Ship appeared.

Zod held the Crystal aloft, and in a beam of blue-white light, it was transported into the ship.

The ship began to hum, to vibrate, and then a sudden intense red light came from it, as if it were light itself, as if a small sun had suddenly appeared upon Earth.

A red sun.

And in the face of such, all things Kryptonian reverted to a neutral state.

The green Kryptonite turned clear.

And for a second, Zod was just a man.

But the Black Ship's power had parted the rain clouds, and rays of Sol were once again allowed to reach Earth.

And then Zod threw his head back and laughed.

 

[AmenRa]

J'onn

He listened, and he knew she spoke truth.

He was J'onn J'onzz, and he would never surrender.

Never give up.

And he knew that his beloved family rested in peace and honor in the place where his Ancestors walked.

He waved away her offer of tissue, and instead he stood tall and gave her a nod of respect. He was about to speak to her....

...and he woke up.

He lay there in the crater on Mars, at the base of Olympus, only for a moment, as he remembered the dream. He then stood and brushed the Sacred Red Sand from his cape. He listened.

The Ghosts were quiet now.

Sun shone so bright now.

And there, in the sky, the second star to the right, was Earth.

Where Zod waited.

And so the Martian Manhunter took flight once again, leaving for a time his home world anew, and sped mightily and steadily to his adopted world.

A world that he would still help save.

 

[Lunaramblings]

As soon as the bolt and wave hit true Deathstroke was on the move. He was impossibly quick. As Ceri broke of from Bruce he quickly took her place. He was a whirlwind of death and dismemberment. He lashed and blasted with his staff, made quick strikes with feet, knees, elbows and head. Unlike Dale's wild feverish assault Deathstroke was controlled. If Dale was akin to carpet bombing, Deathstroke was akin to smart bombing. He wasted nothing. Every motion was with purpose and devistation.

"Stick with me son, I might teach you some thing." Deathstroke called as he took out a line of charging soldiers with a wide cleaving swing.

Meanwhile Merick was listening trying to absorb all that Ceri said.
Unle John... the same John that messed up Dad? Mericks mind was racing. Everywhere at once.


"Merick," Rose mumbled. "My family is totally crazy now. How 'bout yours?"

"You think yours is nuts? Kiddo, we are international Super Heroes. Turns out my father, the unassuming veterinarian... yeah, totally an international retired assassin. Second generation. The Blender of Death with the staff. That's my grandfather. Oh, and I totally had a ghost for a brother for at least half the day. On the bright side, I can do this... Merick shot a blast of force that decimated a line of soldiers, and simultaneously sheathed Rose in a shimmering force. As he did he focused, as he focused he found a control he didn't know he had. In his mind he pictured armor, he pictured a fanciful platemail, ornate and gracious. And when he looked at rose, she was wearing. Albeit in Emerald. Merick chuckled as he looked at John Constantine.

"Hey, me and you are gonna have words when this is done. In the meantime, protect Rose. She's about the last good thing I have."

Merick started lobbing bolts of force, whole volleys. "I love bein' a Hero!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

"With tuppence for paper and strings, you can have your own set of wings."

Death smiled softly and pocketed her tissues as J'onn went back into The Waking World.

She popped her hat back onto her head.

Just as Destruction sometimes tried his hand at sonnets and painting and gourmet cooking and just as Delirium was sometimes-- only sometimes --the sanest member of a crazy family, Death knew full well that to be a personification of Death, sometimes you had to tend to the living.

There was no such thing as a one-sided coin.

J'onn J'onzz would be okay.

At least, until next time.

J'onn's dream started to dissolve around her, and she put up her umbrella and she twirled it like a parasol as she walked away. And as she left The Dreamscape and returned by wandering routes to her own realm, she began to sing, softly and beautifully.

"'Let's go fly a kite,'" she crooned, skipping a little, looking more like Fred Astaire than Dick van Dyke as she danced with her umbrella aloft, "'up to the highest height...'"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Raya and Lar

"Where's the gateway? Which way?"

Raya's assessment had not been wrong.

Wordless, snarling, there came a roar...

Where there had been one Phantom, there had been others, and the massive hulking strength of Aldar, cannibalistic scourge of ten M87 solar systems, plunged his hands into the fabric of the tent and tore its roof aloft.

