On the dark dungeon located on the depths the Fortress of Doom, Solomon Grundy was staring at the stone ceiling after an hour of chasing little Garfield around the place. The boy was probably with his caretaker by now, doing whatever he did.
That made Grundy think about he hadn't thought about before. Did he have any children as Gold (illegitimate, given his lifestyle)? Or had his life as cowboy stopped him from, well, having fun in brothels? Or maybe it was his career itself what stopped any possible romance?
Grundy grunted as he moved a bit. 'That couldn't have been, he was a mellow man when not shooting Daltons with a gun. Handsome, too.'
Other men, had they pondered on that, would have mourned their loss of normalcy and normal looks. Grundy, though, simply didn't care: he was aware he had been Cyrus Gold before, but nonetheless saw him as a different person due to his... circumstance. That said, he apparently did retain a trait of him: his non-confrontational attitude, at least when outside the 'job'.
Despite his appearance and his first action in the modern world, Grundy didn't exactly like violence. Sure, most definitely would destroy those who pissed him offf, as he had already done, but he didn't like to start fights. He still desired to rip that green-caped man's head off and crush it between his fingers, but according to Slayer the bastard would have it coming, just not yet. Plus, maybe he could make a forest rip the bastard apart. He had yet to do anything remotely similar to plant control, but Doom Slayer said that eventually he'd be able to. First, though, he had to fulfill his promise to Arella, and protect his daughter, even though technically he was breaking that same promise.
So, having nothing else to do that day, he laid there, down in the dark.
Until VEGA called him.
"Mr. Grundy" He heard VEGA's voice say. He had gotten used to the robotical voice, but that didn't stop him from cringing a bit due to the sudden call. ", Slayer is asking for your presence."
Grundy stood up and straightened up. "I go." He didn't bother to ask what exactly did Slayer ask for him. Until then, the man had always gone to him to talk. It had to be something if he had made his butler call for him.
Reaching the main hall of the fortress, he saw Slayer observing the main screen silently, Garfield sitting on a nearby chair and watching just as quiet with a frown. When he turned to look at the screen, Grundy understood why they were like that.
Black armored men exchanging fire with a line of unarmored soldiers led by a bearded blonde standing on a shoddy-looking wall, all of it under a bubble from behind which was water. The attackers eventually retreated after being splashed by a large wave from nowhere.
That wasn't what angered Grundy, though. It was the many, many corpses littering the ground, and several buildings with gaping holes on them he discerned behind the invaders that did.
"There are three submarines in route, two refurbished Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and a smaller, unknown class. Neither of the Ohio's are equiped with warheads or a reactor. At their current speeds, the first Ohio will enter the city in approximately one minute, the second one another after."
"And the third?" Slayer asked.
"Five minutes." VEGA said before correcting himself. "Nevermind, it has stopped at a nautical mile from the city. It appears that the head of the invasion is overseeing it from there."
"Any ideas of who might they be?"
The image of a black man came onscreen. "David Hyde, 40. His wife and son were on the Voyager of the Seas."
Grundy saw Slayer's hands curl into fists at the mention of the ill-fated cruise. He had been told about it, of how terrorist mermaids had attacked an ocean liner and killed hundreds of people just because they threw trash on the ocean, and planned to ram the ship on a port in the West Coast. Fortunately, Doom Slayer managed to stop their plot... brutally.
Why were they attacking their own people under the command of a human, he didn't know. What he did know, though, was that they were again killing people.
"People dying." 'People ARE dying'. Grundy had to stop himself from growling from both his still lacking grammar, and the fact he could be saving people just as Slayer had planned for him. He turned to look at the soldier. "Must help them!"
Doom Slayer, rather than repyling directly, opened up a portal right behind Grundy.
"You stop that submarine before it crashes in the city, I'll take the other one." At that Grundy nodded, but before he could leap through Slayer stopped him. "And Grundy, it doesn't matter if they surrender or beg for their miserable lives, kill any you get your hands on. All of them."
Grundy gave another nod, a grim one this time, before jumping through the portal. They wanted death? They would have death.
The moment Grundy jumped out of the portal, the submarine he had to grab was already midway inside the city. Fortunately, the portal had left him right where its front would have landed, and he already had his arms stretched just in time to grab the titanic metal monster.
The giant metal vessel was heavy, heavier than anything he had ever lifted before, even though that list was still quite short. Still, he managed to raise above his head, then throw it back at the bad guys. Then, after it landed and more enemies began to pour out of it, Grundy jumped at them and began to rip them apart, their feeble attempts at fighting back doing nothing.
As he ripped a man in half, Grundy wondered how was the Slayer doing on the other submarine.
..........
So, Black Manta made his appearance at last... and was a villain as all the others, only this time, he had a more justified reasonfor his actions: being mad with grief.
I understood his anger, his rage... but the atlanteans were not demons.
