Excerpt
I can't really hear to well thanks to that concussion i got from the damn mimes earlier, so I can't quite quote him word for word. The gist of a little intro rant is that thanks to Wonder Bra the genie's out of the bottle with the world population exploding. He really heavily emphasized the word world like it would mean something to me. It was most certainly nuts what he wanted to do, but tonight he'd decided that 'This Joker' here was going to get the last laugh as he wanted to make a spark. A spark so big and so bright that it'd melt the world forge, whatever that was, and burn good ol' destiny's book to ash.
This Is a story that will update with at least 1 Chapter a day Table of Contents
Last Updated = June 19th, 2021 • Episode 2 Part 5 Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) 2010 • May 20th • Flux
1 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 1 (POV: Joe Chill) 2 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 2 3 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 3 4 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 4 2010 • May 20th
5 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 5 6 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 6 2010 • May 21st
7 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 7 (POV: Daniel "Danny Boy" Bilson) 2010 • June 1st
8 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 8 (POV: Danny Boy) 9 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 9 2010 • June 2nd
10 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 10 11 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 11 12 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 12 13 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 13 14 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 14 2010 • June 3rd
15 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Fall Part 15
Episode 2 (Phoenix Down) 2010 • June 24th
16 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 1 17 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 2 18 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 3 19 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 4 20 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 5 21 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 6 22 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 7 23 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 8 24 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 9 25 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 10 26 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 11 27 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 12 28 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 13 29 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 14 30 • {SV} • {SB} • Phoenix Down part 15
Episode 3 (The meaning of Independence)
Young Justice • s.1 ep.1 • Independence Day 31 • {SV} • {SB} • meaning of Independence part 1 xx • {SV} • {SB} • ... xx • {SV} • {SB} • ... xx • {SV} • {SB} • ... xx • {SV} • {SB} • ...
Episode 4 (Fireworks)
Story FAQ
You have an FAQ?
• The first rule of the FAQ is 'don't talk about the FAQ'.
•
Setting Notes
• This Story is semi Greater Multiverse compliant • • Infinite Frontiers is a thing, as well as largely ignored • • This Means that the Brothers was an actual historical event
What is Nexus 27 Wilds • Wyrm 7 • Reforged 26 • Earth 16?
• Reforged 26 • Earth 16 is the setting of this Story and is a Young Justice Alternate Universe. • The Wyrm 7 sector of the greater Wilds region of Nexus 27 is where the local multiverse is located. • • This at the current time is unimportant though will be revisited as it becomes relevant.
What is Earth 16?
• Earth 16 is the setting of the animated series Young Justice, the associated comics and that game we don't talk about. The number serves to differentiate it from other versions of Earth created by DC comics. For example, Batman: the Animated Series, Superman: the Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited take place on Earth 12. The SI's planet of origin will be referred to as Earth Prime. • Yes, that's a very Earth centric way of listing parallel universes. • Earth 16 is similar to pre-Flashpoint Earth 1, with some of the more extreme power sets toned down a bit. Superman is very strong, but he can't juggle planets. The Flash is very fast, but he can't run backwards or forwards in time. The Justice League has been together as a group for seven years.
To spark the Forge of Destiny anew (Working name) 1 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 1 (POV: Joe Chill)
Inspired by the work of my fellow forum goers I thought that I would have a crack at the 5th lowest form of fiction. While this is not the first time I've written anything that has been read by anyone, this is going to be a long term project hopefully so mercy, I beg. If you think something needs work then please let me know and I'll work on it some more.
Warning this is a Self Insert Story. The SI will start off stripped of his knowledge of the Young Justice animated series and its associated comics.
Note, while rereading some of the stories that I haven't read in years I stumbled across With This Ring by Mr Zoat. As a result instead of writing an ASOIAF fic or a Worm one I've decided to explore the rabbit hole that is DC Comics and its messy, messy multiverse.
Do be aware that this is not a pure villain or hero run.
...
++( Gotham City
++( May 20th 2010 ++( Early evening
POV: Joe Chill
I don't like this one bit man, I'm an old fossil at this point. In my sixties and I'm just happy that I lived long enough to get out of the game. Which especially means that I don't like the fact that I'm in a warehouse that the Falcones used to run.
A warehouse that is just utterly swarming with the crazy, hell it's a little too much for me and my old bones. Looking around I'm just happy that there's no clowns tonight. Thank the heavens for that, I have enough issues coping with the fact that I made the Bat, and the proof is sitting pretty around my neck.
If any of these freaks knew what I did that night almost 25 years ago at this point, I'd be dead faster than a bullet from a gun. The only reason I'm here instead of back in the senior center is that little Boxy said he needed some help and he needed some of the old guard for help.
Apparently Sportsmaster had shown up a couple of weeks ago and got the criminal underbelly to agree to a meet. A meet that was scheduled to start in like an hour from now. Looking to the front I could see him and some other mob boys setting up some kind of multi-screen system.
...
Off to one side I can see Little Pam and her cat lounging around, and nearby are the ice idiots and the Cobblepot dwarf. Looks like Oswald's trying to get his beak in ol' Dent's business from how the two-faced bastard is agitatedly flipping his coin. Patches that annoying scare crow is getting patched up after he shoved something up the nose of one of my fellow retirees.
And, that's a crazy I don't want to deal with Garfield Lynns in his new Phosphorus persona, and his equally insane apprentice. Fireflies have always been bad news in Gotham, what with them trying to set everything on fire instead of just flying around with glowing butts. Nah, Garfield was always a lippy bastard and training under Killer Moth until the latter's Charaxes incident.
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++( Early evening, an hour later
And, now my bad feeling was sadly proven to be true as here comes trouble. Thank the Bat for my hearing needing one of those fancy hearing aids that can be adjusted. Yeah, I'm talking about the Clown Bastard himself, as he just showed up with a small crew of his clowns. Interestingly though was that he was lacking his Harley, hopefully the poor girl was finally smart enough to run away from him.
No the problem was the family of civilians that his goons dragged in with them. An Asian scientist who was associated with LexCorp going by her patches and a big bulky blond for her husband. With a mulish glare on his face was a a fat boy who was accompanying the aforementioned pair. The lad was old enough that in the old days he'd have graduated from street rat to a dock boy to help with cargo transfer. Honestly, except for how he held himself I'd have called him just obese. His posturing and the flexing of his veins showed he had muscles under that fat just like one of those fat sumos who'd tried invading Gotham a few years back with I think it was the Triads or some other Asian gang.
Yeah, I'm getting my ass over to the farthest point away from this mess without running. As many freaks as there are around this can only end badly from experience. We have a least a a full two dozen of Gotham's meanest freaks not counting the hundred or two henches that are also present. It's just asking for the Bat to come in and bust the thing. Well that or a LexCorp alpha strike if this idiot clown actually kidnapped one of the bald one's scientists.
...
Yeah, having the child of a scientist in a hostile environment is giving me a bad vibe. A vibe strong enough that I'm ignoring the screens that have come online. No the scene of a child and his parents facing down a bad man has consumed all of my attention as I edge along the wall towards one of the exits. Some of the old guard have noticed my probably ashen face and started edging towards the nearest exit also. The last time I saw this setup I ended up spending a month without sleep as a man with a grudge played mind games with me.
It's made even worse by the fact that metas are on the rise with their damn metagene. Apparently there's a 1 in 8 chances of having that gene, and a 1 in 200 chance of triggering a combat grade power. Low odds for sure but odds I don't like, since this looks like a sodding Meta'plosion backstory waiting to happen. I mean it's almost a given that scientists will eventually cook something crazy up, especially one of the bald man's get. So, I am understandably not happy, and am very concerned when I see this. Especially when the boy has a collar on with a fair few glass vials of different fluids.
Ol' Jimmy 'Cricket' O'Hara, one of the Match Boys, elbowed me to get my attention. Turning I could see him running his gab but I couldn't hear him. He did that little swirly thing around his ear and I got the clue, so I turned my damn hearing pieces back on. "What now, Jimmy?"
"Me, and some of the others saw you edging away as soon as the clown showed up. What's got you so spooked?" I gave him a long up and down then side eyed where the Joker has taken center stage with his hostages. Dammit, the father just got capped and the woman's flipping out. Wrong move lass, wrong move you'd have had better luck waiting for him to turn around and beaning him in the back with your heels.
"It's like this Jimmy. That mess right there's gonna be 'plosive. We have one of those freak backstories just waiting to happen right in front of us. I know you remember Buster Bat before he calmed down." I jabbed my finger harshly at the now dead parents and the boyo that looks raging mad but is holding his tongue.
"That, Jimmy is the son of a one of the Metro Baldy's lab coats. How often do you know for his labbies to leave survivors? No, I see this as a down right meta or other caped freak just waiting to get started. Depending on what's in those vials it might just be another Bat, or we might get a nuke going right off in our midst."
Hearing that set Jimmy rocking on ta his heels. That, and had him nervously glancing between the cooling bodies in the middle and the gate behind me that I's been edging towards.
Finding his words he could only agree with my pessimism. "Right, I'll signal the other ol' boys and we'll start edging on out. I know most of us oldies are retirees like you and so don't want to get caught up in the new game."
And, that's when everything went to hell, or at least started to. The boy decided in the wake of his parents' deaths that he was going to get mouthy with the Clown and some of the others. Badly, enough that he triggered Phosphorous who started to approach the ring with a blazing fist. Yeah, I'm getting out of here. I waved and jerked at most of the old guard to get out, even as I broke into a run out of the gate.
I made it just in time for Jimmy to come crashing into me as with a Whumph the warehouse went up in flames. As I grabbed my busted shoulder I could feel myself slipping away into a deep sleep.
Before I blacked out for what might be my final run I had to get in a wheezy "I told ya so, Jimmy. A meta'plosion." His pained chuckles were the last thing I heard.
To spark the Forge of Destiny anew (Working name)
2 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 2
Inspired by the work of my fellow forum goers I thought that I would have a crack at the 5th lowest form of fiction. While this is not the first time I've written anything that has been read by anyone, this is going to be a long term project hopefully so mercy, I beg. If you think something needs work then please let me know and I'll work on it some more.
Warning this is an OC that'll be treated like they've won their own Self Insert prize. The 'SI' will start off stripped of his knowledge of the Young Justice animated series and its associated comics.
Note, while rereading some of the stories that I haven't read in years I stumbled across With This Ring by Mr Zoat. As a result instead of writing an ASOIAF fic or a Worm one I've decided to explore the rabbit hole that is DC Comics and its messy, messy multiverse.
Do be aware that this is not a pure villain or hero run.
...
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++( Somewhere in the USA
++( May 20th, 2021
++( About 7ish in the evening
I hauled ass down the road, my flamboyant dress shoes giving a good old-fashioned thumping to the walkway as the shrieking of metal and the shouts of genuine, ladylike indignation reverberated in my ears.
"COME BACK~~~!"
I had no clue what I'd done to make her as mad as this, honestly. I'd met the young lady in question almost a year ago just a few days after my birthday to be exact. She was this small and adorable fairy like waif that had waved to me from inside my favorite bakery. God those pretzels were to die for, oops getting off track. And so, seeing as how I had just been dumped from a short relationship, I decided to see what was up.
She just wanted to ask me a few questions, some personal but mostly social. She explained that her name was Pinga, and that she saw me coming in a few times a week and leave with enough for two people, so she was curious. We just connected after that and a few months later we were dating.
Or at least that was what I had thought. Screw me. Right?
"WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO KILL YOU!?"
A wrecker crane with a rusted chain in serious need of a greasing was chasing me through the outside of an abandoned hospital demolition site and was just barely missing me as it smashed into my surroundings. That would be scary on its own if it weren't for the glowing lines on it and blue fire tracks that were letting it keep up with me even with high speed turns.
Even as I was running away, I was wondering what I had done to make her like this. My 24th birthday had come along, and we went on a date that had been going well I thought, and as far as I knew I didn't forget anything. Like, sure, I wasn't exactly all that up to date when it came to the dating scene, but I hadn't messed up that bad, had I? I'd met up with her at a nice place, something fancy, but not too fancy so that we could eat, just before we went to the movies. Hell, I even got a peck on the cheek for the wonderful date I'd brought her on. She picked a late viewing of some new DC movie, as she was an action girl and I paid for the tickets, sadly I do not quite remember what it was about.
As I ducked behind a counter in a weak attempt to hide so I could duck into an adjacent hall as I tried to break visual contact. Though it hadn't worked seeing as she called out my name and then started swinging that ball towards me. That poor counter and the dilapidated walls didn't stand a chance, nor the walls and floor behind it, nor Usain Bolt's record. Though my record-breaking sprint was fueled from a heady rush of adrenaline.
Seeing her sneer at me and that wrecking ball crane surrounded by eldritch lights made me think that she was truly something that was out of one of those web-novels. As she glared up at me, I had to wonder both if I had a tracker and if the other weird things that had been happening over the last year were her doing.
After all, there are only so many things that can get weird before you become suspicious, right? Narrowly missed traffic accidents, foul tasting drinks, multiple random drive-by that hit places an hour before or after you were going someplace. Nah, while she might be some Ghost Rider magical girl knockoff there's no way she could have set up all those things.
Needless to say, I'd been flying high for the past few hours as our date progressed. She seemed to be enjoying it also up until a semi plowed into the theatre. As we started running with the crowd, I could have sworn I was seeing some weird shadows out the corner of my eyes.
As me and Pinga escaped, we noticed several other cars acting weird, so we fled to shelter. It was only once we found a nearby construction site that would serve as a shortcut that it started getting weird. She'd started to get mad at me and was starting to mumble some seriously messed up things. I'd thought that yandere was just one of those shitty tropes that were common in the anime and manga media. To find one in real life I was starting to think I was lucky that she didn't have a knife with her.
As she continued to mutter, she drifted off towards one of the rebar rods and started testing it like one would a baseball bat. Even though I asked her what was going on she did not give me any response.
While baring her teeth and cackling the whole way she started running at me all while I hugged the wall and ran, trying not to scream in order to conserve my oxygen. This may just be it I thought even as I ran, putting all my out of practice years of cross country to work.
Damn, I don't have a will was one of the last thoughts I had before falling through one of the hospital's decrepit floors. With all the wind knocked out of me from landing the relative silence other than the running of a badly treated junker of an engine. As my vision gradually came back from where it was swimming around, I began to focus in on the fact that my formerly sweet girlfriend was standing in front of me blocking the only visible escape routes.
I retched in my mouth a bit, probably from fear, but I'll never admit to that. I could just watch in shocked dismay as she slowly straightened up, her eyes though never broke contact with mine though, and they were filled to the brim with hate.
Though where she had pulled a sword as long as she was tall, I had no answer as to where she found it. The only way she could have gotten it in the few minutes that we weren't in visual distance was if she had stashed it nearby.
Man, she really was planning on killing me.
"Why, won't you die!? Like seriously, why the fuck not?!" Pinga screamed at me, I had to wonder if she had hit her head in the earlier escape. Though this was sadly starting to confirm my earlier fears of her being related to the other weird near death-experiences.
So, I answered in the only way that came to mind, by incredulously asking "Why won't I die?! Seriously what kind of question was that? Did you hit your pretty little head while we were running from that theatre?"
I mean she had literally chased me in a knock off Ghost Rider wrecking ball crane, and now she had the gall to ask me to die and was holding giant sword. Who the fuck did that sort of thing? Who… no, what the hell had I been dating!?
"You're a sweet boy '_____'" she said in a soft almost saddened voice. Though she immediately snarled "But orders came from on high, you gotta die."
"Huh," was about as much as I could say as her psycho-ness started to sink in past the admittedly large fear and libido portions of my brain. Heh, fear b***r. Never knew I could get one.
"Apparently your dumb rules to life have made you an extermination target. Seriously 'float like a butterfly, and sting like a bee' and your sappy live and let live outlook are too much for some to take."
"…"
"Yeah like I said I had a wonderful time when I wasn't trying to kill you for the last half dozen or so years. I'll let you know why in a moment."
