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

[Confederation of imperial states]

Old Knight's Domain

11:30pm

The Knight dropped into the old and dark Knight's domain, they had moved to the newly constructed domain under the Branston Estate House, leaving the old one behind. The Knight knew his father was staying behind to check some things, but with him being Unable to contact his father, The Knight entered through the old VTOL hangar to check.

The Knight cracked and activated a glowstick from his utility belt, holding it up and illuminating the Domain. The Knight walked through the domain, it was old, empty, and dark, Marcus felt unnerved but The Knight felt right at home. The Knight walked over to the Old Knightconputer, one of the monitors illuminated, and someone sitting in the chair. The Knight crouched doen,mreadying his stance as he approached, The Knight shot up when he reached the chair......

Only to see his father sitting lifelessly in the chair.

The Knight lost his intimidating demeanour, as it all seemed to melt away. The Knight dropped to one knee, taking off his helmet and setting it on the floor. Marcus was at a loss, he gazed over to the computer to see his father had recorded a messsage. marcus stood up, activating the audio record.

"Marcus, son.....

If you're listening to this, I have passed on, the lung deterioration we talked about had accelerated. I had not informed you, because I didn't want to distract you from your work. Rught now you're probably considering retiring The Knight, I want to tell you to do the opposite. From your first year on this earth I saw tou grow, from the day your mother died to the day tou left, I saw you had left the man you were and became something more, something greater. Chicago needs The Knight, a guardian who is able to overcome any obstacle, whether they be assassin, or a seemingly god like being. It is the good, and great men who stand up for Chicago, when others turn and run. Be the man i never could be, defend Chicago ahd her people from the scum and villainy.

Take care son, I'm sorry i have left before I could truley say goodbye.
I will always love you forever, your father, Thomas Branston.

Marcus stood up, glaring down, Marcus reached down and picked up his helmet, turning it on. The Knight reached down and picked up his father, carrying him out with both arms.

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

Loss breathed in deeply, meditating at the centre of his office. Soon, inside his mind's eye, scenes of the Universe were spread out before him. He saw many things- A grand return of nigh unparalleled power. A gnawing hunger of terrifying threat. A God who thought himself King, and a King who thought himself God. A quarrel of brothers ended by a child, and...

A war was coming.

---

"You are under arrest." Commander Hill narrowed her eyes.
"Put the guns down, boys, you don't want this to get ugly." The other figure in the room replied easily, cracking his knuckles.
"Take him down."

---

A war of change.

---

"With the so-called Heroes distracted, now's the perfect time to make our move." The shadowed figure slammer his fist against the table. "We go in and we destroy them, they don't know what hits them."

"No. If the public knows it was Supervillains, then more street level Heroes will just 'rise to the occasion'." A feminine voice responded. "I have a plan."

---

A war of death.

---

"If you continue down this path, we all die."
"At least I'll die a Hero. You won't have that luxury- Not anymore."

---

A war of destiny.

---

Loss gasped for breath, falling to the ground and gripping the floor. What... What the hell was that? I've never had a vision that clear before. He blinked slowly, gathering himself, before rising. He grabbed his coat from his desk and reached into the pocket, only to find his phone already receiving a call. "Alex? I told you not to call me while I meditate. Regardless, you need to come to my office- Something has come up and-"

"Really, Loss, is that any way to treat an old friend?" The voice on the phone was not Alex's, but rather much older. Despite this, it was full of just as much, if not more, guile. "No response? Not that surprising. It was hard to track down your personal number, my friend, but nothing is outside the reach of Madam Fang." Loss could hear the smirk over the phone.

"Now is not the best time, Ashmore." Loss finally sighed. "What do you want? Last I recall, you told me you never wanted to see me again."

"Oh, did I?" She mock questioned. "Oh yes. I recall now. I'm certain both of us have grown quite a bit since Budapest-"

"It's been three months."

"-But more to the point, I was calling in regards to the advertisement you recently placed." She continued as though she had not been interrupted. "You're looking for teachers. Who better than me?"

"Anyone." Loss frowned. "Listen, Margaret, now is not the time for our old games. I'm busy, and recent events-"

"I'm serious." She interrupted him, her voice now sombre. "I don't have anything else to do, and frankly, you're the only one who's ever had any luck with leads."

Loss didn't have to ask what leads she was talking about. After being teleported 200 years into the future, anyone would be looking for more information. "Fine. If you're serious, Ashmore, meet me at my office tomorrow afternoon. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, my old-"

Loss set his phone down, rubbing his temples. She chooses now to show up? Of any time? Blood hell. He picked it back up again, dialling Alex's number. "Alex, you there? We need to talk." He was not aware, but already the vision was fading from his memory. By the time Alex would pick up the phone, he would forget it entirely, and simply ask about Madam Fang's potential employment.

[New Rob Halfordia]

Retconned

[The Republic of Atria]

When it seemed that no one had any questions, several boom tubes opened up to the universe that was just about to be completely drained of its energy. The boom tubes lead the group that consisted of: The Masakis, Xander, Naja, Otis and Orion. A force to be reckoned with for certain, only to be further reinforced by one thousand New Genesis warriors. However, the other end of the boom tube was far from a pretty sight. The Earth was scorched and completely void of any living thing. The sun was a dull red rather than it's normal bright yellow. The stench of scorched air and death clung fast to the world. Xander and Naja had the willpower to ignore how bad it was, Otis however almost began to feel sick with the amount of death and destruction that had been caused. "Oh... Man... What the hell did this?" He asked half to himself and half to everyone else.

"That would be me..." A man replied shilw stepping out of some burning wreckage. "This universe was flawed. So I'm bringing it down. You can skip the heroics, I'm-" He cut himself off when he caught a look at Xander. "And what do we have here?! Another me? I've only met a few other mes. Most of them didn't even have powers. You though... You're stronger than the other mes. Won't really change much."

"That's the source of all this destruction! Kill him!" Orion shouted and led the charge of his New Genesis warriors against the blue man. It didn't last 10 seconds. Orion flew straight at Alt!Xander and was backhanded with such force that he was sent clear of the city. The warriors were immediately vaporized by Alt!Xander's eye beams.

"That was very rude of them." He sighed and shook his head. "Luthor told me that New Genesis would be getting involved. Not that big a deal. At worst you're a speed bump." Alt!Xander smirked. "Alright. Let's do us all a favor and skip the heroic speeches and go right to the part where I kill you all." Xander attacked first with a right hook that didn't even connect. Alt!Xander had grabbed him by the wrist. "Yawn." Alt!Xander said, clearly bored with having to swat what was to him, gnats. With one swift motion, AltXander ripped Xander's arm clean off and then with one straight punch into Xander's gut, his fist went straight through until he forced it to the right, ripping Xander almost completely in half. Only a small section of the left side of his abdomen kept his leg attached.

It was Naja's turn and she was pissed. To the degree where the only thing that she was capable of saying were angry grunts as she tried to hit Alt!Xander with her claws. "Now..." He said stepping to the left. "Who're you supposed to be, exactly? I'm no psychiatrist, but you seem slightly upset on how I just killed that version of me. So are you like his girlfriend?" Naja thought she saw an opening and swung at Alt!Xander with her left, only to have it caught. "Yeah... Looks like I struck a ner-" He was caught off guard by what she did next: A groin kick. Even though he was stronger and faster than Naja in virtually every way, a superhuman kick to the groin still hurts. When he staggered, she went a step further, and drover her thumbs into his eyes, claws extended.

Alt!Xander hollered in agony as he tried to get Naja's thumbs out of his eye sockets, but she further kept her grip by driving her other 8 fingers into the sides of his skull and kneed him in the stomach, repeatedly. "Hurts, doesn't it?! The more you thrash around, the more I'm going to shove my claws into your brain! You're a goddamned monster! How many people have you killed and why?!" It seemed that she actually had things under control. Alt Xander stopped moving much as blood dripped from the many new holes on his head. Which made Naja make the mistake of letting her guard down. "Tell me, or I'm going to rip your head off right here and now." Regardless of what he had to say for himself, she was probably going to rip his head off regardless.

Once Alt!Xander felt Naja relax just the smallest bit. He spoke. "Complicated..." It was very difficult to explain with the brain damage he had at the moment. "I take a universe's energy. Give it to Luthor. He starts doing his bullshit I don't understand." He snickered a bit despite being in quite the tremendous amount of pain.

"And what's so funny?"

"This." Alt!Xander replied and thrust his arms up with such speed that they severed poor Naja's arms at the elbow, which freed him from her death grip. One he pulled her dismembered arms out of his head, the wounds immediately sealed and his eyes had grow back. Naja was almsot spraying her green blood all over the ground. "So you're his wife and or fuckbuddy? Ewww. I almost feel sorry for him. What the hell kind of guy would want to be with... Whatever the hell you're supposed to be? Some kind of snake woman? Disgusting." Naja staggered back to her feet, with her healing factor already beginning to repair the damage to her arms. Only for Alt!Xander to half ass karate chop her neck. It was enough to decapitate her. "Good lord. You're all lucky I'm here to clean up this crap. Which one of you poorly dressed idiots and/or freaks is next?"

Otis watched as the events unfolded. That was clearly an alternate version of Xander. Though much, much more terrifying and with wite hair and dark blue skin not too different from his. He liked Xander and he liked Naja a little bit more. Mostly due to them both being of Inhuman lineage. And how nice she was to him. He didn't know why, but he could tell that Naja was more hurt by the cruel things Alt!Xander said about her than the physical damage he did to her. That would heal. And it was still Xander's voice that said it. Evil doppelganger from another universe or not.

[New Rob Halfordia]

Retconned

[The Fallen Jedi]

- Snip -

God of Peace Shimura
Clash: A Battle Amongst Titans

As soon as both Shimura and Kazuko set foot onto the now lifeless Earth the effect was instant for them, with Kazuko grabbing hold of his head as if he was suffering a severe migraine, while Shimura felt as if there were butterflies within his stomach. He knew it was wrong, but this Universe felt so "Peaceful..." Shimura inwardly contemplated, his eyes shut as he could feel the very edge of this Universe, and there was no life to be found in the slightest, no war, no conflict, only the situation that the group was facing here and now: Alt!Xander, the bringer of death and destruction for this very Universe, and even If so many deaths brought about peace within this Universe, Shimura could not let this happen! "No..." Shimura whispered, his emerald eyes burning with fire within them "This is wrong, peace shouldn't be brought about like this..." It only took a moment for a emerald column of energy to envelop his still visible form, he appeared as if he was a frail old man, but his muscular build began to buff itself up, his aged wrinkles beginning to disappear from his withered face, and his hair began to turn from grey to jet black, Shimura was becoming young once more!

