It was done. Kalibak was dead.
"Are you alright?" I asked Komand'r, who was still breathing heavily (either from the effort or killing Kalibak at all, I didn't know), looking at the head. Even though only seconds had passed, it was already visibly decaying, probably a quirk in New God physiology or, more likely, untold years of abuse finally taking their toll on him now that his body couldn't keep itself healthy.
"I have a turmoil of feelings in my breast right now, and there's still lots to do" She steadied herself with a sigh. ", but I can at least say I got some closure from this."
"Ok, big space monster lion man is dead, and rock monster dad isn't going to avenge him or anything, right?" Patrick said, still not believing that he just held down said lion man for a good while. With some help and encouragement, he could do more than that, way more. For now, though, we had to tie loose ends here.
"He more or less hated him, so no, he's not going to retaliate." I looked at John. "But you did not really care for that, didn't you? It was simple, mindless fear of me broug up by that thing."
He didn't bother to reply, and not only because of the shock of his ordeal; he knew I was right.
"Ok, Worf is dead, Viggo is under control, and the other space marine has given up. Now what? Do we beat the shit out of the Power Ranger wannabes?"
"Not exactly." I turned to John, who hadn't raised his head since we arrived. "I hope you can make your men stop."
John said nothing, and in fact turned around to not even face me. That wasn't just shame in him.
"They might believe you tampered with my head. Or not. At this point, I don't know what to think.
"Let's stop the fight before someone gets hurt." No, I didn't know Komand'r pulled a woman's arm off its socket. No, I didn't care.
As we thought, the League and the Lanters were still fighting; a good chunk of the former had been knocked out, but the rest soldiered on, the iron will that got them into the Corps powering them even with their wounds. I had to admit it was an incredible sight, even admirable, and had the circumstances been better they'd made wonderful allies. The fight had gotten them tired enough for Rachel to grab all of them and force them to the ground, pulling out their rings to make sure they couldn't do anything.
"Release us!" One of them shouted before Mecha stomped on his head.
"Shut up or I kick teeth out, you caveman understand!"
"A bit late for that, don't you think Raven?" Pausanias all but complained. "Thanks for stopping them anyway."
"Better late than ever Horsehair." Grundy told him. "Still, you took your sweet time to..." He realized what that black lump a our feet was. "Nevermind."
Then, the Lanterns saw Kalibak's head staring up at them with wide, cold eyes. At this point it was little more than a reddish, goo-covered skull with some hair on it, a rather grisly sight for people not that used to violence.
"What have you done?!" One screamed, partly horrified by both the sight and what it implied for the galaxy (in his mind), partly furious because some ridiculous Green Lantern related reason.
"Get rid of a plague to the universe?" Rachel said sardonically. "Something none of you ever had the gal to?"
Komand'r said nothing, merely looking at them the way someone looked at something disgusting.
One of them opened her mouth, but I stopped her with a look. At this point Stewart was still crestfallen by everything and didn't do anything but stare at the skull.
"And before you say something stupid, no, Darkseid will NOT give a damn about his... son's, death." He'd had a stronger reaction to being called a fool by anyone.
Clark walked up at the head and looked down at it, a mixture of emotions in his face: disgust, shock, confusion, relief... "So, you killed him."
I shook my head. "I only made sure Komand'r could."
"I helped!" Patrick said with a grin. "It actually hurt a bit, those teeth of him really hurt, but I tangled him like a ball of yarn! I nearly got Kanoed too, but hey, I'm not dead!"
Clark looked back at the head before looking around, making sure nobody was looking at us, and said something I was "I hate to admit this, but I never thought I would be glad to see someone dead."
Before I continue the writing, I think I have to tell you something about Clark to understand him better, just in case: while he did not condon killing when it was avoidable, he wouldn't lift a finger to stop executions, as a certain corrupt cop he himself caught found out. In this case his attitude came, again, from a myriad of reasons, including the fact he was actually happy someone was dead, pure evil or not.
Kara obviously heard him, saw her wince at his words, but said nothing as she watched Patrick flex himself and talking about 'making Junior proud'.
"Kalibak was too dangerous to be kept alive, and what he has done would've gotten him capital punishment in every country on Earth."
