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Life Ore Death - DC Feruchemy [Young Justice]

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Target Demographic - part 2
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    • Life Ore Death​
    * November 9 [Big Barda PoV]

    This assault was not going well, and wasn't that just typical?

    'When I ran off with Scott, I thought I was out of the warfare business,' I mentally griped, exchanging another round of blows with the dual-wielding boy even as I ducked or deflected the objects thrown at my head.

    He was good, for a local; not good enough to be a serious challenge to me, but I was lacking my old Furies gear, and with the green-skinned girl throwing objects at my head he was just good enough that I couldn't get through. It was a little embarrassing, almost, but he wasn't exactly fighting to kill, and I couldn't justify not holding back.

    'And that's what's really bothering me, here,' I finally figured out. Getting approached by New Genesis had freaked us both out, but the kids had seemed earnest, and their Mother Box had confirmed everything they'd said about Apokolips having agents in place, plotting.

    Confirmed everything about the presence of a highly ranked Apokolips officer on the planet, identity unknown.

    And then they'd kept on recruiting around, with us, looking for this Orion guy, who was apparently Scott's counterpart in that damn trade, and wouldn't that have been a disturbing conversation to have. Instead, we'd run across one of my own students, who'd since defected as well….

    'Okay,' I admitted silently, 'I admit it: I'm jealous of the thick-skull. Yeah, I did the whole defect for love thing first, but I've always felt proud of learning about what it was to be good, and then that airhead blood knight goes and outdoes me on it.'

    I had to react faster when the hydrokinetic warrior's blades almost nicked me, and I cursed silently at my inattention. 'Dammit. Time was, I never would have had my mind wander on the battlefield,' I knew, and even if I was happy now, it had come at a cost to my combat skills.

    Then again, it was no longer my job to single-mindedly die or kill for Darkseid {Tyranny}, and wasn't wandering a form of freedom, too?

    "You might want to just surrender," I suggested mockingly. Defeating any of the servitors here wasn't really the point – we just needed to hunt down and finish off the Apokolips official before the unknown got anything more nasty going.

    These servitors may not even be intentionally involved – it wasn't uncommon for allies of Apokolips to believe early on that they were serving a righteous cause – but they were defending this place and we needed them out of the way. They weren't willing to stop, and we were invading their base right now, but needs must.

    Over the water wielder's shoulder, I saw Kay laugh wildly as she lifted the young male juggernaut, flipped him over, and pile-drove {Beaten and Helpless} him into the ground. Her mantle surged as she did so, invoking some new influence she hadn't had before.

    "Conner!" screamed the green-skinned telekinetic, speaking out loud for the first time, and the girl broke ranks to rush over.

    My idiot student's lover broke away from her engagement with the blonde child, back-flipped, and flicked a canister over.

    Green-skin screamed in shock as it detonated in a ball of flame; my enemy kept discipline and stayed engaged solely on me, so I couldn't go to reinforce as Kay's lover. The lone human on our side took arrows to her chest and leg, but I kept my foe from also rushing over to capitalize on it.

    "Ohhhh," I heard from the fly guy, who was supposed to be some part human. Given that his abilities were more obvious than most of the middle-rank New Gods… 'Then again, it's easy to get unstable abilities, but not so much to get anything controllable. Given that he's stuck staying still while his flies are searching, I wouldn't say that's an ability most non-Apokoliptians would want if they were competent.'

    "New arrivals!" shouted Vykin, just before a sonic shockwave swept across the room.

    *SHHCCRREEEEEEEEEEEAHHHH*

    An enemy soldier with some connection to the Speed Force raced by an instant later, and together the two rearranged the battlefield, whisking away the unconscious juggernaut and the green telekinetic as the force blasted a few of the kids off-balance.

    "The fuck!" yelped Kay's companion, cartwheeling out of the way as she quickly fixed her mask.

    "This is bad is bad is bad bad bad, ohhhhh, we're gonna be on one hell of a Hell Ride," moaned Milan unhelpfully, just before Scott got him out of the way when what I guessed was a local, white-furred, dwarf variant of the Dog Soldiers' dogs lunged at them with a snap.

    "Kid, bucket!" shouted my opponent as he lost ground quickly against my greater martial ability. I needed to get serious, now, and fast.

