Disclaimer: This is a cross between JLA (Season 5) and Rorscharch’s Blot’s Make A Wish Story.
Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling and various publishers. Henchgirl, The Professor, and other such objects are Rorscharch’s creation. DC Comics own the Justice League and associated characters/plot devices. The lack of plot, however, can be attributed to me.
A Knight To Remember
“Henchgirl?” Harry spoke into his lit Zippo.
“Henchgirl, are you there?”
“Right here, Mr. Black,” the young female inventor
answered groggily a few moments later. “There’s not
anything wrong with the flying charm, is there?”
“No, that spell works great,” Harry reassured her.
“Thanks a lot.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied cheerfully.
“So… what’s up?”
“Oh, I just needed someone to talk to for a few minutes,”
the wizard announced. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“It’s alright,” his friend replied. “It’s
about time for me to get up anyway. So, is everything okay?”
Harry pondered the question for a few moments. “I
suppose,” he finally announced. “I just had a
strange run in with an even stranger woman.”
“Really?” Henchgirl exclaimed. “Describe
her.”
“Well, I was riding along in my submarine and-”
“Ohh! You have a submarine? Can I see it?
Huh? Can I?” the rumored-to-be-intelligent female
interrupted. “I’ve always wanted to build a
submarine, but the Professor won the coin toss so we built a zeppelin
instead.”
Harry blinked in confusion. “I suppose so…”
he finally replied. “Can I send shrunk items to you?”
“Of course,” she immediately answered in a manner that
suggested it was obvious.
“Right, here it comes then,” the wizard warned before
stuffing the miniature USS Black through the portable Floo
connection.
“Got it!” the young woman announced happily a few
minutes later. “Awesome!” she cheered as she
presumably inspected the vessel. “Can I keep it for a
little while? I’ll give it back, I promise!”
Harry paused for a moment before answering, “Well, I was
sort of planning on-”
“I’ll let you borrow my ship if you’ll loan me
your submarine!” she pleaded.
“Ship?” Harry inquired curiously.
“Oh, yeah,” she admitted, “lots of people like
building ships inside of glass jars. I thought that was
somewhat silly, so I skipped that part. But I did build
mine to be realistic; it’s a replica of a Dutch flute ship that
the old British navy named the Concorde.”
“So, you built a full scale merchant ship – all by
yourself?” Harry demanded incredulously.
“I was bored,” Henchgirl admitted. “Anyway,
I threw in the weather magic we used on the Zeppelin, tacked on a few
extra gadgets, and added some extra weapons. The original
design had thirteen cannons on each side – which I thought looked
kinda weird, so I put twenty cannons on each side of my
ship.”
“Well, that sounds reasonable,” Harry uttered while
silently wondering what was strange about a thirteen cannon array.
“Okay,” he decided, “we have a deal.”
“Yeah!” she celebrated. “Thanks a bunch!
Here comes my boat,” the witch warned.
“I’m ready,” Harry promised. A moment
later, a small and intricate wooden vessel lay in his hand.
“This is some very fine craftsmanship, Henchgirl!” Harry
praised.
“Oh, it was nothing,” she said shyly. “So,
what were you saying about this weirdo woman?”
“Well,” Harry continued after switching mental gears,
“she reminded me of some aquatic, depressed Veela to be
honest. I met her about a hundred feet down in a lake off
Britain, and she spoke really formally the whole time. She also
had this nasty fixation on Divination and kept talking about destined
champions and noble quests and all that rot.”
Really?” the inventor questioned. “Did she give
her name, or any details as to what she wanted?”
“Oh, yeah,” Harry responded irritably. “She
said her name was Viviane and she wanted to give me this sword called
Caledfwich that apparently will help me do… something.”
“Do what?” the inquisitive female demanded.
“How should I know?” Harry fired back. “She’s
a magical woman and you’re a magical woman; I was hoping
that you could tell me!”
“No, the name of the sword,” Henchgirl corrected.
“What did you call it?”
“Oh,” Harry said sheepishly, “she called it
Caledfwich. Does that mean anything to you?”
“I’ve definitely heard of it somewhere before,”
the brilliant witch admitted. “I just can’t
remember where. I’ll research it and get back to you.
In the meanwhile, don’t let it eat on you. After all,
it’s not like it’s a historically significant and easily
recognized heirloom or something.”
“You’re right!” Harry agreed, much happier after
their talk. “Thanks again.”
“Anytime, Boss!” the blonde chirped happily before
closing the connection.
“Hmm…” General Wade Eiling mused as he finished
perusing the six-decade-old report detailing the ‘Captain Nazi’
super-soldier serum. According to the data captured by Spy
Smasher during World War II, the elixir could enhance a normal human
being’s strength a hundred fold. Not only that, but the
Nazi scientist theorized that the subject’s skin would be
impenetrable to all but heavy artillery fire. Although the
original serum was never tested – thanks to Spy Smasher -, such
scientific ingenuity was quite amazing even by contemporary
standards.
“Very interesting…” he finally announced to no
one in particular.
The alarm clock suddenly erupted, alerting Harry that it was time
to rise. Crawling out of bed, the mage went through his typical
morning ritual before escaping from his orbiting cabin and heading
towards the commissary.
His relatively happy mood soured a bit when Harry discovered that
the coffee was missing yet again. His heightened sense of smell
informed him that precious brown fluid had been present recently, but
he could catch no sign of its presence. Finally deciding that
enough was enough, Harry felt that he should do something to counter
this gross injustice.
Besides, he was bored and his schedule was clear for the day.
Sighing, Harry slipped his hand into his coat pocket and retrieved
the Universal Remote that he had thus far been ignoring. He
truthfully could not understand why anyone would want to
‘power down’ the universe – although watching an
‘offed’ sun reignite was pretty neat -, and he truthfully
was slightly fearful of the ominous ‘eject’ feature.
However, the device deserved a true field test and Harry could not
devise a better trial than to assist him in solving the ‘Case
of the Disappearing Coffee’.
Discretely holding the device before him, Harry hit the ‘Pause’
button and watched as the world around him ground to a halt.
Already liking this experience over his watch-turned-time-turner, the
wizard pressed ‘Seek Backwards’ on the wondrous device
and marveled at the Professor’s ingenuity as the he witnessed
the entire world moving slowly in reverse.
Tapping his foot impatiently, Harry waited several minutes until
the uniformed cafeteria personnel entered the room and replenished
the buffet tables – including four of the delicious glass mugs
that he so enjoyed. Granted, four mugs would only barely get
him through the morning, but beggars could not be choosers.
Pausing time again, Harry wandered over to the table and quickly
gathered the mugs before ‘fast forwarding’ back to the
point in time when he first entered the commissary. Setting
down his hard-won treasure with a satisfied sigh, Harry started to
sip the grand black liquid, already feeling his dark mood lessening.
Feeling much better despite the restless night, Harry summoned
breakfast from the long table and started to enjoy the day.
Shutting off her communicator in a panic, Diana rushed to the
cafeteria. As per her instructions, one of her informants had
just tipped her off to another ‘Code Black’ in the
commissary. Unfortunately, her preventative measures seemed
inadequate as she burst in on the breakfasters just in time to see
the java’d deity down his third ‘mug’ of the
morning.
Dropping her shoulders in defeat, the Amazon turned around and
retreated to the bridge to inform Mr. Terrific that Mr. Black would
be indisposed for the next several hours.
Once she accomplished that task, the senior Leaguer gave in
to the inevitable and returned to her cabin. It was past time
to update the League’s policy on dealing with Immortals anyway,
and she could take the opportunity to include a strong warning on the
negative consequences of contact with coffee or other caffeinated
substances.
After all, it was not outside the realm of possibility that other
immortals might decide to come ‘slumming’ –
especially if they ever discovered a drink more potent than Ambrosia.
“You look well, General,” Amanda Waller greeted after
taking her seat. Having received a request to meet from her old
coworker, the newly named liaison to the Justice League arranged to
meet with the distinguished soldier in an out of the way restaurant.
