Infinite Justice: Beyond (Marvel,DC,DBZ X/Over, IC, Open)

[Isle of Lithonia]

Jacelyn Grim

Those eyes of hers were empty. Words would not reach her.

Arms dropped at her sides, and her body went limp, back hunching over. Slowly, she stood straighter, hair obscuring her face. Mad chuckling dripped from her lips. Wind blew, revealing the monstrosity behind the veil, smiling at the dream goddess.

Dark energy blasted the tiny girl backwards, the black scene unfolding.

Little Jacelyn was tied to the chair, wires snaking to her head, arms, legs. Lights of many colors flashed, blinding the little one. Daddy entered, needle lifted. Swiftly it was plunged into her side, the girl screaming in pain. "Daddy!!! No!!!"

Engorged on its victim, out the needle was pulled. Blood dripped from the tip, marking the floor.

Glitching, the scene faded. Demon-girl Grim walked towards Lula, head cocked unnaturally to the side as if with a broken neck. Louder grew the laughter, the smile only madder.

Two naked boys entered, smirks on their face. Jacelyn saw them, tried to reach towards them.

Brothers, they will save me!

Tear-stained eyes, she cried to them.

Grabbing hold, they ripped off her clothes, exposing her body. Touching, groping, biting, they marked her as their own. Her screams cut through the darkness. Womb was filled.

Head twitching rapidly from side to side, the demon came ever closer. A trail of crimson streaked down her lips, dripping from her chin. The laughter turned to a pained gurgle.

Her belly had grown, a baby knit within. Straining against the bonds, her body ached. She was a momma, and her baby must be protected. Sobbing, tearing, the girl could not break free. Everything was falling apart. The time was coming.

It had been so long, and baby hadn't moved in her. Silent, she listened for it. Nothing. Baby in her tummy was stopped. "Baby? Baby, it's alright. Momma is here." She cried. "Please Baby. Its okay. Momma... Baby?! Ba...Baby?!" Holding her belly, she tried to feel it. Nothing moved. "BABY!!!"

In they came, Daddy and the bad women. A hand reached in her. "No! Wha...What are you doing?!" They held her still, legs spread. It was in her, pulling. And she knew. "DON'T TAKE MY BABY AWAY!!!"

Blood poured from her eyes, the demon-girl coughing and crying. The mad smile did not fade.

All alone. Baby had been taken. Daddy left. Brothers left. The flashy lights blinding her. Tied to the chair, she sobbed. There was nothing for her. Why couldn't she die?

"I want my Momma," she whimpered. "Take me home to Momma."

Hand stretched to Lula, long claws extended. A small flash of life entered the demon-girl's eyes, and Jacelyn, lost and twisted demon-Jacelyn, whimpered out, "Help me."

[The Rebel Alliances]

Daniel Carter/Sentinel-33 Yrs-Metropolis

The light hurt my eyes as I stepped out of the car. But at least there were no suffocating crowds. At my own request, the Daily Planet has agreed not to release my story, about the sentence and all charges being dropped until tomorrow. So that I can return to my family without having to battle through a horde of crowds. I am truly grateful for it. I stepped out of the black sedan, having driven myself. Wearing a pair of black shades and my wounds, being healed by some very expensive medical equipment which is often used on the Justice League after they are taken to town. As I caught sight, of the people most dear to me, I had decided. I will make my home here in Metropolis, and will be announcing tomorrow officially tomorrow, that Metropolis will have far more than the Man of Steel to call it's defenders. But for now, I took a moment to collect the sight of the ones who had come here to see me, free of my chains. The first person to reach me was my sister, Rebecca Carter, a scientist for STAR Labs. She threw her arms around me and I realized she was starting a ritual today. "I knew you were innocent." She stated, to which I gently returned the hug before separating. "I knew it too." I joked, and she saw right through it. "Liar, Daud told me he had to convince you not to plead guilty." I gave a chuckle. "I cant get nothing by you can I?" She rolled her head to one side. "Not with my sources." She jeered. I then resigned. "Thought not." After that I spotted my wife Mayla, with her hair tied in two extremely long pig tails, just like her style, wearing plain blue jeans and a loose white t shirt. My daughter, Sabrina dressed in jeans too tight for her, and a black Superman shirt which was of the same style as the pants, and the annoyance of showing her belly. But, I wont mention it, she knows it annoys me anyways. Smiling, that was probably why she wore it. But it was my son who was running at me at almost full speed. August, who sported a red Robin hoodie and like the rest of my family blue jeans. He looks like his father and acts like his mother. As he reached me, he socked me hard in the arm, and with his mother's strength, it actually hurt. I rubbed my arm smiling, not allowing myself to admit defeat.

I then stood straight up as he glared up at me, and we had a stare down. Before I finally broke out in a laugh and scooped him up in a grapple hold and began to give him a firm noogie. He let out a yelp as he soon admitted defeat, and I released him. As he rubbed his head trying to massage it, I began to ask him things a dad should.

"Have you been doing your homework?" He nodded.
"Been training?" He then smirked.

"You know it."

"Any girl friends?" Now he was annoyed.

"DAD!" He protested.

"That many huh? Well I suppose you wont be lacking a date for the school dance then." I teased, as he blushed slightly. Knowing on instinct that there was a girl, I finally patted him on his head and congratulated him.

"Thats my boy."

As he trailed behind me, I noticed that Daud and his family had gathered here in the park as well to see me, as I embraced Mayla in a hug. I gave her a light kiss on the cheek, acknowledging Daud's presence with a glance and a nod. Saying give me a moment. As I embraced Mayla tightly and whispered in her ear, that I planned to meet her in a bedroom tonight. She gave a coy smile before sitting me down on the bench next to her, beneath a large oak tree which placed me in some shade, so I removed the sun glasses. "So, when are we going home. Back to our own Earth?" Mayla asked me. As I placed a arm around her shoulder and looked over at her. "I dont think we should. I was hoping we would stay here, Metropolis will be a nice change from Gotham, in this world or ours. And I am sure August and Sabrina would do well here." Mayla looked concerned, having largely left the hero life behind to raise our family. Something I should have done years ago. I then directed her eyes into mine by gently guiding her chin with my fingers.

"I promise, I am going to change here." Her eyes showed a glimmer of hope, to actually have me with the family rather than a Wayne Board meeting or directing Infinite Justice. It was then that another shadow cast over us, as Sabrina crossed her arms and stared down at me. As if waiting for something. I gave a defeated sigh. I feel more challenged here than on the streets of Gotham sometimes.

I did not have to wait for what was bothering her.

"I hear there is an all lady team in New York, I just wanted to let you know I will be moving there and applying." But her stone front began to crack as a tear began to well up in her eye.

"I missed you dad." I stood up and comforted her.

"I know you did." She placed a grip around me, her face pressed against my chest.

"I am still going you know." She responded, as she backed up and wiped her eyes. I softened too. But denied her permission to leave.

"No...you are not." Her face went red with anger. As she went off on me.

"You always want to control me! You never think I am good enough to handle myself or my powers! Maybe if you just trusted me!" I then interrupted her. As I handed her a bag I had carried with me. She opened it, and then seeing the new suit inside of it, I gave her a counter offer.

"You can go to New York, but that would mean Sentinel would need to find a new partner. I was hoping you would take the job." I then placed both arms behind my back, and looked off in the distance.

"Although if you found a better offer, I am sure he would understand." She then shoved the suit back into the bag and eagerly gave me a hug.

"Thanks Daddy."

The moment was interrupted by a yellow cab which parked right next to the park we were in. Where a large green woman had seemingly tore the back door off as she climbed out. Clumsily trying to place it back on, Jennifer Walters, my lawyer began to step closer and I met her half way.

"You have any idea how hard it is keeping your arrival under wraps? I must have called in a dozen favors and perhaps a couple threats for this little meeting to happen without public crowds." She the dropped the tough lawyer act. "Welcome home Daniel, and Matt sends his regards." We shook hands as I thanked her.

"Well, Jen, what would you say to me hiring you to be my family's lawyer? I think you have earned it." She gave a cocky grin. "As if I would give you a choice. Arm wrestle ya for it?" I threw both hands up in defeat.

"You have the job."

I then finally turned my attention to Daud, after being passed around some. As I walked over to him, I greeted his wife, my long time friend Sora-El. "Great to see you healthy Sora." I told her, to which she retorted slyly. "Good to see you without orange." We both laughed as I patted Ray and Ellie on the heads as I reached Daud.

"It's good to see you. Listen, I just want to thank you for looking out for me. When I was in there, and for doing the same for my family. It may not have lasted long, but was long enough, and no matter what Mayla may say. I know she needed the support." I then looked out and into the city, as I addressed Daud again.

"Whats it like?" I asked curious. I could see on his face that he knew what I meant. But I said it regardless.

"To be retired? To be able to make it to a family supper on time and not be spending all night with the scum of the human race, when you should be spending it curled up next to your wife and kids watching a Disney movie?" I then folded my arms, continuing to vent.

