SHe could literally evaporate it or collect it in a cyclone to send to space or swallow it, everything except for crystallizing and making it easier for people to get a hold of
Still Defiant! SI-OC [Marvel/DC]
- Thread starter Emma Cruzader
- Start date
- Crossover Action Superhero
42: Breaking the world 3
- Location
- Eart
42: Breaking the world 3
Why now? That question came to his mind as he stumbled into his apartment, inside could be seen the typical clutter of a young, single man who often left things to the last minute.
"Why can't disasters wait for the weekend when there's no work?" He muttered as he tossed his old briefcase aside while using his other hand to unbutton his shirt.
'I should have stuck with the idea of wearing it under my clothes,' he scolded himself as he took off his pants and, with a quick movement, sent them flying through the air along with his shoes and socks.
Once he was completely naked, his figure stood in front of a mannequin covered by a dark cloth, which he pulled aside to reveal what he had come for in such a hurry.
A suit.
A super hero suit.
Or at least it would be when it was complete. As it was now, it could barely be called a crude attempt at a super suit. Hell, the cosplays people wore at comic conventions probably had a better finish… mostly.
In his defense, this was the first super suit he had made, so it was okay if it was a bit ugly, right?
Shaking his head to clear away those silly thoughts, Barry Allen stepped forward and began to hurriedly put on the suit. In a blurry movement, his naked body disappeared and was replaced by a figure completely dressed in red from head to toe, with a yellow lightning bolt stitched onto the chest.
Almost unconsciously, he placed both hands on his hips and posed like one of those classic comic book superheroes.
"It's a bit tight…" He should have checked the measurements better.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes in concentration, a sound similar to the crackling of electricity coursed through his body until it reached his ears.
Was he really going to do this? He couldn't help but wonder as doubt crept into him.
Sure, he had been doing "heroic" things, as he called them in his mind, ever since he discovered he had gained superpowers a few weeks ago after being struck by lightning one day when he left work late from the forensics department in Central City while a thunderstorm hit the city.
But those were small things, baby steps that helped him figure out how his newly gained superpower worked.
What was hitting the East Coast right now went beyond all of that; it was a true world-ending cataclysm, or at least it seemed like that from afar.
Did he really have the ability to help?
"Just run, Barry…" His chaotic thoughts stopped. Like a ghost from the past, his father's voice reached his ears, sending a chill down his spine. His eyes snapped open as his growing determination dispelled all the doubts and hesitations that had been circling in his mind.
He knew what he had to do.
Yellow lightning flashed as he took his first step forward. Faster than anything alive on Earth, his body blurred into a fleeting streak that left only afterimages behind.
As the world slowed down around him, Barry clenched his fists, and a determined look formed on his face.
He was running, but this time it wasn't to escape. No, this time, every step he took had a different purpose.
This time, he would do things right.
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"This is Lois Lane, reporting live from the East Coast in New York. As you can see, the situation here is truly critical. In the last few minutes, a series of earthquakes followed by strong winds have violently shaken the region, triggering intense ocean agitation, causing floods not only in New York but also along other coastal cities, making-"
Jimmy Olsen was beginning to regret his career choice. The young cameraman gritted his teeth as the helicopter he was in shook violently again due to the strong winds that had been hitting the sky ever since the enormous cyclone of unknown origin began forming just a few minutes ago.
While most people were running to take shelter with their loved ones, here he was, along with his crazy co-worker and a helicopter driver with too many balls, flying over the coastal cities and reporting live on the entire situation for the Daily Planet's channel.
Even though they had been explicitly told not to…
Again, how the hell had he let himself be convinced to do this?
"As far as we know, Washington D.C. has been the most affected city in–" Lois' words were abruptly cut off when a powerful boom roared across the sky.
Jimmy almost felt his ears explode, and for a second, his vision went dark.
For a moment, he wondered if he had passed out. He didn't know how long he had been dazed, but a slap to his face brought him back to reality in an instant.
"Focus the camera, Jimmy! Look at that!" Lois shouted as she pointed to the distant sky. There, in the distance, the cyclone that had been growing in size suddenly seemed to split from its center , as if something were cutting through it at high speed, heading toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Although confused and disoriented, Jimmy was still a professional, and without hesitation, he pointed the camera in that direction as fast as he could, trying to use the zoom to focus and see what was happening.
"Is that a person?" The young cameraman blinked, confused, as what initially appeared to be a meteor moving at maximum speed through the sky suddenly decelerated unnaturally and abruptly, revealing a figure to the camera.
Upon hearing his muttering, Lois moved closer to his side with curiosity and pushed him aside a little so she could also see the scene.
There, floating casually among the winds and debris, a man who seemed to be wearing nothing but a tattered hospital gown was revealed.
"A super?" Lois murmured the term that had started to gain popularity in the media since Defiant appeared. Although the hero was the only publicly known one, there were still many rumors about "special" individuals around the world besides him, and people had begun to use the term "super" as a way to refer to all of them collectively.
Soon, both of them noticed how the man extended both arms, releasing a white electric light from his fists and roaring at the sky with clear rage, causing, in the next instant, an invisible shockwave to be unleashed from his body in all directions.
The helicopter shook violently when the shockwave reached them, and that wave extended for miles, even hitting the ground, making the entire East Coast begin to tremble once again.
"Oh shit!" Jimmy heard Lois exclaim as the helicopter started spinning, clearly out of control.
"Oh shit!" This time it was him who shouted as he tried to grab onto anything he could to avoid being thrown out.
They didn't pay him enough for this!
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Graviton roared, his powers causing all the debris in the sky to stir and the hurricane winds to increase their speed even more, making the city beneath his feet shake violently as if a tornado was beginning to strike it.
How was this possible? How did Defiant manage to get past his shields when he hadn't even come close before?
'Did he get stronger?'
'Or was he just playing with me?' At that thought, his teeth clenched.
Wiping the blood that trickled from the corner of his mouth, he looked gravely into the distance. He could feel the hero quickly approaching, cutting through the debris he had thrown in his path to give himself a chance to orient.
'I got too confident.' The blow he had just taken and the pain it caused brought Graviton a shred of common sense.
'But it doesn't matter if he got stronger or not, my power is still superior!' And with that, that shred of common sense almost vanished entirely.
Even so, what remained told him that he couldn't keep fighting without any defense besides his gravitational shields. Stretching out both hands, he pulled the sturdiest metal from the debris in the sky, making it orbit around him.
Then, using the gravitational power he now commanded, he began compressing and molding the metal according to his will, finally covering his body from head to toe with it, giving himself a far more dignified outfit than just a tattered hospital gown.
With satisfaction, he raised his hand, quickly extending a gravitational barrier that blocked a powerful impact.
"This time, there won't be a lucky hit," he said, looking at Defiant, who had appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye.
"Uh? Changed outfits? You know, this really won't help you with public relations, right? You really look like a full-blown supervillain now," Daniel said, noticing his new appearance.
Words that didn't seem to sit well with Graviton.
"Supervillain?" he heard him growl "Don't you get it, fool?! I am their salvation! I'm the only one who can lead them! Who can take humanity to its highest potential!" His hysterical shout echoed across the sky.
"Really? Because so far it looks like you want to destroy it completely," Daniel mocked as he pointed around him, toward all the destruction Graviton had caused in such a short time.
"Hmph! Every great change requires sacrifices, but that's not something someone like you can understand." Upon hearing him, Daniel shook his head. Why was he still talking to this lunatic?
He needed to end this before Graviton could cause any more damage.
His figure blurred, using more speed than he had shown before. His body moved, crossing the distance between them in an instant.
Despite being on high alert, Graviton barely managed to raise his shield in time to avoid Daniel's fist from hitting him in the face again.
"I told you, no more lucky hits!" the supervillain roared, unleashing his powers to pull thousands of pieces of debris toward them, creating a chaotic battlefield once again.
Daniel didn't even pay attention to the countless projectiles Graviton hurled at him to try to stop him. His body easily withstood all the impacts without flinching, and he attacked again. This time, his punch was faster, landing cleanly on his enemy's stomach and denting his newly acquired metallic outfit.
"Ughr!" Graviton spat saliva as all the air in his lungs was forcibly expelled.
Even so, he didn't give in. Where a blow of such magnitude would have crushed anyone else, he stood firm. His own fist glowed with white light as the space around him distorted.
Taking advantage of the short distance between them, Graviton struck Daniel directly in the face, causing his head to turn slightly to one side.
And as collateral damage, everything within a radius of hundreds of meters around them was displaced and crushed by the gravitational waves of the blow.
"Is that all?" Daniel couldn't help but mock. His head returned to its original position with only a thin red line of blood trickling from his lips.
Graviton opened his eyes in disbelief, but before he could react, Daniel's fist struck him in the face, causing his nose to crack and his body to fly backward once again.
'He's tougher than he looks,' Daniel couldn't help but think as he looked at his fist. Even without his gravitational shields, it seemed the power within his body increased his durability to some extent.
"Oh?" Daniel looked down when suddenly the sound of something resembling crackling electricity reached his ears.
Even with his superhuman sight, he could only catch a yellow streak racing through the streets beneath his feet.
"Flash?!" he couldn't help but let the name escape his lips in surprise.
He hadn't expected to see him now at all. Suddenly, some memories came back to him, making him realize he'd completely forgotten to stay alert to the thunderstorms over Central City.
He really wanted to go down and have a chat with him, but right now, his hands were full.
"I'll look for him later," he decided before something else caught his attention.
Cries for help—they had been echoing everywhere since it all began. At first, it was easy to ignore them because he knew Carol was there. Now that she had stayed behind, he could hardly resist the urge to run toward them, or at least he couldn't—until he noticed the speedster's arrival beneath his feet.
Flash didn't know it, but he'd greatly eased the burden on his shoulders.
Even so, there was still a small problem: not all the cries were coming from below.
Quickly, his eyes sharpened, searching through the cyclone of debris that covered the sky.
"A news helicopter?" It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for, and when he did, he couldn't help but put a hand to his face.
With a sigh, his body blurred, disappearing from his spot and going straight to rescue the very brave or very stupid reporters who had decided that flying through the sky in the middle of a cyclone the size of several cities was a good idea...
Yes, the more he thought about it, the more stupid they seemed.
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Lois Lane didn't tend to regret anything, but this time she had to admit that maybe things had gotten a little out of hand.
"I hate you!!" she heard Jimmy shout as he clung tightly to his seat in the helicopter while the strong winds of the cyclone tossed the aircraft around the sky.
Lois felt like her entire lifetime's worth of luck was running out in this moment. Not only was it a miracle that the helicopter hadn't been hit and destroyed by all the other debris in the air, but the fact that none of the three passengers had been thrown to their deaths was also incredible.
Though that wouldn't last much longer.
'Lois Lane, rookie reporter, dead for disobeying her boss's orders'—she was already imagining the headlines, though it probably wouldn't even make a footnote with everything else going on.
'Sorry, Jimmy,' she silently apologized to her colleague while closing her eyes, ready to accept her imminent and fatal fate.
And she waited. And waited. It wasn't until she realized that all the erratic movement had stopped that she opened her eyes in confusion.
Only to find herself staring into a pair of blue irises.
"Are you all okay?"
"Whta?" Her tongue twisted.
"Oh God, thank you!" Jimmy somehow managed to react better upon seeing Defiant holding the helicopter effortlessly while beginning to lower them to the ground, passing through the cyclone without any trouble.
When the sound of the ground clashing with the metal was heard, Lois clumsily crawled through the broken door of the helicopter, dusting off her clothes.
"Are we alive?" she couldn't help but ask in astonishment as she looked up at the sky and the massive cyclone they'd been trapped in just moments before.
As for Jimmy, he did something rather embarrassing by falling to his knees start kissing the ground.
"Never! I will never leave you again!"
Lois decided to look away to preserve what little respect she still had for him.
And in doing so, she saw Defiant pulling the helicopter pilot out, who seemed to have passed out at some point.
The hero looked quite battered. His classic full-body suit had tears in several places, and his long cape was almost in shreds. It seemed like even he had been having a rough time through all this.
Lois remembered the super they had seen before their helicopter lost control, and drawing logical conclusions, she realized that this was actually a battle between Defiant and that man.
Her journalistic instincts tingled.
Without being able to help it, she started walking toward him, dozens of questions on the tip of her tongue.
"Defiant, can you—"
"Are you stupid?"
The interruption nearly made Lois stumble.
"What?!"
The hero looked at her with clear disapproval in his gaze, and the young reporter didn't know why, but that suddenly irritated her.
"Forget it," Defiant shook his head. "Look, I don't have much time. There's a maniac I need to punch. I suggest you find shelter and stay away from danger, even if that's hard for you." His last words seemed to carry a hint of sarcasm, which suddenly made Lois's face flush with indignation.
She readied herself to say something, but the hero didn't seem to have any plans to continue chatting. And just like that, without giving her time to do anything else, Defiant began floating in the air before taking off at high speed.
"Hey! Wait, I—!" The reporter couldn't even finish her sentence as Defiant disappeared into the distance in an instant.
Jimmy, who had witnessed the whole thing, stopped kissing the ground and approached the catatonic Lois, who had one hand stretched toward the sky.
"Come on, we better do what he said. I don't think we have any luck left to burn after this." With that, the cameraman moved over to the still-unconscious pilot and began hoisting him over his shoulders.
"Did he call me stupid?" Lois muttered to herself, staring into the distance with clenched fists and a twitch in her eye.
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Over the Atlantic Ocean.
Graviton clutched his broken nose, feeling the blood flow between his fingers. His bloodshot eyes glared toward the East Coast with intense hatred.
Stretching out his hand, the enormous cyclone that had formed over the skies began to forcefully converge in his direction, bringing with it all the debris the winds had torn from the ground.
"You're a hero, right? Then let's see if you can save them from this!" he shouted at Defiant, who was already rapidly approaching. To delay him, Graviton sent a repelling wave toward him while simultaneously increasing the gravity on the hero's body once more.
These actions only slowed Defiant for a few seconds, but a few seconds were all Graviton needed.
With a sinister smile on his lips, he raised both hands, causing the cyclone to start compressing above his head. Then, he clenched his fists and, using monstrous gravitational power, made all the matter he had torn from the ground begin to compress, forming a colossal sphere that rose above the clouds.
Daniel watched this with a frown, and then his eyes widened in disbelief as he realized what Graviton was planning.
"Are you trying to destroy the entire East Coast?!" If something that massive fell from such a height, forget about destroying just one city—the disturbance it would create in the ocean could wipe out every city along the coast.
"This will be a demonstration! A message for the world to understand who their new master is! And that all resistance is futile!" Graviton exclaimed, a mocking smile appearing on his face.
"You can try to stop it, or you can step aside and watch millions die." This was clearly a provocation. Daniel could see that Graviton was attempting to force him to focus on stopping the attack, diverting his attention.
The worst part was that Daniel knew he couldn't ignore it. Graviton was right—he had to stop this, no matter the cost, or millions would die.
The sphere, now thousands of meters in the air, suddenly shuddered as its gravity increased thousands of times in an instant, causing it to plummet like a super-accelerated meteorite. Its surface ignited in flames due to the friction and weight.
Daniel gritted his teeth and, without hesitation, propelled himself toward the artificial meteor, ready to stop its fall at any cost.
Seeing this, Graviton laughed and, using his powers, guided the sphere toward the hero while simultaneously increasing its falling speed.
Like two opposing forces, hero and meteor collided in mid-air, creating an extremely powerful shockwave that rippled outward from the point of contact.
For a moment, there was a stalemate in movement, but then the meteor began advancing again, though now much slower than before.
'Oh, shit,' Daniel felt his arms crack. Gritting his teeth, he pushed even harder, using everything he had to slow the massive sphere's descent, even as his muscles burned and his bones creaked.
Despite all the strength he had gained, it seemed he was still far from invincible.
'I should've trained more,' he couldn't help but reprimand himself a little. While he had done some training, the truth was he hadn't put as much effort into it as he could have. There were, of course, plenty of reasons for that—besides the little time he'd had with everything going on—but still, it didn't fully excuse him.
For the first time in a long while, he felt sweat beginning to cover his entire body as his heart pounded from the colossal effort.
"But even if it's hard, I can still stop it!" And as if his thoughts manifested into reality, the meteor began to visibly slow down.
"Huh?" Graviton's laughter stopped as he noticed what was happening. Frowning, he stretched both hands toward Daniel, white light starting to glow all over his body.
"How stubborn! Don't you realize that resisting is useless?! Nothing can beat me!"
To his exclamation, a different voice responded.
"Clearly, you haven't met me yet!"
Suddenly, Graviton's vision was engulfed by a blue light.
"What?!"
Soaring through the sky, an enormous repulsor blast struck the supervillain head-on before he could react, sending his body flying uncontrollably through the air.
Daniel suddenly felt the immense weight he'd been carrying disappear. A smile bloomed on his face as he didn't hesitate and put all his strength in one of his legs and as if it were a ball he kicked the huge sphere making it shudder and fly straight into the space.
"Eh, I'd give it a 7 out of 10 I've seen better throws," at the voice Daniel snorted and turned to see Tony flying towards him in his armor.
"I'm glad to see you finally decided to join the fun."
"Hey, I never miss a party, though this one seems a bit too messy even for me," Tony said, eyeing Daniel from head to toe. It was surprising for him to see Daniel in his current state. Although Daniel's injuries had already healed, it was still obvious to anyone looking that he hadn't been having an easy time.
Before they could continue their little chat, Graviton's enraged roar interrupted them. Tony quickly looked up, analyzing their opponent.
"This guy's pumping out energy like a black hole!"
"And he hits like one. His powers are varied, but in short, he can manipulate the gravity of anything without even touching it, and he's tough enough to take my hits directly. He's tricky to deal with, but I think I have an idea to beat him..."
Daniel considered everything he had learned about Graviton so far.
His powers were incredibly destructive and lethal, but there was something about them that became obvious to him—they could be interrupted. He didn't know exactly why, but if he was taken by surprise, it seemed like his concentration wavered, and the effect of his powers on objects disappeared until he could get them back in his sights.
Although it wasn't a weakness that would guarantee them absolute victory, it was still something useful, and Daniel quickly communicated this to Tony.
"I see, then the strategy is simple. We just need to keep him from concentrating," Tony finished for him, easily grasping the general idea.
If it had been possible, Daniel would've preferred something more than just a "simple" strategy, but their enemy obviously wasn't going to wait around while they figured out how to defeat him.
Flying toward them at full speed, Graviton was approaching with what seemed to be dozens of massive rocks pulled from the ocean floor.
"Then let's get started!" With that said, Daniel and Tony rushed forward without hesitation.
Like comets soaring through the sky, the three of them rose above the clouds and soon collided, stirring the winds.
Tony dodged the massive rocks Graviton used as projectiles and fired his repulsor rays, which were bent and forcibly diverted by an invisible gravitational field.
"Fool! Even light bends before me!" Distorting space, Graviton caused the repulsor rays to curve back, sending them directly at Tony.
"Oh Fuck me!" Dodging his own attack, Tony boosted his thrusters, accelerating his body faster than before in an attempt to ram into Graviton. But it was futile, as an invisible gravitational barrier blocked his path, making his body bounce off as if he had collided with an impenetrable wall.
Then the villain stretched his hand toward Tony and began to squeeze. Tony's armor creaked, and alarms blared loudly inside his suit.
'This guy wants to crush me like a soda can!' Even his energy shields couldn't protect him from an attack like this, and if he were fighting alone, Tony would have been more worried.
But he wasn't fighting alone.
With Graviton's focus on the billionaire, Daniel seized the opportunity, closing the distance between him and Graviton in an instant. Before the villain could react, Daniel grabbed the arm that had been stretched toward Tony and, without hesitation, applied all the pressure he could.
Crack!!! The crunch echoed through the sky, followed shortly by a muffled scream.
Graviton stared in disbelief at his now broken arm. The pain overwhelmed him, leaving him disoriented for a moment—a moment neither hero wasted.
Feeling the crushing force on him vanish, Tony fired his thrusters at full power and closed the distance between him and Graviton. His metal-covered fist collided squarely with the stunned villain's face.
Daniel didn't stay idle either, and soon both of them began raining an uncountable number of blows on Graviton, making him bounce between them, unable to defend himself.
Blood splattered, and his compressed metal suit shattered in pieces. Graviton felt his teeth loosen, and even saw one fly out of his mouth.
"Enough!!" He tried to push them away, unleashing all the power in his body uncontrollably, causing a blinding white electric light to surround them.
Tony was sent flying into the ocean, sinking beneath its waters, while Daniel crossed his arms in front of him, trying to withstand the gravitational wave pushing him back.
He could feel his bones creaking and the taste of blood filling his mouth. Without thinking, he swallowed and used his core to regenerate, restoring his energy in an instant.
Slowly but surely, he began advancing despite Graviton continuously unleashing energy that repelled everything around him.
With every inch he gained, the force hammering his body increased, causing his insides to churn. The pain was so intense that he felt he might pass out at any moment, but he forced himself to keep moving. He saw Graviton's body starting to crack, with more and more gravitational energy pouring out in increasingly intense waves.
The entire planet began to tremble.
Daniel stretched out his hand, watching as the flesh at the tips of his fingers peeled away as he got closer to his objetive, He could even see the white of his bones for a moment, starting to splinter into tiny fragments.
Until his core activated and began to regenerate his wounds at great speed once again. The bone, flesh, and skin were replaced by new, stronger, and more resilient cells than before, allowing him to continue moving forward with increasing ease.
"This is impossible! Nothing can be this strong!" Graviton shouted, fear now clear in his voice for the first time since the battle had begun.
In his desperation, he regained control of his powers and stretched out the only arm that still worked, focusing all his effort in front of him to keep Daniel away.
For a moment, it seemed to work, until a blinding blue light struck him directly from the back.
"Don't forget about me!" Tony shouted in triumph as his surprise attack hit its mark with absolute success.
"Argh!" Feeling the impact of a repulsor ray powered by four arc reactors, Graviton shuddered and lost his focus, causing the gravitational waves that had been stopping Daniel's advance to disappear.
Noticing this, Daniel didn't hesitate and made his final move.
As the repulsor ray propelled Graviton towards him, Daniel charged at full speed, focusing all his strength into his right arm. He delivered a powerful and devastating blow, encountering almost no resistance as his fist penetrated Graviton's chest up to the elbow.
Graviton's eyes widened, completely bloodshot, as he looked down in disbelief at the arm now piercing his torso. For a brief but eternal moment, his world was engulfed in absolute silence.
This couldn't be real… His mind tried to deny it, and in a final effort, he tried to summon his powers, to cling to the force he had been accumulating inside him for ten years. But it was futile, as he only felt that the energy, which had once seemed infinite, was now draining away, leaking from his body like liquid seeping through the cracks of a broken bottle.
"I'm sorry, but you're too dangerous."
Hearing Defiant's whisper, Graviton looked up to meet a pair of cold, emotionless eyes.
'That look… it's not at all the look a hero should have.' As that last thought crossed his mind he couldn't stop a hollow, bitter laugh from escaping his lips.
Then the repulsor ray enveloped them both.
BOOM!
The powerful blue energy ray streaked across the sky, splitting the clouds hundreds of kilometers away.
A deafening explosion followed by intense shockwaves struck the Atlantic Ocean for a moment before everything fell back into calm.
Inside his armor, Tony saw his HUD flashing erratically due to the lack of energy; he had put almost everything he had into that final attack, leaving him nearly drained.
'That should have done something, right?' was a direct hit of course it should have done something.
Still, he couldn't help but have some doubts as he watched the massive cloud of black smoke created by the previous explosion.
But soon, his doubts were dispelled when a figure staggered out of the smoke.
Daniel had almost completely lost his suit; in fact, he would be almost naked if not for the few parts of his lower section that still helped him cover his modesty in some mysterious way.
But apart from that and the few dirt stains covering him, he didn't seem very injured.
Tony soon flew toward him.
"And the bad guy?" At his question, Daniel stretched out his hand and opened his fist, black ash scattering into the wind.
"Oh." Seeing this, Tony fell silent for a moment.
"Just to be clear, I don't have any weird fetish involving turning people into ashes." This was already the second one; if there were a third, Tony felt that his reputation might somehow be tarnished.
Daniel sighed, shaking his head with a smile on his face. Then he shook his hand vigorously to get rid of the last remnants of graviton before feeling the fatigue hit his body. Of course, he could eliminate it using the core, but his mind also felt exhausted. Now that the fight was over, he thought it didn't matter if he let his body feel somewhat tired as well.
Of course, he knew there was still a lot of work to do. After all, he needed to start damage control and see how much destruction this disaster had caused.
'Looks like I won't have free time anytime soon.'
"Just out of curiosity, have you considered starting to venture into the post-disaster reconstruction industry?"
At the question, Tony seemed thoughtful for a second.
"You know, now that you mention it, maybe this is a good time to start thinking about it."
First his company in Malibu, and now the entire East Coast—at this rate, Tony thought he'd end up having to rebuild all of the United States at some point.
Should he run for president when that happened?
Shaking his head, he dismissed those strange thoughts.
"Come on, New York isn't far. There's a shawarma restaurant with good reviews I've been wanting to visit for a while... I hope it's still in one piece."
"We can go eat later, we still need to go and hel—" Daniel didn't finish his words, frowning as he focused his hearing in the direction of New York.
Even though his hearing wasn't as sharp as Carol's, Daniel had trained it to recognize specific sounds with the help of his near-perfect memory.
Earlier, he hadn't been paying much attention to his hearing since he needed to focus on Graviton, but now that the problem was resolved, he focused again, allowing him to pick up a familiar voice in the distance.
A familiar voice that was screaming for help!
His eyes shot open as his figure vanished in a blur of speed toward Rikers Island.
Seeing him leave so abruptly, Tony blinked in confusion.
"Is that a yes or a no?!" he shouted into the air without receiving an answer.
"...You cross the whole country to save his ass, and what do you get in return? Abandoned in the middle of the ocean, that's what!" Tony grumbled under his breath as he started flying toward New York on his own.
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Note:
Almost six thousand words!
I must confess that writing this last part was quite challenging. I've never written such a long fight before, and many times I hesitated about how to continue, constantly debating with myself over what to add or leave out, worrying about things becoming too heavy or repetitive, and how to approach certain aspects.
In short, it was a total challenge! It didn't help that Franklin Hall's character, while strong in terms of power, lacks a lot in the sense of "personality." I always like to delve into characters, which I think everyone has noticed over these 40+ chapters. But with this particular character, I didn't want to go too deep—not completely. I wanted him to be more of a walking disaster with simple and straightforward motivations.
Ironically, that made him harder for me to write.
Anyway, just because this mini-arc is over doesn't mean everything is resolved. There's still a lot to see and topics to address—things that will be important and interesting to read.
See you in the next chapter, and please leave your comments and opinions! Criticism helps me know where I can improve.
At the same time, if you notice any mistakes, don't hesitate to point them out so I can correct them.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
Why now? That question came to his mind as he stumbled into his apartment, inside could be seen the typical clutter of a young, single man who often left things to the last minute.
"Why can't disasters wait for the weekend when there's no work?" He muttered as he tossed his old briefcase aside while using his other hand to unbutton his shirt.
'I should have stuck with the idea of wearing it under my clothes,' he scolded himself as he took off his pants and, with a quick movement, sent them flying through the air along with his shoes and socks.
Once he was completely naked, his figure stood in front of a mannequin covered by a dark cloth, which he pulled aside to reveal what he had come for in such a hurry.
A suit.
A super hero suit.
Or at least it would be when it was complete. As it was now, it could barely be called a crude attempt at a super suit. Hell, the cosplays people wore at comic conventions probably had a better finish… mostly.
In his defense, this was the first super suit he had made, so it was okay if it was a bit ugly, right?
Shaking his head to clear away those silly thoughts, Barry Allen stepped forward and began to hurriedly put on the suit. In a blurry movement, his naked body disappeared and was replaced by a figure completely dressed in red from head to toe, with a yellow lightning bolt stitched onto the chest.
Almost unconsciously, he placed both hands on his hips and posed like one of those classic comic book superheroes.
"It's a bit tight…" He should have checked the measurements better.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes in concentration, a sound similar to the crackling of electricity coursed through his body until it reached his ears.
Was he really going to do this? He couldn't help but wonder as doubt crept into him.
Sure, he had been doing "heroic" things, as he called them in his mind, ever since he discovered he had gained superpowers a few weeks ago after being struck by lightning one day when he left work late from the forensics department in Central City while a thunderstorm hit the city.
But those were small things, baby steps that helped him figure out how his newly gained superpower worked.
What was hitting the East Coast right now went beyond all of that; it was a true world-ending cataclysm, or at least it seemed like that from afar.
Did he really have the ability to help?
"Just run, Barry…" His chaotic thoughts stopped. Like a ghost from the past, his father's voice reached his ears, sending a chill down his spine. His eyes snapped open as his growing determination dispelled all the doubts and hesitations that had been circling in his mind.
He knew what he had to do.
Yellow lightning flashed as he took his first step forward. Faster than anything alive on Earth, his body blurred into a fleeting streak that left only afterimages behind.
As the world slowed down around him, Barry clenched his fists, and a determined look formed on his face.
He was running, but this time it wasn't to escape. No, this time, every step he took had a different purpose.
This time, he would do things right.
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"This is Lois Lane, reporting live from the East Coast in New York. As you can see, the situation here is truly critical. In the last few minutes, a series of earthquakes followed by strong winds have violently shaken the region, triggering intense ocean agitation, causing floods not only in New York but also along other coastal cities, making-"
Jimmy Olsen was beginning to regret his career choice. The young cameraman gritted his teeth as the helicopter he was in shook violently again due to the strong winds that had been hitting the sky ever since the enormous cyclone of unknown origin began forming just a few minutes ago.
While most people were running to take shelter with their loved ones, here he was, along with his crazy co-worker and a helicopter driver with too many balls, flying over the coastal cities and reporting live on the entire situation for the Daily Planet's channel.
Even though they had been explicitly told not to…
Again, how the hell had he let himself be convinced to do this?
"As far as we know, Washington D.C. has been the most affected city in–" Lois' words were abruptly cut off when a powerful boom roared across the sky.
Jimmy almost felt his ears explode, and for a second, his vision went dark.
For a moment, he wondered if he had passed out. He didn't know how long he had been dazed, but a slap to his face brought him back to reality in an instant.
"Focus the camera, Jimmy! Look at that!" Lois shouted as she pointed to the distant sky. There, in the distance, the cyclone that had been growing in size suddenly seemed to split from its center , as if something were cutting through it at high speed, heading toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Although confused and disoriented, Jimmy was still a professional, and without hesitation, he pointed the camera in that direction as fast as he could, trying to use the zoom to focus and see what was happening.
"Is that a person?" The young cameraman blinked, confused, as what initially appeared to be a meteor moving at maximum speed through the sky suddenly decelerated unnaturally and abruptly, revealing a figure to the camera.
Upon hearing his muttering, Lois moved closer to his side with curiosity and pushed him aside a little so she could also see the scene.
There, floating casually among the winds and debris, a man who seemed to be wearing nothing but a tattered hospital gown was revealed.
"A super?" Lois murmured the term that had started to gain popularity in the media since Defiant appeared. Although the hero was the only publicly known one, there were still many rumors about "special" individuals around the world besides him, and people had begun to use the term "super" as a way to refer to all of them collectively.
Soon, both of them noticed how the man extended both arms, releasing a white electric light from his fists and roaring at the sky with clear rage, causing, in the next instant, an invisible shockwave to be unleashed from his body in all directions.
The helicopter shook violently when the shockwave reached them, and that wave extended for miles, even hitting the ground, making the entire East Coast begin to tremble once again.
"Oh shit!" Jimmy heard Lois exclaim as the helicopter started spinning, clearly out of control.
"Oh shit!" This time it was him who shouted as he tried to grab onto anything he could to avoid being thrown out.
They didn't pay him enough for this!
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Graviton roared, his powers causing all the debris in the sky to stir and the hurricane winds to increase their speed even more, making the city beneath his feet shake violently as if a tornado was beginning to strike it.
How was this possible? How did Defiant manage to get past his shields when he hadn't even come close before?
'Did he get stronger?'
'Or was he just playing with me?' At that thought, his teeth clenched.
