This next arc is long! I can skip parts of it but I'm not even sure I'll get it out today. Joshua isn't even going to be doing anything for about half this arc.
I really hope the next chapter will be shorter, it's not covering any specific arc so it should be back to a more normal length.
A year working with the justice league as its name changes, Justice League international.
A year as the JLI's membership changes. The additional members in the form of the American Captain Atom and the Russian Red Rocket #7. Plus Guy Gardner appears to have developed a "nice" split personality. Bizarre.
For Joshua the year had been fairly calm. Well, seeing as he spent most days involved in various superhero activities at least. He'd fought "The gluttonous goblin" a few more times. That was the name the Gluttony keyholder had gotten.
Prison seemed to slow his growth rate, which was good as he seemed to be able to gain his points faster than Joshua could. Or at least he always had a counter to whatever method Joshua had used last time.
So, in late October, 1987, Joshua was finding his time in this world… passable. The ratio of action to peaceful time was a bit too weighted towards drama but it wasn't high enough that it was stressing him out.
Of course, he was thinking about this as they were all going after a group of villains. Joshua couldn't remember their names. They were just your classic group of organised villains using energy weapons that they'd either figured out how to make, steal or get from aliens.
Batman had gone over it in the briefing, but it hadn't been too important.
He threw out curses of bad luck from behind cover, making their weapons break or the villains drop them. When the time came to help with cleanup, Joshua pulled out a shield spell and ran forward with it to cover him from fire before tackling some of them.
Once all was said and done, it was time to return to base. Once there they got a message from the base for the Green lanterns.in Santa Monica. Apparently there was news.
"You have to hear it for yourself." The lantern who was sending the message said "It involves the future of earth."
As the Justice League flew over (Joshua on his broom as he still hadn't bought any kind of personal flight), they talked about the situation. Apparently the Lanturn that had called them was the first Lantern- Hal Jordan.
As they landed, Batman (Who'd taken the Blue Beetle's bug along with him) noted along with Doctor Fate that things had begun to act up. Whatever the lanterns had called to tell them about would probably be big.
Heroes from all over were showing up to whatever this event was. It was the most supers that Joshua had ever seen in one place. He hadn't even met most of these people before.
Joshua took a short time to check up on the others that he knew about. He hadn't spoken with the Flash recently and it was good to catch up seeing that they still worked out of the same city.
Finally the presentation began. The green lanterns invited to speak a pair of immortals that were apparently from the heart of the universe. A short blue man with a bulbous head and one that basically just looked like an amazonian like Wonder woman.
Was she even here? Joshua hadn't noticed her about.
The immortals explained they were here to repopulate what could be called "their race" by giving birth to a new breed of immortals from earth. Joshua thought that sounded vaguely villainous but everyone else trusted them so he gave them the benefit of the doubt.
The heroes job in this was to protect the ten people that had been chosen as an ancient creation of the guardians called Manhunters would try and kill them. They were robots with the capability of flight and various weapons installed. Even so their greatest weapon was their infiltration skills. They'd had three million years to blend in and now they could be anywhere, or anyone.
The problems started immediately though, they had been planning to have one of the teen titans be one of the ten, but they were apparently already dead. People started to worry at that, the fact that the immortals had already failed in something. Superman made a speech though.
"Let the immortals do the best they can, from their universal perspective. We'll do the rest! What do you say? For the world!"
Joshua smiled hearing the others rally around him.
On some level this wasn't their fight, but the manhunters sounded like they needed to be defeated anyway, and innocent lives were at risk.
Once everything was done, everyone set off again. They needed to get to their respective bases to begin the mission.
The justice league decided to take the blue bug together. The Martian manhunter (name apparently unrelated), Booster gold and Guy were flying outside to keep an eye out there. Captain Atom had also left to head to New York to report to the government.
Inside the bug, Blue Beetle was still managing to crack jokes despite the pressure everyone was feeling. Joshua was trying to keep up a good mood too and joined in prompting a sigh from Mister Miracle.
"I don't know how you both manage it."
Leaning back, Joshua looked out the window "How to put it? I think some part of it is the weight isn't really hitting me. This is a fight we're choosing to involve ourselves in, not one that we're being forced into."
"What do you mean by that?" Batman asked calmly.
"Hmm. The Manhunters need to be dealt with, and we need to save as many innocents as we can, but the Manhunters aren't directly attacking any of us, or the world in general."
"You are right Azure Crow." Red Rocket remarked "It doesn't seem like you strictly need to fight. On that subject."
He looked to the group in general.
"Gentlemen, and lady. I would like to have a word with all of you."
Batman nodded "You're a team member, you're always free to speak your mind among us Rocket Red."
…Joshua felt a chill run up his back. Though he wasn't able to figure out the source until the Russian Hero continued.
"Gentlemen, and lady. I think it's time you learned the truth about me."
Joshua sighed "You work for the Manhunters?"
"I am a Manhunter." Rocket Red corrected.
That got everyone to start back. Joshua sat back in his chair and noticed Blue Beetle was having a problem with the controls. The ship had apparently gone on autopilot to fly somewhere else.
"I have seen you all in action." Rocket Red continued "And studied you, you are a most formidable group. And one that would make a worthy addition to the manhunter cause. I ask that you join us."
"Join you?" Batman was angry and confused "After what we just heard?"
Red Rocket raised his hand "Please, believe me when I say I have no will to battle any of you. What Azure Crow said was correct. This is not a fight against any of you. What the Guardians told you about us contained a mass of fabrications."
"Then enlighten us." Batman asked sarcastically, a lot of emotion for him "to the truth you claim."
"We simply want to prevent the guardian's tampering with the fate of the universe." The Manhunter explained "The course of natural evolution, the dance between chaos and order, shadow and light, must remain equal."
…Where was Doctor Fate during all of this. He'd left to look into something separately from the rest of the team.
Red Rocket raised his arms dramatically "It is simple arrogance that makes the guardians believe they can better the natural order with the creation of their so-called gods."
Mister Miracle had managed to get behind Red Rocket to tamper with his pack. Joshua only now noticed him. That was why Batman had been talking, he'd been buying time.
"To clarify;" Joshua pushed, to try to buy a little more time "You want heroes to not have a stake in the battle between good and evil?"
"I won't insult any of your honour by putting aside all of your beliefs." The robot continued "But you are all a natural part of that battle. You are part of the natural system we want to preserve."
"Their so-called gods," Joshua continued "What's the difference between them being created and, say, giving another sort of alien weapon to some ordinary heroic person? In either case, an outsider is having an impact on the fate of that battle. If your problem is with the fact the guardians are doing it because they were your creators, then it seems your issue isn't with the natural progression of the battle at all, doesn't it?"
There was a pause of silence in the bug before a sudden flare of electricity threw Mister Miracle away.
"We are not fools." Red Rocket turned to look behind him. His voice had lost most of the emotion it had held before. He explained how the Green Lantern that designed the suit had included anti-tampering functions.
Looking around he asked once more if they'd join him. The only alternative was death.
There was another silence as Red Rocket's head fell and he began to raise his mask.
"We take no pleasure in this, but we cannot be opposed. We are supreme."
The mask removed, revealing a metal face beneath as the robot continued "We are Manhunters, No man, or woman, can escape us!"
"So, what is your answer?"
Black Canary snarled "Does the word 'no' ring a bell?"
"So be it." The Manhunter that had been their ally growled "I'll destroy you all."
A fight broke out and Joshua moved in with his blade.
"Blade Rush." The blade extended and there was nothing Red Rocket could do to move out of the way. The first slash took his arm.
"No one escapes-"
Joshua's blade flashed again as the Manhunter tried to dodge. Within this small space though, there was nowhere he could go fast enough.
Taking back control of the bug, they send messages out. Captain Atom and Oberon (Mister Miracle's manager) had noticed the ship going the wrong way and had called in the closest allies they could, which turned out to be the rest of the Red Rocket brigade (Who were all thankfully actual humans.)
With all that dealt with, they headed back to base. On the way they learned the Maxwell Lord had been shot by a manhunter agent. As Batman told everyone to split up until they were called again, he warned everyone to keep an eye out.
As Joshua used the teleporter and walked home, he thought about Red Rocket #7. He had known the apparent Manhunter for most of the last year and they had never really seemed that off. The only problem was that everyone had thought they were a spy for the Russian government.
Because yes, the cold war was going on. With all the superheroics, Joshua had missed that at first.
Sighing, Joshua checked his apartment door. Locked, so Cogita was probably out.
Snorting, he took out his key. There was a kind of paranoia that could set in with the Manhunters. At least Cogita should be able to give him the quick version of the story when she got home.
He sat down in the kitchen after grabbing a snack. As he waited though…
Where was Cogita? It had been an hour by now. Cell Phones weren't common yet so he couldn't just call her. Normally he wouldn't worry but given the situation…
Maybe… the briefcase? He quickly checked for the case and opened it up. As he did he saw a piece of paper sitting on the stairs down into the pocket space.
Joshua warily took the paper and turned it over.
"J, Captured, I'll be fine, ignore threats made about me. -C."
…Oh. He'd been worried about the wrong thing. His travelling companion had been taken and she couldn't defend herself. She didn't have any sort of powers of her own.
His inventory opened and he pulled out "The Original Source." Looking at the book, and the spellbook on curses he had, he swore that he wouldn't allow her to be unarmed once she was back.
Okay, work through the note. She assured him she'd be fine but didn't give him any clue about where she'd be taken. Either she didn't know where she would be taken or she did and was sure she'd be safe.
…Now it was personal for Joshua.
A week and a bit later, the Justice League was called to help calm the people. They stood in front of the Lincoln memorial once more, like they had roughly a year ago.
People were asking about Martian Manhunter's name and about the Blue Beetle's secret identity and Joshua took the time to speak to them honestly.
"Lots of us have secret identities. Do you know why?"
"Avoiding accountability!" He heard from somewhere in the crowd.
Joshua shrugged "Maybe, but not from the law if it is operating properly. We're doing it to prevent those people close to us from being hurt. The people who don't have the power to protect themselves."
The loss of Cogita was fresh. He'd gotten a note pushed through his door during the last week. A warning to not get involved in stopping the Manhunters if he valued Cogita. It had been delivered while he was out so he couldn't track down the messenger.
Even so, he had got Cogita's message. He trusted that she knew what she was doing.
The people cheered. These were the people that had been angry at them last year but now they were cheering them.
As most of the league left, their job done, Booster gold and Joshua remained. Booster slapped Joshua on the back and spoke quietly "You want to share the spotlight for a bit? Good man."
Joshua sighed "I just feel it's worth helping improve their hopes." He turned to the crowd and followed up a point the Martian Manhunter had brought up earlier.
"The enemies we're facing may be troubling, but they are no great threat. While there are those that they might threaten, the fact is most of you can feel safe. Just remember to keep on having faith in what you believe in."
Another cheer rose and Joshua noticed Booster was looking at something on the side. He moved quickly grabbing someone who had been standing to the side and pulled him into the air. The crowd panicked but Joshua called to them.
"I'll see what Booster Gold is doing, don't worry."
He pulled his broom out of nowhere dramatically and flew up towards him and the man he'd grabbed.
"But- you can't just murder me!" The man, a policeman possibly, gasped out "not in front of this crowd."
Booster shook his head and saw Joshua.
"Hey Azure Crow, this guy is Captain Atom's 'assigned Manhunter'."
"You sure?" Joshua asked as the man continued to splutter.
"I don't know." He said "This guy's mad."
Joshua knew that Booster Gold was impulsive, but he wasn't mad. He had a reason to believe this really was an agent of the Manhunters.
"Without proof, you really can't do anything." Joshua pointed out before looking at the man "What's your name?"
"Harold Hadley." The man spluttered out "Aide to air force general Wade Eiling."
Hmm. Air force? Didn't matter.
Booster gold put him down and flew off, Joshua following him as he heard the hero muttering.
"Even harassing him probably hurt my image. I was just warning him. Captain Atom will be able to take care of him."
"Are you going to warn him then?" Joshua asked as he caught up.
Booster nodded "Sure will, when I next see him it will be one of the first things I say. Hopefully it won't be too late by then."
They flew together for a time, and in that time, Joshua confided in him.
"They already tried to get to me, kidnapped a friend of mine."
"Drat." Booster muttered "You doing okay? Not going to turn?"
"I won't" Joshua assured him "She left me a message. I trust that she'll keep herself safe."
Booster Gold gave him a thumbs up "We'll get her, and any other hostages they've taken, back."
Joshua nodded and they went their separate ways.
A day later, Joshua headed for the Green Lantern compound. A general meeting was being held.
Six of the ten had been successfully gathered, but it seems one of them had gone missing.
It took a few days to recover the remaining members of the new guardians. Over that time some things went wrong out of Joshua's sight.
Booster Gold had turned traitor. Firestorm too, but Joshua didn't know much about him.
The idea that Booster Gold had turned after being glad that Joshua wouldn't was… well, it felt wrong.
Sure, Booster Gold loved to hog the spotlight and he was a bit greedy, but Joshua had been able to look past that. He had a hero's heart. Or Joshua had though he did.
He could lie to himself, say "Oh, Booster turned specifically so he could find and free the hostages." But that didn't feel right for some reason.
Also, Superman wasn't here and the president was apparently starting to apply pressure in such a way as to try and force superheroes to back off the Manhunter threat.
Of the new guardians, most of them just kind of seemed like normal men and women, but that seemed like a decent enough starting position.
Joshua had been able to ask the Green Lanterns why humans were the most fit to get this power and he'd been given the simple answer; Humans have a unique aptitude when it came to attuning, applying and amplifying various cosmic forces and concepts.
At that, Joshua had looked to Mister Miracle "Then why not a new god? Don't they have the same?"
It was a difference in form apparently. A new god could attune and use the same lessons, true, but a human could take the power further with less energy required.
In a choice between creating ten (in theory) new guardians with great power or empowering one new god to phenomenal power… well, it was safer to have backups apparently. And with new gods it would take enough energy to empower one that one would be all that they could make.
As Joshua pondered the situation, the guardians left to begin their training properly up in the hills around the green lantern base. They were now fairly beyond the Manhunter's reach but they weren't out of danger yet. That's why lots of heroes had to stay nearby.
Joshua wouldn't go home. It didn't feel right to go back to the apartment until Cogita was safe. He'd grabbed his case and most things of actual value from the place and was now spending his time at the lantern base while waiting for news.
Batman had left to do some sort of investigation of his own and Joshua hoped he'd be back with news soon.
Now, Joshua was lying on the hill that the guardians had accepted their duty on. The sun was in the sky, setting slowly in the horizon.
He perused the ability store.
"Telepathy with any person you know." He read one out and pondered it. The option to find Cogita and find out how she was doing was appealing but it wasn't that cheap, though it was cheaper than some options.
With a sigh he flicked through menus. He'd picked up a "cantrip" ability before ever debuting as the Azure crow but it wasn't useful on its own. Really weak magic. It had opened up the "spell menu" though. It allowed him a place to make notes on magic and combine aspects from various spell systems he knew about.
He'd also figured out what the elemental attributes he'd been obtaining were. If he used a spell (or generally an ability) that fit any elements, they'd be cheaper to cast or stronger.
He'd found an elemental attribute part of the shop where he could purchase more normal things like "Magic Fire" or something like that, the only problem were they cost level points and while he was building up a lot of those, they were rarer in the Gacha and also used for more things, like the Paid or event Gachas.
As the sun continued to dip, Doctor Fate arrived. What was he doing, a portal?
Oh.
As Joshua watched, the portals spewed forth a crowd of ordinary looking people. One of them though was white haired and wearing a black dress.
Ah. The hostages.
He stood up and Cogita spotted him and waved before she was led inside with the others. A few more superheroes arrived shortly thereafter and Joshua headed in to hear what had happened.
Superman arrived at last too a few hours later. He'd apparently finished with the plan the Manhunters had to keep him out of action.
Batman told the story of what had happened, apparently he'd broken in and rescued the hostages. Captain Atom also filled in that he'd rescued Firestorm and had been able to convince him to return to their side.
During the night, he found Cogita and she explained the full situation. She'd known where she'd been taken so she hadn't struggled that hard when they'd kidnapped her. They had first tried to convince her to convince Joshua but that had been a complete non-starter.
Anyway the Spectre, a hero Joshua had barely heard of, had gotten involved and helped deactivate all of the Manhunters on earth and then Batman had worked hard to get them all out and transported here.
Batman seemed tense in the late evening though, he left and had to come back from the pseudo-victory party a few times. That alone was enough to tell Joshua that something was wrong.
Cogita couldn't remember the exact cause. It had been a long time even for her Jumper-self since learning about what happened here. She really only remembered the broad strokes of most of the events.
Wonder woman also vanished again, but at this point Joshua expected that she'd never stick around long.
Aquaman showed up to tell everyone that he might have found some sort of new front for the Manhunter invasion. Though no more Manhunters were on the surface of earth, it was possible some were underwater.
Though Blue Beetle also pointed out that there was nothing stopping more Manhunters could come from space. Superman and Batman organised a team of the most space-oriented members of the Justice league members (So, not including Joshua) to go on a mission to the Manhunter homeworld.
With Doctor Fate leaving with the group, it left only a few points. Blue Beetle was examining the Manhunter saucer some more, with a curious expression on his face.
Batman hadn't gone with the space team for reference, he wasn't really that useful in space compared to others.
