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Post by starskyhutch76 on Feb 6, 2018 0:48:09 GMT
The DCU's verion of Sleez was an evil New God that fell out of favor with Darkseid. Does this one have more demonic origins?
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Post by DocQuantum on Feb 6, 2018 0:51:24 GMT
I figure he’s the same figure introduced by John Byrne Post-Crisis, so probably from Apokolips and just taking advantage of the situation, not to mention acting as a huge signpost to a story I was referencing. I don’t plan on using him any longer in this story.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Feb 16, 2018 23:30:33 GMT
I'm not sure where this digression is going. I'd like to get back to the JLA, the Legion of Doom, and fight scenes.
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Post by DocQuantum on Feb 17, 2018 0:24:57 GMT
I know it seems like a digression, but I thought it necessary to show that this isn’t just a JLA-only affair. It wouldn’t be so bad if the chapters came more quickly, I’m sure. The very next chapter will grant your wish, sir! There may be more digressions to come, but they’ll be spaced out more and will feature familiar characters from our DCU.
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 7, 2018 7:06:17 GMT
Chapter 13:
Doom's Day
Eleven members of the Justice League of America disappeared in a purple glow from a future era, only to find themselves suddenly transported to somewhere else entirely. Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, the Atom, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, and Zatanna looked around, happy to be reunited with their fellow Justice Leaguers -- most of them, at any rate. But they all knew they weren't out of the woods yet, and they weren't alone.
"Where are we now," grumbled Green Arrow as he glanced at the surroundings, "Hell's bullfighting ring?"
"More like bread and circuses," said Hawkman. "This looks like the Roman Colosseum."
"In a way, you're both right," said Zatanna. "Neron has clearly transported us to some kind of arena in his hellish realm."
Indeed, a crowd of demons filled the seats of the arena, murmuring to each other in anticipation. Small, child-size demons sat atop the shoulders of bigger demons. There were even demonic snack hawkers selling bags of flies, maggots, and beetles for the audience to snack on. The coliseum itself looked run down, but intentionally designed that way, as if it was a corrupt reflection of the reality on Earth.
"Clearly, he expects us to fight someone -- but who?" said the Martian Manhunter.
"I'd like another crack at Neron himself," said Green Lantern, holding up his power ring defensively as he scanned the gruesome audience. "We should be able to stop this madness if we take out the head honcho."
"Guys, I think we're about to have our answer -- look!" the Flash pointed at the opposite end of the arena.
There, a group of eleven super-villains materialized from out of nowhere: Lord Malvolio of the Green Flame, Savitar, Dagon, the Marshal, the Blue Bowman, Dwarfstar, Lady Falcon, Mockingbird, Malleable Man, Allura, and a very confused Master Jailer. The Legion of Doom had returned.
"This after we were so polite as to defeat their entire team and send them to jail?" sighed the Elongated Man. "I guess a rematch was inevitable."
"Then let's give them the beating of their lives!" said Aquaman.
As usual, the super-speedsters were the first to make a move. With a gleam in his eye, Savitar raced forward to battle his new foe. Never one to let a foe get the upper hand, the Flash sped toward the delusional villain, who slipped out of his grasp only by a split-second. But the two speedsters were not the only ones in the battle.
C'yk Eda, the Marshal of New Mars, had made himself invisible and stood in the Flash's way as the speedster missed his first chance at Savitar. With one outstretched, muscled arm, he stopped the hero short, even as his own arm stretched out like a rubber band with the recoil. Only the Flash's protective aura kept him from suffering potentially fatal whiplash, but for now he was down for the count. Becoming visible once more, the Marshal glanced over at Savitar, who flashed him an appreciative grin.
"First blood goes to the Legion of Doom!" shouted a demonic announcer, and the crowd of demons went wild with cheers and catcalling.
Before Savitar could make a beeline for another unsuspecting foe, Green Lantern had already scooped him up in a power ring bubble. "Oh, no you don't!" said Hal Jordan. "I'm putting you on ice!" At that, he willed the force-bubble prison to become extremely cold, stopping the evil speedster from discovering a way to escape. The crowd immediately began to boo at this turn of events.
Spotting Allura the elemental witch preparing to cast a spell upon her teammates, Black Canary faced her and opened her mouth, her distinctive canary cry splitting the air. Her concentration immediately broken, Allura's hands shot up to cover her ears, but she looked furious at being stopped in mid-spell. In fact, her rage continued to grow until a familiar feeling began to come over her, and she began to move weightlessly through the air toward Black Canary, the sonic scream no longer affecting her.
