THE FUTURE…..
“The future?....The last hope of the universe? Lady Quark, I mean…Tashana. Please. Explain yourself. Am I really in Apokolips?”.-Asked Mr Freeze, confused.
“That is correct, Dr Fries. You are in Apokolips…at least, the remains of the planet, a hundred years on the future of your timeline. Further explanations can wait. We must return to my lair, hidden from the eyes of the Supreme Lord and his minion, the starros….Please,
follow me.”.-Said ominously Tashana, making her way to a dark canyon.
Victor followed her, anxious to learn more about his current predicament. During long minutes, Mr Freeze followed the sexy, mature woman in front of her. Tashana. Lady Quark. Dr Fries barely remembered that name. He knew that she had been a member of L.E.G.I.O.N.
an interestelar police organization and her powers were related with nuclear energy. Finally, they reached a cave.
“We are almost in my lair…”.-Whispered the woman, activating a hidden trigger in a false rock and a rock wall in front of them blurred and disappeared.-“Hurry, Dr Fries. I need to activate the holo emitter again. We have to hide our signal….”.-Said Tashana
pushing him roughly into the new corridor opened in front of them.
Illuminated only by fluorescent fungus, Mr Freeze and Tashana walked another mile, deeper and deeper along the shell of the dead planet that once had been synonymous of fear, till finally, they reached an structure built in stone.
“This is a secret bunker built by the own Old Gods in the old days. The Supreme Lord doesn´t know its existence and, by the moment, it has been undetectable for his dark hunters. Come on, Dr Fries, follow me.”.-Declared the woman, entering into the building
where, on the hall, a transparent sphere with a human brain on it, hovered at 5 feet of the ground.
Mr Freeze stared the object with curiosity. The brain was totally sunk in a kind of viscous substance, maybe a source of nutrients, speculated Dr Fries.
“Dr Fries, let me introduce you Desaad. My….assistant.”.-Said Tashana with a smile on her lips.
“[A PLEASURE. DR FRIES, SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE]”.-Replied a mechanic voice from the sphere.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOTHAM ESTATE
“Stand up, princess. Stand up free and proud. You must fulfill the prophecy. You must survive as your unborn son must.”.-Roared Apolo, stately in front of them.
Diana´s eyes stared him, unable to understand the meaning of his words.
“My…my Lord…”.-Said the amazon, getting trembling over her feet.-“….What prophecy are you talking about? My unborn son? Amazons are sterile!!!! No children have born in Themiscira!!! Never!!! Explain yourself, god…if you are really Apolo!!!”.-Roared Diana,
feeling as the strange rage that had felt minutes ago began to grow again into her.
“Believe, daughter of Hypolita. A son of Amazon will born from your wombs, Diana. A child that will free the creation of one of its ominous plagues…Darkseid. But you must survive….you must awake…the destiny of the universe is on your hands…you…must…a…wa…ke…….aaaaarrrgggghhh……”.-Said
the god when, suddenly, he began to transform into a greenish, viscous mass, melting as hot butter next among deafening howls of pure agony.
“WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE!!!!”.-Roared Diana, totally enraged, unable to control herself, feeling as her attire began to tear apart due to the growing of her muscular mass.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FUTURE…..
Mr Freeze´s cold eyes roamed over both figures, the alien MILF and the floating fishbowl with growing suspicious.
“Desaad? You are a lackey of Darkseid! What is happening here?”.-Roared Mr Freeze, ready to fight.
Tashana looked at him with cold calm and, calmly.-“Darkseid is dead. A kryptonian killed him. Now, our enemy, the enemy of all the universe is the Supreme Lord and his ominous puppet, Starro…..”.
Dr Fries looked at her in surprise.”Darkseid was killed by Superboy? And Starro has been enslaved by that ‘Supreme Lord’? That is hard to believe!!!”.-Said the man with incredulity.