To spark the Forge of Destiny anew (Working name)
3 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 3
Inspired by the work of my fellow forum goers I thought that I would have a crack at the 5th lowest form of fiction. While this is not the first time I've written anything that has been read by anyone, this is going to be a long term project hopefully so mercy, I beg. If you think something needs work then please let me know and I'll work on it some more.
Warning this is an OC that'll be treated like they've won their own Self Insert prize. The 'SI' will start off stripped of his knowledge of the Young Justice animated series and its associated comics.
Note, while rereading some of the stories that I haven't read in years I stumbled across With This Ring by Mr Zoat. As a result instead of writing an ASOIAF fic or a Worm one I've decided to explore the rabbit hole that is DC Comics and its messy, messy multiverse.
Do be aware that this is not a pure villain or hero run.
...
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"Yeah like I said I had a wonderful time when I wasn't trying to kill you for the last half dozen or so years. I'll let you know why in a moment."
Immediately after she said that, and with what I had formerly used to think was impossible speed she leapt over to me and stabbed that fat sword into my gut. And, let me say that I've never quite felt this way before.
It was weird in the fact that it didn't hurt. But I did have the vivid impression that something foreign was in my body. This didn't last long, because the sword was not in my body for very long, but it was very distinct. It was unpleasant, but not because it was uncomfortable. The best I can describe it is a clarion sense of wrongness, like my body was saying, "Okay, I've shut down the pain signals, so don't freak out, but … we're not alone in here."((1))
I'm pretty sure that only my adrenaline and idiot tenacity was letting me hold on even though it really feels like a bad paper cut. A bad paper cut that I knew would kill me within the hour going by just how much of my blood was leaving me.
As I just stared, I started to notice that the blood was oozing a lot slower than it should be, that and the sword was now lightly resting on my shoulder.
"Now '_____' let me tell you why the higherups want to kill you. You're what we call a blind anomaly, a thing that for one reason or another the heavens and their celestial bureaucracies are blind to. Usually this just means that someone misfiled and as a result turned off your surveillance. This usually goes on for a few hours at a critical junction or it'll last at most a few days on the mortal end."
As I just looked at her incredulously, she leaned down and patted my cheek with a soft look. Yep, she was definitely giving me some unforeseen yandere vibes.
"You on the other hand are a somewhat rare case. For in the years since you first became an anomaly you've prevented a total of 23 mass, 47 group, and 103 individual summonings, plus a plethora of other offenses. Honestly, you've been busy and have almost made it to the top 5 of the offender's list for your planet in the last millennium." Not sure if I should be impressed by what she's telling me or if I should just ignore her mad ramblings.
"Seriously this all started with your high school graduation, you must have noticed how yours was the only decoration-less cap. Well those decorations were meant to mark your talents and preferred class options in a mass summons. Yet somehow you made it through two police squads, a police cordon, and almost a dozen accidents to make it on time. So when the summoning came to be, that eerie wind on that day, well it failed because of both the lack of an anchor on one of the primary targets by chance, and the strong stink of chaos that followed you into the venue."
"Hey '_____', you know how people call this world a garden planet?" well that's a weird question though now she kind of has my attention.
After a moment of silence I noticed that she was waiting for me to respond even though I was trying to keep pressure on my wound to stop from bleeding out. I already couldn't feel a thing below my waist, and so I answered her. "I guess some call Earth that but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Oh, that's a lot of sass from a man who is dying. Well, since you asked, I'll explain. A garden world is as the name suggests a garden. And, if this is a garden then where are the gardeners? Don't answer that. They are the Celestial Bureaucracy of this world and every year they sell a certain amount of souls to other worlds for whatever they get sold for. The main choice is the atheist and those who are not devout religious individuals, well them and the youths that have not committed to one of the local powers. Afterall, none of this world's gods would be willing to take a loss from their main power-base. The fruits of their collective garden."
"And now we come back to you, an anomaly that has over that past five years have disrupted the yearly quotas to an unforeseen level. Honestly in this case you're worse than World War II was since that had actually been accounted for and all of those souls were usable after they had passed on. But, you my good sir are acting like a patient zero for an infection that is disrupting this garden's flow of souls. So you get to be eliminated."
"It was supposed to be an easy job! I arrange an accident! You die! You get reincarnated where you need to go or a hell dimension, I don't care. And I can finally take my frac-KING VACATION! BUT NO! You had to be so god damn difficult!" She was very emotional near the end though she ended on a tired note.
As she came to a stop, she removed her sword from my shoulder, and leaned down. She placed some weird dream catcher necklace on me and then swung so suddenly that I almost didn't notice until my head went flying in a geyser.
Expecting to be dead I could only see a bright light as a sudden wave of nausea overcame me. And, all I could do was wait till it would pass though it soon faded as a golden green tear in space as my head continued on its merry way to it. That necklace was surprisingly enough still attached to and was coming with me for the ride.
Looking at Pinga's dumbfounded as she stuttered "G-Gol-Golden J-Jade. M-my first Golden Jade. EEEEEE!" Damn she actually squealed, and I have no clue if that is good for me or for her. Since she seems like one psychos form one of those litRPG's or the myriad of transmigration stories that I read I could only hope that thing being called a rare jade was a blessing for me.
I noticed that both the portal had closed behind me and that I was now a shiny ball o flight. Almost like a will-o-the-wisp or a ghost lantern, though if one looked closely I had a small runic symbol that was floating in me but on a layer I was unaware of.
It took a couple of seconds for me to notice that there was a whistling noise and that is when things went bad again.
When I didn't hit the ground within the first few seconds, I started to worry. When I didn't hit it within the next minute, I started to panic. Then, after some weird flailing, almost like a slime having a panic attack, I managed to roll my view to see the distant ground and that I was over a scenic lake in a mountainous valley with thousands of streams of light and what looked like a small city. A city that as I approached turned out to be more of a giant royal palace / supersized forbidden city.
When I hit the ground in a small garden behind one of the residences coming up under me, smacking into the small pond with what felt like a million belly flops off the 100 foot diving board all at once. The darkness that swiftly followed was a blessed relief from my panic.
Said relief was quickly driven away from me when I was rudely forced awake. Snapping my eyes open I was forced to confront some random handsome chuuni man in fantasy knight armor.
To make matters simple the Chuuni didn't let me make an informed decision. Instead he took my adrenaline crashing, punch drunk self's answer of sure as permission. Note to self: always get sober permission.
He dragged me through dozens of worlds and each time he'd grab the odd dozen or two new people and then use the vast majority, like 99.9% as cannon fodder and chaff. Well, that sort of thing gets one enemies that will hunt you down. I did the minimum to keep him alive, all while I learned a lot about what was going on.
He was something called 'Excommunicado' and as such was a source of walking potential. I can't remember much about what happened while he was dragging a horde around to gain more power. Overall he was an idiot silk pants, one of those idiot silk pants in full swing from wuxia/xianxia novels. A harem of beauties and an even larger mass of ablative cannon fodder. That, and he went about amassing power in a stupid manner.
So you know what I did as a I learned things that have since faded as unimportant? That my memories of fiction had to be kept close and pure since I've seen one world too many that lines up closely with fiction I know. Well, that and chuuni bastard was on his way to something called an ascension. A timed event in which only the core, the bastard, and his "companions" were able to interact as he shed his mortal form into something more.
The hunters wouldn't be able to do anything once the process started. But, as a companion to a mad man I had more options than most. So I waited and bided my time until this man who I had come to realize had set Pinga on my tail, made the decision to ascend.
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Number Tags in text ((1))What does being cut with a sword feel like?
"This information has been redacted by higher level orders" "This information has been redacted by higher level orders" "This information has been redacted by higher level orders" "This information has been redacted by higher level orders" "This information has been redacted by higher level orders" "This information has been redacted by higher level orders" "This information has been redacted by higher level orders" "This information has been redacted by higher level orders" "This information has been redacted by higher level orders"
To spark the Forge of Destiny anew (Working name)
4 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 4
Note, while rereading some of the stories that I haven't read in years I stumbled across With This Ring by Mr Zoat. As a result instead of writing an ASOIAF fic or a Worm one I've decided to explore the rabbit hole that is DC Comics and its messy, messy multiverse.
Do be aware that this is not a pure villain or hero run.
...
Before my kidnapper started his ascension I got together with a group of other kidnapped individuals who were unhappy with our circumstances. We waited till he started and then poured ourselves into the formation of a plain steel dagger. On its side was the quote "À mon seul désir", i.e. "by my will alone" or "according to my desire alone".
The forging stripped many of my fellows of all that they were. Thus the majority turned to ash and dust after investing their lives. I was one of those who survived, but determined I wouldn't survive for long. As us survivors came to the inevitable conclusion that we wouldn't survive should our kidnapper complete his transformation.
We were lucky that there was a window of opportunity where all of his defenses were nullified. I honestly have no clue about why there should be a time where they'd drop but we weren't questioning it.
No, what happened is that we ran a suicide run against the bastard. I could have gone on and told an epic tale of discovery, friends made in adversity, and sing the songs of betrayal.
Well, I could have if I didn't use my memories and my sense of identity. A persona that I had formed from the hundreds of worlds that I was dragged through and the perks that I was made to acquire and those I was allowed to pick. All of that was given up as I shoved it all into that plain steel dagger.
A dagger that I will have you know was successful in rupturing the 'mortal' coil of my abductor. And, not a moment too soon as well, judging by the glorious explosion that my predominantly human mind struggled to comprehend. An explosion that killed all of us so called waifu's and fodder. Though said explosion sent me flying away into the void. My powers and memories gained as one of the longest captive victims were used like ablative armor in my survival.
It was only as I started to fade away that I think I noticed there was a subtle sense of music and rhythm that dictated all things. I'd been shown the multiverse and was found wanting. There were an infinite number of "settings" each with their own lesser infinities of possibilities ever growing as time marched forwards. Some forces were capable of grabbing a mere fraction of a fraction of a fraction.. I could keep on going, but I won't.
That potential though doesn't matter, nor does trying to explain the mind numbing soul crushing expanse of eternity. I already knew that even at my height I would not be capable of retaining the full majesty of this experience. Heck, even my abductor should he have still lived wouldn't be able to retain the full majesty.
No, even those mightier than him were still limited by the sheer fact that no matter how high they grew or how mighty they were, they were still hindered by a single thing. And that simple weakness was that they had to filter all the information this panorama offered using the primitive thought structures of a "mortal" brain, and this dissonance would render most unstable. Well, it would if not for the fact that our minds tend to drastically simplify complex things, as well as the tendency to shy away from truly distressing information.
I drifted along as a piece of dimensional flotsam barely worth more than dust. All the while I could feel my mind fracture like a sustained concussion or a long, long drinking binge.
No, I was ignored a just a piece of detritus that was caught in the current of whatever this place was. Though there was most definitely a distinct direction that I was being pushed towards. Off in the distance I could see a extraordinarily tangled snarl of reality. It was almost enough to make me want to risk my remaining life, after all what ever setting I was approaching was one seriously messed up verse. I think it had afterlives intersecting one another and the 'living' world also, well that and two massive forms that seemed to be sleeping in the deepest reaches of the mess.
Oh, dear I hope this isn't a Wildbow designed 'verse. That's one mess that I could do without getting involved in. Well, not unless some of my old powers were able to be recovered. Although at this rate I'd be happy with just a new civilian life. Maybe, even have a new family to grow closer with, as I don't recall being close to my old one.
As I came to the sudden realization that I can't remember my name before getting warned off by immense brain-searing pain I noticed something. Off in the distance but getting closer there was a large red blob that I was approaching.
Before I could recover from my brain-fire muddled state I smashed through an ocean of blood and lightning. In the distance I could make out that blue pearl in the sky that could only be the Earth, or an Earth at that. Off to the side and a little bit behind me I was treated to a view of the moon that was far larger and closer than I've ever seen before.
Thinking that this was only a dream I started to practice my lucid dream techniques to try forcing my awakening. Do note that at this point I was unaware of the truth at this point as more of my cosmic fodder's self was shed to save the core that was me.
I woke up from one dream and found myself in another, after all why else would there be an army of militarized clowns putting something around my neck.
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Alright I'll be posting these one chapter a day for the foreseeable future.
To spark the Forge of Destiny anew (Working name)
Son of Lex (Working name)
5 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 5
Note, while rereading some of the stories that I haven't read in years I stumbled across With This Ring by Mr Zoat. As a result instead of writing an ASOIAF fic or a Worm one I've decided to explore the rabbit hole that is DC Comics and its messy, messy multiverse.
Do be aware that this is not a pure villain or hero run.
...
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++( Gotham City
++( May 20th 2010
++( Early evening
Yeah let's back up a bit why don't we.
I got overwhelmed for a bit by the memories of a young man who'd found himself living in the fictional/real city of Gotham, Connecticut. A city that this youth had lived in for the last decade thereabouts, before that he was a Metropolis, New York native. Huh, he can't remember if he / this youth was born there, oh well. All I was getting in the first few uninterrupted moments with this new body was a paragraph or two blurb about Jinhui "Golden Ash" Starsmore.
No, what was more interesting than finding out that I was in a version of the DC verse was trying to figure out which one I was in. Well, that and there being an active Justice League that was founded like seven and a half years ago in February of 2003. The original seven leaguers (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, A human Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter) got together as a result of something known as an Appellaxian Invasion. That simple invasion of elementals means that I'm not in the animated Justice League series that I'm familiar with. After all where's Hawkgirl or was it Hawkwoman the Thanagarian cop or reincarnated princess. Damn, sexy wing lady had a very weird backstory, at least her mace was kept largely consistent.
Before I could finish exploring my newly obese sumo body I had to deal with the fact that I was surrounded by hostile forces. And, as my new body's dormant adrenal system woke up and started working I could feel what used to be Jinhui's memories slipping away. Eh, I think I can cope with a bunch of mimes.
Wait yep, this is a bulky bodybuilder of a guard who must be this body's father, a petite Asian scientist for a mother. A scientist who I'm hoping has a death ray on her body. Well, those two and a sixteen year old sumo, versus a half dozen mimes. Sure mimes in body armor, but still they're mimes.
...
Yeah, I'm not proud but six mimes beat our asses black and blue. Well, beat us and then rendered us unconscious only to transfer us to an unknown location. Or in this case the back of a large van where there were a few clown idiots. While this was freaking out my new parents, with the petite Asian mom blabbering something about LexCorp.
Oh, that's right I was now living in a universe in the greater DC Comics 'verse. That would make these Joker Goons seeing as we were in Gotham at the moment. And, that recap serves to bring us to the now. A now in which these militarized clowns are putting a metal harness with lots of sockets around my neck and telling me to be quiet.
When questioned by Mrs. Starsmore, my new mom who was probably not long for the world, the goons revealed a few things. The main thing was that the Joker had an epiphany recently about a half-Asian Star Smore. An epiphany that had us the Starsmore family being dragged off to a warehouse in some random part of Old Gotham. A warehouse that would be swarming with the crazy "rogues gallery" of the Bat-Family.
...
Before we were escorted into a convention of Rogues, the Joker Goons started hooking up vials of different chemicals to the collar around my neck. At least a dozen different chemicals going off their colors alone, though I wasn't a chemist any more. I lost the memories needed to tell you what they would do on their lonesome, I could tell though that glowing chemicals would do nothing good to the human body.
I didn't know enough for me to be worried about the chemicals. Instead it was a necklace that was decorated with a simple flint knapped arrowhead, one that was made out of obsidian with blue streaks in it, and right above it was a blood red gem that seemed to pulse. It was those that had me the most concerned, after all anyone with any comic/Gotham life experience would be able to tell that the Joker was a talented chemist. I think there was even a Kyle Hill video that covered what went into maker Joker Toxin, bless that man and his glorious hair. No, the concern was that as far I could tell the necklace was something mundane, and that scared me. Nothing the Joker did was ever mundane, and I was left hoping that this was only a signal to one of his 'rivals'. Well, that or it was magic, though I don't think the mad clown ever used that in the comics.
Besides being roped up like railroad hostages, neither of my new parents had any fresh adornments decorating them besides bruises. It made me curious why as the goons said the Joker was looking for something, or in this case someone called a Star Smore. I think he might have broken the fourth wall, but I don't recall the exact specifics besides a few comics. I think it was just to the extent that he knew that he was a comic book character, I can't ever recall him getting 4th wall advice like Deadpool does.