When the morning light dawned, Wonder woman returned, apparently the god Pan was a Manhunter and apparently he had been for a very long time.
Batman was in no mood for that. His fears from last night had borne fruit. A team that he'd assembled and gone on a mission last night, and failed. The "Outsiders" were crushed, and Batman's second guessing the night before had meant he was unable to help them when they needed it.
Joshua learned this when Batman grabbed him and Guy Gardner to figure out while Booster Gold betrayed him and to capture him if possible.
Joshua flew beside Guy who carried Batman in a willpower-fueled bubble for the journey.
Their destination: "Booster Gold International." The company Booster Gold used to manage his finances.
"My ring says he's in there." Guy commented "But he's not doing anything, I don't see why he'd be a threat to us."
Even so, when they landed, Batman slammed through the door, Joshua and Guy following him in.
Booster was standing at the top of the stairs in the entrance hall.
"Give yourself up Gold." Batman declared.
Joshua shook his head "At least explain why you did this?"
Booster glanced between them "Gosh Batman, I'd love to really." His voice sounded sarcastic, but Joshua might have heard a note of honesty "But my money's in this you see. I guess we'll just have to fight!"
He shot a beam at Batman and Joshua stepped back.
"Come on you two!" Batman yelled at them as he dodged.
Guy was too innocent right now, he thought this was all one big joke. How Joshua wanted to agree with him right now. But he couldn't.
He pointed at Booster "Sleep!"
Booster staggered but didn't fall unconscious immediately Batman took the chance to get up as Booster shot a blast at Joshua.
Guy called out that he didn't have to keep pretending, it really was just the four of them here so he didn't have to keep pretending.
"You all don't get it do you?" Booster Gold asked.
Joshua looked at him "Walk me through this, when you got home… they threatened your money and you just caved? Why do you care about it?"
He didn't give an answer, he just fired more shots and Joshua threw himself to the side. Guy bound Booster in green energy but he laughed it off and used some sort of energy field to break out of the grip before flying for freedom.
Batman was angry, Joshua was frustrated and Guy was lackadaisical.
"Close, so close to getting him to explain himself." Joshua groaned.
Batman was silent, a vicious sharp silence that kept even Guy quiet on the way back to the Green Lantern base.
Joshua suspected that there was more than the money on the line for Booster Gold, that was just the reason he'd accepted as a public face.
Maybe he could be an optimist here, maybe it was some sort of double bluff. He had to pretend to be loyal even when no Manhunter should be watching to prove his loyalty so he can backstab them extra hard later!
…maybe.
Batman on the other hand seemed to have given up on Gold for the time being, the man who had thought Booster had the heart to join the league despite his own suspicious nature.
Upon returning to the compound, Batman went to talk to the others while Joshua and Guy sat outside. Joshua chuckled. He'd never had imagined this last year.
When they heard a commotion from inside though, Joshua went to check it out.
Floronic Man, the replacement for the dead member of the teen titans and one of Batman's rogue gallery from what little Joshua had heard, had captured a Manhunter agent and Batman was interrogating him and threatening death.
Before it was revealed if he really would break his oath and kill, blue beetle ran in. He and the others had found the Manhunters' last base. It was near the earth's core!
It was probably a trap for them, so the team that was going down there would have to be as well equipped as they could be- meaning that everyone who could go, should.
After a few hours Blue Beetle had recovered the sunspore probe. A probe that was designed to research the sun but would be the only thing that could safely take them through the magma they'd find on the way to the Manhunters' last refuge.
There was apparently a vent in the Marianas trench that could take them all of the way down.
As they descended, Batman noted that this likely wouldn't finish off the Manhunters. He understood their madness and knew that some small cult would likely remain. However destroying this last refuge would set them back for a long time.
Aquaman called out to the group.
"We're here, entering the rift!"
Magma and water, superheated steam. Even with the enormous pressures, the probe pushed on until it hit what seemed like a wall. No, not a wall. They passed through some sort of force screen that kept inside a small bubble of liveable air.
They were all here.
Joshua stepped out with the others and he marvelled ant where they were with the others.
Flash quickly found the way to enter the base itself and a hero called Nuke moved the hatch aside so they could all head in. The hole revealed was 1400 feet deep by mister miracle's reckoning.
Before they headed in, a heroine called Harbinger appeared. She quickly told the team of the space team's victory. The Manhunters were truly cornered now.
The team descended into the long shaft, the green lanterns creating bubbles for those who couldn't fly. Joshua just used his broom, it was small enough to fit down the shaft easily and he much preferred flying himself to being carried.
Sneaking into the main base, Hal created a Willpower-forged ear to listen in on what was going on with the last forces of the Manhunters. Joshua made out Booster Gold here too. He was sitting off to the side looking… Grumpy?
The leader of the Manhunters was making a speech "We may soon be forced to make our last stand!"
"No man escapes the Manhunters" the grunts chanted while one commented "If all else fails grandmaster, one of us will detonate the device to destroy the world."
The grandmaster of the Manhunters raised his hands "Even in their victory, the Chosen and their Protectors will not survive us! No World escapes the Manhunters! Our foes fear the face of steel! Our Foes DIE!"
A roar came from the robots as the grandmaster began giving orders.
"I want a phalanx to guard the device at all times."
"I'll volunteer for that." Booster Gold stood up. The grandmaster nodded at him and Joshua's heart found hope. True hope.
The grandmaster also gave orders to guard the saucers though it sounded like he was willing to go down with the planet.
As they listened in, a group of Manhunters found them and the battle broke out in truth.
Joshua dashed through the fight, using his Ninjutsu and knife skills to strike out as many manhunters as he could. With each slash he broke those who would destroy the world. He had a specific target though, he was following where Booster Gold had gone off with a small group of Manhunters.
Blue Beetle and Canary were right after him as they approached the weapon. A bomb of some sort.
"Booster Gold you double-crossing creep!" Blue Beetle called out. The anger in him was burning bright. If there was any of them that could be called Booster's best friend, it was him.
As Joshua fought the robots, he spoke "So, Booster Gold, what are you planning on spending the money on once the world's gone?"
That never was the answer after all, and Joshua saw Booster flash a smile as the voice of the grandmaster came through the intercom "Manhunters! Our loss has become inevitable! Detonate the bomb at all costs!"
"I will." One Manhunter, away from any of them said, turning towards the device while the others resolved to stop Joshua and the other heroes at all costs.
Joshua focused for a moment.
"Protect!"
A shield appeared around the bomb's trigger as the Manhunter ran towards it, seemingly intending to smash right through Joshua's barrier.
"Our foes fear the face of steel!" It chanted.
"Our Foes Die! Ours is the pride of the predator! Our foes die!"
It hit the barrier and rebounded. A crack had been put in it. Before the Manhunter could do more though-
"You forgot 'no man escapes the Manhunters'"
Joshua's hope was answered. A hand stopped the Manhunter. Booster Gold's hand.
"And I'm a Manhunter now right?"
"Gold-" Booster Gold's beam interrupted the Manhunter, blasting it to pieces.
At Gold's betrayal, the Manhunters panicked but Joshua had reinforced the barrier, abd Booster Gold had a lot of pent-up anger to take out.
The rest of the heroes rallied and the Manhunters were routed.
As they fell though, the other heroes turned on Booster.
"Cut it out Booster, you're not fooling anybody!" Blue Beetle's betrayal was still raw so Joshua cut in.
"Of course he isn't, because he's not lying. At least not as much as you all think."
The others looked towards Joshua as he looked at Booster "If it had been about the money, you would have probably given up when we came to your base. That hurt you but it wasn't enough to get you to join the Manhunters."
"Exactly." Booster nodded "My biggest worry with all this was that someone in the Manhunters would figure out I wasn't spineless enough to fall for that. I was on your side the whole time you see-"
"We don't." Black Canary noted as they went to grab him.
Booster Gold went quietly. He seemed to have predicted this outcome in a way.
Well… the Gacha had given Joshua a lot of money. He could probably afford to arrange for some of it to go to rebuilding Booster's fortune.
Hey, it wasn't like Joshua cared about the money all that much.
The space heroes arrived in the aftermath of everything and both teams returned to the hills around the green lantern compound.
…And Booster Gold decided now was the perfect time to abduct one of the chosen to show her that the world was rotten in places. For goodness sake, Joshua had been trying to convince others that he was still an ally. This didn't help that at all, obviously.
Joshua joined the martian manhunter, blue beetle and black canary in the bug to track them down quickly.
They first returned to Booster Gold's home, only to find it destroyed. Booster's secretary came out and told them what had happened. About half an hour before they got there, Booster had shown up with the chosen and had destroyed his house.
To him, it was apparently a symbol of his deceit and treachery. As he had been kicked out of the league (Joshua hadn't heard about that? Though it would probably be the result of this stunt), it was just a symbol of his failure. So he destroyed it.
…So Booster was currently going through a breakdown after the sacrifices he made were all in vain. Both the sacrifices he made to make his money and then the sacrifice of that to save the world and then the fact that he was also forced to give up the last thing that mattered to him- his place in the league.
Yeah, Joshua could understand that. In a different person, this might be their one bad day, but would someone Batman had said once had the heart of a hero do something like that?
Booster had a little robot and he'd told it that Booster Gold no longer existed. He was just a nameless idiot.
"He gave up his costume and put on civilian clothes" the secretary explained, holding up the costume that contained almost all of his 'Powers' "And with that he grabbed Xiang and flew off, he was smart enough to keep the flight ring at least."
She looked to the four of them "For those of you who think Booster was really in league with the manhunters well; he's lost more than any other hero, as a manhunter stole his fortune and we have no idea where it is. Now he's gone because you guys didn't trust him, that shouldn't be a surprise either."
Green Lantern begged for information though, it was possible the Manhunters would try one final strike against the two of them with whatever forces they still had.
She sighed and was able to provide Booster's little robot that he deactivated. Maybe it might know something. Blue Beetle ended up taking it and putting in the bug. He'd need to hack it active as he didn't have Booster's authority for it.
It took a few hours but as it activated and the bug took off again, Beetle called from the front.
"There's no doubt about it gang, Booster's really gone off the deep end."
Though as he said it, there was more sadness than anger this time.
Black Canary looked over "What makes you say that?"
"Just caught a radio broadcast that claimed Booster stole an official Lexcorp plane."
As Joshua snorted at that news, the martian manhunter commented "Then he's on the move. We must locate him soon."
Booster's little robot was able to give them directions as Booster had apparently done something like this once before.
Martian Manhunter had only one goal in mind when they found him: "We must bring him back."
Rip Hunter, the inventor of time travel. That was who Booster was going to see now. Booster gold was from the future, Joshua had learned that properly over the last year. It seemed he was trying to go home.
They headed to Rip's mountain home and arrived as he and Booster Gold were talking.
"Why don't you stay here, resolve your problems! I sense this is where you belong." Xiang, the chosen he had taken with him, said pleadingly.
"No." the unmasked Booster Gold said "This isn't for me."
Martian Manhunter had gotten out of the bug first and he called out from outside "Don't be so sure of that Booster."
At first the Manhunter blatantly lied that they'd always trusted him, when both Joshua and Booster called him out on it, Black Canary took over to point out they were here to mend bridges.
After an argument between Booster and Blue Beetle (That could basically be boiled down to "Yes, you've had it bad, but if you don't run away you can still make it better!")
The Martian Manhunter handed over Booster's outfit and finally Booster accepted it. He would try to fix his life properly.
Anyway, once Xiang was back with the other chosen, the New Guardians are given the powers. As each awakes to their new identity, the old guardians become weaker and weaker. Visibly ageing as their power drains away.
As each takes their role, the world changes. Joshua feels it in him, like he heard the voice of the planet back in Terraria.
"This is something that matters." it says "The world turns to the next age."
As one of the new chosen fused into the planet, her voice joined the chorus, she was vaguely surprised to see that Joshua could hear her. A moment later another gained the power to hear her and he laughed as Joshua made a retreat. This was their thing, not his.
He watched from the hilltop with Cogita as the ceremony finished.
"So that's done then?" Joshua asked "The tale's done?"
"It's really only a new beginning." Cogita noted "You see one of them is missing?"
"The larger guy?" Joshua asked. He'd barely interacted with the man. All he heard from the others was that he was very racist for a man who was meant to be a new guardian. That just sounded like a good way to get racist manhunters.
Cogita nodded "He'll become an enemy of the New guardians. Eventually they manage to stop his discrimination. I don't remember the details."
Joshua shrugged and leaned back "This was a bit more stressful than I expected. How long until something else like this?"
"Another year I think." She guessed "We'll just have to be more careful next year."
Joshua nodded. It sounded like the right take on the situation.
They headed home together and Joshua moved back in, returning all the things he'd stored away for safety.
"Did you go to DC as a Jumper?" Joshua thought to ask.
"Not the comics." She noted "I did visit it though. Or the other me did. I didn't want to become a superhero though, I was already starting to get tired of Jumping at that point. I only used my power when I had to. World shaking events and the like. Even for me those were more common than I liked."
Seems she had a history of her own with these kinds of stressful heroics.
Oh well. Joshua would be able to take the next year. Hopefully he'd be better equipped for the next one.
Damn, finished this only a while before I had decided I'd stop for the day anyway. I guess you're lucky you're getting it now instead of tomorrow. Again, I'm thankful that the next writing session shouldn't be nearly this massive.
Ok, the Millenium event has passed, honestly it felt like something was going to happen but in the end, the group waa forgotten by DC, such a shame. Ok, i think Invasion! Is coming next, i really liked the saga, everybody fighting, the aliens actually did a good job, Superman was affected by his killing of some Kriptonians villains in another dimension. Even the Doom Patrol was excellent in this one
Ok, the Millenium event has passed, honestly it felt like something was going to happen but in the end, the group waa forgotten by DC, such a shame. Ok, i think Invasion! Is coming next, i really liked the saga, everybody fighting, the aliens actually did a good job, Superman was affected by his killing of some Kriptonians villains in another dimension. Even the Doom Patrol was excellent in this one
Invasion! might also be easier to write. Only three core issues instead of eight. The problem is just how many side issues they have and picking which of those I want Joshua to interact with. I want to interact with at least one per act. Though I might add a few issues of JLI because they have an arc going on Apokolips just before Invasion! starts.
In the week since the new guardians gained their powers, it had been relatively peaceful. Joshua had just been reading and training.
Most of the JLI hadn't been around. Batman had been in Gotham and they were missing a few members they used to have. Doctor fate and Captain Marvel weren't part of the team anymore. They hadn't been for a while actually, even before the Manhunters. Joshua had forgotten about it during the events of the manhunter attacks though.
Joshua thus had mostly been working back in central city on the night shift like before. Flash still worked there during the day shift, though after the recent manhunter attacks, Flash hadn't been as antagonistic towards Joshua as he had been before.
While he wasn't working, Joshua was studying "Curses and contracts" the spellbook he'd obtained before.
Additionally, his system was still bestowing him with new abilities. He'd reached level 10 in the "Willworker" class and with that he'd been able to create willpower-fueled shields. They didn't cover his whole body, they were something more like a buckler right now.
It did amuse him how many willpower-fueled abilities he was getting. Resolve boost made him more physically potent depending on how strong his will was and he'd previously obtained a green energy blast fueled off his willpower. Combined with the new green shield, he was like a really weak Green Lantern.
Why had he chosen to follow the Willworker class in the first place? Well that wasn't the hardest question. It sounded like a potent class and it might help give him the ability to break people free of mind control (By empowering their will or something like that). Now he knew it was green lantern powers though…
While his willpower did seem to be higher than that of an average person, compared to any of the actual green lanterns it wasn't that impressive. And that's ignoring the fact that the things he could do with it were far more limited too. Self-buffs, blasts and shields.
After a week had passed though, he was called in. Apparently they had a new member, an actually human member of the Russian Red Rocket Brigade.
Joshua took a teleporter to the newer base. They'd begun moving out of the cave near Metropolis to a building in New York city. The move had come a bit before the manhunter invasion and some people still used the old base.
After teleporting in, he headed for the console room where he saw Oberon at the console. Mister Miracle's manager was taking console duty seriously. Though he may not have superpowers, he was certainly a hard worker for the league.
As he sat about, he heard Black Canary's voice along with an unknown Russian. Their new member presumably. As they walked past though, Oberon noticed something.
An A-1 Alert, a message that one of the other members was calling for assistance. Specifically the warning was from the Martian Manhunter and Captain Atom. The warning was coming from Maxwell Lord's office building.
Oh yeah, he'd survived. Joshua had heard about him being shot during the manhunter attacks but he hadn't died from his injuries.
The team rushed out to board the JLI shuttle. Because that was a thing they had now. Came with the new base. Blue beetle still had his bug, but it was apparently in the shop right now getting some repairs done after someone almost crashed it.
Everyone had been called in for this and Joshua had ended up sitting next to Batman. The caped crusader was worried that the alert would only be used if someone had taken out two of their best members.
He was distracted and told Blue beetle to keep his eyes on the controls as Booster gold threw up. As Batman spoke, Joshua sat back in thought.
Suddenly an alarm blared, missiles were being shot at the shuttle. Blue beetle pulled up to dodge them but Mister miracle pointed out they were heatseekers and would come around for another pass.
As the tension grew, Batman made a plan.
"Ram the building, eighteenth floor."
"Is this the last shuttle the labs are willing to give us?" Joshua pointed out.
Batman didn't change his mind "Ram the building. Max is its only occupant and we can't say that for the other buildings."
