Rachel stared forward as the group made their way through the corridor that led to Tartarus' Gate, determined yet anxious at the same time. She never thought she'd be with someone long enough to bond with them, what with her self-appointed wandering, but then Doom Slayer came into her life.
This already not-so unassuming man not only was a god by the universe's standards, but the second most powerful being from his universe, for their Satan was ALSO God; Slayer even wasconnected to the thing somehow (he wasn't a descendant by blood, nor a construct. He simply was), but apparently didn't realize it well after their Hell attacked... several times. Indeed, by his own admission, the Nether had invaded Earth, first out of opportunism, then out of spite for him, then finally desperation. Only to always fail because of him.
And he had killed their master. With nothing but the very same blade attached to his right gauntlet.
All that power, all that might, and in possession of technology that surpassed anything made on Earth, and many alien powers for that matter... and he used it entirely for good. One would think all that fighting against a terrifying enemy
"To them, I was the unstoppable horror, the apocalypse that would take their lives."
And she was one of the two people to know his real identity, the other being Constantine. That he even deigned her with the information... Even after living with him for several months, the best she could come up with was a show of trust.
But he wasn't merely a paragon of good and justice, nor a host that understood her. No, he was a father too. And the child liked her.
People were too complex to realize what she was, and in general children liked her when they didn't find her creepy, but most animals felt her taint, her curse, and had no reason to not make it known to her or anybody close. And yet Garfield, the embodiment of all wildlife on Earth, never hesitated in hugging her, comforting her, smiling at her. Not that no one else hadn't done that before, but he knew what she war, yet didn't care despite being both a child and a shapeshifter in tune with his nature.
She didn't give a damn if Hades was only one tier below Trigon in pure power, she'd kill him if he had even touched a single strand of Garfield's hair.
"You think Flash can take on this guy? He's not just super fast, he can punch through rock." Ayame asked.
"If he could, he'd be here with the Kents and Garfield already. Besides, we barely know anything about them."
"He's a man, and can do magic, that's the extent of my knowledge." Diana replied. "I was ordered by my mother to aid the others, so I didn't see much of him."
After entering the temple, little group made it's way through the tunnels, which was slowly turning into a cave, me and Rachel at the head. It seemed that the Amazons deemed the tunnel good enough, they hadn't bothered to furbish it with more than torches to light the way.
I could feel Rachel's anger and apprehension as we trudged through the cave, and she mine. We were determined to get Garfield back, and make sure the bastard who took him wouldn't be able to pull it off. Ever. Again.
Which kinda bit us in the ass in the (very) short term.
Eventually, we reached the end of the tunnel: a enormous cavern with an equally large temple in the center. The place was huge, clearly supernatural since the roof had to be higher than Themyscira's surface. The temple, on the other hand, wasn't all that special aside from its size. It was the gate at the front that made clear what it really was, a red light coming from it.
And of course, the corpses of several Amazons littering the floor, many of them gutter. I saw Diana falter for a second before recovering just as quickly.
"You shall be avenged." She muttered to herself and them, her sword hand gripping the pommel tightly, her knuckles turning white.
We found out the reason Wally hadn't gone back: the intruder had fused him with the ground to the neck, leaving only his head. Even then he had promptly gone to free himself by the only way he could: headbutts. His skull was thicker than it looked, and eventually he'd freed himself, but he was already bleeding profusely.
"Wally!" Grundy was about to pull him out, but Wally stopped him.
"Forget about, I'm fine! Help her and get them out of here!"
Indeed, with the rush of seeing the Flash in danger, the others hadn't noticed the fight that was taking place in front of the temple.
A strange, bearded man wearing blue robes and a golden circlet, fighting a blonde woman dressed in the hoplite manner with nothing but his bare hands, and even enjoying the fight, even though by looks alone he was clearly a magician; conversely, the woman was barely hanging on a thread from defeat, even as she weathered his attacks. She didn't even had a sword, she only had a shield. There were several men around them jeering at Diana, but none did anything else, preferring to watch as their master fought.
Felix Faust. No longer the meek, shifty wizard from the cartoon, he had either somehow become a powerhouse, probably through his dealings with Hades, or was one since the beginning.
After all, one had to be powerful to force the queen of Themyscira to her knees without even magic.
"Mother!" Diana shouted before charging into the fray, ramming into the mage and skewering one of the cultists. The others followed suit, slamming into the fight.
Faust's followers were admittedly strong, enough to give, say, Pausanias, trouble one on one. Thing was, they didn't outnumber us, we had the element of surprise, and some of us were out of their league.
But me and Rachel weren't focused on the massacre.
Right behind the fight, mere meters in front of the gate, sat the Kents, bound and gagged but otherwise fine... and Garfield, in the form of a lion, trying to claw and bite his way out of a cage. However, despite his ferocity, it was as clear as a clean sky to me that he was terrified of the situation.
By the time Kara remembered her parents, I had already reached the cage and torn it apart, and embracing my son with all my heart.
I felt a third person joining us: Rachel.
"Everything will be alright." I still don't remember who said that, me or Rachel, but frankly I don't particularly care even now.
The three of us stood there in a hug, not paying attention to the fight at our backs, or the dead wizard at our feet.
And then Faust, who had somehow avoided death by angry metahumans, blood seeping from his mouth, stood up and looked at us with a smile.
One would think this was that moment where the villain of the story gloats or talks about the heroes' inminent defeat despite his forces being exterminated to the last, or that no matter what happens to him, his plans would continue, or a simple, last spite-filled speech, but none of that happened here, even though he did open his mouth.
Because I blew his fucking head off with the blaster. I refused to even deign him with the Super Shotgun.
His headless corpse stood for a few seconds, blood spurting from the smoking geiser that was his neck, before dropping.
"That... was anticlimatic." Ayame said outloud as she cleaned her sword on one of the dead.
"The power of laser gun compelled him. Well, plasma gun, but you get what I mean." I can't remember who said that, it might have been John.
"I meant the entire fight. For a bunch of super cultists, they didn't seem all that strong."
"You said it yourself, they were cultists." Pausanias replied, kicking one of the corpses.
Diana paid them no mind, helping her mother stand up. "Mother, are you alright?"
"I want to say yes." She then winced and nearly fell over. "But that bastard was stronger than he looked."
And then, all out of sudden, the gate screeched.
"W-what the fuck?!"
The blood from Faust's stump was being absorbed by the floor, then redirected to the gate's hinges. Yes, only Faust: the others either didn't have what he had on him, or were unworthy sacrifices.
In my anger, I played right into Faust's hands. That HE could end up being the sacrifice might or might not had occurred to him, but at that moment that was the least of our problems, because the gate literally exploded as black, smoky creatures escaped, screeching and moaning.
"You were saying?" John growled as dozens of shadow creatures poured out of the open gate. He promptly began blasting at them with fire, and soon we joined him.
"Nevermind!"
Those things were similar to me, the souls of the damned dead, only unlike lost souls they hadn't been turned into demons proper.
Then, a tall, bulky silhouette appeared in the gate, a horned, armored man with red eyes peering at us as he walked out of Tartarus with a deliberate step, even as more shadows raced all around him, and despite his helmet, I knew he was smiling.
Hades himself.
Yeah, Hades his freedom won't last more than an hour. I know it's a short chapter, it's more of a middle point for the big fight... if I can deliver it satisfactorily. No excuses for the lacklusting drama, though.