Clark said nothing, merely frowning at my words. "Still, I never thought I'd get to see the death of Darkseid's son himelf. Speaking of which, are you sure he won't do anything about it? He hated him, but he was still part of his inner circle. He might not be happy that someone else did him in."
"By your own words, he cares for no one but himself."
"Things can change with time."
"Not when you're immortal obsessed with a single goal since you were born."
Clark grunted, but kept quiet.
Looking at my side, I saw Komand'r walking to Pausanias and Ayame, sword in hand.
"Your sword." She offered the sword back to him. Pausanias took it without looking away from Kalibak's head.
"I see you put it to good use." Even with his helmet covering his face, I knew he was smiling.
"If only I could activate the petrification, I'd made sure nothing would be left of him."
"Are you idiots just forgetting about our fight?!" One o the Lanterns screamed. Iron will. Again, enemies or not, I liked that.
"Well, since the reason we were fighting has already bitten the dust, I can't really see why we should keep at it." Pausanias noted. He was, of course, ignoring the hapless Lantern who Komand'r had dismembered.
"We didn't come here for-"
The Lantern, no, the entire place fell in silence, with a troubled expression but a sure step, put himself between both groups.
"Stand down. All of you." I don't remember if he realized they couldn't. "We've been deceived." He sighed. "I have been deceived."
Rachel brought out the specter.
"What in the name of the Guardians is that?!"
"A wraith born out of apokoliptian magic. It dulled Stewart's good sense and increased his anger." She then looked at the group. "But that'd would've taken a good while, and while I don't know how long did he know about us or how fast
"Why didn't his ring detect its presence?"
"Because it hid inside of it, for well over a week." Rachel said dryly. "And yet none of you realized it."
"That cannot be! A ring's wearer might be corrupted by evil, but the rings themselves cannot!" Unfortunately, that ship had sailed a long time ago, if at all.
"Either that's a lie, or your Guardians never thought of proofing your toys against Apokolips. Probably both." Pausanias all but sneered. "Then again, I don't know which is worse, being a brainwashed fuck or following said fuck to do something stupid."
"You don't have to be so mean!" Ayame exclaimed in a sarcastic tone before snarling. "Oh, wait, you can, because the fuck punched you a mile away!"
"Potty mouth, eh?" Mecha remarked, getting a hit to the back of his neck from Steel. "What was that for?!"
"Not the time." He growled, making Mecha go quiet.
Still, Pausanias was right in that it was worse for them. While John had been manipulated by an external threat they didn't even know about, they all had followed him blindly, but out of their own volition. Going against orders even when it worked out in the end was still punishable in the Corps, but doing that out of nonsensical paranoia and herd mentality... Not that most of us earthlings cared about what their fates when they returned to Oa would be, but all that said, they believed they were doing the right thing (arresting, or rather try to arrest, an incredibly powerful soldier with advanced technology and nigh endless resources from an alternate universe who cared nothing of interstellar boundaries), but they executed it badly, and at the worst possible time.
"Knowing were that thing came from is nice and all... but how did it get to Oa?" Kara asked. "I don't really know anything about how the rings work, but shouldn't your headquarters have some sort of defense against that?"
Good question with an obviou answer: no one before had ever dared to move against the Guardians of the Universe and their forces... at least directly.
And then John began to speak again.
"There was this old man, from Tamaran. He managed to escape in a pod and reach Oa before ripping his own innards." He wasn't looking at anyone in particular as he spoke. "After that I... I don't really know, felt angrier, at you, even though you hadn't done anything warranting our intervention. And it, it was before we even knew of Kalibak."
Komand'r needed a few seconds to reply. "No one but me and my sister escaped the planet. The only functioning ship in Tamaran was ours."
Given everything that happened, who and what was involved, and the time, that could only mean one thing.
"Wonderful, this is really wonderful." Grundy moaned. "Turns out the space cops have flaws of their own. And that includes one of our own." He looked at himself. "So to speak. Oh, and the evil space god that invaded Earth three years ago knows you exist."
"It could be something else, Grundy, it could be the entire Green Lantern Corps wanting me dead." Too bad it could still be, indeed, considered bad, if for admittedly not so different reasons.
He stared down at me. "Evil. Space. God." Remember, Only John and Rachel knew my origin.
"When it happens, it'll happen. No point in crying over spilled milk."