Blue beetle hissed "Oh, star labs is going to be so pissed at us."
Joshua braced as the ship made contact and crashed into the building. It ploughed a line through the side of the building, breaking every window on the floor.
Shakily everyone got out as Black canary and Batman argued about how reckless that was. The new Red Rocket appeared to be having a great time though.
As they got their footing though, the ground started to shake and mechanical tendrils burst out of the ground, grappling with Captain Atom.
The team fought their way through the building following after where Captain Atom was being pulled, those with energy attacks like Joshua and Red Rocket were taking the lead as they could break the tendrils at range.
Black canary was able to deduce the tendrils were being controlled through the building's electrical grid so she called Guy over to short them out.
When the danger was passed they managed to find the martian manhunter and captain atom to get the explanation. Apparently they were just attacked out of nowhere. The tendrils and missiles seemed really strange to be in the building but Captain atom pointed out its owner was Maxwell Lord.
The man in question was looking out a broken window and after noting he was attacked too, so it wasn't him behind this, he began to explain that he felt like he was being watched and his computer had been hacked into. He knew someone was after him.
As they took the shuttle (that shockingly still worked), Batman admitted that he thought it might be an enemy he'd encountered before called "The construct." An AI that could apparently hack anything on the planet. It was only his instinct but when it was Batman, his instincts were nearly sure things.
Batman pointed out another problem though. Maxwell's story was scattered and non-specific. He thought he noticed something and he suspected he was being watched, but he had no proof of that. But the moment the league needed a location, he was able to bring up a possible location immediately.
"Let's not forget that I also tracked the strong power source here." Mister Miracle pointed out, though the martian manhunter noted that it seemed suspicious that it was so easy to find.
As they reached the destination, mister miracle detected a power source rising towards them and a massive robot burst out of the ground calling itself "The construct."
Blue beetle was able to dodge the shuttle away from the robot as the flying members of the league jumped out.
Joshua was a bit slower than the rest as he needed to grab his broom but he jumped right after them to join in the battle.
Curses were a bit slow so as the battle broke out, Joshua relied on his quick and destructive spells.
"Thundaga!"
Lightning fell from an empty sky to strike the robot even as it was already taking a lot of damage from the other league members.
The robot began to turn and flee but it was pointed out it lost too easily so the group decided to follow it until it crashed through a mountain. Guy was shocked and asked the others to not hurt it anymore.
As they did, black canary mentioned that it had talked about a "Master" as it fell, but the construct had never had a master before.
"Well it seems to have a master now." Martian manhunter pointed out.
They all moved in, watching their back for a trap or ambush. As they explored, Red Rocket pointed out that this didn't look like anything else on earth. That note seemed to make Mister Miracle realise something just as everyone heard a voice boom out.
"Who Dares?"
They all spun to see a man dressed in blue upon a glowing throne.
"Who Dares Threaten Metron?"
"Who?" Joshua looked at the man, having never heard of him before.
"I am Metron!" The man declared "My knowledge is my power! Time and space are my kingdoms I rule! I am Metron- and I am very angry!"
He was angry at them intruding and damaging his information retrieval unit. Mister Miracle tried to take point as he seemed to know about him but as Captain Atom attacked, he had to push him down.
"Who are these fools whom you surround yourself with, Scott Free?"
Joshua raised his hand, mind spinning as he tried to figure out what was going on.
"In an attempt to make myself less of a fool, may I ask; are you a New God?"
"That I am." The man said "I am Metron, of New Genesis! And I will not be abused."
Mister Miracle quickly took over the discussion, declaring himself son of Highfather, leader of New Genesis.
It seemed that Metron had been set up to fight the league, and vice versa. Metron requested a bit of time to think on it before pointing out that he felt a flash of sentience within his information retrieval unit just before they came in here.
An awareness that tainted his machine, something foreign that twisted it. The New God crushed what was left of the robot and asked the League to leave so he could ponder and find the answer.
As they flew, Mister Miracle was too busy to talk about Metron but Joshua resolved to ask him for details later.
When they were nearly back to New York, Mister Miracle got a transmission from Metron that the sentiance had vanished. Dead.
When they got back to Maxwell Lord they found him mortally injured. Bullet holes that had once been healed were bleeding again. They all rushed him to the hospital.
It seemed, whatever the sentiance was that had set them up had been defeated, And quite possibly by Maxwell Lord.
Joshua took the next day off as Maxwell recovered.
He looked through bookshops during the day, still hunting for more magic to learn. While there wasn't much chance of a powerful book showing up in a random library, the chance was better that he'd find something if he kept searching.
At a nice bookstore that was combined with a small cafe, he sat in a chair, checking a catalogue of their rare books when there was suddenly a crashing sound from the cafe itself which was upstairs relative to where Joshua was sitting.
It was the Gluttonous Goblin that had appeared. His old enemy. Joshua quickly ducked into cover and changed into his costume using the Halloween-gained costume ability.
Once he was changed back into the azure crow, he focused his will and leaped superhumanly high to leap up the stairway quickly before spinning to see the Goblin's ugly expression.
At once, Joshua threw a punch and the goblin staggered back before opening its mouth wide to try and bite- or perhaps swallow- Joshua.
Joshua yelled and fired willpower blasts into the goblin's maw to make him choke.
"You idiot." His enemy called "You could use your power for much more, have you even figured out how it works yet? Whatever." He pawed at the air as tabbing through a menu. He was probably trying to buy a new power so Joshua moved to interrupt him.
He was still immune to magic so Joshua couldn't do much with curses or any of his old offensive magic. Instead Joshua just tried to hit the monster as hard as he could with his willpower lending him power.
The problem with his willpower-fueled ability was that it was pure willpower it cared about, not just a strong desire to do a thing.
If he was filled with anger then his willpower wouldn't be pure, it would still work but not nearly as well. The same was true when he felt greed or fear.
And while he wasn't feeling greedy or afraid, the anger could be a problem. He just wanted the ogre to go down and go away, to stay locked up in prison and to stop hurting innocent people.
Joshua dodged back away from a wild swing and took a breath to steady his emotions and form his resolve back together. His powers grew and he threw another energy blast.
Even so, the goblin had finished buying a power.
He called out to the cowering people "I'm going to eat you all up."
Their fear spiked and the goblin drew on it, a yellow glow suffusing his body.
"Green can't beat yellow." He cackled, "It-"
And then Joshua punched him again. As the goblin staggered once more, Joshua summoned stone and used alchemy to form it into chains that couldn't rust. Even as he tried to bind the goblin up though, the stone was already cracking under the force of the goblin's strength.
Joshua had prepared another option though, after seeing the rust ability the goblin had gotten last time. Joshua summoned stainless steel that he'd bought and turned them into ropes to add to the binding. Finally the goblin was bound again.
Just as he won, that's when things started going wrong. People started collapsing to the ground as some great pressure fell on them. A moment later Joshua fell it and collapsed. It was like gravity had magnified a few dozen times.
A moment later he saw the cause. A demoness. A woman with red skin and horns was standing in the cafe as if she'd just walked in. Her very presence was crushing down on them. Even the goblin was affected, still bound as he was.
"Good." She smiled and them like a predator "Now then, you two, you work for me now, understand?"
"How-" Joshua gasped out "About- No!"
The woman tutted and raised her hand, suddenly the weight seemed to double "You really should, if you don't want to get crushed."
As Joshua lay there, he tried to deduce the power. Weakly he was able to throw a book at the woman by gathering his willpower. The book flew straight and hit her in the head as if gravity wasn't being altered. It seemed what she was doing only effected living things.
The woman was angered though and she pointed at Joshua directly "Okay, I care not for you. Burn!"
And in that instant, Joshua's costume erupted into flame. It was made of flammable materials in the first place, it was a halloween costume after all.
Joshua couldn't roll around to put it out as he was still pinned down by her other power.
This must be another key bearer. Like attracts like after all and this felt not quite like a plot based around him than one originally from the comics.
"Teleport!" Joshua managed to mutter, teleporting away from the book store as the fire began to spread. He aimed for the roof of his apartment building but once he got there his burns were already quite bad. Even so, now he was free of the effect, whatever it had been, he was able to roll around to try and put the fire out.
That was how Cogita found him a few minutes later. Badly burned with his costume falling apart around him. She quickly brought him into his case where the hopping pot could provide him with potions to treat the burns and the damage he took.
As he woke that night, false moonlight falling in through his bedroom in the cottage, he found his Pokemon crowded around him, making sure he was taken care of.
His healing finished up the next day though he still continued resting. He left the briefcase and watched the city news. The woman- calling herself "Burnheart" had been attacking and burning down buildings all day. She'd also recruited the goblin to aid her.
Even the Flash had been having trouble with her apparently as she could force him down before he ever came close. There had to be some trick to that due to the fact it didn't effect non-living objects. What could it be?
Cogita looked at it, a curious expression on her face.
"It reminds me of Haki in a way."
"Haki? What do you mean?"
Cogita shook her head "Have you never seen One Piece?"
Joshua confirmed that he hadn't.
"It's something like Ki." She explained "There was one way it could be used called Supreme King Haki that affects people like that. Crushing them to the ground with your willpower."
"So like Reiatsu in Bleach?"
"I never visited there during my adventures." Cogita shrugged "So I don't know."
If it was something willpower based then, why didn't his own willpower abilities allow him to resist it though? There was actual pressure being used here, or some sort of effect that only affected the gravity of the living?"
Joshua headed out that day, hoping to find another bookstore. He needed some sort of new magic for this. He ended up finding one and began checking through its catalogue of rare or one-of-a-kind books.
By a miracle (and the glow of his sparkblade lighting it up), he found something. A relatively small book called "Aseke's book of protection." Within were lots of different protective spells, both for defending the self and for protecting an environment.
This could have something, but it would take some research before it could be put to use.
Joshua then read. He read for two days. During which time the woman continued her rampage. Why was she so interested in rampaging? Was she a demon of wrath or something? Or the sin key of wrath rather.
Regardless, once the two days were up, Joshua was ready. He might still only get the basics of this kind of defensive magic but when combined with what he already knew… he should be able to get something effective.
Hopefully.
He found her torching another building and from afar he called out.
"Why are you doing this?"
She looked up and frowned at him "For power? Why else would anyone do something like this? You're a keyholder too right, haven't you figured it out? We can gain experience quickly by destroying things of value."
Well, that was helpful new advice, but that would be expensive. Joshua didn't want to destroy things belonging to normal people, but maybe he could be allowed to destroy a villain's stuff.
Either way, the time had come for him to put a stop to her.
"You won't hurt anyone else!" Joshua called as he jumped down from the high area he was standing on. His resolve boost prevented him from getting hurt and he ran towards her as he cast.
"Victory Shield!"
A golden shield fell around him and when he ran into the keybearer's range, the weight wasn't nearly as crushing. She seemed shocked but pointed at him.
"Ignite!" it wasn't a spell, more a trigger for the ability on her list to activate.
"Flame wall!" The ability hit the suddenly summoned wall. Joshua had seen that move coming. Magic shields like this were enough to stop her.
This magic that he had found was magic designed to turn away all harm and corruption- to make the owner safe. It had no offensive spells.
On the other hand, he had more magic.
"Sleep!"
The woman staggered but smiled "You think I wouldn't hear about that. I bought ailment resistance, none of your status spells will work."
"Ailment resistance? Not immunity?"
"Have you seen its price?" She complained "It's like two hundred progression points. Plus I saw that us key bearers can purchase immunity-piercer so it's a bit of a waste."
"No, the waste is thinking resistance is enough." Joshua smiled as he spoke.
Frozen in time, falling asleep, driven into a berserk frenzy, her effective strength cut in half. Despite some of the spells failing to work, enough did that it rendered her harmless.
As she passed out, her pressure dropped away and Joshua placed a few curses on her that would cause her problems. The first was just to keep her quiet as it would bind her tongue until the police read out her rights and the full list of curses he'd put on her. Hopefully the combination would ensure she didn't try to escape on her way to prison. Once she was there, most of the curses would fall off her.
That limitation would make the curses stronger while she was being brought there, but it was still a bit annoying as Joshua knew it was very likely she'd become a recurring enemy for him.
Which key was she even meant to be holding again? It was really vague.
Woo, a shorter chapter this week because I was only bringing in two comic issues instead of more. Next week will not be nearly this easy though.
Not looking forward to that writing.
Joshua sat in the JLI embassy in New York and sighed.
Things had… not been going well recently.
It was the thirteenth of december, 1988, and the league was quite honestly in shambles. How it got that way was a bit of a long story. Let's do a quick recap…
Mister Miracle had been missing for weeks, presumed kidnapped, not that Joshua had heard about any updates.
Guy was an asshole again after getting hit on the head by a suddenly appearing Lobo (an additional asshole) who was now also hanging around.
Hawkman and Hawkwoman had joined the team, only Hawkman was an asshole there. He wasn't as bad as Guy and Lobo but something still made Joshua feel something was off about him.
…Joshua considered the old folk wisdom "If all your roommates are assholes, maybe you're the problem." But no, Guy had been bad before Joshua had even arrived in this world.
Black Canary had quit. But the justice league been joined by a pair of heroines called Fire and Ice
Joshua was honestly considering quitting too, even if the JLI was currently trying to do a recruitment drive.
The problem was it was also "That time of year again."
Something major was probably going to happen within a few weeks and with the state that the JLI was in now…
Joshua tried to ignore the ongoing argument between Hawkman's constant complaining and everyone else trying to calm him down. He was now basically the JLI's magic specialist these days so he was still taking time to read his spellbooks. He was still looking for new ones too.
Maybe he could get in contact with Doctor Fate and ask for some recommendations?
As he read, there was a sudden booming noise as a semi-familiar face appeared through a boom tube- a type of teleportation gate created by New God tech.
"Barda?" Blue beetle identified her first. Mister Miracle's wife who Joshua had thought was part of the team that had been on their way to recover him.
"There's no time to explain!" She called out "We need your help and we need it now!"
There was a second boom, and the room was emptied.
The world they travelled to had an oppressive air.
Parademons, those warriors of Apokolips, flew in the sky above them. That was what made Joshua aware of where he was now.
"Oh hell."
"Again with the hells." Hawkman complained he was apparently a stickler for swearing. Joshua hadn't minded it from Captain Marvel, Hawkman was different somehow though.
Joshua looked up "It's semi-literal actually, welcome to one of the closest things to hell."
They'd been brought straight into a fight on Apokolips itself."
Guy was swearing and it seemed Hawkman was thinking about quitting just from his crassness.
Batman took the time to give a recap on what Apokolips was to the unaware.
"It's a stygian world at the far end of the universe where a race of evil gods dwell, their leader is an omnipotent madman called Darkseid who desires nothing less than total control over the universe."
So yeah, the fact that they'd just been grabbed here was great~.
Barda quickly told them they'd been brought to help rescue mister miracle as he was being held here.
The parademons dived to attack them and Batman and Joshua pulled Oberon (the only normal human here) out of danger.
Joshua quickly began releasing blasts of magic. Parademons were luckily not really that strong. Shock troops they may be, but they are about as weak heroes. Flight and firebreath were their main combative powers with their only really dangerous trick being the ability to convert normal humans into more of them.
As they fought, Rocket Red, who'd been part of the rescue team, appeared to help them. He'd gotten new armour somewhere.
The brawl continued, Joshua evading attacks and helping protect the heroes that needed it.
He also needed to run back to Oberon to keep him safe from a demon that had been creeping up on him, but that exchange had ended with Oberon and Joshua falling down into what Joshua could only imagine to be Apokolips' sewer system as it was accessed through a manhole.
They were in some type of pitch black tube with some sort of material floating by them, so the idea of it being a sewer was growing with every minute that passed. Joshua quickly activated an ability he had to create a small glowing orb of light.
It was dimmer than his flashlight power, but a feeling of hopefulness came from this recently acquired light.
"You know?" Oberon asked as they trudged together through the pipes "I think that this superhero life isn't all it's cracked up to be."
"You and me both." Joshua admitted "But it's a dirty job and someone has to do it."
"Like a sewer worker?"
"Yep."
Oberon hesitated as they crawled on "Nah. Fame, fortune, excitement, danger. Thrills beyond measure. I love this kind of stuff."
"It's not heroic to like the fame and fortune." Joshua pointed out with an amused tone, acknowledging the fact that he was partially doing it for the thrills too.
Well, there was a moral element, there was probably that moral element in Oberon too though. You could get thrills from being a hero or a villain. But both of them chose to support the good guys.
The light in Joshua's hand revealed a small break in the pipe. Another access hatch.
…Joshua felt there was something wrong about the hatch though. But going through there would at least get them out of this sludge.
They moved the hatch out of the way, through the opening they could see something that looked like a fine living room.
"Please be empty." Joshua silently prayed as Oberon climbed out. He was talking about relating to Dante (from the inferno, not devil may cry) and that he really wanted to get out of his smelly clothes.
"Then do it." A quiet yet powerful voice spoke, a note of comedy in the tone "I'll gladly have them cleaned and pressed while you wait."
Joshua looked over and paled. Oberon took a moment longer to notice who the speaker was.
Oberon was freaking out, Joshua couldn't speak. An aura of oppression filled the room. Not any kind of mind control, but a divine… something.
Darkseid sat in an armchair, reading… was that Mein Kampf? That kind of shook Joshua out of his stupor by how out of place- but totally within theme- it felt.
Darkseid was acting like he'd met Oberon before and so Joshua shut up, trying not to attract too much attention.
