Pushing open the door, Amari strode out of Finnigan's bar with an impassive look.
The moment he stepped through the exit, he willed his clothes to change form from what they originally looked like.
Seeing himself wearing casual black trousers, pulled up long sleeves that accentuated his masculine figure with the first three buttons undone, Amari felt a sense of comfort and satisfaction come over him.
'Weird'.
He said inwardly, momentarily falling into thought.
This was something else that hadn't happened before. Feeling the familiar liking for what he put on, his thoughts couldn't help but wander.
Unfortunately, there were no memory flashbacks this time.
Looks like this wasn't worthy of a flashback.
"No matter". He uttered before raising his head to look at the sky.
The Gotham sky was relatively ok. Dark for this time of day in other places no doubt, but relatively normal here.
"Shit! That monster is back!".
The exclamation fell into his ears, prompting it to twitch slightly.
The one who said so wasn't nearby.
"I thought he was dead".
"The Joker?..... Let's face it, monsters like him live the longest".
Amari couldn't help but nod at that last one.
Whoever said that had just uttered a valid universal truth. At least in this universe, it was all too true.
He stood on the sidewalk watching the people go by. He didn't move, he didn't change the color of his eyes, but his vision had changed to see the world in new colors.
The colors of the Emotional Spectrum, to be exact.
Teal.
The color representation of the emotion known as Sadness and Despair.
The passersby all exuded the same color at the moment. More than ninety percent of them filled with the color teal.
"For a clown that's supposed to make people laugh, he sure is unpopular". He took a moment to examine their emotional changes before putting his mind somewhere else.
"You my dear... hold the answer. An answer to a question they want to know so badly".
The sentence once again fell into Amari's ears.
"Me and them both". He muttered under his breath.
To be honest, he didn't expect to meet death today, much less under the circumstances in which they did. From the looks of it, she had been here for a while.
How the literal personification of death would have the leisure time to leave her duties as a multiversal force and work as a bartender was honestly beyond his understanding.
Was she waiting there this whole time for the past month? Or did she sense his arrival and put up the whole bartender act?
Did she use her abilities to draw him towards the bar, or was it coincidence that he was experiencing memory flashbacks and just happened to be passing by?
With all the stuff on his mind and the fact that his awareness was sealed, he probably wouldn't even notice if she did.
She was a supernatural force after all.
She was here. And she didn't look like she would be leaving anytime soon.
Point being, if she was here, then others would be as well.
A month's timeframe was enough for even the slowest among them to make their way to earth.
Numerous cosmic forces with extraordinary power and possibly hostile intentions.
The little planet Earth would most likely upgrade to a higher level battleground.
"Sheesh..... Poor Clark". Amari suddenly felt bad for the guy. With the attention he had drawn, the Justice League would most likely have to deal with enemies they weren't cut out for.
They would definitely be beaten badly. The chances of death among their ranks were more than likely.
All to defend the earth against the wanton actions of enemies they didn't ask to fight.
People would die.
Funny, he almost actually cared.
The frown setting on his face was particularly prevalent.
He wasn't kidding, he almost felt kinda bad for them.
Death was right, they were coming. And Amari knew what they wanted.
To find out how exactly he passed through the source wall into their multiverse. The powerful figures, dead Gods and cosmic beings who ventured to the edge of the multiverse trying to break through the Source wall yet ultimately failing were numerous.
Their bodies, forever etched as statues into the wall served as proof that penetrating it was almost impossible.
Honestly, he wanted to know just as badly as they did.
But even if he wanted to, he couldn't give them the answer they seek. And they would most likely try to capture him to gain that answer.
Inwardly, he wondered how things would have turned out today if she weren't so calm. Perhaps a battle would have already broken out by now, and all of Gotham would be reduced to rubble.
As for her interest..... A lot of people were now interested in him. Perhaps Lucifer would stop by to give him a visit one of these days.
"No use thinking about that now".
Amari shook his head to get rid of the messy thoughts.
His eyes wandered on the sparse crowd before he turned towards his left and began walking.
"... However, things certainly won't be peaceful. Should I give the League a heads-up?"