This exposed them to the sandstorm, and to the swirling incorporeals that gathered around Aldar like pilot fish around a shark, and to Aldar himself.

True, he had no powers here. None of The Phantoms here had the powers they had in their home dimension, the alternate physics of The Zone saw to that. (Even had the suns of this place been yellow rather than blue, Kryptonians would still have been powerless.) But he was still very big, and he was still very strong, and his appetites were still most terrible.

Ignoring her own wound, Raya rolled through what was left of the tent, came up with her knife slashing underhand and ripped a gash across Aldar's stomach.

Aldar staggered, clutching his injury, and his massive tattooed girth stumbled back in the sand.

Lar whinnied, and smashed his crutch into Aldar's knee, and with a bellow of rage Aldar fell and tumbled backwards down the dune.

"Hands off," Lar wheezed, shaking his head, "our precious bodily fluids."

But there were the ghosts of darkness with him, and they swooped in like a maelstrom, driving the four of them from that place in a hurry, diving and barreling and hissing and chittering.

Raya took point, leading them to the nearest Gateway. This was not the same as Zod's Gateway of choice, and the terrain to reach it was rougher, but distance-wise, Raya gambled that this was more easily accessible. (She did not have time to consult with Var-Sen on tactics; it was time to go.)

"This way," she beckoned with her voice like flame in the night. "Stay close to me; we cannot afford to let them separate us."

The further they walked in the stinging sands and under threat of Phantom attack, the greater the risk that they would be brought down.

She slashed and ducked and slashed again, her blade sundering Phantom after Phantom, but she took hits, they saw her as the greatest threat. She took hits, and she kept going, hard like stone, a warrior-woman.

Even in his agony, Lar swung his crutch like a bludgeon, panting, trying to keep her safe, but he was more bluster than muster at this point and he didn't do much good.

"Almost home," he mumbled. "Almost home. Almost home."

During a break in the onslaught, in which shadows could be seen, humanoid shadows, drawing closer in the gloaming gloaming gloom, Raya hissed to Kara with her voice down.

"You may be able to repulse them," she murmured, "Daughter of Hope. A Scion of El wielding this Crystal in this place becomes the master of The Phantom Zone. You can fight them off. But this is your decision: the moment we reveal that you are Zor-El's daughter, the moment we expose The Crystal, our danger increases a thousandfold, and your own danger triply so. As we increase the potency of our attacks from melee to energy, so also will they increase the tenacity of their attacks."

She glanced out at the shadows moving in the dark, and she could tell that one of them was a giant compared to the rest.

He was a Titan.

Raya shook her head, and swore softly in Martian.

"We are nearly there," she breathed. "Our goal is among the stony pillars and jagged ruins just over this next ridge. But here are enemies great in number."

She glanced at Kara. "You must choose. But choose wisely."

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen

He followed Raya and Lar, keeping Kara between them, bringing up the rear and slashing at the disincorporated forms that attacked them with a sharpened piece of jagged obsidian.

He saw something hideous moving amongst them, weaving in and out of their slithering, ghostly forms.

He recognized it, and he was afraid.

Over the shouting wind he heard Raya speaking to Kara, telling her of the strength of the Crystal of her House that she carried. Var-Sen knew she could wield a light so bright as to drive away those that assaulted them.

But once they learned who she was, once they knew she was of the scientist that built this place...

..that imprisoned them...

...the phantoms would stop at nothing to render vengeance.

Var-Sen closed his eyes for a second, swallowing dryly, and tightened his grip on Raya's hand as he pulled her closer so she could hear his words in her ear.

"We must hurry faster!" he said above the howling wind, "It is here! The bizarre one, the abomination, the thing they created! It has found us!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose, John, Lex, Bruce, Ted, and Ceri

Merick's elation was fuel for Rose's fire.

She could barely stand, and, in fact, the force-armour he'd just moulded around her was helping support her in that regard. But his sheer joy at being on the side of Good was chicken soup for her valkyrie soul.