"And how about your new friend?" The gaze of the new god of tyranny turned towards Joshua. This was a being that represented all that Joshua wanted to fight against- in this world or any other. And in that moment.
"A-azure crow." His voice was quiet "Hero."
Darkseid chuckled, but shook his head.
"Well then 'Hero'... why did you come?"
When he said 'Hero', it was like meaning was draining from the very word itself. What meaning is there in being a hero before this?
No, Joshua took a breath.
"We came to recover Mister Miracle, he was kidnapped and was sent to here, as far as I've been informed."
Darkseid listened, considered and nodded.
The next few minutes were tense, Joshua kept watch over Oberon closely as Darkseid did indeed have his clothes washed and pressed. Joshua cleaned his own clothes through a bit of magic. He even provided lunch, to which Joshua applied just about every anti-poison spell he'd picked up.
After they'd eaten, the two of them followed Darkseid to the holding cell where Mister Miracle was being held.
He'd somehow managed to get out of the restraints on his own but had fallen unconscious right after that. Darkseid lifted him up casually by the scruff of his cape and hauled him out, Oberon and Joshua still following closely behind him.
The longer he spent in the New God's presence, the worse Joshua felt. Like he was eroding away one piece at a time. It wasn't even a mind control effect or anything like that.
It was simple:
Darkseid Was.
The small group ran into the heroes who were within the building. Lobo appeared to have turned against them mid-fight so… that was something.
After Darkseid stopped the fight he basically just gave the heroes back Mister Miracle and then said "Get out of my house."
It barely needed to be said that they took the chance to run home with a Boom tube as fast as they could.
They ended up back at the New your JLI embassy in a big pile. After everything that just happened, Joshua needed a nap. And to go home. Probably the other way round actually. He wanted to think about heroics as little as he could right then.
While Joshua napped though, the world changed. Cogita was watching the morning news.
"What's going on?"
"An Invasion." Cogita murmured "Or rather, The Invasion. With an exclamation mark at the end."
The news reporter was talking about an invasion of australia. The entire island/continent had been taken over.
"What…?"
Cogita nodded thoughtfully
Joshua rushed to the JLI base in New York. Martian Manhunter was apparently out talking to Maxwell Lord but everyone else was all sitting around, filled with tension.
There was apparently a meeting at the UN, the governments of the world had been sent a message from the alien alliance. A group of aliens of many species though the details of that weren't exactly clear yet.
The message had basically been "Give up your super heroes or be exterminated."
While the leaders of the world debated, Joshua sat with the others reading. The book had mentioned the possibility of creating massive shields, perhaps even shields that could protect a planet.
Joshua had neither the skill, nor the raw power required for such a feat. That doesn't mean he wasn't thinking about it now though.
Sadly Guy began causing a fuss and during the last year the Green Lantern weakness to the colour yellow had been removed so Joshua didn't have a good way to knock him down a peg if required.
He was complaining about the fact they all hadn't already charged out to fight, not realising how stupid such an activity would be without proper planning.
The decision came a few hours later. A single message.
"Earth to Invaders: Drop Dead!"
Various heroes were given different targets. Missions they needed to undertake in order to drive off the aliens.
Booster gold would be staying back at base to man the console, a fact he was very disappointed by.
Joshua offered to take the spot in his place but as that was being discussed. Well, that's when Joshua got kidnapped.
Well, no, he wasn't kidnapped per se, but he was called out.
A hero with a chalk-white body and a green cloak. The spectre arrived at the JLI base.
"Azure Crow, you're needed in the Nevada desert. It's relates to important information you should know."
Moments after saying that, Spectre brushed out of the room leaving silence in his wake.
"The hell was that?" Guy commented and Joshua sighed before looking towards Batman.
"Permission to stay out of the mission for now so I can see whatever that was about?"
"Granted." Batman nodded after a moment. "If he wants you that much, it's probably related to what's going on."
Joshua nodded and headed to the roof from where he got out his broom and a map of America he'd bought.
"Okay, so where is Nevada again?"
It took him thirty seconds to find the state before sighing. It was on the complete other side of the continent.
With the invasion though, the teleporters were down so he had to retrace his steps up to the roof to begin the long flight west. Twelve hours or something like that would be required.
"I should really research long-distance teleports." Joshua muttered as he flew "I've got the basic teleports already. Surely it shouldn't be that much harder…"
He resolved to ask around to see if anyone knew about any spellbooks with that kind of power. He didn't know much about the magic community though so he might just have to ask Doctor Fate.
He arrived sometime around the middle of the night local time and a telepathic message from Spectre guided him into a Mesa's cave systems where there were quite a few people already gathered.
The Spectre, Doctor Fate, a man in a dapper blue hat and a pair of women, one underdressed and one who was properly dressed. There was also a demon and a ghost.
…Okay, he got proper introductions in a moment as Spectre greeted him as the last to arrive and began his speech.
"Baron winters has already been informed of what I must now tell you, I have also communicated with swamp creature as well as some others that are not present."
Doctor Fate cut in, asking if Spectre really thought it necessary to call them all away and the man in the dapper hat (Apparently called "The Stranger") echoed the question.
As Spectre confirmed that, he went on "There is an invasion under way by beings of another planet."
"I know." Joshua looked around "I'd assume most of you knew too?"
There was actually a mixed response to that but Spectre pushed on.
"The Lords of Order summoned me in regard to this, and requested that I contact all of the earth's other mystically empowered entities."
"Why Spectre?" The underdressed woman (Apparently called Tala) asked.
"To convince you- all of you- to interfere neither in the invasion nor in earth's defence against it."
"What?" Joshua spluttered
"But why shouldn't we interfere?" The properly dressed woman (Apparently called Zatanna) asked
"The balance between order and chaos must be preserved, or at least not altered by us." Spectre's expression shifted to one of sadness as he continued "The Lords of Order have already largely forsaken earth. Neither will the lords of chaos participate in the invasion, as they are convinced that either outcome will aid their cause. But should we become involved, the lords of chaos may decide to directly interfere. An event that the lords of order would not welcome."
The demon growled "If Order be a force I spurn, And Hell's mantle the only cloak I wear, and if my troth chaos cannot earn, Then why is it Etrigan should care?"
Those rhymes felt… somewhat forced.
"Because Demon." Spectre's tone was icey "I tell you to care."
"Big man Spectre as usual." The ghost muttered "But if we're supposed to sit this invasion out, why the hell did you gather us here?"
Joshua kind of wondered why he'd been called too. In this meeting of servants of Order and demons and ghosts, he felt out of place.
Spectre turned "To deal with another invasion Deadman, a different and smaller incursion. From a different dimension rather than another world. Discovered by the mortal Corrigan."
Who?
"Yes Spectre." Tala looked to the side "I do sense an alien presence nearby, and yet it is not the house of-"
They were interrupted by a yell from some mortals that apparently couldn't have been elsewhere, though Joshua wasn't given the context.
They were apparently looking for Corrigan and Spectre told them that Corrigan was safe and that he'd been the one to call Spectre.
Apparently there was another member of the mortal's party that had already been taken through whatever portal was being used by the extra-dimensional invaders.
There was a debate on if the rift should be sealed at once or after rescuing the human, and Spectre had the final say. The decision seemed to be hard for him but eventually he agreed to search for him.
They left the more mortal magic users (Plus the demon), including Joshua, outside to defend the portal and the three humans from the aliens that were meant to be roaming these tunnels and the magic team went through to the other side.
Joshua looked at the cow hides strung out to try by the aliens. Probably some sort of ritual tool they were trying to create.
The team hid, protecting the humans behind various protective spells and sat in wait.
"I don't really get why I was called." Joshua noted quietly "I'm not really involved with this side of things."
"Are you kidding?" Zatanna asked with a chuckle "I've seen you on TV with the Justice league, you're quite the powerful mage."
Joshua hesitated at that "Somewhat, though my repertoire is limited…"
"Not from what I've seen." Zatanna continued "Elemental magic, curses, and shields. I've even heard you're a collector."
"I pickup what I can-"
"I be silent, I say." The demon groaned "Else you'll be talking til the rise of day."
The other woman nodded, looking down from the ledge they were all hidding on.
"It seems the aliens are here."
At first look they seemed like stereotypical lizard men, but they were furry and had a crest of feathers growing out the top of their heads like mohawks.
The team burst into action, striking towards the demon-aliens.
"This seems like a good time for this: Holy!"
The blast of radiant light shot from Joshua, burning one of the aliens.
After they fought and the aliens were incapacitated, the demon Etrigan looked warily at Joshua while they waited for the advance team to return.
They didn't end up returning through the portal actually, but from another tunnel. Apparently the portal had a second exit. Regardless, Doctor Fate began closing the remaining portal and the discussion returned to the earlier topic.
Helping the world, or refusing to help.
"What is defined as helping?" Joshua considered "I could just play field medic and heal the wounded?"
"That counts, I'm afraid." The Spectre said "You're bringing order to a disordered battlefield."
…
"Are they going to win without us?"
"There is never one future." Doctor Fate noted "Yes, the chance of them winning without our help exists."
Deadman, the ghost, spoke up at that "To hell with that, if the Lords of Order have given up on earth, I don't see why we should listen to them."
With that he shot off, spectre trying and failing to call him back.
He looked around the rest of the group "Do any of you wish to go against the lords of order too?" He sounded bitter.
Joshua was tempted, purely because he'd essentially been told "You cannot be a medic. If someone dies because you weren't there, that's how the lords of order wanted it."
…
"I'll see." Joshua muttered and Spectre looked over at him "I'll observe for now, but if they need me. If the day will be lost, then I'll step in."
Spectre didn't stop Joshua as he left.
Joshua took off back for the other side of America. Another twelve hour flight. He was exhausted though and needed to rest so he stopped when he reached Central city. He headed to his apartment and fell asleep in his bed.
He managed to sleep through basically the entire day as the sun was already setting by the time he woke up.
Cogita told him there'd been a call on his JLI transponder and he was to go back to the west coast for a meeting.
Thankfully, he could just use the teleporter this time. Apparently they were working again.
The meeting was a full discussion. Superman had apparently been able to buy a 24 hour ceasefire and with everyone's efforts the aliens had been denied the chance to establish more of a foothold.
Captain Atom had been put in charge of the heroes of earth in this planning session for whatever would come next. There were a few other commanders here too, a dark-skinned woman and a man who was constantly smoking even in here.
Disgusting.
Anyway, the ceasefire was in effect for twenty four hours, eight of those or so had been slept through by Joshua but now it was a matter of how the heroes should respond.
At Captain Atom's direction, it was decided that the time had come to take the offensive. Batman agreed, but pointed out that the assembled heroes of earth weren't enough. There were simply too many enemies, no matter how much power each hero had.
To that the dark-skinned woman, Amanda Waller, agreed but gave an option. Since their lives were at stake too, they should call in the super villains.
There was one more part to the plan of course, they break the sneak fire early when the aliens aren't expecting it. Only an hour early though, the full plans needed to be written up and-
Joshua yawned. He'd need to try and sleep some more. The attack would start tomorrow morning a bit before dawn and he'd need to get his internal clock ready for that.
While waiting for that, he took the time to manage his system a bit, rolling on the daily gacha and looking through the shop some more.
He readied his invisibility cloak. As he'd decided before he'd only be going to observe unless something drastic happened.
Joshua made sure that the people who'd be making the plans knew he wouldn't be technically helping til something serious enough came up.
"I'm just coming with you so then when something goes wrong, I'm already right there ."
The mystical heroes sitting this one out seemed to disappoint or anger some of them but they calmed down soon enough. Or at least they appeared to.
As Joshua sat on his broom, the entire thing hidden under his invisibility cloak or a spell that messed with perceptions as a means of protection (Thanks to the new spell book and some wisdom from old spells mixed in). He followed behind most of the attack force as Superman called out orders.
Joshua's plan, as it was, was fairly simple. Try to sneak into the enemy base, find their command center and sit and listen to their communications until something comes up that he'd have to react to.
As they struck, Joshua got off his broom and snuck ahead of the lines of battle where the aliens were being less careful. Their technological means of detection weren't really set up to defend against magic so it was easier than it could have been.
Behind him, Superman was being a heroic paragon. Leading the heroes and villains of the world in an effort to save it.
It might be said something like this:
Superman Was.
Joshua chuckled at the thought. The word hero had more meaning when superman was around.
Even as Joshua was reaching the command node though, it was already in the process of being abandoned. Joshua still stayed and listened invisibly, waiting for the moment with which to act.
As he waited, he saw a figure stumble in wearing a purple jumpsuit. He wasn't a hero Joshua recognised but he didn't look well.
Joshua ran over to him, catching him before he fell.
"Are you okay?"
"No." The man smiled "I'm dying, the atmosphere of your planet is killing me."
This was an alien?
"Please, take me to the terminal." The human-looking alien muttered, "I have something I need to do."
Joshua had a good read on some people, and he didn't feel that this alien was going to do anything bad so he helped them over to the terminal. They began typing a message into the console. Once he was done he hit send and collapsed. Joshua quickly took him to the ground carefully instead of letting him hit his head.
Joshua clapped and did some diagnostic alchemy. He'd never dealt with a body this alien before.
He couldn't just use healing magic. If it really was something in the atmosphere, a healing spell wouldn't cure him, it would just delay the lethal dose from killing him.
That didn't stop Joshua trying as he tried to understand the alien's physiology.
"Cure! Esuna!"
Come on…
His physiology was amazing. It seemed to absorb solar energy like Joshua assumed Kryptonians did. Was it something similar to kryptonite poisoning then? Joshua had once had the chance to see the deadly element though he didn't know much about it.
By a miracle he found it-
"Lead, your physiology is reacting poorly to the lead in the atmosphere!"
Tetraethyl lead fuel had a lot to answer for.
Okay, if lead was the only problem that was relatively easy. Just remove the lead from the body safely. Alchemy was bad at that but Alkahestry could do it.
Joshua clapped and placed his hands on the alien, an alchemic charge jumping across.
"This isn't a problem, right truth?" Joshua muttered quietly "It's just a small thing, right?"
The truth couldn't hear him, worlds away as he was, but even still he felt vaguely uncomfortable.
The alien started spasming and sweating a dark liquid. It was a lead and water solution, the quickest way to get it out of the body. Joshua also made him throw up blackened phlegm which was full of lead from the lungs.
The alien was tired after all of that but with some more healing magic, he'd make it.
"Thank- thank you hero of earth." The alien nodded "I thought that I could make up for our folly in this invasion through this sacrifice…"
Looking up at the monitor, Joshua saw a reply had been sent to whatever the alien's message had been.
The alien stood and nodded to Joshua "I will owe you a debt."
And after that, while still tired from the alchemic surgery, he left and flew away like Superman.
Well how about that?
After that there wasn't much left to do. The aliens in space had been forced to surrender after reinforcements from one of the races of the alliance turned on them. The message that the alien Joshua had saved had warned them of the alliance's sins and had firmly assured their defeat.
Joshua found out it had been superman that had originally convinced them they were on the wrong side by revealing how the others in the alliance had been planning for them to die or something like that.
Superman: making friends with enemies. The big blue boyscout really was a great role model.
Captain Atom gave a speech after the victory, calling for among other things: World peace.
Ha, like that was going to happen. We can all wish but humans are as petty as they can be despite having the potential for so much more.
Australia would need a lot of time to recover, and many other parts of the world had been devastated by the invasion but it looked like everything was going to be okay.
Joshua was sitting in the JLI base in New York as happy crowds cheered outside.
"How long until things go back to normal do you think?"
"Until the new year maybe?" Blue Beetle suggested "The next two weeks will likely be very good to us."
Of course, there were still jobs to do. Even the day after the day had been won, there was clean-up to do.
The JLI needed to do some clean-up of damaged ships in the south pacific.
The entire team wasn't here. Martian Manhunter was in command right now, he hadn't been the official leader for a while. He had Gotham to take care of too after all. Plus he'd apparently picked up a new sidekick last year and was busy teaching him.
As they were trying to take apart the ship, Guy ended up breaking it making it even harder. And before they got very far, they picked up a transmission from a group called the Injustice League.
Joshua hadn't heard of them before but there had been groups like this before apparently.
After a quick chase (Guy chasing the ship the injustice league was in, the JLI chasing Guy), Guy knocked their ship down towards the ground out from orbit.
Some quick thinking from the martian manhunter and they were able to get the ship safely down to the ground where the injustice league could be arrested
Back where they all started, Joshua and the rest of the team were sorting through the garbage of the destroyed ship.
Guy was complaining about doing it while again making the claim that there was no super hero that could take him down.
"Guy?" Joshua called out
"Yeah?" The Lantern replied.
"Batman."
"There's no one I can't take, using my power ring." Guy clarified.
"Then isn't it the ring that's special, and not you?" Joshua smiled at Guy as he spoke.
"Aw Shadup you stuck-up Brit."
He kicked one of the ship's parts in frustration and Mister Miracle got angry.
"Damn it Guy, Be careful! I told you that we don't know what we're dealing with here. For all we know that box you just kicked was some kind of-"
And then the world went wibbly as Mister Miracle quietly said "-bomb."
The world looked inverted, the blue of the sea turned yellow, green trees became pink. Overall everything could just be said to look "Negative."
The moment passed quickly and the colours returned to normal, but it felt like something big had just happened.
Joshua only hoped it wasn't anything too bad.