Either way, he's got me and somehow he knew I would be coming even before I did. Upon coming to that conclusion I could hear a loud smacking noise outside the back of the van accompanied by a cackle. I could just barely make out someone telling a different person to go home for the night, that they didn't want to see what was going to happen. Finally going quiet the rear doors were opened revealing at first an abandoned warehouse, and then an emaciated almost skeletal man in a dark purple suit with chalk white skin and yellowed eyes. That combined with the surrounding clowns, his green hair and red lips confirmed that this would be the Joker.
I can't really hear to well thanks to that concussion i got from the damn mimes earlier, so I can't quite quote him word for word. The gist of a little intro rant is that thanks to Wonder Bra the genie's out of the bottle with the world population exploding. He really heavily emphasized the word world like it would mean something to me. It was most certainly nuts what he wanted to do, but tonight he'd decided that 'This Joker' here was going to get the last laugh as he wanted to make a spark. A spark so big and so bright that it'd melt the world forge, whatever that was, and burn good ol' destiny's book to ash.
He had his goons drag out of the van and drop us onto the pavement. Though they were noticeably leery of going to hard on me, probably in fear of setting off the multitude of chemicals on my neck. We were then escorted by force, i.e. held up by arms under our shoulders, into the warehouse where we were immediately met by a wall of noise.
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Alright I'll be posting these up at 8pm EST, or at least that's the goal. A chapter going live at a rate of one per day for the foreseeable future.
A thread will be going live tomorrow for this set. The Thread is now Live
To spark the Forge of Destiny anew (Working name)
6 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 6
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Before I could get my bearings about me, we'd been dragged about halfway towards the center of the warehouse. On the back wall was a set of several large monitors, like a bunch of jumbo televisions, though none of them were showing anything besides static.
Right under them doing busy work was some guy trying to do an athletic Jason Voorhees impression. I mean he had the hockey mask and armoring, though I have no idea why he decided to add a fancy crossbow to complement his machete I don't know. All around him was like a dozen mob boys all working with wires, and, yep those were antennas.
Pass the pain in my head I could easily make out the forms of most of Gotham's Masked Criminals. In the distance I could see Ivy lounging on a vine with Catwoman lounging near her. Near the vines was a good amount of frost with Mr. Freeze, and the chubby Penguin. Though the beaked wonder was talking too an agitated Two-Face.
There was one of the Clayfaces chatting with the animals, lizard boy Waylon Jones, and the *hehe* the Man-Bat. Sure he was a human bat hybrid, but that name was just hilarious. Scarecrow was there though he was getting patched up for some reason. Near him was some random in a pig mask.
Bane and Riddles were two very prominent absences from this get together. Though there was someone who was doing a bad impersonation of Blight. I mean he was all orange and on fire, not green and radioactive. Next to him was some idiot with a flamethrower whose pilot light was lit.
Rounding out the more visible villains were that nutter Zsasz, and some idiot in a toga. Oh, wait toga had to be that Zeus nutter, not the god but the insane businessman. Man, oh man, Zeus the god needs to get his ass in gear and run some damage control.
Returning my attention back to the now, I must say I was surprisingly disappointed that there was no Kite Man. I mean he had one of the best catchphrases "Kite Man! Hell yeah." Guess the crazy KBG Russian with a machinegun hand will have to do. Thankfully there was no Royal Flush Gang, I'd have been sad if Ace, that poor girl had to be here in the heads of these crazies.
...
Looking around the sound died almost immediately as those who were already present took notice of the newest guests. After all if the Joker arrives you want to stop and make note of all of the available exits. Well, that and any potential fellows you could shove into the path of the Clown as you run. I could see visible surprise at us being their, both as hostages and hostage takers. Well, that and confusion at the very clear lack of a Harley Quinn with the group.
We must have made an odd looking group, what with all three of us being tied up like we waiting for the train tracks. Well, that and the fact that I had some sort of weird collar brace thing with like a dozen or so chemicals.
Once the group had made it to the center of the warehouse Joker waved one of his goons over for a mike. Upon receipt he started to address the room for a good bit. About halfway through his insane ramblings the screens in the back started to clear of static to reveal black silhouettes. I mean how cliche could you get with a villain using a live stream to make offers. Oops, I should try to make out what the Joker's plan was as I wait for a Batman rescue. Yeah, I don't see that happening, as I was just a random civilian. Though if I made it out of this mess, overall this would make for a good villain or hero backstory.
While my earlier noted concussion made it hard to hear or see clearly I was able to make out some of what the Clown was talking about. And, yep he was going on about Wonder Bra whoever that was again as well as his desire to make a Star Smore. A set of smores that would be used to make a simple obsidian spark.
While I was distracted with trying to understand his rants, I'd started to ignore my surroundings. That was a mistake that was quickly corrected with the smell of gun smoke and a splash of blood.
*Bang*
Oh dear I think I'm in shock. My new dad just got capped by a clown. That's a sentence I would have never even thought of before this night.
While I started to retreat into my mind instead of responding like the warrior I think I remember being, I could only curse. Curse that this body's mind and instincts were too soft for me to be effective. Too weak to notice that my new found mother was trying to do something.
*Bang - Bang*
That shocked me out of my shock. That tiny little woman decided to freak and try attacking one of the goons. She got double tapped for her troubles, and now I'm a broke mirror to ol' Brucie Wayne.
The Joker just got back to his long rant about burning books, and shattering an anvil again. Well, all of that and he'd revealed that he was just one of many Jokers. They'd started as one, grew to a trinity, were reduced to one, and then have since managed to grow into an army. That was a big concern and all the while I could see fire boy getting agitated.
Seeing fire boy I had an idea. Here I was a fat obese teenager with a dozen meta chemicals strapped to my neck. And, if Highschool Chemistry has taught me anything, it's that multiple chemicals at high temperatures is not a safe thing. A very fun thing with either explosions or acid steam. If I could get fire applied to me I could take out this whole building.
Heh, as I started staring dead straight at my target I started to make mocking faces at them. I mean best case I get insta-killed and take the whole bunch with me. Though the bit about a son of obsidian and ash from the Joker has me concerned. I really don't want this to be a metatrigger. After all if I can remember right the metagene can be found in like an eighth of the human population. And if that gene should trigger, then in like 99.5% of the cases, I think the statistic was, the powers were useless.
Either way here comes fire boy, and boy does he look mad. It's only when he's close enough for me to spit some bloody phlegm I'd been swishing in my mouth at him and here it sizzle does he react. He lights his fist up even brighter and grabs my throat and the necklace.
I can make out the Joker's look of surprise at having his moment stolen. Hell, I think I even heard an "oh, fiddlesticks" before my whole world was fire and agony.
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It was worse than when I'd stuck my arm into a bonfire on a dare. Hell, I couldn't breathe as the smoke and chemicals entered my lungs.
I felt like I had been transformed into a human vacuum as smoke and a plethora of chemicals were sucked up only to ignite. My lungs and throat were choking and then ripped out by an explosion that finally rendered me unconscious.
I think before I faded I was able to make out ashen statues before I passed out.
Source = (Comic) The Curse of Brimstone, Issue #3
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++( Gotham City
++( May 20th 2010
++( Early evening
Alright I'll be posting these up at 8pm EST, or at least that's the goal. A chapter going live at a rate of one per day for the foreseeable future.
praise the heavens
Last edited:
7 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 7 (POV: Daniel "Danny Boy" Bilson)
7 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 7 (POV: Daniel "Danny Boy" Bilson)
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++( Gotham City
++( May 21st, 2010
++( Early morning about 1 or 2 AM
POV: Daniel "Danny Boy" Bilson, a random mook
Right, I was back by the warehouse we'd been active last night. I don't know why Sportsmaster wanted us to do this meet up so close to Amusement Mile. I mean sure it used to be owned by either the Marcones of the Falcones or something.
Over all this was the easiest ten thousand I'd make all month. The number was a very concerning amount to receive on short notice, though there was a bonus package if I followed some directions. All that was necessary was for me to wait for the fires to die down, and then help the EMTs with a boy.
No clue why I'd been contacted by someone calling themselves the Calculator. After all I was just a mook for hire when I wasn't a paid guard for one of the museums. I'd talked to Ol' Chill before he got escorted away by some of the boys. All he had to say was that if Calculator cleared a few checks then he was in the clear, after all he'd need to be trustworthy to serve as the "Villain's Bank".
So, with that clear all I would need to do is question the EMTs about the boy. A boy who'd I had been coached to refer to as a family friend. All I know is that one of the Metro Bald's scientists got nabbed along with her family, and somehow this led to the fiery abomination in front of me.
The big question is what connect does Matches have to Metropolis, since he's the one paying me.
I could see a random pillar of fire that has slowly been dying down over the last few hours. Peaking in after talking to some of the cops, i.e. saying I heard my brother's family had been dragged into a warehouse near here. Well that, and sliding a few hundred to a couple different ones.
Once I actually made it into the the now smoldering husk I noticed a few things. The first was that shrinking pillar of fire that was in the middle of the warehouse floor. The second was the reason why there were no active firefighters. All around the for a good few dozen yards from the center was a gallery of statues covered in ash. Some of which were crumbling away even as a whole mess of guys in protective suits are snapping away with cameras, or taking video.
Source = (Comic) The Curse of Brimstone, Issue #3
That right there gave me a bad feeling. One that only got worse when I noticed the tally marked statue of Zsasz, and closer towards the middle was the silhouette of Firefly. I'd recognize that one almost anywhere as he'd almost killed me and my real sister's family. She was out of work and down a husband, with only an arm to her. Little Alice, and her brother made it through with only minimal scarring. Rinke didn't make it, though he did get a few shots in with that dinky little revolver. A revolver I got tucked in my boot as a holdout, don't know the actual name but Rinke called it a cricket.
Jerking my eyes away from the statues and the pillar of fire I could see some slagged jumbo screens on one of the walls. Ignoring all that I made my way over to Gordon and Bullock, can't believe I'm doing this. I could easily see when they noticed me, as they stopped talking and nerd watching.
"Well, Commissioner Gordon, I don't think I've seen you this way. But, that's not the point I got told one of my brothers and his family got carted around here. Oh, and a heads up the dame was a Metro Bald scientist so there might be legal in the near future."
With a scoff, Bullock had to bite at me "Well that's a damn shame Danny Boy. As you can see unless your brother was a clown there's no telling right now."
Before Gordon could get a word, or I could cuss out Bullock there was a commotion as the pillar went out.
And damn that's not a pretty picture. Poor boy had all his clothes burned off, and that was the prettiest thing about him now. His jaw and part of his chest were just gone, though in the area where they'd be was a mild fire that for some reason wasn't cooking him.
Take the following image but think about a fat kid and add fire to the hole.
Source = (Comic) Generation M, Issue #1
I slowly pulled my phone out to check the look of the boy I was getting paid to monitor. Yep, the fat teenager who was missing bits and was on fire was who I was supposed to be checking on. A Jinhui was his name, a blond half-Asian.
His skin was a little darker than in the picture, though that could just be from all the ash and soot. Yeah, I'm going to need to talk to Gordon about getting a ride along with the kid when they get him to the hospital. Right now, he's in a coma and looking around I think the cops will want at him for answers. Seeing as he's the only survivor present with at least a full deck of cards in ash statues.
Huh, wonder what's with that necklace around his neck.
Looking closely while holding my phone up to match the faces, I just had to get a closer look at the damn necklace. It was in absolutely pristine condition, with a shining gold chain, a large red gem and a black arrowhead. Made all the more impressive in the fact that the gold was literally shining, and the gem looked like a swirl of blood. The arrow was just extra shiny and black, though I did note that his fingertips had the same coloration as it.
...
I'll have to babysit him while he recovers. That will need to be reported to Calculator to secure a contract. At least as long as it takes the Metro Bald to get a crew to collect him.
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Alright I'll be posting these up at about 8pm EST, or at least that's the goal for the foreseeable future.
praise the heavens
8 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 8 (POV: Danny Boy)
8 = Episode 1 (Phoenix Fall) part 8 (POV: Danny Boy)
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++( Gotham City - One of its hospitals
++( June 1st, 2010
++( 11:42 AM
POV: Danny Boy
It's been about a week and a half since the incident, and I've still been watching over the boy.
Over the past almost dozen days at this point he's both shrunk in some ways and grown in others. He'd gone from being a 300 pound five foot eight teenager to a much taller and leaner form. He was now six foot three and was a much healthier hundred eighty pounds, though he most definitely has undergone other changes.
Now is no longer a fat sumo teenager
Just add fire to the chest
Source = (Comic) Generation M, Issue #1
Before getting into things I should probably talk about his necklace. We'd tried removing it only for it to burn people's hands with increasingly bad burns the longer they held it. Oh, and the damned thing would melt straight through any of the bolt cutters that'd been brought in, whether they be iron, steel, tungsten, or some special Wayne-tech cutters. It just melted through all of them regardless of how sharp or strong it was.
On a more concerning note was that his fingers and toes blackening had spread. His hands to his elbows, and from his toes up to his knees had now turned into some kind of living obsidian bio-metal. Obsidian for the shiny black with the green, blue, and more colors. I mean its like all of these new glowing veins decided that one color wasn't enough and now they're a shifting rainbow of glowing potential. The effects actually kind of hypnotic if I'm being honest. The metal, or bio-metal ruling was how hard his skin in the affected area is, yet still being as pliable as normal flesh and skin. It's just really hard to pierce or cut and is stronger the closer to his extremities you get.
His chest was still a mess, what with that massive crater. Speaking of his chest, that flame that was present had diminished immensely, and that was not a good thing apparently.
The fire had initially been fed off of some of the chemicals he'd been exposed to. But were now responsible for his amazing weight loss and overall transformation. With the absence of its initial fuel it's since started to digest his body fat and flesh as fuel.
Well it did until some bright spark had the idea to pump fuel into him. The lucky to still have a job medical intern saw the fire eating at Jinhui's body; decided to run down to the hospital's basement, grab some left over coal from the backup boiler and chuck it into the open flame.
The fire immediately consumed it and grew in size, as well as stopped digesting the host's body. At the moment he needs the fuel equivalent of about a pound of coal an hour. Someone ran the numbers, that's like 45-48 times the calorie needs for the average adult. All just to keep his body stable and not improving.
Over all the prognosis wasn't good, and even if he survived there was no way he'd be able to have a normal life. Though that's more in part the result of some mob boy, one with a jester handle at that, uploading a video of that nights event about five days ago at this point.
Instead of celebrating most of the country was bracing themselves with the Joker army revelation. Sure we knew he was insane, but the video that was uploaded had been introduced by a Joker that while close to the one who was torched was visibly different. Well that and he narrated the warehouse video which was lacking audio with the assistance of another two Jokers. Not, sure how I should feel about that as there's now three confirmed alive Jokers.
Though I think once this contract is over I'm taking my cash and moving out to a safer city. Especially one that has lower insurance premiums. I was getting paid at ten thousand a day just to stand here, going by just basic math I had made $120k just doing this.
Yeah, that'd tide me and my sister's family over for a year in a cheaper city.
...
Sneaking a look over at the recovering teen who just had a meta'plosion. Hmm, he might be hiring in a few years as a prospective masked menace. Although with his face out there thanks to the video and its, wow that's ridiculous for five days, its sitting pretty at over 10 million views((1)). Well, that and the account which was still active and not terminated had over a hundred thousand subscribers.
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++( Gotham City - Same hospital as before
++( June 1st, 2010
++( 7:13 PM
Well the kid just woke up a few hours ago, but still can't talk though he has managed to move his arms a little. He's largely nonresponsive, though he's been making good progress in recovering his faculties.
It's especially beneficial for him as he'll be ready to meet with Gordon. Well him and I'm guessing the Bat himself like he's rumored to hang about.
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Alright I'll be posting these up at about 8pm EST, or at least that's the goal for the foreseeable future.