"I don't know how I should feel about this..." Shimura stated to no one in particular, staring down at his hands with an unsure expression on his face. Shimura did indeed feel at peace within this Universe, but something was still wrong, It was like Shimura could not accept the reality of death only being the catalyst of peace, he could not grasp this theory in his mind, he wanted peace to be established while everyone lived, not when they were dead! "I can't accept peace being something like this, to only exist in death, I know that there is another way to bring peace, It just can't simply end like this." It was at this very moment that a small trinket began to form around Shimura's neck, a necklace that was made out of the very little energy that this Universe had to offer, a necklace with both Yin and Yang on them, but instead of it being together, the two portions of the trinket were split apart, with Yin representing death, while Yang represented life. These two portions of the incomplete puzzle were no longer bound by the silver lining that kept them connected, It represented the inner turmoil within Shimura, the lack of belief that death was the only way to bring peace "This turmoil, to feel such uncertainty in such a peaceful environment..." Within a simple blink of an eye, Shimura found himself directly in front of Alt!Xander, his fist speeding toward Alt!Xander, followed by a stream of eye beams from his eyes "Such a turmoil is unheard of..."

Flashing a brief frown on his face, Alt-Xander pulled away from Shimura and even moved his head slightly to his right, narrowly avoiding the eye beams that were meant for him, but to his mild shock, Shimura did not follow up in his first attack, he was actually allowing Alt-Xander to move back freely "Huh, your nowhere near as aggressive as my now dead counterpart and his wife, usually you hero types would follow up with a barrage of attacks that would be seen miles away." A slight smirk formed on Alt-Xander's face, he could sense something unique about this old man, something peaceful and tranquil judging by his spiritual essence that flowed within him "He's different..." Alt-Xander fired a pair of eye beams towards Shimura, who quickly countered with a construct made out of the Jade Lantern Ring that Shimura held "Oh, I get it, you're one of those Lantern Rings, that's why I feel something unique about you, but make no mistake, that won't change a single thing!" And with this, Alt-Xander was gone within a blink of an eye, to which Shimura followed up by doing the exact same thing, the two of them exchanging fists with one another at rapid speed before suddenly coming to a stop only a few feet away from their previous location.

"You are right, and you are wrong, Alternate Xander." Shimura replied, his now jet black hair beginning to shine silver, his skin tone beginning to darken slightly, resembling a bronze color "While I am a Lantern Ring User, my powers do not rely on it's powers solely." Shimura's spiritual energy began to spike exponentially before exploding all around him and Alt-Xander in a spectacular show of force that caused the battle-scarred Earth to shudder to it's very core "I have transcended beyond the boundaries of Mortality and beyond the reliance of a Lantern Ring, for I have become the very embodiment that represents all peace within the Universe..." Shimura arched his head backwards before sending it forward with enough force to give a Kryptonian a severe concussion "I am the God of Peace and I will bring my judgement down upon you!" As Shimura's head impacted Alt-Xander's forehead, the sheer force of the impact was enough to send him hurtling into a nearby derelict building and even caused the very building to collapse upon Alt-Xander, but Shimura knew it was not the end.

"Alright, God of Peace..." Alt-Xander's voice echoed from within the collapsed building, his form shooting out of the building with only a few scratches that healed itself up almost instantly, his form was glowing with pure energy that he called upon from the doomed Universe, a smile on his face as his eyes suddenly shot open "Let us see if the embodiment of Peace can stand up to what energy remains in this Universe!" With only a single gesture, a numerous energy beams shot out from the areas of Alt-Xander's body that was glowing with energy, from Shimura's perspective they resembled a meteor shower from close range. Shimura decided to respond accordingly, his eyes closed briefly, calling upon his very Spiritual Essence, and then his eyes shot open once more, releasing a stream of emerald energy from his eyes, but his control of the beams was refined that it appeared that he was calling upon the Omega Force, but to Alt-Xander's shock, these beams "They aren't from the Omega Sanction?"

Both opponents stood perfectly still, Alt-Xander and Shimura's beams continued to collide with each other, neither side ceasing in their assault, vying for domination over one another. However, the beam battle continued to appear as if there was a stalemate, neither one of their energy signatures could overpower one another "It seems that I'll have to engage in physical combat, but his healing factor will be able to counteract most of my attacks, If I'm not fast enough." At the same time, both Opponents shot towards each other at extreme speeds, their fists deadlocked between each other "Let me show you the mistake of enraging the God of Peace!" With this, both Shimura and Alt-Xander started pulling punches against one another while the energy beams from each of them still combated each other, It was like a 4th of July Fireworks display, but there were shockwaves being displayed as a result of Shimura and Alt-Xander's melee, It wasn't just a battle between the two, but It was a war:

A War of Attrition

[Imperial--japan]

How had she done that? How had this annoying upstart effortlessly blocked all of her attacks simultaneously? Elena slowly breathed in and out to calm the anger that was quickly making itself known. There was a snarl left upon her face, and her next assault was a bit sloppy. The magical girl raised her bow and charged it until its volume was three times that of the previous one. The arrow glowed white this time, and upon release, Elena followed her projectile from behind. When the arrow hit, she would follow up with a series of kicks to wound her opponent.

Kika was doing just as well as Kimiko now. Blood coated her hook blades entirely as the mutilated corpse of one of the former magical girls laid nearby. Her other two friends kept their distance, but were seething with rage. In response, she merely gave them a reassuring smile.

"The life of a Magical girl is rather hard. You shouldn't have changed your lives for some wish. Now I have to kill a bunch of runts like you," Kika spat the last part out, and charged towards her foes. Unsure as to why they were so slow to dodge, the two raised their weapons in defense. Unfortunately, Kika was vastly stronger and separated the legs from the body of the blonde one. The following screams were a delight.

Kimiko smiled, though she had gotten a little lazy, the dodge she performed was too close, causing the arrow to graze her face. Not noticing at first, she proceeded to catch her opponents foot with her Halberd, blocking it and pushing her leg to the side. She smiled, then frowned slightly, she felt a stinging at her face. Bringing her hand up to her cheek she felt the sticky feeling of blood. The cut was shallow, but it was enough to make the girl stop.

She... touched me. She actually touched my... perfect face. Her fists clenched around her Halberd. That bitch cut me... She can't do that! She can't! She can't! I can't let her!

Her thoughts became erratic, but her movements became more precise, faster and with more force as her desperation to make sure her foe didn't have a chance to mar her perfect features further. She sped towards her foe, stabbing with her halberd forward in a strike meant to brutally skewer her foe, though she also sent a white hot burning ray of nuclear heat, death and radiation her way.

This battle was over before it began, but Elena had hoped she'd be able to skewer one of the aggressors before she was forced to leave her companions to their fate. Already, two of them had died, and the only ally she had left was demoralized and quaking at the sight of her mutilated friends. Using speed that she had been reluctant to reveal beforehand, Elena shot herself through one of the church windows in a desperate attempt to escape a grisly fate.

"THIS ISN'T OVER!" Elena shouted from a neighboring rooftop.

"I'll be back..." she muttered to herself before taking off into the night, leaving the single remaining magical girl in the church to her fate.

Said magical girl was awestruck at the sudden and brutal deaths of her compatriots. That this single girl could...kill them...with such ease was frightening. The power of these two was overwhelming, and in a panic she threw her weapon to the ground. She didn't want to die.

"P-Please....I-I'm sorry," the girl croaked as tears started to stream down her face.

"Please don't kill me....I don't want to die..." the girl then fell to her knees and started to bawl in earnest. Kika calmly approached her and placed a reassuring smile on the young magical girl's head.

"It's alright." Kika said while giving off a warm smile. The girl looked up pleadingly and with a glimmer of hope in her eye.

"I'll make it quick." Kika said with an ounce of glee in her voice. Then the young magical girl felt nothing as her world faded to black. Kika's hook blades had severed the young girls head from her body and left a trio of corpses around Kimiko's subordinate. Kika would be eager to show her best friend what she had done for her.

[Altito Asmoro]

Len-El

So here he is right now, at a containment cell.

Alone, sad, wounded, all went into one single body. He's alone, nobody inside the cell but him. He's sad, he's defeated and now without purposes. For now, of course. And wounded, as in heavily-wounded-but-managed-to-be-alive condition. Yeah, he's not in the best condition. He managed to stood up and tried to rammed his shoulder to broke the cell.

It didn't broke, in fact it managed to hurt his shoulder.

[Confederation of imperial states]

Branston Estate House, Outer Grounds

5:30pm

The Snow from the blizzard plauging chicago continued to drop, the light snow fall on the estate house was a tribute to it's furiocity. Marcus walked out to the rear grounds, near a line of hedges and flowers, Marcus stopped when he reached a Tombstone that read "Martha Branston". Marcus shook his head, turning to the marked rectangular spot, he drove his shovel into the cold dirt and began to dig. The work was hard, grueling, the cold, hard dirt made it even harder. Anna insisted on helping, however Marcus denied, this was something only he should have to do alone. Marcus dug and dug, each shovel movement becoming harder and harder. Marcus eventually stopped, taking a breath, it being visible in the cold air. Macus stopped, after an hour of digging 6 feet by himself, he climbed out of the grave, throwing his shovel up. Marcus sat on the edge, holding back the urge to let his emotions dictate when his reasonable mind needed to be in control. Marcus stood up, picking up the shovel and walking back towards the estate house.

a Few Days later...

Marcus, Anna, and a group of people attended the funeral in the rear grounds of the Estate house, all dressed in black winter clothing. Marcus peered away from the Priest's sermon, he saw a Disguised Guardian accross from him, they exchanged a mournful nod as they continued watching the priest. "Thomas was a man who lived and worked for the benefit of others, He continued his research and investing in helping Chicago. After the Death of his wife, Thomas stood strong raising Marcus on his own, and now that we lay him to rest, let our hearts not be filled by grief, but filled with rememberance and joy". The Priest paused, "and now that he is laid to rest, let us go in peace". The priest closed his book and walked away with the group of people, Marcus stood by the end of the grave, looking down at it, Anna stood behind him, "Go Inside Anna", Anna paused, wanting to object, but she knew thisn was more of a grieving time for him, and she turned and walked abck to the esttae house.

Guardian, disguised as his alter alias, walked up to Marcus, Marcus turned and looking directly in the eyes. "It's been a rough Year", "I'll say", "assassins, Gotham being attacked, Criminal Scum rising in Chicago". Marcus and Guardian stood and looked down at Thomas' grave for a whole, silent, 5 minutes, They both shared a curt Nodded and went on their way. Marcus entered the Estate house, hanging up his thermal Duster and taking off his boots, Marcus walked over and up the stairs. Anna stayed in the living room, watching recent news reports, Anna sighed when Stahl thugs were still spotted around the city. Marcus walked into the Study, sitting down in his father's chair infront of a fireplace and simply staring, contemplating.