Five odd hours to write this. For people that know Invasion, you might notice that this is only parts 1 and 2 of invasion. Part three will be in the next chapter along with a miniarc I foreshadowed here in this last section. Does anyone have enough knowledge of DC to recognise what miniarc is coming up? What about if I give the extra clue "Issue #426"
I was going to mention 'Death in the Family' in an old post, but i guessed it didn't happened yet, by the way, in your 'foreshadow' it sounds like Martian Manhunter lives in Gotham.
I was expecting the Gobling to show up in the fight but there is still part three to read. It's a shame that Doom Patrol wasn't mentioned, they made big sacrifices in this event.
One thing i found it funny was his idealism of Superman, even though he was hiding his depression after executing kryptonian criminals after they commited genocide which would result in his self exile(one of the best Supermam Sagas)
It's a shame that Doom Patrol wasn't mentioned, they made big sacrifices in this event.
One thing i found it funny was his idealism of Superman, even though he was hiding his depression after executing kryptonian criminals after they commited genocide which would result in his self exile(one of the best Supermam Sagas)
Partially it's because I didn't notice either event.
Generally with these I'm only reading the core issues, plus whatever side stuff I think will be relevant to Joshua (So anything involving the JLI normally, plus a few other things like Spectre for Invasion as I realised Joshua would count as a mystically empowered hero)
I did see that the doom patrol's leader is listed as the first casualty (It's mentioned in invasion 2 after all) but as I knew nothing about Doom Patrol, I assumed it was the sort of comic thing where "He'll stay dead for a year or two and then come back" (The Doylist reason I didn't draw attention to it) and Joshua also doesn't know much about the Doom Patrol, plus if I have my timeline right he was either out of context dealing with the spectre thing or asleep at the time he died.
For the superman thing, I just flat out didn't notice. So much happens in 1989 in DC that I hadn't actually read the synopsis for most of those arcs yet. So while I knew there was an arc called "Superman: Exile" it blended in with A lonely place of dying (Which I have already decided to touch on) and the fact that Sandman is happening during 1989 which I also want to touch on. Timeline-wise, Dream is already out. He broke out in September of 1988 after all.
I don't have a clue what is going to happen, or if he ended up changing what "should" have happened. His inclusion certainly makes magic much more visible in this version of DC, I bet.
I don't have a clue what is going to happen, or if he ended up changing what "should" have happened. His inclusion certainly makes magic much more visible in this version of DC, I bet.
The only real change in this section is that alien surviving. In canon he dies after sending the "We fucked up, change sides and help the humans." message. Since Joshua was there anyway...
But yeah, there aren't many mages involved in this event. I might just be unaware but the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are one of the members of the New guardians and Aquaman who barely counts as a mage.
Wonder Woman might be able to count, some versions of Batman know how to use Chi (Though I don't remember if this Batman can) and then... maybe Raven? I mean I think she's about, I've never seen her in any of the comics I've read to write this story but I've seen other members of the Teen Titans.
Then there's Zatanna obviously who showed up in this chapter. She might be called one of the most powerful mortal magic users in the world.
...Actually where the hell is Captain Marvel? I've lost track of him. I hadn't even noticed he'd left the league at first due to a bit of skipping around. The wiki says his next major apperance is in war of the gods and by that time years have passed since leaving the JLI?
A problem with comics I'm finding as I'm doing this arc is that it's very easy to suffer from some form of continuity lockout.
Just finished the preliminary reading for the next chapter in a few days. I realise now that I've gotten a bit of the timeline messed up (Strictly speaking one of the events that will happen in the upcoming chapter should have taken place before Invasion) but I've placed it after for the sake of flow.
Additionally... next chapter is probably going to be a long one.
As Joshua looked around after the sudden burst of negative light, his powers picked something up. His Radiokinesis was detecting a sudden spike in radiation.
"Radioactivity spiking!" He called "Whatever that was, the air is now full of radioactive particles."
"A Nuke?" Guy yelled out in surprise, looking at the box he'd kicked.
Joshua quickly shoved as much as the radiation he could away but as he continued it didn't seem to be that effective "There wasn't any explosion nearby, can we get in contact with the base?"
This omnidirectional shove of radiation away wouldn't help. Some of the other heroes were still breathing in some of the particles. From Joshua's reading it shouldn't be a lethal dose at the levels they'd been breathing so far, but he still used his power to try and shield everyone's heads to stop them from breathing any more in.
The Martian Manhunter was the first to act, pulling out his communicator and calling Oberon at base.
"I've passed on the note about radiation but no one has detected anything yet. It doesn't even show up properly on geiger counters." he passed on when the communication finished.
Joshua was starting to tire slightly "Can we get into the ship? Will it be protected?"
"We might have to-" Ice had been beginning to say before she put her hand up to her head.
Fire looked over to her "What's wrong?"
Joshua quickly sensed her, she'd ingested a higher dosage than the others while he had just been pushing the radiation away.
"I feel too warm, and I've gotten a headache." Ice answered.
Martian manhunter took the initiative.
"Everyone to the ship, we'll have to take our chances getting back to base."
"Right-" Ice tried to speak again but coughed and the temperature around them suddenly plummeted.
"Ice!" Fire called out before stumbling herself. A cocoon of frost began forming around the frosty superheroine and Fire coughed, releasing a blast of her green fire.
Damn it, he hadn't kept enough of it out of them, most of the other heroes weren't reacting, but right now they needed to help treat whatever was going on.
"Everyone, keep Ice's airway free, I'll try to treat Fire first."
She'd ingested less of the radioactive particles so it should be easier. Joshua used his quickchange power to make himself a medical mask as he ran over.
"Fire, get down into the recovery position."
She tried to nod but as she did a larger blast of fire was coughed out, becoming a constant stream she couldn't seem to stop.
As she struggled down, Joshua stopped working on everyone else and simply focused on pulling the radiation out of her. Even once she was clean though it wasn't helping.
The others had managed to keep Ice breathing but the same result came with her. Joshua had to knock them both out with magic to get their powers to stop exploding out of them. None of the rest of them were affected though.
Joshua still cleared out their bodies too while they got on the ship to head back to base and figure out what on earth was going on.
Things were still chaotic the next day. Most of the world's unaffected heroes had gathered at the JLI's various embassies across the globe.
Joshua noticed many of the remaining heroes were those who used tech or magic or those who were non-human. Most of the human-origin "mutant" heroes seemed to be afflicted by the condition, whatever it was.
Whatever it was, it drove their powers out of their control while they were conscious and made them terribly sick after they were knocked out.
The console was showing a TV news report about the incident. He saw part of the report was that Lexcorp was offering assistance but that wasn't being confirmed to the public.
Additionally the news was asking a very valid question which Joshua repeated.
"Where is Superman?"
His Alien origin should hopefully mean that he'd be unaffected by all of this, and his power would be very helpful in clearing all this up. Plus, a symbol of the fact that heroes were still helpful would be good right about now.
"I've heard that he left earth." Batman grumbled "And it looks like he's at least someone serious about it."
…What?
"Why?" Joshua was baffled "He's Superman, the ideal hero."
"Seems he wasn't all that ideal after all then." Batman noted.
That just felt wrong to Joshua. The very concept of Superman was one of "the great hero". The beacon, the lodestone, the thing that other heroes see and want to live up to. The idea that he'd just leave so suddenly, and right after the Invasion…
There'd be a reason of course, but Joshua was baffled by it. Whatever the reason must be, it must be something difficult to notice.
That said, that still left the ongoing problem.
Joshua stood up. He had more problems to help with. These places made good bases, but they still had missions to do to knock out the rampaging heroes (and some villains) who were affected by whatever the radiation had done to them.
Said radiation had faded by now. The particle's halflives had been short enough that the air would be safe to breathe for anyone who had somehow remained unexposed during the inversion of the sky.
Over twenty four hours of constant work to help calm situations led to Joshua nearly collapsing in his own way as they flew to the Lexcorp Mediplex to drop off new patients.
Well, it didn't strictly belong to Lexcorp anymore. They'd ceded it to the UN to help during this current "Pandemic."
Once they were in and off the jet, Joshua made his way to a bench in the corridor to rest for a moment before he put on a hospital mask and headed into the patient area.
It was a massive hall full of hospital beds, heroes and villains in each. Some still, some jerking around.
He'd overheard the doctors talking about what was actually wrong with them. That radiation had played havoc with whatever DNA was responsible for powers, effectively giving all of them some form of genetic disease.
Of course that didn't explain all of them. The New Guardians were here and they were powered by some sort of Guardian power stuff. Though maybe the guardians had just awoken their meta genes? Who knew?
And then there were the really out there examples like Doctor Fate. A magic user like Joshua himself. As far as Joshua knew, Fate wasn't any kind of Metahuman and yet he was still affected. Even the doctors didn't really understand that one apparently.
They were all dying, they'd be dead within a few days. No matter how super they each were, they couldn't do anything when their own bodies were turning against them.
Looking over, he could see Blue beetle and the rest of the league was visiting Fire and Ice, he joined them as the Martian Manhunter pulled some of them away for something.
Said thing was apparently a mission to the homeworld of one of the alien invaders from before in search of a cure, assuming this was a last resort weapon from them.
It seemed that during the meeting, Maxwell Lord had collapsed
Joshua visited the man to see how he was doing before leaving when one of the other people in charge showed up.
He had a quick nap after that to try and regain his strength and woke up to the news that even more chaos had broken out. Unaffected villains were taking the chance to attack while heroes were indisposed.
Some of those villains were the sin key bearers so Joshua sighed and got out there to fight the good fight.
He'd figured out that Burnheart was meant to represent Lust when she'd pulled out a charm ability during their last encounter. It didn't work on him for whatever reason (He suspected it to be some sort of resistance to mind control he'd acquired at some point) but that had shocked her enough to give him an advantage.
This time she'd tried to upgrade it to penetrate defences but that just hadn't worked either. That said, it would probably be good if other heroes didn't encounter her.
He also needed to deal with some of Flash's cases with him being sick along with the other heroes.
Joshua also offered to help Batman out when Arkham Asylum got a bit rowdier than normal but Batman turned him down, citing that Joshua had never encountered many of these villains before while he had.
Another day passed where Joshua was forced to work overtime, covering for entire teams of heroes on his own or rarely with one still standing hero or another.
During that time the sick grew sicker. One even passed away, someone called Scott Fisher- no, sorry. Fischer. Joshua was very tired.
He had to admit he had never really heard about the Doom patrol and like with many other things he was too busy to go home and ask Cogita about it. She'd been able to get a message to him though by calling the Ark phone, he'd listened to it during one of his breaks.
It was basically just a message saying "Good luck, things will work out."
He was clinging to that piece of wisdom.
Back to the Doom patrol though, they'd really had the run of it during the invasion. He'd have to see if he could offer them any help- if there was anyone left by the end of it.
Scott might not be the only person to die in this though, there were likely only hours until they started dropping like flies. Joshua expected a miracle to arrive, likely the team that had gone out on a mission.
Why did he have this hope? Cogita's message and a kind of thematic awareness. His input has not affected much in this situation so it should go according to canon, and in canon he doubted this many heroes would just drop dead.
It might sound silly now that this was his reality but it was a sense that was growing more sure as he jumped worlds, if no outside context problem affected things, things would go according to canon for good or for ill. Of course "Affected things" is vague and he didn't yet know how far a butterfly's wings could flap.
Even so, he would do good where he could.
With most of the doctors giving up, he was able to get permission to try what he could. Alkahestry and Healing magic would be used together for some treatments he'd attempt. Neither was really designed to treat genetic disorders though.
All his work could do it seemed was extend someone's time or treat complications that would exasperate their conditions.
He couldn't be everywhere at once though and he had to rush between the beds, doing what he could as time ticked down.
At one bedside he'd restart a heart undergoing its last beats while at another he'd restore oxygen to a brain before any damage could set in. Internal organs were falling apart and others were coughing up blood.
And the doctors had given up, so he was the only person who could do anything here. A press release was apparently being set up right now to announce to the people the loss of their heroes.
"No!" Joshua muttered as he worked "You're making it through this." He told the people he was working on "You are going to wake up and see the sun rise again."
In the heavens above, was a man doing what he believed might be his last good deed for earth.
"Please, God… Don't let them die, I beg of you."
The kryptonian with a human heart looked at the capsule that was being positioned in just the right place.
"You are earth's heroes' last hope!"
The capsule activated, shining out with the light of dawn even in the middle of the morning.
Joshua didn't see the moment it happened, he was struggling to keep everyone alive at the time.
Then something happened. A radiation spike just like what had happened at the start of all of this.
Joshua didn't really notice it that much at first but once he did, his hope grew. The patients stopped getting worse. Indeed, those he helped started to recover properly. They'd still need a lot of time but…
They'd done it.
The away team came in time to see Joshua treating the symptoms of the last super to be showing bad signs.
"You did it." Joshua smiled at them "Well done."
"I think some thanks is earned here." Martian Manhunter noted.
Hal Jordan, the green lantern that Joshua actually respected, nodded as he looked around the room.
"My ring is telling me they'd be a lot worse off without the help you seem to have been giving them."
Joshua nodded and sighed "Well then, if it's all the same to you, I need a break."
They didn't stop him from leaving, not just the room but the Mediplex. He went home and crashed on an armchair at his apartment.
"See?" Cogita asked as she made a pot of tea "It all worked out."
Joshua nodded and looked up.
"Hopefully that's the last surprise."
"It should be." Cogita confirmed "I can't remember anything else related to the Invasion storyline right now."
Well then, Joshua could rest at last.
Or at least he was able to rest for two days. Until a call came in from the UN for the JLI. They needed to get a team together to stop… Batman?
Joshua, the Martian Manhunter and Guy-
"Nope, he's not coming." Joshua noted "Pick someone else."
"Oi!" Guy tried to start.
"Batman." Joshua noted "And the UN in some sort of tense situation. Your kind of blunt violence would just make it worse."
Joshua looked to the Martian Manhunter "Anyone else, anyone reasonable? Anyone that Batman might want to talk to instead of punch?"
"Well…" Martian Manhunter considered "Captain Atom? He's still recovering but he should be able to help talk at least. He'll be able to meet us there."
Joshua nodded "No argument here."
They took the JLI jet the short distance to the UN building as the Martian Manhunter explained the mission in detail. It certainly was… something.
"Batman is currently near the UN building in New york, if he stays there he's going to get into a fist fight with the Iranian Ambassador."
…What?
The job was to basically make sure Batman left so he wouldn't spark an international incident.
Apparently they wanted to call Superman, but he was still offworld and no one seemed able to contact him. So it was hoped that the three of them would be able to talk Batman down from… whatever it was he was trying to do by beating up an Ambassador.
"Is the Ambassador a criminal or something?"
"I'm not sure." the Martian Manhunter noted "Captain Atom is looking into it though. We should hear from him-"
Their communicators began to beep and Joshua clicked his on.
"This is Azure Crow, what is it?"
"I've finished researching and am on my way to the rendezvous." Captain Atom said tiredly "It's not good news."
"Okay." Joshua nodded "Does this have anything to do with the Iranian Ambassador's identity?"
"It does."
"So?" Joshua asked "Who is Batman potentially going to cause an international incident by punching?"
"The Joker."
Ah. Fuck.
"The Joker?" Joshua had to ask "Who let that madman be an Ambassador?"
"Iran, apparently." The Martian Manhunter noted aloud. He had taken out his own communicator to listen in "I assume the actual plan is something like a sting? Keep everyone important away from the UN building until the Joker tips his hand."
"Something like that." Captain Atom agreed.
It's ridiculous really. But it seems people were actually putting the proper thought into this. They weren't just seeing "Ambassador Joker" and only noting the first part of that. They just had to convince Batman of that.
Joshua wondered why Batman was there specifically, did he already know Joker had taken that position? Maybe, maybe not.
Despite that, Joshua was forced to think about the age-old question "Why doesn't Batman kill the Joker?"
The typical answer is something like "Because Batman doesn't kill."
"Then every person Joker kills when he gets let out is on Batman's head."
That was based on a fallacy. There were others who could be held accountable. Such as the people that let Joker escape or didn't execute him for his crimes. Criminal instanty charges had worth if there was hope of the person recovering. There probably wasn't any hope of the Joker recovering from his madness.
The reason Batman didn't kill the Joker was because "Batman doesn't want to kill."
In the same way, Joshua doesn't want to kill. He can be forced to by circumstances but Batman is, in a way, better than him as Batman is normally skilled enough that he doesn't have to kill.
In this case, the ideal outcome is simple: the Joker gets caught by them in the UN building, then gets charged for something and cannot get a reduced sentence due to insanity. This was the UN so they could probably get that to stick. Then someone decides to go ahead and have him executed.
…It might not work, but that was still the ideal.
The Jet arrived and Joshua saw Batman look up as they landed.
"The Justice League?" Batman asked with some mix of curiosity and annoyance "Why are you here?"
"To prevent an international incident." Captain Atom spoke as he arrived from above.
Joshua stepped down off the landing ramp "The UN called us in."
"Why? What incident?" Batman asked.
Martian Manhunter stepped out of the jet "You don't know? Then why did you come?"
"The Joker left a message for me." Batman grit his teeth "Here."
…
"What was the context of the message?" Joshua asked "Because it's probable that you missed a piece of news we've obtained."
"He wrote it on the wall in blood, his grunts dead on the floor from his gas."
…Hmm. Batman seemed angrier than normal. There'd be more going on here that Joshua would have to look into.
