Ultimate Heroes (IC)

[AmenRa]

I am Thor.

Son of Odin.

God of Thunder.

And the Lord of Asgard.

I have known fear, I have known love, I have known darkness. I have had friends once who have now passed into Valhalla. I have known sorrow, and I have known despair.

This night I stand as one against a coming battle of such evil and tyranny like Midgard has never known. For this reason, I have called for the aid of others, others who possess powers needed. The world I call my own must be saved, and all of humanity must be protected. It has always been thus, and yet I know in my heart this will be the truest test of a hero's mettle.

Already, dark forces have nearly claimed the life of Kal-El. He lies sleeping in the Fortress of Solitude, unable to speak to me the tale of his battle. I have attended him, and with the help of his Fortress' powers, I have seen his recovery set in motion.

This night a meeting will take place with the others. My hope is that, together, we will form an alliance to stop this invasion of evil.

We must.

Not just for my personal wishes, for the love of my home, Asgard, but for all of humanity.

The Mighty Thor stood high atop a building in downtown Metropolis. It was night, and the full moon shone through broken clouds. The wind whipped his crimson cape around. The hammer Mjolnir was tucked in its carrier on his back. His silvery helm reflected moonlight, and his face was solemn.

He waited.

Krypton's Last Son had battled Darkseid. But, the Tyrant of Apokolyps was not alone. He had allied himself with Dr. Doom, and during the fight that raged between the Man of Steel and these agents of evil, Superman learned that others had been invited into the nest of evil. Superman had not learned who, exactly, for he had not had a chance. Dr. Doom's access to Kryptonite, combined with Darkseid's command of the Apokolyptic slaves had nearly destroyed Kal-El. Beaten, broken, and near his end, the Son of Jor-El managed to find himself wandering in the wastes of Oklahoma, where he found Asgard floating above the prairie. Superman's last word before he fell to his knees and passed into unconsciousness was a barely audible "Thor...".

Heimdall, the Asgardian who can hear the flutter of a butterfly's wings a thousand worlds away, heard the Kryptonian's call for help. He immediately summoned the Lord of Asgard, who knew Superman, and took him to the Fortress of Solitude for recovery. Thor was able to uncover some of Superman's battle, but only learned enough to know that the forces that had beaten the Man of Steel would eventually threaten all the thunder god knew.

And so....he waits.....

 

[ChasNicollette]

The physics of the superhuman continue to intrigue me.

Mid-range scans indicate a source of great power ahead, there in the moonlight.

Six feet six inches tall. 291 kilograms.

Class 100 Strength capable of benching way way in excess of 100 tons in Earth's average gravity compacted into a frame barely larger than Earth's average biped.

And that's not even counting the hammer.

Don't get me started on the hammer.

A good quantity of the energy I'm reading out ahead falls into a decidedly unquantified category. I hate unquantified.

Magic bugs the shit out of me.

Not that we ever let that stop us from being friends.

...funnily enough, it was politics that came between us. It wasn't religion, nor his capacity for drink, nor my futurist tendency to cling to science in the face of his empirically mystical origins.

Politics.

So we're not friends right now. Barely even allies.

But we need each other now. Even I can admit that, stubborn stubborn shell-headed me.

Will he accept my help?

For all our sakes, I hope so. (Anything that can beat Superman to within an inch of his life...)

Just in case, I brought a Hell of a diplomat.

The skyline of Metropolis blurred past beneath him, his jetboots cutting a golden contrail across the night. He resisted the urge to flip a middle finger to the Lexcorp tower as it whicked by.

But then repulsor-based autodecel systems kicked in, and Metropolis slowed to a halt around him, and he touched down on the rooftop in front of Thor as gently as stepping down from a front porch.

"Thor," Iron Man greeted The God of Thunder, his speech synthesized through the finest digital filters.

And behind him, just behind him, Iron Man had been tracking another biological source of raw unquantifiable power. And this power source touched down behind him even more gently than had Tony Stark.

Her hair was as dark as the night sky above them and her name was that of The Moon. Her uniform was red and white and blue and gold. And from her hip, not unlike that damnable hammer, was hung a golden cord just as primal and indestructible.

Iron Man gestured to her. "I believe you've met Ambassador Diana of Themyscira?"

She inclined her head in the manner of royalty and deity addressing someone she considered an equal in every sense of the term.

"M'Lord," smiled softly, elegantly, The Wonder Woman.

 

[camerindrake]

A privately owned jet lands at the Metropolis International Airport. The W logo on its tail says it all. Wayne Industries One the private jet of one Mr. Bruce Wayne.

Alfred walks out and says, "Well Masta' Wayne lovely day out isn't it."

Bruce then walks out of the aircraft rubbing the bridge of his nose, "In case you forget, Alfred, bats are nocturnal."

Alfred looks over to Bruce responding, "And as I have said many times Masta' Wayne that three pm is pushing it. Also Masta' Wayne the plane had landed."

Bruce looks up to the sky and squints rubbing his temple and as he is about to speak Alfred says, "Right breast pocket." To which the dark knight grunts and goes into his coat pulling out a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses and puts them on.

"Very stylish, sa'." Alfred smiled to his young master.

Bruce nods, "Like any billionaire playboy should be."

Alfred smirks, "Very good, sa'." He then says as they are walking the tarmac to the waiting limo, "Today's agenda is to officially open the Wayne Industries Metropolis branch and the grand opening of the Metropolis Tower."

The Caped Crusader looks over to his trusted butler asking, "And the requirements I asked for?"

"Lucius was kind enough to add the sub-basement and of course for appearances the 2 story penthouse on top." Alfred answered before stating, "I sure hope we don't have another home invasion like the one in Gotham."

Bruce responds as he ducks down to enter the limo, "Not unless Arkham gives day-passes to raving psychotic clowns." He then gets the rest of the way into the limo.

The trusted butler closes the door saying, "Very true, sa', very true."

 

[AmenRa]

The soft whine of repulsors announced the arrival of Iron Man.

Thor had seen him coming. With eyes and ears as sharp as Asgard's Gatekeeper, the Mighty Thor knew Iron Man's approach to the roof top. And Thor swallowed hard and turned to face the man in the crimson and gold armor.

"Thor," Iron Man greeted The God of Thunder, his speech synthesized through the finest digital filters.

Thor stepped up to him, his face inches away, seeing into the suit's eyeslit filters. Thor's brow furrowed, his upper lip twitched, and his grip upon Mjolnir tightened ever-so-slightly. Tony Stark had once been a close friend of the Asgardian's, almost as close as Steven. Until.....

By Odin's beard, I should rain upon you all the fury within the storm!

Thor reached up with a fist and pounded Iron Man lightly on the chest piece of the armored suit. The Thunder God did not smile or give a hint of welcome in his face. He simply left his hand upon the armor for a lingering instant. And then he turned to the Amazon who had arrived just after Stark.