Wiping the blood that trickled from the corner of his mouth, he looked gravely into the distance. He could feel the hero quickly approaching, cutting through the debris he had thrown in his path to give himself a chance to orient.
'I got too confident.' The blow he had just taken and the pain it caused brought Graviton a shred of common sense.
'But it doesn't matter if he got stronger or not, my power is still superior!' And with that, that shred of common sense almost vanished entirely.
Even so, what remained told him that he couldn't keep fighting without any defense besides his gravitational shields. Stretching out both hands, he pulled the sturdiest metal from the debris in the sky, making it orbit around him.
Then, using the gravitational power he now commanded, he began compressing and molding the metal according to his will, finally covering his body from head to toe with it, giving himself a far more dignified outfit than just a tattered hospital gown.
With satisfaction, he raised his hand, quickly extending a gravitational barrier that blocked a powerful impact.
"This time, there won't be a lucky hit," he said, looking at Defiant, who had appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye.
"Uh? Changed outfits? You know, this really won't help you with public relations, right? You really look like a full-blown supervillain now," Daniel said, noticing his new appearance.
Words that didn't seem to sit well with Graviton.
"Supervillain?" he heard him growl "Don't you get it, fool?! I am their salvation! I'm the only one who can lead them! Who can take humanity to its highest potential!" His hysterical shout echoed across the sky.
"Really? Because so far it looks like you want to destroy it completely," Daniel mocked as he pointed around him, toward all the destruction Graviton had caused in such a short time.
"Hmph! Every great change requires sacrifices, but that's not something someone like you can understand." Upon hearing him, Daniel shook his head. Why was he still talking to this lunatic?
He needed to end this before Graviton could cause any more damage.
His figure blurred, using more speed than he had shown before. His body moved, crossing the distance between them in an instant.
Despite being on high alert, Graviton barely managed to raise his shield in time to avoid Daniel's fist from hitting him in the face again.
"I told you, no more lucky hits!" the supervillain roared, unleashing his powers to pull thousands of pieces of debris toward them, creating a chaotic battlefield once again.
Daniel didn't even pay attention to the countless projectiles Graviton hurled at him to try to stop him. His body easily withstood all the impacts without flinching, and he attacked again. This time, his punch was faster, landing cleanly on his enemy's stomach and denting his newly acquired metallic outfit.
"Ughr!" Graviton spat saliva as all the air in his lungs was forcibly expelled.
Even so, he didn't give in. Where a blow of such magnitude would have crushed anyone else, he stood firm. His own fist glowed with white light as the space around him distorted.
Taking advantage of the short distance between them, Graviton struck Daniel directly in the face, causing his head to turn slightly to one side.
And as collateral damage, everything within a radius of hundreds of meters around them was displaced and crushed by the gravitational waves of the blow.
"Is that all?" Daniel couldn't help but mock. His head returned to its original position with only a thin red line of blood trickling from his lips.
Graviton opened his eyes in disbelief, but before he could react, Daniel's fist struck him in the face, causing his nose to crack and his body to fly backward once again.
'He's tougher than he looks,' Daniel couldn't help but think as he looked at his fist. Even without his gravitational shields, it seemed the power within his body increased his durability to some extent.
"Oh?" Daniel looked down when suddenly the sound of something resembling crackling electricity reached his ears.
Even with his superhuman sight, he could only catch a yellow streak racing through the streets beneath his feet.
"Flash?!" he couldn't help but let the name escape his lips in surprise.
He hadn't expected to see him now at all. Suddenly, some memories came back to him, making him realize he'd completely forgotten to stay alert to the thunderstorms over Central City.
He really wanted to go down and have a chat with him, but right now, his hands were full.
"I'll look for him later," he decided before something else caught his attention.
Cries for help—they had been echoing everywhere since it all began. At first, it was easy to ignore them because he knew Carol was there. Now that she had stayed behind, he could hardly resist the urge to run toward them, or at least he couldn't—until he noticed the speedster's arrival beneath his feet.
Flash didn't know it, but he'd greatly eased the burden on his shoulders.
Even so, there was still a small problem: not all the cries were coming from below.
Quickly, his eyes sharpened, searching through the cyclone of debris that covered the sky.
"A news helicopter?" It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for, and when he did, he couldn't help but put a hand to his face.
With a sigh, his body blurred, disappearing from his spot and going straight to rescue the very brave or very stupid reporters who had decided that flying through the sky in the middle of a cyclone the size of several cities was a good idea...
Yes, the more he thought about it, the more stupid they seemed.
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Lois Lane didn't tend to regret anything, but this time she had to admit that maybe things had gotten a little out of hand.
"I hate you!!" she heard Jimmy shout as he clung tightly to his seat in the helicopter while the strong winds of the cyclone tossed the aircraft around the sky.
Lois felt like her entire lifetime's worth of luck was running out in this moment. Not only was it a miracle that the helicopter hadn't been hit and destroyed by all the other debris in the air, but the fact that none of the three passengers had been thrown to their deaths was also incredible.
Though that wouldn't last much longer.
'Lois Lane, rookie reporter, dead for disobeying her boss's orders'—she was already imagining the headlines, though it probably wouldn't even make a footnote with everything else going on.
'Sorry, Jimmy,' she silently apologized to her colleague while closing her eyes, ready to accept her imminent and fatal fate.
And she waited. And waited. It wasn't until she realized that all the erratic movement had stopped that she opened her eyes in confusion.
Only to find herself staring into a pair of blue irises.
"Are you all okay?"
"Whta?" Her tongue twisted.
"Oh God, thank you!" Jimmy somehow managed to react better upon seeing Defiant holding the helicopter effortlessly while beginning to lower them to the ground, passing through the cyclone without any trouble.
When the sound of the ground clashing with the metal was heard, Lois clumsily crawled through the broken door of the helicopter, dusting off her clothes.
"Are we alive?" she couldn't help but ask in astonishment as she looked up at the sky and the massive cyclone they'd been trapped in just moments before.
As for Jimmy, he did something rather embarrassing by falling to his knees start kissing the ground.
"Never! I will never leave you again!"
Lois decided to look away to preserve what little respect she still had for him.
And in doing so, she saw Defiant pulling the helicopter pilot out, who seemed to have passed out at some point.
The hero looked quite battered. His classic full-body suit had tears in several places, and his long cape was almost in shreds. It seemed like even he had been having a rough time through all this.
Lois remembered the super they had seen before their helicopter lost control, and drawing logical conclusions, she realized that this was actually a battle between Defiant and that man.
Her journalistic instincts tingled.
Without being able to help it, she started walking toward him, dozens of questions on the tip of her tongue.
"Defiant, can you—"
"Are you stupid?"
The interruption nearly made Lois stumble.
"What?!"
The hero looked at her with clear disapproval in his gaze, and the young reporter didn't know why, but that suddenly irritated her.
"Forget it," Defiant shook his head. "Look, I don't have much time. There's a maniac I need to punch. I suggest you find shelter and stay away from danger, even if that's hard for you." His last words seemed to carry a hint of sarcasm, which suddenly made Lois's face flush with indignation.
She readied herself to say something, but the hero didn't seem to have any plans to continue chatting. And just like that, without giving her time to do anything else, Defiant began floating in the air before taking off at high speed.
"Hey! Wait, I—!" The reporter couldn't even finish her sentence as Defiant disappeared into the distance in an instant.
Jimmy, who had witnessed the whole thing, stopped kissing the ground and approached the catatonic Lois, who had one hand stretched toward the sky.
"Come on, we better do what he said. I don't think we have any luck left to burn after this." With that, the cameraman moved over to the still-unconscious pilot and began hoisting him over his shoulders.
"Did he call me stupid?" Lois muttered to herself, staring into the distance with clenched fists and a twitch in her eye.
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Over the Atlantic Ocean.
Graviton clutched his broken nose, feeling the blood flow between his fingers. His bloodshot eyes glared toward the East Coast with intense hatred.
Stretching out his hand, the enormous cyclone that had formed over the skies began to forcefully converge in his direction, bringing with it all the debris the winds had torn from the ground.
"You're a hero, right? Then let's see if you can save them from this!" he shouted at Defiant, who was already rapidly approaching. To delay him, Graviton sent a repelling wave toward him while simultaneously increasing the gravity on the hero's body once more.
These actions only slowed Defiant for a few seconds, but a few seconds were all Graviton needed.
With a sinister smile on his lips, he raised both hands, causing the cyclone to start compressing above his head. Then, he clenched his fists and, using monstrous gravitational power, made all the matter he had torn from the ground begin to compress, forming a colossal sphere that rose above the clouds.
Daniel watched this with a frown, and then his eyes widened in disbelief as he realized what Graviton was planning.
"Are you trying to destroy the entire East Coast?!" If something that massive fell from such a height, forget about destroying just one city—the disturbance it would create in the ocean could wipe out every city along the coast.
"This will be a demonstration! A message for the world to understand who their new master is! And that all resistance is futile!" Graviton exclaimed, a mocking smile appearing on his face.
"You can try to stop it, or you can step aside and watch millions die." This was clearly a provocation. Daniel could see that Graviton was attempting to force him to focus on stopping the attack, diverting his attention.
The worst part was that Daniel knew he couldn't ignore it. Graviton was right—he had to stop this, no matter the cost, or millions would die.
The sphere, now thousands of meters in the air, suddenly shuddered as its gravity increased thousands of times in an instant, causing it to plummet like a super-accelerated meteorite. Its surface ignited in flames due to the friction and weight.
Daniel gritted his teeth and, without hesitation, propelled himself toward the artificial meteor, ready to stop its fall at any cost.
Seeing this, Graviton laughed and, using his powers, guided the sphere toward the hero while simultaneously increasing its falling speed.
Like two opposing forces, hero and meteor collided in mid-air, creating an extremely powerful shockwave that rippled outward from the point of contact.
For a moment, there was a stalemate in movement, but then the meteor began advancing again, though now much slower than before.
'Oh, shit,' Daniel felt his arms crack. Gritting his teeth, he pushed even harder, using everything he had to slow the massive sphere's descent, even as his muscles burned and his bones creaked.
Despite all the strength he had gained, it seemed he was still far from invincible.
'I should've trained more,' he couldn't help but reprimand himself a little. While he had done some training, the truth was he hadn't put as much effort into it as he could have. There were, of course, plenty of reasons for that—besides the little time he'd had with everything going on—but still, it didn't fully excuse him.
For the first time in a long while, he felt sweat beginning to cover his entire body as his heart pounded from the colossal effort.
"But even if it's hard, I can still stop it!" And as if his thoughts manifested into reality, the meteor began to visibly slow down.
"Huh?" Graviton's laughter stopped as he noticed what was happening. Frowning, he stretched both hands toward Daniel, white light starting to glow all over his body.
"How stubborn! Don't you realize that resisting is useless?! Nothing can beat me!"
To his exclamation, a different voice responded.
"Clearly, you haven't met me yet!"
Suddenly, Graviton's vision was engulfed by a blue light.
"What?!"
Soaring through the sky, an enormous repulsor blast struck the supervillain head-on before he could react, sending his body flying uncontrollably through the air.
Daniel suddenly felt the immense weight he'd been carrying disappear. A smile bloomed on his face as he didn't hesitate and put all his strength in one of his legs and as if it were a ball he kicked the huge sphere making it shudder and fly straight into the space.
"Eh, I'd give it a 7 out of 10 I've seen better throws," at the voice Daniel snorted and turned to see Tony flying towards him in his armor.
"I'm glad to see you finally decided to join the fun."
"Hey, I never miss a party, though this one seems a bit too messy even for me," Tony said, eyeing Daniel from head to toe. It was surprising for him to see Daniel in his current state. Although Daniel's injuries had already healed, it was still obvious to anyone looking that he hadn't been having an easy time.
Before they could continue their little chat, Graviton's enraged roar interrupted them. Tony quickly looked up, analyzing their opponent.
"This guy's pumping out energy like a black hole!"
"And he hits like one. His powers are varied, but in short, he can manipulate the gravity of anything without even touching it, and he's tough enough to take my hits directly. He's tricky to deal with, but I think I have an idea to beat him..."
Daniel considered everything he had learned about Graviton so far.
His powers were incredibly destructive and lethal, but there was something about them that became obvious to him—they could be interrupted. He didn't know exactly why, but if he was taken by surprise, it seemed like his concentration wavered, and the effect of his powers on objects disappeared until he could get them back in his sights.
Although it wasn't a weakness that would guarantee them absolute victory, it was still something useful, and Daniel quickly communicated this to Tony.
"I see, then the strategy is simple. We just need to keep him from concentrating," Tony finished for him, easily grasping the general idea.
If it had been possible, Daniel would've preferred something more than just a "simple" strategy, but their enemy obviously wasn't going to wait around while they figured out how to defeat him.
Flying toward them at full speed, Graviton was approaching with what seemed to be dozens of massive rocks pulled from the ocean floor.
"Then let's get started!" With that said, Daniel and Tony rushed forward without hesitation.
Like comets soaring through the sky, the three of them rose above the clouds and soon collided, stirring the winds.
Tony dodged the massive rocks Graviton used as projectiles and fired his repulsor rays, which were bent and forcibly diverted by an invisible gravitational field.
"Fool! Even light bends before me!" Distorting space, Graviton caused the repulsor rays to curve back, sending them directly at Tony.
"Oh Fuck me!" Dodging his own attack, Tony boosted his thrusters, accelerating his body faster than before in an attempt to ram into Graviton. But it was futile, as an invisible gravitational barrier blocked his path, making his body bounce off as if he had collided with an impenetrable wall.
Then the villain stretched his hand toward Tony and began to squeeze. Tony's armor creaked, and alarms blared loudly inside his suit.
'This guy wants to crush me like a soda can!' Even his energy shields couldn't protect him from an attack like this, and if he were fighting alone, Tony would have been more worried.
But he wasn't fighting alone.
With Graviton's focus on the billionaire, Daniel seized the opportunity, closing the distance between him and Graviton in an instant. Before the villain could react, Daniel grabbed the arm that had been stretched toward Tony and, without hesitation, applied all the pressure he could.
Crack!!! The crunch echoed through the sky, followed shortly by a muffled scream.
Graviton stared in disbelief at his now broken arm. The pain overwhelmed him, leaving him disoriented for a moment—a moment neither hero wasted.
Feeling the crushing force on him vanish, Tony fired his thrusters at full power and closed the distance between him and Graviton. His metal-covered fist collided squarely with the stunned villain's face.
Daniel didn't stay idle either, and soon both of them began raining an uncountable number of blows on Graviton, making him bounce between them, unable to defend himself.
Blood splattered, and his compressed metal suit shattered in pieces. Graviton felt his teeth loosen, and even saw one fly out of his mouth.
"Enough!!" He tried to push them away, unleashing all the power in his body uncontrollably, causing a blinding white electric light to surround them.
Tony was sent flying into the ocean, sinking beneath its waters, while Daniel crossed his arms in front of him, trying to withstand the gravitational wave pushing him back.
He could feel his bones creaking and the taste of blood filling his mouth. Without thinking, he swallowed and used his core to regenerate, restoring his energy in an instant.
Slowly but surely, he began advancing despite Graviton continuously unleashing energy that repelled everything around him.
With every inch he gained, the force hammering his body increased, causing his insides to churn. The pain was so intense that he felt he might pass out at any moment, but he forced himself to keep moving. He saw Graviton's body starting to crack, with more and more gravitational energy pouring out in increasingly intense waves.
The entire planet began to tremble.
Daniel stretched out his hand, watching as the flesh at the tips of his fingers peeled away as he got closer to his objetive, He could even see the white of his bones for a moment, starting to splinter into tiny fragments.
Until his core activated and began to regenerate his wounds at great speed once again. The bone, flesh, and skin were replaced by new, stronger, and more resilient cells than before, allowing him to continue moving forward with increasing ease.
"This is impossible! Nothing can be this strong!" Graviton shouted, fear now clear in his voice for the first time since the battle had begun.
In his desperation, he regained control of his powers and stretched out the only arm that still worked, focusing all his effort in front of him to keep Daniel away.
For a moment, it seemed to work, until a blinding blue light struck him directly from the back.
"Don't forget about me!" Tony shouted in triumph as his surprise attack hit its mark with absolute success.
"Argh!" Feeling the impact of a repulsor ray powered by four arc reactors, Graviton shuddered and lost his focus, causing the gravitational waves that had been stopping Daniel's advance to disappear.
Noticing this, Daniel didn't hesitate and made his final move.
As the repulsor ray propelled Graviton towards him, Daniel charged at full speed, focusing all his strength into his right arm. He delivered a powerful and devastating blow, encountering almost no resistance as his fist penetrated Graviton's chest up to the elbow.
Graviton's eyes widened, completely bloodshot, as he looked down in disbelief at the arm now piercing his torso. For a brief but eternal moment, his world was engulfed in absolute silence.
This couldn't be real… His mind tried to deny it, and in a final effort, he tried to summon his powers, to cling to the force he had been accumulating inside him for ten years. But it was futile, as he only felt that the energy, which had once seemed infinite, was now draining away, leaking from his body like liquid seeping through the cracks of a broken bottle.
"I'm sorry, but you're too dangerous."
Hearing Defiant's whisper, Graviton looked up to meet a pair of cold, emotionless eyes.
'That look… it's not at all the look a hero should have.' As that last thought crossed his mind he couldn't stop a hollow, bitter laugh from escaping his lips.
Then the repulsor ray enveloped them both.
BOOM!
The powerful blue energy ray streaked across the sky, splitting the clouds hundreds of kilometers away.
A deafening explosion followed by intense shockwaves struck the Atlantic Ocean for a moment before everything fell back into calm.
Inside his armor, Tony saw his HUD flashing erratically due to the lack of energy; he had put almost everything he had into that final attack, leaving him nearly drained.
'That should have done something, right?' was a direct hit of course it should have done something.
Still, he couldn't help but have some doubts as he watched the massive cloud of black smoke created by the previous explosion.
But soon, his doubts were dispelled when a figure staggered out of the smoke.
Daniel had almost completely lost his suit; in fact, he would be almost naked if not for the few parts of his lower section that still helped him cover his modesty in some mysterious way.
But apart from that and the few dirt stains covering him, he didn't seem very injured.
Tony soon flew toward him.
"And the bad guy?" At his question, Daniel stretched out his hand and opened his fist, black ash scattering into the wind.
"Oh." Seeing this, Tony fell silent for a moment.
"Just to be clear, I don't have any weird fetish involving turning people into ashes." This was already the second one; if there were a third, Tony felt that his reputation might somehow be tarnished.
Daniel sighed, shaking his head with a smile on his face. Then he shook his hand vigorously to get rid of the last remnants of graviton before feeling the fatigue hit his body. Of course, he could eliminate it using the core, but his mind also felt exhausted. Now that the fight was over, he thought it didn't matter if he let his body feel somewhat tired as well.
Of course, he knew there was still a lot of work to do. After all, he needed to start damage control and see how much destruction this disaster had caused.
'Looks like I won't have free time anytime soon.'
"Just out of curiosity, have you considered starting to venture into the post-disaster reconstruction industry?"
At the question, Tony seemed thoughtful for a second.
"You know, now that you mention it, maybe this is a good time to start thinking about it."
First his company in Malibu, and now the entire East Coast—at this rate, Tony thought he'd end up having to rebuild all of the United States at some point.
Should he run for president when that happened?
Shaking his head, he dismissed those strange thoughts.
"Come on, New York isn't far. There's a shawarma restaurant with good reviews I've been wanting to visit for a while... I hope it's still in one piece."
"We can go eat later, we still need to go and hel—" Daniel didn't finish his words, frowning as he focused his hearing in the direction of New York.
Even though his hearing wasn't as sharp as Carol's, Daniel had trained it to recognize specific sounds with the help of his near-perfect memory.
Earlier, he hadn't been paying much attention to his hearing since he needed to focus on Graviton, but now that the problem was resolved, he focused again, allowing him to pick up a familiar voice in the distance.
A familiar voice that was screaming for help!
His eyes shot open as his figure vanished in a blur of speed toward Rikers Island.
Seeing him leave so abruptly, Tony blinked in confusion.
"Is that a yes or a no?!" he shouted into the air without receiving an answer.
"...You cross the whole country to save his ass, and what do you get in return? Abandoned in the middle of the ocean, that's what!" Tony grumbled under his breath as he started flying toward New York on his own.
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Note:
Almost six thousand words!
I must confess that writing this last part was quite challenging. I've never written such a long fight before, and many times I hesitated about how to continue, constantly debating with myself over what to add or leave out, worrying about things becoming too heavy or repetitive, and how to approach certain aspects.
In short, it was a total challenge! It didn't help that Franklin Hall's character, while strong in terms of power, lacks a lot in the sense of "personality." I always like to delve into characters, which I think everyone has noticed over these 40+ chapters. But with this particular character, I didn't want to go too deep—not completely. I wanted him to be more of a walking disaster with simple and straightforward motivations.
Ironically, that made him harder for me to write.
Anyway, just because this mini-arc is over doesn't mean everything is resolved. There's still a lot to see and topics to address—things that will be important and interesting to read.
See you in the next chapter, and please leave your comments and opinions! Criticism helps me know where I can improve.
At the same time, if you notice any mistakes, don't hesitate to point them out so I can correct them.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
Great way to not only introduce the flash but also power up Defiant for threats that are coming in the future. I am going to guess that eventually someone is going to break his nexus since right now he is essentially immortal as long as his will is strong. Also going to guess that the "Superboys" are already cooking. Lastly I really enjoy the story, but the only thing I could constructively criticize would be a better starting story for why Defiant decided to take the mantle. While that is basically set in stone unless you do a rewrite (Please don't do a rewrite they tend to kill stories). If you gave him wavering moments it would better indirectly explain why he fully resolves and dedicates himself as a shield to humanity
Eh, I feel like the nexus works given the escalation we're working with in terms of threats.
Possibly when the team is fully established you could go there, but I feel like then you need somebody who is immune to mind control. Although I guess Harleen can work for that if she joins?
The other issue is that the nexus protects his memories so not sure how it'll work if it goes away. To be honest I tend to loathe amnesia arcs as a reader, they always feel wrong by being either pointlessly problematic or long exercises in drama.
Possibly when the team is fully established you could go there, but I feel like then you need somebody who is immune to mind control. Although I guess Harleen can work for that if she joins?
The other issue is that the nexus protects his memories so not sure how it'll work if it goes away. To be honest I tend to loathe amnesia arcs as a reader, they always feel wrong by being either pointlessly problematic or long exercises in drama.
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43: A bad joke.
- Location
- Eart
43: A bad joke.
"- by that, I mean that I believe he's a demigod!"
Harleen blinked, stopped staring at the plate of food she had been merely picking at, and instead raised her head to look at a dark-skinned woman with brown hair, wearing an all-white uniform—a nurse's uniform.
Isabella beside her also glanced at the third member of their group with a raised eyebrow.
"A demigod? I don't know, Grace. I thought the widely accepted theory was that Defiant was a secret government experiment." At that, the nurse named Grace rolled her eyes.
"That's nonsense, and you know it. Defiant is clearly something more than human, he's supernatural. Just think about it—from the beginnings of human history, in the oldest tales, there have always been stories of divine beings capable of equally divine feats. It was thought that they were myths and legends, but with his arrival, I believe more firmly than ever that it's all real!" She proclaimed it as if she had discovered a huge secret.
"He seems pretty human to me, you know?" Harleen couldn't help but speak, catching the attention of both women.
"Seriously? Have you seen those muscles? I'm telling you, girl, I've been going to the gym since I was fifteen, and I've never seen such a sculpted body on any other man. It almost makes you want to—"
Harleen coughed, interrupting her friend.
"Demigod or not, I don't think he'd like you talking about him that way."
"Oh, come on. If he didn't want to show off, he'd wear a less tight suit. In my opinion, it's clear he wants to flaunt what he's got, and I don't think I'm the only one who appreciates the free show." When Grace finished saying that, she nudged Isabella, and to Harleen's utter disbelief, the older woman blushed slightly.
"You two..." Harleen wanted to bury her face in her plate. Seeing the slight indignation in her expression, the nurse mocked her.
"Don't look at us like that. Don't think I haven't noticed how you look at his pictures in the newspaper," she said while pointing to the carefully folded newspaper Harleen had set aside after only reading the first few pages.
"W-what? I don't—!" Harleen immediately tried to defend herself, but Isabella placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.
"You don't have to be embarrassed about that with us. We're among friends, after all." The little laugh at the end of those words only made Harleen even more embarrassed.
She finally huffed, staring at her cup of coffee, wishing the conversation would quickly change topics.
'Oh?' She blinked as she noticed how the dark liquid in the cup began to ripple suddenly.
And it seemed that wasn't the only thing—suddenly, the table began to vibrate. No, not just the table; the floor beneath her feet started to shake as well.
"An earthquake?" Isabella asked, puzzled. One had to know that earthquakes were quite rare in the area where they were.
Suddenly, an alarm blared loudly, prompting all three of them to stand up.
"That's an evacuation alert! We need to head to—" The words were cut off by a loud crash, followed by strong winds. Harleen held on as best as she could, pressing against a wall, and cautiously made her way toward a nearby window to try and see what was happening outside.
And when she did, her expression couldn't help but turn into one of shock.
"Oh, shit." There, in the direction of New York, she could see an enormous cyclone, far beyond the city, approaching at an unnaturally fast pace.
"Come on, we have to hurry," she felt Isabella grab her by the shoulder, and Harleen nodded, ready to follow. But before she turned around, she noticed something that made her eyes widen.
"Watch out!" In one swift and agile movement, her body twisted as she threw herself over her two coworkers, causing all three of them to fall to the floor abruptly. Then, the wall exploded, and everything went dark for a moment.
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"Har-!"
"Harle-!"
"Harleen!" With the sound of a voice almost shouting in her ears, Harleen came to, only to feel a sharp pain strike the side of her head.
"Ahg!"
"Easy, can you hear me?" Isabella's voice reached her ears, and clumsily, she nodded while trying to sit up.
Shaking her head, she cleared her vision, finding the worried faces of her friends—friends who seemed more disheveled than she remembered.
"W-what happened?" she asked, noticing the debris scattered on the floor along with drops of red liquid.
"We need to get to the infirmary!" Harleen barely registered Grace's words. She looked back, only to see where there used to be a wall, now there was a massive hole, and within it, half of what seemed to be a truck, torn to pieces.
Wow, were cars raining down now?
"Let's go!" Isabella supported her, helping her to her feet, but in the next instant, they almost fell as a more intense tremor than the previous one shook the place.
The alarms blared even louder, causing Harleen to grimace at the shrill sound, why did the noise bother her so much?
With no time to think too much about it, Harleen focused on running alongside Isabella and Grace, trying to find a safer place—something difficult when debris seemed to be raining down everywhere for some reason.
It didn't help that the strong winds suddenly started ripping things from their places. As they passed one of the windows in the hallway, Harleen noticed how one of the guards outside the building was suddenly swept up into the sky, leaving behind only a quickly fading, muffled scream.
Clearly, that was a strong sign that they shouldn't go outside at all.
As if things couldn't get any worse, a different alarm from the others started blaring, causing the three of them to stop in the middle of their escape, their faces starting to pale.
"T-that's...!"
"Oh no..."
Harleen felt her heart skip a beat. Taking a deep breath, she processed the sound reaching her ears, with fear beginning to creep in. That alarm only meant one thing.
"Breach, there's a breach!" The voice that shouted it wasn't hers; instead, it was a distant scream that reached where they were. Not long after, joining the chaos, the sound of gunfire began to echo.
"What do we do?!" Grace seemed on the verge of panicking, and Harleen, now a bit less disoriented than before, placed a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down.
"Don't panic. The facility we're in and the area where the prisoners are kept are pretty far apart. I-if there's been a breach, we just need to stay away from the chaos until the guards get things under control."
Of course, things might not be resolved as quickly as one would hope, given whatever was happening outside.
"What about the other prisoners? The ones in the special waiting rooms for treatment?" Isabella suddenly asked, making both Harleen and Grace look at her.
"They… they shouldn't be able to get out, right?" Grace asked, now more scared than before.
After all, the prisoners in the special waiting rooms were those about to receive their daily sessions, whether from the facility's psychologists or psychiatrists.
Which was, of course, concerning, but...
"They're special cells. It should be much harder for them to break out, and even if they do, we can't stay here. We need to keep running," Harleen finally said, to which Isabella nodded.
"Harleen's right. I think our best option is to head to the infirmary, treat your wound, and lock ourselves in there until things calm down or we can evacuate." They didn't really have a better plan of action. The infirmary was a secure place and far enough from the paths fleeing prisoners would likely take.
'Wound?' Harleen blinked, then patted the side of her head where she had previously felt pain, causing a grimace to form on her face. When she brought the palm with which she had touched her newly discovered wound in front of her face, it was only to see it completely covered in red.
That was a lot of blood.
"Y-you're right. Let's go, I know the quickest way there." Grace began guiding them, something that normally would have been easy and quick, but in these circumstances, it became complicated as the unknown disaster continued to rock the facility.
The constant earthquakes only grew worse, as did the winds, making it much harder to walk than it should have been. Still, they didn't stop, as the sound of gunfire became increasingly louder, accompanied by more and more screams.
Soon, their destination was in sight.
"Come on! There should be more people here by now!" Grace seemed more hopeful upon seeing the entrance to the infirmary and, without hesitation, rushed toward it, unlocking the door with her access key as quickly as she could, a relieved smile on her face.
Bang!
Harleen blinked in confusion as she felt a drop of crimson liquid splash against her face. Numbly, she watched as Grace's body fell to the floor with a dull thud. There, in her head, a hole had forcibly opened, spilling pieces of its insides, spreading like a red mist in her direction.
"Oh God, N-"
Bang!
There was a second thunderous sound that made her ears ring.
Harleen almost stumbled when the body that had been supporting her all this time went limp, slipping and falling beside her like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Wow, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon!"
The voice, tinged with amusement, made Harleen, who had been staring at Isabella's lifeless body, lift her head. Her gaze focused on the door of the infirmary, where a figure made her way in, a weapon in hand and a wide smile on her face.
A smile that became even more inhumanly large when their eyes met directly.
"This must be fate, don't you think?" Harleen didn't respond, she couldn't—her body seemed like a statue, unable to move due to the deep terror that was starting to fill her, rooting her in place.
"Oh, come on, don't make that face, you'll ruin your beautiful expression. How about you give me a smile instead?" the green-haired woman said, placing her hands on the corners of her mouth.
"I-I…" Harleen felt her body start to tremble as countless questions began rushing through her mind. How was she here? Why was she here?
"You know, I had planned to meet you later, but having you here makes it even better! Come, I want to show you something you'll love." The woman easily closed the distance between them, stepping over Grace's body without a second glance. When she reached Harleen's side, she put her arm around her shoulders and began dragging her into the infirmary.
With her mind still blank, Harleen didn't even try to resist, letting herself be awkwardly led.
As they passed through the door, Harleen absentmindedly noticed more than a dozen bodies scattered all around the place. Some she recognized, others she didn't, a chill running down her spine as she saw the still vivid expressions of horror on their lifeless faces.
"Sorry about the mess, there were a few nuisances I had to take care of so I could work in peace," the woman said as she led her deeper into the room, specifically to where all the medications and various chemicals were stored for the different treatments that some of the inmates required during their stay in the prison.
"It was a little hard working on this, you know? I was missing a few ingredients, but I managed with what I found. It's not as good as what I used to use in my better years in Gotham, but it'll get the job done," the woman pointed to a somewhat deep metal container where a greenish liquid bubbled, as if boiling, despite there being no flame or stove to provide heat.
"Do you remember what we talked about before, my dear Quinn? I've always believed it's my duty to make the world laugh with me. This is just one of the many ways I'll achieve that. I call it my Joker Venom. Soon, I'll spread it in gas form through all the ventilation ducts of Rikers. With all the commotion and screaming out there, I thought this would be a great gift for everyone to stop fighting and have fun together! Hahaha!"
Harleen swallowed upon hearing the name despite having a dry mouth. She had read the files, she knew that in the past, Martha had used a chemical weapon to kill and terrorize countless people in Gotham, a substance that had no cure and with the slightest contact could be fatal.
