The news of a barely-stopped alien assimilation plot stopped by the Doom Slayer reached everyone on the planet.
Some called us murderers for what we had done, others called those shortsighted morons for not seeing the bigger picture, others yet looked up at the stars with dread of more 'alien' parasites landing, with several governments starting projects to defend their countries from possible body-snatchers. The rest merely wondered about the possibility of it having landed on Earth after I came. My actions on the building also worsened Bruce's opinion on me, but at that moment I didn't know, nor would have cared if I did, because I was too busy fulfilling my self-imposed tasks alongside Constantine.
First, we went straight to the Vatican and gave the recording of the camera to their exorcists' division, so that they knew what exactly happened, and that one of them nearly cause Judgement Day to come much closer than it should had.
Even John, who loathed the Church with a passion for obvious reasons, was not okay with their cries of horror as they saw the madness Albelda unleashed, then sorrow when they realized seventy innocent had been vanquished to the River Styx because of one of their own wanted to create something that simply could not be made.
And then their pain turned to shock, confusion, and wonder when I told them that I would finish what Albelda started, but with the proper procedure and the adequate equipment... and mistrust when I said Constantine would help me on the task.
His response on the matter?
"Well I don't like you or the Guys Above either, but hey, I'm all on stopping Hell from taking the easy way for free souls." That, and an obscene gesture you all might know.
After that, it was time for the two of us to work on the Worm, starting by taking blood samples from it and experimenting on them, and then scalating. Even with the Fortress' technology and Constantine's arcane knowledge, it took us a while to extract the enzyme from the creature and then purify and modify the extracts with magic.
Then again, part of the reason it took us some time was sheer, pure spite against it and its kind.
Its screams could have been music to my ears, but I was too busy extracting everything to care for that. Didn't help that during all that time, Constantine didn't stop pestering me about: how did I put my guns away, why did I have a picture of me holding a rabbit and, most important of all, what was the strange energy my body was bloated with.
Knowing that he wouldn't be satisfied by anything but the truth, I did what I had refused to do until then: tell him the truth about me (as Doom Slayer of course).
If you believe that it was stupid and hasty decision, understand that this is John Constantine we're talking about, a detective who when he puts effort into it doesn't even need access to his 'particular skills' to found out stuff, and he had already become suspicious about my fake background, since according to him it was the first time technology could interact with demons. Well, that and finding out that he could not summon demons to the Fortress.
That said, I didn't reveal him ALL the truth, only the entirety of DOOM 2016... and a tweaked DOOM II.
Namely, the demons no longer being able to get out of Hell, this time because I decided that enough was enough.
"So, you're telling me you're from another dimension with yet another Hell, and that you stopped them invading Earth six bloody times, got trapped in Hell for however long, got found by an order of Hell-fighting knights, became their leader, got coffined into a machine that made you into a demigod..." He began to list.
"Yes."
"Then got betrayed by some priests, killed those priests as payback, got entombed alive because Hell couldn't kill you, then the corporation that started everything retrieved your ass, and after stopping yet another invasion AND wrecking Hell so badly you actually destroyed it, got sent here alongside this very place by the Hayden bloke." He listed in a single breath, an amazing feat given his habit. "Did I get everything right?"
VEGA was the one who replied. "Indeed you are, Mr. Constantine."
Constantine looked up at the ceiling. "Oh, right, I forgot about the robot."
You'd expect him to go on a tirade, but instead he raised his arms and gestured at the stone walls around us. "Just the damn facts there's a keep on Mars, that your technology actually worked on a demon, should be enough proof for anyone, mate. That, and the fact you aren't the first bloke from another dimension I've met. That reminds me, where do your bad guys go when they die now that your Hell is a mass graveyard?"
"Don't give a damn about that."
In resume, saying that he took the revelation in stride would be severely understating it. The fact I became the destroyer of my dimension's Hell helped. He did wonder why hadn't the local Heaven and Hell done anything regarding me, but he chalked it up to them being Heaven and Hell.
It wouldn't stay that way, but at that moment we didn't know.
All that said, it didn't stop him from being a... what was the word he also used from time to time? Oh, yes, a twat. What else could you call a man who callously smoked in your house despite you asking him to not do it, and somehow managed to sneak into the workship without either me or VEGA knowing it, and modify one of the water evaporators to create whisky?
