So, it happened. We had finally found Rachel, only for something to get in our way to her once more... only this time, said something was global, and it had already taken lives.
"VEGA, give us footage of the explosion sites."
VEGA did as I asked, first generating a hologram of the globe indicating where the attacks had taken place, centered in North America, Europe, and parts of Africa and Asia, and the location proper.
What we saw made my blood boil unlike it had never done before. As horrible a their attacks had been, the Red Trident had at least the been limited enough to a train, a ship, and a single city.
But this? The images of burned out buildings, destroyed homes and vehicles, splattered blood, and worse results of being at the epicenter of a large explosion that I don't want to discuss further? This was no simple terrorist operation, but a full-blown attack against the entire planet. And it was impossible that no less than a thousand had died.
"Garfield, your room, now. And take the baby with you." I told the boy, who fortunately hadn't seen much.
Nodding, Garfield grabbed the baby from a frozen Mera's arms, turned into a cheetah, and ran to his room. The last thing I wanted was for them to grow up after seeing images of that. Dead animals, yes, but not this. Not. This.
As I dreaded, the bombings had caused incredible amounts of damage to the locations they had happened on, aforementioned horrors included. As in, big enough to cause ashes to fall from the sky.
"Oh, god..." Clark muttered after recovering from the initial shock, eyes wide in horror.
"Are those people?!" Wally exclaimed in horror at the sight of the ash rain. "Did someone just drop freaking nukes?!"
"I haven't detected radioactive material. Nonetheless each explosion could be measured on the several tons range." At the very least, we wouldn't be dealing with fallout. Still, someone had dared to do what no one else on this planet, even universe, had ever done: mass murder on a global scale.
"Casualties."
"Ten thousand dead, just as many wounded, both numbers rising significantly as we speak."
"My god." I don't know if Bruce said that in further shock or relief, but I didn't care at that moment. At the very least we wouldn't be dealing with fallout.
"Monsters..." I heard Grundy growl, and even heard his enormous fists clench in anger. "They must pay for this. I'll make trees brout out of their living flesh." He had yet to try that out, but nonetheless, it was just a demonstration of how furious he was.
Unfortunately, the attacks themselves would end up being just another problem, just the greater one.
"I'm afraid that's not all. It appears that all the prisons holding your enemies, not just Arkham. have been breached. The only upside is that no explosion has been detected on those locations."
Sure enough, VEGA showed us live images of Arkham, Blackgate, Iron Heights and Stryker's island, hundreds of inmates sprinting out of the buildings with familiar faces among them: Captain Boomerang, Livewire... and a certain clown. True, those three hadn't been hit, but the release of so many criminals would obviously
And then VEGA showed us Tokyo, and then we saw a familiar black form made of sludge erupting from a prison's main building.
"Fuck, that guy again?!" John screamed as Brushogun's body reformed and he gave a victorious roar and went on a rampage on the city he once claimed to protect. "The japanese system should have fed him a fucking blessed bomb and be done with it!"
Soon, Pausanias and the others, including a veritable kaiju of all things, came into the scene and engaged Brushogun just as he attacked the JSDF. Again, they were beset upon by several other villains, in this case a murderous robot, a ghost of of some kind, and (I want to say funnily enough, but the situation was anything but) a literal , pink-furred catgirl. I'm fairly certain some of you might recognize them.
"Of course he's got friends."
"They're just four out of hundreds." Bruce said, still calm despite everything that was happening, before turning to me. "Take us back to Earth, now. We can still stop them before they can escape."
Unfortunately, I was too absorbed in my thoughts to reply to him. Whoever had done this, they obviously wanted to cause as much damage as they could... and, very possibly, draw me out to try to fight or kill me, or something else altogether (I ended up being right about the drawing out part, just not me). But I couldn't just leave Rachel to save the world either, not after finally finding her location. I couldn't do this alone, and even with the help of John and Grundy, we wouldn't be able to respond to all the threats.