Meanwhile, as he walked away, a boom tube opened suddenly opened on a tall building in the distance.
The orange portal gave off a bright glow as the sound of footsteps fell into the atmosphere.
White lights flashed, before forming into the shape of human figures. The beams of light materialized to form several female figures, each one of them dressed in eye-catching attire.
"The scanners indicate that the New God is nearby". Gilotina said while holding a miniature motherbox in her grasp.
"We need not the Motherbox anymore. He is within reach". Aurelie stayed with sharp eyes and narrowed eyebrows.
She could sense him.
She wasn't the only one.
As soon as the boom tube disappeared, each one of the accurately locked on to their target.
"... That..... Is him?" Barda standing behind Aurelie had her eyes widen.
"That ..... power". Sensing the horrifying levels of energy hidden within that body.
She couldn't help but swallow when her eyes locked onto the figure walking away in the distance.
"You feel it as well, sisters".
They were New Gods of Apokolips, with senses thousands of times greater than what any human could imagine.
No one spoke, no one moved. It was…. so..... Terrifying.
"Isn't he supposed to be a recent New.... God".
"Does it matter?" Stompa replied to Lashina's inquiry. Her eyes glowing with strong battle intent.
Strongly resisting the urge to go down there right now and behead the male fellow, she waited for Aurelie to give the signal.
Only, Aurelie didn't utter a word. Just watched the target continue to walk away with a frown etched on her face.
"Aurelie, what are we waiting for?" Lashina snapped her head towards their leader and asked.
"He is strong. Too strong". Aurelie replied without turning her head.
"What does that matter? When have we Furies ever been scared of a fight? The Lord Darkseid ordered us to capture the New God and have him brought back to Apokolips".
Aurelie frowned deeper at Gilotina, feeling quite displeased that she was being spoken to in such a way.
"If you truly seek death so much then be my guest. Go down there and capture him. I swear not to take credit for your outstanding efforts".
Her tone was plain, and her voice was indifferent, but the mockery within was practically naked.
"You….". Gilotina's face turned ugly.
"Then what do we do, Aurelie? We can't disobey Our Lord's instructions. A fate worse than death is what awaits us if we do".
Lashina interjected before Gilotina could retort.
She was right and they all knew it.
"I never said we would disobey our orders". She said with no expression.
"Tch... Nothing?" Seeing that he was getting further away and the opponent's still hadn't taken action, Amari clicked his tongue with a bit of speechlessness.
His body came to a halt, and he turned his face to the left, revealing his side profile.
Nevertheless, his vision accurately captured his stalkers.
They were women, Six of them in total. Each one was dressed in a battle uniform and possessed particularly noticeable features.
The first four were rather attractive. The last two, however, weren't.
One looked like a muscle woman, and the other crouched on all fours and had the expression of a wild animal on her deformed features.
'Darkseid's Furies'.
With a single look, he could guess their identities immediately.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.... Or they shall appear in this case.
Looks like DC's God of Evil was the first person to come over. Only, he didn't come himself but sent emissaries.
Amari suddenly had the feeling of being underestimated.
Six women..... Was he looked down on so much?
They weren't even New God's with special abilities. Just the standard all round physical improvement package.
No Omega beams, No lightning bolts, No Extreme speed, No anger makes you stronger... They were like Stepphenwolf. He thought all the small fries were gone.
Now this was practically slapping him in the face. Superman, who went all out, could defeat these guys as long as there was no kryptonite in the equation.
He saw them and similarly, they saw him.
Everyone on the other end felt a chill run down their spines the moment they came in contact with that eye.
Their bodies tensed up like arrows in a bow, waiting to spring into action as soon as the enemy made the first move.
"Tch.... Boring".
Seeing that they weren't going to attack, Amari lost interest. He turned his gaze back to his original direction.
And after taking a step, the space around him distorted and the next moment, he was gone.
All that was left was six female figures standing on the roof with unsightly expressions.
".... He's gone". Big Barda uttered.
"I can see that". Aurelie took a deep breath. That face off that lasted barely three seconds was quite frightening if she was being honest with herself.