That was all the greeting Tony Stark was going to get this day. And it would be enough for a time.

"M'Lord," smiled softly, elegantly, The Wonder Woman.

Thor removed his winged helm and bowed to her in greeting. "Hail Diana, daughter of Hippolyta, Princess of Themyscira!"

He found it fitting that he should be joined by a goddess of such beauty and strength. He knew that, beneath her seemingly endless blue eyes and equally endless legs lay a core of unequalled power. For a moment, for almost an instant even, Thor nearly lost himself in her eyes. Such were the trappings of beauty. The Asgardian noted her coiled lasso, the Lasso of Truth it was called, and he knew it was strong enough to bind even a thunder god in it's snare.

Thor returned his helm to his head, and then he stepped away from them. He raised Mjolnir, holding it in front of him, using it as a pointer as he swept it across the Metropolis skyline. "Evil gathers against us," he told them both, "and we stand at the forefront of a battle unlike Midgard has ever seen. We shall be tested."

He returned Mjolnir to its strap under his cape. "And yet, we must wait until our forces are massed. I am pleased you both have answered my call. Others are yet coming."

"So, we wait. But not without planning and preparation. I can tell you this, as I know you heard in the message I sent using the equipment stored within Kal-El's Fortress: Doom and Darkseid are allied. There are others, this I know, but I do not know who. One can only surmise this attack against the Kryptonian was the beginning of an assault against Midgard itself; destroy Earth's protector, and Earth herself shall fall. I tell you this: I say thee nay! For not only am I a son of Odin, but also am I a child of Gaeia, and of Earth, a power which, until now I have not called upon. But woe unto them that would seek to harm her! I do not know the circumstances which Kal-El battled Doom and the bastard of Apokolips, but I tell you they used remnants of the Kryptonian's homeworld to render him weak and without his countenance. He lies now sleeping within the Fortress, guarded by my sisters, the Valkyrie along with the Fortress's own defenses. ."

Thor crossed his arms.

 

[AmenRa]

Not far from the rooftop another meeting was taking place.

Within the executive conference room on the highest level of the LexCorp tower there sat another group of unlikely allies.

"I told you to keep him out of sunlight," Luthor said.

"I can not control the weather," Doctor Doom stated, "no more than you."

"It is irrelevant," Darkseid boomed, "for I have a true army of genetically altered soldiers standing by at the conduit. They await my orders."

Genetically altered? Clones? Probably. Lex thought to himself. Interesting...

"Now he will be stronger when he returns," Lex suggested. "My sources tell me he was rescued by Thor. That doesn't bode well for us."

There was a giggle from a rather curious looking, thin man who entered the room. A giggle? Lex noted. Seriously? "All according to plan!" he exclaimed as he sat down on top of the table. "Everything is perfect!"

"Perfect for you?" Doom questioned. "How so? We each accept in our role in this. Darkseid lays waste to most of the world, enabling it to be stripped and vacuumed for resources which I, as leader of my new kingdom, and Luthor, as ruler of Australia, will exploit. But what do you get out of this?"

The man didn't answer immediately. His eyes sparkled, though, and a curious expression formed on his face. It was a smile, but a sinister smile, a gruesome grotesque smile. "I get the best part of it all!" he told them.

"Which is what?" asked Darkseid.

"A dead brother!" Loki answered. And then he giggled again.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Iron Man and Wonder Woman.

Thor stepped up to him, his face inches away, seeing into the suit's eyeslit filters. Thor's brow furrowed, his upper lip twitched, and his grip upon Mjolnir tightened ever-so-slightly.

Tony managed not to flinch.

He had Stark ingenuity on his side, a kind of terrestrial genius perhaps on a par in its way with the loftier, celestial intellect of Reed Richards himself. But Thor had the raw power to take apart Tony's most brilliant creations with the might in his pinky finger.

Not to mention Thor's ability to summon lightning. It was only a matter of time before The Thunder God figured out how to generate an EMP with that hammer of his, and then Tony would be up The River Styx without a paddle. (Not to mix mythological metaphors or anything.)

The press called Tony Stark "The Invincible Iron Man." But standing before Thor, Stark couldn't help but feel quite a bit, well, vincible.

Thor reached up with a fist and pounded Iron Man lightly on the chest piece of the armored suit. The Thunder God did not smile or give a hint of welcome in his face. He simply left his hand upon the armor for a lingering instant.

Seismic readouts spiked with the impact. "Lightly" for Thor still meant Iron Man's gyroscopic equilibrium stabilisers had a panic attack keeping him standing. Not to mention, optical ROM got a little apoplectic.

Least he didn't tap me with the hammer this time, like at Anitun's funeral. At least he didn't chip my armour. My multimillion-dollar armour.

Iron Man met Thor's stare without flinching. And neither man nor god said a word further.

And then he turned to the Amazon who had arrived just after Stark.

"M'Lord," smiled softly, elegantly, The Wonder Woman.

Thor removed his winged helm and bowed to her in greeting. "Hail Diana, daughter of Hippolyta, Princess of Themyscira!"

"Odinson," Diana replied, returning the bow in kind, her dark waves swinging free. Had she still worn her tiara, she would have doffed this as had Thor doffed his helmet. Her royal title was an informal affectation, now, little more than an honorary prefix. But spoken with Thor's suitably thund'rous tones, the word "princess" still carried the weight of mountains. "Hail also to thee, True One, Guard of The Shrine, and Champion of Asgard."

Diana knew better than to judge a man by his appearance.

Once upon a time, a fearsomely handsome man had desperately wronged her mother, oppressed all the Amazons of Paradise Island, and only by divine intervention and the edge of the blade had they been freed of him.

(This oppressor had been a Hercules, though this, given the multifaceted nature of Myth, was not precisely the same Hercules who would later become Thor's fellow Avenger. In the same way that the Thor before her was not the same red-bearded Thor alongside whom she and Superman had battled for a thousand years in a pocket subdimension, and yet they were both Thor.)

But as with The Man of Steel, he whom Diana had called "friend" but never yet "lover," Diana knew that the heart of a man lay within, and that the strength of his arm and the beauty of his countenance could flow outward from this. The true strength of man and god alike lay in his character. So it was with The Kryptonian. So it was with Thor.

He was beautiful. He had a gaze like the sky in the eye of the storm. His spun-gold hair fell around his shoulders.

But he was not handsome because of some collection of physical characteristics, he was not mighty because he could exert his muscles and render whole planets concave.

Like Superman, Thor was handsome because he was good. Like Superman, he was mighty because he was good.

He could not wield that hammer if he were not worthy, such were the enchantments of Odin Sky-Father. And a good thing, too. Mjolnir were far too powerful a thing to trust to a lesser hand.

She felt Stark watch them both. How like Bruce he was, surviving by wits and intellect in a contest with the power of deities, rather also like Odysseus. Like a fusion of Odysseus and Daedalus. Stark was so desperately hoping this would go well. But Diana had no wish for this to go badly.