"Your grand-dad is Darth Maul?" she blinked, hands on her knees, half-crouched, squinting out at the fury. "(I guess that makes your dad Darth Maul Junior. Which, tho', he quit The Sith? That counts for something...) My dad's a super-Science Guy and his brother's a cyborg, you knew that, my mom's some kind of Shang-Chi chica, you knew that, but apparently I have two more uncles, and one of them is a brawler who just came back from the dead and is also Diana's uncle? (Which... makes me her cousin? What? I'm cousins with the psycho beautiful warrior-gal? That's almost as weird as me dating a mystical vigilante demony-type with big-money connections, but there you go.) ...and I have this other uncle who's apparently a crazy warlock-guy."

"Guilty as charged," John chortled softly, then jutted his chin at Wraith. "That's your toyboy, is it, Rosy? 'Hello darkness, my old friend.'"

A soldier came up, using his elbow to smash the ice off of his belt-fed machine gun before wheeling it around to point at Rose.

Just as he pulled the trigger, John tugged a little piece of string out of his pocket, tangled the string 'round his fingers, and snapped the string in two.

...the belt that fed the ammunition to the gun ruptured, causing the gun to misfire, and one of the rounds that hurtled through the air hit the gunman in the face. He was dead before he hit the ground, but he twitched for awhile.

Casual as anything, John glanced at Merick, and blew smoke from his nostrils. "Soz, there, Greenie-Guts. What was it you wanted to talk about, again?"

The General fell back under the combined assault of Lex's pounding fists and Wraith's darkly-flashing bolts. But then he played a trump card, employing the decloaked Black Ship in concert with The Crystal of Air to render void the Star-Ore/Meteor Rock/Kryptonite that Wraith carried. Red light seared the skies.

This caused The General to become human, only for a moment, and while Lex Luthor didn't know that The General was particularly vulnerable, he only knew that the man was throwing back his head and laughing like an idiot so this was his chance...

He dove for Zod, hands outstretched, ready to curl 'round Zod's veiny throat...

...but the Red Solar pulse that had neutralised exposed Kryptonite in the vicinity had also, belatedly, neutralised the Star Ore energies that had augmented Constantine's alchemical magic. Without that additional energy, the armour had only Constantine's internal magics to power it, and aside from the "poison" that swam in Constantine's blood, his internal magics were very small indeed.

Lex toppled, fell sideways onto the ground, the armour suddenly too heavy to lift.

"Arh!" he grunted, and tried to get up, but he was like a turtle flipped onto his back and was immobile. "I hate magic!"

Bruce spotted the meteor rock in Wraith's grasp, saw that it was as clear as glass, and his hand went to his pouch, found the ring.

It still glowed green.

The lead-lining had protected it from the energy pulse.

As Deathstroke and Wildcat and The Weeping Angel gave battle around him, he slid the ring onto the finger of a lead-lined glove.

"Get me closer," growled Bruce, with the voice of The Totem of The Bat. "Teaching aside, I know all I need to know to make use of this."

John ran his tongue over his teeth, looking at that Black Ship.

"You're going to be a pain in my arse," John decided, "aren't you? Pain in my arse as sharp as buggery. We do have to get that Stone back, after all."

He glanced again at Merick, and flicked away his cigarette.

"You've got Star-Ore in your brain," he declared, as though he had seen clean through Merick's skull with some variety of mystical MRI scan. "Just going to borrow it for a mo'."

And as he pulled the Kryptonian Key out of his pocket he reached out and clamped his hand onto Merick's emerald-burning head.

Green lighting crackled around John's fingers and he howled and swore and he held up The Key, held it up at an angle to catch the sunlight...

"Come oooorrrrn!" John demanded, and green power coursed from the hand that clutched Merick's head to the hand that held The Key, conducting along John's body.

A bolt stabbed from The Key to The Black Ship, a flash of green light... Kryptonite-powered magic kick-started by solar energy and focused through a lens of Kryptonian tech.

"'Avada Kedavra,'" John snarled, as the green light flashed.

"No way," Rose breathed.

 

[AmenRa]

The Black Ship exploded into millions of tiny fragments, raining down all over the field where soldiers and superheroes stood. The Crystal had already been transported to the console located in the Kawatche Cave, where it formed itself neatly beside the one already there.

Zod's head turned sharply, his eyes seeking the source.

He literally punted Lex Luthor out of his way, and casually tossed a 32 ton T-80main battle tank on top of Wraith.