Anna answered the Doorbell, opening the door to a tall woman with shorter hair, "Hello Anna", Anna nodded. Cassandra, also Known as Titan walked in, she was taller than Anna, meeting Marcus' height, she clearly saw the gloom within the building. "How is He", Anna simply stared at Cass, "that bad huh?", "He's in the Study upstairs" Cassandra nodded, walking up stairs, "Cassandra....", Cassandra turned back to Anna, "He's not good at Handeling Death, so....Be careful with him", Cassandra nodded, walking upstairs, 'Don't worry Anna, He's my friend'. Cassandra knocked on the Study door, she waited, after a minute of no reply she opened the door. Cassandra only saw the back of Marcus' chair, however she knew he was crushed, his usual strong demeanour was now griefull and broken. Cassandra walked opver to the right side of Marcus' chair, "hello Marcus", Marcus didn't reply, simply staring at the fireplace.

Marcus looked up at Cassandra, looking down and shaking his head, "this is useless", Marcus stood up, proceeding to the door. "what is?", "sitting around, doing nothing but sulking in grief. I need to occupy myself with something". Marcus walked outside the study, with Cass following, proceeding to the Knight armor statue across the hall. "Marcus Grieving isn't Useless", Marcus simply pulled the sword of The Knight forward, causing it to lower down into the floor and reveal a secret stairwell, Marcus turned to Cassandra. "and what would you have me do, Sulk by myself in the study, instead of Protecting Chicago?", Cassandra gave a confused face, "Marcus, Sulking by yourself Isn't healthy, You need to-", Marcus gave Cassandra a stern face, "do, WHAT, exactly? I am The Knight of Chicago, I am a Symbol, I must be Uncorruptable, Unbreakable, and Unstoppable". Cassandra gave Marcus a pleading face, "I'm going out", Cassandra didn't stop him as he walked down the stairs, and the Knight statue rose up behind him.

---

The History between the knight and The Titan begins half a decade ago.
Flash Back Begins....

Titan flew through the skies of San Andreas, soaring and keeping watch, She'd bee the Titan for a good 2 years now, Defending and protecting her home city as a Superpowered being. Titan however noticed something different, she gazed down t see a man in an armored suit fighting a large group of street thugs. Titan watched as The Man preformed countless martial arts and combat moves, attacking and taking down each enemy, however there was soemthing more distinctive between him, and other Vigilantes. He didn't kill. Titan dropped down, as soon as she did the thugs scattered, "SH*T IT'S TITAN, RUN!" The man in the suit knocked down one fleeing thug, placing his boot on The Thug's throat. "where is Slick, TALK! Or I'll Crush your Larynx". Titan knocked off The Knight causing the Thug to run, "enough bucko", The Knight got to his feet, throwing a hypersonic device on the ground infront of her. The device wet off, Titan screaming in painas the Device shot her with a hypersonic beam, piercing her ears. The Knight began to strike at titan, but was matched when she began to counter his attacks. Titan crushed the device under her boot and lunged at The Knight, The Knight rolled backwards, throwing her over him.

The Knight stood up, however Titan beat him to the punch, ramming him (althrough lightly) against the walls, holding him by the shoulders. "WHy are you Terrorizing the People of this city?!", "I'm Terrorizing Scum, The Same Cartel scum that have been plauging both our cities for years". Titan raised an eyebrow as she let go of The Knight. "There's a Cartel leader here, Slick", "I know of him, I've meet him. He's untouchable and unbreakable to me". "not me", Titan gave The Knight a partly judging look, "what makes you say that?", "I'm the Reason Criminals have nightmares in chicago every night". Titan taised he eyebrows, "you're The Knight", "you Know about me?", "A Masked Hero singlehandedly beats 5 swat teams, and then scares the mob there into submission, word tends to get around". They both stared at each other, a Mutual understanding between them, "I can't have you tearing apart the Ghetto of the City. How about an Alliance". titan extended her hand, "Chicago and San Andreas are better for it". The Knight stared at her hand, before extending his and shaking her hand. signing a friendship that would last years to come.

Flash Back Ends....

---

Len-El

So here he is right now, at a containment cell.

Alone, sad, wounded, all went into one single body. He's alone, nobody inside the cell but him. He's sad, he's defeated and now without purposes. For now, of course. And wounded, as in heavily-wounded-but-managed-to-be-alive condition. Yeah, he's not in the best condition. He managed to stood up and tried to rammed his shoulder to broke the cell.

It didn't broke, in fact it managed to hurt his shoulder.

out of the Shadowy room of the GCPD the cell was in, The Knight stepped forward, his Dark Armored suit making him hard to see.
The Knight stared down at the Kryptonian, not scowling but keeping a grim face,

"Are the Accomidations suiting you?", The Knight saw the glare the Kryptonian shot, whether the Kryptonian would respond or not, The Knight would continue.

The Knight stepped forward, illuminated now by the light overhead,
"you previously have a Track Record of heroics, and being a Symbol of Justice. Why stop now and Follow that Murderer, who wanted to see 7 billion people die".

[Altito Asmoro]

"Well, I cannot exactly complaining about my current condition, right?" said Len, as he returned back and sat down. He's not exactly happy, nor sad, but he's not the one to complain things. "My accommodation is enough, probably. "How long will you keep me in the cell? Until the end of times, or until a period of time? Oh, and I promise I won't kill. Much." said Len again, although this time he said it while lying on the bed, head on the pillow.

"I used to be a hero, yes, but I was tired being one. Being a hero and didn't get much attentions, nor aid, but instead bitterness, regret, sadness, and not much compassion certainly harden the career of being a hero. Being nice is hard, especially when you are alone, and a girl betrayed you so much you have to burn down an orphanage in Siberia." said Len, again.

[Confederation of imperial states]

"Well, I cannot exactly complaining about my current condition, right?" said Len, as he returned back and sat down. He's not exactly happy, nor sad, but he's not the one to complain things. "My accommodation is enough, probably. "How long will you keep me in the cell? Until the end of times, or until a period of time? Oh, and I promise I won't kill. Much." said Len again, although this time he said it while lying on the bed, head on the pillow.

"I used to be a hero, yes, but I was tired being one. Being a hero and didn't get much attentions, nor aid, but instead bitterness, regret, sadness, and not much compassion certainly harden the career of being a hero. Being nice is hard, especially when you are alone, and a girl betrayed you so much you have to burn down an orphanage in Siberia." said Len, again.

"Well, I cannot exactly complaining about my current condition, right?" "My accommodations are enough, probably. How long will you keep me in the cell? Until the end of times, or until a period of time? Oh, and I promise I won't kill. Much.".

"I used to be a hero, yes, but I was tired being one. Being a hero and didn't get much attentions, nor aid, but instead bitterness, regret, sadness, and not much compassion certainly harden the career of being a hero. Being nice is hard, especially when you are alone, and a girl betrayed you so much you have to burn down an orphanage in Siberia." .

The Knight's eyes wandered partly from the Kryptonian, then returned to looking him in the eyes,
"I understand your concerns, The Hatred, the backdraft of people hating you for trying to help, and they yell and lash out". The Knight extended a hand towards Len - el, "You for being Kryptonian", The Knight gestured towards himself, "and I, because I don't stand in the light when I strive for justice". The Knight's hand returned to his side, "But you can't just give up, yes, people will hate you for who you are, even when you try so hard to do the right thing. But that doesn't mean Humans are only vulnerable to do this, other species are viable to do this, to hate their heroes, and lash out. ".

"But I want to Know is, Why Murder. Why turn your back completely, and Instead of doing anything else, you pledge to murder 6 million people in Gotham, some of them innocents, because a crowd of 75 people decided to do the Arrogant filled option of hating you?". The Knight looked down at the Symbol on the Kryptonian's suit, Superman's Symbol. "If you are truley from that House, and you decide to Wear the Symbol of Hope, Do not go down the path of a Genocidal Maniac.".

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

"There's nothing saying I can't, is there?" The red-haired huntress spoke in response to Jamal's joke, her grin growing wider, now clearly noticeable. She would have said something else, but she felt that acknowledging his appreciation for her tea yet again would have been redundant, as she had made her satisfaction clear already. Instead, she simply finished off one of the two kebabs that she had taken from Jamal, placing the other one on the cloth beneath her, which was acceptably clean and was unlikely to ruin the food. Then, she looked straight at Jamal.

"It would have been fun to see you become a celebrity, but that won't be happening soon I suppose. It was entertaining to have you over, but I understand that you have to leave and I wish you luck." The Hadrian Goddess said very seriously, quite calm but no longer in quite the same playful mood as before. "The Elders are grateful for your work, I'm sure, and even if they were not, you have an ally here, so if you ever find yourself in trouble and think I might be of some assistance, don't hesitate to ask." She said, pausing to take a sip of tea. "Now then, I won't keep you any further. Go do whatever it is you must do, and I will see you when you take off." She said, and at this point, she smiled once again. "I wouldn't dare miss the first takeoff in the history of Adai."

---

---

Immersed as she was in her epic boss battle, Jamie would've never suspected that Marybeth was creeping up the stairs muffling her footsteps with her powers, and she didn't notice even as the blonde girl entered the living area of the Justice Queens tower. Hearing a voice nearby, however, Jamie nearly jumped, though she managed to avert doing so, and hit the pause button on her controller before glancing at the person addressing her. It was Marybeth, and for a moment, Jamie raised an eyebrow. Why was Marybeth asking her who she was? They had already met, and while they perhaps didn't talk a lot (which was understandable, as Jamie didn't really talk a lot with anyone), she was fairly sure that the other girl should at least know her name.

But then, after a moment, she remembered that she was wearing the magical shades she had pulled out from her inventory earlier, and had to make an effort not to facepalm. Putting the controller aside, she took off her shades and looked at Marybeth, who would now be able to recognize Jamie for who she was. "Hey, Marybeth, it's just me. Um, Merry Christmas and all that stuff." The black-haired girl said.

---

---

Kirisvala was, needless to say, quite surprised by the man's agility, and was too slow to react to the knife, mereely watching it approach only to be swatted away by Nico's sand-fist, saving her life. The Hadrian heroine was far too shocked to notice how one-sided the rest of the fight was, however, and instead looked intetly at the knife, which had fallen tho the ground after having been knocked aside and hitting the wall. A hand instinctively went up to her throat (it did not harm her, as Hadrians were perfectly aware of how to keep from harming themselves with their claws) as she looked at it, her face turning slightly pale. She had been a moment away from dying, and it was a rather rattling experience. However, she knew that there would be danger, and she also knew that she couldn't just freeze in the middle of a mission, so she controlled herself and walked up to the others as Nico interrogated Jordan. It was quite the sad sight, a boy so angry at being betrayed by the people close to him. Not knowing what else to do or what to say, she simply stood back as they waited for Xyri to report back.