And then Black Canary stopped, mid-cry, as she realized what was happening. The elemental witch had left the body she'd been possessing and was trying to control her. Somehow, in this underworld realm of spirit, Allura had regained the ability to inhabit another human vessel. Before the Canary could realize it, she was beginning to lose control over her own body. But she wouldn't go without a fight.
"Pretty bird?" cried Green Arrow, seeing his wife gasping as if she'd been splashed with a bucket of ice-cold water.
"It's not yer gal Friday ya should be concerned wit'," said Skizzle Shanks as he bounced into the archer in the form of a living rubber ball, knocking him off his feet. "Not when the Malleable Man is aroun'!"
"Haw-haw!" taunted Dwarfstar, pointing and laughing as he sat atop the shaft of an arrow, which wasn't a difficult feat since he was currently only an inch tall.
"Don't let yourself get distracted, Dwarfstar!" warned the Blue Bowman. "I've always wanted to try this, and I don't want you to mess it up!"
"Shoot me at the wing-chick!" shouted the diminutive desperado. "I want to see if Thanagarian anatomy is the same as ours -- from the inside!"
"You're a sick man, pal," the Bowman replied, shaking his head as he let the arrow fly at Hawkwoman.
Dwarfstar licked his lips in anticipation at the havoc he planned to wreak on the high-flying heroine, but a split-second before the arrow was due to strike at Shayera Hol's neck, Hawkwoman flinched and swooped sideways just in time to avoid it. Her heightened Thanagarian senses had picked up the sound of the projectile, and she reacted instinctively to protect herself.
But Dwarfstar wasn't about to let himself be stopped so easily, and he'd already leaped from the arrow, growing a few inches taller in size while increasing his mass in order to thrust himself at Hawkwoman with the same force as a ball of iron thrown at high speed.
A moment before he could strike, however, he was struck with the force of a sledgehammer by a mace taken from the medieval wing of the Midway City Museum. Before he knew it, Dwarfstar was down for the count.
"He just came out of nowhere!" cried Shayera. "He must've been atop that arrow that just flew past me!"
"I'm just glad you're okay," Hawkman said with a smile. "Especially since we've got many more years ahead of us -- and many more chances to keep trying for that child we've always wanted."
"Oh, Katar, are you sure?" said Shayera, embracing her husband. "We've had so many disappointments already. What if it's just not meant to be?"
"Then we'll still have each other," replied Katar Hol.
"Well, isn't that sweet?" interrupted a stentorian voice from behind them. "I'd like to see you avoid this!"
As the Hawks turned to face their foe, they braced themselves as a gigantic, glowing green battering ram thrust toward them. Lord Malvolio of the Green Flame merely laughed as Hawkman and Hawkwoman pushed apart from each other, escaping the massive projectile just in time, but not without clipping their wings.
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 7, 2018 7:11:28 GMT
"Y'know, this isn't exactly what I signed up for," said the Master Jailer as he dodged a leaping six-inch-tall Atom and kept running. "I'm a genius trap-builder and escape artist, not a fighter!"
"Then trap somebody!" shouted Lady Falcon, who was fending off a supernatural attack from Zatanna. The winged villainess then spun in place, kicking up dust with her wings that gave the sorceress a coughing fit and prevented her from uttering another spell.
"We've just been on the defensive so far," said Aquaman, bounding forward. "So let's take the fight to our foes!" At that, he struck a powerful fist at the Marshal, unhinging his jaw and causing the Martian to reel back in shock at the unexpected attack.
J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, smashed his impervious body against a hastily erected wall of solid water pulled from the drains leading to a sewer below. Dagon was forced to concentrate all his efforts to halt the resolute Martian in his tracks.
The Elongated Man coiled his elasticized body around the Blue Bowman before he could fire another projectile. "Let's keep those arrows under wraps, shall we?" quipped Ralph Dibny.
"Hey, stop smothering Blue Bowman!" cried Mockingbird. "Only I get to do that!" Before Ralph could do anything to stop her, Margaret Pye had opened her mouth in order to use the gift that Neron had given her, and a wall of pure sound struck the Elongated Man like a Mack truck. As Ralph's rubbery limbs flailed in the air like unspun yarn, the Bowman dropped to the ground and out of the line of fire.