That pressure, that aura..... She had only felt such from Him.... Ruler Of Apokolips, Darkseid himself.
Of course, she wouldn't utter those words even if she was about to be killed.
"What's our next move?" Gilotina asked without expression.
"Information". The reply was a single word.
"We know nothing about him, who he is or what he can do. Fighting an enemy we know nothing about, especially one that ..... Intriguing.... Our mission is likely to fail".
"Besides..... He's not our only target". Said Aurelie before turning around and walking away.
The Furies gave way for her to pass.
"I see". So said Gilotina with a flicker in her eyes.
....
Meanwhile, The Justice League... Or what's left of them were spread thin all over the world, trying their hardest to contain the plant creatures that were spreading in full force.
...
France, Paris
Oct 2, 1:55
Martian Manhunter carried Aquaman to the Eiffel Tower wherein the latter used his extreme strength to pull apart the vines, opening up space for J'onn who moved through the plants using density shifting to save visiting tourists trapped within.
.....
Taipei
Oct 2, 07:56
The new Flash arrival from another earth worked together with an unknown hero with a special Trident weapon to solve the plant issues at a chemical plant.
Too bad, the place was destroyed, which cause dangerous radioactive toxins to spread into the atmosphere.
Without Captain Atom, they could only retreat in the face of poisoning.
.....
Star City.
Green Arrow, Red Arrow and Guy Gardener worked together to save the citizens on the bridge from the plants that sprouted out of the water.
"Poor Heroes". Joker watched the constant struggles of the Justice League through the monitoring globes and put on a long face.
"Nothing they do ever seems to be enough..... Haha hahaha". He laughed sinisterly while moving his hands up and down while twisting his fingers in puppeteering motions.
"Quite impressive". Poison Ivy who was laying next to her plant said to the Joker with a smile on her face.
"How you simultaneously juggle multiple scenarios". The Joker's mind was connected to the plant creatures. While Atomic skull and Wotan powered the Plant, and Poison Ivy stayed to communicate with it, The Joker had a much more important yet taxing role to fulfill.
At least..... It would be taxing and almost impossible for anyone else to accomplish.
He was controlling the actions of each plant attack in different cities at the same time.
"I've had practice". He turned to ivy, moving his hands without even looking and replied with a crazy smile.
"Juggling my multiple personalities. Hahaha haha".
He laughed wantonly as he continued to operate.
At that moment, Ivy's expression changed.
"We have Intruders". She said while getting up from her plant.
"Aren't the others handling it?"
"Two managed to sneak in. Ultra Humanite, you come with me. You continue your mayhem".
And with that, Poison Ivy left with Ultra Humanite who carried a laser gun within its grasp.
"Sure thing. You can count on me". Be clowned replied without turning back. Looking at the orbs, he chuckled yet again, seemingly incapable of controlling his laughter.
"With all this power at my fingertips, some might call me a control freak".
He bent in closer to see his favorite batsie flying around in his Bat Jet, making his blood-red lips widen even further.
"... Or just a freak.... Either works for me, hahahaha hehehe".
And so, he controlled the plant to smash the flying Bat jet, forcing Batman to eject.
"Hahahahaha.... I don't think I've ever had so much fun". Manipulating the plant creatures, Joker felt unprecedentedly alive.
Like a puppet master manipulating powerful puppets to do his budding. He looked delighted.
And so, it was with great distraught that a few seconds later, the Mad clown realized that the reaction speed of his puppets were slowing down exponentially.
The Joker was confused at first, only to find out that the Plants weren't being powered up anymore to support his manipulation.
"Hey Skull! What the hobble is going on back there. You're supposed to be powering the...".
His voice froze. Evidently showing how surprised he was to see someone he that wasn't part of their team standing beside Atomic Skull.
His indifferent expression carried two cold eyes that were fixed on him with murderous intention.
"I wasn't in the mood when I killed you last time. But now....". Amari turned his gaze to the horrified Atomic Skull who seemed to be frozen in time.
"Oh, by the way. Your original sends you his greetings from beyond the grave. Don't worry, though, you'll join him soon enough".