---

---

Necromancer giggled as he saw Otis flabbergasted by the revelation that the slightly oversized daisy in the flower pot on his handcart was in fact Darkseid of Apokolips, the Dark God that had almost killed him. "Yup." He responded, before stepping back and allowing the Nuhuman to taunt Darksey the Daisy to his heart's content. After all, he could read all of the information encoded within souls, and so, he knew perfectly well what had gone on between Darkseid and Otis, so he believed that the young man deserved some payback on the New God. However, that was not the important surprise for him, and so, when the Inhuman finally turned around and saw the gift that had been delivered to him, the young boy grinned, before retreating a little in order to stand out of the range of the Kinceleran's threatening tail, dragging Darksey away as well after his flower pot was nearly toppled. Then, he simply stoof by, watching as Otis spoke with his mother who had come back from the dead. Darksey, who knew who the woman was, seemed to be surprised, but only mildly, as he already had plenty of knowledge on the sheer power of the boy called Necromancer.

Hearing Otis mention him during his talk with his mother, Necromancer waved, still smiling. "It's okay Otis, she already knows who I am. She's the one who asked me to let her see you, after all." He said, walking a couple steps closer to the reunited family, though he still didn't walk through the door, not wanting to be impolite. "As for me, you can call me Necromancer. That probably gives you an idea of what all of this is, doesn't it?" He said, his smile fading somewhat as he reached the part that was often the hardest to explain. He usually just left and let the returned ones explain, as he had done in Black Bolt's case, but this time he figured he might as well take that weight off of their shoulders. "You see, this is only temporary. Once the Christmas season passes, your mother is going to return to me. So, um, enjoy your time together and all that, alright?"

---

---

Black Sun glanced at her sister after hearing Tomia's question, before simply shrugging. "I'm not sure, to be honest. She must've gotten into a fight with someone stronger than her and was beaten up as a result, but it doesn't matter too much. She will finish self-repairing eventually, and at most she will be mad about losing when she wakes up. Her pride is the only thing that's hurt, really." She explained, hoping it would be enough to satisfy the little girl's curiosity. Afterwards, she heard Tomia talk about her time in the spaceship, smiling as she listened to her attentively.

"So... your father forced your mother to have a child with him, your mother is in a hospital, and your father is with the big red woman now?" She asked after hearing out everything, momentarily puzzled. "...Fully organic people are weird." She concluded, before realizing that her comment might've confused Tomia. Pausing, she decided to address that. "Oh, yeah, my sister and I are cyborgs who were made long ago. Cool, isn't it?" She asked, smiling, though her smile faded as she glanced at her arm and Black Nova's myriad mechanical parts. "Although you might've guessed that on your own..."

---

---

"Oh, that explains a lot. You humans get this weird stuff called 'disease' a lot, don't you? Craig- that's my boyfriend by the way- told me about it. It gives you all sorts of handicaps and nasty conditions. I've never known what it feels like to have one of those, though, since I can't really catch one." Etla rambled as Serene brought up the topic of her brother's condition. For the moment she didn't really suspect anything about Darian and the Demon, which was more than evident, and she simply continued talking about herself and the Rainborn and other things as the group went up the mountain, her chirpy demeanor never seeming to wither, as the Rainborn had always been quite lively and carefree and few forces in the world could take that away from her.

When Serene stopped the group and claimed that the odd cave they were in front of was the place where they needed to go, the golden-haired Rainborn was quite a bit confused. "Um... are you sure?" She asked, not really convinced. "I mean, you said we had to find a guru, right? Whateve rthat is, I mean. I assume it's a person, but I'm not sure." She stated, scratching her head a little. "Anyway, my point is, what kind of person would set up shop here? Are you sure someone lives here and not further up the mountain?" She asked. She was probably being a little too confrontational, she realized, but she figured that it was worth bringing that up, just to be sure. Plus, she didn't know about the Angel or what she had said yet.

---

---

Akihiko, much like the others, was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the flowing mass of spirits that was flooding into the room, attacking the group relentlessly. The cold didn't help much, and soon enough he noticed that he could see his own breath in front of him when he exhaled, which was probably not a good sign. He continued swinging his sword left and right indiscriminately, the flames around the blade keeping him warm to a degree, but he could still feel the temperature dropping further and further, and knew that it was a matter of time before the cold became unbearable.

Hearing Akari's suggestion, the half-Oni nodded, and then gripped his sword tightly with both hands as he retreated into a corner of the room. "Alright, girls, behind me." He told Garnet and Akari, figuring that Masami was fast enough to dodge any attacks that might accidentally get sent her way, not to mention that she was supposed to help out with holding back the ghosts as well. Focusing, Akihiko commanded the blades around Kusanagi to grow even stronger, and then, with a mighty swing, he sent a wave of emerald fire washing through the whole room, hopefully helping destroy or at least hold back the spirits that were attacking them. If it didn't, then he was pretty screwed, considering he would have to wait for a bit until the attack was ready to be used again.

"Well, that's new." Garnet commented from behind him, having complied rather quickly.

"The question is, did it work?" The half-Oni asked, panting slightly.

[The Republic of Atria]

"But... But..." He stammered. That meant he had a day at best.

"It's okay Otis." She said holding her son. "We've got long enough for us to talk."

"No... You don't understand..." It took a few minutes for him to explain that he had power now. A lot of power. The power of gods. If he could do everything that he's done, why couldn't he bring one person back to life? "I'll find a way. I swear I'll find a way."

"Otis..."

"I will! Then..." He started tearing up. "Then I'll bring dad back and we can be a family again! I can do it! I know I can! I just have to-" He tried to finish, but was interrupted by his mother.

"Stop. Otis. People die. It happens. It's life. Even if you did find a way, we would just die again at some point. I love you. Your father loves you. He's so proud of the man you've become. You've done more than most people could ever dream of." She explained. Despite what she did in the past, upon reflecting on it, she felt terrible for the things she did to her only son. But seeing how he turned out made both her and his deceased a father so proud of their son. "You killed an evil god. Most people don't even see one, let alone find, kill and take their power. We're proud of you. I can't make up for everything I did. I really can't. You deserved so much more." She was hugging her son and Otis was returning it with his own. "But you've grown so much, changed so much. You've done more good for this world than we can understand. How many people did Darkseid kill? How many lives did you spare by killing him?"

"I don't know... Probably a bunch." He didn't feel bad about killing Darkseid. Who would? Even Darkseid's own father would have probably killed him at some point if he hadn't. "I just... I just don't want to be alone anymore... I want to be a family again. We can live here! I've got a home, I've got a good job, I've got money... It'd-It'd be just like the old days!"

"It's okay Otis." She replied trying to comfort her son. "I've been a terrible mother. I wish I could take it all back." By now Otis was bawling his eyes out. For the first time when he was, she was there to try and make him feel better. "We're both very happy Otis. We want you to be happy too. You don't need us to be happy. You're a superhero Otis. A good one. You don't understand how proud we are of you. You've grown into a great man. Kind, caring, generous, strong..."

It was better that at least he got to speak with his mother before she went away for good. He couldn't stop her from leaving, but at the very least he got to say good bye. He turned to Darkseid. "I hope it hurt, bastard. I want to kill you. It would be so easy..." He hissed with his eyes smoldering with the power of the Omega Effect. "But... I'm not kind of person. You're going to live with the fact that your power is mine, forever. You will never get it back. Your power is in the hands of a stupid child... That probably hurts more than anything I could have done to you." He snickered a bit before letting out a long, deep breath. "Merry Christmas Darkseid. Have a nice life as a flower."

[Altito Asmoro]

"Well, I cannot exactly complaining about my current condition, right?" said Len, as he returned back and sat down. He's not exactly happy, nor sad, but he's not the one to complain things. "My accommodation is enough, probably. "How long will you keep me in the cell? Until the end of times, or until a period of time? Oh, and I promise I won't kill. Much." said Len again, although this time he said it while lying on the bed, head on the pillow.

"I used to be a hero, yes, but I was tired being one. Being a hero and didn't get much attentions, nor aid, but instead bitterness, regret, sadness, and not much compassion certainly harden the career of being a hero. Being nice is hard, especially when you are alone, and a girl betrayed you so much you have to burn down an orphanage in Siberia." said Len, again.

"Well, I cannot exactly complaining about my current condition, right?" "My accommodations are enough, probably. How long will you keep me in the cell? Until the end of times, or until a period of time? Oh, and I promise I won't kill. Much.".

"I used to be a hero, yes, but I was tired being one. Being a hero and didn't get much attentions, nor aid, but instead bitterness, regret, sadness, and not much compassion certainly harden the career of being a hero. Being nice is hard, especially when you are alone, and a girl betrayed you so much you have to burn down an orphanage in Siberia." .

The Knight's eyes wandered partly from the Kryptonian, then returned to looking him in the eyes,
"I understand your concerns, The Hatred, the backdraft of people hating you for trying to help, and they yell and lash out". The Knight extended a hand towards Len - el, "You for being Kryptonian", The Knight gestured towards himself, "and I, because I don't stand in the light when I strive for justice". The Knight's hand returned to his side, "But you can't just give up, yes, people will hate you for who you are, even when you try so hard to do the right thing. But that doesn't mean Humans are only vulnerable to do this, other species are viable to do this, to hate their heroes, and lash out. ".

"But I want to Know is, Why Murder. Why turn your back completely, and Instead of doing anything else, you pledge to murder 6 million people in Gotham, some of them innocents, because a crowd of 75 people decided to do the Arrogant filled option of hating you?". The Knight looked down at the Symbol on the Kryptonian's suit, Superman's Symbol. "If you are truley from that House, and you decide to Wear the Symbol of Hope, Do not go down the path of a Genocidal Maniac.".

"Huh, maniac. I ain't maniac, Knight, I ain't one. But you have to understand, we are similar to our counterparts both in Metropolis and Gotham. You are similar with Batman, I'm similar with Superman, except more willing to kill and not as goody two-shoes as him."

"Well then, in any case you need my help, or sorta like help, I'll be waiting here, waiting to be called," said Len as he turned his body to facing the wall. In the meantime, hopefully nothing happened while he became like this in this god-forsaken containment cell with the equipment to lower his strength.

[Charmera]

-Otis snip-

Julie was quiet as she watched the two of them. She looked at his mother and politely nodded. "Hello Miss... Good to meet you." She had said this perhaps a little more absently, but that's because she was trying to remember what her parents were like, it was surprisingly hard. She could remember details with stark clarity while other things remained fuzzy. She felt immediately guilty for not being more present for this rather touching moment and rather thinking of her own self. Julie then let Otis talk to his mother.