"Aw, baby, I never knew you cared!" said a grinning Herb Vraney, only to receive a glare from his would-be girlfriend for interrupting her while she was using her gift. "Okay, okay, already!" said the Blue Bowman, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. "I'll find my own guy to fight, and we can maybe grab a drink later?"
The Bowman then frowned in puzzlement as he noticed that his wrists were now glowing, as green handcuffs connected by a green chain had materialized around them.
"Maybe you should've picked a better time and place to hit on your girl, buddy," said a grinning Green Lantern, swooping down from the sky. A power ring-created jail cell then formed around the Blue Bowman, who grabbed the bars and shook them futilely. In a smaller green jail cell nearby, the unconscious Dwarfstar was having a fitful dream.
But while Hal Jordan's own back was turned, his first prisoner was already escaping...
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 7, 2018 8:06:03 GMT
Savitar still lacked much of the experience of any of the heroes called the Flash, but he knew he was capable of many tricks he had yet to learn. And even he was held in a frozen green prison, a voice that seemed to come from within him began to whisper to him with an accent that the former Chief Crazy Horse could only guess was Middle Eastern or East Indian. And that voice told him how to escape.
The vibrations began deep inside at first, but grew in momentum until Savitar's entire body was vibrating at a certain frequency. And before Green Lantern could even suspect what was happening, the ice around the super-speedster broke apart from friction, and Savitar had vibrated his way out of the force-bubble. He felt a bit woozy, but some presence within him drove him forward, forcing him to run in a wide, sweeping circle around the arena. He kept running around and around the arena countless times in an unending loop, until finally time seemed to stop.
Savitar looked around, and every single person in the arena -- hero, villain, and demons alike -- was now nothing more than an unmoving statue.
The young speedster laughed to himself as he realized he had managed to duplicate this super-speed trick that he had only managed to do once before, when he first encountered the Flash. Then, too, his inner voice had instructed him in the ways of the speed force, as the voice had called it, promising him eventual mastery over it. When he'd first heard the voice shortly after Neron enhanced his super-speed to levels he'd only been able to dream about before, the young Native American hadn't known what to make of it. He was at first afraid that he was just hearing voices like a schizophrenic, but he soon learned to embrace the voice and everything that it was teaching him, for would it not allow him to master speed and thus time and space itself? Would that not truly make him a god? Yes, he decided that it would. And from that point on, he knew, his inner voice was the voice of the god that he was becoming. That inner voice was the voice of Savitar, master of the speed force. And if that meant abandoning all that he had known in his pathetic previous life of petty larcenies with Tall Tree, Rain-in-the-Face, and Thunder Cloud -- his fellow Renegades -- then so be it.
Nearly without effort, Savitar continued spiraling around the arena at an unbelievable speed that, from his point of view, felt like a casual jog around a racetrack. As he passed by hero and villain in battle, he made little adjustments here and there to turn the tide of battle decidedly in the Legion of Doom's favor. He felt like he was playing a game of pool, with all the time in the world to set up every ball perfectly in line with the cue ball. He sped around and around, completing his adjustments with care and precision, and then finally he stopped to regard his work, his masterpiece.
Time still stood still for him, but in a moment he would allow the internal vibrations in his body to relax, and he would once more return to the normal flow of time. And then he would see how well his adjustments would turn out. He looked around and saw them one by one.
Mockingbird, mid-cry, now stood facing Green Lantern.
Martian Manhunter and Aquaman were now poised to strike their fists through the power ring-generated prisons inhabited by the Blue Bowman and Dwarfstar. Behind them were Lord Malvolio and the Marshal to capture them once they'd done their work.
Hawkman was about to be crushed by Malleable Man in his rubber ball form. Green Arrow, on his feet once more, would be struck by the rebound.
Hawkwoman was about to crash against Dagon's hard water barrier.
The Atom was standing under Master Jailer's right foot in mid-run.
Zatanna, whose mouth was now gagged, was about to be knocked out by a furious Lady Falcon.
Black Canary, still fighting off being possessed by Allura, now had to deal with an unspooled Elongated Man bound around her.
A place for everyone, and everyone in their place. It was a thing of beauty. Dramatically, Savitar raised one hand and snapped his fingers. Predictably, everything went as planned.
