It happened three days after LexCorp broadcasted what their rover found on Mars.
After some prodding from both Bruce and the press for various reasons, chief among them being the need to know why was there an unknown base on Mars and fearful of the proximity of the place to Earth, Clark decided to make a visit to the mysterious soldier after finding out where he was hiding at.
Or more accurately, as they already had an idea of, stationed at.
"Never thought Luthor would be the one finding his hideout." Kara said outloud as she, Clark and John overlooked the most outlandish sight they had ever set their gazes upon, to the point they still couldn't believe it even after having watched it on screen back on Earth.
A fortress that looked straight out from the most cliché fantasy world, essentially a gothic architechture-style keep with several smaller towers connected to it... which was also surrounded by a veritable industrial zone that, in turn, looked like it could fit in Star Wars. Tlying drones of various shapes and sizes moved around carrying materials, building something that resembled machinery, but the manufacturing of these had not reached the point where Clark might know what kind they were.
And all of it was happening on the surface of Mars, and for at least three days, clearly much more given the extension of the area.
"Well, I never thought I'd see an honest to God castle and a whole industrial district in Mars. At least in my life." John replied as he hefted his hammer over his shoulder, muttering the last part. "The place has to be at least as big as a football field. And what is he building here, for that matter?"
"I have no idea." Clark replied. What John didn't know was that the immediatly thought: 'I just hope it's not an army'
"Just what is he doing there?" Kara wondered outloud.
Clark, who just like Kara wore one of the spacesuits that S.T.A.R Labs had made for them (John's armor was both sealed and equipped with oxygen tanks), began to ponder, not over the man's reasons to making an industrial zone in Mars, but about both about what to do next, and about the man they had come to see in person.
At first, he didn't do much, stopping a robbery here, a kidnapping attempt there, an out of control train over there... As a matter of fact, it was exactly what he himself had done countless times before, if a bit more... exciting, for lack of a better word, what with the soldier apparently lacking the capacity to fly, and therefore taking longer to stop the crimes.
But then, the first 'heroic thing' he did, if it could even be called that, included ripping a man's jaw off, apparently without caring if the man lived or died.
On the one hand, said man, an ex-mayor by the name of Luigi Bianchi or something, had shot off a woman's leg with a high-powered rifle. Maybe the soldier was the kind of 'an eye for an eye' vigilante? Possible, but on the other hand he didn't kill any of the robbers that helped Metallo and King Shark over a week before. Besides, Luigi hadn't died, and while some people understandably didn't like having a man able to do that do whatever he wanted, the rest didn't seem to mind, or care for that matter, as long as he didn't actually kill them. Clark himself included.
Despite what many people thought, however, Superman, or rather Clark Kent, didn't have anything against those who wanted to walk the extra mile when it came to crime. He knew that some people just could not be reformed the easy way, or at all. He simply preferred that the justice system took care of them (like a certain corrupt detective who got his comeuppance after getting an innocent man sent to the gas chamber after framing him; fortunately Clark saved him in time), instead of gun-toting vigilantes who had decided to take the law into their own hands.
Clark shook his head in amusement at himself. A vigilante was exactly what he and his friends were, they simply didn't use firearms, nor killed for that matter.
Still, it didn't change the fact this 'Green Soldier', as some had begun to call him, was a bit more on the violent side than every other hero on Earth. That, combined with the superhuman strength he had displayed, the fact he used a clearly lethal weapon, and the revelation he had essentially colonized Mars made people uneasy, which was one of the reasons they had come: to prove the people of Earth the Green Soldier was not a threat.
After all, if Superman himself saw nothing wrong about the Green Soldier, that meant there was nothing to worry about, and people would stop believing he could be a menace.
Or at least that was he hoped.
"So, any idea of what our mysterious friend is doing here?" John asked him, his gaze not moving from the base. "I'm fairly certain I already asked that, but I can't exactly pinch my cheeks."
"That is why we're here, John. C'mon, let's if he's home." With that Clark began to walk down the dune and headed towards the castle, followed by his companions.
Up close, the working zone seemed even bigger, with machine moving to and fro carrying materials and debri, while others constructed. However, they didn't do so in a chaotic matter, but methodically and in an organized way. Granted, they WERE machines, but Clark had expected things to be a bit more, well, hectic, to say the least. They didn't seem to react to their presence, which to him meant they didn't see them as a threat. That was good, since it meant their owner didn't either.
The most interesting fact, however, was the lack of smoke. Lots of dust being stirred in the air, but no actual fumes.
"And I thought Detroit was a manufacturer's dream." Kara mused as they walked through what seemed to be some kind of path that went across the construction sites, a well travelled one by the looks of it.
"It is." John retorted with wonder in his voice. It was clear he wanted to inspect the works more closely, but time and caution wouldn't let him. "This is a manufacturer's Heaven. Still, I wonder where did he get the metal to build all of this. Didn't see mines or quarries from above."
Clark, having been in extraterrestial space several times before, had an idea. "Most likely from the asteroid belt. Just one of them contains several thousand tons of cobalt, nickel, platinum and iron. And by the looks of it, he's been busy for quite a while."