A substance she was now staring at, mere steps away from being able to touch it…
And Martha planned to spread it through Rikers' ventilation system? That would kill everyone on the island! Harleen bit her lip at the thought.
She needed to stop this, but… how could she when she couldn't even move from fear?
"Daniel…" she couldn't help but whisper, her eyes beginning to well up.
The laughter that had been filling the room stopped. A cold, pale hand grabbed her face, forcing her to turn her head to face the green-haired woman who was holding her hostage.
"Hey, don't get distracted, we're having a moment. Thinking about someone else right now is rude," she said in a tone resembling that of a mother scolding her child for doing something wrong.
Then she forcibly turned Harleen's face once again toward the container with the green liquid.
"I know you're an idealist, that you believe the world can be better, but you're wrong. The world is never going to improve, but as the naïve person you also are, I know you won't be able to see it unless someone else does something to show you. Lucky for you, dear, as the good Samaritan I am, I'm willing to be that person you've needed so much, to be that little push that will open your eyes and show you the true face of this world. Hahahahaha! Come on, let's see how a real smile looks, decorating your beautiful face!"
The uncontrolled laughter stopped when Martha's tone turned sinister at the end of her words. Harleen knew something bad was about to happen as a sense of imminent danger began to assault all her senses, like alarm bells ringing loudly inside her head, trying to warn her, telling her she needed to run, to do something!
But she couldn't. Faster than her body could start to move, a hand grabbed the back of her head and forcefully shoved her face-first into the bubbling green liquid.
Splash!!!
It was like bathing in acid.
"AAAARGH!" Her agonizing scream filled the room as she writhed on the floor, feeling the liquid burning her skin, penetrating even through her clothes.
"Come on, it'll pass soon, don't resist too much! You'll see the fun is about to begin! Hahaha!" Harleen barely managed to open her eye to see her former patient holding another metal container above her head, before dumping its contents onto her once again.
"AAHHRG-AAaaHa-HaHaHa!" She couldn't stop. She wanted to stop laughing and just scream. She wanted to express the pain that was coursing through her entire body, but instead, only more and more uncontrollable laughter poured from her mouth.
"Do you see it now? Isn't it fun?! Can you feel it?! That feeling, that endless fun! How about we let everyone else have some fun too?"
As Harleen laughed uncontrollably, writhing on the floor, Martha began preparing a new mixture to create more of her Joker Venom. The whole place trembled now and then from the unnatural disaster that was drawing closer and closer to the Atlantic Ocean.
'I can't stop!' Harleen felt tears streaming from her eyes, which also burned. Her hands reached up to her neck, her long nails scratching at her throat until they reached her face, where her facial muscles had completely lost all control.
Control, control, she needed to get control!
Her eyes shot open, and her hand hurriedly searched inside her coat. Her mind had been spinning since everything began, and the abrupt and sudden deaths of her friends had only worsened it, causing her to momentarily forget that she still had something she could use—something that could save her.
Grabbing the small vial with the purple liquid inside, she didn't hesitate and smashed it against the floor with all the strength she could muster. The glass exploded in her hand, causing several shards to embed themselves, while the liquid soaked into her palm, seeping through her pores and the freshly opened wounds.
"Hahaha-haha st-stop-jajajaja-s-stop-jjeehehaha."
"Oh? Do you want to tell me something, dear?" Martha stopped working on her new mixture and turned to see Harleen, who seemed to be trying to stand up clumsily, her body twitching from the uncontrollable laughter.
"I-I hahahaha I-" A hiccup broke her voice, her laughter starting to stutter, making Martha raise an eyebrow in surprise at the evident superhuman effort Harleen was putting in.
The amount of Joker Venom she had poured on her shouldn't have allowed her to utter a single word. So… how was she interrupting the laughter? With her curiosity piqued, Martha focused entirely on Harleen, who had already managed to get up from the floor, though still unsteady, the green liquid dripping off her body.
"I-I-haha-I don't- want t-to laugh anymore."
"Eh?" Suddenly, the laughter and the spasms stopped. Frowning, Martha took a step forward, only to halt when Harleen straightened up abruptly.
"Y-you know, I don't- I don't say it h-ha- often, but I won several awards as a gymnast when I was younger… I-I hope I haven't lost my touch."
Before Martha could fully comprehend what Harleen meant, she moved. The blonde leaped swiftly, agilely, and gracefully, launching herself into the air and somersaulting, closing the distance between them with ease.
Her feet landed on Martha's shoulders, sending the woman crashing onto the still-incomplete chemical mixture she had been working on. The liquid rained down on both of them, but neither cared, as they immediately began grappling with each other.
"Why, why aren't you laughing?!" Despite being caught off guard, Martha quickly began to regain the upper hand in their struggle, her gaze filled with clear anger as she demanded an answer.
Harleen gritted her teeth, feeling Martha's strength. How the hell did a woman who had spent so many years locked up have such power?!
Still, she never planned to win this through a fight.
Her hand stretched out, thrusting forward and slamming directly into Martha's face, the remnants of the purple liquid still clinging to her fingers making contact.
"Stop fighting!" she shouted, and suddenly the struggle ceased. Martha's pupils shrank as she felt her strength abandon her. Before she could express her surprise, a fist smashed into her face.
And then another, and another. Harleen kept hitting with all the anger, fear, and pain she had been feeling, and when she saw that it wasn't enough, she started clawing at her with her long nails, even as they began to break. In her mind, her only desire was to erase that stupid, disgusting smile from the face of the woman who had killed her friends.
Martha couldn't do anything to stop the blows. The smile on her face began to vanish as it became disfigured.
"You fucking bitch!! Tell me, do you think this is funny?! That it's all a joke?! Come on, keep laughing!!" Harleen felt her tears falling as she kept hitting, uncaring that her hands were now completely stained with blood.
Then, with one final punch, Harleen stopped, staring at the bloody mess that had once been Martha Wayne's face.
"Why did you kill them?" This last question was a whisper, not really seeking an answer.
Breathing heavily, she looked at her hands, still dripping with blood. Then she looked at the motionless body beneath her. Had she killed her? That thought reverberated in her mind as if it were unreal until the full weight of the situation hit her. She knew this was real, that this was what she had done.
And before she could stop it, the spasms returned.
"Ha-haha-hahahahaha!" Harleen brought her hands to her face, and with horror, her eyes widened as she felt the corners of her lips starting to lift once again, to smile once again.
This should be impossible!
"Ha-haha sto—haha-h-stop!" Her laughter cut off abruptly, but this time Harleen didn't feel the relief she had when she first forced herself to stop laughing.
No, this time, there was only deep, desperate fear, crashing violently against the fragile sense of safety that the obedience serum had given her, shattering it in an instant as if it had never existed at all.
Harleen hugged herself and cried. For the first time in her life, she felt completely alone, vulnerable, and broken. She needed help. She needed someone to save her. She wanted someone to save her.
Someone who could pull the overwhelming fear out of her soul.
And then, without her being able to stop it, a scream for help tore from her nearly shredded throat, bursting out at full volume.
"Please, someone, help me!... Save me!"
And as if God had answered her prayers, a blur shot through the ceiling, and a familiar figure was at her side in an instant.
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Note:
A bit of a dark chapter, huh?
I must admit that writing it was complicated in many ways. I knew what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it, but having an idea and carrying it out are two totally different things.
For Harleen, I always had the idea that, one way or another, something of Harley Quinn would be born in her. I didn't know exactly how to do it at first, but gradually the pieces came together, creating a scenario I could take advantage of to execute some of my ideas.
I can say that I had a certain degree of success, although that didn't make me feel good. Mistreating characters I like isn't exactly my thing, but it has to be done for the plot to advance.
That said, I would love to hear what you think. Please comment and leave your opinions and critiques; you know I read all the comments you leave.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
"- by that, I mean that I believe he's a demigod!"
Harleen blinked, stopped staring at the plate of food she had been merely picking at, and instead raised her head to look at a dark-skinned woman with brown hair, wearing an all-white uniform—a nurse's uniform.
Isabella beside her also glanced at the third member of their group with a raised eyebrow.
"A demigod? I don't know, Grace. I thought the widely accepted theory was that Defiant was a secret government experiment." At that, the nurse named Grace rolled her eyes.
"That's nonsense, and you know it. Defiant is clearly something more than human, he's supernatural. Just think about it—from the beginnings of human history, in the oldest tales, there have always been stories of divine beings capable of equally divine feats. It was thought that they were myths and legends, but with his arrival, I believe more firmly than ever that it's all real!" She proclaimed it as if she had discovered a huge secret.
"He seems pretty human to me, you know?" Harleen couldn't help but speak, catching the attention of both women.
"Seriously? Have you seen those muscles? I'm telling you, girl, I've been going to the gym since I was fifteen, and I've never seen such a sculpted body on any other man. It almost makes you want to—"
Harleen coughed, interrupting her friend.
"Demigod or not, I don't think he'd like you talking about him that way."
"Oh, come on. If he didn't want to show off, he'd wear a less tight suit. In my opinion, it's clear he wants to flaunt what he's got, and I don't think I'm the only one who appreciates the free show." When Grace finished saying that, she nudged Isabella, and to Harleen's utter disbelief, the older woman blushed slightly.
"You two..." Harleen wanted to bury her face in her plate. Seeing the slight indignation in her expression, the nurse mocked her.
"Don't look at us like that. Don't think I haven't noticed how you look at his pictures in the newspaper," she said while pointing to the carefully folded newspaper Harleen had set aside after only reading the first few pages.
"W-what? I don't—!" Harleen immediately tried to defend herself, but Isabella placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.
"You don't have to be embarrassed about that with us. We're among friends, after all." The little laugh at the end of those words only made Harleen even more embarrassed.
She finally huffed, staring at her cup of coffee, wishing the conversation would quickly change topics.
'Oh?' She blinked as she noticed how the dark liquid in the cup began to ripple suddenly.
And it seemed that wasn't the only thing—suddenly, the table began to vibrate. No, not just the table; the floor beneath her feet started to shake as well.
"An earthquake?" Isabella asked, puzzled. One had to know that earthquakes were quite rare in the area where they were.
Suddenly, an alarm blared loudly, prompting all three of them to stand up.
"That's an evacuation alert! We need to head to—" The words were cut off by a loud crash, followed by strong winds. Harleen held on as best as she could, pressing against a wall, and cautiously made her way toward a nearby window to try and see what was happening outside.
And when she did, her expression couldn't help but turn into one of shock.
"Oh, shit." There, in the direction of New York, she could see an enormous cyclone, far beyond the city, approaching at an unnaturally fast pace.
"Come on, we have to hurry," she felt Isabella grab her by the shoulder, and Harleen nodded, ready to follow. But before she turned around, she noticed something that made her eyes widen.
"Watch out!" In one swift and agile movement, her body twisted as she threw herself over her two coworkers, causing all three of them to fall to the floor abruptly. Then, the wall exploded, and everything went dark for a moment.
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"Har-!"
"Harle-!"
"Harleen!" With the sound of a voice almost shouting in her ears, Harleen came to, only to feel a sharp pain strike the side of her head.
"Ahg!"
"Easy, can you hear me?" Isabella's voice reached her ears, and clumsily, she nodded while trying to sit up.
Shaking her head, she cleared her vision, finding the worried faces of her friends—friends who seemed more disheveled than she remembered.
"W-what happened?" she asked, noticing the debris scattered on the floor along with drops of red liquid.
"We need to get to the infirmary!" Harleen barely registered Grace's words. She looked back, only to see where there used to be a wall, now there was a massive hole, and within it, half of what seemed to be a truck, torn to pieces.
Wow, were cars raining down now?
"Let's go!" Isabella supported her, helping her to her feet, but in the next instant, they almost fell as a more intense tremor than the previous one shook the place.
The alarms blared even louder, causing Harleen to grimace at the shrill sound, why did the noise bother her so much?
With no time to think too much about it, Harleen focused on running alongside Isabella and Grace, trying to find a safer place—something difficult when debris seemed to be raining down everywhere for some reason.
It didn't help that the strong winds suddenly started ripping things from their places. As they passed one of the windows in the hallway, Harleen noticed how one of the guards outside the building was suddenly swept up into the sky, leaving behind only a quickly fading, muffled scream.
Clearly, that was a strong sign that they shouldn't go outside at all.
As if things couldn't get any worse, a different alarm from the others started blaring, causing the three of them to stop in the middle of their escape, their faces starting to pale.
"T-that's...!"
"Oh no..."
Harleen felt her heart skip a beat. Taking a deep breath, she processed the sound reaching her ears, with fear beginning to creep in. That alarm only meant one thing.
"Breach, there's a breach!" The voice that shouted it wasn't hers; instead, it was a distant scream that reached where they were. Not long after, joining the chaos, the sound of gunfire began to echo.
"What do we do?!" Grace seemed on the verge of panicking, and Harleen, now a bit less disoriented than before, placed a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down.
"Don't panic. The facility we're in and the area where the prisoners are kept are pretty far apart. I-if there's been a breach, we just need to stay away from the chaos until the guards get things under control."
Of course, things might not be resolved as quickly as one would hope, given whatever was happening outside.
"What about the other prisoners? The ones in the special waiting rooms for treatment?" Isabella suddenly asked, making both Harleen and Grace look at her.
"They… they shouldn't be able to get out, right?" Grace asked, now more scared than before.
After all, the prisoners in the special waiting rooms were those about to receive their daily sessions, whether from the facility's psychologists or psychiatrists.
Which was, of course, concerning, but...
"They're special cells. It should be much harder for them to break out, and even if they do, we can't stay here. We need to keep running," Harleen finally said, to which Isabella nodded.
"Harleen's right. I think our best option is to head to the infirmary, treat your wound, and lock ourselves in there until things calm down or we can evacuate." They didn't really have a better plan of action. The infirmary was a secure place and far enough from the paths fleeing prisoners would likely take.
'Wound?' Harleen blinked, then patted the side of her head where she had previously felt pain, causing a grimace to form on her face. When she brought the palm with which she had touched her newly discovered wound in front of her face, it was only to see it completely covered in red.
That was a lot of blood.
"Y-you're right. Let's go, I know the quickest way there." Grace began guiding them, something that normally would have been easy and quick, but in these circumstances, it became complicated as the unknown disaster continued to rock the facility.
The constant earthquakes only grew worse, as did the winds, making it much harder to walk than it should have been. Still, they didn't stop, as the sound of gunfire became increasingly louder, accompanied by more and more screams.
Soon, their destination was in sight.
"Come on! There should be more people here by now!" Grace seemed more hopeful upon seeing the entrance to the infirmary and, without hesitation, rushed toward it, unlocking the door with her access key as quickly as she could, a relieved smile on her face.
Bang!
Harleen blinked in confusion as she felt a drop of crimson liquid splash against her face. Numbly, she watched as Grace's body fell to the floor with a dull thud. There, in her head, a hole had forcibly opened, spilling pieces of its insides, spreading like a red mist in her direction.
"Oh God, N-"
Bang!
There was a second thunderous sound that made her ears ring.
Harleen almost stumbled when the body that had been supporting her all this time went limp, slipping and falling beside her like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Wow, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon!"
The voice, tinged with amusement, made Harleen, who had been staring at Isabella's lifeless body, lift her head. Her gaze focused on the door of the infirmary, where a figure made her way in, a weapon in hand and a wide smile on her face.
A smile that became even more inhumanly large when their eyes met directly.
"This must be fate, don't you think?" Harleen didn't respond, she couldn't—her body seemed like a statue, unable to move due to the deep terror that was starting to fill her, rooting her in place.
"Oh, come on, don't make that face, you'll ruin your beautiful expression. How about you give me a smile instead?" the green-haired woman said, placing her hands on the corners of her mouth.
"I-I…" Harleen felt her body start to tremble as countless questions began rushing through her mind. How was she here? Why was she here?
"You know, I had planned to meet you later, but having you here makes it even better! Come, I want to show you something you'll love." The woman easily closed the distance between them, stepping over Grace's body without a second glance. When she reached Harleen's side, she put her arm around her shoulders and began dragging her into the infirmary.
With her mind still blank, Harleen didn't even try to resist, letting herself be awkwardly led.
As they passed through the door, Harleen absentmindedly noticed more than a dozen bodies scattered all around the place. Some she recognized, others she didn't, a chill running down her spine as she saw the still vivid expressions of horror on their lifeless faces.
"Sorry about the mess, there were a few nuisances I had to take care of so I could work in peace," the woman said as she led her deeper into the room, specifically to where all the medications and various chemicals were stored for the different treatments that some of the inmates required during their stay in the prison.
"It was a little hard working on this, you know? I was missing a few ingredients, but I managed with what I found. It's not as good as what I used to use in my better years in Gotham, but it'll get the job done," the woman pointed to a somewhat deep metal container where a greenish liquid bubbled, as if boiling, despite there being no flame or stove to provide heat.
"Do you remember what we talked about before, my dear Quinn? I've always believed it's my duty to make the world laugh with me. This is just one of the many ways I'll achieve that. I call it my Joker Venom. Soon, I'll spread it in gas form through all the ventilation ducts of Rikers. With all the commotion and screaming out there, I thought this would be a great gift for everyone to stop fighting and have fun together! Hahaha!"
Harleen swallowed upon hearing the name despite having a dry mouth. She had read the files, she knew that in the past, Martha had used a chemical weapon to kill and terrorize countless people in Gotham, a substance that had no cure and with the slightest contact could be fatal.
A substance she was now staring at, mere steps away from being able to touch it…
And Martha planned to spread it through Rikers' ventilation system? That would kill everyone on the island! Harleen bit her lip at the thought.
She needed to stop this, but… how could she when she couldn't even move from fear?
"Daniel…" she couldn't help but whisper, her eyes beginning to well up.
The laughter that had been filling the room stopped. A cold, pale hand grabbed her face, forcing her to turn her head to face the green-haired woman who was holding her hostage.
"Hey, don't get distracted, we're having a moment. Thinking about someone else right now is rude," she said in a tone resembling that of a mother scolding her child for doing something wrong.
Then she forcibly turned Harleen's face once again toward the container with the green liquid.
"I know you're an idealist, that you believe the world can be better, but you're wrong. The world is never going to improve, but as the naïve person you also are, I know you won't be able to see it unless someone else does something to show you. Lucky for you, dear, as the good Samaritan I am, I'm willing to be that person you've needed so much, to be that little push that will open your eyes and show you the true face of this world. Hahahahaha! Come on, let's see how a real smile looks, decorating your beautiful face!"
The uncontrolled laughter stopped when Martha's tone turned sinister at the end of her words. Harleen knew something bad was about to happen as a sense of imminent danger began to assault all her senses, like alarm bells ringing loudly inside her head, trying to warn her, telling her she needed to run, to do something!
But she couldn't. Faster than her body could start to move, a hand grabbed the back of her head and forcefully shoved her face-first into the bubbling green liquid.
Splash!!!
It was like bathing in acid.
"AAAARGH!" Her agonizing scream filled the room as she writhed on the floor, feeling the liquid burning her skin, penetrating even through her clothes.
"Come on, it'll pass soon, don't resist too much! You'll see the fun is about to begin! Hahaha!" Harleen barely managed to open her eye to see her former patient holding another metal container above her head, before dumping its contents onto her once again.
"AAHHRG-AAaaHa-HaHaHa!" She couldn't stop. She wanted to stop laughing and just scream. She wanted to express the pain that was coursing through her entire body, but instead, only more and more uncontrollable laughter poured from her mouth.
"Do you see it now? Isn't it fun?! Can you feel it?! That feeling, that endless fun! How about we let everyone else have some fun too?"
As Harleen laughed uncontrollably, writhing on the floor, Martha began preparing a new mixture to create more of her Joker Venom. The whole place trembled now and then from the unnatural disaster that was drawing closer and closer to the Atlantic Ocean.
'I can't stop!' Harleen felt tears streaming from her eyes, which also burned. Her hands reached up to her neck, her long nails scratching at her throat until they reached her face, where her facial muscles had completely lost all control.
Control, control, she needed to get control!
Her eyes shot open, and her hand hurriedly searched inside her coat. Her mind had been spinning since everything began, and the abrupt and sudden deaths of her friends had only worsened it, causing her to momentarily forget that she still had something she could use—something that could save her.
Grabbing the small vial with the purple liquid inside, she didn't hesitate and smashed it against the floor with all the strength she could muster. The glass exploded in her hand, causing several shards to embed themselves, while the liquid soaked into her palm, seeping through her pores and the freshly opened wounds.
"Hahaha-haha st-stop-jajajaja-s-stop-jjeehehaha."
"Oh? Do you want to tell me something, dear?" Martha stopped working on her new mixture and turned to see Harleen, who seemed to be trying to stand up clumsily, her body twitching from the uncontrollable laughter.
"I-I hahahaha I-" A hiccup broke her voice, her laughter starting to stutter, making Martha raise an eyebrow in surprise at the evident superhuman effort Harleen was putting in.
The amount of Joker Venom she had poured on her shouldn't have allowed her to utter a single word. So… how was she interrupting the laughter? With her curiosity piqued, Martha focused entirely on Harleen, who had already managed to get up from the floor, though still unsteady, the green liquid dripping off her body.
"I-I-haha-I don't- want t-to laugh anymore."
"Eh?" Suddenly, the laughter and the spasms stopped. Frowning, Martha took a step forward, only to halt when Harleen straightened up abruptly.
"Y-you know, I don't- I don't say it h-ha- often, but I won several awards as a gymnast when I was younger… I-I hope I haven't lost my touch."
Before Martha could fully comprehend what Harleen meant, she moved. The blonde leaped swiftly, agilely, and gracefully, launching herself into the air and somersaulting, closing the distance between them with ease.
Her feet landed on Martha's shoulders, sending the woman crashing onto the still-incomplete chemical mixture she had been working on. The liquid rained down on both of them, but neither cared, as they immediately began grappling with each other.
"Why, why aren't you laughing?!" Despite being caught off guard, Martha quickly began to regain the upper hand in their struggle, her gaze filled with clear anger as she demanded an answer.
Harleen gritted her teeth, feeling Martha's strength. How the hell did a woman who had spent so many years locked up have such power?!
Still, she never planned to win this through a fight.
Her hand stretched out, thrusting forward and slamming directly into Martha's face, the remnants of the purple liquid still clinging to her fingers making contact.
"Stop fighting!" she shouted, and suddenly the struggle ceased. Martha's pupils shrank as she felt her strength abandon her. Before she could express her surprise, a fist smashed into her face.
And then another, and another. Harleen kept hitting with all the anger, fear, and pain she had been feeling, and when she saw that it wasn't enough, she started clawing at her with her long nails, even as they began to break. In her mind, her only desire was to erase that stupid, disgusting smile from the face of the woman who had killed her friends.
Martha couldn't do anything to stop the blows. The smile on her face began to vanish as it became disfigured.
"You fucking bitch!! Tell me, do you think this is funny?! That it's all a joke?! Come on, keep laughing!!" Harleen felt her tears falling as she kept hitting, uncaring that her hands were now completely stained with blood.
Then, with one final punch, Harleen stopped, staring at the bloody mess that had once been Martha Wayne's face.
"Why did you kill them?" This last question was a whisper, not really seeking an answer.
Breathing heavily, she looked at her hands, still dripping with blood. Then she looked at the motionless body beneath her. Had she killed her? That thought reverberated in her mind as if it were unreal until the full weight of the situation hit her. She knew this was real, that this was what she had done.
And before she could stop it, the spasms returned.
"Ha-haha-hahahahaha!" Harleen brought her hands to her face, and with horror, her eyes widened as she felt the corners of her lips starting to lift once again, to smile once again.
This should be impossible!
"Ha-haha sto—haha-h-stop!" Her laughter cut off abruptly, but this time Harleen didn't feel the relief she had when she first forced herself to stop laughing.
No, this time, there was only deep, desperate fear, crashing violently against the fragile sense of safety that the obedience serum had given her, shattering it in an instant as if it had never existed at all.
Harleen hugged herself and cried. For the first time in her life, she felt completely alone, vulnerable, and broken. She needed help. She needed someone to save her. She wanted someone to save her.
Someone who could pull the overwhelming fear out of her soul.
And then, without her being able to stop it, a scream for help tore from her nearly shredded throat, bursting out at full volume.
"Please, someone, help me!... Save me!"
And as if God had answered her prayers, a blur shot through the ceiling, and a familiar figure was at her side in an instant.
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Note:
A bit of a dark chapter, huh?
I must admit that writing it was complicated in many ways. I knew what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it, but having an idea and carrying it out are two totally different things.
For Harleen, I always had the idea that, one way or another, something of Harley Quinn would be born in her. I didn't know exactly how to do it at first, but gradually the pieces came together, creating a scenario I could take advantage of to execute some of my ideas.
I can say that I had a certain degree of success, although that didn't make me feel good. Mistreating characters I like isn't exactly my thing, but it has to be done for the plot to advance.
That said, I would love to hear what you think. Please comment and leave your opinions and critiques; you know I read all the comments you leave.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
I think it came off pretty well! I'd be more upset about what happened to Harleen, but this penny has been waiting to drop a long time in terms of Joker and Harley Quinn so it was kind of a relief to see it finally happen.
In some ways it feels kind of mundane after the absurd fights that Defiant got into, but I think that fits the character of Harley Quinn and the Joker very well. If there's any problem with it, I think that maybe Martha as Joker came off as more petty and damaged than canon Joker, but I do think that actually fits the narrative well - despite the movies embracing his drama, I think the core of the Joker has always been extremely petty - there's no real idealism to him and that's the point, he just wants to drag everyone down with him.
Anyway, Harleen doesn't have the comfort of believing Defiant can always save her - along with the rest of the world. But in return she manages to save herself and hundreds of others, and the world gains more heroes. It fits.
In some ways it feels kind of mundane after the absurd fights that Defiant got into, but I think that fits the character of Harley Quinn and the Joker very well. If there's any problem with it, I think that maybe Martha as Joker came off as more petty and damaged than canon Joker, but I do think that actually fits the narrative well - despite the movies embracing his drama, I think the core of the Joker has always been extremely petty - there's no real idealism to him and that's the point, he just wants to drag everyone down with him.
Anyway, Harleen doesn't have the comfort of believing Defiant can always save her - along with the rest of the world. But in return she manages to save herself and hundreds of others, and the world gains more heroes. It fits.
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Ooooo, are we about to receive Hero Quinn? Crazy how a positive friendship could changes things... Though Carol and Harleen both joining Daniel will ABSOLUTELY cause drama, mostly from Carol.
44: Objective
- Location
- Eart
44: Objective
Carol looked at the crimson red "crystal" the size of an apple that she held in her hand. Freezing every drop of blood before it could hit the ground had been easy, then she simply gathered all the genetic material turned into ice, and using her super strength, compressed it into a form she could easily hold.
"It's surprising that even in this state, the cells show no signs of beginning to deteriorate. Maybe you could take it to the fortress so I can—" Before she could finish speaking, Lara's voice was cut off by Carol's actions.
The girl raised the visor of her helmet and, without hesitation, let two heat rays shoot out intensely toward the gathered blood in her hand.
The cells, formed by the almost indestructible intelligent atoms, resisted for a moment before the extreme heat completely destabilized their atomic structure, turning every gram of them into less than ashes.
Lara remained silent, watching this through the cameras in her helmet, and distractedly noted the effect the high-intensity heat had on the blood.
"The great cyclone seems to have disappeared. Is the battle over?" Carol asked after lowering the helmet's visor again. Lara took a moment but finally responded.
"A few seconds ago, the gravitational anomaly on the planet completely vanished from my scanners. Without a doubt, I can say it's because that boy dealt with the cause." Carol let out a small sigh of relief upon hearing this, relaxing from her tense stance.
With the threat seemingly resolved, she took a moment to relax, and in that moment, her eyes glanced at the ground beneath her feet.
All of Washington D.C. was a disaster. Seeing so much destruction for the first time in her life made her frown slightly before shaking her head. It didn't matter; they were just material things. As a girl who had grown up in the countryside, Carol placed little value on things that could be bought with money. To her, what truly mattered were the lives of the people she cared about, and in her opinion, that's how it should be for everyone.
Washington D.C. might be nearly in ruins, but she had ensured the safety of many civilians, either within or around the city. That, as far as Carol was concerned, counted as a job well done. As long as they had their lives and health, they could rebuild the city later.
With that thought, she decided to stop paying attention to the state of the city and instead focused her hearing to locate the direction where Daniel was.
Which was quite easy but at the same time made a worried expression form on her face, as Daniel's heartbeat was irregular, as if something had disturbed or surprised him in some way. Had something happened? Was he hurt?
'It's better if I check,' she thought, and without hesitation, her body became a blur that disappeared from her previous spot in an instant.
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A few moments earlier, Rikers Island.
Time seemed to slow down as a pair of strong, warm arms wrapped around her trembling body, causing her to shudder for a moment. Then she looked up, and her tearful, bloodshot eyes met a pair of deep blue eyes filled with great concern.
"Y-you're here?" Harleen asked, her voice trembling, almost a whisper, as if she feared this was just a hallucination.
"I'm here," Daniel said, putting as much firmness and reassurance as he could into his voice, perfectly hiding the anger that was starting to brew inside him as he saw her injured and battered state.
And upon hearing him, Harleen felt as if the world that had been crumbling around her was suddenly whole again. With relief filling her and feeling an absolute sense of security, she desperately raised her arms, returning the hug and burying her face in his chest as the tears began to flow—only this time, for different reasons.
Seeing her in such a state, Daniel patted her back, letting her release her emotions while he inspected the area.
The smell of blood and chemicals was obvious. He didn't have to search much to find several lifeless bodies, but the one that caught his attention the most was the one right next to the two of them—a body with a shattered face, a body whose blood stained Harleen's hands.
He wrestled with himself—should he ask? Was it too soon? He wanted to know what had happened, but he didn't want to make the already clearly distressed Harleen uncomfortable while she was in his arms.
'I'll find out later. First, I need to take her to a hospital,' looking at her unnaturally pale skin and the blood dripping from her forehead, Daniel deciding to set aside his questions for now.
"Come on, I'll take you to see a doctor," he said, holding her in his arms, ready to fly her out of there. But before he could, Harleen quickly shook her head in clear panic.
"N-No! You can't let anyone touch me!" Hearing the fear in her voice, Daniel raised an eyebrow in surprise. Before he could ask, Harleen pointed to herself, more specifically to the green liquid still dripping from her body.
Then she began explaining in a rushed manner, and the more he listened, the graver Daniel's expression became.
"I-I'm a biological hazard, and I can barely keep myself sane thanks to a... S-serum derived from Killgrave's pheromones that I synthesized." The blush of embarrassment on her face as she confessed this was oddly noticeable, given her new skin tone, which Daniel now knew wasn't due to blood loss as he'd initially assumed.
"I know I shouldn't have done it! I should've told you, but I-I..." Harleen didn't know how to explain, what kind of excuse to give, or if she even could. Her lips trembled, her voice failing to come out. But before she could continue stammering, Daniel gently tightened his hold on her, sending a wave of comfort through her body. She swallowed nervously, forcing herself to lift her head to face him, ready to receive whatever scolding or reprimand he had for her.
But none came. When their eyes met, she didn't see the disappointment or displeasure she expected. Instead, he gave her a small smile that seemed to radiate serenity and calm, easing her nerves.
"We'll talk about that later," Daniel really wanted to sigh; there was a lot to take in, but he decided to handle it one step at a time. For now, he needed to make sure Harleen wouldn't suddenly die from all the chemicals she'd been exposed to.
At the same time, he also had to isolate the room they were in, stop the prisoner escape on the island, and deal with a dozen other things... just thinking about it made his head threaten to erupt into a migraine. What an absolute fucking disaster.
'Maybe I should really learn some magic and get a cloning spell?' The thought crossed his mind before he dismissed it. For one, he wasn't even sure if he had any talent for magic, and for another, he had no idea where or how to find someone to teach him. Plus, he didn't know how it could affect his disadvantages, and he'd rather not get involved with something so abstract if he could help it. It would be really messed up if he accidentally angered some sort of Lovecraftian god or something like that.
'Maybe later.'
He heard the air breaking, and through the same hole he had made when arriving, a figure entered, helping him decide on his next move.