"Daud, if asked 13 years ago, I would have said that it would be you, always chasing the stars. Protecting mankind from threats it cannot face alone. And that I would be hosting neighborhood grills after Church on Sunday. But I cannot stop. I have nothing to prove, I know that. This city, this world...it needs me. Our world, is more or less safe under the watch of Infinite Justice, but this world. It's rotten Daud, and Slade is not the end of it for me." I then brightened up.

"I promise Daud, I wont allow this world to fall any further." It was a cheesy line, and I knew it. But sometimes that was just perfect.

[Charmera]

Jacelyn Grim

Those eyes of hers were empty. Words would not reach her.

Arms dropped at her sides, and her body went limp, back hunching over. Slowly, she stood straighter, hair obscuring her face. Mad chuckling dripped from her lips. Wind blew, revealing the monstrosity behind the veil, smiling at the dream goddess.

Dark energy blasted the tiny girl backwards, the black scene unfolding.

Little Jacelyn was tied to the chair, wires snaking to her head, arms, legs. Lights of many colors flashed, blinding the little one. Daddy entered, needle lifted. Swiftly it was plunged into her side, the girl screaming in pain. "Daddy!!! No!!!"

Engorged on its victim, out the needle was pulled. Blood dripped from the tip, marking the floor.

Glitching, the scene faded. Demon-girl Grim walked towards Lula, head cocked unnaturally to the side as if with a broken neck. Louder grew the laughter, the smile only madder.

Two naked boys entered, smirks on their face. Jacelyn saw them, tried to reach towards them.

Brothers, they will save me!

Tear-stained eyes, she cried to them.

Grabbing hold, they ripped off her clothes, exposing her body. Touching, groping, biting, they marked her as their own. Her screams cut through the darkness. Womb was filled.

Head twitching rapidly from side to side, the demon came ever closer. A trail of crimson streaked down her lips, dripping from her chin. The laughter turned to a pained gurgle.

Her belly had grown, a baby knit within. Straining against the bonds, her body ached. She was a momma, and her baby must be protected. Sobbing, tearing, the girl could not break free. Everything was falling apart. The time was coming.

It had been so long, and baby hadn't moved in her. Silent, she listened for it. Nothing. Baby in her tummy was stopped. "Baby? Baby, it's alright. Momma is here." She cried. "Please Baby. Its okay. Momma... Baby?! Ba...Baby?!" Holding her belly, she tried to feel it. Nothing moved. "BABY!!!"

In they came, Daddy and the bad women. A hand reached in her. "No! Wha...What are you doing?!" They held her still, legs spread. It was in her, pulling. And she knew. "DON'T TAKE MY BABY AWAY!!!"

Blood poured from her eyes, the demon-girl coughing and crying. The mad smile did not fade.

All alone. Baby had been taken. Daddy left. Brothers left. The flashy lights blinding her. Tied to the chair, she sobbed. There was nothing for her. Why couldn't she die?

"I want my Momma," she whimpered. "Take me home to Momma."

Hand stretched to Lula, long claws extended. A small flash of life entered the demon-girl's eyes, and Jacelyn, lost and twisted demon-Jacelyn, whimpered out, "Help me."

Lula slowly backed away, a look of sadness on her face. "Please Jace." She spoke. "You can do this. You can fight them! You're stronger than these visions. You don't..." She saw it again, guilty welling in her as she saw what they did to her. What they did to her. The horrible things they... hurt her...

Stay.... calm... Just a dream. Not real. Not real.

A parade of her sins. Her ultimate guilt. In truth, she could have stopped this. She could have. She could have put them all to sleep and taken Jace far from there. She should have. She had been with her since the begining, even if she didn't know. But she didn't. She didn't get involved. She had just watched.

It's not real! They're gone! They're not here!

She had done much worse things to much kinder people. She could have trapped them in eternal loops of the most horrifying dreams. Broken them to her will with but a single memory... such weak minds humans had. it would have been so easy... She hated them so much too. For what they did to Jace. Special Jace. Wonderfuil Jace. They didn't deserve to exist. They...

Jace stepped closer.

Please let this stop. I... I did a bad thing. But... I'm trying to be good now.

Trying to be... good...

Trying to be good...

"Help me."

A pause. The entire dream seemed to stay still for a moment.

"Okay Jace." Lula lifted her head, her face, her eyes, her hair had changed. "I'll help." A smile was on her face. Not the same one as before. But the one of someone who had cracked.

Next was blood. So much blood.

---

Before Jace could turn around, the bodies of her father and her brother were now gone. What was left was a floor full of blood. Lula was back to her normal self. But she was shaking, trembling, shivering. Her white dress now soaked with blood. Though she willed it to be clean and so it was.

"They're gone." She spoke. "They may come back. But I will deal with them." She explained. She had to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing crazily. She cleaned the blood from the floor. And also the eyeball she was holding by the nerve. She turned back around to face Jace.

She was crying. Eyes full of tears. "I... I think I should go..." She spoke. "We... I... wanted to have... some fun... with... an old friend... but I ruined it... like I always do." She sniffed. Obviously very upset. She had given Jace a glimpse of her ugliest side. The one she kept hidden and bottled up under the cute dresses, the happy smile and the kindness. Trillions of years of life breeds such hate, such anger such.... horror that it was best she kept it within. In her experience, it was only a matter of time before you discovered that side of yourself. She just wished she had died before she discovered hers.

She frowned. She doubted Jace would want her around now. She waved her hand, brightening up the dream world, making it pretty and happy again. The same field. She turned to leave, but didn't. She was having trouble bringing herself to do it.

[Turmenista]

Myosai thought this new guy was peculiar, not because of his power level, but because of how similar he looked to her, and how aggressive he was..

When approached, she could hear him muttering something about a "Buu" And why she wasn't a "Buu". This was more funny to her, than it was confusing. For one thing, this Buu person had a funny name, but at the same time he was so stupid to come up to her and think that he was Buu. Still, it was extremely scary how fast he managed to find her, as opposed to the other way around, where she found him.

"Who Buu?" Myosai scratched her head. "Who's this 'Buu'? Myosai dunno what the heck you are talking about.."

As usual, she began to get carried away in her thoughts... "Am I Buu?" She pointed to herself. "Are you Buu?" She pointed to the other Majin. "Who da heck is Buu?"

Hand on the hilt of her Sword which was slung on her back, she began looking around rapidly, in case this Buu guy tried to sneak up on her and blast her to bits.

Quickly realizing that this Buu was not present, she sighed, turning around to her new friend. "My name Myosai. What's your name?" She asked, her eyes suddenly blasting open as she realized what a new friend could mean.

"Do you wanna play a game?" she asked, holding up her hand and charging a small ki sphere in it. "It called Death Ball. Whoever loses, dies. Sounds fun, huh?"

Dabra smiled, one of his eyes turning red, a new Combat State he had mastered training with Beerus. While he didn't have the full power of his Unleashed State, he did gain some of the power such a transformation would warrant. He could tell just from the energy of this one, that despite being a Majin, she had utilized the absorption technique. Despite appearing stronger, relying on others was not true strength, and, for a Majin of that type, they had to keep absorbing to gain power.

Holding out his arms to the side, signaling her to launch the attack, Dabra spoke playfully, "Sure, I play your game. And my name Dabra.", he said, his speech slightly simplified and altered due to the change into his Combat State. If he could tire her out, she could expend all of that stolen energy, and despite being stronger than him in his current state, perhaps he could bring Myosai down to his level.

Dabra chuckled a little, "Don't miss. Only one shot, then my turn.", he said, grinning confidently. But, something in him didn't want to destroy the Majin girl in front of him. He had never met another one of his kind that wasn't like Buu, a monstrous killer. She seemed a bit erratic, but the fact that she hadn't fired the attack immediately meant that she at least had some level of sanity. Well, that, and he had never seen a female of his kind before either.

"Okay. Myosai won't miss! Myosai never miss!"

The sphere expanded in size and light slightly, then, after tossing it up in the air, Myosai bicycle kicked it towards Dabra.

Instead of usually going forward at the speed of a missile, it began curving and waving all over the place, like some sort of Erratic, flying insect.

Right before it closed in on the other Majin, the sphere expanded to the size of a Main battle tank, and, rather than exploding on contact like usual, consumed Dabra in its veil of light and exploded.

Even Myosai was unprepared for the force of the explosion. Steadying herself from the explosion, she floated towards where Dabra would've been, waiting for the dust of energy fragments to dissipate impatiently.

[Charmera]

Cora was worried for a second when Valancy asked if she missed something, but was relieved when Katie convinced her to drop the issue. She wasn't sure how long she'd be able to hide the fact that she was an android. She then noticed Katie when she spoke about this Eric person again. Katie seemed very happy just thinking about him. Cora recognized that he must be important to her. She also noticed that she seemed off put at the concept of a loan. Cora didn't really understand financial circumstance so she was bit confused about that part.

When Katie suggested they go out for coffee she got a bit nervous. She had heard about coffee shops and seem them in her travels but never gone inside before. Still, the idea of going outside with friends was very appealing to Cora. It was what she always dreamed about doing. Cora managed a smile and nodded, "That sounds nice." She said at Katie's suggestion, trying to contain her excitement the best she could. It would probably seem strange to Katie and Valancy, how excited she was about getting a cup of coffee.