That last one could actually be seen as a test for future settlers, but still, he just irreparably changed a machine just to get drunk. Asshole.
Finally, after several weeks of inflicting continuous torture on the Worm (both physical and spiritual), we managed to get the vaccine. It would not work on the stronger demons sadly, and the process to create more doses was simply too long ever with Constantine's help, but anything lower than properly named demons would be unable to control or even influence those injected with the vaccine, and we did have enough resources to make sufficient doses for those who had to deal with demons: we could replicate more anyway.
Now the only thing stopping us from permanently killing the little freak thanks to a special spell from Constantine that would have dissolved it's essence was the need for information.
Again, it took us some time to pry it out of its disgusting body, but eventually it spilled the beans.
Specifically, why it came to Earth, why did it possess the Medeiros girl, why it planned to create an army of possessed and, most important of all, who was 'her'. It had been sent to Earth by a deity of pure evil (he wasn't exactly a demon per se, but because of the sheer malice on his soul he was considered a true demon for all intents and purposes) to search for his progeny so that he could escape Hell and conquer the universe. Whatever passed as its throat tore itself apart before we could get more, but I didn't need further info to know it was talking about.
Trigon's daughter. Raven. This demon had turned itself into a worm to search for Raven. Constantine even managed to rip an image of her from it, showing us a gray-skinned, purple haired young woman with blue eyes.
All done, I squashed the maggot under my boot, and Constantine's spell made sure it's death was permanent in case it was one of those little bastards who could cheat death.
So, Trigon wanted his daughter back, as always, but this time he nearly started a pseudo-zombie apocalypse just to ease the search of her, instead of trying to influence her.
Problem was, while he knew about Trigon, Constantine didn't know much about her, only her name,, a bit of her past, the fact she (supposedly) was on Earth, and now what she looked like: she just hadn't intrigue him enough for anything more. I couldn't just ask VEGA to find her for us either, since for some reason he couldn't find her even with her picture.
Then there were the seventy souls the Worm took. No way I would leave them to suffer in eternity, no matter how much John told me they were already either extinguished, or turned into demons themselves and that as much as he wanted to see me do a reenactment of my 'One-man Hellish Apocalypse' here, it would be best to wait and see if I actually could take on the big players, as he named the demon lords and such other powerful fiends.
As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point: the demons from DC were different from those of DOOM, and the only ones I had met were a lowly imp and a literal worm respectively. I needed to know if I could take on them.
However, just because I couldn't rescue them didn't mean I wouldn't, as a certain philantropist once said, do my damnest to avenge them. Them, and any innocent people who had been wrongly condemned to Hell for however long.
First, though, we would find and help Raven, mainly because we could actually do so, and to fuck Hell over. To do it, however, we had to find her first, and this time neither VEGA nor Constantine's magic could help. That, in turn, meant we would need the help of everyone I knew of that could aid us, which in this case meant Clark and co. plus their friends, which were Wally West...
And Bruce Wayne.
Which was why I sent a message to Clark to gather them somewhere so I could bring them to the Fortress so that we could talk. The kryptonians and the power-armor user had already been here, and Bruce simply did not care about being on Mars, more focused on the ironworks outside, not saying a word but clearly not happy with them, nor the fact Constantine was there with me, having apparently met him a couple of times prior; the feeling, naturally, was mutual.
Wally, on the other hand? He was ecstasic by being there.
"Well, damn!" He whistled as he watched the surface of Mars through a mirror. "Never expected to be the first man from Central City to set his feet on Mars AND the famous Fortress of Doom! Well, infamous, but you get the point."
After that I gathered them in the main hall to explain them the situation at hand.
"Remember the parasite from Barcelona from a month ago, the one that infected those people and took over their bodies with no chance of saving them?"
Saying that Bruce was angry at me for my actions in Spain would be understating it.
"You mean the one who infected those people, people you seemingly didn't bother to cure of their affliction?" He practically growled at us.
I didn't bother to look at the Dark Knight. "They could no longer be considered human, or even alive in a certain sense."
"It doesn't change the fact you killed them instead of restraining them."
"No, mate, we killed their soulless, flesh-eating husks. They were already dead." John replied.
Yes, we decided to tell them the truth about the nature of Worm. After all, there was no need to lie to them about that given who they were.
Naturally this quizzed them. "'Soulless'?" Clark parroted, confused.