“It seems the past few months have been good to you,” she
acknowledged.
Eiling grimaced. “Mrs. Waller,” he replied
gruffly, “with all due respect, this reassignment is a joke.
I never thought that I’d become a desk drone.”
“I can’t help you there,” Amanda supplied
promptly. “Langley’s all but scrapped Project
Cadmus and insisted on your transfer.” She paused for a
moment before adding in a pondering tone, “We’re
lucky we’re not all in jail.”
“Look, the only mistake we made was trusting Luthor,”
the general protested.
“Wade, you know better than to dwell on the past,”
Waller mildly chastised.
“I’m talking about right now,” he insisted,
rapping a fist on the table for emphasis. “The Justice
League is still the single greatest threat to global security.”
“I used to believe that, too,” she admitted while
dipping her head in regret, “but remember… we used to
say the same about the Soviets. Our enemy is never as evil as
we imagine… and maybe we’re never quite as good.”
“Nuts!” he groaned. “Don’t tell me
that the bleeding hearts in Congress got to you.”
“I’d eat them alive,” she fired back bemusedly.
“You would, too,” Wade agreed while toasting her.
“You’ve got some onions, Amanda,” he complimented.
Waller smiled for a moment before growing serious. “Then
listen to me,” she pleaded. “I’m not the
League’s greatest fan, but their intentions are good. I
can work with them.”
Eiling, however, was not prepared to yield the point. “What
if you’re wrong, though?” he demanded. “If it
turns out the metahumans aren’t on the side of the Angels?
We won’t have any way to defend ourselves. Look what
happened last year!” he added vehemently. “Superman
walked into Cadmus and tossed our best men like a salad!”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Amanda retaliated while
stifling a groan.
“What’s to stop him from doing it again?” Wada
pressed. “They’re all orbiting us with a space
weapon – supposedly decommissioned. That’s a
greater threat than the Russians ever were! If we rolled over
like this for the Soviet Union… given up our nukes…”
“We’d all be living under a red flag,” Waller
finished irritably, her own ire rising.
“Yes, ma’am, you better believe it!” Eiling
agreed vehemently. “After all our work, what did Cadmus
really accomplish? You get a reprimand and I’m pushing
pencils – and the League gets another base here on Earth…
that Metro tower. When one side loses ground and the other side
gains, that isn’t a truce – it’s surrender.”
Amanda sighed resignedly and hauled herself to her feet.
“It’s a different world, General,” she advised the
man. As she began to leave, Waller added, “Learn to live
in it!”
After Harry had finished his breakfast – with only four
pitiful cups of coffee to accompany it -, the wizard reported to the
command deck only to discover that his presence was not needed.
Mr. Terrific was quite insistent on that point, despite what Harry
could have sworn was a stack of missions requiring League attention.
Putting the strange event out of his mind, Harry took a stroll
through the halls while he decided what he would do for the day.
It was during his fourth pass by the shuttle bay that the wizard
realized that he still had not delivered Jennifer’s spell
books. The wizard slapped himself upside the head before
Apparating to the outskirts of the subterranean city to correct that
oversight.
“Green Lantern, what’s your status?” Mr.
Terrific inquired over the long-distance radio.
“This sun’s going nova any day now,” the
guardian reported. “It’s worse than we thought.
We’ll have to deploy twice as many fusion dampeners!”
“You’re breaking up!” the League coordinator
replied as the signal began losing quality. “Say again.”
“The main point is that this is going to take a while,”
Oa’s champion summarized.
“Understood. We’ve got it covered on this end,”
the League’s new controller replied. “Check in
whenever you can. Watchtower out.” Ending the
long-distance communication, he opened the intercom channel and
ordered, “Green Arrow, S.T.R.I.P.E., Stargirl, Vigilante, and
Shining Knight – meet me on the bridge.”
Once the quintet arrived, Mr. Terrific continued. “Half
of our resources are in deep space and we’re shorthanded.”
“Great!” Pat Dugan said cheerfully. “I’ll
take a real mission over Watchtower duty any day!”
“So, who’s left up here with you?” Oliver Queen
inquired. “The Ray?”
“He’s with Vixen, checking out an explosion in the
Elusians,” Terrific reported after checking his tablet
computer. “Supergirl and Flash are unfinished in Madagascar.”
“You’re spreading us a little thin,” the emerald
archer noted.
“We go where we’re needed, Green Arrow,”
the controller replied testily. “Did you second-guess the
Martian like this?”
“Sorry – my bad,” Oliver replied blithely, “you’re
the ‘big picture’ guy.”
“I’ve got it all worked out,” the other man said
reassuringly. “I’ve just got this one mission in
Metropolis and I need you people to fill in for Superman.”
“Cool!” Courtney exclaimed.
The trip to Shambala was mostly uneventful – Harry found
Jennifer easily enough. The only real rough spot during the
entire operation was the strange smile that the girl kept up while in
his presence. Harry thought that he had heard such a facial
expression described as a ‘sickly’ smile once, but he
could have been mistaken. In any event, the wizard found her
habit of constantly eyeing him and keeping her back facing away from
him to be somewhat offsetting and so decided cut his visit short as a
result.
After ensuring that the girl understood the basics of the spell
casting material, Harry made his excuses and left – but not
before ensuring that his wards were still intact. Once that
task was completed, the wizard noticed the late hour and realized
that lunch seemed like a marvelous idea. A brief consultation
with his abdomen later and it was decided that he would return to
Superman’s recommended burger joint. While he certainly
wished that their sandwiches came in larger portions, the wizard most
definitely enjoyed playing with the accompanied toy.
“I’d slay the ogre Blunderbore all over again rather
than put myself on display in this manner,” Sir Justin
complained while waving from atop his mount, Winged Victory.
While the crowd gathered to watch the annual Metropolis parade could
not hear him from his position next to the city police float, his
League teammates could unfortunately hear him all too well.
Still on a roll, Shining Knight continued. “Even
though that ogre turned out to be-”
“Morgan Le Fay!” all the other heroes chanted duly.
At Sir Justin’s sharp look, the robotic S.T.R.I.P.E.
commented, “We’ve all heard it.”
“’Tis a good story,” he protested.
Putting the topic of conversation behind her, Stargirl demanded,
“So… what? Since we don’t have super powers,
it takes five of us to replace one Superman?”
One of the police officers stepped down from the float’s
upper tier. “Uh… excuse me, but I just wanted to
thank you Justice League guys for showing up in force,” the
young man admitted. “It means a lot to us.”
“Hey, we can’t thank you enough,”
Green Arrow replied while shaking the officer’s hand.
“You’re the real heroes.”
“It’s you the people come to honor,”
Shining Knight seconded.
“Great!” Courtney complained again quietly. “Now
I’m petty!”
“See where it says ‘Heroes one and all’?”
Oliver asked while pointing to the banner on their float.
“That’s what it’s all about. The crowd
doesn’t care who can bench-press a mountain, or shoot lasers
out of their ears.”
The crowd picked that moment to comment loudly in a vein
disproving Oliver’s supposition.
“Hey! Where’s Superman?” one elderly
female voice cried.
“How come none of the good ones are here?”
another voice demanded rudely.
“I didn’t come here to see some stupid cowboy!”
a kid in the front row grumbled.
“I don’t think Vigilante is a good role model,”
a man near the front of the pack voiced, “especially one with
guns!”
“I came to see Superman!” an older voice called out in
disappointment.
Courtney just sighed and continued to wave dutifully.
“General Eiling, Sir!” the attending soldier at the
gate saluted smartly. “What brings you back to Cadmus?”
Wade Eiling rolled down the driver’s window and smiled.
“Just came to collect something I left behind,” the
balding military general replied. Returning the young soldier’s
salute, Eiling waited until the barricade was raised before shifting
back to drive and continuing on to the facility.
The general entered what was once Cadmus’s headquarters and
proceeded to the uppermost levels uncontested – as he
expected. What he did not expect, however, was for his
high-level access codes to have been revoked from the ultra top
security bioscience storage facility.