“[SUPERBOY DIDN´T KILL MY…..DARKSEID. MY…..DARKSEID QUARTERED HIM AS THE SAME WAY HE DID WITH SUPERMAN. AND THE SUPREME LORD WAS INTELIGENT ENOUGH TO CAPTURE AND SLAVE STARRO, THE CONQUEROR AND CREATE THE IMPIOUS FUSION OF THE CREATURE WITH A MOTHER BOX,
A CREATURE ABLE TO MANAGE AN SPACE TIME FLUX AT WILL.]”.-Replied Desaad, floating around Victor, enjoying with the confusion of the man.
“Maybe, we should explain him a few facts before.”.-Said Tashana.-“As far as we know and deduce, the obsession of the Supreme Lord are focused since the moment that Kalibak is killed on Earth…”.
Began to say the woman..-“Wait a minute. Kalibak is dead? That bastard was alive when…well, when I left Earth….Sorry, Tashana. Please. Continue”.-Replied Dr Fries.
“When his son died, Darkseid became more unpredictable and cruel with humans. He sent his best troops and his new furies, Supergirl, Powergirl, Emma Frost, Raven and Tigra, leaded by an enhanced Lois Lane. At the beginning, Darkseid´s progrom seemed successful.
Systematically, every human resistance kernel was eradicated cruelly….finally, even the large resistance cores were destroyed…First, Latveria. Then Tokio and finally Gotham, where it is said that the last resistance leaders offered their last and futile battle…..”.-Tashana
had explained that events with monotone voice but Mr Freeze realized, and wondered by, the extermination of millions of human affected her in such a way, an alien.
“What about Bangkok?”.-Asked Victor.-“Bangkok scientists had developed what they called chronosphere and used it successfully to beat the overwhelming hordes of Apokolips. Even, they were able to eliminate the furies in a sudden attack with that chronospheres.
But the price of the victory was too high. Earth became in a devastated wasteland, scorched by chrono stroms and chrono anomalies. Only a thousand of humans, stacked in Bagkok, survived. Then feeling weakness on Darkseid´s empire, Durlans and Skrulls began
to attack his dominions while, on his own slaves pits, a new leader, a ‘daughter’ of Darkseid, appeared, guiding the slaves into a rebellion….”.-Continued Tashana.
“I had never heard about a Darkseid´s daughter!!!”.-Said Mr Freeze with strangeness.
“[SHE WAS NOT A DAUGHTER OF MY….DARKSEID. DARKSEIDETTE, AS SHE WAS CALLED, WAS A HUMAN SLAVE CALLED ANNA MARIE, WHICH WAS ABLE TO ABSORB PART OF THE OMEGA ENERGY OF MY…DARKSEID.]”.-Said Desaad.
“Rogue???”.-Asked Victor in surprise. Tashana assented.
“Indeed. During a few years, Darkseid´s Empire trembled, involved in multiple fronts, inside and outside its frontiers, at the rim of destruction. But Darkseid had the power and will of a god, a vindictive god. Little by little, he began to regain the
territories lost. But, when he was on the point to eradicate the slave rebellion and kill its leader, The Kryptonian appeared in the throne chamber and challenged him as the avenger of the humankind.”
“[DURING LONG HOURS, MY…DARKSEID AND THE KRYPTONIAN FOUGHT ALONG THE ENTIRE PLANET TILL FINALLY, THE KRYPTONIAN PREVAILED. THE PITS TURNED OFF AND THE SLAVES OF THE PITS ROARED IN JUBILEE WHILE HORDES OF PARA DEMONS MADDENED IN DESPERATION]”
“What about The Kryptonian? Who was him? What happened with him?”.-Asked Dr Fries.
“After his victory, The Kryptonian went to the torture chamber to free Darkseidette. Unfortunatelly, The kryptonian didn´t realized that the dark energy of Darkseid had degraded and corrupted her human soul. No one he released her, Darkseidette attacked
him. In a minute, she had absorbed all his life force, transforming him in a mass of dry bones, taking his powers. Then Darkseidette, plenty of power, made her way to the throne chamber to reclaim the title of Lady of Apokolips when the Supreme Lord appeared.