Grundy grunted at that, but shrugged. "Well, we killed his son, maybe we can do the same to him. Better be prepared for anything, no?"
Apokolips and its overlord had long known about me. Only time would tell if he planned to do anything about it, especially after proving that I was both strong and ruthless enough to gut a New God, weak as he was, like a fish.
Well, if he and his slaves wanted a fight, a fight was what he'd get if he pised me off, to hell with hiding my true capabilities. My patience was yet to run that low, but I knew that eventuall I'd have to confront him. The problem was, I really didn't want to for a plethora of reasons, chiefest of all him not being as much of a direct threat than other beings in this universe (at least in the sense they had access to Earth)
The Lanterns, despite their protests, were to leave Tamaran to never come back under pain of death. Komand'r had also dismembered one of them, but given the circumstances and the sod not dying thanks to Rachel healing her, they wisely kept quiet about it.
Whether the Guardians would discharge him and those who followed him or not was not of our concern, especially Komand'r, since his little stunt prolongued what should've been a quick, clean fight, nearly got Komand'r killed, and we had more pressing matters to attend to anyway. Still, I still remembered he was one of the founders of the League in the cartoon. I hoped they simply suspended him, but I really couldn't anything. Naturally, Clark went with them to help the best he could, despite being a journalist. Bless that heart of his.
Tamaran was finally free of Apokolips' yoke, but there would be no celebration, no victory parade. Hundreds of thousands were dead, most urban centers had been reduced to rubble by either indiscriminate bomardment or rampaging apokoliptians, and Koriand'r was still lost amongst the stars. Fortunately, the mechs were capable of rebuilding operations, and they had us to help, too: we stayed in Tamaran for a week, doing everything we could. Still, it'd take at least a generation for the planet and its people to recover, but they would. However, that still left Koriand'r.
"Tamaran thanks you for your aid." She said as she bowed to us. Our job done there done, and with no sign of Apokolips doing anything, we decided to go back to Earth. The mech army had gone back
"It's not over until Koriand'r stands next to you."
She sighed at that. "I want to believe she's still alive, but... Any idea of where she might be, or is?"
I shook my head. "Unfortunately not, but VEGA is searching for her. It'll take some time, but he'll find her.
And then, as if summoned, VEGA spoke. Unfortunately, it wasn't because he had already located Koriand'r.
"Slayer, Mr. Constantine is calling you."
That made me raise an eyebrow. John always came to the Fortress when he wanted to speak to me, thought it was faster than simple talking. That he decided to call first could only mean something had happened to him... which was exactly what happened.
"There might also be a problem with him."
"What kind of problem?"
"For starters, his signature lacks any signs of life, but still has his brainwaves."
Okay, that was not something I expected to hear. Still, only one sure way to be sure of what was going on.
"Bring him in."
VEGA opened a portal through which someone came through.
It was John... or rather, his ghost, staring back at us with wide eyes. Same jacket, same shoes, even the stench of cheap tobacco and expensive booze emanated from him, but we could see through him, and the area around him felt a bit colder. Oh, and the blue aura, can't forget the blue aura.
John had died. John Constantine was dead. And yet, he deemed it fit to go to talk to me rather than get someone to throw his body in the Lazarus Pit or con a luckless fiend. Something was off, but my mind had yet to realize that.
Grundy, eyes wide in disbelief, voiced what the others were thinking.
"The fuck happened to you?!"
"There's no time! Take the castle to Smallville, pronto!"
"Our parents?!" Kara screamed.
It turned out to be much worse than that.
John shook his head frantically. "They took him!"
Well, four year since I joined the forum, and nearly two since our SI woke up and freaked out before manning up. Wonder when I'll get listed in TV Tropes... Also, I'm concurrently writing two stories, normal crossovers and not yet that long, but still:
-Redemtion Squad: DC, Marvel and Gargoyles, in which Xanatos decides to create a pseudo-paramilitary force of metahumans recruited from jails because it's good publicity, and neither the Avengers nor the League exist here, starting with a souped up Killer Croc, from whose 1st person POV we'll read most of the story.
-Galaxy at War: Stellaris and Halo. The Covenant try to do their thing with a Stellaris federation. Needless to say, they're not the UNSC: for starters, they can attack Covenant worlds. Only three four chapters long, though.