His concentration on the door’s keypad was interrupted a few
moments later by rushed footsteps and an insistent query, “General!
What are you doing?”
Eiling looked up to find a white-coated scientist being escorted
by an armed soldier. “Hello, Dr. Anderson,” Eiling
greeted. “I left my reading glasses in the bio-vault and
can’t seem to get back in.”
Anderson made a show of inspecting the security keypad before
looking suspiciously at the elder general. “That code was
changed six months ago,” the short man informed. “You’re
not authorized.”
As the soldier began to discreetly draw his side arm, Eiling
jumped into motion and caught the man off guard. A couple of
quick punches to minimally guarded areas of the man’s armor
left him unconscious and Eiling holding his sidearm to Anderson’s
suddenly pale face.
“The new code – now!” Eiling growled.
Caving in to the obviously unstable general, Anderson used his
security code to open the bio-vault. Eiling shoved the smaller
man into the vault ahead of him and had the scientist open the inner
door via an optical scanner. Once the two had access to the
vault proper, Wade held his hostage at gunpoint while he retrieved
his ultimate objective.
With a small smile of triumph, the intruder held aloft a loaded
syringe – held in federal custody for over six decades.
“General! No! That serum’s unstable!”
Anderson pleaded from where he had landed on the floor.
“I read the report,” Eiling replied bluntly.
“So you know about the horrible disfiguration?” the
biology expert demanded as he regained his feet. “The
test animals-”
The sudden presence of a pistol at his chest halted the
scientist’s monologue. However, the scientist received a
sudden burst of bravery and dashed the remaining few feet to an alarm
panel.
“Too late now,” Eiling said grimly over the wailing of
sirens and stampeding feet of the base’s soldiers coming to
full alert. Rolling back one sleeve, the general inserted the
syringe into a vein and pushed the plunger.
As a squad of soldiers entered the unsecured bio-vault, the point
man backed up in shock as Eiling’s form began to expand and
mutate. In a manner of seconds, the figure only barely
resembled a man.
“Shoot to kill!” Anderson cried. “Now,
while you still can!”
The soldiers replied with a hail of gunfire, but their efforts
were in vain. The new metahuman’s transformation had
already completed and their arsenal had no effect on the hulking
figure’s gray skin.
Striding to an outside wall, the transformed Eiling easily punched
through the concrete to provide an egress. One of the braver of
the squad tried to sneak up on the monstrosity but failed – and
soon found himself gripped around the torso with one gigantic hand.
“D-don’t kill me,” the man pleaded as he was
held out over a ten-story drop.
“I’m not going to kill you, soldier,” Eiling
replied. “You’re just doing your job.”
Tossing the man back inside, the creature took a gigantic leap and
sailed out into the night sky.
“And now I’m going to do mine,” he added to no
one in particular.
After finishing the ‘fast food’ – a term Harry
still could not comprehend, seeing as how it took nearly twenty
minutes to obtain – the wizard decided to explore the western
end of Metropolis. Throwing away his meal’s refuse –
and carefully pocketing the plastic action figure -, Harry left the
restaurant and walked through the maze of streets that was
Metropolis. Ultimately, his exploration landed Harry in the old
business district where his senses were assaulted by a series of
strange smells and odd sights.
Feeling a sudden onset of déjà vu, Harry pushed the
door open and entered what appeared to be a large curio shop.
“Hello, Mr. Black!” a short man behind the counter
called out as Harry entered.
The wizard in question jerked his head in the other man’s
direction and glared at the source of the interjection. “Bloody
shopkeepers,” he cursed under his breath. In a louder
tone, Harry nearly growled, “Shopkeeper, I wonder what the
chances are that I get kicked to the other side of the multi-verse
only to run into one of you people again! How many cousins do
you have, man?”
“I admit, we are one of the larger families of old,”
the shopkeeper replied.
“I’ll say,” Harry grumbled to himself while
silently cursing Cassandra’s reproductive tendencies. “So
why am I here?” he demanded of the man after a few moments of
silence.
“I’m sorry?” the man asked innocently.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Don’t you think it an amazing coincidence that I land
clear in another dimension, start wandering in one of the largest
cities in the world, and just so happen to stumble upon yet another
one of Cassandra’s many… many spawn?” Harry
demanded crossly.
“Definitely strange,” the man replied in a suddenly
nervous fashion. “I mean, I’m just here to meet
this dimension’s more… arcane needs, after all.
Yeah, that’s right. Just an honest job. Hehehe.”
“And I suppose that you’re planning on sending me on a
wild goose chase or twenty as well?” Harry queried sharply.
“Of course not!” the shopkeeper said shakily.
“No questing stuff here,” he added while kicking a bag
further underneath the counter. “Just the common everyday
items: potion ingredients, invisibility cloaks, black
dragonhide gauntlets that contain magical cores to allow for
hands-free spell casting and sub-dimensional pockets to contain
unlimited weaponry, brass cauldrons…”
“Wait!” Harry interrupted. “What was that
last bit?”
“Oh, the brass cauldrons?” the man inquired
helpfully. “Size 2 with extra thick bottoms; great for
brewing-”
“No, before that!” Harry stated irritably.
“Oh!” he said in an enlightened tone. “The
battle mage gauntlets. Some wizard who liked fighting
hand-to-hand with both spells and steel made them a few centuries
back. He stashed his swords, knives, staffs, and whatnot in the
gloves and could call any weapon to hand instantly with no more than
a thought. Made spell casting a whole lot easier too – or
so I’ve been told.”
“Sounds useful,” Harry grudgingly admitted. “Why
hasn’t someone purchased them already?”
“Did I mention that the wizard was a Parselmouth,” the
old man asked while grinning smugly, “and charmed them so they
would only work for another Parselmouth?”
“How… convenient,” Harry said through gritted
teeth. “And just how much would such a… unique
pair of items cost me?”
“Oh, for such old items as these…?” the other
man asked in a satisfied manner. “I could just let you
have them – I’m not likely to find anyone else that can
use them, after all – but…”
Harry sighed. “But…?”
“Well…,” the man hesitated, “there are
these maps, you see…”
“I knew it!” Harry growled.
“Hey, there’re just old maps,” the man
protested. “It’s not like you’d have
to go search out Avalon and discover their forgotten healing and
shapeshifting techniques or anything.”
“Shapeshifting?” Harry queried despite himself.
The Animagus book he had read the previous day had briefly discussed
how the ancient mages could assume most any form but went on to
explain that such knowledge had been lost to the ravages of time.
“Oh, yes,” the man nodded rapidly, “the
Avalonians were talented in many areas, but especially in
Shapeshifting. The legends say that some Avalonians could
change into any form they wished – be it animal or person, unlike
today’s limited Metamorphmagi and Animagi.”
“I see…” Harry deliberated, privately intrigued
at this new route of following in the Marauders’ footsteps.
“How much?”
“Let’s say… ten galleons for the maps and
gauntlets,” the man decided.
Harry nodded sharply. “Done,” he agreed before
passing over the coins. Grabbing the bag containing Avalon’s
location and his new accessories, Harry left the shop. Stepping
into an adjacent alley, Harry quickly slid on the dragonhide bracers
and began stowing his weaponry. Once he had transferred his
arsenal, the wizard willed Major Black’s sword to appear. As
the shopkeeper promised, the desired implement of destruction
immediately slid into his hand.
Smiling cheerfully, Harry pointed his other hand at some scattered
trashcans and tried to wordlessly levitate them – which also
worked… after a fashion. The waste receptacles did
indeed leave the ground – that much was certain.
Unfortunately, his new protective gear seemed to pack quite a magical
kick as the aforementioned containers took off like lit bottle
rockets.
Wincing as he heard a suspicious noise – where ‘suspicious
noise’ is the arbitrary definition of the racket one would
achieve by sending several metal containers colliding at high
velocity into an automobile equipped with an alarm system several
blocks away – Harry pointed at another piece of debris and tried
again. This time, Harry consciously tried to limit the amount
of magic he was channeling with great success. In fact, this
method resulted in absolutely no property damage.
