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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.
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“You don’t have to do this,” Kara said, narrowing her eyes at the hunched, stuttering white martian that had both hands gripped around M’gann’s collar. Power Girl knew nothing about the way the collar worked, but R’aih certainly did, and so did Miss Martian. The look in her soft eyes, the look of terror, of an unflinching reality that she had already faced and was in no mood to face again, stayed Kara’s hand.
A slow smile spread across R’aih’s face. “Do you see, M’gann? Your new… your… your n-new friends are too weak to save you from me. From little… l-little R’aih. A simple Haze Emissor. An anti-martian interrogation weapon built during the war, will save you from their weakness. They have no clue how to circumvent such a simple tool before I can destroy you…” The martian man dragged the back of his fingers across M’gann’s soft, emerald skin, caressing her even as he held her life in his hands. “Beautiful little niece.”
Starfire held up one finger, gently clearing her throat. “Ahem, martian native, it may be in your interest that we mean no hostility against your planet, or your people. We have merely come to bring about a relocation of the imperfect kryptonian that you have been housing, the one going by the name of Bizarro and currently smashing nuclear missiles in a hope to create what he deems to be a planet-sized explosion.”
Kara glanced at the tamaranian princess, then offered a nod. “Yes. While Mars and Earth have been on unsteady terms, we leave those negotiations to Kal-El, Batman, or the Manhunter. The JSA has no desire to interfere in planetary politics.”
R’aih’s face seemed to drop, a look of stunned contemplation washing over him. His grip loosened slightly on the collar to the Haze Emissor – but not enough. “You’re here for that savage? You’re going to leave the white martians in peace?”
“If they allow us to,” Power Girl said firmly. Her eye twitched to the side, picking up the senseless hovering of her capelet within her peripheral vision. In a flash of inhuman speed, she ripped the little red garment off and tossed it out of the cave, growling mildly. “Stupid tiny cape.”
Koriand’r’s body remained still, hovering just behind Power Girl and keeping her jade gaze locked on R’aih. Her fingertips glistened with violet crackles of energy, but not too brightly. She had to be careful.
“Maybe I…” R’aih whispered. “May… m-maybe…” his fingers loosened further on the collar, and he straightened his back slightly, looking down from M’gann’s flowing red locks, up to Kara’s stoic, red-eyed glare.
“…No. This isn’t about you, or Bizarro. This is about her, and… and h-her being punished for leaving me alone in this… th-this… w-w-w-w-wasteland!” The white martian finally screamed out, bringing his hand to the side to quickly turn a dial on the side of the collar. At least, what he believed to be a dial. When the slim cylinder became suddenly encased in a vibrant emerald sheen, R’aih’s eyes widened – it could not be turned. Not anymore.
“I certainly hope I’m not late to the party?” Kyle Rayner said with a wide grin as he slid into the cave, still shrouded in the green aura of his ring. Jaime settled down onto his feet behind Kara, a small, complex-looking satellite swiveling shut into the gauntlet of his blue armor.
“You’re just in time!” Power Girl roared, blasting forward off of her feet and charging towards the shocked martian man, slamming one fist into… or, well… through… his chest. R’aih slithered backwards, having become intangible the instant the Green Lantern had made his presence known.
Kara shouted out and lashed forward with another volley of strikes, and each time her fist passed through R’aih’s body harmlessly. “Dammit!” she yelled out, zipping forward at kryptonian speed and trying to simply bull-rush the martian – again, she ended up unscathed on the other side.
“Ridiculous,” R’aih sighed. “I thought… k-kryptonians were supposed to be the defenders of earth. They’re pitiful.” A swift, vibrant beam of crimson energy slid forth from the martian’s eyes, lancing into Power Girl’s open backside and sending her sprawling, the martian heat vision searing a hole in the back of her outfit and scorching the skin beneath.
“Not so fast, puta!” Jaime and Kyle both flew forward launching quick attacks of their own. While the Blue Beetle armor began to produce lasers, cannons, buzzsaws, and any other destructive piece of machinery that Jaime could think up, Kyle forged a tight cage out of volatile emerald energy, slamming it down around R’aih. The martian merely snickered, another blast of energy slamming forth from his slim, dark, beady eyes and blasting Kyle backwards, the cage dissolving immediately.
Kara attacked again, this time with her own wave of heat vision, which passed harmlessly through R’aih’s pale, nearly-transparent figure. Another one of those wicked, superior, yet… damaged, little grins, as the white martian sped through Power Girl’s own body in a volatile charge, violent ions of his passing sending Kara collapsing to her knees with a short scream of exhaustion and pain.