"Which again brings up back to the beginning: why does he need so much metal."
Eventually, they finally reached the front of the castle after a minute or two of walking. There was a small problem, however: now that they were right in front of it, the group saw that the castle lacked gates, or doors that led inside of it. It did have large windows at the front, but they opaque and somehow x-ray proof like the soldier's armor had been, and Clark did not want to offend the Green Soldier by breaking them just to get in.
"So" Kara began to say. ", do we knock on the walls, or hail the lord of the place, or whatever greeting is used for castles without gates?"
"You know, I thought he'd be greeting us in person." John said as he looked up and down the anachronistic building. "He had to have seen us land."
"Maybe he's not home?"
Clark, thinking of what to do next, was about to reply when he heard the steps of something heavy walking up behind them in a methodical matter. At first he thought it was a robot until he realized he couldn't heard anything that resembled mechanical noises.
Right behind the three, staring at them with the martian sun behind him, stood the Green Soldier.
Kara, confused by the silence of her cousin, turned around to talk to him and saw the man standing right behind them. A gasp from her made John look, and frown when he saw the Green Soldier. However, and to Clark's relief, he didn't do anything with his hammer that could be considered a threat by the man. After all, they had technically entered his property without his permission.
After recovering from the surprise, Clark was the first one speak "Hello. We just want to... talk?"
Instead of replying directly, the man called (or conjured) one of his wormholes and then gave them a long look before crossing it. It was obvious he wanted them to follow him, but to where, and why? They knew he could speak.
After sharing a look of both apprehension and excitement by this turn of events none of them expected to happen, the three superheroes entered the portal, exiting into what seemed to be a combination of a medieval hall and a spaceship's bridge bathed in blue artificial light, with several computer terminals and their screens. It was clear they were inside the castle.
"Okay, I have to admit this is cool." John said as he looked around the place, Kara repyling with a 'yep' .
The Man of Steel, however, was focused on their 'host'. "So... do you remember us, big guy?" Clark asked the Green Soldier after pulling off his helmet, Kara following suit.
The soldier stared at her for a few seconds, which to Clark seemed an eternity, before speaking. "Of course I do."
Clark flinched. His voice was as deep and growling as he remembered, but just like then it wasn't actually threatening in tone. He probably spoke like that all the time. He then released a sigh of relief he didn't know he was hiding. "You might already know about us, but we want to introduce ourselves. I'm Superman, she's Supergirl, and he's Steel. We're here because the people of Earth asked us to see if, well, you were a threat or not. That, and several other reasons, but that one's the most important. Again, I think you might know the rest."
Again, the soldier did nothing but stare at them, before speaking once more. "I know my... heroics, and me returning the rovers has scared people."
Before Clark could continue, Kara went ahead of him "Could you tell us your name? I Not your real name, of course."
The soldier stared at her for a couple seconds, causing the argonian girl to fidget under his gaze, before replying. "Slayer."
"'Slayer'?" Kara repeated, both confused by the nickname... and a bit uneasy given the fact it was literally an archaic name for 'killer'.
"Doom Slayer." The soldier replied, apparently to clarify.
"Oh, the Slayer of Doom then." John noted, mirth laced in his voice. Unlike Clark or Kara, he seemed to be more at ease with being in a strange place and with a strange, superstrong man. "Isn't it a bit corny, though? Sounds like the name of a death metal band."
The Green Soldier, now named 'Doom Slayer', merely shrugged. "That's my designation. Stay here." He then turned around and walked off to somewhere into the castle.
'Didn't even have time to to say stop' Clark thought morosely before sighing and joining the others in their inspection the room. Indeed, it was fascinating to see such a combination of medieval architechture and technology that was at least a hundred years ahead of Earth's, very possibly farther than that, not counting the screens. Further inside the room, they could see two glowing devices that seemed to be advanced displays of some sort, both of them empty despite being on.
"You know, for a guy who looks straight out of a shooter, he's pretty quiet." Kara noted as she pressed her hands against the window, gazing upon the construction sites below.
"Yeah." John agreed. "Hey, he actually reminds me of the Marathon guy, all green, silent and armored from head to toe."
"You play Marathon?" Clark asked, surprised that his friend played the game, not because it was violent, but because he simply didn't seem to be the type.
At this, John shrugged "Everyone needs a hobby, and mine isn't reading."
"The Doom Slayer prefers to speak only when absolutely necessary." A voice spoke suddenly from... practially everywhere around them. And by the synthetic sound it carried, it was obvious it wasn't Doom Slayer.
"Who said that?" John demanded, sledgehammer hefted on his hands. Kara likewise did as he had, adopting a fighting stance. Only Clark remained at ease, again not wanting to anger Doom Slayer or whatever had spoken.
One of the screens close to Clark lit up, showing a blue-coloured sigil made of three parts surrounding a sphere. "I did. Hello, I am VEGA, the sentient intelligence assigned to the Fortress of Doom." The voice said once more, now identified as an AI named VEGA.