    "Got it!" yelled the blur, and after passing through four more exchanges he had briefly returned. My enemy grimly smiled as he passed.

    I heard a splash, and I rolled away just before my feet would have been wet by the bucket of water he'd emptied at me.

    The liquid still lashed out at me again, under my opponent's control, and I started pulling out the stops, because he was only going to get more ammunition with each new go-round of the assistant. Even with his greater supply of water, he fell back fast under my assault.

    I wasn't landing any solid hits, though, and more backup was probably-

    "Barda!" Scott shouted, alarmed but not endangered, so I didn't even feel a twinge to look. "We've got trouble: the Adversary is on her feet and coming this way!" I grit my teeth as another splash of water arrived, ducked an arrow from the blonde girl, and reached down.

    I had kept or reproduced just enough Apokolips technology when I left to be dangerous, without anything by which we could be tracked. The grenades at my waist were more lethal than any of my other equipment, 'but if we have someone on the level of Desaad, Kalibak, or Granny Goodness on the way, we can't afford to fight with kid gloves even if these servitors are innocent dupes.'

    A part of me recognized that I was falling into old habits, and letting my Apokolips training take over, but it had worked when I was still serving Apokolips and we needed every advantage we could get.

    'Five warriors of the upper Gamma tier from New Genesis, my idiot student, her human lover, a freaky friend of this Orion guy, Scott, and I are no small fighting force. Now a bunch of locals have almost fought us to a draw without any obvious signs of Apokolips. If both Motherbox hadn't identified the presence of Anti-Life, I'd have wondered if we weren't being set up, but no, it's just an assault gone FUBAR. Yay.'

    "At your eight!" I reacted to Kay's shout, and her flying kick took out a kid in a cape I hadn't even seen. "Just like old times, isn't it, Captain?" I wanted to think she wasn't taunting me, but I wasn't in any mood to tell and I just grit my teeth. I didn't want to smile right now.

    "Vykin, any news?" I shouted instead. Two of the kids had gone on ahead as scouts, looking for the location of our adversary, and last we'd heard they expected to be closing in. 'If the adversary is on the move now, either we need them back for support, or they're already dead.'

    "Unresponsive, but alive," he called back. 'Aaaaand that's possibly worse, if we're looking at a couple of hostages. Worse, Apokolips isn't going to care if we take any hostages of our own.' I reached for the nervous system shock grenade on my belt.

    A water whip snaked out to one side and slapped away a knife thrown at the back of the sonic screamer's head. The gesture, made even though it let one of my hits slip through into his ribs, was so not-Apokolips that I grabbed a proven-ineffective shock grenade instead.

    He flinched for a moment before his electric generation caught up and countered it, but even that pause gave me an opening.

    'I'm oiling these old joints pretty well,' I realized with a grim grin, finally getting back in the swing of it. My pace picked up. My enemy fell back.

    "Ekoms dna srorrim, ekam segami fo Rudlak!" A moment later my enemy split into multiple copies.

    "Time to try this again," one copy murmured. The amateur's mistake would have been to assume that speech was a sign of the real one, but making or moving sound is not a tremendous hardship for most variants of these holograms. Similarly, listening for footsteps or hard breathing wasn't a giveaway, and when I checked I heard the soft impact of multiple footsteps when they moved.

    I fell back and gave ground, too busy deflecting all the possible attacks to grab an area-of-effect grenade and dispel them.

    For sufficiently advanced holograms, they could even inflict form of damage, or it was possible the real one was invisible and timing his attacks to synch with different copies' attacks to keep me off balance. Not all of my counters hit solid, but enough did to keep me wary.

    "Eriw ekans slioc, dnib reh!" A bunch of inactive electrical wires slithered across the ground at my feet. I could almost certainly break out if I got caught, but there was no reason to take the risk of if they were reinforced when I could sweep them with my extended rod.

    They tried to coil around my Mega-Rod instead, but that just let me use them like a flail whip at the end of the Mega Rod.

    I snapped and cracked through three copies before I caught the real one, drawing a line of blood across his collarbone.

    I missed the gills he'd been given by two inches, but to judge from his flinch the skin around it was still sensitive.