---

Kirisvala was, needless to say, quite surprised by the man's agility, and was too slow to react to the knife, mereely watching it approach only to be swatted away by Nico's sand-fist, saving her life. The Hadrian heroine was far too shocked to notice how one-sided the rest of the fight was, however, and instead looked intetly at the knife, which had fallen tho the ground after having been knocked aside and hitting the wall. A hand instinctively went up to her throat (it did not harm her, as Hadrians were perfectly aware of how to keep from harming themselves with their claws) as she looked at it, her face turning slightly pale. She had been a moment away from dying, and it was a rather rattling experience. However, she knew that there would be danger, and she also knew that she couldn't just freeze in the middle of a mission, so she controlled herself and walked up to the others as Nico interrogated Jordan. It was quite the sad sight, a boy so angry at being betrayed by the people close to him. Not knowing what else to do or what to say, she simply stood back as they waited for Xyri to report back.

---

Cat sighed, shaking her head as she touched Jordan on the temple, knocking him out. She had quite the crush on Jordan growing up. That had faded with time, but she always felt he was a friend. She bit her lip in an attempt to stop herself from crying. She rubbed her eyes. She now knew some things about swordfighting, but it was twinged with Jordans memories. Happy and bad. She couldn't yet make sense of them.

She went to nico, putting an hand on his shoulder. "Nico..." She started. Then just left it at that. She reasoned he might need a little reassurance or something.

"Right." Xyri slid through to the basement. "Still have no idea what's going on." She muttered. It was part a lack of understanding of some of the concepts underlying this whole thing. She poked her head out of an air condition at the basement, seeing several people standing around in suits. "There are a bunch of people standing around talking. Some of them have guns and there are cases of something. I can't see what's in them." She whispered.

[Confederation of imperial states]

"Well, I cannot exactly complaining about my current condition, right?" "My accommodations are enough, probably. How long will you keep me in the cell? Until the end of times, or until a period of time? Oh, and I promise I won't kill. Much.".

"I used to be a hero, yes, but I was tired being one. Being a hero and didn't get much attentions, nor aid, but instead bitterness, regret, sadness, and not much compassion certainly harden the career of being a hero. Being nice is hard, especially when you are alone, and a girl betrayed you so much you have to burn down an orphanage in Siberia." .

The Knight's eyes wandered partly from the Kryptonian, then returned to looking him in the eyes,
"I understand your concerns, The Hatred, the backdraft of people hating you for trying to help, and they yell and lash out". The Knight extended a hand towards Len - el, "You for being Kryptonian", The Knight gestured towards himself, "and I, because I don't stand in the light when I strive for justice". The Knight's hand returned to his side, "But you can't just give up, yes, people will hate you for who you are, even when you try so hard to do the right thing. But that doesn't mean Humans are only vulnerable to do this, other species are viable to do this, to hate their heroes, and lash out. ".

"But I want to Know is, Why Murder. Why turn your back completely, and Instead of doing anything else, you pledge to murder 6 million people in Gotham, some of them innocents, because a crowd of 75 people decided to do the Arrogant filled option of hating you?". The Knight looked down at the Symbol on the Kryptonian's suit, Superman's Symbol. "If you are truley from that House, and you decide to Wear the Symbol of Hope, Do not go down the path of a Genocidal Maniac.".

"Huh, maniac. I ain't maniac, Knight, I ain't one. But you have to understand, we are similar to our counterparts both in Metropolis and Gotham. You are similar with Batman, I'm similar with Superman, except more willing to kill and not as goody two-shoes as him."

"Well then, in any case you need my help, or sorta like help, I'll be waiting here, waiting to be called," said Len as he turned his body to facing the wall. In the meantime, hopefully nothing happened while he became like this in this god-forsaken containment cell with the equipment to lower his strength.

"If by 'not as good two shoes', you Mean, and I quote, 'Kill everyone In Gotham', then you might aswell brand yourself a Genocidal Maniac". The Knight shook his head, "tell me, a few adults are angry, they throw rocks and ye;l at you. So you'll gladly go on a rampage and slaughter millions of people, around 26% of the population are children, that's 156,000 innocent children you and your sick devotion to Zod's mindset will have slaughtered. whats next, becaus you're sure as hell not going to stop at Gotham, You'll probably declare a vendetta on earth, and vow to kill all 7 billion people". The Knight stared right in The Kryptonian's eyes, "Just like your Sacred Role Model Zod". The Knight started to walk away from the cell, starting to become engulfed in the shadows of the room.

"I do hope you find your way out of this Madness, Because You're sounding less like a Righteous Superman......",


"and More like The Joker". After a pause of silence, The Knight was gone.

[New Neros]

Mad Gods
Son of Daxam

The God Wars were now but a distant memory, the Chinese and Hindu Gods forced into submission by the Mad Gods themselves, Mir unleashing the dreaded power within All-Black the Necrosword, cleaving away and draining away the Godblood, empowering himself and his allies in the process. Gifted with divinity and giving meaning to their name as Mad Gods, Mir made the decision to move Mad City away from the Himalayas after an ongoing political crisis between India, China, and Pakistan refused to provide him with proper accommodation. Instead, he moved his megolithic city-state to North America, raising an island from the sea-floor to use as a foundation.

Not only that, but a name change was in order, a name for the nation that removed the "city" aspect to give it more authority in international affairs. Upon talking with his team, Mir settled on yet another homage to the fallen God-King Morningstar and the one place he felt most at home - Madworld. Though an island of decent size, enough to hold several towns and cities, the -world aspect gave it something separate from Earth, a different area, a new beginning for any who would settle. As Mir began to put the finishing touches on the move, a lone, crudely built drone scuttled it's way into his dining room. Examining it slightly, he bore a confused face, "It's...From Daxam?" He said with upward inflection, unsure of how such a device could be built on the xenophobic world and even make it all the way to Earth. Regardless, after fiddling it with the drone just a bit, a holographic display sprang to life.

"I hope this message finds you in good health." A blue, hazy figure said, Mir recognizing the voice and holding his head down a bit. The rest of the Mad Gods had made their way into the room as well, watching the message along with Mir. "I had to go through some hoops to get a recorder like this, haha...Anyways, I'm sending this message because, well, fuck, there's no easy way to say this..." The hologram figure said, clearly on edge and struggling to find the correct words. "You father is dead, and you're in line for the throne. Prince Mir, return to us to either stake your claim or relinquish it...And it wouldn't be that bad seeing you again. Farewell."

The message fizzled out with some static, leaving the room silent as all eyes rested upon Mir. He remained motionless, looking at the spot where the hologram was for some time. Eventually, Van Zant was the one to break the silence, quickly asking, "Prince...?"

Mir's eyes snapped forward and looked at his teammate. "I don't talk about my private life or the life I had before I met Maxwell." He stated bluntly, "But it seems to have caught up with me. My father was the High-King of Daxam, who ruled over the entire planet, making me a Prince of Daxam. I have an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister. The man we just spoke to was my younger brother, Czar-Prel. My family, the Czar Dynasty, has ruled Daxam for generations."

"So..." Van started, "Are you going to go and claim the throne?" A small smile lit up his face, perhaps imagining the influence and royalty he could get by being close to Mir.

"No, I will go and relinquish my birthright. Daxam is not my home, it is my birthplace, nothing more." Mir said solemnly, as if he were lying to himself about his true feelings on his homeworld. "But...There is an issue of formality when it comes to such actions. An heir must relinquish his claim with the backing and faith of several lords, mostly as insurance to ensure the heir is not murdered, but also to make sure an heir will take the throne if he has no support to back out." Mir looked casually around the room at his team, "As I left Daxam at a young age, I cultivated no political relationships or alliances that will allow me to relinquish my claim."

Andreas, mostly silent throughout the entire debate, scoffed at the words. "Please, Mir." He began roughly, leaning forward onto the table. "Bring us along, and then we will see who has the best back-up, and if the Lords want to question it, then he can question all nine of us."

Mir smirked a bit, but then frowned. "Daxam has a red sun, so when I arrive, I will gradually lose my Daxamite powers, and Bree will lose her Kryptonian powers as well." He explained.

"That's all well and good, right, but that just means the rest of us will be good to go regardless of the sun's color. You still have that shadow blade and Bree won't leave our side, we can do this. Let the City Council run Madworld in our absence, surely we won't be long." Andreas said, leaning back in his chair lazily, Mir considering the options he put forth with sincerity. Mir nodded slowly as he took the information in and dwelled on it, reaching a decision.

"If I have all of your support, then, we will leave tomorrow morning."

---

The New World

WIP

[The Republic of Atria]

Apokolips

"After several hours of thinking and coming up with nothing... I may or may not have come up with something." Killian said clasping his together.

"Why do you insist on pestering me?"

"Hey, you clearly suck at this whole taking over the multiverse thing. I'm trying to help you along. See. The biggest threats are Hadri, Valka, and Otis. They're all friends and if one gets into trouble, the others will be there to help. And considering that they're gods, it won't be long before they pop up and kick your face down your throat. What you gotta do is find a way to divide and conquer. Now follow along. This might be too much for your primitive mind to comprehend." Of course he said it in the smarmiest way he possibly could, just to annoy him. "We'll start with Otis. And would you look at that? The Necromancer brought his mother back so she could spend one last Christmas with her son. Unfortunately, Otis is out dealing with other nonsense that's too dangerous for her to be there. All it'll take to push him over the edge..." Killian presented a mother box.

Khan figured out what Killian was trying to do. "I see. You place the motherbox in his living quarters for his mother to find, which will take her to where her son is fighting a very dangerous foe. Which will likely result in her death, and cause the child more emotional pain. Which will likely put him at odds with the other two primary protectors of Earth."

"Well, holy shit. I am slightly impressed. You are capable of thinking without the use of strangling someone. And that is exactly the plan. Boop." He said teleporting the motherbox into Otis' apartment. "And now... We watch the fireworks. I'm surprised at Otis's resolve if I do say so myself. Normally someone with the amount of baggage he has is well on his way to becoming a supervillain. And yet he's still... Him. Oh well. Don't worry Connie. We'll find his breaking point if it kills you. Hopefully it doesn't. There's so many puns I've yet to make with your name." He said and sat back watching the events unfold with Yuga Khan.

Otis's mother was wandering around his empty apartment when she her a strange noise. Her curiosity got the better of her and she found the small device tucked away in Otis's room. She saw Otis use it before, when he left because he insisted that there was something that he had to attend to. He insisted that it was too dangerous for her to come along and didn't want to risk getting her killed. But she was confident that whatever it was that he was dealing with, she could help. She grabbed the Motherbox and without skipping a beat, it opened a Boom Tube to where Otis was located. She didn't how she knew he was there, but she felt like it was true. However, she quickly realized that she really should have listened to Otis when he said it was too dangerous.