Harry’s smile widened further as he summarized his new
purchases with one word.
“Wicked!”
Courtney set off another batch of fireworks from her staff to the
accompaniment of cheering from the crowd. Once the last
sparkles faded, she flew back down to hover near Vigilante.
“Stargirl, ladies and gentlemen,” the cowboy called
out in a showman’s voice, “the All-American sweetheart.”
“Wow!” Courtney congratulated the masked hero.
“You really know how to work a crowd.”
“Shoot!” he said easily, “If I had brung my
guitar, I’d have ‘em eating out of my hand.”
Throttling his motorcycle, Vigilante sped up to where Shining Knight
was riding his horse.
“And what have you got to say to the Shining Knight?”
Vigilante called out to the crowd. “Sir Justin’s a
real live knight from back in the times of King Arthur and them!”
While the crowd chattered in awe to one another, Justin mentioned
– in a low voice -, “Friend, I am no mare at auction.”
As the knight made to pass the cowboy, Vigilante slapped the
winged mount – causing the horse to take to the skies.
“How about Sir Justin’s horse, Winged Victory? And
his magical sword, given to him by Merlin the magician hisself.”
Justin sighed at the over-the-top introduction but drew the
enchanted blade for the crowd’s inspection regardless –
to the accompaniment of more cheering. Before the cowboy could
continue his speech, however, the festivities were interrupted by a
hulking gray figure plummeting out of the sky. The humanoid
form collided with the Justice League’s float, causing the
civilians to scatter and the leaguers to prepare for battle.
“Freeze!” one of the police officers ordered while
leveling his pistol in a two-handed grip at the monster in their
midst. The rest of the police force encircled the creature and
followed suit.
“I’d listen to the man,” Green Arrow seconded as
he readied an arrow.
“Where’s Superman?” Eiling demanded while
casually holding a giant piece of the destroyed float over his head.
“Busy,” Oliver rejoined sarcastically, “can I
help you?”
“Yeah,” Wade rebutted, “hold this for me.”
The gathered heroes scattered as several hundred pounds of wood was
suddenly lobbed where they had been standing moments before.
Courtney tried to catch the projectile with her staff but failed and
was buried in the rubble.
“Open fire!” the police captain ordered. The
officers followed the command – to no obvious effect.
“Go ahead, boys, pour it on,” Eiling boasted. “I
can take it!” The League joined their efforts to that of
the police department’s in the form of a hail of arrows,
missiles, bullets, and a charging knight sweeping down from the sky.
The unnatural juggernaut met the latter threat with a hail of
thrown cars that, although failing to hit Sir Justin directly,
managed to get rid of him all the same when the knight hurried to
rescue the individuals in harm’s way.
A small group of kids joined the resistance by throwing rocks and
other bits of debris at the hulking monster. “Take off,
ya big wuss!” one of the braver children called as he lobbed a
broken piece of lumber.
Vigilante caught sight of them, however, and came running to cover
them.
“Where’s your parents?” the cowboy demanded.
“I don’t know,” one of the boys answered.
“Run off, I guess.”
Vigilante knelt down and got their attention. “Listen,
I need you fellers to do a very important job,” he informed,
“so you’re all my deputies.” He threw one
hand towards a group of gawking civilians at the edge of the
battlefield and ordered, “Now go ride herd on that crowd and
get them to somewhere safe!”
“Yes, sir!” they shouted before racing off to do their
new errand.
The cowboy rejoined the fray just as the behemoth charged a group
of police officers. “I mean it!” the creature
interjected. “Get Superman and tell him that General Wade
Eiling wants a word with him!”
“Eiling?” Green Arrow echoed. “Cadmus?”
“What happened?” S.T.R.I.P.E. demanded. “That
beat down you got last year leave you with Superman issues?”
Eiling reached out and encompassed the robot with one hand, then
slammed the other figure into the ground. “He’s
your poster boy,” the creature supplied. “I’m
gonna show the Justice League that you’re not the only
superpower on the block, that there’s someone who can stop
you. I’m here to protect them from you!”
Dugan broke free from Eiling’s grip and rocketed into the
sky before reversing his direction and charging towards the monster.
Unfortunately, Eiling leaped into the air and caught the robot with a
vicious punch, the shockwave from which breaking several of the
nearby windows and created several more hazards for the people on the
ground.
Green Arrow ducked out of the way of the barrage and keyed his
communicator for the Watchtower. “Mr. Terrific, we need
backup!”
“Everybody’s in play somewhere else,” the
controller replied. “Everybody. I’ll
see if I can scrounge a few reserve Leaguers.
The archer huffed in irritation and rejoined the fight, which
mostly consisted of an aerial battle between the monster and the
robot – with the robot taking most of the damage. Eiling
finally managed to knock S.T.R.I.P.E. to the ground and proceeded to
pound the suit to pieces. “I’ll give you
issues,” the monster growled as he peeled back the armored
plating and prepared to deliver a punch to Dugan’s unprotected
torso.
Fortunately for the Leaguer, however, a rather large wrecking ball
suddenly interrupted Eiling’s plan. One of Vigilante’s
‘deputies’ had apparently snuck into the adjacent
construction site and succeeded in activating the heavy duty
equipment. Before the child could make another pass, however,
Eiling had recovered and was attempting to remove the demolition
crane’s supports.
Dugan recovered enough to fire his suit’s jets and body
check the juggernaut before he could do anymore damage.
Regrettably, Eiling had already wrought considerable destruction and
the support beams gave way, sending the juvenile operator sailing out
of the cab and into a steep plummet.
Vigilante had noticed this impending catastrophe, however, and
reacted accordingly. Revving his bike, the cowboy shot up an
impromptu ramp – namely, a large piece of debris – and jumped
the construction yard’s wreckage just in time to snag the boy
before he hit the ground.
While Vigilante took his cargo out of danger’s path,
S.T.R.I.P.E. and his stepdaughter – who had finally recovered from
her earlier mishap – tried to keep the titan at bay.
Unfortunately, their efforts proved no more effective than before.
The cowboy saw this and, once his errand was complete, rode straight
for the creature. Timing the maneuver precisely, he called out
to Courtney to get clear. As soon as she complied, Vigilante
leaped off the speeding motorcycle. As the abandoned vehicle
approached Eiling, Vigilante drew both pistols and fired into its
fuel tank – creating an explosion powerful enough to knock the
monstrosity off its feet and give S.T.R.I.P.E. and Stargirl some
breathing room.
Having experimented with the array of features on his new
gauntlets in the vacant alleys, Harry was preparing to Apparate back
to the Watchtower when a large explosion caught his attention.
Looking around, the wizard sighted columns of smoke emanating from
the other side of town. Summoning all of his weapons back to
their new holsters, the newest League member mounted his pet Pooka
and took flight towards the source of the disturbance.
Eiling climbed back to his feet. “Ya lousy bush
Leaguers,” he cursed. “I’m running out of
patience!”
“You, too?” Courtney demanded cockily. Wrapping
the creature in an energy lasso, the heroine lifted Eiling into the
air. “We’re taking this somewhere else!
Haven’t you ever heard of innocent bystanders?”
“Ever hear of ‘acceptable losses’?” he
replied. “You can’t make an omelet without breaking
a few eggs. This country’s halfway down the toilet
because of you super-powered types.”
“For the record,” Courtney stated, “I don’t
have powers, Potty Mouth! It’s the staff.”
Hearing everything he needed, Eiling grabbed the glowing cord and
used it to sling Stargirl into a downward arc. Once she struck
the ground and lost her concentration, Eiling’s bonds
disappeared and he came crashing back to terra firma. Grabbing
her by her head and lifting her off the ground, Eiling growled, “In
that case, Miss, you’re just another egg.”
“Face, Villain!” Shining Knight cried as he swooped in
with drawn sword. “Have you no shame?”
Jumping from his winged mount, Sir Justin managed to slice the
monster’s forearm with his enchanted blade.