Meanwhile Hunter was making his way toward the city, and the police had already arrived at the destroyed bunker. The news media was reporting it as a lab accident as that's what the Defense department had said about it. The Pentagon had already sent agents to New York City. They needed to prepare the police for what was likely about to happen, but most importantly they needed to find Android 21.

"It should be. I know a rather nice coffee shop nearby. I go there all the time." She explained with a smile. She smiled at the two of them, half tempted to turn the two into electricity so they could ride the currents with her just to show off, but it would take too much out of her, reveal her identity to Val and be completely pointless. She inwardly sighed, reasoning they would have to do this the boring way.

"Well..." She said. Opening the door for the two of them. "What are we waiting for? The coffee shop isn't going to come to us!" She spoke, chuckling slightly.

[Charmera]

After he spoke the ground suddenly shook with a big tremor in response to the seimic pulse. A very large one in fact. Large enough to make superman spill his coffee if he was on the ground, perhaps even drop it if he wasn't careful. The earth shook mightily as if displeased, as if disturbed, and then returned to normal, as if it had only been minorly disturbed.

This was Tina rolling over in her earthen bed. Still blissfully asleep as she unconsciously caused tremors with the slightest movements. it was why she slept deep underground. After all she didn't want any people disturbing her. Though sometimes her movements were too much to control and shit happened. Sometimes villages, towns or cities suffered ill effects for having the misfortune of sharing the area with the archon of earth.

Odysseus happened to fall over while this was happening, onto the sands, then let out a grunt of frustration aimed at Magnus. "Whatever you're doing, Rocky, make sure not to shake me up in the process!"

"That wasn't me who let out those tremors." Magnus said. The two locked eyes and Magnus mouthed "Her".

"It's her! OH FUCK ITS HER!"

"Who is Her again?" Odysseus scratched his head.

"Just help me dig- I think we found her!"

"I'm sorry, I'm not a lava golem who can pick up entire asteroids, I can't pick up those sized rocks even with my strength buff."

Magnus grumbled something, then tossed a boulder the size of a tank at the incoming chopper, downing it. "Fine then, I'll do it myself." He said, his hands morphing into drill-shaped tools as the Lava golem dove into the ground, basically "swimming" through the rock at his pace. To odysseus, it looked as if the golem had 'noclipped' or something, sinking into the ground as if it were water or something.

"And I gotta defend you.. tch.." He scoffed, pulling up his balaclava as he sprinted over to his cover.

---

The insurgents that they were engaging were experimenting with various different wacky weapons to counter Odysseus's skills and abilities, as well as Magnus's extreme durability, regeneration, and earth abilities. One such device was a freak mix between a drill, a missile, and a laser-guided bomb.

The lead get had painted Magnus up on the laser, and had managed to keep the lock from underground by using seismic pulses from the ground vehicles, just like the golem used to map out their tunnels.

Flipping the casing up from over the joystick, the pilot squeezed the trigger down, firing a burst of its minigun at Odysseus, as well as firing two of the "Drill-Missiles" at Magnus's position.

Odysseus, on the ground, rolled out of the way as the helicopter began peppering him with rounds. Pulling up his XM8 and firing off its Grenade Launcher, he hit the helicopter on it's side, but the heavily armored Helix was too strong to be downed by a single grenade.

It swerved to the side, dropping off gliding troops, which Odysseus had no trouble taking down. The dirt bikes were his next problem, able to weave through his attacks and quickly close in on him.

Odysseus's rifle Dissolved into it's Tacitite nanite form, which Agent Poseidon immediately re-formed into his sword.

The first dirt bike which dove over him was slashed in half, driver as well. Then, Odysseus switched his sight to the two "Drill Missiles" that were coming in fast.

The first one soared over him and planted itself in the pool of rocks Magnus created, followed by the second one, which bored into the ground by Odysseus and began digging extremely fast.

The blast radius on those things had to be immense. He couldn't disarm them in time, nor could he shoot them. Magnus would have to wing it being chased by two missiles that were homing through the ground right towards him.

Then came an earthquake. It made the earlier Tremor look measly by comparison, being about of a magnitude of 6. It shook the earth like a mass possessed shaking another human being. Earth crumbled as the missiles exploded prematurely, detonating before they could reach their mark. The earth shook widely.

Suddenly, it stopped, part of the earth parting suddenly to reveal the rocky form of a woman lying on the ground. She looked like she was just awakening. A fist she slammed into the ground while trying to get up shook it in a tremor. Next, a yawn which rolled out across the distance, shaking the earth slightly too. She stumbled to her feet. Evidently adrenalin had not kicked in and she was still half asleep.

"Oh hey...." Another yawn and a stretch "Magnus... why are there sounds of explosions? Humans giving you trouble?"

[Turmenista]

Odysseus happened to fall over while this was happening, onto the sands, then let out a grunt of frustration aimed at Magnus. "Whatever you're doing, Rocky, make sure not to shake me up in the process!"

"That wasn't me who let out those tremors." Magnus said. The two locked eyes and Magnus mouthed "Her".

"It's her! OH FUCK ITS HER!"

"Who is Her again?" Odysseus scratched his head.

"Just help me dig- I think we found her!"

"I'm sorry, I'm not a lava golem who can pick up entire asteroids, I can't pick up those sized rocks even with my strength buff."

Magnus grumbled something, then tossed a boulder the size of a tank at the incoming chopper, downing it. "Fine then, I'll do it myself." He said, his hands morphing into drill-shaped tools as the Lava golem dove into the ground, basically "swimming" through the rock at his pace. To odysseus, it looked as if the golem had 'noclipped' or something, sinking into the ground as if it were water or something.

"And I gotta defend you.. tch.." He scoffed, pulling up his balaclava as he sprinted over to his cover.

---

The insurgents that they were engaging were experimenting with various different wacky weapons to counter Odysseus's skills and abilities, as well as Magnus's extreme durability, regeneration, and earth abilities. One such device was a freak mix between a drill, a missile, and a laser-guided bomb.

The lead get had painted Magnus up on the laser, and had managed to keep the lock from underground by using seismic pulses from the ground vehicles, just like the golem used to map out their tunnels.

Flipping the casing up from over the joystick, the pilot squeezed the trigger down, firing a burst of its minigun at Odysseus, as well as firing two of the "Drill-Missiles" at Magnus's position.

Odysseus, on the ground, rolled out of the way as the helicopter began peppering him with rounds. Pulling up his XM8 and firing off its Grenade Launcher, he hit the helicopter on it's side, but the heavily armored Helix was too strong to be downed by a single grenade.

It swerved to the side, dropping off gliding troops, which Odysseus had no trouble taking down. The dirt bikes were his next problem, able to weave through his attacks and quickly close in on him.

Odysseus's rifle Dissolved into it's Tacitite nanite form, which Agent Poseidon immediately re-formed into his sword.

The first dirt bike which dove over him was slashed in half, driver as well. Then, Odysseus switched his sight to the two "Drill Missiles" that were coming in fast.

The first one soared over him and planted itself in the pool of rocks Magnus created, followed by the second one, which bored into the ground by Odysseus and began digging extremely fast.

The blast radius on those things had to be immense. He couldn't disarm them in time, nor could he shoot them. Magnus would have to wing it being chased by two missiles that were homing through the ground right towards him.

Then came an earthquake. It made the earlier Tremor look measly by comparison, being about of a magnitude of 6. It shook the earth like a mass possessed shaking another human being. Earth crumbled as the missiles exploded prematurely, detonating before they could reach their mark. The earth shook widely.

Suddenly, it stopped, part of the earth parting suddenly to reveal the rocky form of a woman lying on the ground. She looked like she was just awakening. A fist she slammed into the ground while trying to get up shook it in a tremor. Next, a yawn which rolled out across the distance, shaking the earth slightly too. She stumbled to her feet. Evidently adrenalin had not kicked in and she was still half asleep.

"Oh hey...." Another yawn and a stretch "Magnus... why are there sounds of explosions? Humans giving you trouble?"

The Bullets from the incoming helicopter pelleted Magnus's back but, he didn't bother to swat it out of the sky. It didn't hurt anyways.

Tina looked kinda cute in her little "bed", waking up with a bedhead like that, but, that was for another day. For him, making sure that Tina would not be hurt by those Humans was his top priority.

"Hey.. Tina.. Things, erm.. haven't been going well with the humans lately." He rubbed the back of his head, temperature increasing. "Those explosions, in short, are guys trying to kill us because we sorta destroyed their base an hour ago... with several tons of TNT underground.."

"They blew up an innocent village, I couldn't just stand around like that!" Odysseus called from above the chasm.

"Right." Magnus said. "The Pinkie's upstairs in space dealing with "Some powerful person", by the way. They're using Missiles that can track me underground and can drill, which is really ridiculous when you think about it but, they actually work. Surprisingly. So, acting like the overprotective parent here, it's my top Priority to keep you, and Odysseus (his name is Agent Poseidon), safe from these guys and their ridiculous drill missiles. You think you can help us out, right now, Tina?"