Number Tags in text ((1))video records
Record Name
Record
Date
Channel
Fastest Youtube Channel to hit 100,000 subscribers
++( Gotham City - One of its hospitals
++( June 1st, 2010
++( 5:30 PM
Ugh my head is ringing, and my arms aren't responding to me. I can't lift my arms and that's concerning, though not as much as my inability to recall my name.
Oh' that's not annoying at all having a blaring sound right next to your head.
I just blacked out for a moment, just from trying to think about what my old 'Name' was. That's concerning but probably not too much so. I think I can remember sacrificing a lot of my old identity to end some sort of threat. An event which rewarded my fractured self a new life.
Sadly a life that was made immediately more eventful as bits of last night started coming back.
I gained a new life as Jinhui Starsmore, a fat 16 year old who was celebrating his 17th birthday. Only to get grabbed right out the bat by mimes. Armored mimes that handed me off to clowns, who were led by a Joker Cosplayer. A cosplayer who was sadly proven to be Joker, or one of them. Overall I think I have a new found hatred for mimes, clowns, jesters and others of that ilk.
Going off what he was talking about he remembered some of the DC comic book resets and retcons. I know that such a thinghasalreadyhappened at least seventimes. Well, that and he was using either the Batman Beyond or Arkham game methods of making new Jokers. The first called for chemicals and nanomachines, and the latter was some sort of infection based on the blood.
Before I could doze off in spite of the medical alarms ringing there was an interruption in the form of a nurse. A nurse who took one look at my awake state, heard the alarms and ran out.
She was shortly replaced by a doctor who injected something into an IV and out I went for a little bit.
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++( Gotham City - Same hospital as before
++( June 2nd, 2010
++( 5:45 AM
I think I hate being anesthetized, I had no control over my body and couldn't open my eyes. It did however let me sort out some of the mess in my head.
From what memories remain as a, let's call it an ascended being, I should if this is the DC universe be similar to that Takion twat. Awesome cosmic power and omniscience that was erroneously filtered through the mental framing of your average human. You have all kinds of power but as soon as you take a step back from it all you lose almost all recollection of what was going on. I forget where I heard it but it's like "the bits of your brain that were thanks to the power bits would vanish when you lose the power that granted them".
I've come to accept that it'd be next to impossible to recover them, though that let me focus on the memories of my new body. Jinhui Starsmore was the name that I'd answer too in this new life of mine. Any issues with memory can just get brushed aside as a result of chemical exposure from whatever that warehouse mess was.
Focusing on what background for my new persona is left in this head was a little dificult. The name Jinhui if I remember my Asian languages correctly was Golden Ash. Followed by Starsmore being the name of Chamber from the X-Men. With a name like that I think it's reasonable that I haven't tried looking down yet. I know that I was lit on fire by one of Batman's jilted boyfriends, well that or the rumor might be true. Said rumor being that the criminals are children to some of Gotham's wealthy elite, which might mean it was just one of his playmates. Batman being Bruce Wayne, a costumed and violent vigilante could lend some credence to that. After all most of the criminals were either scientists with lab accidents, wealthy people and business owners who snapped, or career criminals who ascended to relevancy.
And, with an appropriately tragic backstory Jinhui, or I guess me now will be forced by narrative to be involved one way or another. In order to counter this I need to finish healing up, and then get out of the hospital to try figuring out what version of DC I'm in.
The situation in any city with a hero presence is bad, that makes me want to leave. Well, that and the fact that Gotham was built on top of a mess of demon cults, cursed ground, and in some versions has a 19th century city of tomorrow under it. Oh, but if I stay I need to get down to the swamp, Slaughter Swamp home of Grundy. One of the plots I remember was that Ra's al Ghul used stuff from the swamp as well as studying of Grundy to build his Lazarus Pits.
Oh, in that same Wonder City the pollutants and other chemical byproducts from creating a functional pit were let out into the water table. Said residue also stained the land itself and applied the pit's temporary insanity to the city at large. Or at least that's one version/ potential reason behind the insanity. Knowing my luck almost all of the reasons will be valid, and as such I'm probably stuck here.
Trying to recall more from my Jinhui self I took notice of a second hero that'd be getting involved in my future. My family were from Metropolis, and only moved to Gotham as a result of a recent LexCorp expansion. I really don't want to end up in either a *snort* Metro Bald's lab for his hate boner against Supes, nor a rogue government agency.
Note to self if there's a Checkmate, rob them blind to get a fancy spy sat. If there's a CADMUS and Lex has connection or Waller does burn it to the ground.
The doctors definitely know I'm awake at this point, and should be on their way soon.
...
Looking down at the rest of my body it wasn't nearly as bad as it could be. I mean I wasn't sure how tall I was now, Jinhui, I guess me now, was five foot eight before the incident. This lump of a body was also originally 300 pounds, though looking down it was obvious that I'd had some work done. First there was the huge gaping hole in my chest, much like Chamber or Jono Starsmore of Marvel's X-Men. Second, if one ignored the hole the body was sculpted to athletic fitness going by how the hospital bed sheet was draped over me. Oh, and my little golden star wasn't so little, though that could just be a medical cup/catheter going off all the other tubing that was going into my chest. Tubing which was shielded from the churning flame that was present.
Is no longer a fat sumo teenager
• Just add fire to the chest
Source = (Comic) Generation M, Issue #1
That need for medical assistance while comatose was not a reassuring sign, as it told me that my new feature wasn't as beneficial as Chamber's was. After all just from the coal dropper that I could see suspended above me, I must need fuel. If they've been dropping coal in me I must have an actual furnace. Hmm, if I remember my trivia right a short (ton) of coal was on average somewhere between $30 & $40 per ton. If all I need is fuel, overall it might be vastly cheaper than regular food for keeping me fed.
I can't see my arms nor can I lift them. Their outline as well as my legs though were present. When I tried asking one of the nurses bussing around my room, I was ignored until one made eye contact. Shoot that means no Telepathy, at least none yet. It's the DC universe and that means even an ignorant baseline can gain powers like magic or telepathy just through intensive training.
...
The nurse that noticed me walked out the door, which was rude, though she did come back almost a full ten minutes later. When she came back she had a stack of paperwork in a relatively thick folder.
"Ah, Mr. Starsmore, you're awake. That's good too see. My name is Crystal Brown, and I am happy to say that you've only missed a little less than two weeks." Here she shuffled some of the papers before continuing on.
"The gentleman on the other side of the door as well as security has been preventing any issues from occurring. I'll be honest I took your case for two reasons. The first was the warehouse you were located was the last known location of my former husband. I almost blamed you, but a video has since gone live on Metatube that exonerated you, and showed it to be a Joker plot." She looked at me long enough that I tried giving a nod.
"Ahh, yes in the near future we might be able to use some of you chest and neck muscles to synthesize a speech device. The second reason though is that a prominent family friend involved with the hospital recommended that I take you on." Here she showed a Wayne Enterprises embossed business card.
Think, ah Brown, works as a nurse, was divorced and connected to Wayne. I think this is Spoiler's mother, i.e. one of the Batfamily. I just don't know if the girl has become Spoiler yet. If I knew that I would have a pretty good idea of a functional timeline.
And, I'm drifting again. Nurse Brown did something with one of the tubes and probably upped the pain meds since she noticed me drifting off in thought.
<|> ++ <|> ++ <|> ++ <|> ++ <|>
Alright I'll be posting these up at about 8pm EST, or at least that's the goal for the foreseeable future.
++( West Mercy Hospital, Gotham City
++( June 2nd, 2010
++( 8:00 PM
Well I'm awake now. Like fully awake which I think surprised the doctors, as except for needing to be cleared as safe to the public I could probably leave under my own power.
I was also getting fed a steady stream of coal in roughly one to two pound increments on the hour for the last six days. It was only upon the initial coal dosing that my coma had apparently started to abate. It's interesting to note that with each unit of coal that I take in I feel a little stronger.
00.173% Soul Strength from coal
Overall I think I'm well on the way to recovery as long as I keep getting coal into my gut. Nurse Brown has been in and out of the room checking up on me and testing my mobility. After getting approval from a higherup in the hospital I was given a button that would deploy coal for me. Though I wasn't yet aware of what my limbs looked like, as they and the button was under a sheet. I settled on using the button every ten to fifteen minutes and can feel myself growing in strength quicker.
She liked to talk about her life as she worked. I'm honestly not sure why honestly not sure why she was talking about Steph like she's a baby. Oh, this a weird DC universe, it's 2010 and apparently Stephanie Brown is a six year old.
That really Spoils, heh, my timeline that I've been trying to build. It's like whatever version of the DC universe I've landed in has just decided that, yeah no we're not making any sense. I have absolutely no clue what too make of the fact that we're still on the first Robin. Well it's nice that Richard Grayson is still around as a chibi.
Wait this means that Jason Todd, the Red Hood himself hasn't been reset yet. Note to self; if I can save street rat and train him as a bad ass. Oh, and if possible save his parents from, I forget who. Either way this was a man who'd been killed by the Joker of his time and was revived in a Multiverse Crisis. He rose from his grave and was trained by Ra's al Ghul.
Oh that reminds me there was a Red Hood Gang that was an active force, with a decoy leader who'd become one of the first Jokers. If they were a thing here that gives a potential thing to look into.
...
No I, no I'm Jinhui now. Let's try that again.
No, Jinhui remember to be genre savvy and obey the lessons in the Lists both evil and heroic and Maxims. Well that and since this is a DC universe, I'm going to want my own country and eventually a mobileworld. Heck, I might even try taking over one of the pocket worlds that exist like Gemworld.
"To beat a hero, you have to think like a hero. And just like Black Adam, it's better to lay down that bed of experience at the beginning of your career. After all, that's how crusty old powerful wizards like Shazam end up entrusting you with immeasurable power."
2. Set reasonable goals
I.E. don't eat an energy field bigger than your head.
"Declaring your intentions for global domination is a rookie move: that's how the Justice League gets involved in your business, and you really don't want that. Better to set your sights a little lower: total domination of a single country can be just as satisfying, and much less of a logistical hassle. Most super heroes happen to be based in the United States, so the farther away you can get from there, the better."
3. Strike fear into the hearts of criminals
"Okay, by now, you've exerted your dominance and carved out your kingdom. How best to maintain order? For this one, take a page from Batman's handbook."
Oh, and people are visual creatures so do a Black Adam and tear a terrorist in half. Do it early to discourage others, but not so early that it shows you have no velvet to your steel fists.
4. Marry for Love
"Political marriages to consolidate power may be tempting, but they should be avoided at all costs."
"The people's love, that is — as Black Adam elected with his own bride, Adrianna Tomaz. As absolute ruler, you may never show weakness or mercy, or you may find yourself exploited. However, a popular consort may help foster the loyalty of your populace.""
Note to self avoid the future goddess Isis. Oh, and invest in medical magitek. That's a good way to make a powerful ally.
5. Make powerful friends
"If the super heroes are so fond of teaming up, it's only fair that you do as well. Black Adam himself was once a founder of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, and maintained friendly relations with Sinestro and his Lantern Corps over their shared philosophy of using fear to keep their empires in check."
Though as villains everyone is a rival who seeks to gain an upper hand or other benefit. If I have a country at this point I can offer clemency, as long as they then follow the rule of law thereafter.
6. Keep track of your passwords
Keep your Macguffins safe and heavily defended, both legally and offensively.
"As you rise to super-villainy, you will no doubt make equally wily enemies. Make no mistake: eventually, they WILL get the better of you. So make sure you have a contingency in place for when that happens."
7. When all else fails pull a redemption arc
If I lose the game, I started the game as a hero I can leverage said origins.
"Consider that Black Adam himself spent a good run with the Justice Society of America, making friends who would continue to defend him even as he returned to evil. What you must remember about super heroes is that they all suffer from the delusion that we're all essentially good people who ultimately want what's best for everyone. (How pathetic.) Unlike super-villains, you see, the power of friendship amongst heroes is unbreakable. So why not put that power to work for you?"
<|> ++ <|> ++ <|> ++ <|> ++ <|>
Reviewing my thoughts on potential world domination I had to stop to consider that some were a pinkish Violet. Ignore that the color came up when thinking about strong love. And, there it was again, a flash of light out the corner of my eye.
That's the emotional spectrum, which is something I don't want to deal with. Especially when I don't have a power ring, heck I'd even take one of the green ones with all the malware that it would have. Ooh, I know find out if Jessica Cruz is a Green Lantern.
If she is I might find the Phantom Ring and its maker Rami. Rami was an old Guardian who didn't go nuts. He was the best inventor and the one who forged the first of the Green Lantern Rings. If I can get him to instead of trying to destroy it, but instead fix it that might be a good thing.
...
I'm forced to stop as police officer and a man in a bat costume stepped into my room. A room where I've been medically restrained and am unable to communicate meaningfully. Well that and I doubt the Bat would let the Martian into his city to communicate with an interesting case.
++( West Mercy Hospital, Gotham City
++( June 2nd, 2010
++( 9:30 PM
I'm looking at the Bat himself and have to say being jawless and without a throat has benefits. Never thought I'd ever say, or in this case think that. Benefits that no one can hear a boy have a fanboy moment at coming face to face with an icon who you grew up reading and watching.
It also let's one have a smug smirk at discovering or remembering interesting details. Such as Talia while probably having the hots for Batman hasn't had the chance to have Damian yet. That means assassin momma is still free and hasn't tripped past her final line in the sand on the way to crazy.
...
Right I should probably focus more on the fact that I have the cops and the Bat himself visiting. Well, I'm not sure if it's me that they're visiting, though I might be one of their stops. I mean they just walked past my door which is near one of the hallway intersections in this place. Well, that and they had a man in a tuxedo with them, a man who was twirling one of those stage wands. Source of potential Soul Strength detected. I should try to get something off of him. Magic, maybe?
You know having my reality slapped in the face once more is something I've sadly started to get used to. Well, that and if Batman is associating with a magician shouldn't that be his on and off affair with Zatanna? No the Magician is someone else, and I'm uncomfortable at how hungry thinking about the stage wand makes me. It's almost like this mystery force in me has decided that coal might keep me alive, but it was hungry now. Hungry like one would be if fed nutritious gruel for a week and then was presented with a veritable feast.
Let's think about this somewhat rationally while I wait for a BatGlare. Batman according to my new memories started in 1999, and is an active member of the Justice League as of Early 2003. On the league was that Z'-something magician, Zatara, not Zatanna.
I don't really know anything about him from the comics, besides being trapped in hell dimensions a lot of the time. In this universe though he seemed to be based out of New York City and does travelling magic shows. He might be able to give me a magical solution to fixing my speech impediment. I mean I could learn telepathy, and I probably should learn it at some point regardless of where I was in the game.
Thus the question becomes; do I really want to become involved in the mess that is DC Comics Magic? I mean there was that whole mess with Hecate, and the Man Upside-Down. I had to force myself to think about that last name wrongly, after all I have no clue if he can hear his name. Those two were the first of Magic's creations. Oh, and Hecate's story is a reminder that, except for the amazons and a couple other things, that the Greek Gods could go f' themselves. That betrayal would introduce the Upside-Down's magic into the world as well as the fact that magic goes through ages at random.
Magic is a force that could be considered a Pandora's Box much like Time Travel is. Time Traveling police exist in DC, though for the most part they won't do anything as long as you don't mess with time travel. And, this is real life now for me at least. At this point I don't matter enough 'plot' to avoid a lethal Reality Ensues moment.
...
Alright I got to focus back on what's going on and not drifting off in thought.
Just in time too based on the security guard swinging by. He came to a stop in front of my door and knocked on it. "Hey. Just a notice, that there's a Commissioner Gordon and a couple others who'll be swinging around in about a twenty or so."
He looked closer at me and shook his head before continuing. "Looks like it'll be them talking at you or if you're lucky to you. Especially seeing as they should have been notified that you can't talk."
Yeah that's probably a warning that I should respond to. I decided to try and shift a little to a more upright position. After all, I should be a little more presentable when visited by two of Gotham's finest. Well, two if the cursed city's finest forces for good.
As I shifted to try sitting up a bit more my cover shifted enough to expose a shiny black set of toes as they tore through the sheet.