The damage was minimal, however, and only served to make himself
the brute’s target. Eiling punched Sir Justin with the
damaged arm and sent the knight crashing into a nearby building.
While his back was turned, Vigilante and Green Arrow rearmed
themselves and jumped back into the fight. “You hit him
high – I’ll hit him low,” Vigilante offered.
“Whatever!” Arrow growled in response as another
barrage of arrows and bullets were launched. As before, their
attack succeeded only in drawing Eiling’s attention –
which took the form of a powerful stomp, generating flying debris and
demolished street pavement.
“Vig!” Oliver called out when he saw the cowboy
failing to rise from the last assault.
“Found your reinforcements, G.A.,” Mr. Terrific’s
voice said over the League’s communication link. “I’m
teleporting them in now.”
“Got that,” Oliver replied, “Thank’s, T.”
Turning to the waiting Eiling, the archer yelled, “Well, you
wanted Superman. Now you got…” the blurred figures
resolved, “the Crimson Avenger and my ex-sidekick?”
The archer uttered the latter part with disbelief.
“Ex-partner!” Speedy corrected shortly.
“Speedy,” Oliver cut in, “do we have to do this
now?”
“Whoo, now I’m scared!” Wade Eiling said
sarcastically. Crimson Avenger answered the retort with a
stream of tear gas, which actually affected the monster for a few
moments – before the creature clapped his hands together with
enough force to dispel the cloud and sent the trio off their feet
from the resulting shockwave.
“Ollie,” Speedy asked as Eiling approached their
position, “how many guys has he taken out?”
“That would be all of them,” Green Arrow answered as
the two archers began pelting the advancing figure with arrows.
“You spoiled rich little twerp,” Eiling growled.
“I think he means me,” Oliver quipped.
“Oh,” Speedy countered, “for a second, I was all
mad.”
“Still got your quantum arrow?” Oliver asked as the
two exhausted their quivers’ supplies.
Speedy looked over his shoulder and answered, “Yeah, but you
said—”
“This is an emergency!” Green Arrow
interrupted, drawing the last arrow from behind his back. The
two archers launched the quantum bolts in tandem, forming an energy
bolo as the two arrows flew towards their target. The weapons
connected, erupting in a blinding explosion that sent both humans off
their feet and covered ‘ground zero’ in a dust cloud.
As they watched to see what effect this latest assault had, the
two were dumbstruck as Eiling came waltzing out of the fog apparently
unaffected by their combined attack.
“We are so dead!” Speedy finally announced.
“Could be,” Green Arrow admitted. The two
archers began a desperate charge forward, but were grabbed by
Eiling’s superior reach and casually flung into two parked
cars.
“Superman, you coward!” the behemoth bellowed.
“All your men are down and you won’t even show your
face!”
“He cannot hear even your bellowing, Monster!”
Sir Justin called out as he limped through the rubble. “As
we speak, Superman rescues an entire star system a universe away.
Do your worst,” the knight challenged, “for I will not
let you harm another.”
“I do what I do in service to my country,” Eiling
countered.
Shining Knight brought his sword to attention and continued,
“Once, at the word of my Lord King Arthur, I was ordered to lay
waste to an entire village. I knew my king’s heart could
not be so unjust, so I spared them all.”
“Then you’re a lousy soldier,” Eiling accused
and punched the knight back a dozen paces.
“There it is,” Sir Justin gasped, “the creeping
moral decay of the past thousand years.”
He unsteadily charged forward again while swinging his sword, but
Eiling easily dodged the strike.
“Arthur thanked me, oaf!” the armored warrior
spat. “Had I been wrong, I would have handed over my
sword and left the court in shame.”
He charged forward again sword first, but the crude mockery of a
man caught the blade and used it to sling Justin several feet away
from him.
“Save yourself a hospital stay,” Eiling grumbled as he
stalked towards the slowly rising knight, “and stand down.
That magic armor won’t help you.”
“Perhaps not, but I will,” a cold voice announced
right before a red bolt of light slammed into Eiling and flung him a
hundred yards. Harry jumped off the descending Pooka’s
back and helped the knight back to his feet. Recognizing the
man from the League’s member reports, Harry greeted, “Well
met, Sir Justin. If I may…?”
Before the bruised knight could utter a word, the wizard had
already cast a basic healing charm. Feeling much better, the
Shining Knight looked at his rescuer’s face and the
accompanying ghostly stallion and asked, “Who are you, strange
Sir Knight? Do I know you?”
“You might, Sir Justin,” Harry replied. “My
name is Black.” Catching Eiling slowly stalking towards
them again, Harry hit the creature with a Reductor curse –
which did a much more admirable job of keeping the behemoth down than
his previous Banishing charm. Just for spite, he flicked one
hand and levitated the figure off the ground to prevent it from
escaping. Turning back to the slack-jawed knight, Harry asked,
“What has happened here?”
“That rogue assaulted our party and indulged in knavish
actions,” Shining Knight replied in disgusted tones. “The
seven of us have been trying to subdue the fiend without success.”
Harry suddenly caught sight of Courtney’s battered form
lying on the ground and Apparated to her side. Seeing her chest
still rising and falling regularly – if a trifle tenderly -,
Harry let out the breath he was holding and cast the same healing
charm on her that he had used on the knight. As her eyes opened
and she struggled to rise, Harry picked her up and carried her to
where Green Arrow and the remaining Leaguers were congregating while
gesturing with his head for the armored man to join them.
“Thanks,” the blonde girl in his arms said weakly.
Her eyes suddenly widened as her mind assimilated the last few
minutes of the battle. “Wait! My father… is
he-?”
“I will tend to him, Courtney,” Harry said
reassuringly. “Just wait here.”
“Thank you, T!” Green Arrow cheered. “We’ve
needed a heavy hitter! Where’ve you been?”
Harry looked mildly confused. “The other side of
town,” the wizard answered, “having lunch and doing some
shopping.”
Several of the others seemed incredulous. “Didn’t
Mr. Terrific call your communicator?” Arrow demanded.
“What communicator?” Harry asked blankly as he helped
Courtney to stand on her own.
The emerald archer suddenly smacked himself in the face.
“You mean… we’ve had a super-strong magic user in
our back pocket and have been gettin’ our butts handed to us…
all because some genius forgot to give you a freakin’ walkie
talkie?”
Harry just looked at the man with a slight smile and nodded once.
“It’s nice to meet you gentlemen,” the wizard
directed towards Vigilante, Crimson Avenger, and Speedy, “but I
promised the little lady that I’d check in with the walking
refrigerator.”
“Our comrade lies in yonder refuse,” Sir Justin
informed the wizard while gesturing to the demolition site behind
them.
“Right,” Harry acknowledged, “back in a sec.”
The mage Apparated out of sight – much to the disbelief from the
Leaguers not yet ‘in the know’.
“Ollie… who was that?” Speedy asked slowly.
“That, Speedy, is Mr. Black,” Green Arrow supplied.
“Imagine the offspring of Batman and Wonder Woman with a little
Zatanna thrown in, and you’ve pretty much got him pegged.”
“Ah… got ya,” Speedy nodded warily while
watching the strange man’s destination. A sudden snort
from behind them caused several of the gathered heroes to start.
“What in the world is that?” the youthful bowman demanded
while pointing at Mortis, who had also joined the party without
anyone noticing.
“Oh, that’s Mortis,” Courtney supplied easily.
“He’s Mr. Black’s ghost horse.”
“And why’s that old curly wolf got hisself a dead
horse?” Vigilante demanded while looking over the creature.
“Maybe because he’s the Grim Reaper, and a pale ghost
horse is part of the deal?” she suggested sarcastically.
“Say again?” Green Arrow demanded. “I
think I lost something in the translation.”
“Mr. Black is the personification of Death,” the girl
said slowly. “We were on a mission a few days ago and I
saw him with the hooded robe and scythe and everything.”