“Now, now… n-now….” R’aih turned to the Blue Beetle and attacked with a volley of punches that were harmless, only serving to distract. Their speed, however, and the look of sadistic mania in R’aih’s eyes, kept Jaime on the defensive, throwing up shield after shield that never deflected anything, only getting him flustered before—
A blast of violet energy rocked into R’aih’s body the instant that his eyes narrowed and began to glow, sending M’gann’s captor sprawling backwards. Starbolt after starbolt drilled into his body as he tried to recoil, his slim form shriveling with pain until Koriand’r finally sped forward, launching a vicious kick to the side of the skull that left R’aih solidly unconscious.
With a satisfied smile, the tamaranian turned to face the other three heroes (and a bound M’gann), allowing herself a sigh of contentment. “…He became solid each time he used his energy vision. Just had to wait for the right moment.”
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“What are you searching for, insect?” Etrigan growled, leaning his broad, armored back against the harsh stone walls of the little bunker. One clawed finger worked and wiggled between his thick fangs, peeling out the occasional carcass of a bug he had tried to eat. So far, he had been satisfied by none of them.
“Ahh, my simple friend,” Riddler glanced back at the demon with a grin tightening his cheeks, an array of small, holographic screens hovering in front of his faceplate. Each screen varied slightly in detail, but they all said the same thing – ‘scanning…’. “I am looking for a way for us to win this pitiful little skirmish without all of the nonsensical punching and kicking. As I mentioned earlier, this suit is… parasitic, in nature. Specially designed by a Mr. John Henry Irons (a keen mind, by the way, if… elegant) and myself to integrate itself into any form of technology via a universal interface… including that of the martians. Apparently your ‘Power Girl’ called in a special friend for a little help on that particular bit – ahaaah, and bingo.”
Etrigan cocked a ridged brow, shuffling in his armor and bringing one hand behind himself to scratch helplessly at his own back. “What have you found?”
“It, my friend. That is to say, precisely what I expected to find.” There was a soft glow and whir in the gauntlet of Ed Nigma’s armor, and a thin, bright beam of light lanced forth from it, carving gently into the floor of the bunker. The old martian rock slowly crumbled, falling away bit by bit and revealing what could only be the generator of the building.
“An old engine. That was what you expected to find? My my, I would have thought that if that suit of yours had an electric juicer built in, you would have been able to power it on your own.”
Riddler shot the demon a cool, knowing glare, before releasing a strand of slim tendrils similar to the ones he had used to interface with Jaime. The tips adjusted, almost mutated, before locking into the old machine that had been dwelling beneath the bunker. “More than an engine. An energy device that interfaced with others of its kind – martian technology is all linked via a sort of network not entirely unlike the human internet—“ he turned to face Etrigan, who was standing again. The demon’s broad, flat features carried a perfect expression of restrained cluelessness. “—Not that I expect you know much about that.
“In any case, they were linked through the martian’s natural telepathic abilities, acting less as a machine and more as a shielded psionic link to their tech. Passcodes that could not be located within the mind of the martian attempting to login to the network would lock that martian out of whatever program he was attempting to access.” Riddler took a long, silent breath, his eyes focused on the display within his faceplate and seeming to stare through the demon standing before him. “I am not a martian, and do not have telepathic abilities. However, I have the ability to do what martian technology never safeguarded against. I can hack – or at least, the suit can, under my guiding hand. Within a few minutes, I can access the codes to whatever green martian technology I desire, activating and deactivating programs as I desire. And, since the unimaginative white martians seem to have built all of their technology around that of their green superiors… that means I own this planet’s simple interfaces as if I had built it all myself.”
“Then you can deactivate their weapons and shields. Nullify the white martian race as a threat, allow us to focus on Bizarro?”
“Far, far better. I can turn those very same weapons on the Man of Steel’s imperfect clone… we can kill him with the very same weaponry he’s been trying, and failing, to use.”
A slow, sinister smile spread across Etrigan’s face, baring his moist fangs. “I like you.”
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I’m not normal. I’m not human. I’m not a hero.
I’m the daughter of a being that will be the end of this world – something that has been described as a demon. The term really doesn’t fit… not him. He’s more than a demon or a monster, so much more than that. He’s a threat to more than just earth, he bows to no master. His name is Trigon, and he’s coming.
I have heard his call, ringing in my ears, and I have resisted it through long years of meditation. He wants me to be his first Scion, his first servant in his next rampage against the mortal realms. But I have not heeded his call.
My name is Rachel Roth, and I was born in a parallel dimension called Azarath. I can no longer wait for the Call of Trigon to be heard, for if I do, it will be too late. If I’m going to protect this world from him, I will need help.
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