Using kryptonite, he forced her to retreat. The Supreme Lord reclaimed the title of Ruler of Apokolips, but the war continued.”
”[SOMEHOW, DESPITE OF HIS INTELIGENCE AND LEADERSHIP, HE ISN´T A GOD AS MY…DARKSEID WAS. WAR WAS ON BALANCE BUT HE KNEW THAT FINALLY, HE WOULD BE ELIMINATE BY A DURLAN ASSASIN, A SUICIDE SKRULL ATTACK, ABSORBED BY DARKSEIDETTE OR BEHEADED BY ONE OF HIS JEALOUS
GENERALS.]”
“His unique possibility was Darkseid. He was the only being on the universe capable of beating the menaces that he faced. But Darkseid was dead. Killed by a kryptonian. Resuscitate them was beyond his capacity, but he thought in other alternatives….”
“…as changing the past, avoiding the death of Kalibak or the birth of the kryptonian...or taking the cronosphere technology meanwhile it wasn´t plenty deployed!!!”.-Deduced Mr Freeze.-“The Supreme Lord it is a brilliant man, indeed.”
“As you, Dr Fries. All those ideas, those possibilities went through the mind of The Supreme Lord, but he needed a way to time travel, a way to open a stable conduit to cross time and travel, powerful enough to get such a prowess, and an overwhelming calculus
power with amazing intuition to fill the calculus gaps…The neutron star and the teseractum as source of energy and a Mother Box attached to Starro as a kind of living super computer for the time-space travel calculus.”
“[AND ITS MINIONS AS STORMTROOPERS ONCE THE TIME BOOMTUBE IS OPENED.]”
“It is a brilliant plot. I can even imagine Steppenwolf developing a strategy to capture Starro, but not the rest of the plot. He is a brilliant strategist, not a scientist…..unless….Oh my God!!!!”.-Exclaimed Mr Freeze.
“Indeed, Dr Fries. Not Steppenwolf. The Supreme Lord is Bruce Wayne, and we must stop him or the universe will be doomed.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOTHAM ESTATE.
Diana finally got to control herself and, eventually, the green tone on her skin and her disproportionate musculature began to decrease.-“Something…something is wrong here….”.-Muttered the amazon, feeling that her sense of reality was distorted as in a dream…or
in a nightmare.
A child of her? The man who loved was dead and she hadn´t any relationship with any men. What the hell Apolo was talking about? Was the god insane…or was she insane?.
“My princess. You should ignore the words of Apolo. You are simply unworthy to give birth to a powerful warrior. You left your sisters…You left your mother…you betrayed your heritage loving a mortal. You shouldn’t be called princes…”.-Said with scorn Artemis.
“What…What do you say Artemis? How…how you dare to despise me in such a way?”.-Roared Diana, feeling as the gamma flame began to burn again into her.
“She dares to despise you because you are a worthless warrioress. A real leader won´t sacrifice her life but the others. Don´t feel mercy for her foes…he just killed them…”.-Replied Shayera.
“And you are becoming into a monster…or maybe you a getting crazy….”.-Said finally Batman.
“No…no….Noooooooooo”.-Howled desperate Diana, falling on her knees while her body became in a green mountain of muscles.
But then, Diana realized that she wasn´t kneeled on the ground but in a warm, viscous surface. The amazon screamed with terror when she raised her head and saw the enormous eye of Starro staring her with all the malevolence that it was capable of making.
Around her, as zombies, Artemis, Shayera and Richard, with a minion of Starro grabbed to their faces, approached to her with another of those infamous creatures of their hands, ready to place it on her own face.
“You must awake….”.-Heard Diana on her mind as a distant, remote echo. But it wasn´t the voice of Apolo what she was hearing.-”You must awake Diana….The world needs you…the world needs Wonder Woman…”. Declared the voice.
“Wan…Wanda….”.-Stammered Diana, recognizing the voice.-“Awake…Awake…A…wa…ke…..”.