That's how my visitors found me like five minutes later, just staring down at my transformed toes in shock. Well, that and I'd smashed the coal feed button on accident and at like a hundred pounds in one go. praise the heavens
++( West Mercy Hospital, Gotham City
++( June 2nd, 2010
++( 9:42 PM
I'm ashamed to admit that it wasn't suddenly finding myself with visitors that snapped me out of staring at my blackened toes. No, that came from my increased fire growing in size to the point that it ignited my oddly cut sheet. Said ignition sparked a fire extinguisher to go off in my face.
I'm sure that my reaction was rather comedic from an outside perspective. What with me first lighting up and then getting covered in a thick white powdery sludge. One that quickly blackened into ash and sucked into my chest.
Huh, that's a neat way to clean off, as there's barely any soot left on me. I mean if I had a baby wipe I could probably clean up within a minute or two. Well that or go for a dip in some water.
Ignoring the fact that I felt a miniscule bit stronger from feeding off the soot and ash I focused back on my visitors. The Magician had a look of good humor that was tinged with a flash of rage, fear, and envy? Though that quickly faded from view as he centered himself. The Bat though was wearing a suit that I didn't recognize. The first thing that threw me off about it was the lack of a yellow chest plate. I mean the bat insignia from what I could remember usually had some sort of yellow outline.
Source - Young Justice Wiki
The lack of any yellow, combined with Nurse Brown cluing me on accident onto the fact that we're still on Robin I of VI, or was it eight, has seriously lost me. It's official I have no clue what continuity I've landed in. I mean Dick's too young too have formed the Teen Titans. Ooh, if I get space flight I should ship out to the Vega system to rescue a pair of orange Catgirl Princesses.
While the Bat just stares me dead in the eye, I've noticed both the magician and the cop glance down a couple of times. I just stare at them a little lost in response. I'm a little embarased at the fact it took me a moment to realize that when I torched the sheet and the residue, I burned something else.
...
Looking down from where I was leaning on the hospital bed didn't take long. All I had to do was tilt my head a little to see I was apparently flashing the heroes. Meh, Jinhui's little star wasn't so little anymore, and let's leave it at that. It went from Jinhui's half-Asian size to the size I remembered from my first life. Nice, with sarcasm.
"Ehtolc siht tsinoitibihxe ni etairporppa livic lerappa" Ah, yep this was definitely Giovanni Zatara, the father of Zatanna. That backwards magical speech that he did proved it right away. If I remember right that odd Tourette's Syndrome is actually a bloodline talent that has manifested for a specific reason. He called me an exhibitionist
I can't remember what that reason was. My memories from before landing here, as well as Jinhui's have massively decayed. It's like looking at an encyclopedia or wiki that just glosses over things. A wiki that was stripped of lots of details, or an encyclopedia who had pages, many pages that were torn out at random.
Looking at what he put me in showed a quite dapper white tux, and slacks. Well that and a red undershirt that was paired with a green bowtie, already tied around my neck. And, wasn't that concerning that a newly encountered magician can easily place a potential noose around my neck with minimal effort. Looking down and ignoring my hands for the moment revealed a pair of white dress shoes. Overall, a nice and tasteful set of clothes that shifting me hips revealed a pair of new unders were on me now. The suit and unders felt like they were made of quite comfortable silk, ah heroes giving you a taste of the high life.
Source - Marvel wiki - Arcade (Earth-616) Character image
I think once I get some money going my way I might go with more of these or switch to an open chest look. That second option would let me offensively use my chest fire without burning off my clothes.
Clothing can wait for a future in which I'm free and not facing a potential interrogation. Hmm, I don't know How they're planning on actually interrogating me seeing as I've been trying to cuss at them without saying any Names that might attract things. I mean I just had magic cast at me, which for some reason makes the force sustaining me happy. It sapped all of the residual magic from the suit leaving it a plain silk suit. He called me an exhibitionist
As I rendered the suit magically null I felt a bit better. A bit more real so to speak, just as I did each time I 'ate' something like the coal or residue. I'm not sure exactly what I'm feeding when I eat in that sense, but I feel stronger from it.
Wait, something finally sunk into my thick head as the rush of magic faded. That asshole called me an exhibitionist! What does he take me for?
I was having a panic attack and was in shock. Why the hell would I try and flash the Bat? Heh, just for that I'll get his daughter to lewd her spells. Well, as long as she's legal, that is. I mean I could just help her on getting that show girl magician outfit I remember from the comics.
Overall, the magician is lucky that I don't have any real ways to attack him. Well I could vomit fire at him, though that would ruin my snazzy new suit, and result in a BatPunch to the face. Either that or getting shot by the police officer with the twitchy mustache.
Deciding that maybe I should be cooperative for the moment I sat up straight with my legs hanging off the side of the bed. Once I was upright I waved to the other chairs and the nearby doctor's station for seating.
The cop and I can't think of his name pulled a chair away from the wall towards the bed. Batman of course just walked over to the station and started rifling through the paperwork. Heh, I'm onto you Bats, you most likely have a HUD in that mask that has already given you the data. Zatara, just stood against the wall and was moving his stage wand in lazy circles. I'd ignore it but there was a faint light at the tip that has obviously him working some sort of magic.
Once everyone was in position we all just kind of stared awkwardly at each other. I mean it was obvious we were doing a waiting game, but the joke's on them. I can't talk, and Batman will just do his quiet statue thing, so either the Police or the Magician will need to kick things off.
With a sigh, the officer pulled out a badge and showed it to me. It read Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon.
++( West Mercy Hospital, Gotham City
++( June 2nd, 2010
++( 9:51 PM
As I just stared at the man who honestly looked to young to be the wizened Police Commissioner that I recognize from the comics. I mean he barely had any stress marks. I mean sure he was in his late forties, early fifties, but James Gordon was a Gotham native that refused to bend. I mean he's probably the only honest cop in all of Gotham regardless of gender. Renee Montoya and Harvey Bullock might be in distant second place at least in how earnest they are. Harvey has his issues and Renee had trauma that broke her. I mean even when his daughter was crippled by the Joker, James believed even harder in justice.
No, this is one of the few that I won't snark at. I would if I could, cuss out the Magician Zatara, or snark at the Bat. James though in deference to his story, and in knowledge of what it costs him to have such faith in justice. I think if I'm going to try the hero route first before taking over / building up an empire in space. Well, that or taking over a dimension and starting a journey of conquest.
Either way, regardless of circumstances I have more respect for this simple single father than most of DC's greatest heroes. Well, besides my favorite League member of Wonder Woman. I'm pretty sure I'd snark or cuss at any of the rest. Bruce and Green Arrow for being womanizers, Supes for his blind optimism.
Well, on the topic of Superman I have so many issues. First, Why doesn't he release any Kryptonian media as a way to fund the League? Nor, does he share any of that tech to help his adopted people. No, I can heavily empathize with Lex Luthor. Well, I can, I just have no sympathy for them as he's a nutter and a one of the people responsible for holding humanity back.
...
Damn it, I need to stop drifting off in thought. Before glancing at the others I decided to check myself. Mainly to make sure I was still presentable, and I was, though the red undershirt was starting to smolder as my mouth fire was still exposed. The green bowtie was rapidly smoldering and had streamers of smoke coming off it.
Source - Marvel wiki - Arcade (Earth-616) Character image
Doing a quick take of the others I could see that they were still in their spots from before I zoned out. Though Zatara was frowning and had his wand doing some weird rapid zig-zag patterns & twirling spirals. Batman though had a BatCorder, BatTriCorder? Eh, he had some sort of BatScanner in his hand and was pointing it at me while tapping away at the screen.
Ignoring the 'heroes' I focused on Commissioner Gordon.
"Ah, now that I have your attention we," here he gestured to include all three of them, "have some questions for you."
I nodded and motioned to my neck. I pointed with my left and made a snipping motion with my right, both targeted at my throat. Seeing him nod I waved him on.
"Yes, it was noted by your medical examiner that you were unable to talk. Don't worry, though as this is mainly a precursory interview about the incident that sent you here. That would be the incident at the warehouse that occurred on the night of the 20th of May. Now, before you get worried about legal issues, you are not a suspect, but instead are being treated as both a victim and a witness."
"My companions, Gotham City's Batman and his League companion Zatara will take over after I've left. Before we go any further, though I am sure you are already aware I feel the need to warn you. There has been a video that was uploaded that gave a pretty clear view as too what happened that night. Now, son you have my condolences for your loss, but we do need to cover some of your options."
... He had stopped and was looking at me. So, I took that as a cue to respond with a nod and a jerky go on with my hand. A hand whose new shiny black reflective surface I would continue to ignore.
"As I informed you there is a very publicly viewed video that showed the event of that night from multiple angles. That leaves only a few options for you sadly, none of which are exceptionally pleasant."
"The first would be for you to stay in Gotham and not hide. Do be a ware that this one is the least healthy for you in terms of predicted survival. Said danger comes from the fact that the video revealed that the Joker has actually been multiple individuals. Or, at least that is the case now." I wanted out of Gotham as soon as possible. The only reason I'd stay was if Batman took me in, and I see no way that'd happen.
I did hold a finger up to stop Gordon though as I thought long and hard. Coming to a decision I made a truly horrendous hacking noise as I pantomimed a large grin. Upon stopping I made a spraying motion at where my mouth would be and acted giggly for a second or two. Then, one of my hands went to my elbow and started trying to mime drawing blood.
Only to then switch arms and mime an injection before aping the Joker again. I could see the moment that Batman made the connection from how he straightened a tiny fraction from being stooped over his little gadget. Gordon was also quick on the uptake as he seemed to know as soon as Batman twitched.
Zatara though of course was being his useless self still. I mean if "you're going to glare at your wand you might as well stroke it. That might help with your performance issues..." Well I got my voice back though I could already feel the magics used being unraveled to fuel my recovery.
Everyone turned to look at Zatara as the fact I'd just spoken for the first time since I woke up sunk in. "Well, if Hitachi the magic wand can keep it up, and supply me with magic I should be able to keep talking. Though I have a strong feeling that once he stops I'll be done talking whether I want to be or not. Now, can someone get me a pen and a note pad to write with for when I lose my voice?"
Accepting a blank memo pad and a pen from Gordon I nodded for him to continue.
With a shake of his head Commissioner Gordon decided to get back on track. "The second real option is for you to leave the city for a few months and get some treatments for your chest. Probably get a sort of prosthetic made up to cover up your chest decoration. Once that's done you could chance coming back to Gotham and returning to school for the new school year. I think you'd be either a junior or a senior should you pass the end of year exams you missed."
"Continuing on from that option would be to after getting a prosthetic would be to set up shop in a different city. Besides that you'd have to dodge anyone trying to question you about your experience. Finally what the Gotham City Police Department can do is to funnel any bounties that might be claimed from that night." Here he drew a deep breath and took his hat off. "I also regret to inform you that overall your rather significant reaction between the chemicals and Phosphorous striking you resulted in significant casualties. Now while no charges are being filed against you from the city, there might be a chance at some of the crazies having fans going after you. Over all there were roughly a hundred and half that again in fatalities that were present upon our arrival at the scene. about twenty of that were of the masked criminal variety."
He stood up and pushed his chair back to the wall. "Well I said all that I needed to say. I'll leave you now to think over what I've said, and leave you too my two companions here." So said he walked out the door while pulling his coat closed and putting his hat on.
That just left me with a Batman who was scanning me with some sort of Bat-like Tricorder from Star Trek. Zatara had cut me off though I think I was getting close to a point where I could actually manifest a voice. All I was missing was some more magic to top me off.
++( West Mercy Hospital, Gotham City
++( June 2nd, 2010
++( 10:13 PM
Right, so I was on my own with two adult men wearing masks, while sitting in a hospital room. That's totally ignoring the fact that I'd flashed them on accident when I had panicked and got called an exhibitionist.
Oh, it looks like Batman will be taking the lead, and I'm sure he's recorded everything that's happened since he walked in. The fact that I was in a DC universe was both awesome, yet horrific. There's so many different versions, all with extraordinarily dangerous threats. Said threats ranged from 'rogue' government agencies; cough, cough; Checkmate, the DEO, ARGUS, and The Suicide Squad.
I mean in the end the Earth always survives in the comics and shows. I'd rather have taken my chances in Worm. A world that was set to die in like either 2013 or 2014 from Scion going nuts. Well, that and have to deal with a scary woman in a stylish hat who would put a bullet through my skull within the first five minutes of my arrival. Well she would as soon as I started making waves that could be picked up if I wasn't protected by some sort of anti-Precognition powers. Example waves would be saying door me on accident, speaking about the source of powers / Case-53's.
I think as long as this world isn't a cross over I should be able to somewhat muddle my way through. Ah, I really got to stop zoning out as Batman is now using his wrist computer instead of his scanner thing.
It was almost amusing to me that the famous BatGlare I'd been worried about was not something to be so worried about.
I think the reason that it's failing right now is the sheer fact that I'm just over it all. I mean at the moment there's not anything intimidating in particular about it. I mean it was a man, admittedly a very fit one, but a man all the same wearing a spandex suit. I mean sure there was the black cape and the symbol, which was missing its yellow trim, as well ad his utility belt. All that would be acceptable, but it was his mask that ruined it for me.
His mask or hood / cowl thing, showed off his jaw, and it had the ears. A pair of points just jutting up from atop either side of his head like miniature bat ears. It was a comically cute addition to the over all design, I think the only way the ears could be cuter was if he had cat ears.
Overall his posture and composure was impeccable, and in a typical staring contest he would win. This was not a typical one though as I wasn't being intimidated. You see, in a staring contest, the one who maintains their composure as it's called wins.
With Batman though you can feel the strength of his conviction. You could feel that this was the man who pushed so hard that even after having his spine snapped still fought the good fight. I have immense respect for him, it wouldn't stop me from messing with him. After all I know from my remaining meta-knowledge, largely how far I can push back against him without getting a black fist to the head. This was a man who'd honed himself over the years against some of the worst madmen, supervillains (and sometimes superheroes) in his world, without the benefit of any metahuman ability for himself.
...
Zatara apparently fed up with waiting "Batman either you start or I'll just spell the knowledge into him. You know the last time I did that with that Tamara Cal-something, I sent too much into her head. Do you want to take the lead or should we get Wonder Woman here for an oath?"
Heh, Batman actually gave a snort at that.
"Right. Jinhui Starsmore, that is your name correct?" Upon me nodding, he continued. "You are the son of Jonathan "Blondie" Starsmore a security enforcer, and Chang Ming-Zu, one of LexCorp's geneticists. That is what your records state, as well as earlier genetic testing. As of May 20th, you are now 17 years old, and would have finished your junior year at Gotham Academy if not for you being in the hospital during finals."
"Now, instead of cutting you loose, which is certainly an option, we have a couple of other proposed options to cover. Before that though can you tell us more about what you were using charades to try telling Commissioner Gordon?"
I started trying to tell him, noticed I wasn't making any noise and pointed at Zatara. After I got his attention I made a talking motion with my hand. You know the one where you draw a face on your hand using the thumb and then flex to ape speech.
With a sigh and a flick of the wand I could feel something settle into place. "La do ra. Okay, Batman. You were asking about my response to good ol' Jim Gordon, correct?"
I took a breath or what passes for one, and accidentally sucked up the scorched remains of my green bow tie. Oh well, no great loss and I felt a little stronger. I think I can get stronger over time if left to my own devices, but fuel would, well fuel my recovery.
Back on track to Batman's question. "Right, well you heard Gordon say that a video revealed that there were multiple Jokers? As the child of a scientist, and with parents out working almost 24/7 I turned to comics, well mainly literature and actual books. In fact Marvel comics has managed to survive in the present world and should be celebrated. Back on track though we know the Joker, or one of them is a talented chemist."
"My diminished comic knowledge though would go to say two options. The first is that unless he's cloning himself somewhere then he's using some sort of neuro-chip to copy his brain over. Once copied into a new body a little plastic surgery and some chemical treatments for the hair, skin, and smile; boom you have a Joker drone. The second, and it involves Zatara's field more than yours is a memetic agent that copies and propagates the Joker-sona as a template and overlays any infected. Almost like a slow spreading controllable zombie virus or I guess it would be more like vampirism. Except instead of zombies and vampires you get Jokers."