All she saw was a red sky, a man fighting another man with blue skin with red eyes, and a city that was engulfed in smoke and fire. Otis immediately noticed her. "Mom?! No no no no no! How did you get here?! You're not supposed to be here! We're almost done! Here. I'll take you home. Where did you get that mother box? It's too dangerous-" Just as he said that, Alt!Xander fired a beam at Shimura, but it missed and wound up smacking into Otis. He was tough enough to shrug it off, but his mother sure wasn't. The shockwave to him was more like a small slap on the back, however due to the Omega Effect greatly increasing his durability and strength, he didn't realize how powerful it really was until he saw his mother get knocked away like a ragdoll. Otis could feel his heart sink. "NOOO!" He shouted and ran over to his mortally wounded mother. "MOM! NO!"

"Otis..." She stammered weakly. "I'm... So sorry. I... Should have listened. I... Just wanted to spend a little bit with you..." She put her hand on his head. "I love you... So much. You've done great things, and you're going to do even more... But... Otis." She gasped for a few breaths before her dying words were able to make it out.

"Anything Mom... I love you."

"Kill that son of a bitch for me..." She trailed off as her heart finally stopped. Otis held her lifeless body and held her close while sobbing. He had lost his mother... Again. It stung. It felt like his heart just got ripped out of his chest. He gently laid her body down and wiped his wet face before taking a few deep breaths. It hurt. That much was certain, but at the very least he got closure. He got to say goodbye, they were on good terms up to that point. So that made it slightly less painful. But one thing Otis was going to do was make Alt!Xander pay. He was opposed to violence as a personal rule he made for himself, but as with every rule...

...There are exceptions.

[The Fallen Jedi]

God of Peace Shimura | God of Nature Kazuko
Clash: A War of Attrition

Both opponents stood perfectly still, Alt-Xander and Shimura's beams continued to collide with each other, neither side ceasing in their assault, vying for domination over one another. However, the beam battle continued to appear as if there was a stalemate, neither one of their energy signatures could overpower one another "It seems that I'll have to engage in physical combat, but his healing factor will be able to counteract most of my attacks, If I'm not fast enough." At the same time, both Opponents shot towards each other at extreme speeds, their fists deadlocked between each other "Let me show you the mistake of enraging the God of Peace!" With this, both Shimura and Alt-Xander started pulling punches against one another while the energy beams from each of them still combated each other, It was like a 4th of July Fireworks display, but there were shockwaves being displayed as a result of Shimura and Alt-Xander's melee, It wasn't just a battle between the two, but It was a war: a war of attrition.

As the two titans pulled punches, putting as much of their power into their individual attacks, from the exterior of these attacks, It appeared that the Earth would shatter under such force of their attacks, but on the inside, neither Shimura or Alt-Xander recognized the outside reality no longer, each opponent was locked onto each other, focusing all of their power on each other, but there was a significant difference between the two powers. Alt-Xander's power was outright, explosive and deadly with each attack that made contact with the God of Peace's own body. However Shimura's attacks were not explosive and deadly, but was both internal and invariably lethal to say the least, Shimura was the eye of the Hurricane, controlling the mighty vortex of his own energy with his sheer willpower, he was not simply allowing it to run wild like Alt-Xander did, but focusing in on vital points that even Alt-Xander's Healing Factor would have to zero in, leaving other areas of Xander's body open for assault.

Alt-Xander, with a snap of his fingers unleashed a massive shockwave of energy that sent Shimura skyrocketing backwards into a building, and left a crater leading to the very core of the Earth, It was a massive gaping hole that showed the weakened state of Earth, and It wasn't going to last long due to the damage it had suffered. Alt-Xander smiled as he stood atop the crater, he was enjoying this battle as he never had such a challenge oppose him, It was enjoyable! "I have to admit Shimura, you are one of the best challenges that I have had the pleasure facing, It seems that there are people who have the potential to become a great challenge to me, I'm going to enjoy pounding you into the groun-" At this moment, the Earth began to shake and shiver to it's core, It wasn't an omen of it's impending destruction, but It was something different, something that came from it's very core.

"How dare you..." Alt-Xander turned his head to the now conscious God of Nature, who hung his head low, his hair preventing his face from coming into sight, but when he raised his head however, It was an entirely different story. The death of so many life forms lead to Kazuko falling into a hate-filled bloodlust, and he wasn't responsible for triggering it, with the death of much life in this Universe, It brought the worst of both Kazuko and Nature out, not It's anger, nor It's hate, but it's full wrath was now being personified from the very controller and administrator of Nature, Lord Kazuko the Nature God! Without even making a gesture of hands, numerous spouts of lava shot out from the Earth's Crust, and the size of these spouts were nearly as large as the one Alt-Xander created "How dare you treat my garden like this, spitting on the ground like you truly own the planet itself!" As if it had a mind of it's own, all of the spouts of molten earth began to gather above Kazuko, and the size of this single orb of Magma was incredible, nearly the size of the moon itself! "I will teach you about the wrath of Mother Nature, how she will strike back at those who disrespect her home!"

Alt-Xander stared up at the massive orb of molten earth with a quizzical expression on his face "Now THAT'S big..." Alt-Xander practically snickered, obviously unimpressed by the God of Nature's show of force "That orb is merely child's play, do you think that will be enough-" Alt-Xander suddenly stopped when he realized that the moon-sized orb of Molten Earth began to grow hundreds, no, thousands of appendages that were larger than the Empire State Building, and as soon as these appendages formed, they shot down at ungodly speed towards Alt-Xander, who easily leapt out of the way of the appendages "I think I hit a ner-" Alt-Xander never got a chance to finish his sentence as Kazuko, who was surrounded by an armor of molten rock crashed directly into Alt-Xander's midsection, sending him spiraling backwards into the ground with moderate wounds that healed up rapidly "Wow, he must really be pissed..." Alt-Xander laughed inwardly before he found himself being shot up into the air, a pillar of lava sending him arching up into the air. Alt-Xander quickly noticed the oncoming pillar of lava that was in front of him "Ow, that is going to cause something more than a minor burn."

As Alt-Xander quickly regained his composure, he put up a thick barrier of energy between himself and the two pillars of lava that lied in between him, while Kazuko, whose eyes still glowed red with Nature's fury called upon the darker components of nature, a rampaging sphere of wind forming in his right hand, and a hair splitting black lighting sphere on his left palm, he was putting everything he had into each attack he pulled, he was in control of his actions yes, but as the God of Nature, he felt everything that happened to the Earth before he got here, the dying screams of life forms, the last breaths of trees, he felt everything that the Earth was forced to endure! "FEEL THE WRATH OF NATURE!" Kazuko exclaimed, throwing the two spheres towards Alt-Xander's location. As these two spheres made their way towards Alt-Xander, they came together mid-way, resembling a massive field of spiraling black lightning, It's velocity increasing a hundred fold as the field of black lighting, and the pillar's of lava shattered Alt-Xander's Barrier with such force that it caused loose items such as boulders and destroyed portions of building to fly at an outward direction, making it appear as if a disaster of untold proportions had just taken place.

Kazuko stood perfectly still, the red glint in his eyes beginning to slowly die down as he felt as if he put an end to Alt-Xander's reign of untold terrors that no one else would have to endure... Oh how wrong the God of Nature was. As soon as he let his guard down, two beams of the Omega Sanction crashed into both Kazuko's face and his chest, not even giving him the time to respond accordingly "Gyah!" Kazuko exclaimed in pain as he found himself levitating in the air before another devastating hit made contact, and It was Alt-Xander himself who crashed into Kazuko with no heed, and Alt-Xander actually went through the Retired Grand Warlord's mid section, severing at least a third of his midriff from the rest of his body. Kazuko instinctively spat out a large amount of blood as he was sent crashing backwards into a nearby building, left for dead and nearly without any energy left to treat himself with "Dammit, I let my guard down too early..." Kazuko muttered weakly, ready to give into the embrace of death itself.

Shimura, whose eyes widened in utter terror seeing how grievously Kazuko was injured shot off towards his surrogate child as fast as he could, abandoning the battle with Alt-Xander entirely just to treat his young student, and to his surprise, Alt-Xander actually allowed Shimura to treat his student, having turned his attention to an angered Otis while Shimura continued treating Kazuko "Oh god, Otis..." Shimura stated, telepathically communicating with the God of the Omega Sanction "Give him something from myself as well, don't hold back anymore, show him your true power!" Shimura angrily stated before he continued treating Kazuko, who would be lucky to survive his grievous injury "Don't you give up on me now Kazuko, you and Asumar are always defiant over dying..."

[New Rob Halfordia]

It had been two hours since the Dark One decimated the forces of the Battery, and now, the entire valley was filled to the brim with his Construct army, numbering in the hundreds of millions for this particular attack. "That is strange..." the Dark One mumbled to himself, lifting a hand to the forces behind him, alerting them to halt. All-Red was acting up, as if a Conduit was nearby, and a powerful one at that. But, that was impossible, he had just ended the last one.

That's when, suddenly, a massive blasting sound occurred behind him. Turning around with some haste, he saw a massive swath cut through his forces, and a cylindrical crater left behind by something big. The gap created in his forces was easily 200 feet wide, and spanned nearly a mile in length, vertically cutting through the Dark One's forces. And, despite being a mile apart, the Dark One and this mysterious fighter were now staring each other down. They might as well have been mere feet apart. But, it was definitely a Conduit, and, a powerful one at that. The Dark One internally smiled, "You're the one from the city. Graav, was it?" the Dark One asked, and, senses were as keen as ever, as Graav had indeed returned, having faked his death. The Dark One drew his sword before continuing, "I thought you were dead. You could have escaped, but, for some reason, chose to confront me like a proud fool. Or, is it just that you wish to be reunited with your squad? Either way, you'll be joining them soon enough."

The Dark One was about to begin walking forward, when hundreds of VTOLs began pouring out from the direction of the city, carrying hundreds of thousands of Construct soldiers fighting to defend the city. The VTOLs, instead of landing, simply allowed the soldiers to bail out, landing on the ground scattered, erratic formations, before allowing the massive flying vehicles to crash throughout the Dark One's army. In no time at all, blasts of energy were flying throughout the canyon, in a chaotic, last ditch effort to stop the dark armies.

The Dark One simply continued walking forward, and, any Construct unlucky enough to find themselves in his way were summarily cut down, whether friend or foe. They were merely obstacles to his real target. The final Conduit. With the death of Graav, the Battery would need somewhere to put all the power that the Conduits once held. And, lacking any real host, it would choose the most powerful being on the planet. And then, only then, would the power of both the Battery and Anti-Battery belong to him.

Thinking about this potential power, the Dark One began to run towards Graav, swinging his sword wildly. Graav, however, simply walked, brushing by Constructs tearing each other apart, and energy blasts which wizzed by his head. In almost no time, the Dark One was already upon him, swinging All-Red directly downwards at Graav, believing him to be easy prey.