And with super speed Zod flew to the place where John Constantine stood. The General smirked delightedly as he struck Constantine hard across the chin with a mighty fist. He then kicked Merick equally as hard. Zod didn't stop to look to see where they landed from the force of the hit. Instead he turned to Rose, fueled entirely by rage, and reached for her.

"I can see now the only way to truly have peace on Earth is for all of you who believe in your righteous fight against me to die," he remarked as he grabbed her by the hair with his left hand. His right hand he pulled back into a fist aimed for her face.

"ZOD!!!!!"

The word echoed across the sky like so much of a thunderclap, or fire that had been called down from the mountain.

Or the voice of a god speaking from the highest peak of Mt. Olympus.

Or perhaps, in this instance, Olympic Mons.

The General turned his head, looking up into the sky, and he saw J'onn J'onzz standing in mid-air, hovering carelessly, but the Green Martian's fists were balled and held out to his side.

The alien's eyes were blazing red.

Lightning crackled around the Martian Manhunter as he hovered closer.

For just an instant, General Zod was afraid.

 

[ChasNicollette]

John, Lex, Ted, Ceri, Bruce, and Rose

That Killing Curse flew true, and that deadly craft blew asunder.

John's fist pumped the air. "Well and truly sodded. HAH!"

But Zod was pissed.

Lex cursed violently as he hurtled through the air, landing unconscious in a heap and a resounding clang of metal.

That tank dropped towards Wraith.

And Zod was there, right in front of them, like a bolt from the black, and dispatched John Constantine with a single blow.

The martial-arts warriors whirled and Ted growled "Johnny," and Ceri cringed "Rose?" and Bruce cursed violently as again the distance between himself and The Bad Man was increased.

John didn't have time to curse violently as that punch fractured his skull and knocked him cold, the smouldering Key skittering away across the ground.

Merick didn't stand a chance either.

And Rose found herself alone, staring into the face of The God of War, Ares, General Zod himself.

This is what I've been afraid of, she realised, gazing into his bottomless-pit eyes. This moment. My whole life. This is it. This is what made me so scared.

And with wide wide blue blue eyes she waited to die, as the tyrant's fist clutched her crimson hair.

She didn't look away.

...but then.

Thunder. Followed by lightning.

J'onn was back.

HELL. YES.

Rose grinned at The General, too woozy to do anything but wax wiseass one ostensibly last time. "Tell me, General. What's the Kryptonian word for 'surrender?'"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Var-Sen and Raya continued to cover their tracks by lashing out at any phantoms that came their way. It almost seemed like a fruitless battle given their sheer numbers. The one phantom, Aldar, struck more fear into Kara's heart once than Zod could probably ever do.

He was just a being of pure hatred... and Kara was afraid.

Luckily Raya was quick on her feet (even with her injury) and she kept him at bay with a powerful swipe at his chest. Even Lar, as helpless as he might have seemed, contributed towards their escape.

The nearest gateway was not the easiest one to reach, given the harsh climate of the zone and the onslaught of the phantoms and other zoners.

Once they neared the summit closest to the gate, Kara was given the choice of wielding the Crystal... to use it against the phantoms with such deadly force that they would scatter before her. But as Raya mentioned, the use of the Crystal would draw even more towards their small party, and it seemed to her to be a double-edged sword.

Kara had very little time to decide, and at last she swallowed her pride and took the Crystal of the House of El for herself.

It was time to leave the Zone.

It was time to run.

Kara held the Crystal of El as tightly as she could, the proud emblem facing out from her palm as she clambered up over the dune. The elements constantly hammered against her, but her vision was as clear as ever. She saw the gateway, and she saw the phantoms gathered before her. Drawing the Crystal forward, Kara summoned up the courage to use the Crystal in their defense, and its blinding radiant power sent the phantoms scurrying away.

But it still wasn't enough. Phantoms and beings unlike anything Kara had ever seen before came rising up over the hills...

And the gateway...

Kara unwrapped one of the bandages wrapped tightly against her hand, and she felt the harsh wind sting against her open wound. But if her blood really was the key...

Then it just had to work.

Kara ran as fast as she could, her heart pounding against her chest, and she came rushing up to the pedestal that was placed beneath the archway. The house of El was emblazoned on it, just as it was on the Crystal she was still holding. Placing her hand face down against the seal, Kara turned once more to look at her friends.