Carol landed not far from Daniel, wrinkling her nose at the lingering scent of Joker venom in the air.
"Just in time, I need you to hold her for a moment," Daniel said. Before she could ask what was happening, he carefully handed an astonished Harleen into her hands.
"This is...?" Carol held the blonde awkwardly, clearly unsure, but Daniel didn't wait. Moving at great speed, he rushed off to deal with the escaped prisoners on the island.
An awkward silence filled the room as the two women stared at each other, a tense quiet hanging between them, a clear discomfort in the air.
Carol, of course, recognized the woman in her arms. Even though she was covered in blood and her skin had turned unnaturally pale, it was hard for Carol to forget her. For that reason, she couldn't help but feel a deep unease, as if she were in the presence of a sworn enemy.
"Hi?" Harleen finally spoke timidly. She thought she might be hallucinating due to all the chemicals in her system; otherwise, she couldn't explain why another "Defiant" was holding her. Though, calling them the same wasn't exactly right since Daniel didn't wear a helmet or have... well, Boobs. Not that the latter really bothered her, she'd be lying if she said it did.
Seeing the strange look Harleen was giving her, Carol wondered if Daniel would be mad if she just let her fall to the ground... or into the sea.
Fortunately for both of them, the man in question quickly finished what he was doing and returned in a blur, starting to clean the chemicals from the room while organizing the bodies and making sure to isolate the area.
"Alright, that should be everything," Daniel said, coming out of super-speed mode. He wiped away an imaginary drop of sweat and approached Carol to take Harleen back into his arms. The Kryptonian hesitated for a moment before finally letting him take her.
"Now we need to deal with you," Daniel said. Feeling much more comfortable with him, Harleen snuggled closer and pointed at Carol with curiosity, completely forgetting the state she was in.
"Did you clone yourself?" she tried to whisper, but for Carol, it might as well have been a shout. She scoffed, her brow furrowing. She didn't like at all the way Harleen was cuddling up to him or whispering in his ear—it was irritating.
"I'll explain later" Daniel told her before looking at Carol seriously "I need to use the fortress."
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"Oh wow," Harleen exclaimed in awe as the three of them arrived at the Fortress and entered it. Its crystalline structure was simply breathtaking to anyone who laid eyes on it.
"So, you're really an alien?" she couldn't help but ask, since, in her opinion, something so strange couldn't possibly come from Earth.
Before Daniel could respond, Carol interrupted, having removed her helmet, her eyes glowing with a menacing red hue.
"Why, are you scared?" Seeing her face so close, Harleen completely ignored the mockery in Carol's words and instead reached out as if she wanted to touch the Kryptonian's face.
"You're so beautiful," Harleen said softly. Carol, who had stepped back to avoid being touched, couldn't hide her confusion, her eyes returning to their normal bright blue.
"Enough talking, we'll discuss all that later. Lara, can you run a full body scan and check her current condition?" Daniel finally interrupted them and carefully laid Harleen on a stretcher that Lara had formed.
"You know you could just ask the Fortress AI directly, right?" Lara's holographic projection appeared, causing Harleen to let out another startled gasp.
"I prefer asking you; you're more reliable," Daniel replied. Despite her complaint, Lara began the scan. Meanwhile, Daniel pulled out some medical kits from the Fortress and started treating the wounds on Harleen's head and hands.
"This is really interesting," Lara finally said, and without blinking, she displayed a full-body projection of Harleen, just as she had done with Daniel. This made the blonde almost jump up in shock as an image of herself naked appeared out of nowhere.
"H-Hey!"
"Hey!"
Ignoring both women's protests, Daniel focused on the scan data, his expression growing serious.
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Unless you want to further destabilize the biochemical processes in her body, then no. Right now, there's a delicate balance within her that's just beginning to settle. Trying to add or remove something could cause everything to collapse, and well, you know what would happen." To illustrate, the entire hologram collapsed, disappearing from view, much to the relief of the blushing Harleen.
"To speed up the process, I recommend using one of the immersion chambers. That will help her heal her wounds faster, while we can monitor her condition and, if necessary, give us time to intervene."
Immersion chambers, a method commonly used by Kryptonians to treat their injured. The fortress had several of them inside, though Daniel didn't expect to need to use them so soon.
"Uh, can I ask how serious this is?" Finally tired of not understanding anything, Harleen timidly raised her hand and asked.
Lara looked at her and calmly responded to her question.
"In short, you're a lucky woman. Where others would already be dead, your body has managed to withstand the chemical soup inside without collapsing. What effects will this have on you? It's still unknown. I guess we'll find out if you survive." Harleen didn't like that last part at all.
"If I survive?! What does that mean?!"
"It means we'd better get you into that immersion chamber as soon as possible." Daniel said, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder to calm her.
She looked at him before quickly nodding in agreement. She didn't know what this immersion chamber was, but anything that could help her was better than doing nothing. After all, she was still too young to die.
With that said, Daniel picked her up once again and began carrying her to the area where the immersion chambers were located.
Carol watched them leave with clear irritation in her eyes.
"Even if you stare like that, she's not going to disappear," Lara said, causing Carol to turn to her in annoyance.
Then the woman snapped her fingers and closed the door to the room, isolating the sound so they could speak privately. Noticing this, Carol couldn't help but mutter through clenched teeth.
"Maybe I can make that happen." Her eyes glowed red, radiating heat. Seeing this, Lara frowned and spoke in a grave voice.
"You need to control yourself. Feeling jealous is normal for a girl your age, but letting it drive you to do something reckless will only bring regret later. Don't be impulsive!"
Carol clicked her tongue in frustration, trying to maintain a tough expression, but it didn't last long. Her eyes, once filled with fury, softened and became moist as deep sadness overtook her face. Her lips began to tremble, and though she tried to remain strong, she finally crumbled, revealing the many conflicting emotions she had been battling since seeing Harleen.
"What should I do?" she asked with clear fragility, and Lara sighed inwardly, while an odd emotion briefly stirred within her—a protective instinct that made her want to send Daniel into a black hole in the far reaches of space and comfort her daughter.
But that wouldn't help. Carol didn't need comfort; she needed guidance. Crushing that emotion effortlessly, Lara adopted her colder, more calculating approach, using only the logic her state as an A.I. allowed her.
"There's a lot you could do, but the first thing is not to let your impulses cloud your judgment. You must be patient and see everything from a higher perspective. From my point of view, all the cards are in your favor here, and worrying like this is absurd."
All the cards are in her favor? Carol looked at her mother with doubt, and Lara decided to explain further.
"I see that you think you're in a race, a competition, that this woman could take him from you. But you forget something crucial. The differences between you and her are vast. She is merely human. You are not."
"I already know that! But what advantage does that give me?!" Carol retorted in frustration.
"I can fly faster than a plane and crush steel with my hands, but apparently, that means nothing against a fragile, stupid blonde woman." Her words were laced with venom, but behind the anger, Lara could sense her daughter's true insecurity.
"There it is again. Even though you claim to understand, you're still seeing this from a human perspective."
"Then why don't you make it clearer?!" Carol demanded.
"Very well, I'll be clear and direct. She is nothing more than a temporary event, a brief moment that will fade with time. You, on the other hand, are eternal—and that, my daughter, is your greatest advantage," Lara said, leaning in toward her with seriousness.
"Eternal? What... what do you mean by that?" Seeing the uncertainty in her eyes, Lara sighed internally. She had been postponing this conversation, thinking it would be too much of a shock and wanting to wait until her daughter had matured a bit more before telling her. But if she wanted Carol to see things the way she did, she needed to explain it now.
"Normally, a Kryptonian would have a lifespan slightly longer than the average human. But that's on Krypton and under a red sun. You, having lived most of your life under a yellow sun, are now very different from other Kryptonians. One of those differences is the time you will exist in this universe. It's difficult to calculate exactly, but as long as the power of a yellow star feeds your cells, your lifespan will continue to increase. You will continue to exist even when this world turns to dust and this entire solar system is swallowed by its mother star."
Lara gave Carol a moment to process. She could see her daughter starting to grasp what this meant, along with the fear and uncertainty beginning to rise within her.
"I know it's hard to understand, but you don't have to be afraid—"
"How?! If what you're saying is true, then I'll be alone forever!" Carol suddenly felt panic flooding her. This was what she had always feared, her greatest terror—being completely alone. The mere thought of such a possibility terrified her to the core.
An existence like that was something she neither wanted nor desired.
Lara watched as Carol panicked but didn't judge her for it. After all, from her daughter's perspective, there were no other Kryptonians left, and she didn't know of any other life forms that could live as long. It was normal for her to feel this way.
Fortunately for her, Lara could cut that fear at its root.
"Stop panicking. If this were truly a problem, I wouldn't be telling you about it. Do you think I enjoy seeing you suffer?" At her words, Carol swallowed hard and forced herself to stay calm.
Her mother was right. She wouldn't tell her this just to upset her—there had to be something more.
Seeing her calm down, Lara smiled. Her daughter still had a lot to learn about self-control, but slowly, she was improving. She just needed to keep progressing.
"When I said it was your greatest advantage, why do you think I said that?" Lara asked. Carol thought about it. She wasn't stupid, and she quickly came to a conclusion.
"Wait... you mean Daniel too...?" She couldn't finish her sentence for fear of being wrong, but when she saw the smile on her mother's face, her heart skipped a beat. The fear that had begun to creep up inside her started to fade, replaced by the hope now blossoming within her.
"There's still many mysteries I haven't been able to uncover about that boy, but something I have figured out is that his cells have started to slow down their aging. Right now, even if a hundred years were to pass, his appearance wouldn't change at all. I don't know how this compares to you, but if my calculations are correct, his lifespan shouldn't be much shorter than yours."
Carol's eyes opened, filled with clear joy. She had been in deep shock at the thought of having to endure an eternity of loneliness, but if that eternity included Daniel, then her perspective on it felt completely different.
Seeing such a quick shift in her mood made Lara sigh internally, 'teenagers, so easy to please...'
"Are you sure? Completely sure?" Despite knowing she wouldn't lie to her, Carol still asked again, just to make sure she had understood things correctly.
"If you doubt me, you can run your own tests. Just get some of his blood and use the fortress tools to see for yourself." At this, Carol thought of the blood she destroyed earlier today and couldn't help but feel a bit of regret, though only for a moment.
"No... I don't doubt you. If you say so, I can believe it."
"Good, now that you know, I hope you can understand why your worries are unnecessary. Daniel... that boy may not realize it now, but in time, he will understand what he truly needs, and that, my dear daughter, is someone who truly understands him, someone who will be by his side not just for a few years, but for centuries."
'Would this be enough?' Lara looked at her daughter's face and could still see some doubt in her eyes. Therefore, she decided she needed to be clearer, to ensure that the idea and message she wanted to convey were firmly planted in Carol's mind.
"I know the thought of waiting might not sound appealing, but patience is a powerful weapon. Right now, Daniel still thinks like a human, and that's why he is drawn to them. But sooner or later, he'll learn that his destiny is much greater than that, and that woman will be a good example of it. Right now, she may have his attention, but she's just a human—her life is short, limited, and fragile. She will never truly understand him. You, on the other hand, can be by his side forever. Don't you see? There will be no end for the two of you. In time, she will be nothing more than a faint memory, something insignificant. So why are you worried about her?"
Lara wanted Carol to gain a superior and broader perspective, a way of seeing things beyond the human, so she could leave behind such mundane concerns and focus on what truly mattered.
Carol thought about it fiercely while biting her lip. If she looked at it coldly, Lara was right. She had all the advantages here, but even though she knew this, her heart still felt somewhat unsettled.
"Then, do I just have to wait?" she asked, doubt still clouding her eyes. It seemed too simple, too passive for what she felt.
Lara let out an almost exasperated sigh. "If you do that, you'd be completely foolish, Carol. Having time doesn't mean you should waste it doing nothing." She leaned forward, her intense gaze fixed on her daughter. "Even if you choose to be patient, you can't just sit back and do nothing. If you do, that boy will just keep ignoring you."
She continued, her tone sharp. "I didn't tell you all this for you to think you just have to sit there. I told you so you can stop paying attention to things that, in the end, won't matter. It's about focus, my daughter. You can't let every little obstacle affect you on your path, or you'll never reach your goal. What you now see as competition, what troubles you... those are just momentary distractions, and giving them more attention than they deserve is complete nonsense."
Carol began to pace in circles, carefully thinking over everything that had been said, processing what her mother wanted to convey several times until the idea finally settled in her mind, making her eyes shine with determination.
She was clear on what she had to do, and even if she didn't like it, she could work with it.
Because the only thing that mattered was that in the end, he stayed with her.
"I understand... thank you, Mom." Lara raised an eyebrow as she saw her smile mysteriously. She was curious about the conclusion Carol had reached but decided not to ask. If she kept holding her hand, her daughter would never learn on her own. She had interfered enough for now; it was time to observe. And if Carol made a mistake, she would help her correct it.
After all, that's what she existed for.
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Daniel frowned as he looked at the immersion chamber where Harleen lay unconscious. He checked her vital signs one last time before deciding to step away, as there was nothing more he could do for her but wait.
Which was frustrating; he didn't like being passive. But if even Lara couldn't do anything with the Kryptonian technology in the fortress, then all he could do was step aside and let things take their course.
Even if he hated it.
'I need to keep myself busy.' Deciding that sitting still would only frustrate him more, he prepared to head back to his farm and get a new suit to start cleaning up the mess that his battle with Graviton had left in the coastal cities.
At least that was something he could do.
And if, in the midst of that, he happened to run into a certain Scarlet Speedster, even better.
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Note:
I was invited to see Joker 2. I've been a bit short on time, but I decided to give it a chance for some inspiration… I didn't like it. I don't want to criticize too much, but honestly, I came out feeling quite... disappointed? Yes, I think that word is correct. There's not much more to say. If you've had the chance to see it, I'd love to hear what you thought.
P.S., if you find any errors in the chapter, please feel free to point them out so I can correct them.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
Carol looked at the crimson red "crystal" the size of an apple that she held in her hand. Freezing every drop of blood before it could hit the ground had been easy, then she simply gathered all the genetic material turned into ice, and using her super strength, compressed it into a form she could easily hold.
"It's surprising that even in this state, the cells show no signs of beginning to deteriorate. Maybe you could take it to the fortress so I can—" Before she could finish speaking, Lara's voice was cut off by Carol's actions.
The girl raised the visor of her helmet and, without hesitation, let two heat rays shoot out intensely toward the gathered blood in her hand.
The cells, formed by the almost indestructible intelligent atoms, resisted for a moment before the extreme heat completely destabilized their atomic structure, turning every gram of them into less than ashes.
Lara remained silent, watching this through the cameras in her helmet, and distractedly noted the effect the high-intensity heat had on the blood.
"The great cyclone seems to have disappeared. Is the battle over?" Carol asked after lowering the helmet's visor again. Lara took a moment but finally responded.
"A few seconds ago, the gravitational anomaly on the planet completely vanished from my scanners. Without a doubt, I can say it's because that boy dealt with the cause." Carol let out a small sigh of relief upon hearing this, relaxing from her tense stance.
With the threat seemingly resolved, she took a moment to relax, and in that moment, her eyes glanced at the ground beneath her feet.
All of Washington D.C. was a disaster. Seeing so much destruction for the first time in her life made her frown slightly before shaking her head. It didn't matter; they were just material things. As a girl who had grown up in the countryside, Carol placed little value on things that could be bought with money. To her, what truly mattered were the lives of the people she cared about, and in her opinion, that's how it should be for everyone.
Washington D.C. might be nearly in ruins, but she had ensured the safety of many civilians, either within or around the city. That, as far as Carol was concerned, counted as a job well done. As long as they had their lives and health, they could rebuild the city later.
With that thought, she decided to stop paying attention to the state of the city and instead focused her hearing to locate the direction where Daniel was.
Which was quite easy but at the same time made a worried expression form on her face, as Daniel's heartbeat was irregular, as if something had disturbed or surprised him in some way. Had something happened? Was he hurt?
'It's better if I check,' she thought, and without hesitation, her body became a blur that disappeared from her previous spot in an instant.
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A few moments earlier, Rikers Island.
Time seemed to slow down as a pair of strong, warm arms wrapped around her trembling body, causing her to shudder for a moment. Then she looked up, and her tearful, bloodshot eyes met a pair of deep blue eyes filled with great concern.
"Y-you're here?" Harleen asked, her voice trembling, almost a whisper, as if she feared this was just a hallucination.
"I'm here," Daniel said, putting as much firmness and reassurance as he could into his voice, perfectly hiding the anger that was starting to brew inside him as he saw her injured and battered state.
And upon hearing him, Harleen felt as if the world that had been crumbling around her was suddenly whole again. With relief filling her and feeling an absolute sense of security, she desperately raised her arms, returning the hug and burying her face in his chest as the tears began to flow—only this time, for different reasons.
Seeing her in such a state, Daniel patted her back, letting her release her emotions while he inspected the area.
The smell of blood and chemicals was obvious. He didn't have to search much to find several lifeless bodies, but the one that caught his attention the most was the one right next to the two of them—a body with a shattered face, a body whose blood stained Harleen's hands.
He wrestled with himself—should he ask? Was it too soon? He wanted to know what had happened, but he didn't want to make the already clearly distressed Harleen uncomfortable while she was in his arms.
'I'll find out later. First, I need to take her to a hospital,' looking at her unnaturally pale skin and the blood dripping from her forehead, Daniel deciding to set aside his questions for now.
"Come on, I'll take you to see a doctor," he said, holding her in his arms, ready to fly her out of there. But before he could, Harleen quickly shook her head in clear panic.
"N-No! You can't let anyone touch me!" Hearing the fear in her voice, Daniel raised an eyebrow in surprise. Before he could ask, Harleen pointed to herself, more specifically to the green liquid still dripping from her body.
Then she began explaining in a rushed manner, and the more he listened, the graver Daniel's expression became.
"I-I'm a biological hazard, and I can barely keep myself sane thanks to a... S-serum derived from Killgrave's pheromones that I synthesized." The blush of embarrassment on her face as she confessed this was oddly noticeable, given her new skin tone, which Daniel now knew wasn't due to blood loss as he'd initially assumed.
"I know I shouldn't have done it! I should've told you, but I-I..." Harleen didn't know how to explain, what kind of excuse to give, or if she even could. Her lips trembled, her voice failing to come out. But before she could continue stammering, Daniel gently tightened his hold on her, sending a wave of comfort through her body. She swallowed nervously, forcing herself to lift her head to face him, ready to receive whatever scolding or reprimand he had for her.
But none came. When their eyes met, she didn't see the disappointment or displeasure she expected. Instead, he gave her a small smile that seemed to radiate serenity and calm, easing her nerves.
"We'll talk about that later," Daniel really wanted to sigh; there was a lot to take in, but he decided to handle it one step at a time. For now, he needed to make sure Harleen wouldn't suddenly die from all the chemicals she'd been exposed to.
At the same time, he also had to isolate the room they were in, stop the prisoner escape on the island, and deal with a dozen other things... just thinking about it made his head threaten to erupt into a migraine. What an absolute fucking disaster.
'Maybe I should really learn some magic and get a cloning spell?' The thought crossed his mind before he dismissed it. For one, he wasn't even sure if he had any talent for magic, and for another, he had no idea where or how to find someone to teach him. Plus, he didn't know how it could affect his disadvantages, and he'd rather not get involved with something so abstract if he could help it. It would be really messed up if he accidentally angered some sort of Lovecraftian god or something like that.
'Maybe later.'
He heard the air breaking, and through the same hole he had made when arriving, a figure entered, helping him decide on his next move.
Carol landed not far from Daniel, wrinkling her nose at the lingering scent of Joker venom in the air.
"Just in time, I need you to hold her for a moment," Daniel said. Before she could ask what was happening, he carefully handed an astonished Harleen into her hands.
"This is...?" Carol held the blonde awkwardly, clearly unsure, but Daniel didn't wait. Moving at great speed, he rushed off to deal with the escaped prisoners on the island.
An awkward silence filled the room as the two women stared at each other, a tense quiet hanging between them, a clear discomfort in the air.
Carol, of course, recognized the woman in her arms. Even though she was covered in blood and her skin had turned unnaturally pale, it was hard for Carol to forget her. For that reason, she couldn't help but feel a deep unease, as if she were in the presence of a sworn enemy.
"Hi?" Harleen finally spoke timidly. She thought she might be hallucinating due to all the chemicals in her system; otherwise, she couldn't explain why another "Defiant" was holding her. Though, calling them the same wasn't exactly right since Daniel didn't wear a helmet or have... well, Boobs. Not that the latter really bothered her, she'd be lying if she said it did.
Seeing the strange look Harleen was giving her, Carol wondered if Daniel would be mad if she just let her fall to the ground... or into the sea.
Fortunately for both of them, the man in question quickly finished what he was doing and returned in a blur, starting to clean the chemicals from the room while organizing the bodies and making sure to isolate the area.
"Alright, that should be everything," Daniel said, coming out of super-speed mode. He wiped away an imaginary drop of sweat and approached Carol to take Harleen back into his arms. The Kryptonian hesitated for a moment before finally letting him take her.
"Now we need to deal with you," Daniel said. Feeling much more comfortable with him, Harleen snuggled closer and pointed at Carol with curiosity, completely forgetting the state she was in.
"Did you clone yourself?" she tried to whisper, but for Carol, it might as well have been a shout. She scoffed, her brow furrowing. She didn't like at all the way Harleen was cuddling up to him or whispering in his ear—it was irritating.
"I'll explain later" Daniel told her before looking at Carol seriously "I need to use the fortress."
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"Oh wow," Harleen exclaimed in awe as the three of them arrived at the Fortress and entered it. Its crystalline structure was simply breathtaking to anyone who laid eyes on it.
"So, you're really an alien?" she couldn't help but ask, since, in her opinion, something so strange couldn't possibly come from Earth.
Before Daniel could respond, Carol interrupted, having removed her helmet, her eyes glowing with a menacing red hue.
"Why, are you scared?" Seeing her face so close, Harleen completely ignored the mockery in Carol's words and instead reached out as if she wanted to touch the Kryptonian's face.
"You're so beautiful," Harleen said softly. Carol, who had stepped back to avoid being touched, couldn't hide her confusion, her eyes returning to their normal bright blue.
"Enough talking, we'll discuss all that later. Lara, can you run a full body scan and check her current condition?" Daniel finally interrupted them and carefully laid Harleen on a stretcher that Lara had formed.
"You know you could just ask the Fortress AI directly, right?" Lara's holographic projection appeared, causing Harleen to let out another startled gasp.
"I prefer asking you; you're more reliable," Daniel replied. Despite her complaint, Lara began the scan. Meanwhile, Daniel pulled out some medical kits from the Fortress and started treating the wounds on Harleen's head and hands.
"This is really interesting," Lara finally said, and without blinking, she displayed a full-body projection of Harleen, just as she had done with Daniel. This made the blonde almost jump up in shock as an image of herself naked appeared out of nowhere.
"H-Hey!"
"Hey!"
Ignoring both women's protests, Daniel focused on the scan data, his expression growing serious.
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Unless you want to further destabilize the biochemical processes in her body, then no. Right now, there's a delicate balance within her that's just beginning to settle. Trying to add or remove something could cause everything to collapse, and well, you know what would happen." To illustrate, the entire hologram collapsed, disappearing from view, much to the relief of the blushing Harleen.
"To speed up the process, I recommend using one of the immersion chambers. That will help her heal her wounds faster, while we can monitor her condition and, if necessary, give us time to intervene."
Immersion chambers, a method commonly used by Kryptonians to treat their injured. The fortress had several of them inside, though Daniel didn't expect to need to use them so soon.
"Uh, can I ask how serious this is?" Finally tired of not understanding anything, Harleen timidly raised her hand and asked.
Lara looked at her and calmly responded to her question.
"In short, you're a lucky woman. Where others would already be dead, your body has managed to withstand the chemical soup inside without collapsing. What effects will this have on you? It's still unknown. I guess we'll find out if you survive." Harleen didn't like that last part at all.
"If I survive?! What does that mean?!"
"It means we'd better get you into that immersion chamber as soon as possible." Daniel said, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder to calm her.
She looked at him before quickly nodding in agreement. She didn't know what this immersion chamber was, but anything that could help her was better than doing nothing. After all, she was still too young to die.
With that said, Daniel picked her up once again and began carrying her to the area where the immersion chambers were located.
Carol watched them leave with clear irritation in her eyes.
"Even if you stare like that, she's not going to disappear," Lara said, causing Carol to turn to her in annoyance.
Then the woman snapped her fingers and closed the door to the room, isolating the sound so they could speak privately. Noticing this, Carol couldn't help but mutter through clenched teeth.
"Maybe I can make that happen." Her eyes glowed red, radiating heat. Seeing this, Lara frowned and spoke in a grave voice.
"You need to control yourself. Feeling jealous is normal for a girl your age, but letting it drive you to do something reckless will only bring regret later. Don't be impulsive!"
Carol clicked her tongue in frustration, trying to maintain a tough expression, but it didn't last long. Her eyes, once filled with fury, softened and became moist as deep sadness overtook her face. Her lips began to tremble, and though she tried to remain strong, she finally crumbled, revealing the many conflicting emotions she had been battling since seeing Harleen.
"What should I do?" she asked with clear fragility, and Lara sighed inwardly, while an odd emotion briefly stirred within her—a protective instinct that made her want to send Daniel into a black hole in the far reaches of space and comfort her daughter.
But that wouldn't help. Carol didn't need comfort; she needed guidance. Crushing that emotion effortlessly, Lara adopted her colder, more calculating approach, using only the logic her state as an A.I. allowed her.
"There's a lot you could do, but the first thing is not to let your impulses cloud your judgment. You must be patient and see everything from a higher perspective. From my point of view, all the cards are in your favor here, and worrying like this is absurd."
All the cards are in her favor? Carol looked at her mother with doubt, and Lara decided to explain further.
"I see that you think you're in a race, a competition, that this woman could take him from you. But you forget something crucial. The differences between you and her are vast. She is merely human. You are not."
"I already know that! But what advantage does that give me?!" Carol retorted in frustration.
"I can fly faster than a plane and crush steel with my hands, but apparently, that means nothing against a fragile, stupid blonde woman." Her words were laced with venom, but behind the anger, Lara could sense her daughter's true insecurity.
"There it is again. Even though you claim to understand, you're still seeing this from a human perspective."
"Then why don't you make it clearer?!" Carol demanded.
"Very well, I'll be clear and direct. She is nothing more than a temporary event, a brief moment that will fade with time. You, on the other hand, are eternal—and that, my daughter, is your greatest advantage," Lara said, leaning in toward her with seriousness.
"Eternal? What... what do you mean by that?" Seeing the uncertainty in her eyes, Lara sighed internally. She had been postponing this conversation, thinking it would be too much of a shock and wanting to wait until her daughter had matured a bit more before telling her. But if she wanted Carol to see things the way she did, she needed to explain it now.
"Normally, a Kryptonian would have a lifespan slightly longer than the average human. But that's on Krypton and under a red sun. You, having lived most of your life under a yellow sun, are now very different from other Kryptonians. One of those differences is the time you will exist in this universe. It's difficult to calculate exactly, but as long as the power of a yellow star feeds your cells, your lifespan will continue to increase. You will continue to exist even when this world turns to dust and this entire solar system is swallowed by its mother star."
Lara gave Carol a moment to process. She could see her daughter starting to grasp what this meant, along with the fear and uncertainty beginning to rise within her.
"I know it's hard to understand, but you don't have to be afraid—"
"How?! If what you're saying is true, then I'll be alone forever!" Carol suddenly felt panic flooding her. This was what she had always feared, her greatest terror—being completely alone. The mere thought of such a possibility terrified her to the core.
An existence like that was something she neither wanted nor desired.
Lara watched as Carol panicked but didn't judge her for it. After all, from her daughter's perspective, there were no other Kryptonians left, and she didn't know of any other life forms that could live as long. It was normal for her to feel this way.
Fortunately for her, Lara could cut that fear at its root.
"Stop panicking. If this were truly a problem, I wouldn't be telling you about it. Do you think I enjoy seeing you suffer?" At her words, Carol swallowed hard and forced herself to stay calm.
Her mother was right. She wouldn't tell her this just to upset her—there had to be something more.
Seeing her calm down, Lara smiled. Her daughter still had a lot to learn about self-control, but slowly, she was improving. She just needed to keep progressing.
"When I said it was your greatest advantage, why do you think I said that?" Lara asked. Carol thought about it. She wasn't stupid, and she quickly came to a conclusion.
"Wait... you mean Daniel too...?" She couldn't finish her sentence for fear of being wrong, but when she saw the smile on her mother's face, her heart skipped a beat. The fear that had begun to creep up inside her started to fade, replaced by the hope now blossoming within her.
"There's still many mysteries I haven't been able to uncover about that boy, but something I have figured out is that his cells have started to slow down their aging. Right now, even if a hundred years were to pass, his appearance wouldn't change at all. I don't know how this compares to you, but if my calculations are correct, his lifespan shouldn't be much shorter than yours."
Carol's eyes opened, filled with clear joy. She had been in deep shock at the thought of having to endure an eternity of loneliness, but if that eternity included Daniel, then her perspective on it felt completely different.
Seeing such a quick shift in her mood made Lara sigh internally, 'teenagers, so easy to please...'
"Are you sure? Completely sure?" Despite knowing she wouldn't lie to her, Carol still asked again, just to make sure she had understood things correctly.
"If you doubt me, you can run your own tests. Just get some of his blood and use the fortress tools to see for yourself." At this, Carol thought of the blood she destroyed earlier today and couldn't help but feel a bit of regret, though only for a moment.
"No... I don't doubt you. If you say so, I can believe it."
"Good, now that you know, I hope you can understand why your worries are unnecessary. Daniel... that boy may not realize it now, but in time, he will understand what he truly needs, and that, my dear daughter, is someone who truly understands him, someone who will be by his side not just for a few years, but for centuries."
'Would this be enough?' Lara looked at her daughter's face and could still see some doubt in her eyes. Therefore, she decided she needed to be clearer, to ensure that the idea and message she wanted to convey were firmly planted in Carol's mind.
"I know the thought of waiting might not sound appealing, but patience is a powerful weapon. Right now, Daniel still thinks like a human, and that's why he is drawn to them. But sooner or later, he'll learn that his destiny is much greater than that, and that woman will be a good example of it. Right now, she may have his attention, but she's just a human—her life is short, limited, and fragile. She will never truly understand him. You, on the other hand, can be by his side forever. Don't you see? There will be no end for the two of you. In time, she will be nothing more than a faint memory, something insignificant. So why are you worried about her?"
Lara wanted Carol to gain a superior and broader perspective, a way of seeing things beyond the human, so she could leave behind such mundane concerns and focus on what truly mattered.
Carol thought about it fiercely while biting her lip. If she looked at it coldly, Lara was right. She had all the advantages here, but even though she knew this, her heart still felt somewhat unsettled.
"Then, do I just have to wait?" she asked, doubt still clouding her eyes. It seemed too simple, too passive for what she felt.
Lara let out an almost exasperated sigh. "If you do that, you'd be completely foolish, Carol. Having time doesn't mean you should waste it doing nothing." She leaned forward, her intense gaze fixed on her daughter. "Even if you choose to be patient, you can't just sit back and do nothing. If you do, that boy will just keep ignoring you."
She continued, her tone sharp. "I didn't tell you all this for you to think you just have to sit there. I told you so you can stop paying attention to things that, in the end, won't matter. It's about focus, my daughter. You can't let every little obstacle affect you on your path, or you'll never reach your goal. What you now see as competition, what troubles you... those are just momentary distractions, and giving them more attention than they deserve is complete nonsense."
Carol began to pace in circles, carefully thinking over everything that had been said, processing what her mother wanted to convey several times until the idea finally settled in her mind, making her eyes shine with determination.
She was clear on what she had to do, and even if she didn't like it, she could work with it.
Because the only thing that mattered was that in the end, he stayed with her.
"I understand... thank you, Mom." Lara raised an eyebrow as she saw her smile mysteriously. She was curious about the conclusion Carol had reached but decided not to ask. If she kept holding her hand, her daughter would never learn on her own. She had interfered enough for now; it was time to observe. And if Carol made a mistake, she would help her correct it.