However, as the clang of metal clashing was heard, the Dark One was left speechless. The blade of the Technosword had been halted by the forearm of the Conduit standing before him. In the middle of this massive battle, ripe with the sounds of metal objects colliding with one another, this clang of the sword and a Conduit's forearm stood out to the Dark One, isolated from the cacophony which surrounded the two warriors.

Graav lifted his hand, a small black ball in its palm. More specifically, a stabilized black hole. The Dark One's gaze attached itself to this ball. He knew that high level gravity manipulating Conduits were powerful, but, to not only create, but, also stabilize a small black hole was something even he would be hard pressed to do. At that moment, among all of the Dark One's objectives and schemes, there was one that now presented itself that took precedence over all else. Do not let this Conduit land an attack.

The Dark One suddenly turned into a black and red mist as Graav thrust the attack forward, before solidifying several meters away. The black hole ended up striking one of the Dark One's own soldiers, and, the effects of the strike made only made the Dark One more cautious. The Construct seemed to cease to exist, being sucked into oblivion. This all beckoned the question. Why didn't this Conduit utilize the extent of his abilities in their previous encounter. This was a question that the Dark One was determined to have answered by the end of this skirmish. He sheathed All-Red, cutting off its power to himself, before speaking in a hushed, but determined tone, "I have already defeated you as wielder of All-Red, the slayer of gods. On this day, I will not defeat you as a butcher of divinity, but as the Dark One, embodiment of the Anti Battery. You have earned that much. Consider it both an honor..."

"And humiliation."

Thunderclouds began to roll in as the two continued to stare each other down, when the ground suddenly began to shake. Some Constructs with the ability to manipulate their own molecular structure could grow themselves to incredible heights. And, when two of these beings clashed, it was like watching two metallic mountains clash. But now, ten 75 meter tall behemoths, four on the side of the Battery, and six with the Dark One, made their way towards each other at the same time. Some of the Constructs simply stopped fighting and stared, as these living siege weapons approached each other, preparing to do battle.

Graav and the Dark One, however, maintained their stare, waiting for the first strike by one of these beasts to attack one another, knowing that whatever attack they might throw would quickly be interrupted by the sheer energy output of a single strike by one of the walking tanks which now prepared to do battle. Each step that they took shook the very ground which the armies stood on, sending out powerful shockwaves.

Finally, two of the massive Constructs came into striking distance, both of them throwing massive punches with their right arms, striking the other's face. The ground shook, a massive shockwave was unleashed, and, it was at this moment that the Dark One and Graav charged each other, both of them pulling back punches of their own. Striking each other, they used gravity manipulation to marginally increase the weight behind their strikes. However, instead of striking each other's bodies, their fists collided with such impact that the surrounding Constructs were nearly knocked over. The Dark shifted his hand around to grip Graav's fist, before lifting another punch, one which would weigh more than the last.

As he threw this new strike, Graav drastically increased the weight of the hand which the Dark One gripped, causing both of them to be dragged to the ground nearly instantly, and allowing Graav to free his hand. The two slowly got up, preparing to trade blow once more, when a massive shadow was suddenly cast upon them. Looking up, what they saw was a 75 meter tall Construct falling to the ground after being dealt a heavy punch from one of the other behemoths which battle in the clouds. The Dark One, in awe for but a moment, quickly turned back to Graav in an attempt to strike him, but, was too late in his efforts.

The massive Construct hit the ground with a massive thud, sending out a shockwaves me sound similar to a small scale nuclear weapon. Being within close proximity, both the Dark One of Graav were primed to be sent flying by this shockwave. The Dark One, being closer, was launched with little to no reaction time. In his direct path, Graav stood firm, having used his manipulation of gravity to increase the weight of his feet to the point where the shockwave had no effect. He simply pulled back his arm, and prepared to throw a punch at his adversary, who was fast approaching.

The Dark One had little to no control over his movement as he barreled towards Graav, who he saw preparing a punch. When it made impact, the Dark One felt it, as his body curled around the arm of the Conduit, sending a screeching sensation of pain through the Construct's body, as the opposing forces of the punch and the shockwave made a plaything of his very being. It was truly unbearable. Nobody had ever done this much damage to him.

At that moment, when Graav thought the Dark One to be broken, a grim reminder of the power of the Anti Battery's chosen one was brought forth. The Dark One gripped the Conduit's chest, still held out by the punch, and tore it apart at the atomic level, creating a massive, irrepairable hole in the Construct's midsection. Blue, glowing blood sprayed upon the ground, quickly being washed away by the rain. Graav's arm dropped away from the Dark One, and he fell to his knees. Everything around him suddenly went silent. The battle faded into out of his focus, as, all he saw was the Dark One, towering over him, making his way behind the fallen Conduit.

Graav's face was suddenly forced into the dirt below, as the Dark One's boot pressed him into the mud. The dark, metallic voice of the scourge of Foundry suddenly assaulted his ears, "Why?" it asked, in such a tone that suggested not sympathy, but cold curiosity, "Why would you do this? You could have hid yourself, evaded my pursuit. But instead, you come straight to me. Why?"

Graav didn't say a word, ignoring his enemy's question. The Dark One suddenly began stomping on his head, screaming as he dented the Conduit's cranium, "Answer me! Why didn't you run like your friend! You know that your death will make me unstoppable, so why?!" he shouted, before grinding his foot on Graav's face, pushing it into the mud further.

"Because..." Graav said, gripping the Dark One's leg suddenly, his vision fading in and out, and his body beginning to fail, "I'm not a coward... And, because I want you to be ready for when your real enemy arrives to fight you. He doesn't know it yet, but, he's stronger than any Conduit, myself included."

The Dark One laughed at the very notion being presented to him, "Stronger than you? You're almost on par with me, you hurt me. And, you're implying that there is someone stronger than you? That would put them on the same level as-"

"You." Graav said, with a hint of assurance, and even a little smugness in his voice, "I'm saying that he can fight on par with you. He's our chosen one, the Battery's embodiment. Your opposite."

The Dark One suddenly reached down, grabbing Graav by the neck, and lifting him up, putting them face to face. "What you say is an amusing notion, but, impossible. If such a warrior existed, where is he now?" he asked, motioning around the battlefield with his arm, "Surely, this incredibly powerful Construct would reveal himself. Why have I yet to encounter him?"

Graav chuckled weakly, "You already have... he just never fought you. He's the one I fought next to. Xylan. You two never fought one on one, but, if you had, you would have known it. He doesn't know what he is, which is why you scared him. But, he'll figure out soon enough. And when he does, he's going to kill-"

That was all Graav was able to get out before the Dark One gripped his head, performing the same attack as he had on the Conduit's midsection, disintegrating it. "An amusing notion." he said, dropping Graav's lifeless corpse, the battle continuing to rage on around them, red thunder streaking through the sky.

"But, nothing more."

[Tomia]

Young Bloods
Mars heard the conversation between Nico and Xyri, hearing Xyri's report about the armed men on the bottom floor. He frowned a bit. None of the survallaince footage was showing any of that. "They must have blocked off that areas' security system from this server. Alright, well we need to get down there." He said before turning to Vera who was above him. "Vera, you think you can find us a way down through the airshafts?" Mars asked the teammate accompanying him.

Nico turned to the two girls with him. "Come on, we don't have time to wait for the others. Cat, can you use Jordan's memories to find a way inside?" Nico asked, more serious and rash sounding than usual. He was clearly upset and determined to find his parents and get justice and answers.

[Deminis]

Damian Ocult Jaxon Aredia Jerimiah Carbio VeliciaOther(computer,alien, Etc)

His third and final castle finished Jerimiah looked up to a small digital clock counting down to his time of arrival, he turned back to his rig and closed the Music and game windows before initiating the shutdown process. After verifying the shutdown was completed he turned to the pilot console and began to initiate the orbiting sequence, as he would be unable to land until he made contact with those below. A small light began to blink as a small 8-bit tone played. He opened the message

Greetings Human of Earth, We pinged your location early yesterday your time and awaited your signal to message you. Seeing your intent to Orbit, I realize you desired to wait till now to contact us. Please state your name and business on Taur.

"My name is Jerimiah Carbio, As you have already noticed I am from earth but i am not one of its usual citizens. I have come seeking an apprentice, as i have no son to follow my trade."

Jerimiah spoke carefully not to reveal his full intent but not wanting to outright lie to these who may be his host. The Taurian were not the most likable of races, often hot headed and bullish, pun fully intended.

The response followed quickly, What trade do you work in, I may be able to point you in an area well versed in similar workings.

"I am ever grateful, My trade in an unusual one, Invention; To work with the goal of creating new from old. I specialize in clockwork and steam-works however.

The the sounds of various clicking keys sounded though the speakers as Jerimiah assumed the Taurian was searching for a match-able location. After a few seconds of waiting the Taurian responded as another message arrived.

Here are the ordinates to an area in our northern most zone. The area is well known for engineers of all kinds, black smiths, Gold smiths and silver smiths tend to keep their distance from one another to keep safe their secrets. You will find them on the outer most reaches of the city. The Electricians and Engineers work closely with one another and tend to keep close together in the center. Take care in your travels and do not leave the city, Great beasts live outside of the city walls. Creatures that would decimate even our greatest of soldiers.

"I will travel with care then. Thank you greatly for your assistance and permission."

Thank me not Human, the chance of you leaving this world with your goal completed are low to none. No Taurian would dare to abandon their home for a mere Apprenticeship. Even should you succeed, you only take a traitor out of your bloodlines.

"Then I thank you for not destroying me and my craft.

Then repay me by disconnecting, Your high voice grinds on my ears.

Jerimiah smiled only slightly before disconnecting his channel. He spun his chair to the left and began to search though the storage there, after a minute or two he dug out a gas mask like device and placed it over his mouth and nose.

This should do the trick

He spoke in a much deeper voice, His very breathing sounded through the mask as he finished initializing the orbit sequences. It would only take an hour or so before he could enter the atmosphere. But he would circle for a day or two just so he could perfect the landing sequence.

---

Damian sat in his chair watching as the going merry began to burn, Luffy as well as the rest of the crew cried in fits as their loving craft began to sink into the depths of the ocean, just as the episode ended. Damian whipped his tears away and turned to grab the popcorn from the microwave and replace the bag to begin cooking the next. He took a quick peek at his ETA Timer before starting the next episode, He had a long ways yet to go.

---

Jaxon and Valicia layed together in their bed, watching the tv as it played some romantic movie for them. They had another three months until their destination could be reaches. Yet they held no care for what may happen next, only they they had one another now.