    {Freedom}
    ​
    "Sorry kid, but you can't Take Control of me," Scott called as he twisted around and bound up a blond boy who'd tried something insidious. Milan must have said something to him, because a moment later Scott called, "Apokolips incoming everyone!"

    I ended up glancing in the direction he indicated while I let my opponent's water-blades cut the coils off my Mega-Rod before they could cling any tighter. A bit of me in the back of my mind was confused, because Anti-Life was usually obvious and I wasn't feeling any-

    {Going to Die}​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Nah, it is Barda's New God aspect seeing Renka's New God aspect. As a Sliver of Entropy Renka gives off the feeling your going to die but everything eventually dies.

    Just a big misunderstanding. The best super hero situation!
     
    Maybe some leftovel investiture from the dream death vision thingg she went through? She's still a Shard of Ruin metaphysically maybe?

    But, I guess if she were aware of any she wouldn't have had the difficulties, minor that they were, in the last update?
     
    Spear said:
    Maybe some leftovel investiture from the dream death vision thingg she went through? She's still a Shard of Ruin metaphysically maybe?

    But, I guess if she were aware of any she wouldn't have had the difficulties, minor that they were, in the last update?
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    Nah, this has been a thing for her for a while. Her connection to Ruin is what scared the mother box in the first place, which is why they're here.
     
    Personally, I am betting on a furious Fate interrupt, where an ancient Lord of Order kicks ass of young godlings, and then dumps them on Highfather's lawn.
     
    Target Demographic - part 3
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    • Life Ore Death​
    * November 9 [Big Barda PoV]

    "Apokolips incoming, everyone!"

    I ended up glancing in the direction he indicated while I let my opponent's water-blades cut the coils off my Mega-Rod before they could cling any tighter. A bit of me in the back of my mind was confused, because Anti-Life was usually obvious, and I wasn't feeling any-

    {Going to Die}​

    'Oh, there it is,' I realized, suppressing the bare wheeze it inflicted on me as I searched a little too close to it. The target was approaching at a cautious, crawling pace from a tunnel up on the higher level in the room, where Moonrider was fighting with more of the servitors.

    I heard one of them yell, "Holy rheostat, Ferris is up!" Everyone in the room twitched. I used my opponent's distraction as an opening, sweeping him enough off-balance to leap up to the higher level, arcing through the air as I heard, "No fighting, you need to run!" from the youngest enemy.

    At the peak of my leap, winding up my swing, I was almost at the ceiling of this cavern, and could easily look down on her.

    Examining our target in the sluggish instant when I hung above, readying my Mega-Rod to strike, a lot of things made more sense.

    First, the Apokolips agent was a wreck. She stood a bit shorter than my height, her face grim and murderous, but it was obvious that she'd avoided taking the field because she was recently beaten badly. She was bruised and battered all over, she was bleeding in several places, she'd clearly just been disconnected from a number of Earth's primitive medical devices, and she obviously felt exhausted.

    She was limping, leaning against the wall, and her back was bent under the weight of that Serifan kid even as she dragged Dreamer behind her. Anyone above a lowly should've been able to carry them both one-handed, but right now she was apparently far too weak.

    'Wish I could've seen the local Justice Legion or whoever tear those strips out of her so recently. Ah well, at least it's easier to finish this,' I decided.

    "Serifan! Dreamer!" I heard the horrified Moonrider cry out in alarm.

    "Release our comrades or pay, Apokolips scum," made it from Wolf's lungs to my ears as I began to fall, aiming for a careful strike.

    {Going to Die}​

    The target looked too exhausted even to dodge, or use her hostages as a proper shield, but I didn't want to risk killing them, in the event she had unexpected reserves of strength. I braced spiritually against the assault of Anti-Life as momentum and gravity pulled me further into her range. An ambush strike to smash her skull or bisect her would've been the best option, but she was facing me and could see me coming.

    {Things Fall Apart}​

    She was strong. Her aura as I neared was fierce and potent, and she focused her influence upon me. I needed to rouse my own power for resistance, as my Mega-Rod shook and rattled, seemingly in an attempt to make it malfunction or shatter. It had been made to resist influence from enemy New Gods, so while it was possible there was an Anti-Life loophole in its protections, I expected she was just horribly powerful.