After all, that's what she existed for.
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Daniel frowned as he looked at the immersion chamber where Harleen lay unconscious. He checked her vital signs one last time before deciding to step away, as there was nothing more he could do for her but wait.
Which was frustrating; he didn't like being passive. But if even Lara couldn't do anything with the Kryptonian technology in the fortress, then all he could do was step aside and let things take their course.
Even if he hated it.
'I need to keep myself busy.' Deciding that sitting still would only frustrate him more, he prepared to head back to his farm and get a new suit to start cleaning up the mess that his battle with Graviton had left in the coastal cities.
At least that was something he could do.
And if, in the midst of that, he happened to run into a certain Scarlet Speedster, even better.
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.
.
Note:
I was invited to see Joker 2. I've been a bit short on time, but I decided to give it a chance for some inspiration… I didn't like it. I don't want to criticize too much, but honestly, I came out feeling quite... disappointed? Yes, I think that word is correct. There's not much more to say. If you've had the chance to see it, I'd love to hear what you thought.
P.S., if you find any errors in the chapter, please feel free to point them out so I can correct them.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
45: Friendship
- Location
- Eart
45: Friendship
His consciousness, which seemed to have been submerged in a deep well of darkness, began to return thanks to a vaguely familiar sound.
It was something irritating, a continuous and monotonous beeping. It brought back annoying memories of his old days as a rookie agent, when he got into more trouble than he should have. With a groan, his eyelids, which felt extremely heavy, began to slowly open.
The blurry vision took a few moments to clear, and when it did, it was only for the light of a white spotlight to almost blind him again.
A hospital. Why was he in a hospital? The answer didn't take long to be revealed, as memories abruptly started flooding back.
"HALL!" he wanted to shout, but the oxygen mask on his face prevented him. Of course, his body still tried to get up, but a hand on his chest pushed him back down, making his wounds throb in pain, the annoying beeping becoming erratic.
"Take it easy, Director," the voice made Fury refocus his gaze. Seeing one of his trusted agents by his side made him sigh, and his dwindling consciousness sank back into darkness.
…
"The internal injuries are numerous, but fortunately, nothing we haven't dealt with before, so we were able to act in time to prevent any lasting damage. it will take time but you will recover" Fury, now more awake and without an oxygen mask on his face, nodded toward the doctor who had come to give him a report on his current condition.
"Thank you very much, doctor." The doctor nodded, said a few more words, and left, leaving Fury alone with his loyal assistant, Maria Hill, who had been quietly by his side.
"How are things?" At his question, the SHIELD agent pulled out some pre-prepared reports.
"Well, the world's in a panic, governments are on high alert, and Washington D.C. might not be rebuilt in the next twenty years. Maybe the only good news is that the president wasn't at the White House, which, by the way, no longer exists."
Fury grimaced upon hearing this and seeing the images of the now-empty lot where the presidential residence once stood.
Yeah, this wasn't going to be easy to fix.
"In other news, although the death toll hasn't been fully calculated yet, it's low enough that we can work around it. Given the magnitude of everything, it might be the best outcome we could have hoped for."
Seeing the reports of the verified deaths, Fury frowned. After all, the initial attack took place at the SHIELD headquarters, meaning most of the deaths were his agents—hundreds of them. After that, while an entire city was nearly destroyed and many others along the East Coast were affected, the number of civilian deaths was still relatively low by comparison.
Something truly unreal, considering everything.
"Looks like Defiant and Iron Man had their hands full this time."
"Well, not just them."
With that said, Maria Hill handed over two somewhat thin folders. Curious, Fury took one and opened it, only for a look of surprise to form on his face.
"Seems like there's still a lot we don't know about Defiant."
Fury couldn't help but agree, nodding as he closely examined the image showing a female figure bearing the same symbol as his ally, carrying a massive bridge on her shoulders. The only difference was the helmet with a dark visor obscuring her facial features, but otherwise, the suit she wore was almost identical.
"Has this spread already?"
"Like wildfire, people are going crazy, and so are the media. If Defiant wanted to keep this hidden, it's no longer possible, even if we tried to help him cover it up. After all, she alone saved tens of thousands of people, and the witnesses to her existence won't stop talking about it."
Fury looked through the rest of the reports on the mysterious woman. It seemed her involvement had been key in keeping the death toll lower than expected, at least in Washington D.C. and its surroundings. There wasn't much more to review, as all the information on her was limited to this last incident.
Finally, Fury reached the end of the folder, where he found the front page of one of the country's major newspapers, a close-up featuring the first image he had seen, accompanied by a striking headline.
"Defiance? Seems like the media isn't very original these days." Hearing this, Maria smiled.
"I think it fits. She's using the same symbol, after all, and people seem to like it. So unless she says otherwise, the name will stick."
Fury didn't believe that would happen anytime soon. If she had wanted to step into the light, she could have done so much earlier alongside Defiant. The fact that she stayed hidden and even wore a helmet made it obvious she didn't want the attention, even if she had it now.
Setting the first folder aside, Fury reached for the second one, which was even thinner than the first.
"Not a single clear image?" For the most part, the folder was filled with written reports and witness accounts.
"Well, not for the media, but we managed to get something—mostly security camera footage," Maria Hill said as she pulled out a decently-sized tablet. Fury took it, scrolling through several files. There were dozens, with varying levels of quality, but regardless of which one he looked at, even when slowing the footage down, all that could be seen was a red blur speeding across the screen like a flash, saving people.
Even using SHIELD's image enhancement software, which had been developed to get clearer visuals of Defiant, was useless for providing a proper image—everything was just a blurry figure.
"This feels familiar," Fury muttered, frowning until the memory clicked.
A while back, there had been some strange news in Central City that caught his attention. Since he'd been in the area, he had sent Agent Coulson to check it out, leaving Natasha to handle the Stark situation in his place.
It seemed like it was time to see if Coulson had uncovered anything and if this was related in the way Fury suspected.
Seeing the look on his face, Maria Hill sighed. She thought about reminding him that the doctor had advised extended rest, but she knew it would be useless. Injured or not, the Director wouldn't take a day off.
Especially not when all of this had happened because of SHIELD.
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"This feels really weird, don't you think?"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
Chloe thought about how to explain what she meant as she and Carol walked onto the school grounds. Stretching both hands out, she gestured at the crowd of students flooding the campus, as well as the oddly youthful atmosphere, and spoke again.
"The world almost ended, and here we are, back to classes like nothing happened. I just... I don't know," she struggled to put it into words.
"You do know that the United States isn't the whole world, right?" Carol said in a monotone. Sure, Graviton's gravitational power had caused major destruction across the planet, but the only place that was really affected on a large scale was North America, with several coastal U.S. cities entering a temporary state of emergency—cities that were quite far from Smallville.
"Hey!, for the record, I got pretty good grades in geography, of course I know! It's just... I thought things would be different. I mean, I expected there to be more consequences, but I guess, with Defiant helping everywhere, the situation isn't actually as bad as some of the news outlets made it out to be."
Though not many days had passed since the incident, it was noticeable to everyone that the effect had been felt across the entire Earth. Several scientific institutions even issued serious warnings about the potential chain reactions that such abrupt changes in the gravitational field could cause.
This raised alarms that the media outlets around the world quickly turned into headlines, generating significant concern among the public. Some even spoke of various end-of-the-world theories, claiming this was just the beginning of such events and similar things.
The worry and panic soon calmed down, however, as Defiant had been traveling all over the planet, effectively managing damage control by addressing the consequences before they could cause significant harm.
Which, in Carol's opinion, made all the fuss that people were making seem a bit exaggerated once everyone realized that life was continuing just as it always had.
Of course, there were still problems. After all, Daniel couldn't be everywhere at once or prevent every "natural" disaster triggered by his fight with Graviton, but at least he made sure to be there for the truly dangerous ones.
Like the massive tsunami with waves over 30 meters high that almost hit Japan's shores just a few hours ago. If Daniel hadn't arrived in time to stop it, it would've been more than just a morning news headline.
"Sometimes the media tends to exaggerate things. Don't worry or overthink it. As long as Defiant's here, the world will always be safe, that's a fact."
Hearing the certainty in her voice, Chloe nodded, agreeing to some extent with her friend, though still far from being as much of a fangirl as she thought Carol was.
"Well, it's not just Defiant anymore, right? I heard there's a new heroine, though no one has seen her since the incident. I wonder why. Do you think she doesn't like going out in public, like him?" Upon hearing this, Carol almost frowned.
Even though she knew that going with Daniel that day could lead to some people learning about her existence, she hadn't thought things would escalate as much as they did. Watching the news stopped being fun when they kept dedicating more than half an hour to talking about her. She didn't like it, and thank heaven her parents hadn't suspected anything, or she would have had a hard time explaining it.
"We can talk about that later. It's better if we hurry. I don't want to be late for the first class," her voice was somewhat curt, making her blonde friend raise an eyebrow.
Huh? Chloe thought Carol would be more enthusiastic about the topic, given how much she seemed to like Defiant, but it seemed like the opposite, which confused her a bit. However, she couldn't give it much thought because Carol was right; if they didn't hurry, they were going to be late.
So both entered the school, ready to continue with the remaining school days, as their graduation was just around the corner.
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"So, what do you think? I know it's still modest by my standards, but I plan to change that very soon." Daniel admired the view from the terrace of the top floor of Tony's new building.
With everything that had happened lately, it seemed the billionaire had finally decided to move to New York, even starting a rather considerable funding project in the city to help rebuild the damage caused during the Graviton incident. It seemed he had taken his words seriously when he spoke to him about damage control.
"I'll say 93 floors is an odd number. Maybe you should add another 7 since you've decided to invest so much in this."
"Seriously, that's the only thing that caught your attention? Your thoughts are really strange."
Tony approached him, admiring the view by his side with a grass-green drink in his hands. Daniel glanced at him for a moment. He hadn't forgotten Tony's problem, and though his hands were a bit tied at the moment, he decided he needed to fix that issue before it became a real nuisance, so he abruptly changed the subject, catching the man off guard.
"How much has the palladium advanced in your blood?"
"You..." Seeing his surprise, Daniel gave him a small smile.
"You know my senses are far superior to those of ordinary humans; it's not hard for me to notice. I didn't want to intrude too much, but I can't keep watching a friend in trouble and not do something." If he left things as they were, maybe Tony could find a way to solve it on his own, but Daniel had decided he needed to be more proactive. After all, the last time he left a friend alone, things didn't turn out well for her.
He preferred not to keep taking risks, especially since he had the ability to help.
For his part, Tony stayed silent for a moment, staring at the disgusting green smoothie he'd been drinking.
'A friend, huh?' Ever since the whole debacle with Rhodes, Tony thought it would take some time before he formed another friendship that felt real. He knew himself well enough, even if people thought otherwise. He knew he was hard to deal with and that his personality wasn't something most people could easily tolerate, or for long—reasons why Pepper was so important to him.
And because she was so important, he hadn't been able to find a way to talk about what was happening with her or with anyone. Well, there was Jarvis, but many would say that didn't count, even if Tony thought otherwise.
Having death breathing down your neck wasn't an easy burden, although Tony would say he was handling it pretty well on his own.
But if he were truly honest, a part of him also wanted to talk about this with someone who wasn't the A.I. he had built to serve him.
So, even if he hesitated for a second, he still answered the question.
"The amount is still manageable, though it's advancing a little faster every time I use the armor. It's not great news, but I've been thinking about a few solutions."
"Heh, what a coincidence, I've also been thinking about some solutions. Maybe we could think about them together and see if we can solve it."
At such an offer, Tony raised an eyebrow with interest.
"I thought you were busy keeping the planet in one piece."
"I've already handled most of the immediate aftermath, and if something comes up, I can always fly there." Besides acting as Defiant, Daniel still had many projects underway, but he could put them on hold for a moment. Plus, helping Tony wouldn't really take much time, after all, he already had the solution, it just needed to be brought into reality..
Tony stayed quiet for a moment before shrugging and tossing the half-drunk chlorophyll drink into the trash can on the terrace.
"Alright, why not? Let's do it."
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"Well, this won't be the worst thing I've tasted." He looked at the utensil, oddly resembling a spoon, with doubt, then picked it up to poke at the amorphous green-vomit-like paste with chunks of something he hoped was meat.
His wrong move caused the thing to deflate abruptly, releasing a thick green cloud that disgusted him enough to make his appetite disappear in an instant.
Alright, maybe this would be the worst thing he'd ever tasted… if he could manage to get it into his mouth without vomiting.
"It seems the snurkyack isn't to your liking. I've heard Earthlings have quite a distinctive palate," a soft voice spoke, making Hal Jordan look up to see a beautiful humanoid woman with pink skin and long, waist-length hair of light purple approaching him.
The exotic-looking woman sat across from him, placing a plate with a similar content to his on the table.
"Well, I wouldn't say it's distinctive, but rather varied. I certainly know some types who would eat anything without blinking."
"Seems you're not one of those types," Hal thought he was—until today. He supposed even he had his limits.
"Setting my dietary preferences aside, are you sure it's a good idea to sit here? Honestly, I don't want to cause more problems with your friends. They already hate me enough just for existing." It was a bit annoying, reminding him in some ways of his early days in the Air Force. Being the rookie again wasn't all that fun.
"Oh, they don't hate you. They just need time to adjust. Abin Sur was a very beloved member of the Green Lantern Corps. We all respected and trusted him. Losing him has been hard, and I know that's no excuse for how they treat you, but I still ask that you try to understand them." Seeing the plea in her kind violet eyes, Hal couldn't help but sigh. He really couldn't bring himself to be angry with someone who was just trying to be nice, even if her friends were jerks.
"I guess I can try. But let's stop talking about them. Do you have any news about the prisoner? Cuch?" Hal really appreciated the translation function the ring provided. He was pretty sure he'd butchered the alien name, even though he'd tried not to.
"He's already being interrogated. It seems Sinestro is quite eager to extract everything he can from him, even if his methods are… less than pleasant." At that, the former Earth pilot grimaced. He'd seen some of what Sinestro could do when he accompanied him on that first mission to "test" him, and he could already imagine how rough things might get.
"Is it really okay? I mean..."
"I know what you mean, it's something we've all been noticing, believe me. Sinestro has been... difficult lately, but it's because of all the pressure he's been under." She was really kind if she was looking for an excuse for a guy who clearly wasn't doing things right.
Or maybe naive, but Hal didn't know her well enough yet to say which it was.
He was already starting to miss Earth. At least there, things were easier and simpler. Surely everyone at the base was having a blast with Christmas coming up.
He wondered if he'd be able to go back by then.
Pushing those thoughts out of his head, he refocused on their current conversation.
"Saving the universe or something like that, right? They still haven't told me what that's all about." The woman nodded.
"It's a long story that goes back as far as time itself.."
"I guess I'll have to take notes." Now, how did he activate the recording function on the ring?
"Oh, I could show you directly." With that, she raised her hand, forming a fist with her ring pointed in his direction. Then she took his hand and placed it in the same position as hers, bringing the rings close until they connected, and the information began to flow through his mind.
Well, it seemed there would be no Christmas for him. Just great.
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Note:
Remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
His consciousness, which seemed to have been submerged in a deep well of darkness, began to return thanks to a vaguely familiar sound.
It was something irritating, a continuous and monotonous beeping. It brought back annoying memories of his old days as a rookie agent, when he got into more trouble than he should have. With a groan, his eyelids, which felt extremely heavy, began to slowly open.
The blurry vision took a few moments to clear, and when it did, it was only for the light of a white spotlight to almost blind him again.
A hospital. Why was he in a hospital? The answer didn't take long to be revealed, as memories abruptly started flooding back.
"HALL!" he wanted to shout, but the oxygen mask on his face prevented him. Of course, his body still tried to get up, but a hand on his chest pushed him back down, making his wounds throb in pain, the annoying beeping becoming erratic.
"Take it easy, Director," the voice made Fury refocus his gaze. Seeing one of his trusted agents by his side made him sigh, and his dwindling consciousness sank back into darkness.
…
"The internal injuries are numerous, but fortunately, nothing we haven't dealt with before, so we were able to act in time to prevent any lasting damage. it will take time but you will recover" Fury, now more awake and without an oxygen mask on his face, nodded toward the doctor who had come to give him a report on his current condition.
"Thank you very much, doctor." The doctor nodded, said a few more words, and left, leaving Fury alone with his loyal assistant, Maria Hill, who had been quietly by his side.
"How are things?" At his question, the SHIELD agent pulled out some pre-prepared reports.
"Well, the world's in a panic, governments are on high alert, and Washington D.C. might not be rebuilt in the next twenty years. Maybe the only good news is that the president wasn't at the White House, which, by the way, no longer exists."
Fury grimaced upon hearing this and seeing the images of the now-empty lot where the presidential residence once stood.
Yeah, this wasn't going to be easy to fix.
"In other news, although the death toll hasn't been fully calculated yet, it's low enough that we can work around it. Given the magnitude of everything, it might be the best outcome we could have hoped for."
Seeing the reports of the verified deaths, Fury frowned. After all, the initial attack took place at the SHIELD headquarters, meaning most of the deaths were his agents—hundreds of them. After that, while an entire city was nearly destroyed and many others along the East Coast were affected, the number of civilian deaths was still relatively low by comparison.
Something truly unreal, considering everything.
"Looks like Defiant and Iron Man had their hands full this time."
"Well, not just them."
With that said, Maria Hill handed over two somewhat thin folders. Curious, Fury took one and opened it, only for a look of surprise to form on his face.
"Seems like there's still a lot we don't know about Defiant."
Fury couldn't help but agree, nodding as he closely examined the image showing a female figure bearing the same symbol as his ally, carrying a massive bridge on her shoulders. The only difference was the helmet with a dark visor obscuring her facial features, but otherwise, the suit she wore was almost identical.
"Has this spread already?"
"Like wildfire, people are going crazy, and so are the media. If Defiant wanted to keep this hidden, it's no longer possible, even if we tried to help him cover it up. After all, she alone saved tens of thousands of people, and the witnesses to her existence won't stop talking about it."
Fury looked through the rest of the reports on the mysterious woman. It seemed her involvement had been key in keeping the death toll lower than expected, at least in Washington D.C. and its surroundings. There wasn't much more to review, as all the information on her was limited to this last incident.
Finally, Fury reached the end of the folder, where he found the front page of one of the country's major newspapers, a close-up featuring the first image he had seen, accompanied by a striking headline.
"Defiance? Seems like the media isn't very original these days." Hearing this, Maria smiled.
"I think it fits. She's using the same symbol, after all, and people seem to like it. So unless she says otherwise, the name will stick."
Fury didn't believe that would happen anytime soon. If she had wanted to step into the light, she could have done so much earlier alongside Defiant. The fact that she stayed hidden and even wore a helmet made it obvious she didn't want the attention, even if she had it now.
Setting the first folder aside, Fury reached for the second one, which was even thinner than the first.
"Not a single clear image?" For the most part, the folder was filled with written reports and witness accounts.
"Well, not for the media, but we managed to get something—mostly security camera footage," Maria Hill said as she pulled out a decently-sized tablet. Fury took it, scrolling through several files. There were dozens, with varying levels of quality, but regardless of which one he looked at, even when slowing the footage down, all that could be seen was a red blur speeding across the screen like a flash, saving people.
Even using SHIELD's image enhancement software, which had been developed to get clearer visuals of Defiant, was useless for providing a proper image—everything was just a blurry figure.
"This feels familiar," Fury muttered, frowning until the memory clicked.
A while back, there had been some strange news in Central City that caught his attention. Since he'd been in the area, he had sent Agent Coulson to check it out, leaving Natasha to handle the Stark situation in his place.
It seemed like it was time to see if Coulson had uncovered anything and if this was related in the way Fury suspected.
Seeing the look on his face, Maria Hill sighed. She thought about reminding him that the doctor had advised extended rest, but she knew it would be useless. Injured or not, the Director wouldn't take a day off.
Especially not when all of this had happened because of SHIELD.
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"This feels really weird, don't you think?"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
Chloe thought about how to explain what she meant as she and Carol walked onto the school grounds. Stretching both hands out, she gestured at the crowd of students flooding the campus, as well as the oddly youthful atmosphere, and spoke again.
"The world almost ended, and here we are, back to classes like nothing happened. I just... I don't know," she struggled to put it into words.
"You do know that the United States isn't the whole world, right?" Carol said in a monotone. Sure, Graviton's gravitational power had caused major destruction across the planet, but the only place that was really affected on a large scale was North America, with several coastal U.S. cities entering a temporary state of emergency—cities that were quite far from Smallville.
"Hey!, for the record, I got pretty good grades in geography, of course I know! It's just... I thought things would be different. I mean, I expected there to be more consequences, but I guess, with Defiant helping everywhere, the situation isn't actually as bad as some of the news outlets made it out to be."
Though not many days had passed since the incident, it was noticeable to everyone that the effect had been felt across the entire Earth. Several scientific institutions even issued serious warnings about the potential chain reactions that such abrupt changes in the gravitational field could cause.
This raised alarms that the media outlets around the world quickly turned into headlines, generating significant concern among the public. Some even spoke of various end-of-the-world theories, claiming this was just the beginning of such events and similar things.
The worry and panic soon calmed down, however, as Defiant had been traveling all over the planet, effectively managing damage control by addressing the consequences before they could cause significant harm.
Which, in Carol's opinion, made all the fuss that people were making seem a bit exaggerated once everyone realized that life was continuing just as it always had.
Of course, there were still problems. After all, Daniel couldn't be everywhere at once or prevent every "natural" disaster triggered by his fight with Graviton, but at least he made sure to be there for the truly dangerous ones.
Like the massive tsunami with waves over 30 meters high that almost hit Japan's shores just a few hours ago. If Daniel hadn't arrived in time to stop it, it would've been more than just a morning news headline.
"Sometimes the media tends to exaggerate things. Don't worry or overthink it. As long as Defiant's here, the world will always be safe, that's a fact."
Hearing the certainty in her voice, Chloe nodded, agreeing to some extent with her friend, though still far from being as much of a fangirl as she thought Carol was.
"Well, it's not just Defiant anymore, right? I heard there's a new heroine, though no one has seen her since the incident. I wonder why. Do you think she doesn't like going out in public, like him?" Upon hearing this, Carol almost frowned.
Even though she knew that going with Daniel that day could lead to some people learning about her existence, she hadn't thought things would escalate as much as they did. Watching the news stopped being fun when they kept dedicating more than half an hour to talking about her. She didn't like it, and thank heaven her parents hadn't suspected anything, or she would have had a hard time explaining it.
"We can talk about that later. It's better if we hurry. I don't want to be late for the first class," her voice was somewhat curt, making her blonde friend raise an eyebrow.
Huh? Chloe thought Carol would be more enthusiastic about the topic, given how much she seemed to like Defiant, but it seemed like the opposite, which confused her a bit. However, she couldn't give it much thought because Carol was right; if they didn't hurry, they were going to be late.
So both entered the school, ready to continue with the remaining school days, as their graduation was just around the corner.
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"So, what do you think? I know it's still modest by my standards, but I plan to change that very soon." Daniel admired the view from the terrace of the top floor of Tony's new building.
With everything that had happened lately, it seemed the billionaire had finally decided to move to New York, even starting a rather considerable funding project in the city to help rebuild the damage caused during the Graviton incident. It seemed he had taken his words seriously when he spoke to him about damage control.
"I'll say 93 floors is an odd number. Maybe you should add another 7 since you've decided to invest so much in this."
"Seriously, that's the only thing that caught your attention? Your thoughts are really strange."
Tony approached him, admiring the view by his side with a grass-green drink in his hands. Daniel glanced at him for a moment. He hadn't forgotten Tony's problem, and though his hands were a bit tied at the moment, he decided he needed to fix that issue before it became a real nuisance, so he abruptly changed the subject, catching the man off guard.
"How much has the palladium advanced in your blood?"
"You..." Seeing his surprise, Daniel gave him a small smile.
"You know my senses are far superior to those of ordinary humans; it's not hard for me to notice. I didn't want to intrude too much, but I can't keep watching a friend in trouble and not do something." If he left things as they were, maybe Tony could find a way to solve it on his own, but Daniel had decided he needed to be more proactive. After all, the last time he left a friend alone, things didn't turn out well for her.
He preferred not to keep taking risks, especially since he had the ability to help.
For his part, Tony stayed silent for a moment, staring at the disgusting green smoothie he'd been drinking.
'A friend, huh?' Ever since the whole debacle with Rhodes, Tony thought it would take some time before he formed another friendship that felt real. He knew himself well enough, even if people thought otherwise. He knew he was hard to deal with and that his personality wasn't something most people could easily tolerate, or for long—reasons why Pepper was so important to him.
And because she was so important, he hadn't been able to find a way to talk about what was happening with her or with anyone. Well, there was Jarvis, but many would say that didn't count, even if Tony thought otherwise.
Having death breathing down your neck wasn't an easy burden, although Tony would say he was handling it pretty well on his own.
But if he were truly honest, a part of him also wanted to talk about this with someone who wasn't the A.I. he had built to serve him.
So, even if he hesitated for a second, he still answered the question.
"The amount is still manageable, though it's advancing a little faster every time I use the armor. It's not great news, but I've been thinking about a few solutions."
"Heh, what a coincidence, I've also been thinking about some solutions. Maybe we could think about them together and see if we can solve it."
At such an offer, Tony raised an eyebrow with interest.
"I thought you were busy keeping the planet in one piece."
"I've already handled most of the immediate aftermath, and if something comes up, I can always fly there." Besides acting as Defiant, Daniel still had many projects underway, but he could put them on hold for a moment. Plus, helping Tony wouldn't really take much time, after all, he already had the solution, it just needed to be brought into reality..
Tony stayed quiet for a moment before shrugging and tossing the half-drunk chlorophyll drink into the trash can on the terrace.
"Alright, why not? Let's do it."
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"Well, this won't be the worst thing I've tasted." He looked at the utensil, oddly resembling a spoon, with doubt, then picked it up to poke at the amorphous green-vomit-like paste with chunks of something he hoped was meat.
His wrong move caused the thing to deflate abruptly, releasing a thick green cloud that disgusted him enough to make his appetite disappear in an instant.
Alright, maybe this would be the worst thing he'd ever tasted… if he could manage to get it into his mouth without vomiting.
"It seems the snurkyack isn't to your liking. I've heard Earthlings have quite a distinctive palate," a soft voice spoke, making Hal Jordan look up to see a beautiful humanoid woman with pink skin and long, waist-length hair of light purple approaching him.
The exotic-looking woman sat across from him, placing a plate with a similar content to his on the table.
"Well, I wouldn't say it's distinctive, but rather varied. I certainly know some types who would eat anything without blinking."
"Seems you're not one of those types," Hal thought he was—until today. He supposed even he had his limits.
"Setting my dietary preferences aside, are you sure it's a good idea to sit here? Honestly, I don't want to cause more problems with your friends. They already hate me enough just for existing." It was a bit annoying, reminding him in some ways of his early days in the Air Force. Being the rookie again wasn't all that fun.
"Oh, they don't hate you. They just need time to adjust. Abin Sur was a very beloved member of the Green Lantern Corps. We all respected and trusted him. Losing him has been hard, and I know that's no excuse for how they treat you, but I still ask that you try to understand them." Seeing the plea in her kind violet eyes, Hal couldn't help but sigh. He really couldn't bring himself to be angry with someone who was just trying to be nice, even if her friends were jerks.
"I guess I can try. But let's stop talking about them. Do you have any news about the prisoner? Cuch?" Hal really appreciated the translation function the ring provided. He was pretty sure he'd butchered the alien name, even though he'd tried not to.
"He's already being interrogated. It seems Sinestro is quite eager to extract everything he can from him, even if his methods are… less than pleasant." At that, the former Earth pilot grimaced. He'd seen some of what Sinestro could do when he accompanied him on that first mission to "test" him, and he could already imagine how rough things might get.
"Is it really okay? I mean..."
"I know what you mean, it's something we've all been noticing, believe me. Sinestro has been... difficult lately, but it's because of all the pressure he's been under." She was really kind if she was looking for an excuse for a guy who clearly wasn't doing things right.
Or maybe naive, but Hal didn't know her well enough yet to say which it was.
He was already starting to miss Earth. At least there, things were easier and simpler. Surely everyone at the base was having a blast with Christmas coming up.
He wondered if he'd be able to go back by then.
Pushing those thoughts out of his head, he refocused on their current conversation.
"Saving the universe or something like that, right? They still haven't told me what that's all about." The woman nodded.
"It's a long story that goes back as far as time itself.."
"I guess I'll have to take notes." Now, how did he activate the recording function on the ring?
"Oh, I could show you directly." With that, she raised her hand, forming a fist with her ring pointed in his direction. Then she took his hand and placed it in the same position as hers, bringing the rings close until they connected, and the information began to flow through his mind.
Well, it seemed there would be no Christmas for him. Just great.
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Note:
Remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
- Location
- Here
Honest opinion, it cheats! There is this network of spider totems, webbed together. Madame Web uses it to predict the future, and I think the ability itself will OP any spider if the local reality needs it.
- Location
- United Kingdom
Read 2 of the 5 pages of this on reader mode so about a fifth I suppose, and it's just a bit clumsy and frustrating really.
I thought the budding romance was actually quite well done, and the MC does at lease seem to have a personality so those were both a little surprising.
But the broad base of heroics and certain narrative choices have confused the themes of the work. Marvel is quite dark when compared with DC. Recently we've had stuff about how Defiant isn't political, but he's spend thousands of words performing inherently political acts. That's just not addressed. This may have been forgotten I suppose like a few other things, for example, selling the viltrumite stuff. Hes been making reams of fabric and then complains that he has no money.
It's like you touch upon an interesting point and then just can't quite grasp how to deal with it. I think more planning would be useful in future endeavours, as although there's an interesting start to things a lot do it doesn't really go anywhere. I would also note that it's quite a boring story for the length of it. Whole scenes are repeated, especially the recent sequence which is basically the second act of Iron Man 1. What is the purpose of this? You mention in one authors note that you write a lot and seemed to be surprised or proud of this, and sure good job you've written 200k that is an achievement, but if you've just lifted whole scenes out of the original work what's the point?
I thought the budding romance was actually quite well done, and the MC does at lease seem to have a personality so those were both a little surprising.
But the broad base of heroics and certain narrative choices have confused the themes of the work. Marvel is quite dark when compared with DC. Recently we've had stuff about how Defiant isn't political, but he's spend thousands of words performing inherently political acts. That's just not addressed. This may have been forgotten I suppose like a few other things, for example, selling the viltrumite stuff. Hes been making reams of fabric and then complains that he has no money.
It's like you touch upon an interesting point and then just can't quite grasp how to deal with it. I think more planning would be useful in future endeavours, as although there's an interesting start to things a lot do it doesn't really go anywhere. I would also note that it's quite a boring story for the length of it. Whole scenes are repeated, especially the recent sequence which is basically the second act of Iron Man 1. What is the purpose of this? You mention in one authors note that you write a lot and seemed to be surprised or proud of this, and sure good job you've written 200k that is an achievement, but if you've just lifted whole scenes out of the original work what's the point?
- Location
- Eart
Hi! I see your criticism, answering everything is complicated, but one thing I can say is that I started many of the initial plots with the aim of making them something extended (that is, that they develop over time so I understand that it can be somewhat frustrating when they don't seem to advance as quickly as one would expect) on the other hand to answer the iron man part, it's the only time something like that happens and even when the scenes may seem similar I made sure to change enough things to avoid it being a copy, it may not be obvious at first but I think it's noticeable once you compare it and I used those small changes to make slightly more significant changes later.
Chill dawg I get its all constructive criticism but this is a little harsh
46: New Element
- Location
- Eart
46: New Element
"What do you think of this?" Daniel moved the blue light projections with his hand, causing the atomic structure map in front of him to change and reshape once again. Both men in the "laboratory" silently watched the image until the projection turned an alarming red, and the entire structure collapsed in an instant.
Another failure.
Exhaling all the air he had been holding, Tony placed his hands on his hips and shook his head.