Diana had a measure of sympathy for Thor, in that her own Paradise Island, just off the coast of North Carolina, was as much of a worry to Stark's close compatriots at SHIELD and The DEO as was Thor's Asgard's having taken up residence above the soils of Oklahoma.

But simultaneously did Diana respect Stark's desire to see all warriors of a superhuman nature trained rigorously rather than permitted to be beserkers; she respected Stark's desire to protect the people in a manner dictated by the elected representatives of the people.

And thus she would see to it that both their sides would be seen to. To the best of her ability.

Thor returned his helm to his head, and then he stepped away from them. He raised Mjolnir, holding it in front of him, using it as a pointer as he swept it across the Metropolis skyline. "Evil gathers against us," he told them both, "and we stand at the forefront of a battle unlike Midgard has ever seen. We shall be tested."

Iron Man pondered this. Having served with Thor on The Avengers for what seemed like an epoch, he was well acquainted with The Thunderer's propensity for hyperbole and grandstanding. But at the same time...

...if anything could beat Superman within an inch of his life.

...if anything could spook the Hel (one "L") out of Thor.

...maybe it was as bad as he was saying.

He returned Mjolnir to its strap under his cape. "And yet, we must wait until our forces are massed. I am pleased you both have answered my call. Others are yet coming."

"Before I left the erstwhile Avengers Tower to visit The Themysciran Embassy," Iron Man confirmed, "I requested that Jarvis make certain that anyone still out there with a communicard had heard this call of yours."

Also, I passed it on to SHIELD and SWORD and MI-13, but it probably wouldn't do the tension here any favours to start name-checking like that.

Diana nodded firmly. "And having heard this from Iron Man, I ensured that Oracle had received your transmission and relayed it to both The League and The Society. An associate of mine is spreading the word amongst the circles of New York's, shall we say, 'free-agent' heroes."

"So, we wait. But not without planning and preparation. I can tell you this, as I know you heard in the message I sent using the equipment stored within Kal-El's Fortress: Doom and Darkseid are allied. There are others, this I know, but I do not know who. One can only surmise this attack against the Kryptonian was the beginning of an assault against Midgard itself; destroy Earth's protector, and Earth herself shall fall. I tell you this: I say thee nay! For not only am I a son of Odin, but also am I a child of Gaeia, and of Earth, a power which, until now I have not called upon. But woe unto them that would seek to harm her! I do not know the circumstances which Kal-El battled Doom and the bastard of Apokolips, but I tell you they used remnants of the Kryptonian's homeworld to render him weak and without his countenance. He lies now sleeping within the Fortress, guarded by my sisters, the Valkyrie along with the Fortress's own defenses. ."

Thor crossed his arms.

Diana digested the Truth of this. A weight leaden in her stomach. The darkest of The Old Gods, unfathomably more reprehensible than Ares himself, partnered with the coldest despot on the face of The Earth. Even The Bialyans and The Quraci could take lessons from the tyrant of Latveria.

The strategy Thor proposed for their foes struck her as a valid one. The first step in any long-term invasion would be to undermine the bulwarks of the defending. The Spectre, The Wrath of The Presence, had once been entombed in living rock on the fringes of reality to prevent him from interfering in an invasion by Fifth-Dimensional forces. If one were to discuss equivalent beings in Third-Dimensional terms, Superman would easily be analogous to The Spectre as being on the forefront of Creation's guardians.

Wonder Woman, as she was called, shared kinship with Thor in their connection to Gaea. Not only was she sculpted from clay and given life only by an array of gods and goddesses of her pantheon, but one of those goddesses was Demeter, and through Demeter Wonder Woman possessed the strength of The Earth Herself. And man or woman or beast, god or mortal or spirit, be they deserving, all of that life was under her protection.

Just as it had been under Superman's.

"Thank you," Diana nodded, genuinely grateful, "first and foremost, for taking care of Kal. Your Valkyrie have my undying sisterhood, and that of all The Amazons, for their aid in this. Only slightly less importantly, thank you also for the sitrep. This is dire news indeed. Themyscira's oracle has slept restless of late, her dreams heavy with portent, and it seems these omens are coming to fruition."

"Mm," Iron Man agreed, himself having spent a few moments collating the data which Thor had presented. "As reluctant as I am to accept at face value such... prophecies... Thor has seen with his own eyes the results of this threat. Going by the numbers alone, Doom's skill with armour-based weaponry, tactics, the high-level theory of Mister Fantastic, and even the supernatural, combined with the uncountable resources and physical might of the extraterrestrial Darkseid, even a conventional futurist such as myself can't help but note which way the wind is blowing."

Iron Man shook his head, and glanced out at the skyline, the Extremis interface providing him with innumerable details about the population of Metropolis, satellite photography of Centennial Park, the alert status of Stryker's Island, the curious emissions of S.T.A.R.Labs. "Superman. Of all people. You know I tried to make my armour solar powered because of him? I thought, if he can crack that much amplitude out of a bunch of photons, why not me? Never could pull it off. Not on his level. Remarkable man. Remarkable being."

Contemplatively, Diana ran five elegant fingers across the gleaming surface of one of her two indestructible vambraces. "To say the least. We do this for him, and in so doing, we do this for The World."

 

[AmenRa]

The Fortress of Solitude

At the top of the world, shrouded by an ever-present mist, where iceflow met frigid water, there stood a gleaming palace of crystal spire and brilliant whiteness that seemed to erupt from the very frozen landscape. This construction stood testament to the power of it's owner, and a reminder of a civilization long since vanished from the universe.

This was Superman's home.

This was the Fortress of Solitude.

And a fortress indeed it was. Automated defenses, far withstanding any Earth bound scientific knowledge, gaurded the Fortress from intrusion. Yet, on this night, as the aurora borealis waxed and waned overhead, the formidible defenses were augmented by equally formidible guardians.

They were the Valkyrie, Odin's Swordmaidens, and there were four of them standing outside the Fortress, one each for the four corners of Midgard: North, South, East, and West. They were clothed in gold and silver gleaming armor, with pelts of wolf and frost giant draped across their shoulders. Each held swords in the hands and shields on their arms. Their message was clear:

None shall pass.

He approached the forward entrance of the Fortress directly. He had sensed their presence there, and to attempt to deceive them with a cloaked approach would have been foolish. He landed in front of one of them who stood guarding the Fortress's front entrance. He wondered why they were there? Had they come to take Krypton's Last Son from this world to a place in the Everlasting? Would it have not been fitting for Superman to have been carried away by the Valkyrie to Valhalla, where the brave live forever.

"Hold," the Valkyrie spoke, her voice sensuous, yet powerful, "you shall not pass here." To emphasize her point, she brought her sword to bear at his throat, and the blade erupted into flame.

