Hello dear readers.
Sorry for poor updates. Been experiencing a terrible combo of Writers Block an a fever due to cold.
Hope you enjoy.......
......
Today, an event worthy of going down in the Book of Destiny of the DC Multiverse took place.
Something once thought to be impossible by many.
The Personification of Evil, Destroyer of worlds, Conqueror of dimensions, the Lord of Apokolips Darkseid himself, was defeated.
A terror who had enslaved hundreds of thousands of worlds, striking fear in the hearts of beings across the multiverse in search of Anti-Life.
(Talk about a successful Side Hustler).
Battled against by a mighty being, the New God Of Tyranny failed to gain the upper hand, was almost beaten to a pulp and ultimately forced to flee.
The result of their great battle was the planet of Apokolips left in ruins. Almost destroyed in the clash (Destroyed and brought back) and left broken in the aftermath.
The cries and screams of the lowlies who had been enslaved from thousands of worlds were almost endless. Deemed the only survivors of the world's Darkseid had conquered, they lived only to create the weapons and armor of the members of their respective races, now turned Parademons.
Their death and despair serving to fuel the dreaded atmosphere of this dark, negative planet.
"Ugh!" The dizziness set in again as Kara felt greatly uncomfortable.
The negative energy was too much for the kryptonian fledgling to bear.
"Enough. This can't go on". The calm, indifferent voice fell into her ears, causing her eyes to widen.
"No. I'm fine.....".
"You can't adapt to the atmosphere of this world. Its negative energy is toxic for you mentally. The longer you stay, the more twisted your mind is going to get".
Amari looked at her stubborn expression and spoke in a plain tone.
"..... As it is, you can't continue". This was normal.
Clark had absorbed yellow sun radiation for years during his time on Earth yet couldn't adapt to the atmosphere on Zod's ship within two minutes.
Apokolips wasn't inferior in any way.
This planet was corrupted with an aura that could drive a normal man crazy.
Superman once got hit with the flaming energy from the planet's core and had his mind corrupted.
"These people..... They…. They're hurt… Suffering..... I can.....".
".... Go back to Earth".
"No..... You can't…".
"I can ... and I will".
Amari didn't let her finish what she was struggling to say.
He stretched out his hand and the floor beneath her morphed to form a portal. Following which, she fell right through into another world that had cars, tall buildings and fancy lights.
"Ahhhhh!"
Kara's figure fell with a loud scream as the portal closed.
And then there were two.
Amari turned his gaze to Aurelie who looked back at him with unflinching eyes.
The atmosphere was tense under the background of the chaos of Apokolips.
Amari raised his hand. The space around it warped and a small device with an Omega symbol on it appeared.
"Here". Amari tossed the teleporter to Aurelie and walked past her.
Aurelie stood there, rooted to the ground. The winds blew, causing her bright red hair to flutter. On that beautiful face was an expression of doubt and confusions.
What exactly was he doing? What was his motive for doing this?
For a moment, she didn't know what to think.
Turning around, she saw his back going further and further away.
It took a while for her to realize that he... wasn't joking.
"Why?"
Her voice was low.
"Why do you care?" He replied with a question of his own without stopping or looking back.
"You always wanted freedom, right? Now you have it. So go".
"..."
The female Fury was silent for a few seconds. Her brows were knitted into a tight frown.
"What about you?"
Aurelie couldn't help but ask.
He had already defeated Darkseid and reduced Apokolips to near ruin. Why didn't he just leave with a portal like the kryptonian?
Her question fell into his ears. Understanding what she meant, he paused..... Then laughed.
"Hehehehe... Me?" A strange light flashed through his eyes.
".... Well... Let's just say I'm going sightseeing".
His halted footsteps resumed walking.
It took a while for her to turn her gaze away from Amari's departing back to the boom tube teleporter within her grasp.
Taking one last look at the planet she grew up in, there wasn't even the slightest bit of nostalgia as she pressed the Omega symbol.
A boom tube appeared before her, to which, she entered without hesitation.
However, unknown to the Female New God, an invisible ray of soul essence seeped out from the earth beneath her.