"Alright, this isn't working. It's clear we're doing something wrong; we need to change the approach." At his words, Daniel, who was rubbing his chin with his hand, looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Change the approach? Tony, there's no better solution than finding a new element to replace palladium in the arc reactor, unless, of course, you want to look for a heart donor."
Suddenly, Tony snapped his fingers and pointed at him.
"Yes, that! Well, I like my heart where it is, thanks, but... maybe there's an alternative that doesn't require taking it out of my chest, maybe surgery to remove the shrapnel! Jarvis, give me a list of the best surgeons in the world." At his command, Jarvis began working, and quickly, a screen with a lot of data on different doctors appeared in front of them.
"According to their achievements and records, I have selected the top ten candidates for what you're seeking, sir. Still, I must warn you that the risk is too high, and the chances of success are almost nil." In the current era they were in, Earth didn't have the medical technology necessary to do what Tony was looking for, at least not without taking enormous risks.
Tony looked at the information in front of him with a frown. He didn't like this option either. Jarvis didn't need to tell him because he was well aware since he returned from Afghanistan that removing the shrapnel from his chest had very little chance of becoming a reality at this time; otherwise, he would have already done it and wouldn't be putting so much effort into finding other options to replace the palladium. But that he thought about this option again could not be avoided. With each failure, he felt as if his life was slipping through his fingers, and his death became increasingly inevitable. Even if the chance of success was a mere one percent, it would still be preferable to simply waiting and dying without more.
Daniel glanced briefly at the information on the screen, raising an eyebrow as he noticed a vaguely familiar name. Vague memories came to him, and he mentally noted it as something to investigate later before turning his attention back to Tony.
"Isn't it too soon to give up just like that? Do you really want to throw in the towel this way?"
The billionaire clicked his tongue and waved his hand, making the screen with the doctors' information disappear. Then he looked at Daniel with a hint of reluctance.
"Even if I don't want to, it seems like I don't have better options left. We've tried all the known elements, all the possible combinations, and nothing! Even 'creating' a new one doesn't seem to be giving results."
Hearing the discouragement in his voice, Daniel decided it was time to stop wasting time. There were a few reasons why he hadn't just pulled the solution out of his ass and given it to Tony immediately. The first was to test Tony's abilities firsthand. Knowing someone is a genius is one thing, but seeing that genius push themselves and work on something with all their strength is another.
A kind of experience very valuable in many ways, one that gave him a more advanced understanding of how a truly intelligent person worked and their advanced thought processes.
After all, to learn to imitate something, you first need to know how that something works, right? Daniel had learned a lot from this interaction, gaining knowledge that couldn't be reached just by reading study materials and books like he had been doing so far.
In the end, Tony wouldn't be the first or the last genius he'd work with, and if he wanted to keep up with such "monsters," he needed more than just a perfect memory and an accelerated thought process.
He needed to find his own "spark," metaphorically speaking.
Another reason was that he wanted to clear up his memories by spending time with him. Although he knew the possible solution to the problem, many other things had been blurry, and if there was something unknown that could be harmful to Tony, it would be better to avoid it from the start.
This testing period, working alongside the playboy, had made him remember many things he'd previously overlooked. Now he fully knew how Tony had discovered—or rather, rediscovered—the new element, at least in another reality. In this universe, though the Tony he knew had some similarities to the Tony of his memories, he was also different in several important aspects.
That made him worry a little. What would happen if his plan didn't work? In that case, Daniel still had a Plan B, but he preferred not to use it if possible. Continuing to rely so heavily on the Fortress and Kryptonian technology didn't sit well with him, even though he knew that was a somewhat selfish thought in a certain sense. Still, he was self-aware enough not to dismiss the possibility if his ideal solution failed.
If he kept owing Carol so many favors, he feared his debt to her would grow so large that the only way left to repay her would be with himself.
'If it really comes to that, I'll have no choice but to sacrifice myself for the greater good.' After all, as a hero, it was his duty and responsibility to step up in times of crisis.
"Why does your face suddenly look so strange? I feel like you're having some disordered thoughts. Did something occur to you?" Seeing the look of determination, resolve, and courage that suddenly appeared on Daniel's face, Tony couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. For some reason, he felt something odd about that expression, something off, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.
"Ahem! Well, actually, I do have some ideas. Even though we've failed several times, that doesn't mean it was for nothing. A failed attempt is just one less mistake we can make, and it's something we can learn from." Pushing the strange thoughts out of his mind, Daniel had Jarvis pull up the simulations and models of all the failed attempts at the atomic structures of the possible theoretical elements and present them before them.
In truth, throughout these tests, Daniel had been slowly building the correct model piece by piece, though still incomplete. He'd only added about 30% of the true structure to see if Tony could fill in the missing parts and solve the "puzzle" on his own. And it had actually worked—but not entirely.
Tony was definitely getting closer. Many of the pieces Daniel hadn't provided, Tony was able to figure out, making the model increasingly stable. Daniel believed that if this continued, in two or three days, the billionaire could discover the new element on his own without Daniel's direct intervention.
The problem was that this approach required Tony to have a certain level of patience in his work—something that was clearly running out fast.
Well, it was time to fix that.
"First, let's discard the early attempts and keep the most stable ones." Daniel quickly removed the most incomplete models from the projection and kept the ones he knew would be useful.
He then began selecting each of them, and with a gesture of his hand, he made each model overlap in several layers, forming a new one. The errors in the structure highlighted in a light red, while the most stable and promising areas remained blue.
With a critical eye and feigned seriousness, Daniel studied this new structural model down to the smallest detail. Then, he snapped his fingers and smiled confidently as if he had just discovered something. Tony, who had been frowning in distraction, snapped out of it and started focusing as well when he saw Daniel working with such confidence. A spark of interest lit up in his eyes.
Using the projection with the superimposed models as a base, Daniel began a new design, taking only the parts he knew were "correct." At first glance, it seemed strange—after all, he didn't discard all the errors, nor did he keep all the successes. Instead, he began to create a mix that, to others, might seem nonsensical if viewed superficially.
This action puzzled Tony, as a move like this was something only someone who already knew how the pieces fit into a larger whole could make without hesitation.
Without stopping for a moment, Daniel continued moving his hands, making the structure—which had previously been just a bunch of loose "pieces"—come together into something much more complete, more "ordered." Not only that, but he also began adding things that hadn't been there before.
In a matter of minutes, the model was 60% complete, causing Tony to step forward, eyes wide with surprise, his previously disheartened mind now starting to work at full speed.
Seeing this from the corner of his eye, Daniel smiled inwardly and deliberately made an incorrect move when he thought the timing was right.
"No, no, that's wrong!" Tony took another step forward, raising his own hand and beginning to manipulate the model, quickly correcting the mistake Daniel had made on purpose.
Then, as if entering a flow state, he began adding his own contributions to the design. It had to be said—a genius is a genius. With just a push, Tony was able to see the path that had once seemed blurry and unreachable much more clearly.
Of course, there were still small deviations, which Daniel swiftly corrected. At the same time, he kept adding new elements, intentionally making mistakes now and then so Tony could correct them as well, all with the sole purpose of guiding the billionaire toward the desired result, little by little letting him complete the design on his own.
With one final move, Tony condensed the atomic structure of the new element into a single piece, which floated before them like a bright, spherical core. Emerging from it were multiple three-dimensional geometric branches connecting various polygonal nodes, molecular connections glowing as they distributed "energy" through the structure in a stable and continuous manner. Several orbital layers resembling "rings" floated around it in different directions and angles.
Both men took a step back as the tension in the room reached its peak.
Then, the projection pulsed, its brightness intensifying for a moment before returning to normal, and Jarvis's voice came through.
"Structural stability is fully stable and functional. Congratulations, gentlemen—you have created a new theoretical element with high potential to replace palladium."
Tony felt his legs almost give out beneath him, barely managing to stay upright. He stared at the projection in disbelief until he finally reacted, realizing they had actually done it.
"Holy shit, Yes!" He clenched his fists tightly, raising them into the air in excitement as a huge smile spread across his face.
Daniel didn't interrupt his celebration; instead, he looked at the completed model, idly wondering if Howard Stark had left something similar for his son in this universe. Though, in truth, it no longer mattered.
"Looks like that surgery is going to have to be postponed," Hearing this, Tony calmed down and took a deep breath.
"Yes... seems like it." The billionaire wasn't used to being grateful to others, so he wasn't exactly sure what to say at this moment. After all, just a few minutes ago, he thought his life was truly coming to an end, but now that had changed. Now he had a chance, and he knew that without Daniel, he might not have been able to find it on his own.
"Listen, I—"
"If you want to thank me, spare the formalities. We're a team, remember? Helping each other is what we're supposed to do." Hearing this, Tony relaxed, leaving his momentary discomfort behind. If he put it that way, then—
"Besides, if I let you die, it'd be hard for me to find another sidekick at your level."
"You son of—" Tony almost let his tongue slip, but he managed to calm himself when he saw the mocking look on Daniel's face, then he huffed.
"You don't know how to read the room, do you?"
"I don't think you're the right one to point that out."
.
After the conceptualization came the materialization. With both of them working together and an entire floor of Tony's new building that they had modified without hesitation, soon a "homemade" particle accelerator began to take shape.
"Seems like you've been quite busy."
"Agent Romanoff, it's good to have you visiting. Has something interesting happened?" Daniel greeted the curious Natasha, who entered the place, eyeing the mess he and Tony had made during their construction process.
"I'm just checking in. With the world as it is now, the lack of news from our only 'heroes' for so long is concerning. Besides, your communications have been silent. That's why I thought I'd look for you personally. The last time they saw Defiant, he was flying over New York, and since Stark just acquired this building in the city, I thought I'd check here. Seems my intuition was right."
As the liaison between SHIELD and the team, Natasha was responsible for ensuring that both were available in case of any major event that might arise, a job that had become much more important since Graviton nearly destroyed the entire East Coast.
Upon hearing her, Daniel frowned, quickly pulled out his phone, and checked the time. It seemed he and Tony had lost track of time while working. Still, he wasn't too worried. Even though, as Natasha had said, they had both silenced their communications to focus and avoid interruptions, that didn't mean he had been ignoring potential emergencies. If something really bad had happened, Overwatch would have notified him immediately, silenced communications or not.
"Though having a sexy spy stalker looking for me doesn't bother me, we're kind of busy at the moment, as you can see," Tony finally joined the conversation, his good mood clear, making Natasha raise an eyebrow.
"Can I ask what you're working on?"
"Ah, well, I don't like to brag—" Tony ignored the flat stares both gave him, "—but we're about to make history."
That didn't tell Natasha much, so she looked at Daniel for a better explanation.
"It's a bit complicated to explain, but in simple terms, what Tony means is that we're about to materialize a new element."
Materialize a new element? Though she wasn't specialized in science, she had enough knowledge to understand what those words meant. Saying she was surprised would be an understatement, but she quickly remembered who was in front of her. Whether it was the man who built his armor and miniature arc reactor in a cave or the invulnerable and mysterious superhero, neither of them was normal. If they said they were going to synthesize a new element, then she had no choice but to believe them.
"That's something I have to see."
"Well, in that case, take this." Tony grabbed one of the tools he had been using and tossed it to her. She easily caught it and raised an eyebrow in confusion at Tony, who simply shrugged in response.
"Someone's gotta tighten the screws."
With an extra hand joining in, the construction process sped up a bit more, and before they knew it, the particle accelerator had been successfully completed.
"Alright, is everyone in position? It's time to start." Tony rubbed his hands together with enthusiasm. Natasha adjusted her protective goggles, and Daniel simply crossed his arms, watching expectantly.
"Initiating particle accelerator," came Jarvis's voice. A humming sound began to fill the room as the massive "machinery" started up.
Soon, the energy peak was reached, and a beam of bright blue particles shot at full speed toward the center of the room, where the base for what would be the new core had been previously prepared. It hit with full force, causing an even more intense glow to fill the space.
Tony maintained this state for a few more moments before quickly shutting down the accelerator, causing the particle beam to disappear and the workshop to fall back into silence almost immediately, with only the faint residual hum of the systems in standby mode filling the air.
Tony removed his protective goggles and walked to the center of the room, gazing excitedly at the newly created triangular core, pulsing with waves of glowing blue light.
"Well, that was easier than I expected," not that it was a bad thing—Tony preferred not having an explosion happen in his newly purchased building.
"I think it's time." Before he realized it, Daniel had joined him, pulling him from his thoughts and placing the Arc reactor, which they had modified in advance to test the new core, in front of him. Tony licked his lips before nodding and grabbing a pair of metal tongs with which he carefully lifted the glowing triangle from its base.
Then, with steady hands, Tony leaned down and carefully fitted the core into the reactor. The fit was precise, but still not completely secure. It needed one final push. Tony took a deep breath and, with a slight motion, the core snapped fully into place.
The reactor responded immediately. A soft hum became audible, and the light waves began to intensify, flowing in a controlled manner through the metal veins of the device. Tony took a step back, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in his lungs.
"Jarvis, give me a diagnostic," Tony ordered, and the AI complied.
"It seems the new core has been successfully integrated, replacing the palladium core without any apparent issues. Energy levels have stabilized, and an 88% increase in performance is projected compared to the previous reactor."
"88%... that's a significant improvement." Tony couldn't help but whistle, and Daniel had to nod in agreement with his words.
"I suppose congratulations are in order," Natasha approached them, eyeing the new reactor with interest for a moment before asking another question.
"Do you know what you're going to call it?"
"Huh?"
"I mean the new element. Since you both created it, I assume you have a name in mind, right?" Neither of them responded to that. Well, Daniel tried to recall, but it seemed that even in that other universe from his memories, Tony hadn't given it a name—at least not one he could remember.
And since he had technically stolen the original design from Howard, he didn't feel right suggesting anything, so he decided to leave it up to Tony.
"You can name it if you want; I don't mind." Hearing that, Tony looked at him with some surprise before shrugging.
"Well... I might have an idea."
.
.
.
.
.
Note:
Well, I think this has been one of the toughest chapters to write so far. Initially, I thought about skipping all this and simply starting with the new Arc reactor already created. I won't lie; it would have made things much easier, but I also would've missed out on a lot of development for Daniel and Tony's relationship, as well as several other things I thought were important to include.
I know the pseudo-scientific talk is tough, whether it's writing or reading it. God knows I won't remember half of what I read to write this in a vague attempt to make it make sense. Did I succeed? No idea, but at least I hope it seems like I did.
With that said, I hope you liked it. Feel free to comment on what you thought, leave your advice or constructive criticism. I really appreciate the feedback.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
"What do you think of this?" Daniel moved the blue light projections with his hand, causing the atomic structure map in front of him to change and reshape once again. Both men in the "laboratory" silently watched the image until the projection turned an alarming red, and the entire structure collapsed in an instant.
Another failure.
Exhaling all the air he had been holding, Tony placed his hands on his hips and shook his head.
"Alright, this isn't working. It's clear we're doing something wrong; we need to change the approach." At his words, Daniel, who was rubbing his chin with his hand, looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Change the approach? Tony, there's no better solution than finding a new element to replace palladium in the arc reactor, unless, of course, you want to look for a heart donor."
Suddenly, Tony snapped his fingers and pointed at him.
"Yes, that! Well, I like my heart where it is, thanks, but... maybe there's an alternative that doesn't require taking it out of my chest, maybe surgery to remove the shrapnel! Jarvis, give me a list of the best surgeons in the world." At his command, Jarvis began working, and quickly, a screen with a lot of data on different doctors appeared in front of them.
"According to their achievements and records, I have selected the top ten candidates for what you're seeking, sir. Still, I must warn you that the risk is too high, and the chances of success are almost nil." In the current era they were in, Earth didn't have the medical technology necessary to do what Tony was looking for, at least not without taking enormous risks.
Tony looked at the information in front of him with a frown. He didn't like this option either. Jarvis didn't need to tell him because he was well aware since he returned from Afghanistan that removing the shrapnel from his chest had very little chance of becoming a reality at this time; otherwise, he would have already done it and wouldn't be putting so much effort into finding other options to replace the palladium. But that he thought about this option again could not be avoided. With each failure, he felt as if his life was slipping through his fingers, and his death became increasingly inevitable. Even if the chance of success was a mere one percent, it would still be preferable to simply waiting and dying without more.
Daniel glanced briefly at the information on the screen, raising an eyebrow as he noticed a vaguely familiar name. Vague memories came to him, and he mentally noted it as something to investigate later before turning his attention back to Tony.
"Isn't it too soon to give up just like that? Do you really want to throw in the towel this way?"
The billionaire clicked his tongue and waved his hand, making the screen with the doctors' information disappear. Then he looked at Daniel with a hint of reluctance.
"Even if I don't want to, it seems like I don't have better options left. We've tried all the known elements, all the possible combinations, and nothing! Even 'creating' a new one doesn't seem to be giving results."
Hearing the discouragement in his voice, Daniel decided it was time to stop wasting time. There were a few reasons why he hadn't just pulled the solution out of his ass and given it to Tony immediately. The first was to test Tony's abilities firsthand. Knowing someone is a genius is one thing, but seeing that genius push themselves and work on something with all their strength is another.
A kind of experience very valuable in many ways, one that gave him a more advanced understanding of how a truly intelligent person worked and their advanced thought processes.
After all, to learn to imitate something, you first need to know how that something works, right? Daniel had learned a lot from this interaction, gaining knowledge that couldn't be reached just by reading study materials and books like he had been doing so far.
In the end, Tony wouldn't be the first or the last genius he'd work with, and if he wanted to keep up with such "monsters," he needed more than just a perfect memory and an accelerated thought process.
He needed to find his own "spark," metaphorically speaking.
Another reason was that he wanted to clear up his memories by spending time with him. Although he knew the possible solution to the problem, many other things had been blurry, and if there was something unknown that could be harmful to Tony, it would be better to avoid it from the start.
This testing period, working alongside the playboy, had made him remember many things he'd previously overlooked. Now he fully knew how Tony had discovered—or rather, rediscovered—the new element, at least in another reality. In this universe, though the Tony he knew had some similarities to the Tony of his memories, he was also different in several important aspects.
That made him worry a little. What would happen if his plan didn't work? In that case, Daniel still had a Plan B, but he preferred not to use it if possible. Continuing to rely so heavily on the Fortress and Kryptonian technology didn't sit well with him, even though he knew that was a somewhat selfish thought in a certain sense. Still, he was self-aware enough not to dismiss the possibility if his ideal solution failed.
If he kept owing Carol so many favors, he feared his debt to her would grow so large that the only way left to repay her would be with himself.
'If it really comes to that, I'll have no choice but to sacrifice myself for the greater good.' After all, as a hero, it was his duty and responsibility to step up in times of crisis.
"Why does your face suddenly look so strange? I feel like you're having some disordered thoughts. Did something occur to you?" Seeing the look of determination, resolve, and courage that suddenly appeared on Daniel's face, Tony couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. For some reason, he felt something odd about that expression, something off, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.
"Ahem! Well, actually, I do have some ideas. Even though we've failed several times, that doesn't mean it was for nothing. A failed attempt is just one less mistake we can make, and it's something we can learn from." Pushing the strange thoughts out of his mind, Daniel had Jarvis pull up the simulations and models of all the failed attempts at the atomic structures of the possible theoretical elements and present them before them.
In truth, throughout these tests, Daniel had been slowly building the correct model piece by piece, though still incomplete. He'd only added about 30% of the true structure to see if Tony could fill in the missing parts and solve the "puzzle" on his own. And it had actually worked—but not entirely.
Tony was definitely getting closer. Many of the pieces Daniel hadn't provided, Tony was able to figure out, making the model increasingly stable. Daniel believed that if this continued, in two or three days, the billionaire could discover the new element on his own without Daniel's direct intervention.
The problem was that this approach required Tony to have a certain level of patience in his work—something that was clearly running out fast.
Well, it was time to fix that.
"First, let's discard the early attempts and keep the most stable ones." Daniel quickly removed the most incomplete models from the projection and kept the ones he knew would be useful.
He then began selecting each of them, and with a gesture of his hand, he made each model overlap in several layers, forming a new one. The errors in the structure highlighted in a light red, while the most stable and promising areas remained blue.
With a critical eye and feigned seriousness, Daniel studied this new structural model down to the smallest detail. Then, he snapped his fingers and smiled confidently as if he had just discovered something. Tony, who had been frowning in distraction, snapped out of it and started focusing as well when he saw Daniel working with such confidence. A spark of interest lit up in his eyes.
Using the projection with the superimposed models as a base, Daniel began a new design, taking only the parts he knew were "correct." At first glance, it seemed strange—after all, he didn't discard all the errors, nor did he keep all the successes. Instead, he began to create a mix that, to others, might seem nonsensical if viewed superficially.
This action puzzled Tony, as a move like this was something only someone who already knew how the pieces fit into a larger whole could make without hesitation.
Without stopping for a moment, Daniel continued moving his hands, making the structure—which had previously been just a bunch of loose "pieces"—come together into something much more complete, more "ordered." Not only that, but he also began adding things that hadn't been there before.
In a matter of minutes, the model was 60% complete, causing Tony to step forward, eyes wide with surprise, his previously disheartened mind now starting to work at full speed.
Seeing this from the corner of his eye, Daniel smiled inwardly and deliberately made an incorrect move when he thought the timing was right.
"No, no, that's wrong!" Tony took another step forward, raising his own hand and beginning to manipulate the model, quickly correcting the mistake Daniel had made on purpose.
Then, as if entering a flow state, he began adding his own contributions to the design. It had to be said—a genius is a genius. With just a push, Tony was able to see the path that had once seemed blurry and unreachable much more clearly.
Of course, there were still small deviations, which Daniel swiftly corrected. At the same time, he kept adding new elements, intentionally making mistakes now and then so Tony could correct them as well, all with the sole purpose of guiding the billionaire toward the desired result, little by little letting him complete the design on his own.
With one final move, Tony condensed the atomic structure of the new element into a single piece, which floated before them like a bright, spherical core. Emerging from it were multiple three-dimensional geometric branches connecting various polygonal nodes, molecular connections glowing as they distributed "energy" through the structure in a stable and continuous manner. Several orbital layers resembling "rings" floated around it in different directions and angles.
Both men took a step back as the tension in the room reached its peak.
Then, the projection pulsed, its brightness intensifying for a moment before returning to normal, and Jarvis's voice came through.
"Structural stability is fully stable and functional. Congratulations, gentlemen—you have created a new theoretical element with high potential to replace palladium."
Tony felt his legs almost give out beneath him, barely managing to stay upright. He stared at the projection in disbelief until he finally reacted, realizing they had actually done it.
"Holy shit, Yes!" He clenched his fists tightly, raising them into the air in excitement as a huge smile spread across his face.
Daniel didn't interrupt his celebration; instead, he looked at the completed model, idly wondering if Howard Stark had left something similar for his son in this universe. Though, in truth, it no longer mattered.
"Looks like that surgery is going to have to be postponed," Hearing this, Tony calmed down and took a deep breath.
"Yes... seems like it." The billionaire wasn't used to being grateful to others, so he wasn't exactly sure what to say at this moment. After all, just a few minutes ago, he thought his life was truly coming to an end, but now that had changed. Now he had a chance, and he knew that without Daniel, he might not have been able to find it on his own.
"Listen, I—"
"If you want to thank me, spare the formalities. We're a team, remember? Helping each other is what we're supposed to do." Hearing this, Tony relaxed, leaving his momentary discomfort behind. If he put it that way, then—
"Besides, if I let you die, it'd be hard for me to find another sidekick at your level."
"You son of—" Tony almost let his tongue slip, but he managed to calm himself when he saw the mocking look on Daniel's face, then he huffed.
"You don't know how to read the room, do you?"
"I don't think you're the right one to point that out."
.
After the conceptualization came the materialization. With both of them working together and an entire floor of Tony's new building that they had modified without hesitation, soon a "homemade" particle accelerator began to take shape.
"Seems like you've been quite busy."
"Agent Romanoff, it's good to have you visiting. Has something interesting happened?" Daniel greeted the curious Natasha, who entered the place, eyeing the mess he and Tony had made during their construction process.
"I'm just checking in. With the world as it is now, the lack of news from our only 'heroes' for so long is concerning. Besides, your communications have been silent. That's why I thought I'd look for you personally. The last time they saw Defiant, he was flying over New York, and since Stark just acquired this building in the city, I thought I'd check here. Seems my intuition was right."
As the liaison between SHIELD and the team, Natasha was responsible for ensuring that both were available in case of any major event that might arise, a job that had become much more important since Graviton nearly destroyed the entire East Coast.
Upon hearing her, Daniel frowned, quickly pulled out his phone, and checked the time. It seemed he and Tony had lost track of time while working. Still, he wasn't too worried. Even though, as Natasha had said, they had both silenced their communications to focus and avoid interruptions, that didn't mean he had been ignoring potential emergencies. If something really bad had happened, Overwatch would have notified him immediately, silenced communications or not.
"Though having a sexy spy stalker looking for me doesn't bother me, we're kind of busy at the moment, as you can see," Tony finally joined the conversation, his good mood clear, making Natasha raise an eyebrow.
"Can I ask what you're working on?"
"Ah, well, I don't like to brag—" Tony ignored the flat stares both gave him, "—but we're about to make history."
That didn't tell Natasha much, so she looked at Daniel for a better explanation.
"It's a bit complicated to explain, but in simple terms, what Tony means is that we're about to materialize a new element."
Materialize a new element? Though she wasn't specialized in science, she had enough knowledge to understand what those words meant. Saying she was surprised would be an understatement, but she quickly remembered who was in front of her. Whether it was the man who built his armor and miniature arc reactor in a cave or the invulnerable and mysterious superhero, neither of them was normal. If they said they were going to synthesize a new element, then she had no choice but to believe them.
"That's something I have to see."
"Well, in that case, take this." Tony grabbed one of the tools he had been using and tossed it to her. She easily caught it and raised an eyebrow in confusion at Tony, who simply shrugged in response.
"Someone's gotta tighten the screws."
With an extra hand joining in, the construction process sped up a bit more, and before they knew it, the particle accelerator had been successfully completed.
"Alright, is everyone in position? It's time to start." Tony rubbed his hands together with enthusiasm. Natasha adjusted her protective goggles, and Daniel simply crossed his arms, watching expectantly.
"Initiating particle accelerator," came Jarvis's voice. A humming sound began to fill the room as the massive "machinery" started up.
Soon, the energy peak was reached, and a beam of bright blue particles shot at full speed toward the center of the room, where the base for what would be the new core had been previously prepared. It hit with full force, causing an even more intense glow to fill the space.
Tony maintained this state for a few more moments before quickly shutting down the accelerator, causing the particle beam to disappear and the workshop to fall back into silence almost immediately, with only the faint residual hum of the systems in standby mode filling the air.
Tony removed his protective goggles and walked to the center of the room, gazing excitedly at the newly created triangular core, pulsing with waves of glowing blue light.
"Well, that was easier than I expected," not that it was a bad thing—Tony preferred not having an explosion happen in his newly purchased building.
"I think it's time." Before he realized it, Daniel had joined him, pulling him from his thoughts and placing the Arc reactor, which they had modified in advance to test the new core, in front of him. Tony licked his lips before nodding and grabbing a pair of metal tongs with which he carefully lifted the glowing triangle from its base.
Then, with steady hands, Tony leaned down and carefully fitted the core into the reactor. The fit was precise, but still not completely secure. It needed one final push. Tony took a deep breath and, with a slight motion, the core snapped fully into place.
The reactor responded immediately. A soft hum became audible, and the light waves began to intensify, flowing in a controlled manner through the metal veins of the device. Tony took a step back, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in his lungs.
"Jarvis, give me a diagnostic," Tony ordered, and the AI complied.
"It seems the new core has been successfully integrated, replacing the palladium core without any apparent issues. Energy levels have stabilized, and an 88% increase in performance is projected compared to the previous reactor."
"88%... that's a significant improvement." Tony couldn't help but whistle, and Daniel had to nod in agreement with his words.
"I suppose congratulations are in order," Natasha approached them, eyeing the new reactor with interest for a moment before asking another question.
"Do you know what you're going to call it?"
"Huh?"
"I mean the new element. Since you both created it, I assume you have a name in mind, right?" Neither of them responded to that. Well, Daniel tried to recall, but it seemed that even in that other universe from his memories, Tony hadn't given it a name—at least not one he could remember.
And since he had technically stolen the original design from Howard, he didn't feel right suggesting anything, so he decided to leave it up to Tony.
"You can name it if you want; I don't mind." Hearing that, Tony looked at him with some surprise before shrugging.
"Well... I might have an idea."
.
.
.
.
.
Note:
Well, I think this has been one of the toughest chapters to write so far. Initially, I thought about skipping all this and simply starting with the new Arc reactor already created. I won't lie; it would have made things much easier, but I also would've missed out on a lot of development for Daniel and Tony's relationship, as well as several other things I thought were important to include.
I know the pseudo-scientific talk is tough, whether it's writing or reading it. God knows I won't remember half of what I read to write this in a vague attempt to make it make sense. Did I succeed? No idea, but at least I hope it seems like I did.
With that said, I hope you liked it. Feel free to comment on what you thought, leave your advice or constructive criticism. I really appreciate the feedback.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
Hey, great chapter. I'm in awe of your output. That being said, over this story there are two major issues that I've noticed that I feel this most recent chapter kind of is a great showcase for.
The first is that Defiant just seems a little too... flawless? I suppose.
Don't get me wrong, I'm aware that he has flaws. He comes off a bit oblivious to other people's feelings towards him, which is a good flaw that fits with a character that is completely focused on saving the world. Along with that he's spending all his helping others to the point I'm pretty sure that he has little to no downtime. Both of these are good flaws for a strong heroic character.
The thing is, we never really see him suffer because of his flaws, or anything outside of a direct villain attack. He's just been through a major event that should be incredibly traumatic and will have repercussions for the world as a whole and he's... cheerfully helping out a friend who he's able to lead around by the nose with no apparent difficulty to complete a task that said friend was able to on his own in canon.
Defiant is, according to first few chapters, a hero dedicated to protecting everyone. That's a great start but his current actions don't fit in with that characterization, especially when you consider that a shitton of people just died (and if you tell me that absolutely no one died despite everything that just happened I will call BS. Despite Carol and Flash, hospitals would have been overwhelmed, multiple elderly people would have had fatal heart attacks, and people would have been crushed in the immediate attack before Defiant and others arrived). If I were Defiant I would be putting myself through a punishing training routine, like he thought about doing during the attack, or visiting a memorial of the attack victims swearing to do better. I'd be stressed out, probably with a few nightmares, and it would have been evident to people close to me. Meanwhile you have Daniel appearing for all intents and purposes to be totally okay. In fact, I don't think anyone has bothered asking if Daniel is okay despite the fact that he literally died for a moment, and everyone saw him get attacked to the point he was in rags afterwards. And maybe you want to do a "people realize they've been putting too much on the shoulders of the mc" arc but if you don't show him suffering from trying to do too much it will feel like it's coming out of the blue.
I feel like I'm ragging on too much about this chapter undeservedly. It's not a bad chapter. It's well written and Tony feels in character, it just doesn't fit so soon in the aftermath of the Graviton attack. I recommend having Daniel seem a bit listless and out of it at first, having Tony ask if he's alright, after which you can either have Daniel admit to feeling stressed or claim that he's fine depending on your preferences, before going back to working on the new element. Maybe afterwards he can visit a memorial or something.
Edit: Forgot the second issue. Give me a moment.
Edit: The second issue is that sometimes, outside of the enemies and Defiant, people don't seem to have much agency, and it results in a world that doesn't feel as alive as some worlds. And by agency I mean that the people make active attempts to control their own fate. Now there are some chapters where you do this really, really well.
Like this chapter:
The most recent chapter... not so much. It kinda feels like Daniel is stealing Tony's moment for character development. Which I guess is okay if you plan on having Tony do character development another way, like you've kinda done for Carol and Harley, but I think that if you do, it needs to be without Daniel's help. Because so far Daniel's been directly involved in every character's character development outside of the villains, and it's beginning to feel like characters can't develop without Daniel's help one way or another.
Harley? Good job with her deciding to stand on her own with her own decisions. That was a very strong moment, and I absolutely loved it. However with her pretty much immediately falling into Defiant's arms afterwards to be rescued it kinda takes away from things.