He fought the urge to move, to shift, to turn away from the firey blade. He willed himself to show no fear, and he resolved to stand still. He nodded to her in greeting and with respect. She stood six feet tall easily, her blonde hair and crystal blue eyes rendering an appearance of sensual, powerful beauty. A warrior woman. He was instantly reminded of one of equal proportions, but this one had hair of nighted silk and carried a golden rope.

"I have come to see Kal-El," he told her, "you must not take him now."

She seemed to consider this for a moment, as if she were looking into him, looking deeper, finding his soul. "We do not take him," was her answer, "but we guard him against further harm. It is known to us that you intend him no harm. We know you. You are a lawgiver. A peacemaker. A Manhunter. You may pass, J'onn J'onzz of Ma'lecan'dra."

And she stepped aside, and Martian Manhunter entered the Fortress.

He found Kal-El in one of the ante-rooms. He was lying on a bed of crystal, clothed only in a draped blue and red fabric across him, and around him was arrayed several crystal columns, both short and tall. J'onn knew these were constructs of the Fortress, medical equipment and diagnostic machinations far beyond any Earth medical knowledge. An IV tube ran into Superman's left arm. There were more Valkyrie there, standing beside his bed, their vigil unbroken by the passing of days. As he entered the room, they regarded him, and moved to the side to allow him to kneel beside his friend.

The number of bruises on the Kryptonian's body was astounding. Dried blood spattered and crusted where it had not fully been cleaned away. Large gashes and cuts across Superman's chest, arms, and legs had been dressed. His eyes were closed.

"Kal-El," J'onn whispered. "I am here, my friend."

There was no response.

"My son sleeps, J'onn J'onzz" came a voice, resonating throughout the chamber. "He heals, and he rests."

"I only just now learned of this," the Martian Manhunter replied. "I travel to meet with the Son of Odin, but I needed to see Kal-El first. I had to know..."

"Of course," Jor-El's consciousness replied, "I anticipated your coming. The friendship you share with Kal-El is unique, and perhaps so because I asked you to watch over him so long ago."

"He has done well, Jor-El, in no small part because of your tutelage and training here in this Fortress of Solitude."

An image of Jor-El appeared at the head of the bed then. The Valkyrie seemed to pay it no heed. They had probably seen it many times already. "You are the Light to the Light, and the most noble and wise individual I have ever known. You honor this place with your presence."

The Valkyrie, in unison, bowed their heads.

"Now I ask another favor from you, my oldest and dearest friend. Continue to serve right and justice, the way you taught my son. Bring those responsible for this into the light. Show them that darkness shall never prevail."

"It will be done," J'onn replied, evenly, solidly. It was a simple reply, but coming from Martian Manhunter, it was as worth it's weight in neutron star matter.

He would not risk a telepathic connection to Superman's mind now. He did not wish to risk an invasion into the healing process that Kal-El was undertaking. He did, however, take Superman's hand in his for just a moment. Then he nodded to Jor-El's image, which raised a ghostly hand in farewell.

The Martian Manhunter left the Fortress of Solitude and flew at a speed only matched by the Man of Steel himself towards Metropolis.

 

[Drakkwall]

Darkness is all the creatures of hell know, it is their sanctum, their punishment, their power, their home. This being of hell is a bit different, his name, Hellspawn, often refereed to as Spawn, he was born a human and acted as an assassin for the government, and fought in several wars in foreign countries, he was betrayed by his own and burned alive, his predecessor, Al Simmons, had freed himself from hell's grip and now he had to free himself. He was a mirror of Al Simmons' life, except for several things, he had no wife, only a sister and mother to hold dear.

He had agreed to become a general of hell, he made a deal for his already damned soul, Malbolgia of the Seventh Circle of Hell had offered him this, and yet the deal had never been made, and yet it had, Malbolgia had not had a chance to invoke the deal, as something from the outside freed him from Hell ,without Malbolgia's power. But he was cursed still, crawling along the darkness, drawn to battles, to blood and death, it was his calling as a hellspawn. His name is forgotten, but the people of the slums, all the slums he visits among the great cities, call him Kraven, as he's always companioned by a flock of black ravens and crows.

Kraven had fought as a hero and anti hero several times, he may have been damned to hell but he still did not sit back while bad things happened, he had fought against different dangers showing themselves against Earth and its people, though he preferred to keep out of sight, nobody but those who had contacts with the divine or the demonic had knowledge of him.

Spawn moved along the black alleys, his cloak moving its living texture as it tasted death approaching, the hell warrior stopped suddenly as a single glowing entity approached him from above, great wings keeping it afloat. "...What do you wish of me... Archangel..."

Spawn had fought many angels during his short time on the mortal realm, and they always ended with him defeating them or drawing it to a tie, but archangels were a different matters, the highest order of divine warriors of Jehovah, he had only managed to defeat two out of the six he had fought, the rest of the times had been ambushes and assassination attempts that nearly killed him.

"I have no wish to fight you today dark creature, I am Azazel, and I bring a message of importance to you hellspawn. A great matter of significant importance is happening as we speak, move to the rooftop of this building and you shall find a part in a great battle to come." The hellspawn stared at the archangel for a while before shaking his head and without a word threw one of his chains up at the edge of the tall building and began to pull himself up.

"Damn angels constantly speaking in riddles, would it hurt to give a fucking straight answer once in a while?" Muttering to himself Spawn climbed up to the roof top and as he reached it his chains began to vibrate, sensing great battles to come, and his cloak bellowed like a mad bat, making his form appear even more menacing. "This better be good or I will be kicking that guy's winged ass in the morning." Looking around the hell warrior tried to see what matter of importance an archangel would bring him of all creatures, er people.

 

[ChasNicollette]

The City That Never Sleeps can be a cold, cold place. Dreams don't last long in a place where you don't dare try to close your eyes.

Hence, people like me trying to hold the line for people like you just trying to hang onto those dreams.

Not that I'm doing so bad, I've got a beautiful wife, nice house out in Queens, might even go for the 2.5 kids one of these days if I relax long enough, put up a white picket fence?

(Who'm I kidding? It'd take more'n a white picket fence to keep Venom out, 'nless there's a ten-thousand-decibel sound system hooked up to that fence.)

Anyway. Where was I? Oh, yeah. New York, New York.

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

But you get cornered by a gangbanger in an alley with a Sig forty, or some beserk sociopath with four indestructible extensible extraneous limbs, I'm your hermano.

I don't get to dream, much. I gave up my shot at stardom years ago. No American Dream for this friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. I'm too busy pulling all-nighters.

Which, hey, you're welcome, Big Apple.

Spider-Man tumbled headfirst from the edge of a building, let gravity reach up and claim him, felt the winds tear around him, a wall of sheer glass flashing by beside him, and he extended one hand, one deceptively strong hand, and pressed the spot on his palm twice in quick succession and out poured thin, mighty, adhesive webbing...

That's right, kids and girls, I've been double-clicking to surf the Web since before The Internet. Eat it, Al Gore.