Seeing them look at me oddly in response, I had to defend myself. "What? I can literally feel Zatara's magic being used both as a conduit to let me talk, but also as fuel to fuel my recovery. I think if he keeps doing it enough I might be able to force my flames into the necessary patterns to talk myself."
"Besides, you should have seen the collar with all of those vials on it in the video Gordon spoke of. Well, I know some of those chemicals had to be magic, like this necklace I got on me." At this both heroes jerked like I just shocked them. Huh, it looks like they didn't notice that I was wearing it until now.
"Ignoring the potentially magical necklace that for some reason I can't use to fuel my recovery. Hmm, this actually might be what's preventing my fiery rift from fully cracking me in half. That's not the point right now, as regardless of vector, the Joker has discovered a method of continuing himself."
...
"Oh, before we continue about how long, and how expensive would it be to get a prosthetic like Gordon mentioned? Well, that and I think I'll be needing oversight for the next few months. That's mainly because I think I got exposed to a mix of Smilex and the Joker vector seeing as I know things I didn't before that night. Isn't that right Brucie? The chemical mess might have disrupted most of my memories, but it did leave some things. Oh, and let's use Diana's Lasso so I don't torch the Martian on accident."
I think that I pushed a little too much because the next thing I noticed was that Zatara had sent some massive blast of eldritch energy at me.
"We're here," Batman announced as he dumped the unconscious body of Jinhui Starsmore on a medical examination table. A table in the heart of the Justice League's power, that would allow all present to evaluate the subject.
"Just a reminder that this visit is not about the incident from the 20th," Batman started off neutrally. "It was ruled as Criminal-on-Criminal by the legal system, largely thanks to the video that was released a few days after the fires were put out. Of said criminals fatalities there were 152 career criminals, of which were masked."
All of the scanners that were available in both the medical bay and the station were turned towards Jinhui. Both the scanners that were left behind from when the Green Lanterns handed over a decommissioned base station for League use; as well as ones that were installed after the fact. Though they did immediately flag him as an active Thaumaturgic Font. Though there was also elemental manifestation warning signs.
That first warning seemed to concern Zatara as he left and returned with a collection of tomes. The elemental alert was something that was both obvious, fire, as well as similar to Red Tornado's initial scans. Well, if the scans were applied to a largely organic vessel who was both a quadriplegic as well as missing most of his organs. It's cold comfort seeing how far my transformation was.
When viewed through the sophisticated scanners the truth behind his limbs was revealed. Said truth was that the organic flesh of his arms and legs stopped at the mid point. From his knees down, and past his elbows to his hands was 'elemental' flesh according to the Green Lantern scanners. Said scanners also reported that his chest flame was an elemental fracture. Earth based scanner tech showed that his limbs were some form of blackened crystalline metal. So, according to this screen here I'm some sort of elemental. Huh, how'd the Joker manage that?
...
Seeing no one doing anything and getting bored Green Arrow decided to try moving things along. "So we know that our sidekicks, mainly Kid Flash, Robin, Speedy, as well as Aqualad have been getting a little rowdy. Mainly because they think they're ready for what it takes to make it at the same level as us."
Here he paused and turned to Batman. "So Bats, are we still doing that Team setup in July we were talking about? I mean we were initially just planning on just testing them on the 4th of July. Why not open it up as a full team slash training program for young heroes?"
"I mean if bring in a few other hero potentials besides our kids we might get more mileage out of it." Green Arrow then blew a kiss at Canary. Honestly it's a little awkward seeing them acting like this. Though the Martian's eyes are pulsing with light at odd intervals.
And, now Batman's are flashing a little. "The reason why we should hold off on Jinhui for the moment, until July is to better determine his situation. Primarily how we are going to handle him revealing that the Joker somehow knows at the very least my identity, and may know the rest of yours. After all if we put him on the team right away then that's just asking for a potential Joker plant."
...
Oh merry hell. that hurt. I think the Martian did some kind of psychic attack to knock me away from the meeting. Ow, it's not my fault I was taking advantage of my free meal pass.
...
And, there he is now. "It would appear that our guest was truly awake. He was just temporarily displaced by Zatara's.. Eldritch Blast." Smug git, I think I remember the Oreo cookie addiction. No, they were Chocos, from the comics, a narcotic for Martians, that was also an Oreo competitor.
When I opened my eyes I was somewhat disappointed, as it would seem I had given myself some false expectations of just what this would entail. The Watchtower's medical room did look like the one I remember from Justice League comics and cartoons. Though I was obviously seeing actual, real-life objects and nit just looking at cartoon versions of it.
What dismayed me slightly, though, was just how few of the Leaguers were actually present in the adjourning room. I mean there was the League's magic division with Zatara, the magical Hitachi; Captain Marvel, the ten year old agent of the millennium old wizard SHAZAM. Then there was Wonder Woman, one of the few DC Comics mainstream heroes I wouldn't snark with. That there was a woman who did what needed doing.
Source - Wonder Woman #219 (2005)
Princess Diana is a woman who knows war. Unlike Superman with his utterly alien mindset, well that and his rigid morals, Diana is a Soldier experienced in the art of war. Unlike Batman, she's not afraid of getting her hands dirty. During the JSA era she served alongside the US Armed Forces and wracked up mission tallies.
No, Wonder Woman has always been one of my favorites, even if I rarely actually read her comics. I blame that on teenage male social pressures, after all you could read comics, but 'girly' ones were for 'girls'.
Meh, I already know that if Bats or Hitachi ask anything I'm ignoring them unless Diana clears it. Well, that or one of the other people present. I count/taste the magic/heat of at least a dozen people so I'm not seeing everyone.
I know the Martian, The Bat, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, a Green Lantern, and Aquaman are all present. Not sure about the rest, though I see interesting things in my future.
++( Salem, Massachusetts
++( June 24th, 2010
++( Early Morning, dawnbreaks
It took hours to sort out what was going to happen to me. In the end I was taken in for a month by an associate of Princess Diana's. While she might have been an option, she was busy prepping her own apprentice for both diplomacy and combat roles as Ambassadors for the Amazons of Themyscira.
Instead I was placed in the able hands of one of her former teammates from when she was part of the All-Star Squadron. Kent Nelson was an old man, 106 years old at the time. He lived in a swanky tower that could slip out of standard space-time, as to remain undetectable.
There was also some sort of Virtual Assistant, that the tower formed to assist residents/guests. At the moment that spectral image was a dapper old man with a cane who'd pass for a calmer and more positive Kent.
Here was an old man who had lost his wife, as well as put Nabu into debt. Though I am unsure if he did that knowingly or as revenge, over the sixty years that he had hung the helmet up. I'll get back to the stupid, and I do mean that, debt. For now I want to cover the mess that is this guy's love life.
First his wife, Inza Nelson, passed away in 1998. But before that she convinced him that there was more to life than being Doctor Fate. As a result he stopped wearing the Helmet of Fate, but kept the name active.
No, instead of passing the helmet over to some magical consortium such as the Amazons, or Atlanteans, he put it on a shelf. At least if he'd handed it off he could have spent his time with his wife, without that weight. Also, if he'd passed it to someone else, then Nabu could have been out and about as either a spirit or possessing a golem.
At this point in time Kent is largely a man waiting to die, but wants to pass the buck before he does. In this case he wants to join his wife in the afterlife.
If it was me I'd have tracked down a magical nexus like a Lazarus pit for my needs. In this case use it to revive his wife to life. She might be a little mad after getting back up, but I'm sure that's something a purification ritual could handle.
Ra's Al Ghul exhumes Batman's parents and threatens to revive them.
Source - JLA Vol 1 #44 "Tower of Babel, Part 2: Seven Little Indians"
Besides, the pits there must be some other available methods. Hell, just use some criminals and use them to fuel a resurrection ritual. Or, ignoring that go the Persephone and Hades Route.
By which I mean, just set up some method of visiting your dead wife in her afterlife. It would be like a typical 9-to-5 job, go to work in the living world, and at the end of the day go home.
These are just some things I came up with off the top of my head. Hell, the man could have just gone into continued semi retirement as a resident of an afterlife. Just leave some contact details so you can be reached when a successor has been found.
...
That's the simple part out of the way.
Now I should probably cover the mess that I just had dumped on my lap.
My thaumovore tendencies had ended as I completed my recovery in a magic dense location. No, we found my elemental planar fracture that now served as my heart was a magical dynamo. We started off with some magical aptitude testing, well that and charging up some magical items.
I think he was training me up as a serviceable replacement. That's what made finding out about the mess he was shoving my way so painful.
Here's a man, who looked like a friendly grandpa, that had taken me into his house and was teaching me valuable life lesson. There was most definitely a bond of apprenticeship that could have progressed into a familial bond.
That was most certainly off the tables at this point. Seeing as, I only found out about the debt mess when something called a Balancer of Chaos and Order showed up out of the blue. I mean when you get a glowing orange woman with flaming wings and sword just popped up in the middle of your nap time, it'd freak you out too.
See, I'd gotten used to meditating, sleeping, in a chair on the top of the roof. Oh yeah, her name was Mirand'r, and she was here about some entities complaining about being unable to properly collect their dues.
Source - DC comics wiki - Mirand'r - profile pic
Apparently Cosmic Forces and both sides of the Order/Chaos, Light/Dark, and other dualities have some sort of arcane system in place. Huh, who knew? Oh, wait any one whose ever read comics, or stopped to think about why the Big Bads, and Big Goods don't directly involve themselves.
Of course Good and Evil have rules they must follow. These rules are usually towards overall self-preservation; no one side is allowed to "win" too much. The Big Good and Big Bad restrict their fighting to a Cosmic Chess Game rather than going at it in person, The Hero saves the Villain, and the villain invites the hero to dinner instead of death. If the balance is not maintained, very bad things will happen. What these things are varies though is often invoked via phrases such as, "Two sides of the same coin," "No light without darkness," etc.
That's not the main concern for me right now. No that was the fact I'd been set up as some sort of Agent of Order.
And, seeing as I was a potential disciple of Nabu I was involved in this mess now.
To quote the Agent of Balance. "Being killed or defeated by an important being -- such as a Lord of Order -- helps the losers grow stronger. To use their terminology, it cuts them into a better shape, trims the fat -- so that next time they will be even harder to defeat. Kent used the name of Fate to defeat many wicked mystical forces, but when they went to collect -- they found they had been defeated by someone they'd never heard of prior to said loss. Because of this, many have petitioned the Lords of Order for what essentially amounts to a do-over."
...
And, leads me to now where I'm staring at the sun with some answers to what I was now, but with a feeling of loss. Kent and the helmet had been taken by Mirand'r to some other plane for them to get back into shape and start the feuding for a time.
Now, I'm left with a fancy key, its tower and the library within were for the moment mine. All that was left was to wait for Wonder Woman to arrive to pick me up and house me at the embassy for a about a week and a half.
That's how long I had to come to grips with my current issues, before I was lumped with a Justice League Youth Group.
Watching the sun rise as I wait to be picked up was a relaxing and meditative experience. I would only need to go and spend a week in the domicile of one of my personal heroes. My main hope this go around is that she'd be honest and not try pulling a fast one on me, like Kent did.
Though the fact they wanted me on a team was something that rankled me. Sure a Justice League Youth Group might just be what I needed at this point in my life. I just need to ignore the fact that I was using the memories of a 24yr old college student who had some titbits of multiversal lore stuffed in their head.
I can recognize that what Pinga and I had was a lie from her point of view. She was an assassin who decided that a honey trap was the way to go. It still hurts to think about.
Thankfully none of those scars seemed to carry over. Heck none of the ones that Jinhui had before we were melted down into our respective components and were then cast and forged as one, remain to be seen. Though that doesn't mean I should let my paranoia slip, especially as I now live in a comic book world.
Comic logic states that I ended my last relationship with a woman ended by a sword. A sword that cut my spine and then tore out the side of my gut. In comics this would lead to a few simple paths for the afflicted character in future relationships.
The first was a psychotic break towards women, which I thankfully haven't seen yet. I still hate humanity as a whole, and I can say unless challenged I hate everyone equally. Nice to see that my misanthropy is still a core component of my personality. The second is a flip in romantic preferences, a result that has thus far failed to manifest. Though I think I am neutral on the matter of gender when it comes to potential romantic relationship targets available. It's more personality and interpersonal connections that I think does it now.
The third was that my desire for romance was dead. I don't think that was happening, as I still desired what I had with Pinga. Well, what I thought we had before she went crazy. We were both openly and biblically involved, with a potential marriage being discussed between us for after we'd both graduated. If I take into consideration what few scraps of memory survived the melting, from my time as a captive, I have a need for control. Trust, and control, though Love would be a close one also. I need control in some factor of my life for I have no agency at this point. Also, my trust in heroes had been broken by discovering the mess of things Kent had let slide.
That last point about broken trust is a big one. As Mirand'r put it I was a free spirit who'd been bound to Order however accidental said binding was. I would be recognized by Agents of Chaosas a potential vector of their growth. Should I win I get rewarded by some 'Balance' deal. Should I lose I still get rewarded as now I am forced to recast myself and grow in order to break the brittleness that stagnation had wrought.
Ergh, I'm even starting to think in terms of metal and the forge. Mirand'r was helpful in many ways such as revealing I was a nascent soul aligned with the forge. That's one reason I guess to be concerned with going to the holdings of Wonder woman. I'd be exposed as a baby forge spirit that could get chained by Hephaestus.
While that warning of a personal mention was greatly appreciated, she also had other things to share. The big one was that she was just one of over a hundred of versions of herself that had 'unionized' following the Infinite Frontier's formation.
Source - (DC) Dark Nights: Death Metal ** Issue #7
All I got for having the scare that is Death Metal being canon for the world I was in, was the knowledge that everything was canon. Definitely had some nihilism injected into my outlook. It took a little but a great quote by Owlman of all people came to me. "Every decision we make is meaningless. Because somewhere, on a parallel Earth, we have already made the opposite choice. We're nothing. Less than nothing."
I think I can make something of myself in this world, but the sheer fact that the greater multiverse was canon was staggering. Wait this means I can punch an idiot Spider-Man post civil war. If all of the former timelines are now available then that's awesome. Doesn't help the slightest bit finding out which one I'm stuck in though. Especially since I don't have a complete recollection of DC, nor its many crossovers.
I know Crossover Earth is the name given to one of the realities. It was a world where DC and Marvel characters coexisted and had adventures together. There was a Scooby-Doo special, as well as a Mortal Kombat gimmick.
Hell, there was even talk of a crossover series between RWBY & the Justice League. I mean Crossovers are an insane thing, since if even one of those is canon then there's issues. I mean how far down the crossover chain do you go? Each 'verse/setting' has its own multiverse to contend with. I guess what I need too do is just calm down none of that is anything I can deal with.
...
Ah, I feel immensely better seeing the sun rise. Though that's probably just being exposed to celestial fire. Some sort of spiritual connection between my fire and the sun was responsible for waking me at the crack of dawn. Well, that and my very sad lack of sleep.
It took a bit but my body just had no need for sleep. A fact that I discovered from pulling an all night study session. I had to be ready for any of the many enemies of Doctor Fate coming after me.
I mean Kent had a type when it came to his enemies. They seemed to largely consist of demons, cultists, nazis, demon cultists, nazi demons, cultist nazis, and a German-Atlantean werewolf. Said werewolf may or may not have been a nazi. He did wear a non-nazi swastika on his belt, but Kent didn't share all the details in his files.
*Fwoosh* and there's the jet for my pick up. I hope it's Wonder Woman, especially as I did check and there were no zeta-tubes nearby.
I can sense the heat that was her soul, the literal spark of divinity that animates her body of magical clay.
"You know Princess, I honestly don't think I'll survive the forces of Chaos that Kent has rendered me a target of. Especially not as I am now, a fresh metahuman or elemental spirit, whatever. Regardless of all that I was a civilian who did American sumo training and got Joker shoved in my head for a moment. Hell, in the three weeks I've been here very little progress has been made. I mean sure I'm a lot more stable, or I was until Mirand'r showed up to force Kent to take responsibility. After all taking an apprentice and exposing them to Nabu was a fresh beacon, saying that he was back in the game."