"The parasite was not an alien, but a creature from Hell that had found aother way to both possess people... in a way they could not be saved." I told them. "We didn't want to start a panic by revealing the truth."
"Wait a minute here." Kara spoke first. "Are you saying that the alien you captured... was actually a demon? As in, a fire and brimstone Hell demon whose job is to torture sinners for refusing God until Judgement Day? Those demons?" She was understandably freaked out by the sudden reveal.
"No, Superluv, we're talking about japanese yokai, who are mistranslated as demons." John said sarcastically. "Of course we mean demons from the Bible!"
"So, do we have to get holy water and a crucifix or something?" Wally asked, half jokingly, half serious.
John snorted at that. "Depends on the demon, speedy, and if they are really demons, and even if they are, you have to have faith in you for the latter to work. And then there's a difference between Hell, and Hel."
Bruce said nothing, since he already had an encounter with the supernatural, although this was the first time he heard anything about the Biggest House itself.
I raised my hand to stop John from talking further, knowing that the detective would try to explain everything he knew about Hell just for kicks. "All that said, we haven't called you here to fight demons or give Hell a visit."
"Then why did you call us, Slayer?" John asked.
"The worm had come here in search of a girl."
Kara raised an eyebrow at this. "Girl?"
John took over at that point. "The lass' name is Raven, or Rachel Roth, I'm not sure which." He conjured an image of her for them to see." She's the half-human daughter of Trigon, a very, very nasty demon who apparently requires her aid, willing or not, to get out of Hell. The parasite wanted to create an army to facilitate its search. Not exactly the father of the year."
Wally whistled when he looked at Raven's image. "She looks a bit old to be just a girl. Stupid question, but do you know-"
"No."
Clark ignored the younger man's not-so innocent questioning and looked at me. "You want our help searching this girl." He said, earning a nod from me. "You can't?"
"For some reason, VEGA can't pinpoint her location, and Constantine's magic can't either.
"VEGA?" Bruce asked.
"The Fortress' robot butler. Anything on this solar system, he can see it. Well, anything san's Rachel current position" John replied in a proud tone for some reason, as if he was VEGA's creator. Very possibly to mess with Bruce.
Mess with Bruce he did, more sp
"How? If you can't find her with your technology and Constantine's magic, what hope do we have?"
"Any help would be welcome. You three have friends, you in particular are a world-famous journalist with connections, West is a police officer with access to the U.S police database, and Wayne has the resources."
After talking some more about it, the kryptonians, Wally and John happily decided to help me out in the mission.
Bruce, naturally, was another matter entirely "Why would I help you after everything you have done?" He growled at me. "Do you really want to help this girl... or kill her before she becomes a problem?"
I stared at him for a good ten seconds, before unclasping my helmet and looking straight in the eyes. "Because you wouldn't do it for me, but to help a girl who's being hounded by the forces of darkness to unleash the apocalypse."
We kept our staredown for a good while, with the others not knowing what to do and not wanting to escalate things by doing anything.
Bruce gave up before I did, sigh of defeat and everything. "I'll see what I can do."
All that said, they couldn't just stop their duties as heroes just to find Raven, they still had people to save and crimes to stop, and so did I; John... well, his 'heroics' were his job. Nevertheless, I was grateful that they accepted.
So, for several more weeks I continued my job as a hero at the same time I searched for Raven, sometimes helping Constantine with his issues (faking being his bodyguard here, intimidating some ghosts there), and others him helping me when I decided to get involved in some mystical/magical stuff.
And then, one day as I manually searched the planet for any sign of Raven's location, any, I discovered a very peculiar sight in Japan. When John, who at that moment was visiting the Fortress, came over and saw the screen, he voiced what both of us thought at the display.
"Is that a hoplite? A hoplite fighting the bloody Monstrous Manual?"
..........
So, the seeds for the Justice League have been finally seeded, but just like any good plant, it'll take them some time to grow into the superhero team we all know and love. Aside from that, does the chapter feel forced to you? If it does, my fault for writing it that way, but I want to keep the story going. Don't worry, none of the plots mentioned here will be abandoned, we'll see them again in the future.
Also, the ending is where I start adding a few non-DC things to the story because I think I can make them work. This time is two of them, and while I don't want to spoil them, I can say this: one has one of the largest story counts in Fanfiction, and the other is a helluva anachronistic hack and slash.
Finally, kudos for Hida Reju for suggesting the booze thing!