...the strand speared out, poured out, latched onto the corner of a building nearby and he took hold of it with both hands and swung, up, high in the air, the momentum of his fall carrying him a significant distance, then falling...

...rinse and repeat on and on and up and away and out.

And then, at the apex of one of his swings, he cut loose and dropped and landed in a crouch atop a gargoyle overlooking one of Manhattan's busiest thoroughfares.

Well. Technically it's a grotesque.

Gargoyles are fountains.

Which, hey, if you're keeping score at home, that's right, that show 'Gargoyles?'

The gargoyles from 'Gargoyles' weren't actually gargoyles. Another Hollywood illusion shattered.

(Granted, I can see how they figured a show called 'Grotesques' wouldn't sell too many t-shirts at The Disney Store.)

Crouched, arms draped across his knees, Spider-Man squinted through pale-lensed eyes down at the street below.

Now, then. Speaking of gangbangers--

But then green light flashed, and Spider-Man yelped-- (no spider-sense, no danger, but what?) --and came face-to-face with a dark-haired man in a mask.

A Green Lantern. And behind him, a beautiful woman with golden-red hair.

Both of them levitating.

He was standing atop a pedestal carved out of solidified emerald-green space-plasma, kinda disconcerting, but whatever worked.

Just go with it.

Spider-Man put his hands on his hips. "Kyle. You know, most light-source related superheroes arrange to meet me at The Statue of Liberty when they need to get ahold of me. What, intergalactic space-cops are above local protocol now?"

Kyle Rayner smirked. "Also, I can make U-Turns in those little spots on the highway that say 'authorized vehicles only.'"

Spider-Man blinked. "No way! I've always wanted to use one of those."

GL clapped Spidey on the shoulder with his Ring hand. "Stick with me, Webhead, I'll take you places."

Spidey tilted his head to one side, gazing past Green Lantern at the woman levitating there, looking bemused. "So, uh, who's your friend?"

Kyle glanced over his shoulder at her. She arched her eyebrow at him, mouthing the word, 'friend?' to which Kyle responded with a smirk and a gesture that resembled 'hey, be nice.'

Looking back at Spider-Man, Kyle introduced: "This is Captain Cymru, a member of The Captain Britain Corps from an alternate parallel, it's kind of a training exchange programme? We swapped our Lionheart for her, it's pretty cool, she's been in town working with Wonder Woman at The Themysciran Embassy."

Captain Cymru held out her hand, and Spider-Man shook it firmly. "So we've got a Captain Britain hanging out with a Green Lantern?"

Cymru smiled faintly, her accent thick and Celtic and exotic: "One good Corps deserves another, to coin a phrase."

Spider-Man nodded sagely. "So long as it's a good Corps. 'Coz there was that Thor Corps business? Yikes."

Cymru's lip twitched, her pale ice-blue eyes glinting. "Funny yeh should mention Thor."

Spider-Man hesitated. "Funny 'ha-ha' or funny 'Jersey Shore?'"

Green Lantern winced. "Thor's called an emergency meeting in Metropolis. All available heroes. It's Big Blue, Spidey. A couple of scary-ass heavy-hitters took Big Blue down hard, he's in bad shape."

Spider-Man's jaw dropped inside his mask. "The Big Blue?"

Captain Cymru crossed her arms over her stomach. "The Spider-Man of my world had always been valued for his outsider perspective. Lantern Rayner tells me yeh've served briefly on a number of super-teams, The Avengers, The League, but right now yeh're non-aligned. I'd welcome yehr insight on this, sir."

Spider-Man grunted. "You had me at 'Big Blue,' I'm in. Let's motor."

Kyle's Ring flashed verdant light, and the pedestal on which Spider-Man stood shifted and elongated into an oversized gleaming metallic green surfboard.

Right, right, right, for cosmically-powered space cases, it's the only way to fly. Cowabunga.

Kyle stepped aboard, and beside him stepped Captain Cymru. Kyle's arm slipped protectively around her waist, and Spidey arched an eyebrow at this.

Oh-ho, so that's how it is.

Kyle grinned at him, and held his Ring hand up high. "Hold on tight."

Spidey grunted. "Psh. Please. Remember who you're talking--"

--the world turned to searing jade and Spider-Man felt half his internal organs get left inertially behind.

An instant later, they slowed to a halt above that rooftop in Metropolis.

Spider-Man was clinging on with both hands and both feet and his eyes were almost as wide as the exaggerated lenses in his mask. "--lil' warning next time, there, Lantern Waste?"

Captain Cymru grunted. "He did warn you."

And then she stepped off of the board and dropped neatly to the rooftop below. She nodded to Wonder Woman. "Ma'am," she intoned, though she pronounced this more like 'mum.'

"Rose," Wonder Woman nodded back.

Spider-Man straightened, shook his fingers out, and regarded Green Lantern a bit oddly. "Union Jackie there's kind of a spitfire, huh?"

Kyle grinned again. "Word of advice? Don't ever make fun of steampunk."

And then he, too, dropped from the board, and willed it to disintegrate, and Spider-Man quickly bounded the thirty feet down to the roof below.

He landed in a crouch, and then straightened, and then dusted himself off. "Hello, everyone. Uh. Everyone, hello."

Green Lantern shook Iron Man's hand. "Heya, Shellhead. Like the new suit design."

Stark harrumphed. "They say form should ever follow function. I say: 'Is it too much to ask for both?'"

Rayner nodded. "Science as an art form. I dig."

Frowning beneath his mask, Spider-Man glanced over at the roof-edge. And wondered that he felt ill at ease. So, hay, is that direction making anyone else's spider-sense tingle?

 

[Drakkwall]

Spawn jerked his head upwards as he sensed great powers from above, equal to that of the archangel he had meet jsut a few moments ago, his eyes narrowed and he drew himself into his shroud and shifted into a thick red and black smog, crawling up the edges of the rooftop, intensifying the atmosphere like a suffocating thick cloud of darkness. Black and red tendrils of thick smog drew up fro tmhe edges and pattered themselves into a pentagram star in front of the people o nthe roof top, then without warning the smog imploided into itself and as it was about to meet it shifted apart and the smog turned into a dark red cloak, smelling of death and blood, sharp skull decorated skulls swirling out of the ragged cloak, a body covered by thick black spandex and red leather, spiked grieves, gloves, shoulders, colalr bone, a white M like mark o nits chest and a pair of glowing green eyes staring at the mfrom a pair of covered eyes.

"...Who are you people, why did the archangel deem it so important to have me meet you up here." The glowing eyes of the hellish creature glared at them and began to glow like a dark green fire, simialr green flames starting to warp around the clenched clawed fists of Spawn. his chains rattled in agitation, his cloak moving, twisting and hissing, the very presence of these peopel agitated the shroud like nothign the hellspawn had ever experienced before. Kraven moved to speak up again when suddenly he felt a presence from behind him and raised his fist and caught the blow of what appeared to be a blast of light from the opposite rooftop.