Likewise, with Carol, her deciding to do training on her own was great. Having to fight bug guy all on her own? Fantastic. It's just that she is completely obsessed with Defiant and everything she does is based off of him. Does that fit her character? Yes. But with everyone kind of revolving around Defiant it starts to become a bit more of a problem.
I suppose the big problem is that it doesn't feel like these characters are going on their own adventures when Defiant is out of sight. They just sort of putter along until he comes to give them a push. And that might be okay for a few characters, when it's all the characters it feels like eating nothing but vanilla yogurt. A bit too samey, and the world suffers.
My suggestion is to give them problems that they need to solve without Defiant. You've teased Carol having issues with Lara, and that's a great start. Likewise, Harleen is going to have to deal with all the changes she went through. Tony still has his issues with patience. And while Defiant can lend a thoughtful ear, and deal with the aftermath, actually solving those problems for better or for worse needs to fall on them.
I'm trying not to sound too critical, and frankly I think that I'm failing. It's just that you have so many fantastic ideas and clearly love this world, and I want to see that blossom. Please know that I love this story. You are a talented writer, and I can't wait to see what you create next.
The first is that Defiant just seems a little too... flawless? I suppose.
Don't get me wrong, I'm aware that he has flaws. He comes off a bit oblivious to other people's feelings towards him, which is a good flaw that fits with a character that is completely focused on saving the world. Along with that he's spending all his helping others to the point I'm pretty sure that he has little to no downtime. Both of these are good flaws for a strong heroic character.
The thing is, we never really see him suffer because of his flaws, or anything outside of a direct villain attack. He's just been through a major event that should be incredibly traumatic and will have repercussions for the world as a whole and he's... cheerfully helping out a friend who he's able to lead around by the nose with no apparent difficulty to complete a task that said friend was able to on his own in canon.
Defiant is, according to first few chapters, a hero dedicated to protecting everyone. That's a great start but his current actions don't fit in with that characterization, especially when you consider that a shitton of people just died (and if you tell me that absolutely no one died despite everything that just happened I will call BS. Despite Carol and Flash, hospitals would have been overwhelmed, multiple elderly people would have had fatal heart attacks, and people would have been crushed in the immediate attack before Defiant and others arrived). If I were Defiant I would be putting myself through a punishing training routine, like he thought about doing during the attack, or visiting a memorial of the attack victims swearing to do better. I'd be stressed out, probably with a few nightmares, and it would have been evident to people close to me. Meanwhile you have Daniel appearing for all intents and purposes to be totally okay. In fact, I don't think anyone has bothered asking if Daniel is okay despite the fact that he literally died for a moment, and everyone saw him get attacked to the point he was in rags afterwards. And maybe you want to do a "people realize they've been putting too much on the shoulders of the mc" arc but if you don't show him suffering from trying to do too much it will feel like it's coming out of the blue.
I feel like I'm ragging on too much about this chapter undeservedly. It's not a bad chapter. It's well written and Tony feels in character, it just doesn't fit so soon in the aftermath of the Graviton attack. I recommend having Daniel seem a bit listless and out of it at first, having Tony ask if he's alright, after which you can either have Daniel admit to feeling stressed or claim that he's fine depending on your preferences, before going back to working on the new element. Maybe afterwards he can visit a memorial or something.
Edit: Forgot the second issue. Give me a moment.
Edit: The second issue is that sometimes, outside of the enemies and Defiant, people don't seem to have much agency, and it results in a world that doesn't feel as alive as some worlds. And by agency I mean that the people make active attempts to control their own fate. Now there are some chapters where you do this really, really well.
Like this chapter:
This chapter is absolutely fantastic. Like, A+, I love it. Shows a great variety of perspectives, teases a few characters, it's great. No suggestions.
The most recent chapter... not so much. It kinda feels like Daniel is stealing Tony's moment for character development. Which I guess is okay if you plan on having Tony do character development another way, like you've kinda done for Carol and Harley, but I think that if you do, it needs to be without Daniel's help. Because so far Daniel's been directly involved in every character's character development outside of the villains, and it's beginning to feel like characters can't develop without Daniel's help one way or another.
Harley? Good job with her deciding to stand on her own with her own decisions. That was a very strong moment, and I absolutely loved it. However with her pretty much immediately falling into Defiant's arms afterwards to be rescued it kinda takes away from things.
Likewise, with Carol, her deciding to do training on her own was great. Having to fight bug guy all on her own? Fantastic. It's just that she is completely obsessed with Defiant and everything she does is based off of him. Does that fit her character? Yes. But with everyone kind of revolving around Defiant it starts to become a bit more of a problem.
I suppose the big problem is that it doesn't feel like these characters are going on their own adventures when Defiant is out of sight. They just sort of putter along until he comes to give them a push. And that might be okay for a few characters, when it's all the characters it feels like eating nothing but vanilla yogurt. A bit too samey, and the world suffers.
My suggestion is to give them problems that they need to solve without Defiant. You've teased Carol having issues with Lara, and that's a great start. Likewise, Harleen is going to have to deal with all the changes she went through. Tony still has his issues with patience. And while Defiant can lend a thoughtful ear, and deal with the aftermath, actually solving those problems for better or for worse needs to fall on them.
I'm trying not to sound too critical, and frankly I think that I'm failing. It's just that you have so many fantastic ideas and clearly love this world, and I want to see that blossom. Please know that I love this story. You are a talented writer, and I can't wait to see what you create next.
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Would it be Starkium or... BADASSIUM?
- Location
- Eart
You... raise a lot of interesting points indeed, and you're probably one of the few people who doesn't mind seeing more of the other characters without Daniel in the equation. I can't answer everything right now but I can say that I've had some of those things in mind and I'm looking at how to work on improving it.
Remember you should write for yourself. I brought up things that I think can be better, but if you don't enjoy writing them, then ignore me. This is your story.
Also, you don't actually need to show the other characters arcs. You can 100% have Daniel show up for the aftermath, or have them complain to him before leaving to deal with it on their own while Daniel does his own thing.
Edit: by aftermath I mean once the issue is dealt with and all that's left is the clean up lol
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I love worldbuilding and interludes (I'm a huge fan of Brockton's Celestial Forge) so I love when we get to see other people's perspectives and even though I'm not big into comics, so I don't get some of the teasers of new characters making their own decisions its still reallly cool to see stuff like that.
P.S - Did they just create vibranium?
P.S.S - Is Captain America still frozen?
P.S.S.S - Constructive criticism dude was pretty right about the whole topic of having things happen more independently of Defiant
P.S.S.S.S - (last one) Is the joker dead for good?
47: Moral Differences
- Location
- Eart
47: Moral Differences
Badassium
was the name Tony ultimately chose after giving it some thought. Where he had gotten it from or how it occurred to him? Daniel had no idea, but since he had already decided to leave it in his hands, he didn't bother questioning it.
"For all our hard work and effort!" Tony exclaimed, smiling, handing a glass of sparkling wine to him and Natasha. The new badassium reactor now glowing in his chest seemed to have made him more energetic than usual, or maybe he was simply happy.
After the new element was successfully synthesized and Tony received his new reactor, the three returned to the upper floor, dragged by the lively billionaire without being able to resist. Caught up in his good mood, they raised their glasses and toasted along with him.
For Tony, this was the first time he'd had such a modest celebration. Normally, he would have done something extravagant and loud, with plenty of people to enliven the atmosphere, but now he felt that something small and intimate like this wasn't bad either.
Natasha, on her part, was simply friendly. As a professional spy and an excellent field agent, she knew how to read the room and blend in with ease. She and Tony may not have had a genuinely close relationship, but it wasn't difficult for her to feel happy for him.
After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. had already anticipated Tony would face problems due to the palladium and had begun making some preparations to help him if necessary. For her, it wasn't hard to connect the dots and understand that everything that happened today was so Tony could solve that issue and escape death's grasp.
The Director would surely be surprised to know this. She wasn't exactly sure what Fury's plans to help Tony had been before, but now it seemed they wouldn't really be necessary.
"Though I'd hate to interrupt the moment, it seems it's time for me to go," Daniel said after finishing his drink, drawing both their attention.
"So soon?" Tony frowned but said nothing more; after all, he understood that Daniel must have his own matters to attend to, and he'd already taken enough of his time for the day. Insisting that he stay longer seemed inappropriate.
"I should be going too," Natasha also began to say her goodbyes. From the start, she had only come to check on the condition of both of them; she hadn't expected to be dragged along and turned into his assistant halfway through. But now that everything was over, she needed to return to her duties as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
"But before that, I have a message from the Director for both of you. He'd like to meet with you soon to discuss some important matters."
Daniel didn't have to think too hard to guess what matters Fury wanted to discuss. In fact, these were things they needed to talk about sooner or later.
The three of them arranged a time and place to meet before Daniel and Natasha took their leave, leaving Tony alone in his new building to go about his business.
After all, the place still needed a lot of work before it could become what Tony was looking for as his new operations center.
.
.
.
Above the skies.
Daniel looked down at the city of New York beneath his feet with unknown thoughts, paying special attention to the areas most affected by the flooding. He considered going there to see if he could help clean up a bit as compensation for not doing his usual patrol today, but before he could, his ears caught some interesting sounds in a specific direction, making him abandon the idea for now.
"Is that...?" Without hesitating for a second, his body accelerated forward, creating a sonic boom in the air, his blurred figure moving toward Hell's Kitchen
.
A few moments earlier.
Matt moved nimbly, twisting his body to dodge a massive scaly hand with long, sharp claws that nearly grazed his masked face.
"Stop running!" The guttural voice, loaded with irritation, echoed in the dark alley, followed closely by the whistling of air being sliced through. A long tail covered in green scales whipped in his direction at high speed, aiming to strike him.
Easily and with grace, Matt dodged the blow, guided by his superior senses, he danced around his opponent, mocking his attempts at attack and waiting for the correct opening to deliver a good hit, since the casual attacks he had been making up until now had proven to be quite ineffective because his enemy was especially resistant, his scaly skin gave him great protection that had been quite annoying to deal with.
"Grraugh!" With clear fury shining through his sinister yellow eyes, the strange reptilian mutant unleashed a fierce blow, from which Matt quickly stepped aside, letting it strike uselessly against the ground, cracking the concrete as it passed.
And taking advantage of this opening, he counterattacked with a forceful blow, using all his strength, which made his enemy's head snap sharply to the side with a crack. Then, he executed a quick sweep that caused the huge figure to fall heavily onto its back against the ground.
"Shit!, he took down Croc!" A shout of shock echoed as dozens of figures armed with high- and low-caliber weapons entered the alley.
"Don't just stand there, idiots! Shoot him, damn it!" shouted the one who seemed to be the leader of the group, snapping everyone out of their shock and making them raise their weapons, starting a hail of bullets the very next moment.
'Shit!' Seeing this, Matt was about to leap away to dodge but hesitated for a moment. Although he didn't know exactly what he was fighting, it was clear it was humanoid and thought like a human. Even if its skin was tough, he didn't know if it could withstand bullets, so if he moved away, he might be leaving it to be killed.
Matt didn't want that, so decisively he positioned himself in front of his fallen enemy's body and crossed his arms in front of him, letting the hail of bullets hit him directly. Fortunately, his suit was able to withstand it without any problem, just like all the other times he had been forced to take a direct shot since he got it.
But his good deed didn't earn him any reward. Instead, a massive hand grabbed him roughly by the ankle and easily lifted him into the air, where he was spun at high speed before being hurled forcefully toward a nearby dumpster.
The metal crumpled on impact.
"I told you not to interfere!" the so-called Croc shouted at the men, causing them to shudder and halt their indiscriminate attack.
'It seems even bullets can't fully penetrate his skin,' Matt quickly recovered and noticed that the shots that had hit Croc before the hail of bullets stopped hadn't deeply pierced his scaly skin. In fact, the bullets soon began to be expelled from his body, and the minor wounds they caused started to close and heal.
'And he can heal fast too. Just great, this time they really went all out to bring someone problematic.'
Since he set out to attack the core of crime in Hell's Kitchen, things had started to escalate for him slowly but steadily. The incident that affected the entire East Coast a few days ago didn't help make the situation any better either. Matt had been making an extra effort to help people and attack criminals to prevent them from doing more harm to the city and hindering its recovery.
This had clearly irritated those important people he had been going after, and since his "immunity" to bullets became known over time, it seemed they had finally decided to bring more than just guns and thugs to deal with him.
But even though the difficulty had increased a bit, he wasn't worried. So far, he hadn't been seriously hurt and still had plenty of energy. His enemy was dangerous due to his strange anatomy, but his fighting style was predictable and even clumsy in some aspects, so Matt just needed to stay alert, and he could end this one way or another.
Then he was going to find out where this scaly guy came from and maybe, with luck, get a clue about who had brought him here.
Seeing Matt stand up without appearing affected by his attack, Killer Croc grinned, revealing his sharp, yellowed teeth.
"So the rumors were true... you're a tough little devil, huh? But is it just the outer layer, or are you the same on the inside? Bah, doesn't matter. I'm going to enjoy chewing you down to the bones to find out!" His words were sinister, and Matt's expression under his mask hardened. He knew it wasn't an empty threat because he could smell the scent of blood and human flesh mixed with his foul breath.
But if his enemy thought this would make him hesitate or feel fear, he was wrong. No, instead, it only made Matt's anger rise. Without bothering to respond to the provocation, he began to run toward him, ready to unleash all the hellish fury burning inside him.
Seeing him charge, Croc slammed his tail against the ground and roared with excitement, then also began running toward Matt, causing the ground beneath his feet to tremble with every step.
Soon, the two met head-on. Killer Croc opened his jaws wide, aiming to bite Matt's head, but that attack was met with a powerful knee strike to his jaw, making his teeth grind and his head jerk back with force.
Without wasting a second, Matt lunged, mounting him and starting to unleash a flurry of quick and precise punches directly to his face, each one more forceful than the last. One after another, the impacts fell mercilessly until, with a brutal final elbow strike, he crunched Croc's nose, causing a spray of blood to spurt into the air.
With a sharp thud, Killer Croc collapsed back onto the ground, and Matt calmly stood over his body. His figure, wrapped in the dark suit and blending with the shadows of the night, made the remaining thugs swallow hard. One by one, they retreated with trembling steps, their faces showing clear panic.
"I-I'm out of here!" one of them couldn't take it anymore and, without hesitation, turned around, ready to start running. But before he could do so, a strong gust of wind blew, and in a blur too fast to be seen by normal eyes, the dozen men were knocked out in an instant, their bodies piled on top of each other, their broken weapons scattered across the ground.
"I knew floods usually bring strange things with them, but this really exceeded my expectations," Daniel spoke with amusement, approaching the fallen Killer Croc with a curious look.
Not looking surprised by his arrival, Matt stepped down from Croc's fallen body and faced the caped hero head-on.
"Defiant," his greeting was a bit cold, causing Daniel to raise an eyebrow, but he quickly understood the reason for his attitude.
It had been some time since they had seen each other in person, and he knew they had matters to resolve. Daniel wasn't foolish and understood that his actions since the skirmish with the Ten Rings in Afghanistan would cause some friction in his relationship with the vigilante.
After all, the fine line between killing and not killing and the moral questioning it entailed wasn't something easy to overcome for most people. Earning the disapproval of some for this was something he had already accepted since choosing his way of doing things. At the same time, he had no intentions of reproaching people who were against his methods, as, in his opinion, everyone was free to have their own morals and boundaries, and he never intended to impose his will on others.
Still, he couldn't deny that it would be truly disappointing if this ended up causing him and Matt to drift apart completely. He hoped it wouldn't, as he liked the man even if their ideologies about justice and how to carry it out differed. Perhaps they needed to talk to clarify their stances and prevent things from getting complicated.
But he didn't think this was the time. He had only come for a quick look, not to have a deep conversation about what was right and wrong. He had already spent enough mental energy that day dealing with Tony's problem and preferred not to spend more if possible; after all, he still had other matters to attend to.
"Seems like you've encountered some interesting problems. Fortunately, I know the right people to handle our scaly friend here," Daniel said, pointing at Croc, who was starting to writhe as if he were about to wake up.
"The right people?" at his doubt, Daniel explained further.
"You know, a regular prison isn't going to hold this guy. He needs something more specialized, and I know certain people who have been looking to contain him for a while," Daniel, of course, recognized Killer Croc at a glance as one of the threats SHIELD had its eye on and that Fury had talked about in their first meeting.
"I see, that's good to hear. But first, let me interrogate him. There's something I need to know," Matt had been wondering what he would do with Croc after extracting the information he needed. Now that Daniel told him there was a place to lock him up, he was more than relieved.
At his request, Daniel nodded and, pulling a V-element rope from his tool belt, tied the reptilian's hands, feet, and tail to prevent him from attempting to escape or doing anything unexpected.
Then he gave him a light slap to wake him up fully.
The humanoid reptile shook himself, and soon his yellow eyes refocused, noticing Matt. A low growl of defiance began to escape his throat, but that defiance stopped and was replaced by fear when he noticed the other figure standing in front of him.
"Oh… fuck."
"Alright, let's keep things simple, buddy. Just tell the man what he wants to know, and I won't throw you into the sun. How does that sound?" Daniel asked with a big, radiant smile, to which Croc gulped and quickly nodded, knowing that any fight or attempt to flee was utterly futile.
One had to know when to pick their battles, and trying to fight Defiant was not something he was willing to attempt.
"Who hired you?" Matt got straight to the point, wasting no time, which made Croc refocus on him, regaining a bit of his courage.
"For someone with so many enemies, you're really ignorant about a lot, aren't you?" the half-crocodile man chuckled, making Matt growl and clench his fists audibly.
Seeing this, Croc scoffed. The mere threat of physical torture wasn't enough to scare him, but knowing Defiant was there, he reluctantly decided to cooperate with the masked vigilante, just this once.
"I don't actually know his name, but I know he's someone pretty important. He paid a lot for your head and gave me a lot of freedom to roam this city as I pleased. If you want to get to him, you should start with the Russian mafia and the Chinese; they're the ones he deals with the most and should know him better."
Others might hesitate to give clues about the one ruling from the shadows of New York's underworld, but Croc wasn't one of them, so he spoke without holding back.
Thanks to his superior hearing, Matt could hear Croc's heartbeat and knew he wasn't lying. It wasn't as much information as he'd hoped for, but it was a start. He asked a few more questions to ensure he didn't miss anything useful, but nothing else of value came up, so the interrogation ended quickly.
Daniel knocked Croc out again and prepared to take him to S.H.I.E.L.D. before returning to the fortress. Though he felt a bit curious about this whole situation with New York's criminal gangs, he decided to leave it in Matt's hands. After all, he'd given him the suit for a reason, and he trusted that Matt could handle this on his own.
"I think we need to talk," Matt spoke before Daniel could leave, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Daniel turned to him seriously and then nodded.
"I have some things to take care of, but I'll make time for a proper conversation at some point."
"I understand, in that case, I'll be waiting." Matt didn't say anything more and began to leave, ready to continue his patrol and see if he could gather more information now that he had a few leads.
Watching him go, Daniel couldn't help but sigh internally. Trying to be a good person and avoid making enemies was really complicated, wasn't it? But this was the path he had chosen, and if it were easy, it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying to walk, right?
'Maybe there's a bit of a masochist in me after all.'
Still, he wasn't going to force things. While it would be beneficial to have many trustworthy people by his side for the sake of his third advantage, [Feeling of Tomorrow], he knew that relationships weren't so simple to maintain. He could have goodwill toward others, but if the feeling wasn't mutual, it would just be a waste of time he wasn't interested in engaging in.
In the end, even he had limits to what he was willing to tolerate.
'Let's put this aside for now. I should take Killer Croc to S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly so I can return and check on how things are going with Harleen.' Thinking of this made him frown with concern. She had already recovered from her injuries thanks to the Kryptonian immersion chamber, but the changes caused by the chemical soup in her body seemed reluctant to disappear and instead began to sink deeper within her.
He didn't know if this was good or bad, nor what effects it could have, which was why he decided to keep her unconscious in the immersion chamber for now, at least until he could get more concrete analyses of her strange situation.
It would be best if she could recover and return to normal completely, but the chances of that happening didn't look promising.
"I just hope this ends up being something good for her and not something bad." Since this universe operated by "comic-book fantasy" laws, he wouldn't be surprised if she ended up gaining some benefits from this incident. But just as good things could come, so could bad ones.
'Well, whatever happens, I'll take charge and solve it; that's what I'm here for, after all.' With that determination in his eyes, he rose into the air and began to fly toward one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters.
.
.
.
Note:
And that's the end of the chapter! I hope it doesn't feel too short.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to comment if you notice any mistakes so I can correct them as quickly as possible.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
Badassium
was the name Tony ultimately chose after giving it some thought. Where he had gotten it from or how it occurred to him? Daniel had no idea, but since he had already decided to leave it in his hands, he didn't bother questioning it.
"For all our hard work and effort!" Tony exclaimed, smiling, handing a glass of sparkling wine to him and Natasha. The new badassium reactor now glowing in his chest seemed to have made him more energetic than usual, or maybe he was simply happy.
After the new element was successfully synthesized and Tony received his new reactor, the three returned to the upper floor, dragged by the lively billionaire without being able to resist. Caught up in his good mood, they raised their glasses and toasted along with him.
For Tony, this was the first time he'd had such a modest celebration. Normally, he would have done something extravagant and loud, with plenty of people to enliven the atmosphere, but now he felt that something small and intimate like this wasn't bad either.
Natasha, on her part, was simply friendly. As a professional spy and an excellent field agent, she knew how to read the room and blend in with ease. She and Tony may not have had a genuinely close relationship, but it wasn't difficult for her to feel happy for him.
After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. had already anticipated Tony would face problems due to the palladium and had begun making some preparations to help him if necessary. For her, it wasn't hard to connect the dots and understand that everything that happened today was so Tony could solve that issue and escape death's grasp.
The Director would surely be surprised to know this. She wasn't exactly sure what Fury's plans to help Tony had been before, but now it seemed they wouldn't really be necessary.
"Though I'd hate to interrupt the moment, it seems it's time for me to go," Daniel said after finishing his drink, drawing both their attention.
"So soon?" Tony frowned but said nothing more; after all, he understood that Daniel must have his own matters to attend to, and he'd already taken enough of his time for the day. Insisting that he stay longer seemed inappropriate.
"I should be going too," Natasha also began to say her goodbyes. From the start, she had only come to check on the condition of both of them; she hadn't expected to be dragged along and turned into his assistant halfway through. But now that everything was over, she needed to return to her duties as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
"But before that, I have a message from the Director for both of you. He'd like to meet with you soon to discuss some important matters."
Daniel didn't have to think too hard to guess what matters Fury wanted to discuss. In fact, these were things they needed to talk about sooner or later.
The three of them arranged a time and place to meet before Daniel and Natasha took their leave, leaving Tony alone in his new building to go about his business.
After all, the place still needed a lot of work before it could become what Tony was looking for as his new operations center.
.
.
.
Above the skies.
Daniel looked down at the city of New York beneath his feet with unknown thoughts, paying special attention to the areas most affected by the flooding. He considered going there to see if he could help clean up a bit as compensation for not doing his usual patrol today, but before he could, his ears caught some interesting sounds in a specific direction, making him abandon the idea for now.
"Is that...?" Without hesitating for a second, his body accelerated forward, creating a sonic boom in the air, his blurred figure moving toward Hell's Kitchen
.
A few moments earlier.
Matt moved nimbly, twisting his body to dodge a massive scaly hand with long, sharp claws that nearly grazed his masked face.
"Stop running!" The guttural voice, loaded with irritation, echoed in the dark alley, followed closely by the whistling of air being sliced through. A long tail covered in green scales whipped in his direction at high speed, aiming to strike him.
Easily and with grace, Matt dodged the blow, guided by his superior senses, he danced around his opponent, mocking his attempts at attack and waiting for the correct opening to deliver a good hit, since the casual attacks he had been making up until now had proven to be quite ineffective because his enemy was especially resistant, his scaly skin gave him great protection that had been quite annoying to deal with.
"Grraugh!" With clear fury shining through his sinister yellow eyes, the strange reptilian mutant unleashed a fierce blow, from which Matt quickly stepped aside, letting it strike uselessly against the ground, cracking the concrete as it passed.
And taking advantage of this opening, he counterattacked with a forceful blow, using all his strength, which made his enemy's head snap sharply to the side with a crack. Then, he executed a quick sweep that caused the huge figure to fall heavily onto its back against the ground.
"Shit!, he took down Croc!" A shout of shock echoed as dozens of figures armed with high- and low-caliber weapons entered the alley.
"Don't just stand there, idiots! Shoot him, damn it!" shouted the one who seemed to be the leader of the group, snapping everyone out of their shock and making them raise their weapons, starting a hail of bullets the very next moment.
'Shit!' Seeing this, Matt was about to leap away to dodge but hesitated for a moment. Although he didn't know exactly what he was fighting, it was clear it was humanoid and thought like a human. Even if its skin was tough, he didn't know if it could withstand bullets, so if he moved away, he might be leaving it to be killed.
Matt didn't want that, so decisively he positioned himself in front of his fallen enemy's body and crossed his arms in front of him, letting the hail of bullets hit him directly. Fortunately, his suit was able to withstand it without any problem, just like all the other times he had been forced to take a direct shot since he got it.
But his good deed didn't earn him any reward. Instead, a massive hand grabbed him roughly by the ankle and easily lifted him into the air, where he was spun at high speed before being hurled forcefully toward a nearby dumpster.
The metal crumpled on impact.
"I told you not to interfere!" the so-called Croc shouted at the men, causing them to shudder and halt their indiscriminate attack.
'It seems even bullets can't fully penetrate his skin,' Matt quickly recovered and noticed that the shots that had hit Croc before the hail of bullets stopped hadn't deeply pierced his scaly skin. In fact, the bullets soon began to be expelled from his body, and the minor wounds they caused started to close and heal.
'And he can heal fast too. Just great, this time they really went all out to bring someone problematic.'
Since he set out to attack the core of crime in Hell's Kitchen, things had started to escalate for him slowly but steadily. The incident that affected the entire East Coast a few days ago didn't help make the situation any better either. Matt had been making an extra effort to help people and attack criminals to prevent them from doing more harm to the city and hindering its recovery.
This had clearly irritated those important people he had been going after, and since his "immunity" to bullets became known over time, it seemed they had finally decided to bring more than just guns and thugs to deal with him.
But even though the difficulty had increased a bit, he wasn't worried. So far, he hadn't been seriously hurt and still had plenty of energy. His enemy was dangerous due to his strange anatomy, but his fighting style was predictable and even clumsy in some aspects, so Matt just needed to stay alert, and he could end this one way or another.
Then he was going to find out where this scaly guy came from and maybe, with luck, get a clue about who had brought him here.
Seeing Matt stand up without appearing affected by his attack, Killer Croc grinned, revealing his sharp, yellowed teeth.
"So the rumors were true... you're a tough little devil, huh? But is it just the outer layer, or are you the same on the inside? Bah, doesn't matter. I'm going to enjoy chewing you down to the bones to find out!" His words were sinister, and Matt's expression under his mask hardened. He knew it wasn't an empty threat because he could smell the scent of blood and human flesh mixed with his foul breath.
But if his enemy thought this would make him hesitate or feel fear, he was wrong. No, instead, it only made Matt's anger rise. Without bothering to respond to the provocation, he began to run toward him, ready to unleash all the hellish fury burning inside him.
Seeing him charge, Croc slammed his tail against the ground and roared with excitement, then also began running toward Matt, causing the ground beneath his feet to tremble with every step.
Soon, the two met head-on. Killer Croc opened his jaws wide, aiming to bite Matt's head, but that attack was met with a powerful knee strike to his jaw, making his teeth grind and his head jerk back with force.
Without wasting a second, Matt lunged, mounting him and starting to unleash a flurry of quick and precise punches directly to his face, each one more forceful than the last. One after another, the impacts fell mercilessly until, with a brutal final elbow strike, he crunched Croc's nose, causing a spray of blood to spurt into the air.
With a sharp thud, Killer Croc collapsed back onto the ground, and Matt calmly stood over his body. His figure, wrapped in the dark suit and blending with the shadows of the night, made the remaining thugs swallow hard. One by one, they retreated with trembling steps, their faces showing clear panic.
"I-I'm out of here!" one of them couldn't take it anymore and, without hesitation, turned around, ready to start running. But before he could do so, a strong gust of wind blew, and in a blur too fast to be seen by normal eyes, the dozen men were knocked out in an instant, their bodies piled on top of each other, their broken weapons scattered across the ground.
"I knew floods usually bring strange things with them, but this really exceeded my expectations," Daniel spoke with amusement, approaching the fallen Killer Croc with a curious look.
Not looking surprised by his arrival, Matt stepped down from Croc's fallen body and faced the caped hero head-on.
"Defiant," his greeting was a bit cold, causing Daniel to raise an eyebrow, but he quickly understood the reason for his attitude.
It had been some time since they had seen each other in person, and he knew they had matters to resolve. Daniel wasn't foolish and understood that his actions since the skirmish with the Ten Rings in Afghanistan would cause some friction in his relationship with the vigilante.
After all, the fine line between killing and not killing and the moral questioning it entailed wasn't something easy to overcome for most people. Earning the disapproval of some for this was something he had already accepted since choosing his way of doing things. At the same time, he had no intentions of reproaching people who were against his methods, as, in his opinion, everyone was free to have their own morals and boundaries, and he never intended to impose his will on others.
Still, he couldn't deny that it would be truly disappointing if this ended up causing him and Matt to drift apart completely. He hoped it wouldn't, as he liked the man even if their ideologies about justice and how to carry it out differed. Perhaps they needed to talk to clarify their stances and prevent things from getting complicated.
But he didn't think this was the time. He had only come for a quick look, not to have a deep conversation about what was right and wrong. He had already spent enough mental energy that day dealing with Tony's problem and preferred not to spend more if possible; after all, he still had other matters to attend to.
"Seems like you've encountered some interesting problems. Fortunately, I know the right people to handle our scaly friend here," Daniel said, pointing at Croc, who was starting to writhe as if he were about to wake up.
"The right people?" at his doubt, Daniel explained further.
"You know, a regular prison isn't going to hold this guy. He needs something more specialized, and I know certain people who have been looking to contain him for a while," Daniel, of course, recognized Killer Croc at a glance as one of the threats SHIELD had its eye on and that Fury had talked about in their first meeting.
"I see, that's good to hear. But first, let me interrogate him. There's something I need to know," Matt had been wondering what he would do with Croc after extracting the information he needed. Now that Daniel told him there was a place to lock him up, he was more than relieved.
At his request, Daniel nodded and, pulling a V-element rope from his tool belt, tied the reptilian's hands, feet, and tail to prevent him from attempting to escape or doing anything unexpected.
Then he gave him a light slap to wake him up fully.
The humanoid reptile shook himself, and soon his yellow eyes refocused, noticing Matt. A low growl of defiance began to escape his throat, but that defiance stopped and was replaced by fear when he noticed the other figure standing in front of him.
"Oh… fuck."
"Alright, let's keep things simple, buddy. Just tell the man what he wants to know, and I won't throw you into the sun. How does that sound?" Daniel asked with a big, radiant smile, to which Croc gulped and quickly nodded, knowing that any fight or attempt to flee was utterly futile.
One had to know when to pick their battles, and trying to fight Defiant was not something he was willing to attempt.
"Who hired you?" Matt got straight to the point, wasting no time, which made Croc refocus on him, regaining a bit of his courage.
"For someone with so many enemies, you're really ignorant about a lot, aren't you?" the half-crocodile man chuckled, making Matt growl and clench his fists audibly.
Seeing this, Croc scoffed. The mere threat of physical torture wasn't enough to scare him, but knowing Defiant was there, he reluctantly decided to cooperate with the masked vigilante, just this once.
"I don't actually know his name, but I know he's someone pretty important. He paid a lot for your head and gave me a lot of freedom to roam this city as I pleased. If you want to get to him, you should start with the Russian mafia and the Chinese; they're the ones he deals with the most and should know him better."
Others might hesitate to give clues about the one ruling from the shadows of New York's underworld, but Croc wasn't one of them, so he spoke without holding back.