"Then you did miss it." Captain Atom noted "It's not easy to explain, even for the US. Iran has a new ambassador, fully by the book as far as they can tell. He has diplomatic immunity though, we- and you- can't touch him for crimes in this country until that's revoked."
"...Who is it?" Batman asked, though the world's greatest detective had probably already put it together.
"We'll tell you somewhere else." Martian Manhunter stepped aside and gestured to the Jet.
Batman shook his head though "No, here. I won't give the Joker a chance to escape if I'm not here. Who knows what sort of damage-"
"We know." Joshua remarked, causing all three of the heroes to look at him. That was enough for Batman whose fist clenched.
Before Batman moved though lights flashed out of the darkness as a car arrive and parked on the curb.
Shit.
"Batman-" Martian Manhunter cautioned the detective "Please don't do anything hasty."
Batman grew more tense as a man stepped out of the car. A man in a blue suit wearing that sort of cloth on his head that is almost a stereotype of Iranian men at this point.
The man's face was what stood out though, caked in makeup with eyes that shone a mad green.
"Now isn't this touching?" The Joker cried "My old friend Batman, and is that the Justice league with you? You must all be here to congratulate me. It's true guys, I'm the new Ambassador."
"Please." A man with him, a chaperone of some sort "Let us go on, we have much to do."
"So much to do." Joker chuckled, "So little time. Buy Bats, try asking the Justice league for some help in the future, I think you might need it."
He left laughing.
Another car drove up soon after and a man from the CIA invited them in. The four heroes ended up down at the local police station where they were brought into a room for something like a debriefing.
The meeting was mostly between the man and Batman, basically just telling him very firmly that he wasn't to get involved.
Batman tried to point out that the Joker is a homicidal madman and that he's probably just going to kill the delegates. The man from the CIA madly claimed that Batman had no proof.
Joshua coughed "*Cough*Psychiatric reports at Arkham*Cough*"
"Iran ran their own checks and claims he's sane enough to be an ambassador." The man from the CIA glowered at Joshua "And we can't call them out on it without causing an incident."
America couldn't just say Iran was lying when they said Joker was "All better now, really." They had to prove it.
The man from the CIA left after pointing out that the JLI team was under orders to stop Batman from getting involved.
Joshua quickly contacted the JLI console room and asked them to look into incidents involving Iran as Captain Atom and the Martian Manhunter tried to talk to Batman.
He was only sent one thing back quickly, a story that had been published in the Daily Planet yesterday, co-written by Lois Lane.
"Jason Todd, 15, killed in an Ethiopian warehouse fire."
Ethiopia wasn't quite Iran, but the name stood out to Joshua the most.
Jason Todd… Joshua tried to tap into his memories of DC. Wasn't that the Red Hood? Or the Arkham knight in those games. More importantly, wasn't he a Robin?
Oh. Now he understood why Batman was so angry.
"Batman, can I speak to you in private?" Joshua asked "Though I think the Martian Manhunter may know this too."
"Not me?" Captain Atom asked. Joshua shrugged, he didn't know if Captain Atom knew who Batman was under the mask.
"Why?" Batman asked.
In answer, Joshua just held up the communicator and the text from the newspaper "I want to talk about this."
Batman didn't argue at that point. He and Joshua went up to the roof alone.
"I know who's under that mask." Was what Joshua started with "I don't want you to take this as any sort of threat, I just want to make that clear."
Still, Batman looked surprised and angry for just a moment. He connected the dots quickly though "You let me know who you are without argument as you thought it fair."
Joshua nodded "That boy, Jason. That was your new Robin, wasn't it?"
Batman didn't answer.
"If you were to leave now to go after the Joker, I wouldn't really stop you." Joshua noted "Though I would ask you to do it in a way that didn't cause a war. Your emotions are your own."
Batman was listening to him silently.
"I just want to make it clear to you. If you do this, it must be done not out of revenge, but out of Justice."
That was Batman's ideal. Where Superman was the ideal all heroes reached for in order to become more like him, Batman was an ideal of solid justice, a world where no child needs to be afraid of the dark.
Batman's ward had been stolen away, a monster from the dark had stolen a child's life. No one would want to accept that.
"Please, promise me that much at least." Joshua turned away "Promise me that you'll seek what is Just, not what you think will make the pain stop. They aren't the same."
There was silence on the roof, Joshua wondered if Batman had already left.
Finally though he spoke.
"I know they aren't." Batman agreed "And… I don't think Jason would be that desperate for revenge. Based on what his mother said, his last moments were spent being a true hero. I promise you then, I will go into this seeking Justice, not revenge."
Joshua nodded, and by the time he turned away Batman had already vanished. He was probably still nearby. He hadn't the time to get far yet. Even so, Joshua smiled.
Now then, assuming the Joker didn't just vanish, Joshua had his own plans that needed to be made.
The Joker's chance to speak on stage was tomorrow night and in order to ensure that no one died, Joshua needed to do some preparations. December 23rd, in a way it was a question of could the team save Christmas. They didn't want a war to start on a day of gifts and peace.
Joshua bought a few powers that day. The Joker's best known weapons were chemical weapons and explosives. To start with, Joshua bought himself Toxin immunity, but that wouldn't protect the crowd.
He'd be able to set up a spell for that. Some sort of force wall that stopped substances from passing from the stage to the crowd. No purchase needed.
Preset explosives were the next worry, Joshua didn't know what exactly he'd need for that so he scanned the shop and found Danger Sense, he bought it three times to have a level that he thought might be enough to detect the kinds of traps he was expecting.
Night falls, Joshua and the Martian Manhunter are disguised as UN guards in the general audience chamber. Captain Atom is waiting elsewhere to keep an eye on the situation, ready to intervene if needed.
Joshua caught the eye of one eccentric billionaire in the crowd who was mad enough to attend what is sure to be a massacre if nothing is done.
The security guard nods to Bruce Wayne as he passes. The playboy nods back.
Returning to the stage, Joshua sees the doors open in the stands of the UN general assembly chamber. Down the stairs walks the Joker, still dressed up in what Joshua could only describe as his "Iranian disguise."
The Joker stopped for a moment to look at Bruce Wayne. The Joker had an exaggerated smile on his face while Bruce's face was firm.
Joker just laughed though and continued on to the stage.
"It's a great honour to be here tonight. I am proud to speak for the great islamic republic of Islam. That country's leader and I have a lot in common."
His face cracked madly "Insanity and a great love of fish."
…It was strange to watch this from behind, Joshua reflected, knowing at any moment he may need to step in to prevent a massacre.
"But unfortunately we also share a mutual problem." The Joker continued "We get no respect. Everyone thinks of Iran as the home of the terrorist zealot! They say even worse things about me, would you believe."
Yes.
"We've both suffered unkind abuse and belittlement! Well we aren't going to take it anymore!" The Joker slammed his hands down on the podium "You'll no longer be able to kick us around! In fact you aren't going to be able to kick anyone around ever again."
Joshua tensed as the Joker pulled off his costume, revealing a gas gun and two tanks strapped to his waist.
"Say good night, gracie!"
The Joker raised his squirter and Joshua raised his arm. As lethal laughing gas shot out, a barrier appeared to stop the gas from getting to the audience. Joshua dashed in and quickly grabbed at the gun, pulling it from the Joker's grasp and shoving him down.
"Foul!" The Joker yelled angrily reaching into his shirt "I call foul, the Justice league aren't meant to get involved in my affairs. Everyone must be penalised for cheating!"
He pulled out a button and pressed it only for nothing to happen.
"What…?"
"I disarmed the bombs your henchmen planted earlier." Joshua revealed "Give it up Joker, you've finally gone too far for one of your Jokes!"
"No! No! NO!" The Joker was becoming furious as the fans spun up to suck the poison gas from the stage. As they did, Batman jumped up onto the stage having made a quick change of his own.
The Joker pulled out a gun and began shooting wildly into the fleeing crowd "It won't end like this, it won't!"
"Give it up, premeditated mass murder on the world stage isn't something you can get away from that easily." Joshua noted.
There was some sort of shift in the atmosphere that Joshua didn't know if the others noticed.
"I've another trick up my sleeve you see. Have you heard the one about the car crash?" Joker began. As he did there was a great crash from the side of the stage where a car had just ploughed through the wall.
Joker made a run for it, Joshua and Batman in quick pursuit.
Time to try out a trick Joshua had been practising for a few years.
Bringing his hand forward, Joshua used a collection of powers he'd obtained from his system. Flashlight into Light Glue.
Where the beam of light he projected shone became sticky, such as for example the asphalt the Joker was running along. It wasn't enough to pin him in place but it was enough to make him trip. It wasn't enough though as he then began scampering along the ground like a dog on all fours before righting himself.
No, the Joker would not get away with this.
They were heading up to the roof of the embassy where the Joker quickly stole a Helicopter, as Batman managed to jump and catch onto its landing things (Joshua didn't remember the metal things' name right now), Joshua brought out his broom to follow the aircraft.
He watched as Batman flipped into the helicopter and the Helicopter began to crash towards the water. No, not the water. It was just going to crash!
Joshua made out Batman's form diving from the helicopter moments before it became a fireball against the docks.
Joshua headed down to the water and hauled Batman onto the broom long enough to pull him back to the shore.
"Find his body!" Batman gasped "I won't know for sure until we see his body!"
Joshua did go to look, but it was as he and Batmen feared. The Joker's body wasn't there.
This whole situation had finished unresolved.
He returned to give Batman the bad news, and they stood together on the docks for a few minutes in silence.
Joshua had only one thing to say after all of this.
"Remember to ask for help in the future, some of us want to return the favours we owe."
Batman didn't say anything at first. He turned away from the fire as the crews arrived to put it out.
Joshua tried to find words to say. He didn't want to give Batman any false hope about Jason. No one knows for sure what the future held after all. Not even those people who were from the future as proven by Booster Gold.
"Also… I'm willing to help around Gotham if you ever need it."
Batman was already gone though. Joshua wondered if he'd heard that last bit.
Okay then! Death in the family is quite the arc. Originally it was meant to be Superman instead of the JLI (Which is what tipped me off I put these events in the wrong order) but I made it work so that's something.
Also, the end of Invasion had to be added. I also originally planned to include the founding of Justice League Europe but then I found out that was in february so quite a while after these events.
Also, hey, this is the roguhly 1/3rd point of this world. What is everyone thinking about it so far?
So far, it's going well, although a little more dialogue between characters would help the story a littke, it doesn't need to be exposition just a normal talk, specially between the MC and those Sins, it doesn't hurt if your character makes a few jokes once in a while.
Talking about jokes, the 'Joker as Iran' s ambassador' really piss some people off, and from that time 'Qurak' waa the evil middle eastern country to go if you wanted your character to go there and kick some ass.
Also, i think that the events of the 'Killing Joke' are going to happen soon, although now that Batman has access to a miracle healer, something can be done for Barbara.
Matrix/Supergirl is now replacing Clark Kentbin Metropolis, and everybody thinks Intergang gave him amnesia for all those stories about them. Superman should return soon after finding The Cleric and began to forgive himself.
After that one of my faborite events of the 90's would began: Armageddon 2001
So far, it's going well, although a little more dialogue between characters would help the story a littke, it doesn't need to be exposition just a normal talk, specially between the MC and those Sins, it doesn't hurt if your character makes a few jokes once in a while.
Valid, the main reason there isn't much talk is that there are so many events to fit in so little time. Even 20 chapters isn't really enough for everything that happens in 10 years of DC comics.
That said, there will be a lot more dialogue including the other Sin Key holders in *checks* chapter 9, chapter 8 should also hopefully have more dialogue since I intend to cover A lonely place of dying and parts of Sandman for 1989
(Superman: Exile being offworld and Janus Directive not involving the JLI means I wasn't going to include them in the first place.
Talking about jokes, the 'Joker as Iran' s ambassador' really piss some people off, and from that time 'Qurak' waa the evil middle eastern country to go if you wanted your character to go there and kick some ass.
I guessed as much. While I was going through that arc I was thinking how touchy it seemed.
...I'm somewhat tempted to replace Iran with Qurak now that you've said that.
Also, i think that the events of the 'Killing Joke' are going to happen soon, although now that Batman has access to a miracle healer, something can be done for Barbara.
Looking it up, Killing Joke was released earlier in 1988. I... didn't know that. I probably would have mentioned it as it's apparently even canon (I had thought for the longest time it wasn't canon despite how good it was)
That said, the fact that Joshua is a miracle healer is certainly something that can be done when he meets Barbara.
Matrix/Supergirl is now replacing Clark Kentbin Metropolis, and everybody thinks Intergang gave him amnesia for all those stories about them. Superman should return soon after finding The Cleric and began to forgive himself.
I'd actually had 1991 set aside for Justice League: Breakdowns as it seemed more relevant to Joshua, it could always happen in the background but that feels like it would be skipping something.
...Hmm. Armageddon 2001 also apparently has quite the continuity snarl, and fixing it could break other things in knock on effects I don't know due to my relative lack of knowledge.
Again, up to this point the only stories I've read in prep for this jump are the stories going on in each chapter and Reign of the Supermen (I was curious as I'd never heard what actually happened in it and it is one of the arcs I intend on following.
To be fair, some of the lack of change is I don't know enough about DC as a whole to guess what the knock-on effects of any change I would make are, like Joshua I don't know how far a butterfly's wing can flap in this context. I can't even just rely on the main things I'm reading as knock-on effects could be happening in issues I'm not reading.
The only things I can really change are the things that I already know about "In full" which means in some cases he can save background characters that would have died anyway, though that isn't very satisfying. Even I feel that at some points.
For example, while writing the final section of the recent chapter, I did have the actual idea that the Joker should be caught, the problem there is like this: I don't know what the knock on effects of his capture/death would have been here because I don't know most of what the Joker is going to do in future issues. And those actions he would have done being changed could change yet more things, and on, and on.
The problem is that comics are not static. Event X affects Event Y which affects Event Z. And if I don't know Y and Z then I can't change the big things without getting stuck in not knowing how future events will go.
Taking the topic away from the Joker for a moment, imagine there was a random no-name villain in one of the arcs I read and Joshua killed them, only for them to show up in later comic issues doing something massively important, but they can't do that now in this story because they're dead.
In a way, this was a problem caused by my choice to Jump a setting that I knew the outline of but didn't know the actual pieces for how things connect together. Of course I could decide to just pick and chose what matters and make massive changes without care to canon, but down that road lies madness. I can make those changes safely in other worlds because I understand those settings in their totality, DC Comics is just one of the settings I don't have that sort of grasp of yet.
...I'm sorry, I feel like I basically just said the exact same thing three to four times in a row instead of making my point properly.
To be fair, some of the lack of change is I don't know enough about DC as a whole to guess what the knock-on effects of any change I would make are, like Joshua I don't know how far a butterfly's wing can flap in this context. I can't even just rely on the main things I'm reading as knock-on effects could be happening in issues I'm not reading.
The only things I can really change are the things that I already know about "In full" which means in some cases he can save background characters that would have died anyway, though that isn't very satisfying. Even I feel that at some points.
For example, while writing the final section of the recent chapter, I did have the actual idea that the Joker should be caught, the problem there is like this: I don't know what the knock on effects of his capture/death would have been here because I don't know most of what the Joker is going to do in future issues. And those actions he would have done being changed could change yet more things, and on, and on.
The problem is that comics are not static. Event X affects Event Y which affects Event Z. And if I don't know Y and Z then I can't change the big things without getting stuck in not knowing how future events will go.
Taking the topic away from the Joker for a moment, imagine there was a random no-name villain in one of the arcs I read and Joshua killed them, only for them to show up in later comic issues doing something massively important, but they can't do that now in this story because they're dead.
In a way, this was a problem caused by my choice to Jump a setting that I knew the outline of but didn't know the actual pieces for how things connect together. Of course I could decide to just pick and chose what matters and make massive changes without care to canon, but down that road lies madness. I can make those changes safely in other worlds because I understand those settings in their totality, DC Comics is just one of the settings I don't have that sort of grasp of yet.
...I'm sorry, I feel like I basically just said the exact same thing three to four times in a row instead of making my point properly.
Funny enough, the saga that is coming is all about that
Changes.
Waverider quest to find the hero thatbwould become Monarch was interesting and one can see diferent futures of the heroes because of that and now that they know a possible future, their decision of accepting it or not.
Even in real life there were changes, since the original identity of Monarch was leaked to the fans, the author decided to change the ending in a move that lleft many fans angry because it just didn't make sense. Honestly, you could use that for a big change in the plot.
that year was also full of time travel stories, specially 'Timemasters' in which we meet Rip Hunter and The Linear Men and their quest to.save the timeline from the Illuminaty (Legends of Tomorrow took some ideas from this book). Superman jumps through time where he meets The Legion of Superheroes and The Society of Justice.
The concept of the Linear Men is interestin since they are the self-proclaimed protectors of the timeline, so they probably know that there should be no 'Azure Crow' in the Justice League but he hasn't done any damage to the tineline...yet. Helping Barbara could force them toact since without a crippled Barbara, there will be no Oracle, someone who will be a key player for the future Justice League and without her help, they could loose some crucial battles.
Capturing the Joker would have little change to the story since stopped being much of a menace for some years. Batman right now would.be falling to aa dark oath, getting more violent with criminals, falling to an early version of 'Venom', but thanks to Alfeed and the arrival.of Tim Drake, he began to heal.