Sensing a way of escape through the portal, it quickly drilled into the boom tube, escaping its long imprisonment on this dreaded planet once and for all with fear and haste.
And with that, the Boom Tube closed.
Watching the fleeing soul, a small smirk crept its way to Amari's expressionless face.
Nevertheless, he did nothing to stop it. The universe was already chaotic. How much more chaos could one soul cause?
He had more important things to do.
The moment Apokolips was destroyed, Amari discovered something. Something he was sure Darkseid, who had lived here all his life wasn't aware of.
Legend says that the Gods of New Genesis and Apokolips were born due to the fall of the old Gods.
After the old Gods were destroyed in Ragnarok... Their world was shattered into two pieces that thousands of years later, would come to become the home worlds of the New deities of the multiverse.
For creatures of old..... That was marked as the end of an era.
The old Gods were dead, never to return again.
But that was far from the truth.
They had survived. Survived the destruction of their old world hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Amari was always sure of this. The day he used Shazam's power to access the Godsphere, he realized that the old Gods weren't dead.
And upon the destruction of Apokolips, his suspicions were confirmed.
They were here.
Trapped and hidden beneath the surface of the planet itself. Wandering the ruins of their destroyed world in an underground Labyrinth.
Ironic really.
"What better place to hide than in the underworld of their home planet".
Soon, Amari came to a stop. Because right below him was the entrance to the Necropolis.
The underground Labyrinth of the Old Gods.
And with a single thought, Amari's figure fell right through the earth.
Meanwhile, considerable changes were taking place elsewhere.
.....
Somewhere in an unknown area of the Godsphere
Mount Olympus.....
The New God Metron once deduced that the old Gods were not dead but would rise again due to the events of the New God Of Tyranny, Darkseid.
He concluded that every time someone successfully resisted the new ruler of their home world, the ones of old would be one step closer to resurrection from their fallen state.
Normally, this would take a very long period of time.
But today... Darkseid was resisted. Not only resisted, he was beaten to this point making it the first time in history.
Spark!
From the damaged statue of the God king Zeus, wisp's of blue lights seeped out at a rapid state, enveloping it with diving energy.
The process continued for quite a long period of time as more and more power was drawn out by the statue from the Godsphere, attempting to transform itself to normal form once more.
The darkness of the void was illuminated by a dazzling blue color. Sparks of lightning began to emerge in the space around, followed by the heavenly Cal and a gradually rising war cry.
".....". The voice was faint at first. Seemingly inaudible but the commotion around was nothing to scoff at.
Cracks began to emerge everywhere on the solid rock. However, instead of breaking apart, it began to fall off.
Piece by piece, dust particles after another... Like a figure emerging from a sandy pit, the statue was transformed, and the foreign substances peeled off to reveal fairly tanned skin.
"Arghhhhhhhhh...". The sound grew more audible as it grew from a whisper to a cal to a full-blown war cry.
BOOM!
A wave of diving lightning burs out, sweeping anything and everything in its path as the solitary statue finally moved for once in thousands of years.
.....
Gotham City.
Location..... Unknown.
The place was lit up with dim lights, revealing the area to be an enclosed warehouse of some sorts.
In a secluded area, a figure could be seen standing in front of a large monitoring screen, playing a video.
"Play it again". A deep, hoarse voice fell into the ears of the masked man sitting at the keyboard.
"Right away sir". Hearing this, he didn't dare to neglect the man beside him and tapped the keyboard again.
The video restarted again in ultra night vision the scene that had taken place a few moments ago.
And surprisingly... Or rather, unsurprisingly..... The people in the video could be easily identified.
One was Batman and the other was Killer Croc.
Recorded from a noticeable distance away, the scene of their brief confrontation was unfortunately interrupted by the arrival of the Man Of Steel.
Seeing the Croc easily taken down, the standing figure showed no surprise.
He didn't know what the Superman discussed with the Caped Crusader. Only until he saw the departure of the Boy Scout did he finally make a move.
Dressed in a black and gray costume with goldenrod Greaves and gauntlets, the man's eyes narrowed, before turning around and leaving.