With a fierce roar, the princess of Themiscira stood over her feet in all her massive green muscularity, rushing immediately against her submitted friends. As a green typhoon, Diana-Hulk dispatched them. They were no rival to the combined power of the greek
gods and the gamma power that now went through her veins.
Next, she raised her face and stared challenging the enormous alien eye of Starro.
“You can´t beat me, creature. I will prevail…Humans will prevail”.-Roared Diana, applying every ounce of her will power in just one thought…Awake
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PACIFIC OCEAN. AT 500 MILES OF HAWAII ISLANDS.
The Rocket Red released the small, black armor that had been attached to its frame since Tokio and veered 180 º to his left, returning to his base. Then the armor activated its electromagnetic thrusters and veered to its right while the half dozen of Rockets
Red that had been escorted it, kept its course, right to Hawaii Islands.
Virginia “Pepper” Pots, at the controls of that modified version of Rescue, thought that attacking the US west coast was madness meanwhile the AIM, in Bangkok, was menacing Tokio. Somehow, strategically, even if they destroy the Apokolips Base on the islands,
the Pacific Ocean would be…pacific during a while and maybe then they could face the AIM plots.
Rescue had been modified to become in a much more sophisticated version of an F-22 Stealth Fighter. Much smaller and maneuverable, this new Rescue was supposed undetectable by Apokolips radars, thermal sensors and, thanks to its new optronic multicam camouflage,
it was hard to be detected by unaided eyes. Besides, the grid of sensors along the armor, allowed to her pilot, Pepper, recreating the Offensive-Defensive grid of any emplacement, evaluating its weak points and destroy it. And that was the mission of that
night. Flying at two miles over the pacific ocean, Pepper would ‘show the flag’, making an electronic recon of the island defensive grid, transmitting the info to the assault group. Its main advantage was the seal, because that Black Rescue wasn´t armed but
with a small blades under its armored sleeves.
Soon, in front of Pepper eyes, began to appear the Apokolips radar emitters and the image of the grid began to take shape. Under the helmet, Pepper smiled. She was really close of them and its defensive systems hadn´t detected yet. The Stealth system was
simply fantastic.
At 100 miles, at the north of her position, the Rockets Red began to emit electronic signals. As baits, now the six armors seemed, on the Apokolips scans, a 600 armors battle group. New emitters appeared of the screen of Rescue and Pepper processed them
immediately. The image of the grid was almost complete and a few weak points had already appeared on it.
At 50 miles, Pepper began to maneuver along the route traced according with the weak points of the grid. At that distance, even with her stealth cloaking, the systems could get a reflex of Rescue. Somehow, she had already get the info that they needed.
Then, Pepper traced course to the node that she had chosen as victim of her next trick…a node that, once eliminated, would create a path to Pearl Harbor and Kilauea dome for Tony and his assault group.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOTHAM STATE
Diana suddenly awoke, ready to fight. She was on the room where she had been carried to receive the blood transfusion from She-Hulk. On her feet, the amazon could see the minion that had been grabbed to her face. She felt still aching by the wounds but
she wasn´t dying. The transfusion had worked.
Unaware, her eyes roamed over her body. To her surprise, despite she felt the gamma energy going through her veins, she wasn´t green and extremely muscular as her friend Jennifer….
”But, where the hell were the others?”.-Wondered Diana, grabbing her lasso.
Suddenly, the front door opened and, as zombies, her partners, controlled by Starro, appeared, surrounding her as a pack of wolves. On their hands, as in the nightmare, they held a minion of Starro but somehow, Diana knew that it was real…the pain that
she felt was real.
Artemis´ fighting skills, Cyclops` and Fire´s firepower, Clint´s marksmanship , She-Hulk´s strength…the combat abilities of all of them appeared on her mind and, a second later, the she had decided the strategy to follow to facing, defeat and free all her
partners of the claws of Starro. Then, they will teach it an unforgettable lesson.