    "Tro-,"

    If she hadn't been so thoroughly wasted in the recent past –in a fight against the Justice League or this guy Orion, if I had to guess, depending on how well the hot shit met the standards his fellow New Genosians had advertised – we'd have had one wreck of a fight on our hands.

    'Her range is small, but the effects are dense,' I reflected, gritting my teeth as I fell within the last few lengths, the effort making what should've been seconds pass many relative times longer. 'It's not the level of Lord Darkseid, but I'd guess she measures up well against Granny, or Grayven.'

    'A new favored officer? She isn't my replacement, it's all wrong for that, but if she were older or well hidden I'd wonder if- no, I don't think Darkseid has a new secret daughter, but she could be maybe a granddaughter, or daughter-in law? Best to end this now, early.'

    {It All Fails}​

    I swung my Mega-Rod as, like molasses, my target tried to react. Her interference was fast enough, but her physical reactions were too slow. She'd only just let go of Dreamer's hair to free her one hand, and while she was still managing Serafin's weight she wouldn't be able to move in time.

    "-pelet paws!"

    I flinched and desperately pulled the strike as my target vanished, replaced by a young Earth girl – a Source be damned child. Fright and grim resolve were mixed in her eyes, and for the first time I dearly wished I'd fought more people on this planet, so that I could have known how fragile the brave, misguided girl was.

    Chances were, I only slowed down enough just in time to keep from pulverizing her ribs & collarbone when I swept my Mega-Rod sideways and flung her across the room, tumbling toward one of her teammates, to catch her and tie them both up.

    'I didn't feel anything break,' I considered hopefully, even as I fumbled to regain my balance, shaken by the hasty changes made to my maneuver.

    The deep, encompassing, invasive aura of Anti-Life hadn't gone far. I found my feet and spun around in time to find her dropping Serafin.

    I charged even as she pulled free one of Serafin's weapons and shot at me. Deflecting those blasts was all too easy.

    *SHHCCRREEEEEEEEEEEAHHHH*

    I had to interrupt my run to jump as the sonic shockwave tried to sweep between us and cut me off, vaulting over its range.

    A colorful blur swept her away before my swipe could make contact. More people were yelling things, but I couldn't be bothered to notice over the sound of my own battle roar. I vaguely noted Moonrider grabbing Dreamer while Wolf ran for where Serafin fell.

    Mostly, though, I just focused on not letting the woman from Apokolips escape me. She was moving when I found her again, and then she stopped too close to Scott and Fly Guy for comfort. I threw myself after them, only for a blob of pressurized water to hit me in the air.

    I defended against it perfectly, suffering no damage, but the force of impact knocked me off-path and through the air.

    Scott did something clever with an aero-disc that sent the speedster flying through the air, pulling an unexpected escape from the smallest of our enemies, only for our target to make the same mistake in trying to hold and grapple him.
    {Fr-edom}​

    I set my stance, readied my Mega-Rod as Vykin rushed past me, and waited for the opportunity as she pressed Serifan's weapon to Scott's head.

    And waited. As the young kid jumped back on, trying to help secure Scott as well, I noticed the rest of the battle had stalled out.

    "Scott, what are you waiting for?" I barked as my fellow former-fury flipped to land beside her cornered lover.

    "I can't! Barda, I'm trapped," he called as she fixed her grip when he tried squirming.
    {Fre-do-} {You Can Always Fail}​

    "You're what?" I squawked, horrified, because, 'That can't be possible, even Lord Darkseid and Granny never kept him caught!'

    "I can- I can't break free," he repeated, sounding agonized. My heart lurched in horrified realization as he struggled.
    {-ree-o-} {You Can Always Fail}​

    "Yeah, you're not going anywhere. Stand down!" the younger kid helping our target shouted with a surprising amount of authority. "We've got your friend, but we're with the Justice League; stand down and we'll lock you up, but we won't hurt you."

    "Wait, what? Justice League?" shouted back Kay's lover, making a quick show of shucking off her wrist-blades and backing up. "The hell?"

    "What are you doing working with Apokolips?" I accused, not exactly willing to believe the claim….

    'Is she-? I haven't thought much on the Justice League, but she looks a little like someone I saw on the news,' I assessed of the screamer.

    I didn't drop my Mega-Rod just yet, but I stayed ready and swore that if they hurt Scott, I would make them pay, my morals be damned.

    All of them, not just the one woman from Apokolips.