"Recall the Manbat". He uttered without turning back.
"And send an Airstrike to Doctor Langstrom's apartment. Wait till he's there, and blow it all up". His eyes flashed with a hint of coldness as he pulled down his goldenrod mask to cover his white hair.
The mask sported a black area covering that right side of his face.
At times, Slade could be a narrow-minded person. His hatred for Batman wasn't much, but it wasn't little, ever since he was denied the right to be the successor of the League of Assassins by Ra's al ghul.
While his actions may play some part in Ra's decision, it was further facilitated by the fact that the Demon's Head considered Batman to be a worthier heir than he was.
For someone like Deathstroke, the most skilled assassin in the world, this was undeniably insulting to him.
The man walked into another area of the warehouse in deep thought.
After learning of Ra's decision, he left the League of Assassins, terminating their relationship and created his own group of followers, feeling that they no longer had anything to offer him.
As a mercenary for hire, Slade was a highly sought after assassin who worked for the highest bidder.
The guards around this place were particularly numerous and constant patrols could be seen.
After turning down a corridor, Deathstroke walked into a room that was guarded by multiple soldiers from both sides.
"Sir!" They all saluted, eliciting no response from him.
He simply walked in and closed the door behind him.
"Huh…?"
His entry startled the white haired middle-aged man inside the room, who turned his head to see the new arrival.
"It's you!" He exclaimed.
"Evening, Doctor Langstrom". Slade greeted cordially. "How's my research going?"
Shatter!
The bottle of mixed chemicals suddenly fell to the floor and broke apart.
Seeing the serum he was creating go to waste, Kirk's face was as white as a sheet of paper.
"Not so well, I see". His tone grew several degrees colder.
Cold sweat began to develop on Doctor Langstrom's back. He had been kidnapped here by Deathstroke and his crew to create a special serum for them.
"That..... That wasn't it". Kirk spoke quickly for fear that Slade would do something rash.
"It wasn't?"
"Yes… I mean… No… I mean… It wasn't complete. Like the others, it wouldn't have worked".
He could only bite the bullet and reveal the truth with a trembling voice.
"That's not what we agreed on Doctor". As he spoke, Deathstroke drew out a short knife from a small opening around the suit near his thigh.
"Or do you need me to remind you?"
"I.....".
"My promise was quite clear. Your family would live as long as you did what I asked. And quite frankly...". He pointed the weapon towards his face.
"You don't seem to be doing it".
Kirk's eyes widened with despair.
"I already created the mutagen you needed".
"Not enough". Slade answered apathetically.
The mutagen was what was used to give Killer Croc a tail.
In turn, that ugly green oversized crocodile would fetch him the steroids required from Labs all over Gotham City.
Kirk was silent for a moment.
"I can't complete the serum. Not with what the materials you're giving me".
Deathstroke's eyes narrowed.
"The steroids aren't good enough?"
"No. I need more than that".
"What?"
"Other Serums just like mine. Failed versions, tested and abandoned, alongside their experimental analysis results. By pooling data, I can get you want out want".
Deathstroke understood.
"You want to use other incomplete experiments to complete yours".
"....." Silence.
Seeing that the doctor didn't respond, Deathstroke stared at him for a few seconds before putting the knife back.
Then, he turned around to leave. His voice falling into the ears of the old doctor.
"I'll get you what you want. After which, there should be no more excuses. Or else….".
The door slammed behind him.
Despite leaving the League Of Assassins, both parties still maintained a cooperative relationship, in which Ra's hired Deathstroke to handle certain issues.
And this was one of them.
Under the orders of Talia, Slade was tasked with the Kidnapping of Doctor Kirk Langstrom and his family in order to persuade the doctor to successfully complete his life's work.
The Man Bat formula.
Soon, Slade returned to the monitoring room and ordered.
"Get me a list of the industries previously involved in the creation of Super soldier serums".
His orders were carried out without question.
Soon, a list was handed to him, and Slade immediately set his eyes on the first one.
The Pheno Drug, once produced by Strader Pharmaceuticals in Gotham.
....
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