An anti-materiel round from some sort of Recoiless rifle landed on Magnus's shoulder, producing a hole the size of a dinner plate in his arm. "God damn it, how many weapons do these guys have?!" He yelled.

[The Republic of Atria]

Killian

Even Killian was slightly shocked at what he just did. Disintegrating the head of a Celestial? That was bit much. But he was well beyond the point of no return. There was a point where he realized that he needed to stop, but decided to keep going to see what would happen. "Fine then! The universe is better off without you!" He shouted and suing his absolute control of Motion to push every single Celestial in the area away. All but one. A massive fist smashed him into the ground. Exitar. In one swoop Killian knocked the massive being away. "I actually know you... Exitar." Killian said to the massive being. "Are we going to do this the easy way? Or the hard way?"

"What are you even talking about? You attacked us simply out of spite. Your powers may be beyond us, but your mind is not." True to what Exitar said, he was attacking Killian psychically. "Your resistance is impressive. Your mind is capable of understanding an unfathomable amount of information at one time. A human psyche is not intended to withstand that kind of stress for extended periods. And Yet you have been doing it for what feels like eons in your case. It is no wonder your mind is a mess. Though your kind has continued to impress us. More than once have you demonstrated that you are not willing to back down, no matter what you face. An admirable quality. Humans always find a way to survive. I will fix your mind."

Killian was in pain, but at the same time, he wanted to be. To him, he hadn't felt physical pain for the span of the universe's age thousands of times over. Even though it had only been a few days. By no means was he masochistic, Killian just simply missed the sensation. He wanted to lose. When he heard Exitar say that he was going to repair him, he should've felt joy and happiness, but instead he lashed out and blew a hole straight through Exitar's chest, much to his surprise and all of the other Celestials watching. "I... I... I surrender." He said and floated down on his knees. "I don't want to live anymore. Kill me. Please."

Arishem decided to speak up. "Your fate will be decided by the Living Tribunal." He said and put a shield around Killian. It was more for show than anything. Killian was clearly much more powerful than they were, and the only reason this happened was because he willing submitted.

[Empire of the Siberian Flaming Eskimos]

The questioning look on Salis' face was quickly replaced with a more sure one as Batgirl responded. This was exactly what he had been expecting from her, and he was glad the trend was continuing. Predictability would help him greatly as he continued forward. Listening to her rebuke, he quickly formed his own.

"Well, don't worry about me running," he said, "I'm staying until were finished, but a few things first before we continue. First, I'm definitely not going to jail. I don't care what resources you think you have, jail cells can't hold me and I've taken down entire buildings before. Secondly, I will continue to kill criminals as I see fit. I agree that some of them are criminals more out of necessity than actually being a low life, and they might deserve a second chance. There are others, however, that do not, and you and Batman's failure to see that is the reason this city is still stuck in the same place it was when you guys first started. Think about it, how many times has the Joker escaped prison? How about Two Face? The Penguin? They always find a way out and unless you stop them for good they will keep doing it, so learn from your mistakes for once and end Vannis for good. Lastly," Salis moved closer to Batgirl as he said this, an edge coming into his voice that hadn't been there before, "I don't care what the damn records you found say. You know nothing about me and what I've been through, so don't act so high and mighty. Clear? If so, I would really like to get some food now and get rid of Vannis."

Staring Batgirl down from a foot away now, Salis waited for a response. Anger and determination seethed through him as he stood there were clearly evident on his face. Salis was determined to get his way on this matter, and he was going to do it whether this girl wanted him to or not.

[The Fallen Jedi]

Sigma Galli Prime

The time to leave was now, and Asumar knew it to be so.

Walking out of Kazuko's Temple with a silent Ryuichi in tow, Asumar wondered what type of training they would do next, truth-be-told, Asumar wanted to see Ryuichi's latent power just like the time that he had faced off against Kilian because according to his memories, the energy itself even caused Shimura, Alastir, and Spera to look on in wonder, Asumar didn't want that power to go to waste and wanted his son to master the power and use it without letting his emotions to get to him. Turning towards his son, Asumar smiled "How come you're so silent today son, Is it about Kilian?" Asumar asked his son, noticing that he had been unusually silent ever since he had arrived to the planet and Asumar knew it had something to do with Kilian murdering him in front of Ryuichi's eyes.

Ryuichi looked up to face his father with an uncertain expression on his face, he was still emotionally scarred from fighting Kilian, and it was safe to say that he wasn't thinking clearly, just pondering about Kilian's words "I'm just thinking about what he said to me, he kept telling me that you were a fool to go up against you, do you think what he said to me was true dad?" Ryuichi asked, concerned if the Masaki's were not only fools, but entirely insignificant to the events that took place in the Universe, Earth especially, considering that it was a hotspot for daily invasions and such.

Asumar smiled as he put his hand on Ryuichi's head, rubbing it jokingly "What he says about us, it is none of our concern whatsoever, he can think that about us, but our species has gone through worse in life, like the story I told you about when I wanted power as well as revenge against my brother, even though Kilian did assist, I'm giving most of the credit to Kazuko for that one, although it is not out of spite that I give Kazuko most of the credit, it is because my brother's words reached out to me and basically begged of me to reconsider my actions and try to atone for them, and as you see now..." Asumar's smile brightened up "I'm redeemed, and it is because of my brother, and you my son, that is why I'm afraid to lose you, I want to train you so that you may one day use that power to your own advantage and defend yourself when I am no longer here." Asumar finished.

Ryuichi stared up at his father for a brief moment, although it felt like an eternity, Ryuichi hoped that his father was right, because Kilian's words not only hurt Ryuichi significantly, but it planted the seeds of doubt within his mind but he dismissed this as Asumar began to levitate and fly up to space, yelling back to his son "Ryuichi, come on and race with your old man, let's see if you can keep up with my Speed Force!" Asumar yelled back to his son, using the Speed Force to run at his absolute speed, with Ryuichi rapidly catching up to his father, a smile growing on his face as he raced with his father to the location where they would train at.

[Tomia]

Cora
Cora nodded to Katie and followed her out of the apartment. This was such a new experience for her. This was the longest time she had spent with another person that she could remember. When. They got outside Cora looked around the city more as they walked. It was all still new to her and she was amazed by the sights. She wondered where this coffee shop was they were going to. Or what she would do when they got there. She had no idea what to do in a coffee shop,and she didn't want her new friends to think she was a freak.

Meanwhile Android 22 was closing in on the city called New York. As he flew above he saw a number of humans walking the streets. They were like ants to him, even when be was on ground level. When he reached the streets he realized they were crowded with people and noisey. He couldn't detect android 21's energy, much like his own can not be detected so he pondered how to find her. He looked at the images that were uploaded to his mind and headed toward the general area that she was spotted in. However he was shoving past people on his way there and soon he was approached by a cop who tried to apprehend him. Hunter gave an arrogant smirk and effortlessly lifted the man in the air and tossed him hard against the wall. He then held his arm out toward the near by police car and a blast of energy headed toward it, causing it to explode. As people ran away in terror, Hunter continued to make his way through the city, moving toward the crime scene where Android 21 was spotted earlier that day.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

Blake, it turned out, had very little to pack for this journey, and so, the demon hunter and the blonde woman stepped through the portal.

What they found on the other side was breathtaking. A vast, seemingly endless expanse of lush grass under an unnaturally serene and clear blue sky, dotted with tall mesas whose summits would lie far beyond the cover of the clouds, had there been any clouds on that tranquil world. Nary an imperfection in the landscape was to be found; there were no trees to speak of, no stone formations save for the towering plateaus and only a single serpentine river visible in the distance. In fact, there wasn't really much to gawk at, yet it was this austerity, this strange symmetry which permeated the world beyond the portal, which conferred it a supernatural appeal. In all of its tranquil serenity, it was beautiful.

But not everything was calm. For there were the Phantom Horses galloping through the endless plains. They were, truth be told, not too dissimilar from regular Earthborn horses, the only difference was that these were completely gray. Gray was their hide, and their manes of the same color, but a lighter shade, just like their tails. They streaked across the landscape in frantic serenity, doing endlessly what they were born to do: ride.

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the field, though it seemingly addressed only the two human visitors, for none of the horses seemed to acknowledge or even notice the voice. Whoever or whatever it was, however, was clearly aware of their intentions.

"These beasts are ancient." It spoke, booming, yet unspeakably serene. "The blood of creation flows through their veins. The winds of eternity blow through their manes. They will not yield to steel or whip, to gun or blade." The voice spoke, its next words echoing in Garnet's mind for several moments.

"Only to your will."

The blonde woman cast Misery aside without a second thought, knowing that this was necessary for the progress of her mission to purge the shadows that plagued her life. She threw Agony to the floor alongside the pistol, but when it was time to shed the sword fragment, she worried that it would get lost. It was not a good idea to leave such a small thing in such a large place, after all, and losing it would have been equal parts infuriating and embarrassing, so, finally, she resolved to have Blake keep it safe while she tried her luck with one of the beasts. With this in mind, she tossed him the fragment.