Clenching his fist aroudn the holy magic the hellspawn crushed it liek a bug ,the holy magic crumbling into dust like glittering light, glaring at the shape of Gabriwl giving him a warning look. "keep your magic to yourself Gabriel, you sent me here with another of your damned riddles, so do not think I will follow you around like another of your lap dog hunters, stuff it up your divine ass and let me handle things my way." Flipping the angel the finger Spawn smirked beneath his shroud's mask at the sputtering face the angel made and with a twist of his wrist sent a green fire ball into the angel's gut, sending him flying into the wall on the building behind the one he had been standing on.

"Blasted bird brains cannot even give me a straight answer, keeping to their freaking riddle and twisted directions, they should not wait for me to follow their every whim as if I was their trained dog." Grumbling to himslef the Hellspawn didn't notice the stares of the other peoples on the rooftop until he turned around and glared. "I am in a bad mood already so you better explain why the forces of heaven find the time to not hunt my ass around the country because of you."

 

[ChasNicollette]

That spider-sensey tingle revealed itself in a heartbeat.

Spider-Man jumped back, landing twenty feet from his last position. "Ay, chihuahua! Did Nightwatch have a baby with Zarathos?"

He blinked, and waved his hand in front of his face as if trying to dispel a terrible reek. "Also, he smells Mephisto-y. Does he smell Mephisto-y to anyone else?"

"...Who are you people, why did the archangel deem it so important to have me meet you up here." The glowing eyes of the hellish creature glared at them and began to glow like a dark green fire, simialr green flames starting to warp around the clenched clawed fists of Spawn.

Captain Cymru grunted. Fire crawled up one arm, molten gold, and ice crawled up the other, crackling lightning dripping with icicles. "Maybe he thought yeh needed to get out more?"

Iron Man scowled at the newcomer, though obviously his faceplate did not express this. More unquantifiable energies. Perfect.

The blast speared out from the other rooftop, and Green Lantern swung up his Ring to project a shield at the same instant that Iron Man attempted to use his repulsors to construct a similar defence-- but the devilish newcomer parried and dispersed and returned fire.

The angel, if angel it was, took a hit to the midsection and fell away and Rayner took a step forward, fists ready. "Hey, you son of a--"

He stopped. Wonder Woman's hand on his chest. She smiled faintly. "Gabriel will survive, Lantern. Remember Zauriel? Divine forms slain while wearing mortal flesh will return to Heaven to be reassigned by The Presence. Sometimes with reinforcements. Granted, such treatment is by very nature unkind, its cruelty unwarranted."

"Blasted bird brains cannot even give me a straight answer, keeping to their freaking riddle and twisted directions, they should not wait for me to follow their every whim as if I was their trained dog." Grumbling to himslef the Hellspawn didn't notice the stares of the other peoples on the rooftop until he turned around and glared. "I am in a bad mood already so you better explain why the forces of heaven find the time to not hunt my ass around the country because of you."

Wonder Woman strode closer, hands on her hips. "I find your language lacks subtlety, dark being. But there are demons who have from time to time made themselves useful to the side of the angels: Blue Devil, Etrigan, The Ghost Riders, Darkchilde."

Her blue blue eyes gleamed and she smiled tightly. "You strike me as bloodthirsty, uncouth, and unrepentant. But your bewilderment and your demands have the ring of Truth to them, for which I cannot help but have an ear, having once been The Goddess of Truth. You mislike the creatures that sent you here. That does not mean you cannot make yourself useful."

Tilting her head, examining him, she prompted: "A demon helping to save The World. Wouldn't that just piss Heaven off nicely?"

 

[Drakkwall]

"Bah those turkeys would just get smug and speak of how they used a demon to do heaven's work, I am not sure which angels you have meet lady, but these angels I am regular to see are either stuck up assholes or bloodthirsty bitches looking to cut off my head and mount it like some kind of decoration in their hallways. I know this, I have been there when I was once captured by them, they have one long hallway of hellspawn skulls as if taking pride in killing us. They might appear high and glorious but they will not mind using every dirty trick to kill me, thus I generally keep away from hell and heaven's works, I have no wish to work for either." Snorting the hellspawn crossed his arms and looked at the different beings, his eyes tracing over what appeared to be a walking tincan.

Jerking a clawed thumb at the armored man spawn asked in a curious voice, wondering just what the heck that man was, as he couldn't sense it being a cyborg or robot, more like a being wearing a suit, but it looked way too much like a robot to him to think of it like that. "What's he supposed to be? Some new brand of canned tomatoes?" Ignoring the sputtering of the crimson robot man or whatever he was the hellspawn continued. "No never mind, there's probably for a reason he's buckled up in that get up, besides, I am not one to talk, being dressed in hell forged armor that's more like spandex."

Looking at the woman he had to admit she was a looker, though he doubted it would be possible for him to have a chance, with a walking corpse, though his pelvis and right upper thigh was not too badly burned, well more liked permanently turned black, was the rest of his body not a pretty sight being a badly burned carcass filled with maggots and necroplasma. "So why are you people here?"

 

[AmenRa]

The Mighty Thor

When the Princess of Themyscira had finished speaking, others joined the group on the rooftop.

There were three newcomers the Lord of Asgard saw. Kyle Rayner, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, the Amazing Spider-Man, and a female whom Thor seemed to recognize.

Only...she was a bit different. Older, perhaps?

"And along came a spider," Thor said in greeting to Peter Parker. He clasped the young man on the shoulder, and resisted the urge to pull Spider-Man into the air, only to watch him land lightly on his feet. Here was a young man whom fate had dealt a curious hand: would an ordinary man have been able to cope with the great power imparted Parker by the altered arachnid? With great power comes great responsibility, and this one had a definite grasp of the understanding of that statement.

"It was my hope the Guardians had heard the call," Thor said to Kyle. "We are well met, Green Lantern."

And then the Thunder God turned to Rose. He looked at her for a moment. "I know you," he said softly. "A face familiar to me....from long ago...before Ragnarok took me away from this place before...."

And, as he was about to delve further into this great mystery, Thor sensed a thickening in the aura of Midgard, as if some demon had arrived from Hel.

It was Spawn.

And it appeared the hellish creature had brought a fight with him.

Thor glanced at Tony Stark, giving him a definitive "wtf?" look, and then turned back to the dark thing that had arrived.

As Spawn's battle with the Celestial gripped the air, Thor found Mjolnir in his hand, his arm back, ready to release the mighty war hammer to cleave the creature into. Lightning crackled high above the rooftop, and the sound of a low, rumbling thunder filled the air. The anger of a thunder god was not to be taken lightly.

"Hold, I say!" Thor shouted, his voice carrying above the thunder and sounds of battle. "Or be forthwith banished into the nether-realm that spawned thee!"

Someone probably wondered why Thor seemed to lapse into Oldspeake when his temper flared. Absently, Thor wondered, too.

