Find the rest of JSA, and other DC Mayhem projects, right here!
--------------------------
The Green Lantern of Earth, Kyle Rayner.
Princess Koriand’r, the tamaranian known as Starfire.
M’gann M’orzz, also known as Miss Martian.
Jaime Reyes, the wearer of a mechanized suit and bearer of the name Blue Beetle.
The demon, Etrigan.
Kara Zor-L, Power Girl.
And the villainous mastermind known as the Riddler, searching for a second chance.
Together, they have gone to the desolate planet of Mars with one purpose in mind – to stop Bizarro from destroying Earth along with his new friends, the white martians.
Together, they are the Justice Society of America.
----------------------------------------------------
“You’re sure this is going to work?” Kyle ran a hand through his lank black hair, giving Edward Nigma a hesitant look. The quartet of individuals had finally found an ideal location for a home base not long ago – as Starfire had said, there had ended up being quite a few abandoned structures on the planet’s surface. Most of these buildings were crumbling at best, showing signs of the great martian war that had taken place around them. At least, those that weren’t all-out razed by the white martians after that war had ended, and they had taken their civilization beneath the crimson ground of Mars.
Then they had found it, though – a squat little chunk of architecture, unsightly as anything. Etrigan claimed that it had been a bunker of some sort, judging by how new it looked. Odds were it had been built during the war as a green martian barracks, designed to withstand the war.
Riddler turned his head to face the Green Lantern, a look of distaste coming over his lean features. “Of course I’m sure. If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t have said it out loud.”
“Yeesh, take it down a notch, man,” Jaime grumbled under his breath, creating a massive, steady wind-gun to blast away the dust, debris, and on occasion, chunks of dead martian, from the floor of the little bunker. The curiously circular contraption that passed for a door had long since fallen down, and this place had been collecting vermin and junk from all over the planet for years.
Edward twisted his lips slightly. “Eh… sorry. Not used to teaming up with people that I don’t expect to shoot me in the back, or worse.”
“Just because you don’t expect it, is no reason to let your guard down…” the demon whispered into Eddie’s ear with a sinister smile as he passed by, inspecting the place for structural weaknesses he more than expected to find, not that he had the tools to repair them. The bunker was worn out but it would work – it wasn’t as if a fully functioning base would protect them from someone like Bizarro, anyway. If they were found here, then this place would be written off faster than they could say ‘darn’.
“…I like you,” Riddler grinned subtly as the demon passed by, before turning back to Kyle. “Alright, let’s see if you’re as good as they say.”
“…They say I’m good?” Kyle said, dumbfounded as to who, exactly, Riddler had been talking to. Not that he was sure he wanted to know. He cleared his throat, however, and obliged, making a fist and extending his hand. There was a brief puff of energy that blew his lank black hair backward as his green ring began to brightly glow, a beam extending from it and slowly forming it into something that crudely resembled a car engine.
“How charming. I see you’d make a terrible mechanic, as well as a second-rate lantern. We need something to funnel energy through, you simpleton! Something that the Beetle can interface with, something that can hold a charge!”
“Well how the hell am I supposed to know? I blast aliens with anime girls, I’m not a mechanic.”
“Alright, we have to actually work together with this, guys,” Blue Beetle attempted, a few thin coils extending from the abdomen of his scarab-suit. Tipping each was a small plug, not extremely unlike a television cable but, obviously… different. “Think you can make a socket, essay?”
Kyle nodded and furrowed his brow, the vague engine he had created beginning to shift somewhat. A series of small ports appeared in the side of it, which Jaime immediately tested by letting the cables slither into it.
This doesn’t seem like it’s going to work. I don’t think the Lantern has the knowledge or imagination required for this type of interfa—oh my, well. That seems to work.
“Well, there’s one half of the equation…” Riddler mused. “Etrigan, what would you say is the most efficient way for you to create an energy source?”
“An energy source? I’m not one of you… robot-people. Best you’re getting out of me is hellfire.” Etrigan sneered and cracked his neck to the side, striding back over to the makeshift engine Kyle was holding onto.
“Hellfire it is then. Mr. Rayner, can you create some sort of centrifuge? Something that will rotate rapidly when a current is forced against it?” Riddler paced idly around the trio of men (or boy, in Jaime’s case), closely observing the machine and making a few simple calculation in his mind. “Something that won’t crumble against Etrigan’s flames. Something that can funnel energy into the outlets.”
“Something like… this…?” Kyle used his free hand to seemingly “direct” the energy of the ring, concentrating hard as he constructed a three-dimensional disc, thin green cables circuiting from it to the outlets. At this point, he was throwing science to the wind and using his imagination. Hey, if I think it should work, then it should work, right? “Try it,” he grunted, his eyes still narrowed as he focused on holding the design.