"Wait here and watch me." She said with a smirk on her face as she turned around and walked towards one of the Phantom Horses, taking long, confident strides. Finally, she found herself in the path of one of the beasts, who inexorably drew closer and closer, galloping as though it did not notice the woman standing in front of it, or rather, as if it didn't care in the slightest. But this was just what Garnet was hoping for.

Just before she was trampled under the unforgiving hooves of the supernatural creature, Garnet moved to the side and hopped onto its back. By all means, it was a miracle that she managed to do this successfully, and it was only the first of many, as the beast immediately began moving around frantically, rearing up repeatedly and galloping at mind-numbing speeds in order to throw off its newfound rider. However, through some miraclous inner force- Or was it sheer willpower?- the blonde woman managed to remain on the beast's back long enough for it to calm down. It took its time, but at long last, the Phantom Horse had submitted to her will. It was hers at last, now and forever. Content, she jumped off, and the voice spoke once again.

"A display of courage as impressive as this magnificent beast." It spoke serenely. "It has known no name, until the one you are about to give it."

Instantly, Garnet knew what was next. A name for the beast. She was deep in thought for several moments until something occured to her. It was by no means the most clever of names, or the most original, but even then, it held a certain meaning.

"Shadow." She uttered.

At that moment, the horse reared up, seemingly bursting with power all of the sudden. It began changing abruptly, its hide turning black as coal, crimson sigils dotting its skin as dark mists seemed to swirl around its mane, its tail, and its hooves, obscuring them at every moment. A single spiralling red horn grew out of its head, menacing. After a moment, Shadow stood, adopting an appearance appropiate to the name it was given by its mistress.

Mounting the beast once again, she began heading back to where she had left Blake, unaware that something terrible had happened.

---

---

"Clearly I was getting those looks because girls are into men with eye patches." Gilbert stated matter-of-factly, his academic tone only serving to augment his apparent cockiness, though this only lasted for a moment before he looked away and scratched the back of his next, whistling for a moment. "Also, there might be something about me being possessed by a demon that attempted to destroy time itself millions of years ago, buuuut that doesn't seem very urgent so you might as well forget about it." He said with a nonchalant shrug before discreetly moving on to keep looking for food.

---

Hearing himself be addressed, Gilbert was about to respond to the Batgirl- Finally, a Bat in the Batcave! It had taken too damn long for one to appear- when he instead found that she and Salis had gotten into a bit of an argument. He simply sat down somewhere and waited patiently for them to finish, looking around the Batcave some more until he noticed a lull in the conversation, at which point he raised his hand.

"The name's Gilbert. The Judge picked me up." He stated. "Just getting that out of the way. Continue arguing. Oh but if you could fix some breakfast for us first then I would be eternally grateful."

---

---

Hadrimmelis smirked as she heard the magician's words, clearly amused by the numerous advances she had made on her avatar ever since they had met. She had not dealt with humans all that often, truth be told, so she would not normally have known what DeeDee meant to say, but fortunately for her, she was gifted with powerful psionics, and was able to easily read the meaning of her words from her mind. Telepathy was quite a helpful thing to have, indeed. There was hardly any creature she would be unable to communicate as long as she wielded that power.

Either way, though, the World-Dragon continued listening to DeeDee. Perhaps she might have obliged the human's desires, but for now, she was more interested in what she had to say. It was not everyday that she was summoned to help with some matter, and the fact that a talented magician was asking for her assistance only made her more curious, so she was eager to hear what was this favor that she would ask of her.

When she finally heard it, she stood silent for a moment, running a hand across her blonde hair before finally speaking.

"It... can be done, yes." She stated at last. "It is a complicated matter, naturally, but I should be able to do it." She explained. "However, if I am going to go through the trouble of setting up such a matrix of portals, I would like to know, what exactly do you plan to do with it?" She asked.

---

---

Hadrimmelis giggled at the girl's reaction to her offer, simply patting her head with some semblance of affection. The dream wanderer was quickly growing on her, to tell the truth. She did not expect such a fortuitous encounter to yield such a likeable friend, but then, the best things in life were those that were not expected at all, or at least so she had come to believe after millions of years of experience.

"I could move planets if I wanted to, yes, I could do so easily, provided I was awake. Not now, though, as I am deep in slumber. An avatar of mine with a great enough fraction of my power could conceivably move an entire planet with the power of the Dragon Force, or I could do so in my own body, assuming a planet wandered close enough to my slumbering form in the first place." The World-Dragon said, before pondering Lula's offer.

"I would not mind having you show me your dreams. I will be asleep for a long time, after all, so I can return to this place whenever I want to. A change in scenery should not be a problem at all, so, feel free to take us to your dream if you wish." She stated, nodding at the dream wanderer.

[The Starlight]

-snip-

Valka Silverhand
All-Mother of Asgard - War of Gods

"I understand little of your expressions, Midgardian. Power you have. The skill to use it effectively in battle, and to fuse it into combat is decidedly lacking in you. You only embrace your powers when you cannot hurt others, and it activates slowly. You, in the end, let your power dictate your actions instead of the other way around. And that, Alexander of Midgard, is what will make you loose." Valka said calmly, powering up the Valka-Force for another blast.

"Enjoyment? Nay, this, I do not enjoy. There is a thing we call the battle-thrill, when one partakes in an honorable and glorious battle, the blood, pumping wildly in one's veins, it is then when we are truly alive. But this? There is no thrill, no honor, no glory in this battle. I fight now, because it is necessary, because I defend my home and kingdom, because always, I am All-Mother, and a mother must guard her children and hearth above all else. Take heed, Alexander of Midgard, and all of you Olympians! Strength does not make one capable of rule, it makes one capable of service." the Skymother said, gazing fiercely at all those who attacked her people. Then, flying up, she fired a burst of the Valka-Force into the vortex to attempt to disperse it, while hurling a fiery Mjolnir at Alex.

-snip-

Elena Galadera/Batgirl
The Long Night

"I will not debate my methods with you Salis. You agreed to my command when you arrived here, and if you wanted to engage in a debate, that should have been said when I first put in place. You may kill whoever you like when you are your own captain, but that is not the case. So, no, you're not going to be helping take down Vannis, you're going where you belonged a long time ago, and maybe there you'll reconsider your ways." Batgirl said without a tremor in her face, then raising her hand and cletching her fist, Stormlight streaming about her and creating a force field around Salis while she spoke into her communications link,"This is Batgirl, calling the Justice League. I need transport for a superpowered rogue vigilante and former gang member. His power is to create portals. Over." she said, while keeping her eyes on Salis, speaking to Gilbert as he spoke up.

"Welcome to the crew, Gilbert. Thank you for your patience. There are some basic food supplies like cereal, milk, bread, eggs, bacon, ham, sausages and fruit in the Batcave. If you go through the door to my right and then turn left and go in, there's a pantry, fridge, microwave, stove, and the rest. Help yourself to whatever you desire." she said.

[The Republic of Atria]

"Am I not serving Zeus because I am more powerful than him?" Alex asked forcing his energy at Valka's. "And are you not ruling because you are powerful? Isn't this a case of practice what you preach All-Mother? Again. I'm not doing this because I have a grudge against you. There are two reasons. One. I never get to use my powers like this." He said holding back the power of the Valka force with his own raw power. "Two. In order to serve my people. I need what Zeus is offering. I don't want to kill you. I don't want to kill anyone. Even if I dislike gods. This is just some exercise I happened to get rewarded for." Alex said and with one hand, caught the head of Mjolnir. "Ah yes, the hammer of Thor. Or Valka in this case. I've lifted this hammer before. Though I will be honest, it was under much worse circumstances." Alex said and dropped it.

"You are the All-Mother. I have a question. Did I move that hammer because I was worthy? Or because of something else I can do?" Alex knew that he had immense magic potential, just unfortunately he knew next to nothing about it. So it only lashed out under extreme circumstances. Though the question was honest. He really wanted to know if he was worthy of Mjolnir, or his magic just made him seem like he was.

[The Starlight]

-snip-

"No. I rule because Odin called me All-Mother of Asgard before he died. Just now, I offered the throne to Odin's true heir, Thor, and he rejected. That is why I rule.And what is Zeus offering?" Valka asked, pushing back with the Valka-Force. "Thor has told me of that event. I forged Mjolnir and Odin infused it with his power, and both of our standards determined who was worthy in the past. With you, Alexander of Midgard, the hammer is undecided. There is worthiness in you, the desire to preserve Midgard and that tight grip on your power in order to keep that which you love safe. But there is darkness in you. You harbored it for awhile, and while it has left, its taint still remains. And there is also the lengths that you are willing to go to, the brutality of the actions that you commit. And there is also the factor of your magic, which has several capabilities. Perhaps it is the magic that allowed you to wield it against its maker."