Another idea is that he meets Mr Mxyzptlk, that imp is going to show in Metropolis soon, and without Superman, he is going to cause a lot of troubles, in the OT, Lex Luthor was able to force him to leave after teaching him the concept of a 'lie', but the MC could be someone who maybe be interesting for the 5th dimensional being since he probably know more secrets about his enemies.
I see why you're hesitant to change things, but it reads like "Everything happened like it was supposed to, but also, Joshua was there." I mean, a magic using super is part of the JL, and that should make waves!
Him being there should change things, but, and I think this might be actually baked into the canon of the world, in comic world, things have narrative causality and can't change. In that Fate is an actual thing, but I might just be misreading things I've seen, as I don't follow comics either. Or am I way out of line there?
It's kind of why I wish you'd sort of do time skips, or summarize more, because without him making a difference, it isn't as interesting. If he wasn't part of the JL, and did do things like turn the Joker to stone and hide him in the Marianas trench, or other world changing things, but because he was just living his life as a rancher in Peru, all he'd know is like a newspaper headline that mentions Batman retiring because of low Gotham crime, or whatever. That would be awesome!
Take all this with a grain of salt. I'm not the author, you are, I'm just mentioning stuff that I think about after reading.
Funny enough, the saga that is coming is all about that
Changes.
Waverider quest to find the hero thatbwould become Monarch was interesting and one can see diferent futures of the heroes because of that and now that they know a possible future, their decision of accepting it or not.
Even in real life there were changes, since the original identity of Monarch was leaked to the fans, the author decided to change the ending in a move that lleft many fans angry because it just didn't make sense. Honestly, you could use that for a big change in the plot.
Indeed, and I was thining about that when I read Armageddon 2001's synopsis after it was brought up.
The problem in this case: I don't know if Captain Atom is meant to do anything important in other stories after this, whereas I at least "Know" how things go in regard to the canonc answer.
If I knew what important things the change would affect, it makes it more possible to actually affect things.
that year was also full of time travel stories, specially 'Timemasters' in which we meet Rip Hunter and The Linear Men and their quest to.save the timeline from the Illuminaty (Legends of Tomorrow took some ideas from this book). Superman jumps through time where he meets The Legion of Superheroes and The Society of Justice.
The concept of the Linear Men is interestin since they are the self-proclaimed protectors of the timeline, so they probably know that there should be no 'Azure Crow' in the Justice League but he hasn't done any damage to the tineline...yet. Helping Barbara could force them toact since without a crippled Barbara, there will be no Oracle, someone who will be a key player for the future Justice League and without her help, they could loose some crucial battles.
Joshua has met Rip Hunter and Booster Gold and neither of them yet noticed any change, I was always hesitant here and have been assuming that the last time they time travelled was before Joshua jumped in so they wouldn't notice, but this might be a butterfly I have to face head on.
Which naturally means I need as much info as I can get on the arcs involving them so I can do any modifications at all.
Capturing the Joker would have little change to the story since stopped being much of a menace for some years. Batman right now would.be falling to aa dark oath, getting more violent with criminals, falling to an early version of 'Venom', but thanks to Alfeed and the arrival.of Tim Drake, he began to heal.
Wish I'd known that when I was writing the chapter. Even if Joker's comic plot armour would have stopped him from being executed properly, him being in somewhere with better security than Arkham would have been good.
Another idea is that he meets Mr Mxyzptlk, that imp is going to show in Metropolis soon, and without Superman, he is going to cause a lot of troubles, in the OT, Lex Luthor was able to force him to leave after teaching him the concept of a 'lie', but the MC could be someone who maybe be interesting for the 5th dimensional being since he probably know more secrets about his enemies.
Could be fun, I want Joshua to have at least had some impact in Metropolis before I get to the death of superman arc in... seven chapters? I'd need to check my notes but it's happening at some point.
Indeed, and I was thining about that when I read Armageddon 2001's synopsis after it was brought up.
The problem in this case: I don't know if Captain Atom is meant to do anything important in other stories after this, whereas I at least "Know" how things go in regard to the canonc answer.
If I knew what important things the change would affect, it makes it more possible to actually affect things.
Joshua has met Rip Hunter and Booster Gold and neither of them yet noticed any change, I was always hesitant here and have been assuming that the last time they time travelled was before Joshua jumped in so they wouldn't notice, but this might be a butterfly I have to face head on.
Which naturally means I need as much info as I can get on the arcs involving them so I can do any modifications at all.
Wish I'd known that when I was writing the chapter. Even if Joker's comic plot armour would have stopped him from being executed properly, him being in somewhere with better security than Arkham would have been good.
Could be fun, I want Joshua to have at least had some impact in Metropolis before I get to the death of superman arc in... seven chapters? I'd need to check my notes but it's happening at some point.
Captain Atom absence would mean that the group called Extreme Justice would not be formed, after the death of Superman, both him and Wonder Woman step up as leaders for the Justice League but since both have diferent ways to do things, after the Overmaster attack on earth, captain atom decided to create a more proactive group, which honestly theybwere equally reactive as the League, since then. He worked directly for the government and his last big hurrah was when he knock Superman to take his place piloting a robot to destroy a giant Kriptonite asteroid that would destroy all live on earth and he sacrifices his life to destroy it.
Another big change could be Power Girl, boy do she have a wild story, in the new esrth continuity she thought that she was Superman's cousin but later she was revealed she actually is a survivor of Atlantis, in realitybshebis a survivornof the old continuity, the esrths before the crisis, which was revealed to her in the Infinite Crisis, something that made more sense of whatever the writers were planning for her in the beginning.
Captain Atom absence would mean that the group called Extreme Justice would not be formed, after the death of Superman, both him and Wonder Woman step up as leaders for the Justice League but since both have diferent ways to do things, after the Overmaster attack on earth, captain atom decided to create a more proactive group, which honestly theybwere equally reactive as the League, since then. He worked directly for the government and his last big hurrah was when he knock Superman to take his place piloting a robot to destroy a giant Kriptonite asteroid that would destroy all live on earth and he sacrifices his life to destroy it.
Hmm... checking my notes (and the DC wiki) extreme justice doesn't take place till after Zero hour, which will be one of the last events I intend to cover in this jump. Does he do anything else really important before that point? Otherwise this might well be worth doing.
Another big change could be Power Girl, boy do she have a wild story, in the new esrth continuity she thought that she was Superman's cousin but later she was revealed she actually is a survivor of Atlantis, in realitybshebis a survivornof the old continuity, the esrths before the crisis, which was revealed to her in the Infinite Crisis, something that made more sense of whatever the writers were planning for her in the beginning.
Huh, I thought she was meant to be some sort of robot based on what I'd read, though I'm more likely mistaking her with someone else.
What is she specifically related to with the suggested changes?
Pre-reading for the next chapter has been completed, I still don't think Joshua will be changing anything major but at least there's going to be a lot of discussion between various characters. That's half of the changes that people want I believe, I'll probably need to wait till Armageddon 2001 to do any major setting changes.
Heroism: Issue #8 "What does it mean to be a Hero?"New
Joshua awoke and stretched before checking the clock. It was eleven in the morning, March 30th, 1989. He'd been working late last night and he'd probably work late tonight as well. Joker was still on the run after all.
Batman hadn't been keeping him up to date, but Joshua hadn't really expected him too, not in the state he was in now. So Joshua took long nights researching what was going on in Gotham to try to determine some of these things from afar.
Some might question why Joshua cared so much, weren't there other things to worry about? Superman was still missing after all. While superman was the ideal though, Joshua saw Batman as something like a mentor. The underpowered human fighting for the sake of a better world.
Sure, Joshua's power growth meant he was not quite as handicapped as Batman was but… eh. Joshua still felt like he owed the previous leader of the Justice league.
Back on topic, the Joker hadn't been seen in months. Joshua was contemplating the reason as he sat down for Brunch with Cogita who had a more normal sleep schedule. She would however act like his sounding board when he was at home.
"The Joker is probably still healing." It was the opening line he'd used before.
Cogita nodded, "He probably took a lot of damage from that helicopter crash."
Previously they had discussed where he would be healing, but there were enough underground clinics that they'd never find him that way. Joshua therefor took a new direction.
"How will he commit a crime from a hospital bed?"
"You think he will?" Cogita asked before taking a bite of her toast.
Joshua nodded, looking at the calendar "April first is coming up, he'll probably have something in the works if he's awake."
Cogita gave the problem a think. Having these talks with her helped as she could try and recall things from her previous incarnation's journey. She did look into a lot of media, more than she explored herself.
"He'd contact someone via phone." She guessed "Manipulate them into committing crimes."
Who though?
"Would you stop them?" Cogita asked "If you knew who it was?"
"Probably, why?" Joshua was confused.
Cogita looked to the side "It seems that in some ways you aren't changing very much. I just wanted to see if it was intentional."
"Well obviously." Joshua shrugged "I don't want to do any major changes. That's not my right."
Cogita raised her fork "It's normal for most jumpers though, they'd show up to a world and take some main role in it. Jumpers become the legendary heroes or villains and try to change everything to suit their outlook."
Joshua frowned "That just sounds like the company. Those sorts of Jumpers are tyrants in my opinion."
"Many see themselves as something like robin hoods. Imagine the type that would go to a cyberpunk dystopia and ensure the collapse of the companies in charge."
Joshua thought about it "I can see some merit there, but doing it carelessly would just ensure more hardship for the people that had lived under that dystopia. Sure, it could be made better after that, but many normal people would have their lives collapse around them."
Cogita shook her head "Which of us is meant to be the devil's advocate here? Put in the same position, would you allow a dystopia to continue just because that is natural for the world?"
Joshua didn't have an answer for that at the present moment so Cogita pushed on.
"Let's look at it another way, say the world's fate was to be destroyed. You were on a world doomed to destruction by the narrative. Would you do nothing to stop it?"
"No." Joshua was sure enough of that "But I'd want to create an outcome better than the original result, with as little harm as possible. The reason I didn't just kill the Joker three months ago was because I didn't know what effects it would have. There are timelines like Injustice where the death of the Joker just makes everything worse."
"Superman breaking character makes that world worse." Cogita threw in "The Joker's death was just part of it."
"Well, he was an ambassador at the time." Joshua changed tactic, trying to find a reason Cogita and he was happy with "Just killing him there would have sparked an incident."
"True enough." Cogita agreed "But you could have shocked him after that. Or used Ice. You're a mage after all."
Joshua didn't disagree with her. Really, looking at it now, the only reason he didn't kill the Joker was a lack of knowledge of what it would do. His knowledge of the DC was already shaky and yet he was still trying to navigate from the waymarks he knew.
He half-changed the subject.
"While the public believes Lex Luthor isn't evil these days, he still is right?"
"Right." Cogita agreed.
"Even if I had a way to untraceably kill him with magic," he probably did but didn't put too much thought into that point "i wouldn't want to kill him. Imagine I'd killed him this time last year. Without Lexcorp, it's likely that many more heroes would have died from the gene bomb. I don't know what I can and can't change without causing knock-on effects like that."
Cogita was quiet for a moment before she waved her hand around "Then how do you live at all?"
"What?"
"You bought this apartment, what if another hero needed this apartment in the future and now that won't be possible. You joined the justice league, what if that affects something in the future?"
Joshua paused to consider before responding "Neither of those things were things that might be irreversible, death is, as long as I do it properly."
If Joshua were to properly kill someone and dispose of the body, it might make things hard for what should happen to revive them. On the other hand if they were needed for something, the fact remains that their loss will leave a hole that could fray.
Death matters.
"How about a change that doesn't involve death then?" Cogita offered "Like you joining the justice league or saving lives? What if someone dies in an accident that you then save them from. What if their death was important to the way a world would flow without your interference."
Joshua couldn't think of anything to say to that.
"In those cases… I'll just try to make it through." He murmured "I won't regret making a chance by saving people. To do that would be to go against the decision I made. But at the same time while I'm fine with those larger changes, I don't want to take over the world to make everyone happy in the way I perceive it. I refuse force my ideals onto others, I'll just live my ideals as best that I can."
There was a pause in the discussion at that point as both were done with breakfast. Joshua though thought of one more point.
"Cogita, what did you say about what you did in DC? You said you just acted as a background character too right? Doesn't that make your point in this hypocrisy?"
"I said I was playing the devil's advocate." The old woman sighed, "But from another perspective, I guess I just didn't care enough about the world at that time to want to improve it directly."
Around thirty-six hours later, in the depths of the night, Joshua sat at a console in the JLI embassy in america.
The Justice League Europe had been founded earlier in the year, but Joshua had opted to stay working for the American branch. It was where his life was established after all.
Joshua was spending the time trying to metaphorically "find a map." To find something he'd be willing to change. The issue was of course that as this was all records from the past, there wasn't much he could do with this information.
The records from the old JLA had been part of the database since its inception and now it was also filled with records from the time since Joshua had joined too.
Joshua's primary motivation to change things, as far as he'd determined, was to save people who were otherwise doomed. However, reading about all these people he'd failed to save, such as the Doom Patrol and Jason Todd…
Was he thinking about dipping into necromancy to bring them back? He couldn't deny the thought had crossed his mind. If one could perfectly bring back the dead, was there a reason not to? It was just another injury he would be able to heal.
Bah, he was fairly sure he didn't have any magic that could revive the dead. Not yet anyway, the idea of searching for specific spellbooks wasn't out of the question.
Midnight turned over as he switched between researching what had happened and researching what would happen. In other words, the Joker. It was April fools day now after all and the clown prince of crime would try something if he could manage it.
At roughly three in the morning, Joshua heard something outside the console room. Someone else was walking around.
Joshua yawned and he heard another yawn from the doorway as a figure walked through the door. It was Mister Miracle, though without his costume on.
"Crow, good morning." the New god greeted, obvious fatigue still in his voice. He had likely just gotten up. He'd been spending this evening in the embassy's on-call bedrooms.
"Morning to you too." Joshua yawned again "Is something wrong?"
Mister Miracle glanced through the door behind him before shaking his head "I just wanted to check something, a thought occurred to me during the night. Mind if I take the chair?"
Joshua shrugged, closing down his search query and standing up, allowing Mister Miracle to sit down.
"Do you need me to make some tea or coffee?" Joshua asked. He hadn't made any for himself and that hadn't made staying awake any easier.
Mister Miracle thought about it again, glancing over his shoulder "Should I…?" he paused "Yes please, Crow. Coffee."
Joshua headed out to the kitchenette a few rooms away. Joshua found a laminated piece of paper that everyone's preferences for tea and coffee had been printed on. He made a pot of coffee and brought it through to the console room along with milk and sugar.
As Mister Miracle took his cup, Joshua checked what he was looking up.
"Recovered artifacts?"
"Yeah." Mister Miracle took a drink "Stuff taken from supervillains that needed to be kept somewhere. There was something I wanted to check."
He pulled up the old JLA files and typed in some search queries.
"Ruby, Dream, Villain…?" Joshua read aloud.
"That's where it will probably be." Mister Miracle replied, but he didn't seem to be talking to Joshua. He looked over his shoulder again.
Joshua squinted into the darkness as a chill ran up his back. None of his senses, even the superhuman ones, were telling him there was anyone in the room except him and Mister Miracle but…
"Mind introducing your guest?"
"Guest?" Mister Miracle said in surprise before glancing back into the darkness.
One second there was nothing. Joshua glanced around the room and by the time he glanced back, a figure had appeared. A tall man with bleached white skin and dark hair, he also had a prominent nose that showed up even as the rest of his features seemed just out of sight in the darkness of the room.
Joshua started back in surprise but the figure didn't respond. He was just looking at the console.
"Scott, the computer?"
The search had finished, bringing up an entry on a villain called "Doctor Destiny."
"Here we go," Mister Miracle nodded "Doctor Destiny. He had a ruby that he could use to affect dreams and make nightmares real, that sort of thing. It was kept on the trophy room on the satellite."
"Where is the satellite, and my Ruby?" The figure asked.
"Space Junk, destroyed." Mister Miracle remarked "Could have been destroyed or moved to any number of other storage locations."
"You don't know?" the figure asked.
"Not a clue."
"Someone must know." The figure stated.
Mister Miracle nodded, thinking to himself "Batman? No, it's three thirty, he'll still be working. Who was in the old JLA?"
As he thought, Joshua looked at the unknown figure "Who are you?"
"A friend to heroes, and someone who wants to recover something stolen from them."
"You can trust him." Mister Miracle said vaguely "He helped me tonight. I trust him at least."
…Joshua looked at the mysterious figure who stood over him, face still obscured. Something felt… off about him.
"Hmm. You're one of his new toys that he mentioned." The figure remarked "The sin key bearers he called you."
Joshua stepped back in alarm. Very few people knew about the source of his powers.
"Sin keys?" Mister Miracle glanced back, again distracted from his thoughts "What?"
"Not important." Joshua said quickly "I'll tell you later if you're still interested."
At least, he'd probably tell him the basics.
"Ah!" Mister Miracle had thought of something "Got it, let's go wake him up."
He stood up and headed off.
"Who?" Joshua and the unknown figure asked at the same time.
"The martian manhunter, he should know?"
Joshua and Mister Miracle took the teleporter, and somehow the figure was already waiting for them when they arrived in a different branch. They went to Martian Manhunter's bedroom and Mister Miracle knocked.
"Scott, Crow, do you know what time it is? I hope it's something important." The martian manhunter greeted them yawning.
Mister Miracle tried to explain, and gestured to the figure, the Martian Manhunter reacted significantly.