“Still,” Sir Justin spoke up, “just because a
man wields an unusual weapon does not necessarily indicate a
supernatural origin. In fact, I once knew a great knight who
wielded all forms of weaponry including the scythe.” The
knight’s pallor seemed to fade.
“What is it, partner?” the cowboy asked when Sir
Justin failed to continue.
“The knight I speak of served only the people and bowed to
no king,” Shining Knight said in reply. “Unlike the
many brigands who cowardly blackened their devices before engaging in
savagery, this legendary knight bore no markings because of his
pledge to guard all peoples, not merely a province. It was even
suggested by some that he possessed supernatural powers, for he was
never defeated in battle.”
“So…?” Green Arrow prompted. “What’s
your point?”
“He was known only as the Black Knight,” Sir Justin
explained.
“Uh huh,” Oliver said. “Gotcha.”
“I think that there hard case done hit you upside the head
once too many,” Vigilante exclaimed. “Just ‘cause
he’s got magic powers and a ghost horse don’t make him
the danged Grim Reaper or some long-dead legendary knight.”
“Perhaps, friend,” Sir Justin allowed, “but I
feel something familiar about the fellow.”
Reappearing in the construction lot, Harry found the white robotic
figure quickly. Seeing Pat’s chest still moving regularly
encouraged the wizard to hit Pat with the same healing charm that had
proven so effective with the others.
The incumbent machine began to twitch as Pat’s voice came
over the speaker. “Mr. Black…? I was
wondering if I’d see you. So… am I dead yet?”
Harry shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint, my
friendly overgrown toaster, but you’re very much alive.
Your daughter sent me to check up on you.”
“You’ve seen Courtney?” the mecha repeated and
seemed to tense. “She’s not dead… is she?”
“No,” Harry replied with a smile, “she’s
quite alive as well. I’ve already seen to the others’
injuries so let’s get you operational, shall we?”
Dugan looked at the diagnostic displays. “I can’t.
That monster’s crippled most of my systems – the repairs
will take days to have me running again.”
Harry smiled mischievously. “I was thinking of
something a little faster,” he admitted to the other man before
hitting the suit with a silent Reparo. The older man
watched in amazement as pieces of his fractured battle armor flew to
him and reattached themselves. As each new piece jumped back
into place, the mecha pilot could observe his status displays
progressively clear the warnings. In a few moments, his
operating system informed him that the suit was in optimal condition.
“I… think that did it,” Dugan finally
responded. “How did you do that?”
Harry just shrugged. “It was just a simple little
trick – hardly awe inspiring.”
As the robotic suit regained its footing, Pat Dugan could not help
but disagree with the wizard’s assessment.
Harry began walking and beckoned the other man to follow him.
“Shall we meet up with the others, then?” The pair
walked back over to the League’s congregation. “Alright,”
Harry started once everyone had gathered around, “now that
everyone’s present and accounted for… what exactly
happened here?”
“Well, that guy,” Oliver pointed over at the
thrashing gray giant with the scorched hole in his chest, “used
to be a General Wade Eiling from Cadmus.”
“Funny,” Harry said idly while watching as the person
in question flailed his limbs helplessly, “I always pictured
him as being more… human.”
“Yeah… we’re not sure what’s up with
that,” the archer agreed. “Anyway, he comes barging
in here, throws stuff around, and keeps yelling for Superman to come
face him.”
“Didn’t you tell him that Big Blue is out of the solar
system at the moment?” the wizard inquired.
“Indeed,” Sir Justin confirmed, “however, the
knave’s strategy seems to be putting the innocent in harm’s
way until Superman reveals himself.”
“Really…?” Harry drew out menacingly.
“And why does he want to see Superman so badly?”
“Apparently, to save all these people from the nasty
metahumans,” Courtney muttered sarcastically.
Harry looked confused. “I didn’t think any of
you were a metahuman,” he finally offered.
“That doesn’t seem to make much of a difference where
he’s concerned,” Green Arrow noted while jerking a
thumb in Eiling’s direction.
“I see…,” the wizard acknowledged before
summoning his newest sword from its wrist-mounted housing. Once
the blade was in his hand, however, it began to glow again.
“That’s quite enough of that, thank you very
much!” Harry chastised the weapon before forcing it to stop
illuminating.
“Sorry about that,” he told the others while they were
rubbing their eyes, “I think the crazy thing wants to be a
torch when it grows up or something. Anyway,” the wizard
continued, “do any of you mind if I cut in?” he asked
suggestively.
“Please… be our guest,” Oliver Queen offered
with a grandiose bow.
Harry bowed his head in reply. “Thank you,” he
verbalized before instructing the patiently waiting Pooka to search
the wreckage for trapped survivors. With that chore delegated,
the wizard spun on his heels and strode towards the suspended gray
menace.
“That was my Lord King Arthur’s sword, I am sure of
it!” the Shining Knight exclaimed as the other man passed out
of hearing range.
“That was Excalibur?” Speedy questioned
eagerly, simultaneously showing his fascination of the medieval
legend.
“Nay, my young friend,” Sir Justin disagreed, “though
some folk have called it such. The true Excalibur was broken by
my Lord in battle, whereupon Merlin the Enchanter took Arthur to the
Lady of the Lake. At Merlin’s behest, she bestowed upon
him a new weapon for a time. Upon being mortally wounded,
Arthur ordered the blade returned to the Lady until one worthy of its
power came to claim it. Apparently, Sir Black is such a man.”
“But if this Mr. Black has it… does that mean that
he’s the new Arthur or something?” the youthful
bowman pressed.
“I am… unsure as to his true identity,” the
knight admitted. “I will admit a passing resemblance
between our new comrade and my Lord, however. It is most
intriguing that he greeted me in the manner of old friends as well.”
“I suspect that both his and that sword’s origin goes
much further than that,” Pat Dugan commented as he kept watch
on their ‘backup’.
The others seemed unable to follow his train of thought.
“What do you mean, my friend?” Sir Justin inquired.
“Do you remember the accounts of the Garden of Eden?”
the mecha inquired. “Specifically, the events following
the Fall of Man?”
“Verily,” the knight replied, “why do you…”
The armored man blinked repeatedly before continuing, “Surely
you jest…”
“What?” Courtney demanded.
“The Bible details what happened after Adam and Eve were
exiled from Eden,” Pat answered his stepdaughter’s
inquiry. “After their banishment was executed, God placed
a cherub with a flaming sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life to
prevent any human from returning.”
“Umm…” the young girl hesitated, “in that
case, wouldn’t it – and he – still be there?”
“Good point,” Green Arrow noted.
“Not necessarily,” the robotic suit disagreed.
“According to the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the flaming sword
was removed from the Garden of Eden after the birth of Christ to make
it possible for humanity to re-enter Paradise.”
“What are you saying?” the archer demanded.
“That this immortal guardian got laid off from his security
job, then decided to loan his sword to King Arthur and take up soul
reaping for a hobby? Be serious!” he chastised. “I
mean, that’s pushing it even by our standards!”
“Well, the people of my time did consider the Lady’s
sword a gift from Heaven,” Shining Knight admitted.
“Truly, it was a weapon of unmatched power.”
“Well, whoever he is, he’s fixin’ to get into it
with that coyote,” Vigilante interrupted while pointing.
“Shouldn’t we be rustlin’ up a plan?”
“Truthfully, my friend, be he the Black Knight or someone
even more distinguished, that rogue poses no threat to a warrior of
his caliber,” Shining Knight declared.
“All the same,” Green Arrow decided, “we should
probably stay on hand.” He jogged off to join the wizard,
inviting the others to do likewise.
Harry casually walked up to the invisibly suspended Eiling and
said, “So, you’d be the hypocritical git Wade Eiling,
then?”
“Let me down from here and I’ll shake your hand,”
the gray figure growled.
“In a minute,” Harry promised. “Now, first
things first. I hear that you’ve been looking for
Superman. Why?”
“Superman and your Justice League are a threat to a safe and
stable world,” Eiling stated as he renewed his attempts to
escape his intangible prison. “Now let me go.”