"But you have gained worthiness and unworthiness since, and that is what lets you grip it now. But you will be unable to wield it against me, for as its maker I possess a greater connection it that Thor does, and my standards of worthiness are slightly different than what Odin's were. In conclusion, Midgardian, you are not unworthy, but not entirely worthy as well." Valka concluded, bringing Mjolnir to her and letting it drop, before summoning Gungnir.

[The Republic of Atria]

"I am the sworn protector of Earth. I was created... Not born. I was given a purpose. Keep Earth safe. Since then, I have vanquished threats that not only threaten my home, but the homes of billions." He said pushing back with his own power until he was just a few feet away from the woman. Enjoying himself. Finally letting his power go and unleashing it felt amazing. Then he began to remember the last time he fought under such extreme circumstances: He burned himself out. Victory didn't matter to him. Zeus said he was supposed to fight Valka. Never said anything about winning that fight. "Zeus promised me the materials I needed to create something my world needs. Help. I am one man. As powerful as I am, I am still one man. I can't be everywhere. I can't protect everyone. I want to give everyone the power to protect themselves. I want to save my world. And if I have to deal with this nonsense in order to get what I need. Then by all means, I will do what I must to save them."

"I figured as much. Magic is a complicated and fickle matter I'd rather stay away from." Alex said staring at the all mother still trying to overpower her, but clearly he couldn't do so. But that's never stopped him before. "I'm not against Asgard Valka. I'm simply for my people." He said and finally within range, threw a headbutt at Valka.

[The Starlight]

-snip-

"Indeed you have, but some of those threats have been vanquished with the cost of many lives." Valka said. And then, hearing what Zeus had offered him, she laughed, a merry sound breaking through the sounds of battle. "Zeus promised? The second you did what he wanted he would attack. Zeus doe not keep his promises, and would see you as a threat. The notion of Zeus promising something and actually keeping that promise is laughable. Moreover, I am the Asgardian Goddess of Metal and Forging, among other things. Whatever Zeus promised, I could give in greater abundance and quality. You possess noble goals. But you would achieve them by helping the Olympians loot, raze and destroy that which is not even completed." Valka said, getting hit by his headbutt and getting thrown back.

Her helmet had helped there and the blow was not as strong as it would have been without her helmet in the way. Getting up, she launched herself into the air and used her powers over weapon, slashing with a sword and then shifting the weapon to a spear, hammer, axe and various other weapons, the weapon only appearing in flashes as she swung it with expertise and speed.

[The Starlight]

-snip-

Valka taking advantage of his distractions, created some winged beasts of her own, blazing metal eagles who, with keen eyes and sharp claws, attacked the winged creatures of Asra. Putting her focus on the battle before her now, nodding at Aeshandra to keep it up, she launched her own melee attacking, charging once again, sword in hand, but this time, letting her other, uru hand fire out bursts of liquid uru metal at the corrupted Rainborn, which would solidify on impact, if they reached their target. Then, thinking that wielding two weapons at once might yield her the victory, summoned another, shorter sword which could be used for a block with both swords, or a close range stab. Slashing towards Asra's stomach, she kept up the relentless attack.

[The Republic of Atria]

-snip-

"Indeed you have, but some of those threats have been vanquished with the cost of many lives." Valka said. And then, hearing what Zeus had offered him, she laughed, a merry sound breaking through the sounds of battle. "Zeus promised? The second you did what he wanted he would attack. Zeus doe not keep his promises, and would see you as a threat. The notion of Zeus promising something and actually keeping that promise is laughable. Moreover, I am the Asgardian Goddess of Metal and Forging, among other things. Whatever Zeus promised, I could give in greater abundance and quality. You possess noble goals. But you would achieve them by helping the Olympians loot, raze and destroy that which is not even completed." Valka said, getting hit by his headbutt and getting thrown back.

Her helmet had helped there and the blow was not as strong as it would have been without her helmet in the way. Getting up, she launched herself into the air and used her powers over weapon, slashing with a sword and then shifting the weapon to a spear, hammer, axe and various other weapons, the weapon only appearing in flashes as she swung it with expertise and speed.

"A small, unfortunate price to pay. It's why I'm doing this. So that price never has to be paid again." He said sliding side to side to avoid being gored, slashed and stabbed. "Is that so? I don't do dealings with gods very often. So how about this?" He asked and when Valka thrust her spear at him, he thrust himself on the blade, forcing the blade through his body so he could get closer to the woman. Instead of blood leaking out through the wound, there was bright golden energy seeping out in it's place. "Knock me out. And I and my wife will help you rebuild Asgard." He spoke rather calmly and even happily despite the hunk of Uru through his chest. "It's so rare on Midgard that I get to fight like this. I'm not just going to stop. Not until I can't stand anymore. Make it hurt." He smiled and fired a pair of golden beam from his eyes. Being part Saiyan meant that he wasn't going to just surrender. No, he had to fight. He knew this was a losing battle. But he wanted to lose. To be reminded that he can make mistakes. That he's not perfect.

[New Neros]

-The Voice

Mad Max Morningstar
Beginning of the Crusade

The Mad King took a moment to relax his body and feel the ambient energy as it swirled around him, engulfing him, passing through himself and everything within the universe as an unseen yet powerful force beyond measure, beyond nature itself. He could see things his eyes wouldn't allow him to see, past and future events, occurrences that happened light years away in the present. He was re-aquainting himself with the universe after the Secret Wars, almost surprised that his mind survived the restart relatively intact, and that he kept his prized Cosmic Cube absorbed within him as well. "I have plans within plans." He thought in response to his voice, "But I feel that some of my old allies have taken up new positions in my absence. They may be vital to my immediate course of action."

He began to walk out of the restroom and took a deep breath of the air outside. Fresh, vibrant, full of life. He narrowed his eyes behind his mask quickly, thinking to Ash in his head. "This is a ghetto...it should be naesauting - the odor..." Max took another deep inhale, filling his lungs with the sweet, young air. "Ahh..." He said as he exhaled, but went back to his mind to speak. "That Archon has followed me back. Zephy. How long has she been surrounding me? Regardless, I've noticed that my right eye is restored to it's original flesh. Odin's eye stayed with his body...wherever that is...and that I still have your own eye at the Ark."

As he thought for a moment, finding exactly where the Ark was on Madworld, he was there in a flash. The damn thing survived one collapsing Multiverse, it could survive it's rebirth, Max reckoned. It's massive door was dirty and full of grit, but a gentle touch by the Mad God awoke the internal machines that ripped the door open with a deafening squeaking noise. Max didn't flinch, but whatever was inside the Ark sure as hell did. It caught the Mad God by surprise, but that was the least of his worries, a black blur sped right at his form almost too quickly to react. He felt his throat become trapped in a human-sized hand, and came face to helmet with the Son of Daxam: Czar Mir.

The Daxamite narrowed his eyes at the faceless helm. He'd been in there for days, and wasn't sure what world he was coming into. Days on end, the loss of socialization must have been incredibly detrimental, even to a superhuman like Mir. But Max had to establish the pecking order, even while being choked. He spoke clearly, as if Mir's hands weren't around his throat, "Tell me, Mir, do you feel powerful? Or do you simply feel lucky?" Mir relaxed a bit, lowering his guard against Max, "Because you must be stupid to att-"

His insult was interrupted by a headbutt that cracked Max's helmet from Mir, who had brought Max's neck into his own forehead. A hit that would knock out any man, even a superhuman, it only served to piss off Mad Max, who grabbed Mir's face and delivered a massive, surging red energy blast. Mir recoiled back and released Max at once, the Mad God giving him no quarter as he grabbed onto Mir's upper arm and threw him over Max's own shoulder, slamming Mir on the ground. In that same motion, Max removed his power source - the Yellow Sun Ring he had previously given Mir - right from his hand. Depowered and quaking from the throw, Mir lay helpless as Max stood over him. Slowly, the Mad God removed his helmet in a hsss.

Mir's eyes were barely open, but he saw all he needed to see, smirking a bit as he did so. Max raised his chin slightly, but the small smile evident on his face as well. The Mad God dropped the Sun Ring on Mir's chest with a tiny thud, offer out his hand to help up the Daxamite up to his feet. Mir grabbed the power device and slipped it onto his right middle finger, taking Max's outstretched hand and being pulled up. "You almost had me." Max said, patting him on the shoulder. "You need to store up your energy, though. Don't keep it in the ring. Your cells can hold vast amounts of them, don't be limited." He lectured, Mir nodding along.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Where have you been?" Mir asked, dusting himself off.

"Just as lost as you were. Doom restarted the Multiverse, but it looks like our side managed to get screwed up in the process. Warworld is orbiting Madworld, and Madworld's people are just as real as you and I." Max explained, "But before you ask, I do have a plan to get everything back to normal." He continued, walking past Mir to the Ark. The place where Max had kept the Mobius Chair was still intact, surprising him a bit. No matter, though, he was after something below the seat. "Sadly Mir, I didn't know you were in here. I'm glad I found you, though. I'm after this." Max said, producing a medium sized cylinder full of fluid...and a detached eye ball. Max reached over and pressed another button on the Mobius Chair, a spiral staircase collapsing all around the Chair and leading to a compartment below.