Mockingbird's cry disoriented Green Lantern's concentration, causing his power ring creations to falter under the combined attacks of Martian Manhunter and Aquaman, who were too stunned to realize they'd freed two of their foes before they were themselves captured by Lord Malvolio and the Marshal. Hawkman and Hawkwoman splattered against Malleable Man and Dagon's hard water shield, respectively, while Green Arrow caught another blow from Malleable Man, the Atom was stepped on by a grossed-out Master Jailer, and Zatanna's lights were punched out by Lady Falcon. Black Canary looked confused and bewildered by her Elongated Man straitjacket before her eyes rolled back in her head, and a completely malevolent expression suddenly appeared on her face.
Savitar smiled at his handiwork.
Yet a frown spoiled his giddy mood as something began to dawn on him. He looked around and began to count the heroes. He could only see ten of them. Hadn't there been eleven Justice Leaguers altogether? He counted them again and again, but he still only came up with ten.
And then he realized who was missing.
"Flash!" cried Savitar, a split-second before a red fist delivered a flurry of super-speed blows that would knock him out for the rest of the fight -- or what was left of it, anyway.
But now as the Flash looked around to see his entire team defeated, their victorious enemies all turning their attention to him, all that Wally West could think of saying was:
"Aw, crap."
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 9, 2018 18:13:45 GMT
No comments, anyone? I was actually pretty proud of this chapter, as fight scenes are hard for me to write.
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Post by jonclark on Mar 10, 2018 8:36:08 GMT
Fight scenes really are a problem in a text only medium. I admire your ability yo plot all that out in your head, but I gotta admit I could only follow it in bits and pieces as It's equally hard to picture the whole battlefield and it's players as it must have been to write it.
Oh and is Savitar actually faster than the Flash, because otherwise shouldn't Wally be able to use the same move the villains around trick now after that end scene?
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 10, 2018 21:29:29 GMT
Thanks for the comments, Jon! It really is a challenge to write fight scenes with such a large cast of characters, but I've tried to take inspiration from Libby, who is a master at writing such scenes!
As far as Savitar's speed goes, I gave two clues as to why he was able to pull off such a trick:
First, he had the advantage of utter surprise, since everyone assumed that he was down for the count and captured indefinitely. No one was watching for him to make a super-speed move, while the Flash has no such advantage. All of the conscious members of the Legion of Doom will be preparing themselves to fight him, and the circumstances have greatly changed.
Second, I gave hints as to how Chief Crazy Horse of the Renegades has become much faster than he was back when he fought the Freedom Fighters. The voice he hears in his head with a foreign accent is a big clue as to what's happening to him. As for who that is, if you have read Mark Waid's run on the Flash, it should be evident, and that Savitar was truly a master of the Speed Force. The Savitar of the Legion of Doom isn't the same guy, but the voice helping him is trying to push him to greater and greater feats of speed for his own purposes. We'll hopefully learn more about this in a later story, someday.
Finally, given that the fight is in Hell, certain infernal properties might make it easier for evil to win over good, or at least have a better fighting chance than on Earth. I'm not going to go into that idea any further, but it's something to think about.
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Post by jonclark on Mar 11, 2018 6:41:41 GMT
Thanks for the explanation(s).
It is good to know there was some thinking behind it. I was considering the "voice" and the boosted powers, but it wasn't clear from the story if Savitar being faster was just putting him up into the Flash's league (no pun intended) or more than equal footing. And I wanted to make sure because having a speedster move so fast people are statues is one of those ideas that writers use in one story and then forget until they need it. And after seeing Savitar single handedly set the field against the League it was obvious that Wally wasn't going to repeat the stunt, but not 100% clear why he wouldn't.
And I hadn't taken the idea that the odds in Hell might be a bit stacked into account.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jun 22, 2018 0:57:53 GMT
Note: I've split the Underworld Unleashed story into two stories, since there's a clear break between them, and it just reads better this way. The first part really is about the JLA and the Legion of Doom, while the second part (Underworld Unleashed) is about ALL the heroes and villains of Earth-One.
Also, I'm saving this space for a "lost chapter" that was supposed to take place around this time. Hopefully I can get this posted very soon.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jul 13, 2018 4:13:35 GMT
Epilogue: Uneasy Allies
Despite the power he knew he possessed in his transformed superhuman frame, Will Payton couldn't help but feel a bit nervous as he joined his sworn enemies Super-Menace and the Wrath on a journey to find his third uneasy ally. Starman was thankful that he'd been there in time to stop the evil duplicate of Superman from kidnapping and possibly even killing the Man of Steel's family. And they had both reached the Wrath before he had managed to kidnap more than one civilian, a friend of Wonder Woman named Etta Huckaby. But the Dark Commander, the evil double of the original amazing Amazon, was still out there on her own mission. Would they reach her in time to prevent her from kidnapping or killing another ally of a Justice League member?