I could hear the change in the morning breeze as she leaned against the edge of the Tower's roof. It was obvious that she was going to wait for me to make a comment, or continue my earlier train of thought.
"The clown sees things very different from how the average man on the street would see things. A point of view that sees life and reality as a lie, and that in a way gives him very real power. I think Carl.. Jung, a fan of the great Freud put it the best, with his theory of 'Shadows'. The Shadow according to Jung was the part of a person's psyche which they would refuse to acknowledge. It's the part of you that wishes you could beat up your boss and then steal his wallet. It's the part of you that wishes you could rob a bank in a clown mask, or hurl down a public street in a semi firing off rocket launchers. It's the part of you that wants to abandon rules."
"That's what the clown is if we're being honest. Take the collective psychological Shadows of the people's of Gotham mix in a little of the magic that taints the city to this day and you get the Joker as king and the other rogues as well." I turned away from staring straight at the sun, go fire power no burning eyes, to look at her.
"You have to see from the Joker's perspective, as well as your sisters' on Themyscira, what happens out here in Man's World is no better than a story that can be twisted into a retelling of one of the epics of yesteryear. Of jealous gods, heinous villains, and resolute heroes; that's the epics of the modern era. Except unlike in Ancient Greece most of the masses are unwilling to accept that their heroes are less than perfect, nor that too often their villains are the result of society failing. The Joker, well each version of him, from what I could get before I fought off his miasma has hitting them nonstop 54 versions of the future. A future that can be deciphered as comics, books, cartoons, and live action; sure some details may be different but enough match across the deck that he can figure out the main details. Details such as the identities of every crook and hero that is a primary agent on this world."
"Diana, he's never cared about your identities. All he sees is the fun that he can have as he introduces a little anarchy. To upset the established Order and open the gates so that everything may become Chaos. He readily accepts the narrative power that being an Agent of Chaosgrants him. In the end its a game of chess between Order and Chaos, all the while that Shadow I mentioned earlier has it's own champions as well as its own counterpoint the Glow. The Glow is the combined goodness of 'man' in the rightness of society and their sympathy for one another."
Here, she gives me a sharp look though I doubt she'd stop me, this is the most I've spoken or communicated without snarking in the time that I had powers. Though I'm sure she has something on her recording me as I talk, either that or her jet has really good acoustics. Or, I could be over thinking it and there's either a Batman behind me bring all stealthy or the League has a scrying effect on me right now.
"I'm not sure if it means anything to you or the league, but when Mirand'r was here she revealed that she was but one of hundreds from alternate realities within our little bubble. Apparently, and brace yourself this is our world's designation under the Order | Chaos divide. Nexus 27 Wilds - Wyrm 7 - Reforged 26 Earth 16| 9ƖɥʇɹɐƎ9ᄅpǝƃɹoɟǝᴚ-ㄥɯɹʎM-spןıMㄥᄅsnxǝN."
I could hear two loud sounds of pain, and a odd tooth rattling keening noise that lasted for a few seconds. Turning around I was surprised that the rigid Batman was the one who'd made the louder of the two pained grunts. I guess Diana was made of sterner stuff, probably thanks to her pseudo-divine nature.
With a blast of wind that ruffled all of us, Flash resolved himself back into normality. Well, normal except for tears and singes to his costume from sudden Speed Acceleration. Man he looks a little wiped, though also turbo charged if one spots the little energy sparks springing up from him.
I should probably continue before they get carried away. "Like I said our world's current designation is that of: Nexus 27 Wilds - Wyrm 7 - Reforged 26 Earth 16. I don't know about the Nexus and Wyrm parts, but the Reforged and Earth bits are simple enough. You remember the deck of cards analogy I made earlier?"
"Y-Yeah. T-That's's the t-thing withthe the JokEr you were talking about right?" Ah, you could literally hear his voice calm down from his Speed Overdose. Not, sure if the Speed Force is a known or even a real thing for this version.
"Right you are Flash. I mentioned how the Joker at least before it got burned out showed for our local multiverse, that 54 Earths exist in distinct mainlines. 52 Parallels, and then the Jokers; the Nursery & the Grave. Souls come from some where, go to the Nursery where they live a pseudo-life. In said life, from information gathered from both the Joker and Mirand'r, the soul picks up traits that determine which of the 52 Earth it'll go to."
"Said process seems to also act as some form of karmic force in how it places individuals according to narrative values. The Grave seems to be where those who didn't collect enough faith or narrativium or whatever its called to get the express lane to an afterlife or reincarnation. It's basically a version of the Earth crowded with the peaceful and mindless dead awaiting their eventual judgment and/or afterlife assignment."
"Wonder Woman, it's a lot like the Asphodel Meadows in that the dead wander through a foggy field. Though in this case there is an over all purpose, enter from the South Pole's gate and adventure North to where the exit is. As far as I know after they pass through the North's gates they go on to whatever happens after."
"Well, that covers us and how we fit into our local multiverse, which has the odd name of the Reforged 26. Not sure what our neighbors are called, though I'm sure you can figure out how the Reforged 26 is a part of Wyrm 7, which is itself a part of the Wilds bit of Nexus 27."
I turned around grabbed the key to the tower from where it'd been floating. Well the key and my bag of holding that I'd grabbed from somewhere over the last few weeks. Though at this point I can just reach into my chest grab the bag from wherever I left it and pull it out. The face makes odd expressions at times like it's looking at me or its surroundings. As long as it doesn't turn out to be a Gluttony demon I don't care what it is. I can store a lot of things and as long as I jab it with the key I can grab lots of things from the tower.
Source - The Forgotten Realms Wiki - Bag of holding - cover image
++( The Watchtower
++( June 24th, 2010
++( After-lunch on the Watchtower
While everyone who I'd exposed on accident to our multiverse's designation I was just cooling me heels. Well that and poking around in my bag of holding for a notebook I'd put in it earlier. I'd already grabbed an assortment of pens out and ready for use.
"Hrmm, come on you stupid bag just give me the blue notebook with flowers on it. I just put it in you this morning." I had my arm up to the shoulder and was starting to flare up. That's probably what did it for me as the bag almost shot my hand out with the book. It was spat out so hard that I almost wrenched my shoulder from the force.
Yep, this bag is probably alive by how forcefully it rejected a little bit of fire. Hmm, I just hope this isn't something that'll bite me in the butt later. Eh, it's a comic book universe so it'll either be vital in a future crisis, or the prison for some unknowable evil. Or, it'll literally bite me in the butt at some point down the line.
"You know if I got a turtle and did some magic I could totally make that turtle from Jojo." I know that it was called Coco something and had a room stored inside of a jewel on its back.
Source - JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE WIKI - Coco Jumbo
Source - The Forgotten Realms Wiki - Bag of holding - cover image
I think If I pulled that off the turtle shell would take on the same colors and patterns as the bag that was used. "What do you think Bagsy? Shall I go get a team together and blend your pattern with that of a turtle? It would let you have some form of mobility and a bit more defense than right now. It would also make feeding you easier once I know what you eat."
At that I stick one of my black metallic fingers into my neck to heat it up. Once, it's heated to a glowing cherry red from the heat I wave it threateningly at the bag. "Just so we're clear you don't eat my stuff that I put into you, nor any other goodies. Understood?"
"You know talking to inanimate objects is a good way to seem nuts right?" And, there's Flash trying to be friendly, though I should be able to give him the benefit of doubt. Oh, and he has chili, I wonder if it's Oliver's Spicy Chili?
"Hey Flash, you better from your Speed Quickie this morning?" He swallowed his mouthful, or more like choked it down as he gave me a short glare.
"Smart Alec. Whatever that phrase you said triggered some kind of acceleration as though I was trying to outrun a thing while being unable to move. I know you started to explain some what about the multiverse, but could you go over that a bit more?"
"I'll be straight with you Flash. Most of what I know about it comes from two very different sources. The first source which gave me an overview about the local spread. My temporary Joker infection introduced me to the concept as he's some sort of seer that can see alternate timeline versions of each of the Earths present in the deck. That's 52 Earths, with us being numero 16. Just like a deck of cards there's two colors and in this case that follows some sort of cosmic balance."
I pulled out a deck of cards frim the currently docile cracked it open and spread them out into a pattern. A pattern that built up and used the 52 main, as well as the two Joker cards. "Imagine I take 52 monitors and form four rows of thirteen each. Now add a monitor to the left of the and one to the right of the grid. That's how he saw the world, or at least that's how the infestation started to show me things before it was burned off like so much slag. All those 52 central monitors would form our core multiverse, each one showing off its own distinct Earth. Continuing the deck of cards analogy on the left would be Aces high, then kings, Queens, Jacks, tens and so on till we hit two at the end."
Packing the cards back up and tossing them into the bag I continued on. "Now, my second source is just what Mirand'r told me. In plain English the phrase 'Nexus 27 Wilds - Wyrm 7 - Reforged 26 Earth 16' is our Earth's designation. Like I said while you were freaking out this morning Earth 16 is us, and our local multiverse is Reforged 26, that's the name of the sector and its designation in said sector."
I paused and noticed that most of the Justice League had assembled around me as I gave my impromptu lesson. "Reforged as a sector exists in side of Wyrm. Not sure how that one is classified but it apparently exists in the Wilds region of Nexus 27. There might be higher orders of multiverse hierarchy but that just was not information I am privy too."
"Now then I'm sure Batman and Zatara have questions for me. So let's go to a conference room or at least a room with internet access so I can catch up with the world."
I was led by the Flash in a circuitous manner, probably to avoid some important bits of the Watchtower's internal workings. I was eventually led into a large room with a U-shaped table around which most of the current roster was sat. A table in which a chair was sat in front of the opening.
Just replace Fate with Zatara and remove a Green Lantern
Already seated going from the top was the trinity of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman. There was also the Martian, Captain Marvel (whoo, no Marvel legal mess here), Green Arrow and his beau Black Canary. Both Hawks were present, next to them was Aquaman, with Zatara on the end seat. Continuing on Green Arrow's side was Captain Atom, Red Tornado, one but not both Green Lanterns. With a burst of displaced air Flash took one of the open seats, which left an open seat on one side next to Flash. But, no I could already tell that they were wanting me to use the odd seat out.
As I took a seat I could see Batman opening his mouth. So I preempted him, though that could have just been a Batman three moves ahead thing. "So, before we get started Zatara and King Orin, or Mr. Curry, after this can I see the two of you as well as Captain Marvel after this meeting? I think I have a few interesting projects that might help myself as well as your people/factions."
Looking straight at Batman I was able to notice one of his eyes and his lips twitch. He picked up again almost like I never interrupted. "Right, Jinhui Starsmore, we as a group have several questions for you. Let's start with the simplest and go from there. What do you know about the night you were hospitalized?"
"Well, first Batman, I'd say you'd need to from a utilitarian moral stance cap the Joker. Thankfully I crisped one and burned off the slag his infestation had attempted to corrupt my vessel with." I paused to think about what I just said. "My apologies for the metaphor, what I tried to say was that the event that hospitalized me was a chemical reaction from what I think was my metagene activating. Well that and trying to fight off the chemical cocktails I was hit with. I recognized the effects of Scarecrow's Fear Toxin, Joker's Smilex, Joker's Conversion agent, and a few others."
I gave a shrug as I opened my notebook to a specific page. "What I know and can confer from outside facts is that Joker via the catalyst that was Doctor Phosphorous finished and impromptu ritual. Through the Necklace which spooked you and Zatara at the hospital, and the collar with multiple chemicals ready to be injected into my neck this happened. This world variant seems to lack the presence of the elemental Firestorm. As such with the necklace as a vector for an accidental ritual I was formed as this world's Firestorm."
At that last line Billy Batson perked up. "You say this was an accidental ritual that formed you into a new role? Do you know what faction you find yourself aligned with at this moment?"
"As the good Captain asked, both him and the Princess have the closest histories to what shaped me. Much like Diana I was formed of mundane matter and had elemental life breathed into new lungs. If it weren't for the Joker's interference I probably would have been a proper Firestorm. Now, I find myself more closely aligned with the forge. No faction has claimed me yet though Kent tricked me into folding a smidgen of order into myself." Here I tapped one of my fingers to my metal skin, letting off a crisp pinging noise.
"Just like you all heard, parts of me have been subsumed into the metal flesh of an elemental. The fire you can see leaking around my mouth is also a different type of elemental flesh. As I continue to transition into my new elemental status the organic flesh will be subsumed into either the metal or the fires. After all The process for turning into a fire elemental was corrupted into becoming a Forge one."
I gave Wonder Woman a sharp look. Well her and Zatara, though I was giving the Green Lantern the side eye. "Just a heads up Green Lantern, I'm not going anywhere near one of your bosses. Mainly because they're responsible for like half the magic in the universe getting bundled up and stashed away. Well, that and I'm not spending time in a sciencell. And, Princess, you might be my favorite, but there's no way I am going near Hephaestus. I might want to learn craft skills and magic, but there's no way I am risking being chained to any forge but my own."
Here Green Arrow had to interject. "So, what is a Firestorm, since you stressed that earlier? Well, that and I think you might need to expand upon what's happened to you."
Picking right up after that Green Lantern had to butt into the conversation. "Exactly what is your issue with the Guardians, and I hope you have proof of any allegations." He said with a slight bit of disdain. Almost like he couldn't fathom the Guardians being wrong.
"Right so Green Lantern first. Sector.. no that might get you killed. Hmm, oh that's right Lantern Raker, of Sector 38, is a prisoner on Apokolips, one of the planets he had been directed to safeguard. He is one of the earliest from before the Corps as it exists now was even formed. With no ring charge he can't leave, and the Guardians know full well that he's there. Do you see a rescue? Ahh, ahh before you get huffy this is provable and you won't even need to ask the Guardians. Go there and scan for the Green Light of Will, just be sure to have a way to escape, since your ring can be remote shutdown." Huh, should I tell him about Okaara or wait. I'll wait until I see a different lantern active in my proximity, you never know when that might come in handy. Well Okaara and Sector 666 would both be trump cards.
Wonder Woman stood and with a glare leveled at both me and my chew toy stated. "We'll be going for a short intermission. Green Lantern don't leave just yet, wait until we finish what we met to cover is finished. And you, Jinhui I think we should get you checked up by our resident mages for any health concerns." Here she imperiously gazed at the rest of the room before continuing. "We'll meet back up once the scans are done. Then we can finish our original discussion."
Well, all I could say about the medical exam was that it was both a long and involved process; as well as telling me very little. Besides my presence being magically stabilized over the last few weeks, very little has changed on that front. Though I was now at a level of personal magic that would make training me viable.
At that reveal Zatara started to give me a look as he worked some of the more arcane sensors. I think he's realizing that as I gain in magic, and Kent's gone for now, means that my magic education is lacking. A dangerous thing in the world of DC as there are forces that would like to intrude. Forces that backwards speech, and other tricks are used to counter and defend against such intrusions from.
The fleshy bits were slowly being replaced with metal. Their recommendation was for me to get more iron or other metals in my diet. Apparently that odd itch I'd been ignoring and the slight burning sensation was the last bits of organics being converted. Either into the metal that formed my limbs or the fire that has now expanded from my mouth down to midway between my chest and belly button.
Apparently a heavier metal intake, like actual metal, would help in preventing me going full fire pillar. Well, that and let me hold and manipulate things without setting them on fire. Ignoring the metal and fire bits, the organics were only being sustained by literal magic. Though they need replaced sooner than later for health reasons.
Over all besides some medical recommendations such as supplements and radical dietary changes. Said changes mean that my meals in the near future will be consisting of metal ores or bars for my new flesh and coal to fuel my fire. I would only be stuck doing this until my elemental transformation was completed.
I was made to undergo a battery of tests as I 'ate' so that both me and them, mainly them, would know how fast it would progress. Apparently I was only a ton-n'-half of coal plus a week to finish the fire portion of my forge elemental body. The metal bit was more concerning as I was lacking the requisite materials to finish the metal bits at the same time.