“So,” Harry mused humorously, “you think that
killing Superman will keep the world safe?” He made a
show of looking around at the wary crowd and large-scale property
damage. “I’m curious… how does harming these
innocent people fit in with your plan for global security?”
“They’re just collateral damage,” Eiling
replied. “I’m not the menace – the metahumans
are! Super-powered beings.”
Harry nodded indulgently. “I see. Well, this
section of town seems to be pretty well trashed, and the only
‘super-powered beings’ around here are the two of us –
and I just got here.”
“He has a point,” Oliver Queen quipped as the others
approached.
“In this world, power is the only thing that matters,”
Eiling directed towards the blonde archer. “You and these
other no-named heroes… you’re just people. In the
great scheme of things, nothing you do has the least bit of
significance.”
“I’ve heard this spiel before, and it’s just as
invalid now as it was then,” Harry said darkly
while memories of Voldemort’s taunts on the pursuit of power
filled his mind. “Power is merely a means to an end, not
an end itself.”
The wizard paused for a second before speaking again, his voice
even more intense than before. “And you’re wrong,
you know,” Harry informed the man seriously. “These
seven may have been born without superhuman abilities… but
they possess a strength you sorely lack. Despite the
overwhelming odds and the very real likelihood of their own demise,
they chose to do what was right instead of what was easy. And
that kind of power, Wade Eiling, can change the world.”
“I’ll waste you and a billion like you,” Eiling
bellowed, “before I let any power rival America’s!”
Harry sighed at the evident lost cause. “No, you
won’t,” he answered quietly and released Eiling’s
bonds. “Since you refuse to listen to reason, we’ll
do this the old-fashioned way. You wanted a fight to the finish
against a freakishly strong opponent; you shall have one.”
The wizard gave the drawn sword a little wave. “Shall
we?”
As the behemoth charged forward, Harry whipped his sword in an
upward arc before sheathing it in his gauntlet. Eiling stopped
short of ramming the group and stared at the wizard in confusion for
a moment before his eyes lost focus. A thin line of crimson
blossomed on the creature’s countenance, spanning from its left
ear, across the cheek, and finally ending near the neck on the other
side. Fully half of the monster’s skull slid off an
instant later, creating a morbid thud as it contacted the ground.
The rest of Eiling’s body remained erect for a moment more,
then toppled backward to land with a crash amid the blood and debris.
“I think President Abraham Lincoln said it best,” Pat
Dugan said through his robotic faceplate. “’Nearly
all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s
character, give him power.’”
“Well,” Harry finally offered, “I guess he
failed, then.”
A sudden arrival of three large transport helicopters in the
distance preempted any reply to Harry’s painfully obvious
observation.
“Great!” Oliver complained. “What now?”
The three aircraft flew over the group before two of their number
circled back. Throwing open their doors, the vessels began
disgorging armed troops. These soldiers rapidly secured the
area, both by keeping the crowd back and keeping a close eye on the
Leaguers and their recently deceased adversary. After a few
moments, one of the more decorated troopers reported into a
communications unit and, after a short exchange, the third helicopter
landed. One of the closest troopers rolled back the door to
reveal a short, dark-skinned woman disembarking from the transport.
“Waller, too?” the blonde archer rhetorically
demanded. “Oh, this just keeps gettin’ better and
better!”
“I think, my friend, that you spoke too soon,” Shining
Knight counseled. Following the armored hand to the source of
his comment, the gathered heroes watched as an older version of Kara
In-Ze followed the much shorter woman out of the helicopter.
“This is just peachy!” Courtney complained.
“Another round with Miss ‘I’m gonna trash your
space station’ is just what we need!”
“Look on the bright side,” Vigilante commented, “at
least their critters ain’t shootin’ us.”
The two women approached the other group with their ‘guard’
in tow. Amanda Waller shot a seemingly disappointed look at
Eiling’s remains before turning her attention to the Leaguers
closely eyeing her escort.
Before any of the new arrivals could speak, however, Courtney
decided to start venting. “So, I guess that Cadmus is
still playing with genetic engineering, huh, Waller? Is the
fact that your latest plaything went berserk why you brought this
failed science project back to life?” she demanded insultingly
with a sharp nod in the taller blonde-haired woman’s direction.
“Stargirl, enough!” Harry barked. Once the other
teenager seemed to have regained control of her tongue, the wizard
turned his attention to the insulted duo. “First things
first,” he instructed while holding out his hand to the short
woman. “My name is-”
“Mr. Black,” Waller interrupted confidently.
“D.C.’s been hearing a lot of… interesting things
about the League’s newest addition. I am-”
This time Harry interrupted. “Amanda Waller, former
head of Project Cadmus and current Director of the Department for
Metahuman Affairs. I’ve received a lot of…
disconcerting information about you as well.”
Leaving the politician to ponder for a moment, Harry turned his
attention to the other woman. “And you must be Gallatea,”
the wizard continued, “Kara’s… sister.”
“You mean ‘clone’?” the woman asked
irritably.
Harry shrugged. “Just because your existence began in
an unusual manner doesn’t mean that the two of you aren’t
sisters. And, just between us,” he added, “my
upbringing wasn’t exactly traditional either.”
“Shall we get to the matter at hand, then?” Waller
prompted none-too-subtlety. “What happened here?”
“Eiling showed up looking like this approximately ten
minutes ago,” S.T.R.I.P.E. replied. “He immediately
engaged us and, as a result, endangered the lives of the gathered
civilians. His stated goal was the elimination of all
metahumans; I believe that he intended this ordeal to lure Superman
to his demise.”
“I see,” she offered a few minutes later.
Turning to one of the attending soldiers, Waller briefly ordered,
“Get him out of here.” Returning her attention to
the group, the squat director demanded, “So… who gave
him the haircut?”
“That would be me,” Harry admitted. “He
was completely out of control, totally irrational, and posed a
significant threat to numerous innocent lives – so I stopped
him.”
“I was under the impression that the serum he illegally
obtained would have made him invulnerable to most physical attacks,”
she noted idly.
Harry just shrugged, unconcerned. “I have a lot of
experience with stopping overpowered psychopaths. Besides, my
associates here wore him down beforehand, so I was able to take him
down without much fuss.”
A loud whinny drew the wizard’s attention towards the
wreckage. Mortis was standing in front of ruined van and
stamping his front hoof at a large piece of debris lying atop the
vehicle.
Realizing what the Pooka was indicating, Harry stretched out one
hand and Vanished the rubble. Now that the trapped occupants
were revealed, the wizard hit the side of the automobile with another
Vanishing charm to create an egress for the entrapped family.
The Pooka gave a reassuring snicker before continuing his
reconnaissance duty.
Chore finished, Harry turned back to the others and cleared his
throat to gain their attention.
“So,” Green Arrow continued a few moments later, “what
exactly brings the former Director of Cadmus way out here? I
didn’t take you for a field general, too.”
“Besides ensuring that General Eiling’s actions did
not lead to a major catastrophe?” the dark-skinned woman
responded. “I have a… request of the League to
make.”
“And that would be…?” the archer prompted.
“We have finished removing the… conditioning that
once plagued Gallatea, and both her physical and psychological
rehabilitation is complete,” she answered. “I
wanted to present my request – in person – for the League
to consider inducting her. Think of it as a chance to redeem
her self.”
“Right…” Oliver drawled sarcastically, “and
if her mind job is as bad the number you did on Doomsday and she
decides to blow us to bits again?”
Shining Knight looked contemplative. “If the maiden
was truly ensorcelled,” he finally decided, “then it
would be unjust to hold her accountable for the actions of another.”
“Darn tootin’!” Vigilante seconded. “It
twernt exactly a hog-killin’ time for me either, but it ain’t
right ta leave her in the calaboose for a wrong she ain’t
done.”
“For goodness sake!” Courtney nearly screamed.
“She almost killed Kara and Steel, and nearly blew up the
Watchtower and the majority of the League! I mean, c’mon!”