[The Starlight]

Xylan slightly lowered his guard as the Valkyrie spoke, though, he did not fully trust them still. He would see this 'Valka', and determine whether or not he should prolong his time in this realm any further. Xylan began walking with the Valkyrie, "Let us go then. I would be pleased to meet your ruler." he said, his tone noticeably warmer, believing the Asgardians to be friend, rather than foe.

However, something still nagged at the back of his mind. The section of the Battery which existed in him could feel an ancient, and familiar power had left it's mark on Asgard. One every Construct knew to fear with instinct. Despite having the power of All-Red, even the Dark One would fear his name. The Devourer of Worlds. Galactus. Xylan figured that all of his questions would be answered soon enough, and simply focused on the task at hand. Though, part of him wandered to his planet's well being.

Helga nodded, turning promptly, and leading him through the gate, across Asgard's many halls, and finally to the throne room, where Valka sat, awaiting them as she had been previously notified. The throne room was empty, save for Valka, her throne, and the hearth, blazing high as always.

Helga, after introducing the Construct, bowed to Valka, issuing a nod to Xylan before returning to her post upon the wall. Valka, once she was gone began to speak. "As I am sure Helga has already done, I welcome you to Asgard. I shall be able to answer any further questions that you may have. But I will not exchange any further information till I am certain that you do not pose a threat to my realm, and that you do not seek information to take to our enemies, who are many. And so, I would hear more of thy realm, and of thy predicament."

[Finland SSR]

REQUIEM AETERNAM

Part 2

---

"All you need to do is punch this machine and we'll see."

They tried everything they could beforehand. All kinds of scouters, scanners, pulse detectors and other junk and gizmos that they could find in this massive laboratory. It either doesn't work for me or I destroy it immediately. Perhaps nothing here was designed to be used on robots - the Earthlings still haven't perfected and adapted to the technology. Now, I stood in front of this machine, this apparatus, that looked more like a mechanic punching bag. I think I've seen things like that in a tournament before... Much like here, they used it to determine power.

"So I punch the soft part?"

"Yes. Go for it when you are ready."

I shrugged and sent my right fist towards it. A weak strike, something I'd use on an Earthling, rather than a formidable warrior. As it collided with the machine... much to their surprise and my dismay, just the opening shockwave cracked the structure hard enough that the whole thing went out in a violent exothermic reaction. It exploded. Like everything here. Jeez, what do they even put in these things that makes them so fragile and allergic to blowing up?

Obviously, they were shocked. Why wouldn't they be? It took just a few seconds for Captain Mindaugas to blink and shake his head, finally waking up from the shock. He immediately muttered:

"Corps A. There's no way around it."

The other soldier wasn't quite so sure, though. "There's still a big gap between the maximum capacity of this machine and Corps A requirements."

"Look, Corporal Aleksejus, he's just going to break everything here until we get to that point. I'm not going to waste any more time here." Mindaugas walked up to a computer, entered some information in, then spoke to me:

"What's you full name?"

It's not a big deal. I'm no Earthling superhero to hide my identity from everyone. "Frank Mayhem."

"Age? Birth date?"

"I have no idea." They wouldn't believe if I said '50-ish' anyway.

"Place of birth?"

"No idea." Not even lying this time.

"Are you a citizen?"

"No."

"Well, now you are." The printer next to the computer printed out a tiny card, which Mindaugas picked up and handed over to me. It said "IDENTIFICATION CARD" at the very top, with my name, picture and mostly made up information filling up the paper. There was a royal seal in the background, and a signature at the back. What an odd thing, I wonder what it's even used for... More or less emotionless, I put the card in my back pocket. Meanwhile, the Corporal added his own trivia:

"The A Corps headquarters are 50 kilometers to the southeast, in the middle of a thick forest, but you'll definitely find it. Someone strong enough to become a member of the highest rank of the Iron Wolves should have zero problem getting there."

What an odd way of encouragement. Nevertheless, I nodded. Captain Mindaugas pointed to the door in the back, I nodded again, turned around and walked off.

Walked off.

Why do I do this?

---

After slowly walking out of the lab, I leaped up and shot out forward, towards the supposed location of the Corps A headquarters. I passed through the force field, which made me wonder what it's point actually is as people can pass right through it. Eh, it probably has to do something with the identification card or my Iron Wolf badge. As soon as I left the field, all facilities went behind my back, and I was treated by a wild forest. An actual, untouched forest a kilometer under me. We shouldn't be that far from the Heartland, right? Every time I had ever visited it, all I had always been greeted by were farmlands, lots and lots of roads, villages, power plants, factories and, of course, the Capital. Vilnius. Lithuanians often overhype their main city, claiming it's the greatest in the Universe or at least on Earth.

Whatever you say, guys. I mean, nobody's downplaying Vilnius. It's a really old town with many interesting sights. But hey, there is always something or someone better. Somewhere. I learned that one the hard way. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. After a few seconds of flight - gotta love the hypersonic flight speeds - the forest in front of me started to thin out, paths and roads started to carve through the land like knives through a freshly down and knocked out body. Well, maybe less bloody than that, but that's what I thought of at first.

Oh, here's something on the horizon! I could see the forest changing into a field, and then the buildings appeared. There were lots of them. A what appears to be a radio tower, with the flag of the Great Lithuanian Empire flying at the very top stood in the middle. I'm no vexilologist, but I kind of like that flag. It's a great representation of what the nation is - a huge complicated bunch of flamboyant hyper-nationalists with so much stuff going on over there, in their lands, and also in their flag. They tried to shove everything they could in it.

Alright, no time to waste on any more head rants! I charged forward and aimed myself towards the part where a large road cut into the center of the headquarters. That's probably where most of the stuff happens. I flew through a force field, and didn't get shot down. What, they recognize me? Maybe. I turned off the flight module, and descended down, as walls closed in on every side. You could probably find everything in here, even souvenir shops.

Wait, why would a secret military base have a souvenir shop? Frank, don't be stupid!

...Whatever you say, brain. If I'm turning schizophrenic with this crap, I hope the other me is a bit nicer.

Anyhow, my feet touched down on the cold hard asphalt path, and what I saw was a group of people around a TV set, along with the whole road being choke full of people - some in odd black uniforms, others in civilian clothing. Like in the beginning of this whole... thing. I took a head turn to look at what it was saying - it showed a map with arrows indicating troop movements, and the reporter speaking:

"...during the first few hours of combat in what has already been named as "The Third Tragedy" of "The Third World War", American and European forces have began a serious push on Lithuanian forces in the area...The Great Emperor is not fearstruck, as... ...he speaks of his first trump card... ...Danzigas is..."

I couldn't make put anything past that due to all the noise. Boy, it's a busy day, isn't it? If I want to speak with someone, they need to be close... Oh, there's a costumed one passing by! I immediately grabbed on his shoulder and exclaimed:

"Excuse me! I'm a recruit in this Corps, can you tell me where I need to go to sign up and stuff?"

"Jeez, no need to shout, I have super-hearing. It's the short magenta building down the road."

"Boy, that must suck when there's all this noise all over the area. Thanks!" He merely shrugged and walked away, back to where he was heading. I swear, that uniform looked like something ripped straight out of an Earthling history textbook. I just can't tell which one it was... Eh. Much like him, I shrugged it off and moved my way.

The building was easy to spot - it had a flag waving above the front door, and the color easily struck out from the grey and black mass that surrounded every living being here on sight. There was a line of recruits waiting around, but as I entered it on the back, I soon saw that it moved really fast. Everyone was entering in normal clothing and left in the same all-black, already seen suit. A cap with sun shielding and a golden symbol of a riding knight on where the forehead should be - Lithuania's coat of arms. A yellow-green-red armband on the left upper arm. The Iron Wolf badge on the chest.

Yeah, I've seen this style somewhere.

A few dozen people entered and left, and it was finally my turn. I walked through the open door into the dim room, and what I saw were a few muscled lieutenants and a small person in the center, waiting for me.

No.

No.

Someone's pulling my leg! But no, it was true. As I approached it, the facial features became clear. It's that little non-Earthling prince I saw earlier! In Corps A uniform!.. It looks so weird on him.

"Identification?" one of the men at the side spoke in a low, brutal, threatening voice. Oh, yeah. I took the card out of my back pocket and handed it to the person asking. He checked it, nodded, gave it back to me, then the Prince's eyes flashed and I suddenly saw why he was here. Or why he felt so non-Earthlingy. My clothes were there, on the table, while my body was fancying the black uniform.

The kid's a ki user or something. They waited for me, looked into my eyes, as if I didn't give them anything in return. Oh, right, the respect part. I slightly nodded my head.

That was not enough. The official at the right, with physical force I haven't felt since Hera, grabbed onto my shoulder, pulled me down until I was kneeling in front of the kid, held me there for a few seconds, then lifted me back and pushed me towards the door, where I came from.

I walked off. I didn't try to blast them into oblivion, like my past self would have done. Fifty years ago, when I first came here, there were only a few people on the planet that could challenge me, but now, the Earthlings have grown some muscle. And I'm no longer an outsider or a foreign body - I'm a part of that muscle.

But something doesn't really feel right about all this.

[Charmera]

---

"Oh, that is obvious my dear. How do you think I have avoided being thrown into jail for so long?" Sarah responded to John's playful statement. Once the two were dressed, Sarah opened the door of their room and walked outside, clad in a simple white shirt and black skirt combo that was nothing special, yet seemed so very stylish and attractive when worn by her, much like any other piece of clothing, a side effect of her powers that had saved her countless hours of picking out her outfits throughout her life. Why would she worry about such things when she'd look great in anything she decided to wear?

"Hm? How do I know? Oh, instinct. I have been taking care of these girls since I was ten, you know?" Sarah said in order to answer John's question, giggling a little at the thought. Time really did fly, she mused, realizing that she had been taking care of her sisters for fifteen years. "Alright, we should get Hanah first." The eldest of the Grimm sisters decided on a whim, before starting the short walk from her room to the room of the youngest of her sisters. She knew that Hanah was a total sleepyhead and that she was not going to take very kindly to her sister trying to wake her up so early (or at any time of the day, really), but still, Sarah was used to it by now, and if Hanah started complaining, she'd simply tell the wolf girl that next time she simply wouldn't bother to get her up for breakfast. That usually did the trick and got her to stop whining. With that in mind, the pale woman knocked on her sister's door.

---

Hannah groaned as she heard the knock on the door. She rolled slightly, though in the attempt to roll over to cover her ears from her sisters knocking she found herself falling off the bed. "Wuuu...?" She spoke before she suddenly felt herself fall with a bump on the floor. She let out a yelp like a hurt animal and suddenly stood up in alert. She then groaned as she felt her drowsiness kick in after realising it was merely her sister. She tried in vain to unmess her hair, but groaned when it refused. She got to the door and looked at Sarah. "Morning sis..." She spoke sleepily. She then looked at her watch. "Are we under attack?"