And then it struck me, something that for some reason I forgot as VEGA pulled those images and because of which I unashamedly admit I was a fool: I was sharing the room with several members of all itinerations of the League.
Maybe, just maybe, it was time for the Justice League to be born... and, as poetic this may sound, do so in fire.
"VEGA, open four portals." I didn't need to specify to where, he already knew what I had planned. Then, I turned towards Clark and shook him out of his stupor.
"Clark, I'll send you to Smallville to get Kara; a portal to Metropolis is already waiting for you to meet with John. Trust me, it's faster than flying."
Clark nodded and didn't waste time in flying into the portal to his home. Then I turned to Wally.
"Wally, you go to your city. Most of your rogues have to still be on their cells, so you'll have an easier time. After that go to Metropolis and help the others."
Wally grinned and gave a military salute. "Aye aye, captain!" He then sped into the portal. Finally, it was Bruce's turn.
"Bruce, go back to the mansion, call for Dick and Barbara and secure Arkham. Zatanna" The sorceress flinched as I spoke to her. ", go with Bruce. I know you know nothing of fighting, but your magic might be needed and more useful down there, even if only to repair the damage."
She seemed unsure of what to do for a moment, but then nodded. "I'll try to do something. Don't know exactly what, but I'll try anyway."
Unlike Clark, Bruce seemed reluctant to obey me, but he still did so, but not before sending me one last, meaningful glance as he and Zatanna left. I knew what it meant, and you probably too, but at that moment I didn't care about that.
Arthur, who until then had been silent, put a hand on my shoulder. "What about me?" He asked.
"Arthur?" Mera asked, Junior back on her arms. Garfield had returned from his room, and after giving the baby back to his mother he stared up at me, thinking.
"I can't stay here and do nothing while this is happening. Besides this is the perfect chance to prove my goodwill and that the Kingdoms do want to coexist with the surface."
That made me think. He could control water, he had the strength of twenty men, he could shrug being punched by a strongman, and was a damn good fighter... but his real contribution would come from his status as king.
"You don't really need to do anything by yourself. Gather your troops and send them to the Eastern Coast, Europe and North Africa to help the military."
Arthur nodded at that. "A humanitarian action." He seemed worried for a moment, but then his eyes hardened again. "The Atlantean army has never done that before, but still, I think they'll be able to do that."
"Grundy, you'll help Spartan and the others deal with Daizo. Alone they'd be able to take him out, but it'd take them too long. With your help, it'd be a matter of minutes. After that VEGA will open a portal to our location."
"Location?"
"I told you, you must help Pausanias and Ayame kill Brushogun." Yes, kill. Spartan had already made clear his stance with murdererers several months prior, he hated Daizo with a passion for obvious reasons, and besides Brushogun was set up for execution anyway.
Grundy opened his mouth as if to protest, but then closed it with a frown. "I still want to be there when you meet her."
"And you will, but first you must help save Tokyo from Daizo."
A portal big enough to let a bull elephant through opened behind him. With a final look, Grundy went to help Pausanias and the others.
Now it was just me, John, Garfield and VEGA on the Fortress.
"Okay, the little guys are dealing with the little things. Now what?" John asked me. "Shouldn't we already be down there, forcing our way through a prison, slaughtering the guards, and all that mushy hero shit?"
Instead of replying directly, I grabbed my helmet and put it back on.
"VEGA, give us a visual of Rachel's current location."
An hologram of the location appeared in the center of the room, showing us the image of a stone fortress, not dissimilar to Petra. I could already imagine the interior: narrow spaces, so confined that I'd have to crouch just to move around and most of my weapons would be hitting the walls, obstructing me unless I tore through them.
So, super shotgun and fists it was
Then, I pulled out my shotgun.
"You said it yourself, John. We finish what we started."
Short and condensed chapter for such an important event, I know, but don't worry, the next ones will be at least a couple hundred words longer each. Also, third anniversary in this site for me!