"You?" He quickly dropped into some sort of pose of supplication "Lord L'zoril, I greet you humbly; may you guard us in the darkness and on the pathway between waking hours, and protect us in dreams of the flames of your wrath."
"A martian?" The figure, 'Lord L'zoril, looked surprised "I thought your kind was aeons-gone."
"I am the last of my race." The martian explained.
As the rest of the story was explained to the martian manhunter, he was able to direct the lord to the warehouse the ruby was being stored in. He couldn't give exact directions but apparently the lord didn't need them.
"I thank you last martian, if you wish, you may dream of the city of Focative Mirrors. I thank you both. I hope you find your name, Scott Free. Goodnight."
When he was out of sight, the mysterious lord vanished just as quickly as he'd appeared earlier.
Martian Manhunter steps out of his room as the figure left and mister miracle asked "Who was that?"
"An old god." The martian explained "A very old god. Come both of you, let us hit the kitchen. I have a secret stash of oreos you will both be allowed to partake of."
They headed for the kitchen and the martian manhunter started another pot of coffee and got out the biscuits as promised. As Joshua and Mister Miracle began eating, the martian manhunter explained.
"Have the two of you ever encountered anything involving the martian gods before?"
"Nothing." Joshua admitted "I didn't even know you were religious."
"All I know are new gods." Mister Miracle agreed.
Martian Manhunter poured coffee and put an ice cube in his.
"It was called Ma'aleca'andra when my people still lived there." The last martian began "and yes, we were religious. We had a polytheistic culture much like the amazons. H'ronmeer the god of fire, death and a psychopomp. C'eridyall, goddess of life. Along with them was L'zoril who we all just met. He is the god of dreams. There was also the unnamable one, who best equates to earth's God-with-a-capital-G, a god of other gods."
Joshua was curious "But why would a martian god want a ruby that was apparently stolen from him?"
"Did you read about doctor destiny?" the last martian asked.
Mister miracle shook his head "Not much, just that he was a psycho."
The martian manhunter was thoughtful "He was a mage, one who invented- or so we believed- a magical tool called the Materioptikon. It was a ruby he had used to create a fantasy of a fascist justice league that ruled the world. Using the ruby's power he sort to overwrite the real world with his delusion. We were able to separate him from the ruby for a time but he was able to make a new one from his dreams. Only by removing his ability to dream were we able to stop him at last."
Joshua shivered at that "Remove his ability to dream? What does that even mean in this context?"
"We employed a psychiatrist to actively remove his ability to dream. He can still sleep but his sleep is always dark and dreamless."
Even mister miracle seemed a little sickened at that concept. Even if it was the only way, it was still horrible to consider.
"He's currently kept at Arkham asylum. He hasn't broken out with any of the other mass breakouts and his body has just started to wither away over time." Martian Manhunter finished.
"And to think that ruby was apparently a divine artifact." Joshua said in a thoughtful tone.
THe other two nodded.
Eventually they all returned from whence they came. Joshua going home to try and get some sleep before whatever happened in the morning.
Whatever happened in the morning turned out to be Doctor Destiny finally breaking free of Arkham Asylum.
Across the world, when the sun set on April fool's day, nightmares wrapped around the land and humankind was terrified as it felt the effects of the battle in the dreaming between Doctor Destiny and Dream of the Endless.
Other than Joshua and Cogita who generally had a fairly pleasant night, Joshua's power protected them from the worst of the dreaming without their notice.
At the stroke of midnight the battle ended and when the sleepers woke once more it was to a world peaceful once more. Doctor Destiny had returned to Arkham and, apparently, he could dream again, though he'd lost the power to make those dreams real.
According to another of the patients, he'd just wandered in as if sleepwalking. Apparently after he returned, everyone in Arkham asylum was able to get one night of peaceful sleep which was likely quite relieving for them.
Roughly half a year later, in October, Joshua was still looking into helping Batman..Well, that was one of the things he was doing.
There was also whatever the "great danger" of this year was going to be. It has been in the last few months of the year every year so far… it was probably coming sooner or later this year too.
He'd also grown a lot over the past year. His costume abilities had changed. Multiple of them had all been at level 10 and they'd fused together into a single ability that gave him a costume. He hadn't known abilities could fuse together like that but it made his ability list slightly easier to read.
Also, he'd gained a passive that increased the size of the random piles of money his Gacha gave him. He was a billionaire by this point, though he was keeping the money in his inventory for now. It felt better to hold onto it until he found a use for it. Was it technically tax fraud? He didn't know, but he also had no idea how he'd declare "Money created by superpowers" on his taxes. They might even consider it a forgery which would be very annoying.
As Joshua thought about all of this, he was watching the news reel from Gotham, keeping an eye out for big things that Batman might need help with.
Then something came, around midnight the report came. A pair of crimes committed by two-face. The kidnapping of a pair of twin child stars and a robbery of a Casino both in one night. Batman had been able to foil the kidnapping and two-face had been forced to flee without taking the money from the casino.
If someone was launching simultaneous crimes that needed Batman to be in two places at once, it might be someone jabbing at him for lacking a robin. That was probably dangerous.
Joshua resolved to go and help.
He had been at home that night, so getting to Gotham required finding the local teleporter and teleporting to the New York JLI embassy.
There was no public teleporter in Gotham, though Joshua assumed there was a secret one in the Batcave that Batman would use when coming or going. Regardless, that meant the quickest way to get to Gotham was by air.
While Joshua had also acquired a power for flight from the system, it was slower than his broom so he just used that to fly to Gotham.
It had been raining but that appeared to be abetting as Joshua made his way into the city under his invisibility cloak. Despite the rain leaving, clouds still filled the sky making it easy to spot the shining bat signal against the cloud's underside.
As Joshua arrived he saw three people on the roof, none of them were batman though unfortunately though one of them was in costume. Joshua at least recognised that one from the research he'd been doing.
"Nightwing? You came to help Batman out then?"
"Who are you?" The so-named hero asked, a mix of annoyance and confusion on his face.
Joshua landed and stashed his broom and cloak before offering a short bow.
"Azure crow, hero of central city and the JLI who very much wants to give Batman an intervention to help him get over a certain loss."
"Oh not another one." Nightwing sighed as he glanced to the side at an old man in glasses.
"Azure crow." The other man noted thoughtfully "Let me introduce myself, I am commissioner James Gorden of the GCPD." He nodded beside him to another policeman who was manning the bat signal "This man works for me."
Joshua nodded "It's good to meet you, I assume the signal was lit to try and get Batman to come to talk about the recent double case?"
"And two face yes." The commissioner nodded "But based on what you said earlier… Do you happen to know what's been going on with Batman recently?"
Nightwing watched Joshua carefully as he considered his answer "I do, but it's nothing that doesn't infringe on his privacy if I was to tell you, I'm sorry."
The commissioner looked between the two heroes "I'm not a fool, I can see that Batman has changed recently. And while I may not know how Azure Crow was involved, I can tell that the both of you are worrying in your own ways too. If there's anything I can do…"
"You don't have to go on commissioner, I understand." Nightwing nodded, though he looked to Joshua and continued "To be honest, I don't know how you came to be here either."
Joshua shrugged "I offered him my help last year. As I said, I think he may need an intervention of some sort."
"He has taken this affair with two-face as a personal challenge of some sort." Commissioner Gorden nodded "I don't suppose you know why?"
Nightwing just looked over the rooftops of Gotham "Unfortunately sir…" then he winced and Joshua felt magic was being used nearby. He looked over as a burst of smoke appeared and a woman in a white robe stepped out of it.
"Raven!" Nightwing noted with surprise.
The sorceress had come with a data card for Nightwing. Raven also offered her and the rest of the titans' help but Nightwing thought it should be just between him and batman. In fact he said it loud enough that he seemed to be making a point to Joshua.
"And I believed my problems were between Trigon and me, but you showed me otherwise." Raven countered, she glanced at Joshua "If you're getting some help, there's no reason that you shouldn't get more help."
Joshua shook his head "While more help would be great, this is a problem to do more with Batman than it is to do with Nightwing. How well do you know Batman?"
"Not well honestly." Raven sighed "But if that is the sort of problem this is… I understand."
She pulled her cloak around her and another burst of smoke obscured her as she teleported away.
Nightwing turned to commissioner Gorden as Raven left.
"You might as well shut down the bat signal, he isn't coming."
As Gorden gave the instructions, turning to speak to the other policeman, Nightwing leaped from the roof and hung off the side of the building. Joshua took the chance to don his cloak and follow after the hero.
As he left, he heard a sigh from Gorden "Why does every hero delight in doing that?"
Joshua followed Nightwing to the ground where he was decrypting the data Batman sent to him.
"Why do you want to come?" Nightwing asked what he should think was only air. But he was trained by Batman so that didn't shock Joshua as he lowered his hood.
"Is it so strange I want to help people? Rather, to help a coworker who's going through a hard time."
Nightwing shook his head "You could just leave this to me."
"I could." Joshua agreed "But doing that feels like leaving things to their own devices instead of trying my best to see things happen the best way they could."
In some ways it was a small change he wanted to make. He didn't know what the canon way this was supposed to go was, but he was willing to lend a hand to see that it went as well as it possibly could.
Nightwing sighed and nodded before making a call that he asked Joshua to step away for. Joshua did, but kept an eye to make sure he didn't run off without him.
Eventually, Nightwing stood up again and led the two of them to a small storage shed that he opened with a key. Inside the shed was a motorcycle.
"This only seats one, I assume you'll use your broom?"
"Sure." Joshua nodded, pulling it out.
As they rode or flew down the road, Nightwing explained the basics of what was going on.
"Two-face has been yelling his involvement out in bright neon, twos are all over the place in his recent crimes."
"So it's bait?"
"Yeah, he seems to be trying to lure Batman to him, the cases together are the clues we need to find the trap, the same trap Batman has been led to. He knows as well as we do it's a trap so he should be careful."
"With all the twos, I assume the destination is based on that?"
"Four, actually." Nightwing replied "Fourth avenue, fourth street, apollo square. And the Roman god Apollo was a twin."
"How does Two-face find all this stuff?" Joshua asked "There seems to be so much symbolism for twos in Gotham."
"He's obsessed." Nightwing shrugged off "Regardless, you do have a point. Lots of things come in twos in Gotham."
"Aren't a lot of the criminals here like that? Two-face, Riddler, that sort of thing?"
"You could only think of two examples?" Nightwing commented with a smile in his voice.
"Bite me, I just find it strange that the villains suit the hero. Batman is meant to be the world's greatest detective. That's his reputation at least."
"There's something in the water." Nightwing joked "We're coming up on our destination now."
He parked and the both of them headed to the roof where they found Batman waiting for them.
"I was wondering when you'd show." He said referring to Nightwing, but then he turned to Joshua "But why are you here with him?"
"I didn't know he was coming and thought you might need help." Joshua explained "Now that I was here though, I thought it would be wise to offer any help I could before leaving."
…Batman looked away.
"Okay."
"Not even impressed by how I put it together?" Nightwing wondered. Batman didn't look at him.
"I expected you to solve it, though not quite this quickly."
"I was taught by the best. So, what's up?"
"I think Two-face is waiting inside for us." Batman noted "I ne… I could use your help."
Nightwing smiled "Anytime."
The plan was simple. They couldn't allow Two-face any chance of an escape so while Batman would go in the front, Nightwing would go through the back and Joshua would stay outside to grab him if he somehow got past them.
Nightwing tried to find another way as Two-face would know they were coming but Batman took authority for the situation. If he wanted to help, he'd follow orders.
"He's really acting like a bull in a china shop." Nightwing sighed as Batman swung into the building "It never hurts to be careful. I noticed a coal chute in the back. I'll head in through there."
"Roger." Joshua noted with a smile "Good luck, good hunting."
Nightwing swung off and Joshua kept watch on the building.
It was silent where Joshua was standing. He would have sat down but the roof was still wet from the rain earlier. He wondered what Two-face had prepared as a trap. A double-headed axe maybe? Nah, that was too over the top.
As Joshua pondered, he heard a rumble. An explosion? Or just a loud crashing sound from something inside. Joshua summoned the will-wings he could now make and flapped down.
The sound had come from below ground, so the coal chute that Nightwing had noticed would be the best bet for the source.
However, upon finding the coal chute he found it sealed with a metal plate.
"Damn. If Two-face leaves while I'm busy here, Batman's going to be mad."
Joshua clapped and pushed an alchemic charge into the metal to break it down. The basement revealed was wrecked, Batman and Nightwing looked to have been caught in a bomb blast and the door upstairs had just closed.
Rushing down to the two of them, he quickly checked for injuries. Neither of them had anything too bad but Nightwing was out cold.
"Crow! Get back out there, Harvey is getting away." Batman whispered loudly.
Joshua shook his head and quickly applied some medical alkahestry to revive Nightwing. As he worked though, Batman reacted to something "Bomb!"
Joshua threw up a protective spell as the house around them erupted into flames and debris. He then took the time to finish treatment and free them both from the rubble.
"Now we have to hope Two-face didn't get away while you were distracted." Batman muttered ungratefully. Though Joshua could see the point in being annoyed if the man who did this got away.
They got out in time to see Two-face swinging a piece of metal at a young boy in a Robin costume.
Batman was the first to react, surging forward with a speed that seemed superhuman to punch two-face in the side of the head.
"Batman?" Two-faced gasped "How- you should have been caught or killed!"
"Your trap failed." Batman said simply "Don't you know? You can't kill Batman and Nightwing."
As two-face was cuffed and the police was called, The four heroes quickly headed to the roof of a nearby building to have an important conversation. Batman's butler had come too, both he and Nightwing were advocating for the new boy to be the next Robin but Batman wasn't hearing any of it.
"What are you trying to do?" He asked "One boy refuses to wear that costume because of what happened, another died wearing it. Why should I make that mistake a third time?"
"Batman has to have a Robin!" the new boy said only for batman to turn on him. The boy took a step back at the sight of Batman towering over him.
"Show me where that is written in stone." Batman said.
Joshua looked to the side "Show me where it is written there must be a Batman, and I'll show you the point written in under it."
Batman looked up with a start "What do you mean by that Joshua."
He started for a moment before he remembered he had told Batman just last year.
"Batman exists as an ideal." Joshua said "And as a warning to criminals. When an innocent man is considering turning to crime, one of the things he should consider is what it means to get on your bad side. However, if that is all you are then that fear will pervade the myth of the Batman and he'll lose the ability to inspire hope."
Joshua was mostly pulling this out his arse but he was saying it with feeling.
He was going to continue but the new boy actually took over.
"Robin is another part of the ideal. There has to be a Robin with a Batman. He softens you to normal people and reminds them that you're the person protecting people. Villains need to understand that there's nothing they can do. They need to know that Killing Robin doesn't work either. Earlier, Two-face assumed I was the previous Robin who had come out of hiding. He thought that because he believed that Robin can't die that easily. Do you want them to think they can get away with Murder?"
Oh this kid got it. Joshua liked him.
Robin, for that is what Joshua now thought of him, continued "Batman, if they can kill someone like Robin, who do you think they'll think they can kill next? I don't know why you wear the costume, but it makes you a symbol, just as Nightwing or Azure crow or any policeman wearing their uniform is a symbol. It's a symbol of justice that cannot be stopped by Murder."
Batman… seemed to be thinking about it.
"What I do is dangerous."
"I know." Robin said "That's why you need someone like me."
…
"We'll discuss this more later." Batman said "For now, thank you for your assistance Joshua."
"Any time Bruce." Joshua smiled and flew off. He felt things would be okay now. Though he would still keep an eye on it.
He landed on another rooftop and looked over the sky of Gotham once more. He kind of understood why the Batfamily liked it.
Speaking of the Batfamily, where was Batgirl in all of this? He thought she existed by this time.
No, he remembered now. He'd thought to look into it a few months ago. She was listed as retired, but not dead. Additionally the list of heroes in Gotham notably included one "Oracle."
The Killing Joke. Joshua hadn't noticed when it had happened but it seemed Batgirl had likely been cripled.
He thought back to what Cogita said. The idea of making a change that should be net-positive. Healing someone who was crippled. That was a good thing to do right?
But he couldn't see the knock-on effects. Could something horrible result of Oracle's help being limited with her taking a more action-heavy role again?
Was he going to [Not heal someone]?
Where did his morals stand on this?
Damn it. Just as when he helped the heroes "Because it was the right thing to do," he would heal one "Because it was the right thing to do."
And let the consequences damn him if they must. But only him. Joshua would do good to help others, not leave them worse off.
Now… How could he heal her without drawing attention? Hmm.
A plan was forming, a neat little deal. He'd need to talk to Booster Gold to make the disguise fit, he knew how these things were "Meant" to go. He was going to make it look like a stupid goodwill event, the sort of thing some heroes did because they loved the attention and goodwill it brought them. He'd also need to talk to Batman of course.
Wayne Medical sponsoring a hero to give free healing to those that required it could be quite a publicity event. It might make the Azure crow look like a glory hog to cynics but the disguise should work.
Barbra Gordan would walk again. He'd see if he could make that world happen.
I'm annoyed I didn't get to fit the Metropolis Mr Mxyzptlk event into this. This was already running quite long though. Anyway: originally this chapter wasn't going to discuss Barbra's healing specifically, just Joshua coming around on making an attempt to change something but a reader pointed out Killing Joke had happened and I thought this would be a good thing to draw on.