But it was within his power to banish or impart awakening with a hurl of Mjolnir, or a mere tamping of the magical mallet upon the ground. Or, by whispered word. Or, should present call for it, a simple gesture of his hand, surging forth from within the Odinpower, the power of Asgard, which was his to command at will.

But Diana's voice quelled the fury that had erupted, and Thor replaced his hammer as the others around him themselves stood down.

And this creature was ill-mouthed and insulted those that gathered. Perhaps a cleaving intwain by the mighty Mjolnir was due after all.

Looking at the woman he had to admit she was a looker, though he doubted it would be possible for him to have a chance, with a walking corpse, though his pelvis and right upper thigh was not too badly burned, well more liked permanently turned black, was the rest of his body not a pretty sight being a badly burned carcass filled with maggots and necroplasma. "So why are you people here?"

"I can answer that question," came a voice from outside the group. It was deep and smooth, and carried like sand blown across a dune. Thor turned his head and saw, hovering just beyond the roof's edge, eyes glowing with red fire and fluttering cape, was the Martian Manhunter.

J'onn hovered to the roof where he touched down lightly in the midst of them.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Captain Cymru, The Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Green Lantern 2814.4, and Iron Man.

She stepped off of the board and dropped neatly to the rooftop below. She nodded to Wonder Woman. "Ma'am," she intoned, though she pronounced this more like 'mum.'

"Rose," Wonder Woman nodded back.

Spidey landed in a crouch, and then straightened, and then dusted himself off. "Hello, everyone. Uh. Everyone, hello."

"And along came a spider," Thor said in greeting to Peter Parker. He clasped the young man on the shoulder.

D'oooph, Spider-Man winced inwardly, getting clasped on the shoulder by Thor was not unlike getting "fixed" by Joe Fixit.

But, as subtle testament to Parker's often underestimated strength of character, he clapped Thor right back on Thor's own shoulder, and replied with wit and camaraderie: "...whom the gods would destroy."

Green Lantern shook Iron Man's hand. "Heya, Shellhead. Like the new suit design."

Stark harrumphed. "They say form should ever follow function. I say: 'Is it too much to ask for both?'"

Rayner nodded. "Science as an art form. I dig."

"It was my hope the Guardians had heard the call," Thor said to Kyle. "We are well met, Green Lantern."

Kyle Rayner nodded to Thor. "Backatcha, dude. I'm here more as a Justice Leaguer than a Corpsman right now, but with 'Seid taking sides, you can bet my bosses at The Centre of The Universe are taking notice."

And then the Thunder God turned to Rose. He looked at her for a moment. "I know you," he said softly. "A face familiar to me....from long ago...before Ragnarok took me away from this place before...."

Rose Llewellyn, she who was called Captain Cymru on her homeplane, arched an eyebrow at this. "'I know you,'" she murmured, quoting a lyric. "'I walked with you once upon a dream.'"

She had never been especially familiar with the Thor of her home timeline. And this universe was deeper into The Omniverse than most of the core nexus of Multiverses traditionally defended by Otherworld and The Captain Britain Corps, so much was different here. This "Superman," these "Green Lanterns," this "Wonder Woman," her world had had none of these.

But just because her world lacked certain aspects of this world, that didn't mean... there could be a version of her living here, of some form or another. A Rose by any other name, so to speak.

Perhaps it was this alternate Rose whom this Thor recognised?

Captain Cymru decided that she lacked sufficient data to discern this.

And, as he was about to delve further into this great mystery, Thor sensed a thickening in the aura of Midgard, as if some demon had arrived from Hel.

Frowning beneath his mask, Spider-Man glanced over at the roof-edge. And wondered that he felt ill at ease. So, hay, is that direction making anyone else's spider-sense tingle?

It was Spawn.

And it appeared the hellish creature had brought a fight with him.

Thor glanced at Tony Stark, giving him a definitive "wtf?" look-- despite the bad blood between them, Tony couldn't help but shrug at the Thunder God, this was as outside his purview as pacifism was outside Frank Castle's --and then turned back to the dark thing that had arrived.

"Hold, I say!" Thor shouted, his voice carrying above the thunder and sounds of battle. "Or be forthwith banished into the nether-realm that spawned thee!"

But Diana's voice quelled the fury that had erupted, and Thor replaced his hammer as the others around him themselves stood down.

And this creature was ill-mouthed and insulted those that gathered. Perhaps a cleaving intwain by the mighty Mjolnir was due after all.

"Bah those turkeys would just get smug and speak of how they used a demon to do heaven's work, I am not sure which angels you have meet lady, but these angels I am regular to see are either stuck up assholes or bloodthirsty bitches looking to cut off my head and mount it like some kind of decoration in their hallways. I know this, I have been there when I was once captured by them, they have one long hallway of hellspawn skulls as if taking pride in killing us. They might appear high and glorious but they will not mind using every dirty trick to kill me, thus I generally keep away from hell and heaven's works, I have no wish to work for either."

Kyle scowled. "You better watch your mouth when your talk, creepshow. One of my best friends is an angel."

Diana's eyes were half-lidded. "His comments aren't entirely without merit. Remember our own bad experiences with Heaven's Bull Host? Asmodel, for instance?"

Rayner hesitated. "Well. Point. But still. He's lumping Eagle Eyes in with a bunch of asshats, that's supposed to sit well with me?"

"Not as such," Diana mused. "I suppose it's not unlike judging all mutantkind based on the actions of The Brotherhood?"

Cymru grunted, dispersing the pyrokinetic flame and cryokinetic lightning that had enwreathed her limbs. "And that's particularly enlightened, ennit?"

Snorting the hellspawn crossed his arms and looked at the different beings, his eyes tracing over what appeared to be a walking tincan.

Jerking a clawed thumb at the armored man spawn asked in a curious voice, wondering just what the heck that man was, as he couldn't sense it being a cyborg or robot, more like a being wearing a suit, but it looked way too much like a robot to him to think of it like that. "What's he supposed to be? Some new brand of canned tomatoes?"

Tony scowled inside the helmet, how galling was that? All the millions of dollars he'd spent on ad campaigns rebuilding his public image after the debacle that had cost Captain Rogers his life-- that's right, you can't even call him 'Steve' anymore --and this corpsified chain-clinking KISS cosplayer couldn't pick him out of a line-up.

The bio-interface system from the Extremis variant of The Iron Man armour did, in fact, render him a cybernetic organism, bleeding-edge man-machine synthesis, but it would be easy for Spawn's heightened awarenesses to misinterpret this as his being a superhuman with a suit rather than a human wetwired to, well, the extreme. Even his regenerative properties were enhanced, now, thanks to the nanotech involved.

"Listen, Scarecrow," Stark grunted, pointing an armoured index finger hard at Spawn, "the day I take Tin Woodsman jokes from the likes of you--"

Ignoring the sputtering of the crimson robot man or whatever he was the hellspawn continued. "No never mind, there's probably for a reason he's buckled up in that get up, besides, I am not one to talk, being dressed in hell forged armor that's more like spandex."