“Good sir,” Riddler gestured to Etrigan, who immediately let loose. After his match with Bizarro, he had been itching to burn something, and he immediately leaned forward to blast a massive gout of demonic heat from his mouth. The centrifuge began to spin, faster and faster as the powerful flames slammed into it, funneling their way through a complex matrix of tunnels that only led themselves back into each other. Within moments, the emerald machine was a blur, and Jaime’s eyes went wide.
“I got it… I’ve got it… hahahaha!”
Energy levels approaching 300%. You should quickly find an outlet for this power.
“Alright suit, can we do… nngh… particular manipulation? A permanent cloak?” Jaime grit his teeth tightly, the gauntlets of his suit pivoting into emissors.
Positive. Attempt at particular manipulation would be a success.
“Then let’s do it!”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
“No! No cake for you!” Creeper grinned darkly, slamming his fist into the back of the last thug and knocking him down for what he guessed would be a good long while. “Honestly, what kind of WEIRDO tries to rob a bakery? I mean, for real?”
The yellow-skinned animal of a man lifted himself from his crouch, delivering a swift kick to the man’s ribs. “Or is this a diamond store? It is, isn’t it? I always get confused with these things. Oh well, all’s well that ends well, huh little guy?” The ski-masked man decorating the pavement let out a quiet groan.
“Guess you just picked a bad day to do crime. It’s important for you to know that crime is naughty, and has also been shown to be high in cholesterol. I’m doing you a favor, you know. You’ll thank me later.” Another quick toe-jab towards the man’s ear, and Creeper turned, tossing his enormous, ragged, red feather boa dramatically around his shoulders (despite the fact that it was already there). “Now, what else deigns to challenge the Creeper on this most auspicious of nights? Some crime, perhaps?”
He leaned dramatically to the side, cupping one hand to his ear and listening to Gotham’s night air.
“Is that you, crime?!”
A lonely cricket chirped from a nearby baseball field.
“Silent treatment, then?!”
Another chirp.
“Ah, I see. Perhaps it’s just time for bed then.”
Moments later, the green-haired beast crawled up the side of a massive, red-brick apartment, flinging open a second-story bathroom window and slithering in past the curtains. He trudged his red-booted feet in through the bathroom, and into the apartment’s master bedroom.
“Nappy tiiiime…” he cooed pleasantly, dragging the boa off of him as his body began to shrink and change, his lean, powerful muscles fading and his skin shifting back from that stark gold.
He was Jack Ryder again by the time he hit the bed, and he was also fast asleep, snores echoing through the apartment and drifting out the open bathroom window.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It had been hours, but it felt like days. Everything she tried, whether she attempted to shapeshift free of her bindings, phase out from under them, or use telepathy to battle with R’aih on even ground, those bolts would catch her, just in time, and she would let out a scream of the most sincere agony.
R’aih wasn’t even asking questions. Since that first brief conversation (which had mostly consisted of M’gann crying out in pain and begging for it all to stop), the twitchy white martian had remained silent. He paced around her, that spastic smile curling the side of his mouth. When he would get close, or his body would jerk in the right, aggressive way, Miss Martian would panic and try to escape once more, and then the pain renewed itself.
She bit down on her lip and remained still. This had been the longest break from the pain so far, and though R’aih continued to silently pace and grimace, she stayed still. She could do this.
“What do you have to gain from this, R’aih? All of this… Bizarro, everything. Reports said you were trying to destroy earth—“
“Your new home?” R’aih spat.
“Yes. My new home. Why would you destroy it? Mars is yours. You are the rulers of your domain, you don’t need war.”
R’aih glared hard at her, one of those stark blue eyes twitching open and shut like a broken baby doll’s. “And endure a lumbering beast among us? Destroying homes instead of building them? Killing people instead of saving them? If earth goes, he goes. And if he goes, then we can have the peace we’ve fought for. We destroyed one civilization, and we won’t hesitate to… to… d-destroy another! Earth is where he wants to be, not here!”
“You… you mean Bizarro? He’s the reason you’re trying to get him to destroy humanity… so that he’ll go back to earth!” It all clicked. It had seemed so silly before, but they were right. Bizarro didn’t care about Mars, he considered the earth to be his home. If nobody was there to send him away, he’d stay there forever.
“Marvelous! Finally she understands, finally it all makes sense to slow-witted little M’gann. Maybe one day you’ll—“
R’aih’s litany was cut short as a starbolt sent him hurtling across the cave, tumbling behind Miss Martian and barely gathering himself. He glanced up at the cave’s entrance to see two amazonian silhouettes.
“How… h-how did you… h-how d-did you find me, here? This is the most remote—“
“Kryptonian vision, bitch,” Power Girl growled as she soared into the cave. M’gann’s heart lifted in her chest at the prospect of rescue – just until R’aih lunged in, taking firm hold of the bolts encased her neck and hooked into her spine and skull.
“One more step… and the… the t-traitor… dies.”
Log in to comment