"An artificial intelligence?" Clark said as he looked at the screen, interested by the fact Doom Slayer had an AI watching over his base. Despite his previous bouts with Brainiac, he was actually quite interested in artificial intelligences and robots. It helped that the voice of the AI was soothing and friendly, rather than the menacing monotone of the kryptonian AI.
"Wait, did you just call this place the 'Fortress of Doom'?" John said in an amused tone, stiffling a chuckle. "Is he Future He-Man or something?"
Kara rolled her eyes, although she too was smiling. "With those biceps of his, he might as well be, you know."
"He is not, Miss Kent." 'VEGA' said, making Kara's eyes widen in shock, and so did Clark and John's. After all, no one was supposed to know that Supergirl was Kara Kent, much less an AI.
"How do you-" She began to say before the AI spoke once more.
"We have our secrets, you have yours." Had anyone else spoke those words they would have had a darker undertone, but thanks to VEGA's voice it sounded like he was merely teasing her in a friendly manner. Clark even imagined the AI wink at them with a smile.
Just like Bruce Wayne did when he revealed he knew his identity as the Man of Steel and revealed his own as Batman to him, although he didn't remember him smiling; in fact, he was fairly certain he was frowning.
While Doom Slayer was away in the depths of his 'Fortress of Doom', The trio had many questions to ask his AI, hoping that it would answer them ranging from where they came from to why, exactly, was Doom Slayer named that way, questions they promptly began to ask VEGA. Unfortunately, VEGA's response to each and every one of them was the same.
"The Slayer will answer your questions."
John, after getting the same response for the twelfth time, groaned in exasperation and pinched the ridge of his helmet. "Are we sure this VEGA isn't faulty or anything?"
"I assure you Mr. Irons, I'm fully functional." It replied with a sincere tone. "I'm merely not allowed to answer your questions."
"But why not?" Kara asked, her arms folded over her chest.
"Because I have my own questions to ask." The heard the rumbling voice of Doom Slayer say as he walked inside the room, with something clutched on his left fist.
"Do you know anything about this symbol?" He said when he finally walked to them, raising his clutched hand to Clark and opening it to show what it was, a scorched shard of steel.
Clark, giving the piece of metal a closer look, frowned when he saw what it was: a small, carved red trident. He didn't know what exactly it meant, but just the fact it had a trident on it didn't bode well with him.
"What is that?" Kara asked as she looked at the piece of metal.
" A piece of the explosive device the Slayer found inside the locomotive he stopped in Germany." He heard VEGA say.
"'Explosive device'?" Clark whispered with dawning horror. "You mean there was a bomb inside the train?!"
"Several actually." VEGA replied nonchalantly, causing the three's eyes to wide in shock and horror of what could have happened. "That said, however, they weren't designed to fully destroy the vehicle, only make sure it wouldn't stop in time before it derailed."
"Thanks for telling us this... but why?"
"The trident means leads to one man." Doom Slayer replied. Clark already had an idea of who was he speaking about, what with the trident: Arthur Curry, or as the knew him Aquaman, King of the Seven Kingdoms "Do you know him?"
Clark didn't like where this conversation was going, and the implications it had. Arthur was indeed prejudiced against surface dwellers despite being both partly one by his father's side and raised as one, but not to the point of deliberately causing an accident. Besides, what would he have accomplished by derailing a single train well away from the ocean, aside from killing hundreds of people? "You could say he's an acquaintance of mine, yes."
"He's a bit obsessed with people throwing trash into the sea, but aside from that an alright guy if you respect him." Kara added.
"Will you talk to him about this?" Before Clark could even open his mouth, Doom Slayer raised a hand "I'm not accussing him, I only want to know if he knows something about this... and make sure he has nothing to do with the sabotage." This time, his voice did sound deliberately menacing.
"In the hypothetical case he does in fact have anything to do with the sabotage, what would you do?" Clark asked.
"In that case, Mister Curry would be arrested, then delivered to either the German Republic or United Nations to be trialed for international terrorism, and then dealt with accordingly. And while we do recognize the Kingdom of Atlantis as a country, the Slayer is willing to ignore the law to bring him to justice."
The three looked at each other. THAT, technically bending the law rather than completely ignoring it, wasn't exactly what they thought a violent vigilante would do. Then again, the only real violent vigilante they knew of was Batman who, while nowhere brutal enough to rip a man's jaw off, was still quite happy to snap knees, break fingers, and otherwise do anything short of actually killing to criminals. As for the rest, the best they could hope was that Aquaman was not involved.
"Now, I will answer some of your questions, and then you leave."
'Well, it's bettter than nothing.' Clark thought as they began asking.
..........
So, how is it going for now? Did I write the heroes and their reaction to the Fortress of Doom and VEGA right? For those that most definitely know more than me about the judicial system, what I wrote is merely a gross simplification to keep the story going... and because ripping Aquaman's head (and maybe making him bleed armor and health points, who knows) without any proof is not the Slayer's way.
Questions concerning things like the right of building on Mars and more will be revealed next chapter (with tweaks for the DC characters).