I don't know which of the technicians or heroes was the one to recommend it, but I got the address of a Steel Works. A location where I could go in at night and 'take a bath' in a giant vat of molten steel. That bit was missed as well as most of the following tests. Mainly from a sense of panic that rendered me numb to what was going on.
...
It wasn't until I was seated back in front of the Justice League that I snapped out of it. Though it was mainly the steadying hand of Wonder Woman on my shoulder. Well her hand, and her lasso that I'd apparently accepted for the upcoming questioning.
Now, why would I agree to that? It was probably the shock that led to me accepting it.
I think I'll be literal with the lettering of questions. Well that, or I'll pull a Batman, and answer honestly but in a fey manner. After all the Lasso only compels you to answer the question in an honest fashion.
Giving the lasso wrapped around one of my hands a wry look I turned to the Justice League. I considered and weighed each of those present, ooh the missing Green Lantern was back, before making a decision. "Alrighty then, I have the Truth Macguffin wound around my hand. Should I be made to answer anything embarrassing I'm letting go after I answer. Also, said embarrassing question will be the last one with the weight of the Lasso behind it. Now as I know Batman will be a paranoid bundle of batnerves, I ask that either Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl be the only ones to whom I'm required respond too."
I had to stop to think for a second. "Oh, and can I get one of those holoscreens in front of me with a list of questions so I can have some say in the order?"
That had the League giving each other glances as they considered. Billy, or Captain Marvel, though was the one who first verbalized a response. "I don't see why you can't have some say in the process. After all this isn't an interrogation," here he looked at Batman, "but, rather a discussion. The whole point is to determine two things. The first is how vulnerable our identities are to the like of the Joker. The second is any information you can provide about the multiverse beyond what has been shared already. Oh, before we get started why the two you've selected as questioners?"
"Well I picked Wonder Woman because she's my favorite individual in this room, maybe of all available heroes, plus its her lasso. Hawkgirl for if I have the version right both of the Hawks were active service members of the Thanagarian police force." At that I got a sharp look from both of the Thanagarian, heh, you could almost call it hawkish in a fot of childishness.
"Anyways I am ready as soon as I have a screen with list of questions. A list with yes/no options for personal reasons, and all of your words that only questions in green that I personally okayed."
Batman of course had to get the last word in. "As long as you provide a reason for rejecting a question." And, that's a Batglare, still as ineffective as it was in the hospital when I flashed them. In my defense they had come into my hospital room while I was undergoing a minor panic attack. I bet he still has the recording even if I am taller now than I was then. I was 5 foot 8 before getting grabbed. I woke up in the hospital at 6 foot 3, and was now closing in on 7 feet in height.
"Sure Bats, as soon as I see a list in front of me we can start. As a reminder before we start after this is done, can I see Zatara, King Orin, and Captain Marvel, oh Wonder Woman also for a couple of projects that I would like to cover."
Ah, and there the questions come rolling in. Huh each one has a symbol next to it telling me which member of the Justice League was asking which question.
I decided to start off with the basic w's and the h. Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Those six seemed to be a block that Batman had made. So he's doubting if I am really Jinhui Starsmore is he, well that or we just have super paranoid Batman. Typical Batman, I'll clear his questions first and then Zatara is asking about Kent Nelson.
Highlighting the selected questions and turning it over to Diana. She gave me a smile which I responded to with one of my own, or as much as half a jaw, and a mouth of fire could. That does it I need to get my metal flesh up to par, mainly so I can build a proper face to interact with.
Well that's just disconcerting, it's almost like how I imagine going under hypnosis would be like. All I could hear was the most pure form of the question, and was compelled to answer it honestly. I can see why it takes such methods as throat mics and paralysis, that or artificial throat structures. Those or active and high grade mind control compulsions like Cassandra used.
Focusing on the first question was simple, but not at the same time. After all 'Who am I?' is a question that many avoid thinking about as we clad ourselves in titles like a mountain of clothes to fend off the chill. "Who am I? This one's vessel was named Jinhui Starsmore. This one was named ▩▩▩▩▩. That name and identity was sacrificed. Viva La Revolution, Sic semper tyrannis after all. The Jinhui persona has more recognition, but little memory. Jinhui Starsmore are we from this day forth, for want of a human name."
"What am I? I was human twice over. Into the second I had the remnants of the first poured in when this form was cast. Two souls one small and young, one old yet ragged. Like young Billy this situation be, though there is little of either. We were melted down in pyrrhic chemicals and fiery phosphorus. Out the pyre were poured halfway into a new form. The madness halted the process, and broke the mold. Human I need to walk away from before I can explore what it means to be."
"When, When what?" Here I paused visibly sorting through things trying to frame the question in an appropriate manner. "MayMay 20th20th mymy birthdayanniversary inin thisanother worldworld"
Here I devolved into a babbling mess in languages or other things that confused my observers. I think I started to spasm at some point until Wonder Woman removed her Lasso from me. Swallowing roughly, or my closest 'biological' process "Ah, my apologies I have no clue what that was about. Well besides breaking down into babble when I had to revisit something I lost."
I looked closer at the list and rejected the why option as I think that might lead to a repeat. "Back to the questions. On the matter of where, there's a number of responses with out the Lasso. I am currently in front of the Justice League, in orbit of the Earth, as I am in the Watch Tower. If referring to the night this started? Well that would be this Earth for the old Jinhui, and the aftershocks of a god's death is the closest comparison for the other half."
Grapping back the Lasso I chose to continue. "How am I here in this Earth is how I am choosing to interpret Batman's last question. I had just witnessed the death of most of my comrades, I think. We'd just Sic semper tyrannis'd the entity responsible for enslaving us and ripping us from our homes. He'd come to a world for at least a few months to centuries. While in a world he'd engineer situations to torment the locals and engineer them choosing to join him. He was a trickster with a venomous tongue that made you wish for more."
"Know this my memories are fractured and torn. I can sense the ragged edges of my time as a 'companion'. After all we free agents sacrificed all that we had, our lives, our souls, our memories. And in some cases we poured so much out that we even poured out of reality. All to fuel a dagger to the heart at the single moment that his guard was down. We were hunted by others, all for the mere crime of being associated with an individual that broke some sort of Accords." I stopped as emotion was starting to seep into my voice. The Hawks were sharing uneasy looks, I think they recognized me as a traumatized soul. The question sheet was being quickly altered as questions were added or removed.
The Lanterns, space cops and Earth vets that they were also exchanging looks. "Ignoring me for a moment. What's the word about that Super Hero Youth Group that I heard some of you discussing the last time I was up here. What, like some three or so weeks ago at this point. I mean with a big of a mess I am right now I could use some form of training regardless of source to get a handle on things."
Looking dead straight at Zatara I told him about Kent. "Kent Nelson is not on Earth at the moment. Him and Nabu have been taken away by upper management for Nabu's faction. The Lords of Order and Chaos, and other dualities have standing agreements. Agreements that Kent broke when he stopped partnering with Nabu, yet stayed active under the same name. as such for Kent's violations he'd saddled his former partner Nabu with terrible debt. Debt that he then tried to pass on to me and has partially succeeded in doing. As such I'll need to set up in the current Nazi Capital of America, otherwise wherever I end of setting up shop will quickly become infested."
Here I glanced at the rest of the gathered heroes. "Kent had a type when it came to his enemies while failing his duties. They seemed to largely consist of demons, cultists, nazis, demon cultists, nazi demons, cultist nazis, and a German-Atlantean werewolf. Said werewolf may or may not have been a nazi. He did wear a non-nazi swastika on his belt, but Kent didn't share all the details in his files. As such while NAbu and Kent are in time out those and more may detect traces of Nabu's Order magic on me and decide I make for an acceptable monkey to vent on."
I'm sure Zatara and Captain Marvel know where I'm going with this. Wonder Woman, might or she might not, it really depends on who she's fought over the years. Wonder Woman is a pantheon based individual, she quarrels with those her pantheon is enemies with, as well as outliers within her pantheon. Rifling through Bagsy, my bag of holding drew some odd looks, though all I pulled out was a polaroid of Mirand'r, the agent who'd grabbed Kent & Nabu.
"That right there is a polaroid of Mirand'r, an Agent of Balance. She's the one responsible for Nabu and Kent not being present. Cosmic Forces and dualities such as Order & Chaos, the Glow & the Shadow, Good & Evil; all of these operate through some sort of arcane system. This is also the reason that escalation exists instead of the universal destruction that their full scale quarrels can bring."
"The truth is that the world desires it's dualities. If there is only one force then a second with emerge in the vacuum to challenge it. If there are more than two claiming domination of the 'same' metric, then it naturally devolves over time into a two party system. That's the truth in all things, it's only a matter of time until they horseshoe away from a peaceful neutral into two nigh identical yet hostile mirror images. Essentially they take the spectrum / sliding scale and condense it down into two sides of the coin."
"That's not the main concern for me right now. No that was the fact I'd been set up as some sort of psuedo-Agent of Order. And, seeing as I was a potential disciple of Nabu I have now been forcefully inducted into the mess that is the duality of Order & Chaos. Full dominion of the world under the aegis of Order would be a stagnant world that has no room for freedom, nor any room for growth. The win is eternal lockstep of identical entities whose every day repeats without end. Full Chaoson the other hand leads to a world under an endless kali yuga. For the Lords of Chaos nothing would be so grand as to make a world, no a universe where the likes of Emperor Joker are its architects." That made all of them jerk away from their screens. Even Batman had jolted away from his readings to stare at me.
"Uh, guys. What's an Emperor Joker? I mean I'm a Central City guy, and Green Arrow's a Star City boy. So, I thought until recently Joker was just the Clown Prince." Ah Flash, fast with his mouth and asking questions. It must be nice to have accelerated speed to process things quicker.
I looked down to confirm that the Lasso was still tangled up around my left hand. Well, that and Wonder Woman had her hand still on my shoulder, with her other holding the Lasso.
Wonder Woman held my gaze for a moment before jerking her head towards Flash in an inquisitive manner. I had to stop and think if this was something I wanted to reveal. Yeah, why not? I nodded my acceptance to her for that specific question.
"The entity currently identified as Jinhui, What or who is Emperor Joker?" Oh she put some force into that one. It honestly feels kind of like the time I'd just finished lifting weights and was cleaning up when one of my heavier friends jumped on my back. It had almost sent us crashing to the ground, and I could feel my back almost give even after he'd dislocated my shoulder. Ah fun times in high school, though I never did manage to lift that arm above shoulder-level after that day. Hey I'm in a land of superheroes I should be fine and recover fully. It's not like heroes have psychotic breaks in the comics, well not DC comics at least.
Oh I should start talking, that weight on my shoulders has been getting uncomfortable. "I spoke of how the Joker viral agent showed me a scattered mess of alternate worlds and timelines. Emphasis on timelines as there are two where the Joker is at his most dangerous. The first is if he ever gets his hands on a nuclear device, or similar. In that potential game as he calls it, he uses mind tricks and gets Farm Boy to detonate it. In all fairness the trigger was a deadman's switch tied to what at the time everyone thought was Doomsday. Everyone, by which I mean the League, not the public watching live media broadcast. Doomsday is an alien weapon of mass destruction that can only be stopped by killing it in most variants. The issue is that it comes back anywhere from a few days to a few decades a little stronger and better than it used to be."
"If the Joker succeeds in the nuclear gambit as he calls it, well you all go weird. Weird in a bad way, and you decide to take over the world in a hostile takeover. The Second timeline is that of Emperor Joker. Know this first though, these two are merely the worst timelines that I saw before my mind cleared. In this timeline the Joker manages to trick a seemingly omnipotent entity out of their powers. Don't ask how, that way leads madness even to the clown. The only way for the sane to win is for the Joker to surrender his power of his own volition."
Snrkraw, yeah that was a weird noise. It was like you tried to suppress a snort and ended up with that. Following the way some of the Justice League were looking. Huh, Hawkman looked a little embarrassed, and Hawkgirl was nudging him with a smile. That's oddly endearing in a kind of specist, alienist?, eh not important. It does sort of humanize the alien bird people, who used to be cops for their home world.
I'm still not going to touch that noise with a ten foot pole.
After a long time getting grilled by the League to the point that my answers to their questions had started to repeat themselves. The upshot is that Batman pulled some strings and I was getting a toasty laser eye bath. Well a bath of molten metal in an abandoned steel mill.
I asked about the location, and how fast we got the ball rolling. I mean there's several giant crucible vat things that carry liquid metal getting heated up. Well, that and several train cars, like those coal cars some trains haul.
source - google images search result (4th result on images)
The plan was to turbo charge my fire with a train car and then dunk me in metal slag. Said process would repeat until prompted by me transforming fully or Zatara our resident magician calling it. After each round of feasting and then dunking both our magic team and our tech heroes would be running scans.
Team Magic was Zatara, Captain Marvel, and Wonder Woman. Zatara because he's a magician with experience in a wide variety of fields. Captain Marvel for that good ol' Wisdom of Solomon for interpreting the incoming data from my scans. He's also there for the muscles, both magical and physical, mainly because Superman is weak to magic. Wonder Woman for her battle experience against a wide assortment of foes. Well that and she's also there as muscles in case I go rogue at some point during the process.
Team Tech were the Green Lanterns with rings out and scanning the process. I mean here's two men with hyper-advanced xenotech rings. I mean they have scanners and extensive databases even if most of it is riddled in bobblehead malware. Red Tornado, Batman obviously, and Superman were also part of this team. Batman had brought out a computer setup, heck, even Superman had brought a couple of gizmos.
Green Arrow and Black Canary had begged off and returned to Star City. Flash returned to Central City as he had a villain incident to respond to. Aquaman had returned to Atlantis before I could snag him for my research project. I left Bagsy with Wonder Woman for the moment, and I promised him that I would get some form of mobility for him in the future. The Hawks had wandered off at some point during the questioning. They left to either beat up crooks, have some personal time, or they just weren't night owls. I hadn't seen Captain Atom since I got back to interrogation from my med scan, so he was the first one to leave.
We also had the nice reveal from the Martian Manhunter himself that thanks to my halted conversion I was having issues. The organic bits while immune to boiling metal or fire, were still experiencing extensive heatstroke, which as bad news for my brain box. It would most certainly also explain why earlier readings in the medical center predicted a week or so to live if I didn't finish the process. My squishy grey matter bits which at the moment were what was running my mind, were also overheating and slowly dying off.
So I really need this coal feasting and molten metal dunking to go correctly. Or, it's bad news for me.
...
After some talking we decided that it might go more smoothly if we slowly lowered just the metal bits into the molten steel. Feet first in other words, all while being pumped full of coal, I am so happy I don't have a stomach with which to throw up.
Walking along the catwalk to the lip of the vat reminded me of walking to a hot tub. Buoyed by that notion I decided to ease myself over the edge and sink my feet into the surface. I mean it's still a super dense surface, I think molten steel or iron was something like 7,000 kilograms per cubic meter while liquid. That's like dense enough you could walk on it as long as you were heat resistance.
Standing on it very carefully I was reminded of heated floor panels. Oh man, those and heated seats were the best, especially on a cold night. It only took a few seconds for a liquid metal version of Weld's assimilation started to happen. For every ton or so of steel that was slurped up the black metal of my carapace would slightly grow to cover more of my skin.
The color transition was an odd one as the new shell was a light grey that as more was slurped up turned black. The giant ladle I was standing in the middle of was a hundred ton capacity bucket. At the rate I was going I would need almost a dozen of them to finish my elemental transformation.
...
While we were watching me 'eat' or 'slurp up' metal Batman decided to start quizzing me. Mainly using some sort of guide that he was reading off of. When I got fed up at one point he told me it was to determine what remedial classes I'd need.
Remedial classes so I could enter my senior year on time. Whether that be returning to Gotham Academy, huh, wasn't there a comic series or two about that place. I never read them though, as that means reading about a school, which I haven't done since the Harry Potter books came out.
If only it remained that peaceful and calm, but this is Gotham. A fire fight broke out and perforated one of the mills walls.