She only hoped, as her body was thrust from the Phantom Zone and back towards Earth, that they had made it out as well.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick took a mighty blow...

... hurtling through the air...

Then he was gone and back again. Merick was stunned for a minute but before he landed he had regained his composure. The force armor that earlier had withstood terminal velocity had protected him once more. His chest hurt, he was breathing a bit ragged...

"Rosy, let me get you outta this dump. I think things are about to go from frying pan to Hell real quick like." Merick looked down at the assaulted body of The Common Man's Magus, John Constantine. He considered leaving him here to get trampled under foot in this battle of the Titans. Would serve him right... mess with his father... then he thought about the story he wanted to tell. If life was a story, his would be an honorable one. "We can get your Uncle John outta here too."

Merick wrapped an arm around Rose's waist, supporting her. He could smell the sweetness of her skin, feel the softness of her body. There were a lot of things he wanted to say in that moment... but there wasn't time.

Deathstroke was warding off a wave of soldiers when the best laid plans of mice and men all went south. He heard Bruce's plea to get him closer to Zod. Deathstroke glanced over his shoulder...

"You got spunk Kid. I like that. Stick close. Follow me. How much you weigh boy?" Deathstroke started blasting and plowing a path back toward Zod.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

We had him! I was on him, meteor rock in hand. The guy in the armor was standing up to him, then he pulled a fast one.

I had missed the ship the first time it appeared. I was beautiful, and scary as hell.

Then a red light enveloped us from the ship. Zod started laughing. I had no idea what had just happened but Mr. meteor rock and me were going to go have a talk with our intrepid alien overlord!

I was about to rush him when overhead a green light streaked out and hit the ship, exploding it into millions of pieces overhead, raining shrapnel down over us.

Zod stopped laughing then.

He kicked the armored guy out of his way, then threw a TANK at me!!


Kinda funny actually, the way time slows way down when several tons of metal are coming down on you. You remember your mom's laugh, the smell of your dads cologne, teaching your kid brother and sister how to tie their shoes.
Kissing Rose.

Then it gets there and all you think is "OH SHIT!"

I pointed both my hands up and let loose with a darkblast, pulled from the very depth of my power. I sucked every bit of energy I could and channeled it into a bolt of power from my hands. It hit the tank with a explosion, flipping it up and away from me, throwing it yards away, a broken toy of some giant child.

I fell to my knees, momentarily drained. I had never pulled that much from Shadow before.

It was, exhilarating.

Then I glanced over and saw Rose in Zods hands, and something snapped.

Shadows started seeping up from the ground, defying Sol's light as I ran to engage him again, deadly claws forming from my fingers and shadows peeling off my body in whisps.

"ZOD!!! READY for a few new scars?" I yelled.

I didn't even notice the martians return.

 

[AmenRa]

Clash of the Titans

Zod was drained. Kryptonians are virtually limitless in their power, but their power does have limits, and the onslaught given by magical beings had taken its toll on General Zod.

So when the Martian Manhunter moved with incredible speed towards him, Zod was unable to react swiftly enough to stop the inevitable.

J'onn's hand closed around Zod's wrist, the wrist of the hand that held Rose by her beautiful red hair. J'onn J'onzz squeezed. Bones crushed. Zod screamed. Rose was free.

"Never touch her!" the Martian Manhunter warned in a thundering voice. J'onn looked up and saw Wraith barrelling towards them with a heart sent war cry.

The Martian Manhunter grabbed the General by his own hair, yanking and pulling Zod down, forcing the weakened Kryptonian to his knees. J'onn then made Zod turn his head to face the Wraith that was coming.

J'onn's words were acid and fire in Zod's ears.

"You will remember this day, Zod," the Martian Manhunter said to him, "for this is the day that you knelt before all of Earth." J'onn leaned closer, tugging the General's hair so Zod had no choice to see Wraith getting closer and closer. "You see that, Zod? That is all of your hatred and wrath coming for you. And that sound you hear? That, Zod, is the sound of inevitability."

J'onn J'onzz held Zod up for Wraith's wrath, bracing Zod much like a trainer might hold still a heavy bag for a title fighter.

If Wraith looked up at the Martian Manhunter's face before he unleashed on Zod, he would see the Green Martian's smile.