Thanks to his superior hearing, Matt could hear Croc's heartbeat and knew he wasn't lying. It wasn't as much information as he'd hoped for, but it was a start. He asked a few more questions to ensure he didn't miss anything useful, but nothing else of value came up, so the interrogation ended quickly.
Daniel knocked Croc out again and prepared to take him to S.H.I.E.L.D. before returning to the fortress. Though he felt a bit curious about this whole situation with New York's criminal gangs, he decided to leave it in Matt's hands. After all, he'd given him the suit for a reason, and he trusted that Matt could handle this on his own.
"I think we need to talk," Matt spoke before Daniel could leave, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Daniel turned to him seriously and then nodded.
"I have some things to take care of, but I'll make time for a proper conversation at some point."
"I understand, in that case, I'll be waiting." Matt didn't say anything more and began to leave, ready to continue his patrol and see if he could gather more information now that he had a few leads.
Watching him go, Daniel couldn't help but sigh internally. Trying to be a good person and avoid making enemies was really complicated, wasn't it? But this was the path he had chosen, and if it were easy, it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying to walk, right?
'Maybe there's a bit of a masochist in me after all.'
Still, he wasn't going to force things. While it would be beneficial to have many trustworthy people by his side for the sake of his third advantage, [Feeling of Tomorrow], he knew that relationships weren't so simple to maintain. He could have goodwill toward others, but if the feeling wasn't mutual, it would just be a waste of time he wasn't interested in engaging in.
In the end, even he had limits to what he was willing to tolerate.
'Let's put this aside for now. I should take Killer Croc to S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly so I can return and check on how things are going with Harleen.' Thinking of this made him frown with concern. She had already recovered from her injuries thanks to the Kryptonian immersion chamber, but the changes caused by the chemical soup in her body seemed reluctant to disappear and instead began to sink deeper within her.
He didn't know if this was good or bad, nor what effects it could have, which was why he decided to keep her unconscious in the immersion chamber for now, at least until he could get more concrete analyses of her strange situation.
It would be best if she could recover and return to normal completely, but the chances of that happening didn't look promising.
"I just hope this ends up being something good for her and not something bad." Since this universe operated by "comic-book fantasy" laws, he wouldn't be surprised if she ended up gaining some benefits from this incident. But just as good things could come, so could bad ones.
'Well, whatever happens, I'll take charge and solve it; that's what I'm here for, after all.' With that determination in his eyes, he rose into the air and began to fly toward one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters.
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Note:
And that's the end of the chapter! I hope it doesn't feel too short.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to comment if you notice any mistakes so I can correct them as quickly as possible.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
I definitely liked this chapter a lot better and it was good to see characters have their own opinions
48: Consequences
- Location
- Eart
48: Consequences
November 6, 2007
"Well, we've finished reviewing the structure. Fortunately for you, the foundations remain intact and with no issues, so there's no need to rebuild everything." Upon hearing the final verdict from the inspector who had been brought in to assess the damage to his home, Ben Parker couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Peter, who was watching the house from several meters away, eavesdropping on the conversation with his newly acquired enhanced hearing ability, also let out his own sigh of relief.
Only he knew how many sacrifices his aunt and uncle had made over the years to keep paying for the house they lived in. Knowing they wouldn't have to demolish and rebuild it from scratch was a huge relief because he didn't believe they could have done so in the first place. Peter didn't know the exact details about the insurance his aunt and uncle had, but he knew enough to understand it would be much easier to get coverage for repairs than for a total reconstruction.
Though that, too, might be in doubt considering how many people were currently fighting with their insurance companies over all the damages caused by the "East Coast Attack" that had happened a few days ago.
"Ben Parker?" Peter was pulled from his thoughts when a new, unfamiliar voice reached his ears. He turned and saw a man dressed in a suit approach his uncle, giving him a firm handshake once he confirmed it was him.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mark Taylor, here as a representative of Stark Industries."
Huh? A representative of Stark Industries? Now Peter's attention was entirely on the man.
"Stark?" Seeing the confusion on Ben's face, the man began to explain.
"You may not know this yet, but Stark Industries will soon establish its new headquarters in New York, more precisely in Manhattan. For this reason, our president has begun a massive and entirely altruistic fund to repair all the damages caused to the city during the East Coast Attack that occurred a few days ago. Of course, this isn't something that can be done overnight, and so it has been decided to give priority to families who have had issues with their insurance companies and cannot afford repairs on their own in the immediate future."
Ben couldn't help but frown a little at the last part, not because it was wrong but because it was true. He didn't have enough money to repair the damage to his home, and his insurance company had only been stalling these past few days.
Only… How did this person know? Until now, he'd only discussed these matters privately with his wife.
Seeing the suspicion in his eyes, the man named Mark reassured him.
"I know you have some doubts, but I promise there's nothing to worry about. Stark Industries is doing everything possible to help those affected; investigating thoroughly to identify the people who need priority assistance at this time is just a small part of that."
Ben wasn't entirely satisfied with this explanation, but… looking at the large hole through his house, which had forced him, his wife, and his nephew to sleep in a cheap motel for the past few days, he couldn't help but consider it.
"And you're saying this is being done for other people as well?" he asked tentatively, to which the man responded with a smile.
"Yes, in fact, I've already spoken to some of your neighbors. If you'd like, we can discuss all the details at the meeting that will be held this afternoon at—"
Peter wanted to keep listening, but his attention was diverted when he sensed a familiar presence approaching him, a strange feeling he could only attribute to the odd changes he'd been experiencing since the field trip to Oscorp.
"Peter!" When he turned, he saw his good friend Ned approaching with a big smile on his face.
"Ned!" He ran to him, giving him a big hug that made him let out a small yelp. Peter quickly remembered he needed to be careful and eased up on his grip before stepping back.
"Wow, you really missed me," Ned said, catching his breath that had been squeezed out by Peter's hug. Had he been working out or something? He also felt like Peter was a bit taller than he remembered.
"Sorry, I was just a little excited," Peter apologized, a bit embarrassed.
"Don't worry, it's good to see you're okay. When you told me what happened over the phone, I nearly fainted. Looking at it now, it seems even scarier," Ned couldn't help but say with a hint of fear as he looked at the hole in Peter's house. He was glad that his friend and his aunt and uncle had managed to get out in time and that nothing bad had happened to them.
On his side, although his family had been frightened during the whole incident a few days ago, their home hadn't suffered any major damage, so he could say they'd been a lot luckier than most other people.
"Well, it was pretty scary, but everything's fine now. The foundations are still firm, so we'll only have to repair the damage and not rebuild everything." Then Peter also began telling him about the arrival of the Stark Industries representative and how it was likely they wouldn't have to spend money on the repairs.
"That's amazing! Tony Stark is coming to New York! Do you think we'll get to see him flying around in his armor?! Oh God, I want to take a picture with him!" Ned started getting overly excited, something Peter understood well since they were both science fans—and even more so of a billionaire scientist superhero.
It had to be said that, even though Tony didn't do patrols like Defiant did, he was still quite popular among the general public. Maybe it was just his natural charm or perhaps something else, but his name always made it into the news one way or another.
Of course, most of his fans were concentrated in the United States and nearby areas, whereas Daniel, who wandered all over the world, had stronger and more evident international support.
The two boys chatted a bit longer, quickly catching up on what they'd been up to, until Peter asked a question that changed the cheerful mood.
"By the way, have you heard anything about Jessica? I tried calling her, but she didn't answer." At this, Ned frowned and shook his head.
"After the Oscorp trip ended, I didn't hear from her again. I also tried to reach out after the attack, like I did with you, but unlike you, she didn't pick up. Maybe we should go to her house and check on her?" At his suggestion, Peter quickly nodded. He'd wanted to go earlier, but with everything going on, he didn't want to leave his aunt and uncle alone. Now that things seemed to be improving, it seemed like a good time for him to check on how she was doing.
"I'll go let my uncle know," he said and quickly entered the house, where he found his uncle inspecting the damage in the dining room. It seemed the Stark Industries representative had already left.
"Uncle Ben, I'm going to—" Peter didn't finish his sentence when he saw his uncle frowning and looking up with a puzzled expression. Following his gaze, he spotted a football-sized hole in the ceiling, and it took Peter a second to realize it was right below his bedroom.
"What do you think could have made it? I don't see any debris around here in that shape." At his uncle's question, Peter didn't respond; instead, he quickly went up the still-intact stairs, skipping a few steps.
"Hey! Be careful!" Ignoring his uncle's words, Peter reached his bedroom door and pushed it open abruptly.
He bypassed the mess around him and focused on one corner—the corner where he kept his mini-fridge, where he stored chemical samples for his experiments, where he had kept the corpse of a strange mutant spider he'd killed…
The device was still there, the door still tightly shut, but the familiar hum it usually made when powered on was gone, as if it had either turned off or stopped working. Absentmindedly, Peter flicked the light switch, causing the bulb in his room to turn on.
It seemed that the electrical system in the house was still working, so why wasn't his mini-fridge running? The answer was already circling in his mind, but he didn't want to accept it yet.
With a bit of nervousness, he approached and slowly opened its door.
Only to find a football-sized hole inside, going all the way down to the first floor of the house.
Well, damn…
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That same day, somewhere else.
Commissioner James Gordon exhaled the smoke from his lungs, letting it form a thick white cloud in front of him, his tired eyes filled with deep thoughts that were interrupted when the door beside him opened, allowing two figures to step out, one of them seated in a wheelchair.
"Is it confirmed?" Gordon asked, unable to hide the hope deep in his voice.
The middle-aged man in the wheelchair remained silent for a moment before nodding.
"It's her. All the tests indicate it; there's no doubt, even if her face is gone… she's dead." There was no sorrow or regret in his words; they were spoken so coldly that many wouldn't believe he was speaking of someone who had once been his wife.
And hearing it, James Gordon almost couldn't help but smile—almost.
"Well, well, it seems that even with all this disaster, something good happened in the end."
Thomas Wayne snorted at the commissioner's words, his one remaining eye narrowing with a cold gleam.
"Don't declare victory so soon. This could be a well-prepared deception; it wouldn't be the first time, and you know it." The smile on Gordon's face faded as quickly as it had appeared, and a sense of fear and doubt began to creep into him.
"D-Do you really think she could have faked her death again?"
"No. This time, there's a body and enough evidence to say without a doubt that she's dead—but that's exactly what makes me doubt it." It all felt too simple, too… ordinary, yet everything indicated that it was true.
Thomas wanted to believe this time it was final, but his natural pessimism and paranoia kept him from accepting it fully.
"This is bad… if she really is alive and free, things could get very ugly. The recent incident on the East Coast has already caused crime in the city to spike in ways I haven't seen in years. We don't need someone like the Joker returning to the streets to make it worse…" The stress lines on Gordon's face deepened suddenly, and Thomas understood why: in his current state, the commissioner must have realized there'd be no one around to stop the lunatic clown if she came back.
"Don't get so nervous. Or are you forgetting we now have a kid in tights flying around the skies?" His comment earned an audible scoff from the commissioner.
"I don't like relying on strangers for these things, and you know it." It wasn't that Gordon had anything against Defiant, but he wasn't particularly fond of him, either. Besides, it was clear to anyone paying attention that the hero tended to focus more on the global stage than the local, which could make it tricky to get his help in something urgent and unexpected.
Gordon, like many other law enforcement officers, had noticed the new pattern criminals had adopted since Defiant's appearance—using the time he was somewhere else in the world to keep committing their crimes until he was back nearby, at which point they'd scurry to hide like the vermin they were.
Of course, it wasn't as if this worked all the time. After all, tracking Defiant was no easy feat, and before you knew it, he could be right behind you, ready to ruin your day and whatever evil scheme you were running.
It was precisely this unpredictability that made Gordon doubt he could count on Defiant's help—at least not in the same close capacity he'd had with Thomas back in the day.
Sure, if the city started to crumble for some reason, Gordon had no doubt the hero would arrive in record time to help. But this wasn't about helping after everything had already gone to hell; it was about doing everything possible to keep things from going to hell in the first place. And that job required a more… specific focus, so to speak.
"Whether this is a trick or reality, don't worry too much. We may both no longer be able to operate at the same level as before, but… just as the old wither away, the new generations start to mature, ready to take over."
Thomas spoke with wisdom and great calm, causing Gordon to raise an eyebrow, intrigued, as the image of his daughter—who had just joined Gotham's police force—flashed through his mind.
Could he really entrust such responsibilities to her when the time came?
"In any case, it's better that I leave now, I have... a funeral to prepare. It was good to see you again, Gordon," Thomas finally said his farewell, with no intention of saying more or continuing the conversation. Gordon snapped out of his thoughts and nodded at him, then turned to the second figure, who had been silent until now, and also bid her farewell.
"I'm sorry I didn't talk much with you, Miss Selina." The woman gave him a small polite smile, not seeming concerned about having been ignored until now.
"Don't worry, Commissioner, maybe we can have a longer chat some other time." After saying that, she nodded in farewell and began to push the wheelchair, taking Thomas with her.
Watching their figures retreat, Gordon couldn't help but think that his old friend had been quite lucky to adopt such a devoted daughter. Surely Wayne Enterprises would be in good hands when the time came.
'I wish my Barbara were that kind,' thinking of his daughter and her more recent attitude made his heart ache a little. Sure, he was her boss now, but she could at least call him dad when they were alone, right? Instead, she almost always addressed him as Commissioner Gordon.
'I miss when she used to run into my arms every time I came home from work.' Thinking of those days, both happy and complicated, brought a warm smile to his face, a smile that was soon replaced by a serious and somber expression.
'Maybe you're right that the younger generation could take over in the future, but this old body still has a lot left to give, Thomas, and as long as I'm here, I won't let that darkness reach my daughter.' After all, he was her father, and no matter how strong, independent, or capable Barbara became, it was his job to protect her until his heart stopped beating.
With that resolve inside him, he began to leave as well, ready to continue his work as Commissioner of Gotham City. . . .
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Later, elsewhere in New York.
"-That's why, despite this recent crisis, I believe canceling the Scientific Innovation Expo is a big mistake."
There were some low murmurs, and the boardroom remained in a tense state until Franklin Storm stood up, causing everyone to fall silent.
"What Susan says is right. Many young people with brilliant futures are counting on us, and we can't abandon them or back down now when they need us the most."
With father and daughter working together, the meeting soon leaned in their favor, and almost unanimously, all the board members of the Baxter Foundation decided to support their decision.
After all, even someone like Tony Stark had begun providing large-scale humanitarian aid. If they backed down now, it could deal a serious blow to the foundation's reputation, and that was something they weren't willing to allow.
Soon the meeting ended, and people began leaving the room one by one, until only Franklin Storm and his daughter remained.
"That was a good speech," her father said, and Susan smiled, showing her bright white teeth.
"I'm glad. I spent all night preparing it." When Susan heard that the board of the foundation had begun considering canceling this year's Scientific Innovation Expo due to the attack on the East Coast, she knew she had to do something to prevent it.
Fortunately, it had been easier than she expected, or she wouldn't have known what else she could have done to convince them. Of course, it helped that her father was on her side in this.
"Well, it's finally over. I thought I was going to have to wait all damn day. So? What's the verdict?"
The pleasant atmosphere was interrupted by a third voice. Susan frowned and turned to see her annoying younger brother enter the boardroom as if he owned the place. His appearance was quite out of sync with the formal attire she and their father were wearing, with the only indication that he was part of the foundation again being the white lab coat carelessly draped over his body.
"Johnny, I thought you were busy working on that secret project you keep bragging about." Hearing her, Johnny couldn't help but scratch the back of his neck, feeling a bit uncomfortable, and quickly tried to change the subject.
"Uh, yeah, well, don't you know that taking breaks every now and then is essential for getting great results? But let's not talk about me. You still haven't answered me. How did the meeting go? Did those old wrinkled guys cause any problems?"
"Those 'old wrinkled guys,' as you call them, are the respectable scientists who help our father run the entire foundation. Maybe you should show them some respect." At his sister's reprimand, Johnny clicked his tongue in clear irritation.
Foreseeing a conflict between his children, Franklin Storm stepped forward and quickly interrupted the conversation.
"If you want to know, everything went well. The Expo will proceed as scheduled."
Watching her brother and father begin to chat, Susan sighed inwardly, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. This development... though it didn't seem like it, the truth was that she didn't dislike it. Sure, she and Johnny still had a rather tense relationship that they needed to fix at some point, but in the end, he was her brother, and she loved him—even if he was an idiot.
She just hoped that this time, he would really take advantage of the opportunity and not mess it up, because she didn't know if she could forgive him again if he did.
"Hey, Sue, you coming or what?" The blonde was pulled from her thoughts when Johnny called out to her. Before she realized it, her father was already outside the boardroom, and her brother was just a step away from leaving too. She quickly finished gathering her things and hurried to catch up with them.
Walking alongside them as they chatted casually, the girl couldn't help but smile more warmly this time. The world might be going crazy these days, but at least her family was back together again.
She hoped it would stay that way for much longer.
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Note:
And a new chapter! This time to pick up some of the plot threads that were left open a while ago, as well as to show a little how the fight with Graviton and its consequences are affecting the world. Of course, there's still a lot to cover, as trying to fit everything into a single chapter is tricky, but I think it works well as a first look.
Could this be considered an interlude since Daniel doesn't appear? Well, either way, let me know what you think, and if you notice any errors, please point them out so I can correct them.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
November 6, 2007
"Well, we've finished reviewing the structure. Fortunately for you, the foundations remain intact and with no issues, so there's no need to rebuild everything." Upon hearing the final verdict from the inspector who had been brought in to assess the damage to his home, Ben Parker couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Peter, who was watching the house from several meters away, eavesdropping on the conversation with his newly acquired enhanced hearing ability, also let out his own sigh of relief.
Only he knew how many sacrifices his aunt and uncle had made over the years to keep paying for the house they lived in. Knowing they wouldn't have to demolish and rebuild it from scratch was a huge relief because he didn't believe they could have done so in the first place. Peter didn't know the exact details about the insurance his aunt and uncle had, but he knew enough to understand it would be much easier to get coverage for repairs than for a total reconstruction.
Though that, too, might be in doubt considering how many people were currently fighting with their insurance companies over all the damages caused by the "East Coast Attack" that had happened a few days ago.
"Ben Parker?" Peter was pulled from his thoughts when a new, unfamiliar voice reached his ears. He turned and saw a man dressed in a suit approach his uncle, giving him a firm handshake once he confirmed it was him.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mark Taylor, here as a representative of Stark Industries."
Huh? A representative of Stark Industries? Now Peter's attention was entirely on the man.
"Stark?" Seeing the confusion on Ben's face, the man began to explain.
"You may not know this yet, but Stark Industries will soon establish its new headquarters in New York, more precisely in Manhattan. For this reason, our president has begun a massive and entirely altruistic fund to repair all the damages caused to the city during the East Coast Attack that occurred a few days ago. Of course, this isn't something that can be done overnight, and so it has been decided to give priority to families who have had issues with their insurance companies and cannot afford repairs on their own in the immediate future."
Ben couldn't help but frown a little at the last part, not because it was wrong but because it was true. He didn't have enough money to repair the damage to his home, and his insurance company had only been stalling these past few days.
Only… How did this person know? Until now, he'd only discussed these matters privately with his wife.
Seeing the suspicion in his eyes, the man named Mark reassured him.
"I know you have some doubts, but I promise there's nothing to worry about. Stark Industries is doing everything possible to help those affected; investigating thoroughly to identify the people who need priority assistance at this time is just a small part of that."
Ben wasn't entirely satisfied with this explanation, but… looking at the large hole through his house, which had forced him, his wife, and his nephew to sleep in a cheap motel for the past few days, he couldn't help but consider it.
"And you're saying this is being done for other people as well?" he asked tentatively, to which the man responded with a smile.
"Yes, in fact, I've already spoken to some of your neighbors. If you'd like, we can discuss all the details at the meeting that will be held this afternoon at—"
Peter wanted to keep listening, but his attention was diverted when he sensed a familiar presence approaching him, a strange feeling he could only attribute to the odd changes he'd been experiencing since the field trip to Oscorp.
"Peter!" When he turned, he saw his good friend Ned approaching with a big smile on his face.
"Ned!" He ran to him, giving him a big hug that made him let out a small yelp. Peter quickly remembered he needed to be careful and eased up on his grip before stepping back.
"Wow, you really missed me," Ned said, catching his breath that had been squeezed out by Peter's hug. Had he been working out or something? He also felt like Peter was a bit taller than he remembered.
"Sorry, I was just a little excited," Peter apologized, a bit embarrassed.
"Don't worry, it's good to see you're okay. When you told me what happened over the phone, I nearly fainted. Looking at it now, it seems even scarier," Ned couldn't help but say with a hint of fear as he looked at the hole in Peter's house. He was glad that his friend and his aunt and uncle had managed to get out in time and that nothing bad had happened to them.
On his side, although his family had been frightened during the whole incident a few days ago, their home hadn't suffered any major damage, so he could say they'd been a lot luckier than most other people.
"Well, it was pretty scary, but everything's fine now. The foundations are still firm, so we'll only have to repair the damage and not rebuild everything." Then Peter also began telling him about the arrival of the Stark Industries representative and how it was likely they wouldn't have to spend money on the repairs.
"That's amazing! Tony Stark is coming to New York! Do you think we'll get to see him flying around in his armor?! Oh God, I want to take a picture with him!" Ned started getting overly excited, something Peter understood well since they were both science fans—and even more so of a billionaire scientist superhero.
It had to be said that, even though Tony didn't do patrols like Defiant did, he was still quite popular among the general public. Maybe it was just his natural charm or perhaps something else, but his name always made it into the news one way or another.
Of course, most of his fans were concentrated in the United States and nearby areas, whereas Daniel, who wandered all over the world, had stronger and more evident international support.
The two boys chatted a bit longer, quickly catching up on what they'd been up to, until Peter asked a question that changed the cheerful mood.
"By the way, have you heard anything about Jessica? I tried calling her, but she didn't answer." At this, Ned frowned and shook his head.
"After the Oscorp trip ended, I didn't hear from her again. I also tried to reach out after the attack, like I did with you, but unlike you, she didn't pick up. Maybe we should go to her house and check on her?" At his suggestion, Peter quickly nodded. He'd wanted to go earlier, but with everything going on, he didn't want to leave his aunt and uncle alone. Now that things seemed to be improving, it seemed like a good time for him to check on how she was doing.
"I'll go let my uncle know," he said and quickly entered the house, where he found his uncle inspecting the damage in the dining room. It seemed the Stark Industries representative had already left.
"Uncle Ben, I'm going to—" Peter didn't finish his sentence when he saw his uncle frowning and looking up with a puzzled expression. Following his gaze, he spotted a football-sized hole in the ceiling, and it took Peter a second to realize it was right below his bedroom.
"What do you think could have made it? I don't see any debris around here in that shape." At his uncle's question, Peter didn't respond; instead, he quickly went up the still-intact stairs, skipping a few steps.
"Hey! Be careful!" Ignoring his uncle's words, Peter reached his bedroom door and pushed it open abruptly.
He bypassed the mess around him and focused on one corner—the corner where he kept his mini-fridge, where he stored chemical samples for his experiments, where he had kept the corpse of a strange mutant spider he'd killed…
The device was still there, the door still tightly shut, but the familiar hum it usually made when powered on was gone, as if it had either turned off or stopped working. Absentmindedly, Peter flicked the light switch, causing the bulb in his room to turn on.
It seemed that the electrical system in the house was still working, so why wasn't his mini-fridge running? The answer was already circling in his mind, but he didn't want to accept it yet.
With a bit of nervousness, he approached and slowly opened its door.
Only to find a football-sized hole inside, going all the way down to the first floor of the house.
Well, damn…
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That same day, somewhere else.
Commissioner James Gordon exhaled the smoke from his lungs, letting it form a thick white cloud in front of him, his tired eyes filled with deep thoughts that were interrupted when the door beside him opened, allowing two figures to step out, one of them seated in a wheelchair.
"Is it confirmed?" Gordon asked, unable to hide the hope deep in his voice.
The middle-aged man in the wheelchair remained silent for a moment before nodding.
"It's her. All the tests indicate it; there's no doubt, even if her face is gone… she's dead." There was no sorrow or regret in his words; they were spoken so coldly that many wouldn't believe he was speaking of someone who had once been his wife.
And hearing it, James Gordon almost couldn't help but smile—almost.
"Well, well, it seems that even with all this disaster, something good happened in the end."
Thomas Wayne snorted at the commissioner's words, his one remaining eye narrowing with a cold gleam.
"Don't declare victory so soon. This could be a well-prepared deception; it wouldn't be the first time, and you know it." The smile on Gordon's face faded as quickly as it had appeared, and a sense of fear and doubt began to creep into him.
"D-Do you really think she could have faked her death again?"
"No. This time, there's a body and enough evidence to say without a doubt that she's dead—but that's exactly what makes me doubt it." It all felt too simple, too… ordinary, yet everything indicated that it was true.
Thomas wanted to believe this time it was final, but his natural pessimism and paranoia kept him from accepting it fully.
"This is bad… if she really is alive and free, things could get very ugly. The recent incident on the East Coast has already caused crime in the city to spike in ways I haven't seen in years. We don't need someone like the Joker returning to the streets to make it worse…" The stress lines on Gordon's face deepened suddenly, and Thomas understood why: in his current state, the commissioner must have realized there'd be no one around to stop the lunatic clown if she came back.
"Don't get so nervous. Or are you forgetting we now have a kid in tights flying around the skies?" His comment earned an audible scoff from the commissioner.
"I don't like relying on strangers for these things, and you know it." It wasn't that Gordon had anything against Defiant, but he wasn't particularly fond of him, either. Besides, it was clear to anyone paying attention that the hero tended to focus more on the global stage than the local, which could make it tricky to get his help in something urgent and unexpected.
Gordon, like many other law enforcement officers, had noticed the new pattern criminals had adopted since Defiant's appearance—using the time he was somewhere else in the world to keep committing their crimes until he was back nearby, at which point they'd scurry to hide like the vermin they were.
Of course, it wasn't as if this worked all the time. After all, tracking Defiant was no easy feat, and before you knew it, he could be right behind you, ready to ruin your day and whatever evil scheme you were running.
It was precisely this unpredictability that made Gordon doubt he could count on Defiant's help—at least not in the same close capacity he'd had with Thomas back in the day.
Sure, if the city started to crumble for some reason, Gordon had no doubt the hero would arrive in record time to help. But this wasn't about helping after everything had already gone to hell; it was about doing everything possible to keep things from going to hell in the first place. And that job required a more… specific focus, so to speak.
"Whether this is a trick or reality, don't worry too much. We may both no longer be able to operate at the same level as before, but… just as the old wither away, the new generations start to mature, ready to take over."
Thomas spoke with wisdom and great calm, causing Gordon to raise an eyebrow, intrigued, as the image of his daughter—who had just joined Gotham's police force—flashed through his mind.
Could he really entrust such responsibilities to her when the time came?
"In any case, it's better that I leave now, I have... a funeral to prepare. It was good to see you again, Gordon," Thomas finally said his farewell, with no intention of saying more or continuing the conversation. Gordon snapped out of his thoughts and nodded at him, then turned to the second figure, who had been silent until now, and also bid her farewell.
"I'm sorry I didn't talk much with you, Miss Selina." The woman gave him a small polite smile, not seeming concerned about having been ignored until now.
"Don't worry, Commissioner, maybe we can have a longer chat some other time." After saying that, she nodded in farewell and began to push the wheelchair, taking Thomas with her.
Watching their figures retreat, Gordon couldn't help but think that his old friend had been quite lucky to adopt such a devoted daughter. Surely Wayne Enterprises would be in good hands when the time came.
'I wish my Barbara were that kind,' thinking of his daughter and her more recent attitude made his heart ache a little. Sure, he was her boss now, but she could at least call him dad when they were alone, right? Instead, she almost always addressed him as Commissioner Gordon.
'I miss when she used to run into my arms every time I came home from work.' Thinking of those days, both happy and complicated, brought a warm smile to his face, a smile that was soon replaced by a serious and somber expression.
'Maybe you're right that the younger generation could take over in the future, but this old body still has a lot left to give, Thomas, and as long as I'm here, I won't let that darkness reach my daughter.' After all, he was her father, and no matter how strong, independent, or capable Barbara became, it was his job to protect her until his heart stopped beating.
With that resolve inside him, he began to leave as well, ready to continue his work as Commissioner of Gotham City. . . .
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Later, elsewhere in New York.
"-That's why, despite this recent crisis, I believe canceling the Scientific Innovation Expo is a big mistake."
There were some low murmurs, and the boardroom remained in a tense state until Franklin Storm stood up, causing everyone to fall silent.
"What Susan says is right. Many young people with brilliant futures are counting on us, and we can't abandon them or back down now when they need us the most."
With father and daughter working together, the meeting soon leaned in their favor, and almost unanimously, all the board members of the Baxter Foundation decided to support their decision.
After all, even someone like Tony Stark had begun providing large-scale humanitarian aid. If they backed down now, it could deal a serious blow to the foundation's reputation, and that was something they weren't willing to allow.
Soon the meeting ended, and people began leaving the room one by one, until only Franklin Storm and his daughter remained.
"That was a good speech," her father said, and Susan smiled, showing her bright white teeth.
"I'm glad. I spent all night preparing it." When Susan heard that the board of the foundation had begun considering canceling this year's Scientific Innovation Expo due to the attack on the East Coast, she knew she had to do something to prevent it.
Fortunately, it had been easier than she expected, or she wouldn't have known what else she could have done to convince them. Of course, it helped that her father was on her side in this.
"Well, it's finally over. I thought I was going to have to wait all damn day. So? What's the verdict?"
The pleasant atmosphere was interrupted by a third voice. Susan frowned and turned to see her annoying younger brother enter the boardroom as if he owned the place. His appearance was quite out of sync with the formal attire she and their father were wearing, with the only indication that he was part of the foundation again being the white lab coat carelessly draped over his body.
"Johnny, I thought you were busy working on that secret project you keep bragging about." Hearing her, Johnny couldn't help but scratch the back of his neck, feeling a bit uncomfortable, and quickly tried to change the subject.
"Uh, yeah, well, don't you know that taking breaks every now and then is essential for getting great results? But let's not talk about me. You still haven't answered me. How did the meeting go? Did those old wrinkled guys cause any problems?"
"Those 'old wrinkled guys,' as you call them, are the respectable scientists who help our father run the entire foundation. Maybe you should show them some respect." At his sister's reprimand, Johnny clicked his tongue in clear irritation.
Foreseeing a conflict between his children, Franklin Storm stepped forward and quickly interrupted the conversation.
"If you want to know, everything went well. The Expo will proceed as scheduled."
Watching her brother and father begin to chat, Susan sighed inwardly, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. This development... though it didn't seem like it, the truth was that she didn't dislike it. Sure, she and Johnny still had a rather tense relationship that they needed to fix at some point, but in the end, he was her brother, and she loved him—even if he was an idiot.
She just hoped that this time, he would really take advantage of the opportunity and not mess it up, because she didn't know if she could forgive him again if he did.
"Hey, Sue, you coming or what?" The blonde was pulled from her thoughts when Johnny called out to her. Before she realized it, her father was already outside the boardroom, and her brother was just a step away from leaving too. She quickly finished gathering her things and hurried to catch up with them.
Walking alongside them as they chatted casually, the girl couldn't help but smile more warmly this time. The world might be going crazy these days, but at least her family was back together again.
She hoped it would stay that way for much longer.
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Note:
And a new chapter! This time to pick up some of the plot threads that were left open a while ago, as well as to show a little how the fight with Graviton and its consequences are affecting the world. Of course, there's still a lot to cover, as trying to fit everything into a single chapter is tricky, but I think it works well as a first look.
Could this be considered an interlude since Daniel doesn't appear? Well, either way, let me know what you think, and if you notice any errors, please point them out so I can correct them.
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D
I love it. Just a quick note:
Did Defiant reveal his true name?
- Location
- Eart
No, the narrator knows it, although I normally make him focus on one character, the reality is that he is an "almost omniscient" narrator or rather omniscient only limiting himself.
Ah, that section sounded like it was coming from Peter, which is why I was wondering