Motioning to follow, Max lead Mir down the stairs some ways, but the circular hall gave way to an open room with walls lined with little windows, and at the room's center, some large stasis pods. Mir curiously peered into one of the windows, though, seeing more vials with them. "What is all of this, Max?" He asked, the Mad God instead approaching one of the stasis chambers and placing a hand on it - clearing away the fogginess that developed onto of it. Mir looked over and reaffirmed his question with a "Hm?"

"Those are stores of DNA." Max said flatly. "The Ark was designed to carry over the potential to start new alien, both human and alien, on where it ended up. My systems could have adapted the stores to whatever environment it could thrive in." He looked Mir right in the eyes and told him the truth. "This the real Ark. The rest was only a secondary objective - saving anyone at all was not my highest priority. These were." He said, gesturing to all of the windows. Mir had his mouth opened wide in shock, but he shook his head, understanding the situation at the time. "It's a harsh reality, but we all made it. That's what matters."

"And what about that?" Mir spat, gesturing toward the stasis pod Max was touching. "That your highest priority, too?"

"C'mon, Mir, you have to see that I was doing what was best for our descendants. I didn't want to just abandoned all of us, so I made it work anyways, you know? The End was so...so bleak. I saw it with my own eyes, Mir, I was scared." Max admitted freely, but turned back to the stasis pod. The pod itself contained a beautiful, feminine form - long brown hair. He wondered how Ashy was handling seeing this sight, yet continued his explanation to Mir. "But this...this is something just as important. That eye you saw up there was the depleted genetic material for this body. This is one of the oldest beings in our universe reborn - the source of my All-Seeing Eyes, the eyes were actually the last physical remains of that long extinct race..."

"...The Vokornians."

[The Starlight]

-snip-

"Very well, Alexander. And in return, you shall receive the metals that you seek." And then, getting hit directly in the eyes with his beams and crying out in pain, she slapped a hand to her eyes, temporarily blind. She also felt a deep gash in her forehead from his headbutt, the edge of her helmet having bent and cut into her skin. It would heal, that much was certain, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt. Bringing her attention back to the Midgardian, she launched several blasts of the Valka-Force with one hand, while twirling Gungnir in the other, directly in front of her to discourage any attacks there. A true warrior did not need their eyes to keep on fighting.

[Charmera]

-The Voice

Mad Max Morningstar
Beginning of the Crusade

The Mad King took a moment to relax his body and feel the ambient energy as it swirled around him, engulfing him, passing through himself and everything within the universe as an unseen yet powerful force beyond measure, beyond nature itself. He could see things his eyes wouldn't allow him to see, past and future events, occurrences that happened light years away in the present. He was re-aquainting himself with the universe after the Secret Wars, almost surprised that his mind survived the restart relatively intact, and that he kept his prized Cosmic Cube absorbed within him as well. "I have plans within plans." He thought in response to his voice, "But I feel that some of my old allies have taken up new positions in my absence. They may be vital to my immediate course of action."

He began to walk out of the restroom and took a deep breath of the air outside. Fresh, vibrant, full of life. He narrowed his eyes behind his mask quickly, thinking to Ash in his head. "This is a ghetto...it should be naesauting - the odor..." Max took another deep inhale, filling his lungs with the sweet, young air. "Ahh..." He said as he exhaled, but went back to his mind to speak. "That Archon has followed me back. Zephy. How long has she been surrounding me? Regardless, I've noticed that my right eye is restored to it's original flesh. Odin's eye stayed with his body...wherever that is...and that I still have your own eye at the Ark."

As he thought for a moment, finding exactly where the Ark was on Madworld, he was there in a flash. The damn thing survived one collapsing Multiverse, it could survive it's rebirth, Max reckoned. It's massive door was dirty and full of grit, but a gentle touch by the Mad God awoke the internal machines that ripped the door open with a deafening squeaking noise. Max didn't flinch, but whatever was inside the Ark sure as hell did. It caught the Mad God by surprise, but that was the least of his worries, a black blur sped right at his form almost too quickly to react. He felt his throat become trapped in a human-sized hand, and came face to helmet with the Son of Daxam: Czar Mir.

The Daxamite narrowed his eyes at the faceless helm. He'd been in there for days, and wasn't sure what world he was coming into. Days on end, the loss of socialization must have been incredibly detrimental, even to a superhuman like Mir. But Max had to establish the pecking order, even while being choked. He spoke clearly, as if Mir's hands weren't around his throat, "Tell me, Mir, do you feel powerful? Or do you simply feel lucky?" Mir relaxed a bit, lowering his guard against Max, "Because you must be stupid to att-"

His insult was interrupted by a headbutt that cracked Max's helmet from Mir, who had brought Max's neck into his own forehead. A hit that would knock out any man, even a superhuman, it only served to piss off Mad Max, who grabbed Mir's face and delivered a massive, surging red energy blast. Mir recoiled back and released Max at once, the Mad God giving him no quarter as he grabbed onto Mir's upper arm and threw him over Max's own shoulder, slamming Mir on the ground. In that same motion, Max removed his power source - the Yellow Sun Ring he had previously given Mir - right from his hand. Depowered and quaking from the throw, Mir lay helpless as Max stood over him. Slowly, the Mad God removed his helmet in a hsss.

Mir's eyes were barely open, but he saw all he needed to see, smirking a bit as he did so. Max raised his chin slightly, but the small smile evident on his face as well. The Mad God dropped the Sun Ring on Mir's chest with a tiny thud, offer out his hand to help up the Daxamite up to his feet. Mir grabbed the power device and slipped it onto his right middle finger, taking Max's outstretched hand and being pulled up. "You almost had me." Max said, patting him on the shoulder. "You need to store up your energy, though. Don't keep it in the ring. Your cells can hold vast amounts of them, don't be limited." He lectured, Mir nodding along.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Where have you been?" Mir asked, dusting himself off.

"Just as lost as you were. Doom restarted the Multiverse, but it looks like our side managed to get screwed up in the process. Warworld is orbiting Madworld, and Madworld's people are just as real as you and I." Max explained, "But before you ask, I do have a plan to get everything back to normal." He continued, walking past Mir to the Ark. The place where Max had kept the Mobius Chair was still intact, surprising him a bit. No matter, though, he was after something below the seat. "Sadly Mir, I didn't know you were in here. I'm glad I found you, though. I'm after this." Max said, producing a medium sized cylinder full of fluid...and a detached eye ball. Max reached over and pressed another button on the Mobius Chair, a spiral staircase collapsing all around the Chair and leading to a compartment below.

Motioning to follow, Max lead Mir down the stairs some ways, but the circular hall gave way to an open room with walls lined with little windows, and at the room's center, some large stasis pods. Mir curiously peered into one of the windows, though, seeing more vials with them. "What is all of this, Max?" He asked, the Mad God instead approaching one of the stasis chambers and placing a hand on it - clearing away the fogginess that developed onto of it. Mir looked over and reaffirmed his question with a "Hm?"

"Those are stores of DNA." Max said flatly. "The Ark was designed to carry over the potential to start new alien, both human and alien, on where it ended up. My systems could have adapted the stores to whatever environment it could thrive in." He looked Mir right in the eyes and told him the truth. "This the real Ark. The rest was only a secondary objective - saving anyone at all was not my highest priority. These were." He said, gesturing to all of the windows. Mir had his mouth opened wide in shock, but he shook his head, understanding the situation at the time. "It's a harsh reality, but we all made it. That's what matters."

"And what about that?" Mir spat, gesturing toward the stasis pod Max was touching. "That your highest priority, too?"

"C'mon, Mir, you have to see that I was doing what was best for our descendants. I didn't want to just abandoned all of us, so I made it work anyways, you know? The End was so...so bleak. I saw it with my own eyes, Mir, I was scared." Max admitted freely, but turned back to the stasis pod. The pod itself contained a beautiful, feminine form - long brown hair. He wondered how Ashy was handling seeing this sight, yet continued his explanation to Mir. "But this...this is something just as important. That eye you saw up there was the depleted genetic material for this body. This is one of the oldest beings in our universe reborn - the source of my All-Seeing Eyes, the eyes were actually the last physical remains of that long extinct race..."

"...The Vokornians."

The voice noted Mir. She decided to reach out to him with what was left of her. Inform herself on the individual. Though she did not yet speak to him.

The end... Spoke the voice within Maxes head. We saw it coming, though we did nothing to stop it. We resigned ourselves to it, though still worked to restore ourselves... I wonder what the others did before the end... She rambled. I don't imagine they would have remembered it was coming. We often forget things like that.

Though, when she saw the figure in the stasis pod, she went silent. A pause. A ghostly figure, her old armour. A technological marvel rendered telepathically as a hologram only max could see walked out of him. She was still bound to the human, but even then her mind was open enough to explore the area. She walked over to it, placing a hand on the pod as she caressed the glass. It's... my body... She spoke. Her mind seemed, almost blank for the first time while within max. A silent tranquil longing and joy. She was so close. She could have it back soon. So very soon it would be hers.

Is... is it ready? She wasn't sure herself.