“I think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves,”
Pat commented. Addressing his next statement to the two women,
he added, “We’ll pass your request on to the senior
members; they have the final call on stuff like this.”
“Oh, this is gonna end well,” Oliver groaned as he
keyed his communicator. “T, you better call in the
brass. There’s been a… complication.”
‘Why do all our meetings go off on tangents like this?’
Clark silently demanded to whatever entity wished to listen.
The six available senior League members had received an emergency
summons from the Watchtower a mere few hours ago with instructions to
return to base with all possible haste. The Kryptonian complied
and, a record-breaking intersystem trip later, found himself swept up
in a whirlwind of activity.
On the surface, the issue seemed so simple. In fact, it
closely mirrored his earlier interactions with Darkseid. Like
himself, Gallatea’s mind had been superseded and subsequently
used to commit heinous acts. Once she had been properly
deprogrammed, however, the cloned woman expressed an interest in
assisting the organization that she had been forced to assault –
just as he did.
Unfortunately, most of the inner council did not view the issue in
those terms, which inexorably led to the current ruckus monopolizing
the emergency meeting. Finally growing tired of the
racket, the Man of Steel gave a shrill whistle to gain the others’
attention.
“Listen, I know that several of you have valid reasons to be
cautious – I’m not disagreeing with you,” the last
Son of Krypton announced into the newfound silence. “I’m
just saying that I know where she is right now emotionally, and she
deserves a chance to redeem herself – for her own sake, if
nothing else.”
“How do we know that she’s completely re-conditioned?”
John demanded. “The same techniques that Cadmus used on
her were used with Doomsday, and I’m sure you remember how well
that debacle turned out for us.”
“Like I said, that’s a good reason for showing
caution,” Clark admitted. “However, we should keep
in mind that the fault for her actions does not lie with her.
She was a victim in that situation even more than we were.”
“I’m not sure that Kara and Steel would agree with
you,” Batman pointed out gruffly.
“You’d be surprised,” Clark disagreed. “After
everyone learned just what Cadmus had done to her, Kara felt terrible
for hurting Gallatea as she did. I think she still has
an occasional nightmare about the battle.”
“Steel feels much the same way,” Diana supplied.
“His armor prevented him from taking too much damage,
and he did not take the assault personally.”
“Hey, not that I’m against us getting another super
babe – sorry about that, Supes -,” Wally spoke up when he
realized the relation between Metropolis’ son and the potential
new recruit, “but don’t you think a lot of folks are
gonna be a little upset about the whole ‘blow up the
Watchtower’ bit?”
Shayera looked thoughtful for a moment before she added her
opinion to the meeting. “We can tell those who are really
worried about her being here that we just want to keep an eye on
her. If she’s on the level, then she’ll prove
herself trustworthy eventually. Remember, this is the voice of
experience speaking, after all.”
“We still need to have some sort of countermeasure in place
in the event she goes rogue,” Batman insisted, “and be
prepared to use them if necessary.”
“What more can we do?” Superman replied. “We’ve
already installed automatically-triggered red sun lamps throughout
the corridors, you still carry around that Kryptonite ring, and we
have several A-level metahumans that can contain her if necessary.
Even if I’m off-station, we still have Diana, Kara, or Mr.
Black.”
Taking Batman’s continued silence to mean tacit agreement,
Clark looked to the others and asked, “So, are we agreed to
give Gallatea a chance to prove herself trustworthy, with the proviso
that she will be under supervision until her trustworthiness can be
verified?”
“I’m in favor,” Diana seconded.
“Sure. I’m in,” Shayera added.
“John?” Clark asked after a few seconds’ worth
of silence.
“Fine. I agree,” the Green Lantern finally
admitted.
“Bruce?” the Kryptonian prompted the only member
present that hadn’t yet voted.
“I’ll allow that it will be easier to monitor her
conduct if she is kept close at hand,” Batman finally
submitted. “Even if she doesn’t present an
immediate physical threat, she may still be intended as a security
leak for Waller.”
“Okay, the motion passes,” Superman announced, “and
we’ll be sure to monitor her behavior. Now, the next item
on the agenda is the confrontation with Eiling in downtown
Metropolis. The late general seems to have stolen an
experimental chemical cocktail from the old Cadmus headquarters.
Apparently, this drug was created during World War II when the Nazis
were attempting to create super soldiers. Eiling tore up a good
section of town and endangered countless lives before he was finally
stopped.”
The others flipped through their copies of the summary as they
scanned the highlights of the confrontation. Diana was the
first to voice the question they all had on their minds.
“Why were only seven non-powered Leaguers dispatched to
cover a threat of this magnitude?” the Amazon demanded.
“Mr. Terrific informs me that everyone was already in play
elsewhere,” Clark responded. “It is fortunate that
Mr. Black happened upon them. The alternative could have been
very messy.”
“I somehow doubt that it was entirely chance,” John
announced. “I’d imagine that the potential carnage
for such an altercation would be fairly noticeable to the Grim
Reaper.”
“If that’s really who he is,” Flash announced as
he quickly read the rest of the report at an accelerated pace.
“Pat’s thinking that his neato glowing sword thing means
that Mr. Black’s really the guardian angel from the Garden of
Eden. The guy’s got a point; you gotta admit that B’s
a lot nicer than what you’d think Death would be like.”
“Of course, this theory of Sir Justin’s bears thought
as well,” Diana admitted. “Even my people heard
murmurings of the supposedly invincible Black Knight. Perhaps
there is more to the story than just idle gossip and good fortune…”
“Not to mention the possibility of a reincarnated King
Arthur,” Shayera piped. “Sir Justin still cannot
ascertain if that’s the case, but it would explain his frequent
British references.”
“I’ll check on getting Jason Blood to discretely
observe him,” Batman announced. “He should be able
to discern the truth, give his history and… unique abilities.”
Clark brought the meeting back in line. “Aside from
all of this, Bruce, Diana, and I received firsthand information that
all-but-confirms that Mr. Black is really a Hindu god named Krishna,”
Superman added. “From what Bruce told me, he’s been
around since before the world was inhabited by humans.
Apparently, he comes to Earth whenever demoniac activity increases to
threatening levels.”
“Whoa!” Flash shook his head. “How can one
guy wear that many hats? I mean, he can’t be all of this
stuff… can he?”
“Well, he can travel through time at will,”
Shayera noted.
“Okay, I’ll buy that,” the Fastest Man Alive
admitted, “but why would he want to do it, even if he
could?”
Diana managed an elegant shrug. “He’s a very old
immortal with an overabundance of power,” she pointed out the
obvious. “Maybe he just went around putting out fires and
different people caught him in the act and wrote about it. It’s
possible that the different legends started that way and just got
blended together over the years. Or maybe,” she added a
moment later, “he was just bored and decided to play several
different parts throughout history for the entertainment value.”
Wally just began beating his head against the table while
demanding, “Make it stop!”
A/N: Thus concludes Chapter Seven of Terminal Justice. The delay wasn’t nearly as long as the wait for the previous chapter, so hopefully the volume of death threats from hanging readers will lessen. In any event, I do hope that you found this latest entry entertaining.
For those of you who were wondering: Yes, the end to the fight between Harry and Eiling was inspired by Underworld. What can I say? I’m a Kate Beckinsale fan.
I would also like to express my gratitude for Chris’s continued amusing anecdotes for the TJ mini-verse, namely the Universal Remote drabble at the beginning of the chapter.
Also, kudos to Tony and Chris for catching/correcting the ‘Elusian’ reference. FYI, the Elusian Islands are off the coast of Russia.
Additionally, I salute James for his assistance with proofreading this chapter.
Finally, thanks go out to all of you who contributed the inspiring suggestions that I incorporated into this chapter.
Next on the writing docket is the aftereffects of Gallatea’s introduction, a voyage to the Isle of Avalon, and a mental swap a la “The Great Brain Robbery”.
I hope you found this latest submission to be worth the wait, and I await your reviews/suggestions/etc. Bonus points if you spotted the historical reference at the beginning of the chapter.