Even worse was the creeping thought that these three members of the Legion of Doom might end up betraying him. After all, how could he possibly know whether or not they had merely been stringing him along this whole time? The Phantom Stranger had been asking a lot of him; Will just hoped that he this wouldn't turn out to be a fool's errand.
"She's up ahead," the Wrath said over his jet radio as he peered at his tracking device, which displayed a moving red dot superimposed onto a map. "But she's on the move -- headed to California, possibly to capture Green Lantern's woman, or maybe his little Eskimo pal."
"I'll flag her down," said Super-Menace, and he shot ahead at top speed, leaving Starman to fly alone next to the Wrathjet, the villain's answer to the Batplane.
Will took a sly glance toward the pilot; he didn't trust the Wrath one bit. Super-Menace was slightly more relatable, seeming to be someone who might possibly keep his word, but the Wrath was the perennial scorpion on the frog's back as in the old fable; you knew he would strike, according to his nature, but you didn't know when.
Several moments later, Starman and the Wrath in his Wrathjet had caught up to the Dark Commander's plane, which had been flagged down by Super-Menace and now soared down to make a vertical landing. The Wrath brought his own VTOL aircraft for a similar landing several feet away. They were in a flat stretch of land in Nevada a few miles out of Las Vegas.
The Dark Commander, removing her ghostly iron mask of death as she got out of her plane, wore a look of annoyance on her otherwise beautiful Amazon face. Will Payton gulped as he realized up close how much she really did resemble the original Wonder Woman, a hero he'd long admired since he was a kid.
She scowled at the sight of the three men. "Well?" she demanded. "Care to tell me why you've halted my mission, or should I just start disemboweling each of you now?"
Super-Menace, using his x-ray vision to peer into her plane, began to chuckle, eliciting a warning glare from Dark Commander. Before she could resolve herself to take his head off with her mystical sword, he held his hands up and yelled, "I'm not laughing at you, Aresia! I'm laughing at what the Wrath might think when he sees your cargo!"
"Why?" demanded the Wrath, exiting the Wrathjet's cockpit.
"Well, Wrath," continued Super-Menace, "while you had successfully captured one of the JLA's allies, it looks as if D.C., here, has been a bit busier."
The Wrath's eyes narrowed. "Let me see," he growled.
Still suspicious, the Dark Commander hesitated for a moment before she sighed and said, "As you wish." At that, she opened up the cargo hold, and the Wrath walked up to take a look within. He remained completely silent as he saw, inside the plane, ten bound figures he recognized from the files on the targets he and the other members of the Unholy Trinity had been briefed on: Lana Lang, reporter from Metropolis; Vicki Vale, reporter from Gotham City; Sue Dibny, former socialite; Jean Loring, lawyer from Ivy Town; George Emmett, former police commissioner of Midway City; Diane Meade, policewoman from Middletown; Kathy and Traya Sutton of New York City; Jeff Sloane, show business manager; and Dale Gunn, engineer from Detroit.
"Now, if you boys are completely satisfied with my efforts thus far, care to tell me why this costumed fool with you is still breathing?" demanded the Dark Commander. "I didn't think either of you were the types to play with your prey before killing it."
"Just hear him out, Aresia," said Super-Menace in a placating tone of voice. "He has information you'll want to hear. It changes everything."
"And what do you think about all this, Wrath?" asked the Dark Commander. "You've never struck me as the gullible type."
The Wrath still wore a grim countenance as he stared at her prisoners. "Let's just say I found a grain of truth in what this Starman had to say to me."
Dark Commander chuckled as she turned toward Starman and said, "Well, little man, it appears your honeyed words have turned the heads of my allies. I'm sure you're aware that any one of us could utterly decimate you if you prove to be lying. So tell me, what's so important that I needed to interrupt my hunt?"
Will Payton tried his best to look confident, instead of intimidated as he really felt. "Just let me begin by thanking you for not harming these folks," he said, indicating the prisoners. "I'm sure you'll have no reason to do anything but let them go once I've finished telling you the truth that Neron has been keeping from you this whole time."
Continued in DC Universe: Underworld Unleashed
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Jul 14, 2018 10:38:09 GMT
She's been busy! I hope Starman can convince her to let them go.
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