While Grundy and what was left of the atlantean army dealt with the first submarine, I tore my way through the second one, having opened a portal directly on its bridge, none of them wearing armor. If you're wondering why didn't I do that with the one David was in since the beginning, it's because I was leaving him for last. After all, Arthur would want to get his hands on the man who killed over a thousand of his people.
The others wouldn't live to see it happen, though, not after what they did.
They (both Hyde and his followers) had officially become worse than the Red Trident, and therefore their punishment had to be more severe which, admittedly, would be hard to give if my aim was to surpass the brutality I inflicted on the Trident. So, I settled by killing them all: neither I nor Grundy would give them quarter, no matter if they surrendered, and not giving a damn of the public's reaction when they found out... even though some wouldn't care either.
As I made my way to the bridge of the submarine, killing everyone on my way, I also started to open holes on the hull of the boat. It wasn't so deep in the ocean that the jets of water couldk kill, but that wasn't the reason: anyone I missed would drown due to not wearing their suits, nor having time to put them on.
Plus, I wanted to terrify the fuck out of those already in Atlantis by making them see that their reinforcements had been turned into mincemeat, and their sub a casket.
That said, my rampage through the vehicle made me discover something: while some did beg for their lives before I stomped them, the rest of Black Manta's men and women faced me faced me fearlessly. It seemed that they didn't care being killed, so long as they got their revenge on the atlanteans. Their large number and the fact they had nuclear submarines was explained by many of them being just mercenaries hired to aid in the massacre or mere bigots, and the aid of people with connections that did not like the existence of an underwater, moderately advanced country in the Eastern Coast inhabited by xenophobic transhumans.
I'd end up dealing with those people later.
After I made sure I killed everyone on board, I jumped out of the ship with super shotgun in hand, just in time to hear Arthur calling for me.
"Slayer!" I turned around to see the king of Atlantis run at me, followed by another man garbed in military apparel, clearly an officer of some sort. While the soldier had an uneasy expression on his face, Arthur was practically elated to see me there... at least until he realized I was covered in blood, stopping at a safe distance from me.. "Thank Poseidon you and your... friend got here! Those bastards-"
I raised a hand to stop him. "I know, they want payback for what the Red Trident did months ago. It's not hard to see that, really, although I never expected someone do something like this."
"You mean hijack two submarines from the surface military and try to ram a city with them?" The man behind him said.
"Admiral Arkantos, highest living officer in Atlantis." Arthur explained. "The others were killed by either the Red Trident or the invaders."
"The Trident attacked Atlantis?" I asked.
Arkantos nodded at that. "Before the invaders came, the Red Trident attacked the city in mass in hopes of either getting the king to declare war on the surface, or kill him and take control themselves, and our forces could barely hold them. We actually cheered when strange armored people came from outside the barrier and began fighting them.... until they turned their guns on us, that is."
Arthur then growled. "I understand their anger, but they already killed the Red Trident. But with you and Solomon Grundy helping us, they're doomed."
Behind them, on the distance, I could see Grundy, who was covered in blood just like me, forcing a hole in the front of submarine to get at the people taking refuge inside, atanteans soldiers behind him. They'll had to move fast if they wanted to get payback on the invaders, before Grundy killed them all by himself.
"It was actually a coincidence what made me come here." Seeing his confused expression, I clarified. "I wanted to visit you due to a... problem of mine that involves magic. First, though, we will deal with the invaders. Then I'll explain further."
Both monarch and admiral looked at the submarines. "I think we already got them all."
"There's a third submarine away from the city, from which the leaders of this group are coordinating the attack. I can open a portal to them to end their threat once and for all."
"Excellent."
At that moment, Grundy came back from finishing the first submarine's occupants, followed by a several soldiers... although I wouldn't know about the last part until several minutes later, given he leaped at us. Arthur and Arkantos stepped back from him as he landed next to me, cracking the floor under his weight. "All dead. Gave no mercy." He told me.
I nodded in satisfaction before turning back to Arthur. "You can do the favours and lead the charge, but we need to take their leader alive."
Naturally Arthur didn't like my response, but nonetheless he kept his cool. "Why."
I merely stared at him. "I gave you Krios to judge and punish because he's one of your people, you'll do the same with him and the surface."
Arthur grunted in agreement. "How do we recognize them? Have you seen their face?"
"Trust me, you'll recognize him when you see him." I then opened a portal to David's submarine, specifically the bridge. "Lead the way, I'll be right behind you, but beware, they don't fear death and so will not be afraid of you... nor me."
Nodding grimly, Arthur walked up to the open portal, entered it... and was then promptly blasted out by a red beam.
Early chapter because of Christmas. The fighting is shory because, really, what could stop zombie Hulk and lore Doom Slayer from killing you? For those wondering why did they leave Garfield alone in the Fortress (because I know you do ), there's VEGA to look after him for the moment.