    And then, every danger sense I had honed over my life started screaming, more than already. My head snapped around to find the threat.

    "Taaru!" {I Am}

    Light flowed up into a form. The kids had mentioned some trump for use in emergencies, but I hadn't cared much about what.

    {I Am}​

    I had expected I'd be picking up the slack. I had never expected, could never have expected anything like this. My knees went weak.

    {I Am}​

    In-fucking-finity Man stood before us in the etheric flesh, brilliant and glorious and unconquerable. I froze in equal awe and terror.

    {I Am}​

    The Mega-Rod clattered from my limp hand as Infinity Man took first one step, then another, walking off the ledge and down across the atoms of atmosphere itself, incarnate truth growing more and more undeniable as it came closer. I whimpered, just a little, as it passed.

    I was not alone.

    {I Am}​

    Through my own watery eyes, I saw tears also streaming down the cheeks of our target, but I couldn't even muster up a vindictive satisfaction through my own soul-shock. The human kid seemed worried and confused, face to face with a god among gods, but the woman from Apokolips seemed to understand how hopeless it was. Scott was limp too, even though she wasn't putting any effort into holding him.

    I couldn't blame him, if he couldn't muster up any attention to escape right now, in the face of this.

    {I Am}​

    Infinity Man trudged to a stop in front of them, and glowed an announcement that my ears were too full of ringing to hear. It wasn't meant for me, anyway, so I didn't need to hear it. The woman from Apokolips must have made it out, though, because she shifted and replied.

    {I Am}​

    The human kid beside her flailed and tried to tug at her, as Infinity Man announced something else, but I wasn't worried; there was no way a power such as this would be unable to sort out the innocents from the enemies when it acted. She moved in response to him.

    Her action didn't make any sense to me; at first, I couldn't even process what I was seeing. There was no sanity or sense in the suggestion that one of Apokolips – especially one with Anti-Life in her – would shield a child behind her back, protectively, or calmly stare down her fate.

    {I Am}​

    I heard more noise as presence pounded in my ears, and a new machine arrived. From the shape, I assumed she was the New Genesphere that the kids had described to me as a kidnapping victim. She didn't appear damaged or restrained, and she said something else.

    I still couldn't focus enough to tell what they were talking about, but I heard the Motherbox Scott and I had given to Fly Guy chime in with more information for Infinity Man. Everything was momentarily quiet.

    {All Things Are In Accord}​

    With that announcement, and no other blasting, nor any imposition of anti-Apokolips justice, Infinity Man returned to the Source.

    The Forever People reappeared in his place, more than a little confused, and we all wondered what the Source just happened.
     
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    • I feel like this might not end well for them, what with Zatanna crumpled on the ground, choking on her own blood from a broken collarbone, shoulder and a punctured lung.

    I kid, I kid. He didn't feel anything break, but while Renka might be willing to overlook the whole assassination attempt, somehow I do not think the others or the Justice League or Fate{That Which Should Be} in particular will be quite so kind.

    The hero who helped stop the death of hundreds of thousands, and almost gave her life for the privilege, being assassinated by other supposed good guys, sounds like something that decidedly, Should Not Be.
     
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    I loved how Barda's POV was, while understandable, so alien. Really underscored that Apokolips/New Genesis ppl are not human, tho some look it.
     
    Hecatonchires said:
    I loved how Barda's POV was, while understandable, so alien. Really underscored that Apokolips/New Genesis ppl are not human, tho some look it.
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    Except it really isn't? Barda's viewpoint is perfectly rational when you consider that she is an ex-Apokolypitian turncoat. You don't break free from utter fanaticism unless you cultivate an equally extreme rejection of your former principles. It makes complete sense that, when confronted with an agent of Darkseid, Barda attempts to eliminate her with extreme prejudice.
     
    Barda and the rest could hardly conceive of the possibility that what Renka had was something other than a fragment of Antilife, and thus she had to be a super evil person with Darkseid's personal regard. Both due to the horror of the idea of there being more things like Darkseid out there on the one hand, and the way power works on Apokalyps on the other. It's a cultural issue that blinded them to other possibilities.
     
    A bit of tunnel vision, a bit of professional-slash-cultural deformation.

    Happens everyday on our dear Earth :whistle:
     
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