[The Republic of Atria]

Alex was thrown away and bombarded by Valka's energy blasts. He was badly injured and at the same time, was having the time of his life. "That... Yes..." He smiled and unleashed his last bit of energy in a massive wave, shortly after, he revertted back to his much shorter and less intimidating looking human state. The golden glow was gone. He looked at Valak and smiled. "If nothing else... That was fun. Thank you." He said and then dropped like a stone, face first onto the ground. The only other time he was knocked out was the time he faced the Phoenix. One of the only times that he was actually challenged at full strength and hurt.

Killian

Killian stayed quiet as they took him to the Living Tribunal for him to judge Killian for his crimes. The Celestials explain Killian attacking, and subsequent murder of Exitar and Arishem in cold blood. Killian even admitted to his wrong doing. However, the Living Tribinal's judgement was not what any of them expected. "The mortal has ascended beyond the frailties of flesh. A rare occurrence. If he deemed the Celestials that met their end no longer worthy of life, then he is simply replacing them." Basically a cosmic form of Natural Selection. Killian wasn't going to be punished in any way. "We have spoken. Begone." The Tribunal said and warped them back where they came from.

"So that's that?" Killian asked the Celestials. "I am too damned powerful to be punished?" He sighed. Being stuck as an abstract was not something he wanted to do, but when he looked back, it wasn't much of a choice. People were dead because of him. And no matter what he did, it was like his actions were consequence free. "I'm just gonna go. I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore." He said and warped his way into space, flying across the universe. If he was stuck like this, then he was going to need answers on what he should do. So Killian went to the one person he thought was capable of understanding his plight: Galactus.

Killian floated to Galactus's ship, where Galactus was busy consuming a planet, while guarded by Terrax. "Who dares-" Terrax didn't get to finish his sentence before Killian just obliterated him. Killian wait a few minutes for Galactus to finish his meal, which of course, the planet devourer looked upon the small glowing man.

"Galactus remembers you." Killian had once spared his life and even hep him out on several occasions. The very least he could do is listen to the mans explanation for atomizing his Herald.

"I'll bring him back when I'm done. I just... Need a few questions answered. About being... Like us. Abstract." Killian said. "How do you do it? I know you used to be normal at some point in your life. However long ago that was. I just killed two Celestials, for no reason other than I was angry, and I got off, literally scot free."

"It is simple. We are above them. We do what we do because that is what we are supposed to. As time progresses, you will lose your mortal conscience and see yourself as you are meant to be. The guilt will pass and you will learn what it means to be as us. I have answered your question." Galactus replies.

"I guess you have. Thanks. Maybe we can have a tea party with Eternity and Infinity later." He said and was about to leave and Galactus gave him a look. "Oh... Right." He said and brought Terrax back to life, though he was confused as to what just happened. "Forgot about him. Thanks again." He said and shot off into space looking for someone else who might be able to help him with his new life.

[The Rebel Alliances]

Stanley Blake-27 Yrs-Unknown Realm

Snip

I hid my intoxicated handicap rather well, as I followed Garnet through the portal and to where she was headed. The place quite beautiful, nothing at all like what I am used to. I stayed back several paces from her, as she handed me Misery for safe keeping while she completed whatever trial she needed done. But I did not say anything, my mind kept racing back to the dream of last night, the nightmare...or was it real? The fire, the pain, smells and stench and burning. I had been there far too many times, and my stomach still turns with the wretched stench of the place. Of the horrid sights. I brushed some bangs from my eyes as I lifted my flask to another drink, remembering the words that Succubus said to me.

You're fucked.

It was such a simple statement, and she seemed correct in her assessment. Lifting the flask to my own lips, I shoved the thoughts from my mind. As I may be bound for hell, but that train wont leave for a while yet. It was that moment that a portal had opened beneath me, that the pit in my stomach opened as I expected to fall through, but rather, something was released from it. I buckled backwards and the figure rising in front of me, was none other than the Succubus woman I had sent to hell earlier.

I stared blankly at her,as she laughed a crackling chuckle at my hectic confusion.

"You seem so clueless for a prodigy on the supernatural Blake. Tell me, have you ever met your own collector yet?" With those words, I knew what she had become. A collector is a being, either demonic or angelic that is charged with escorting your soul to Hell or Heaven, depending on the case.

And seeing that my collector, was none other than this Demon, it seems that I was at the end of my rope. However, I still found myself unable to say anything. She threw her head back, so entertained by my situation.

"You still dont know why you are destined for hell, do you? I suppose I will just have to show you." The long legged succubus approached me, and placed her hands on each side of my head, and stared deeply into my eyes. As she began to burn visions of my past into my brain, as if watching a movie in reverse. My eyes seared in pain, but I could see...I could see why I was bound for the hells below.

For I had earned it, even with my own eyes, burned from their sockets, tears began to flow, denying all biology. As I was now aware of the life I had taken. It seems that I had my answer.

Not everyone gets their second chance.

With the reveal over, my body began to be consumed by underworld flames, but I quickly pulled the piece of the sword from my jacket that I had given to Garnet. Now was the last time I would have, as I used my own blood, to draw out a piece of my soul. I enscribed the rune in blood upon the artifact, that would effectively seal a piece of my soul within the weapon.

And the sword would live again. As my body and the rest of my soul repented for its sins.

Now unable to scream, I could feel my physical form fade from existence, and I still wanted so much.

My voice, carried with the last magic I could muster, carried through the wind of this place, as I sent it to Garnet's ears. Being the last reminder that I was ever here, apart from Misery laying on the ground, alongside a new and very biological blade.

"If I only had more time, I would have enjoyed travelling with you. Perhaps a rain check, meet each other again, in another world, where things can be different with no shadows to make you cry." And with those final words, I sealed the final portion of my soul within my weapon, and trusted Garnet to discover the secrets.

[Siliarba]

DeeDee

"Awesome!" She wasn't sure if what she asked was even possible so the reply from Hadri was very welcome news. Her asking for some more information was natural so of course she would oblige in giving more of it. "First of all, one side of the portals will eventually have to be a spot in Gotham, to be determined as of yet, and the other sides should be places scattered around popular places in the universe so no matter where you are, or are from you can probably reach it if you want to." DeeDee grew quiet as she got an idea that might make things more favorable to Hadri. "Ooh, I got an idea! You're somewhat of an explorer from what I know. We could have the portals help you with exploration in some sort."

DeeDee was trying to think how to best put her idea, "You could make a central hub on a place you own, or even on yourself I suppose, being a planet. Sexiest planet I've ever met if I may ad. Basically making all portals lead to that place you chose, and then it's like reverse exploration. Instead of going to far away places and learning about what you see, you make far away people come to you and observe what you see from your own home. And then we have one portal there that leads to that place in Gotham, making it the central portal so people know that's the one they want."

DeeDee stopped talking for a moment to prevent herself from rambling, which she has a tendency to do, and to give Hadri time to take this all in. Eventually she started talking again and began to explain the entire idea she and CeeCee had that required this portal system in the first place.

CeeCee

Still on earth and in Gotham CeeCee was finishing up on her designs, in theory they should work, and they couldn't really be tested until a lot of other things were in order, plus they needed DeeDee's magic as well rather than only CeeCee's technology. Best thing to do now was to get a location, buy it, and then pull all the strings she had made over the years to make it a place where everyone inside of it would have a sorts of amnesty regardless of what they did anywhere else in the galaxy. She'd make the rules there and as long as you followed those rules wile on her property then you could stay there.

First things first though, she better made it clear to her supervisors they wouldn't be her supervisors any longer. Using the computer she was working at she reached out to her general. "Ah, CeeCee, you're late with your report, how is your mission going." "It's going within expected parameters sir, but this is going to be a long term operation it seems. Restoring order here may be an unreachable goal but one that I feel is necessary to attempt to reach. To conquer something capture the thing your enemy values the most and turn it in to what you want. If we can take Gotham and turn it in a beacon of order it will send a message throughout the world." "Sounds like your style but we have other places that require your skills, we send you to win battles, winning the war is not always your concern so we'll be pulling you out soon for new missions."

"That's a negative sir, I'm planning to entrench myself in Gotham, I have a plan to make myself influential here and fight the war on street level, industrial level and even political level. In case you want me somewhere else then you'll just have to hire me from now on. I'm quitting as a soldier, from this day you can hire me as a merc." The general she was talking to was about to protest heavily but CeeCee wasn't going to give him the chance, she knew she would get what she want regardless of what her supposed supervisors would say. "No need to protest general, I'm planning to pull in every favor I have accumulated over the years to reach my goals here, you know better than anyone that I got enough favors that you can't stop me regardless what you say. It was an honor working for you." "Very well, I see there's no use talking to you further about this, seems like I need to prepare a briefing about you to the higher-ups for this, you never did make life easy for me. In any case, good luck out there."

And with that CeeCee was now her own woman, ready to continue with her plan. Step one, buy an entire row of warehouses on the Gotham city docks. She had made a small fortune over the past years with all her top level secret missions and 0 expenses, so that was the easy part.