"Not," Spider-Man couldn't help but quip, "that there's anything wrong with that."

"Personally," Diana nodded, "I prefer that armour which is forged by Hephaestus than that which is forged by Tartarus. But one uses the resources one is given."

Looking at the woman he had to admit she was a looker, though he doubted it would be possible for him to have a chance, with a walking corpse, though his pelvis and right upper thigh was not too badly burned, well more liked permanently turned black, was the rest of his body not a pretty sight being a badly burned carcass filled with maggots and necroplasma. "So why are you people here?"

Diana, for a moment, felt him assess her physicality. This was not unexpected, and while this did indeed gall her the way Stark had felt galled at being compared to an imperishable metal container for farmyard vine-grown vegetation, generally speaking it was only a matter of time before men of a certain stripe started to imagine her naked.

She took this in stride. She was Wonder Woman, after all, and Themyscira's ambassador to The United Nations. If she could put up with Namor and Orin arguing over who was the rightful ruler of Atlantis, if she could put up with that idiot ambassador from Kahndaq, she could take a bit of mental undressing.

She didn't like it. But she could withstand it.

She'd withstood worse.

Diana opened her mouth to reply to his query, but it seemed a far wiser mind would rise to that task.

"I can answer that question," came a voice from outside the group. It was deep and smooth, and carried like sand blown across a dune. Thor turned his head and saw, hovering just beyond the roof's edge, eyes glowing with red fire and fluttering cape, was the Martian Manhunter.

J'onn hovered to the roof where he touched down lightly in the midst of them.

Rose leaned over and murmured to Kyle: "Remind me: this is what Martians look like on your world?"

Kyle smiled softly, and murmured back: "The good ones, yeah."

Spider-Man turned to face Spawn. "Uglypants, meet J'onny. J'onny, meet Uglypants."

He moved closer to Spawn, trusting his spider-sense to let him dodge any of those scary green-fiery attacks if they came his way. "Do yourself a favour, Uglypants. You may not show any of us a lick of respect, but you will dial back the snarky Todd McFarlane dialogue when talking to this guy, is that clear? You will respect him."

Spidey then glanced up at J'onn. "We are go for exposition."

 

[Drakkwall]

Grasping his mask spawn slowly peeled it off his head and showed his burned head, the green necroplasmic eyes glowing while a few maggots could be seen wiggling out from his flesh, and looked at the red blue dressed hero, their faces just inches apart. "This is what I got for 'showing respect' to my 'superior' bugman, he was a hero of the nation, I looked up to him, I served him for five years and when I turned my back once during a mission, he pushed me down a cliff and into a mine field. Respect is not given, it is earned, so why don't you look over at the piles of dungs at the alley and try to catch yourself a fly for lunch eh?" Spawn knew he shouldn't act as he did, but he was a hot tempered man, even before he died, he was about to speak up when a very annoying and wizened old voice came from the corner of the rooftop.

"You should hold your temper Spawn, it is not good to insult the few allies you have." Turning around the agitated hell warrior growled, he had been getting more and more infuriated by this old man for the last couple of years, constantly he came forth giving bullshit riddles of advices and yet never giving him a straight answer until after shit hits the fan.

"What is it you want this time!? Have you nto caused enough trouble with your riddles and half arsed answers!?" The old man drank from the whiskey bottle in his hand and spoke to the hellspawn in a calm voice. "Calm yourself hellspawn, we both know the answers were there and you had yet to accept them."

"Oh blow it out your hole old man! Your riddles and shit answers have caused me nothing but trouble and anguish since I was reanimated by Malbolgia's necrophiliac powers! I have only gotten a handful of straight answers for the last five years! First you tell me I am an officer in hells army driven by torture and desire to swear an oath to Malbolgia to lead his armies, then you say I am NOT sworn to serve Malbolgia because of some supernatural interference, then you tell me I am will create Armageddon if I have sex with a woman I am in love with, and then you tell me I am Malbolgia's latest attempt to create a super hell warrior called a reaper!"

"Yes." Was the simple answer of the old man and the hell spawn gripped his skull in frustration, his claws tearing green gashes into his skin, which swiftly healed up within seconds.

"Grrrrr! Your bloody answers does not help in any way you old fart! Last month I was being chased down by a squad of angelic bounty hunters because it had become known I am this Al Simmons guy! I didn't fucking know shit about that guy until I they told me as I knocked them down a few pegs! I am not this fucking Al Simmons! It's not who I am! My name was lost in the torture I endured in hell, I am called Kraven and that's just fine with me!"

"You are correct, Al Simmons is not who you are."

The hellspawn was a bit surprised that the old man agreed with him and felt a great relief be released from his shoulders, only to have it returning ten times the pressure by the next words.

"It's who you was."

A twitch could be seen in the burned face of the hellspawn as he froze, it grew more rapid and then suddenly he started to sputter gibberish while clenching his claws in strangle like motions towards the old man, his eyes burning with green fire. "Grxzxtyn!" Green foam pooled out of his lip-less jaws and pooled down his chin and to the ground as the hellspawn went into a mental breakdown at the sheer anger, frustration and irritation he felt at that moment.

OOC: I always liked how that old man would infuriate Al, hehehe.

 

[camerindrake]

Lucius Fox stands with a younger woman working on a clipboard as Bruce walks up followed by Alfred. Lucius hands off the clipboard to the young woman who gets ready to depart and the Elderly scientist stops her before turning to Bruce and taking the dark knight's hand in his own saying, "Mr. Wayne, wonderful to see you." Then he takes Alfred's continuing, "Old friend its been too long."

Bruce nods and Alfred says, "Lucius."

Mr Wayne, I would like you to meet, Tam, my daughter." Lucius says placing a hand on her shoulder. "She is going to be your Wayne Industries contact during your time in Metropolis. If you need anything that the board can get you or anything more specialize to your other job. She can either get it or design it herself."

Tam offers her hand to Bruce saying, "It will be a pleasure working with you."

Bruce blinks for a moment before taking her hand saying, "The pleasure is all mine"

Lucius places a hand in the small of both the caped crusader and His daughter saying, " The masses await."

Once on the front steps of Metropolis tower Bruce walks up to the microphone after being introduced. He gives a slight couph and says, " Today we open Waynetech a subsidiary of Wayne Industries and opening Metropolis Tower. This is not only to be a centre of business but also a centre of commerce. These first three floors are rental space for small business retailers. Each business privately owned and privately operated by the renter. I look forward to see the small business sector in Metropolis grow in these troubled times."

After the short speech Bruce cuts the blue ribbon opening Metropolis Tower to the public. He reunites with Alfred, Lucius and Tam blowing out a deep breath.

The former spy smirking responds, "Wonderful speech Masta' Wayne."

Bruce raises an eyebrow, "Was it, Alfred. I had nothing propared."

Tam chimes in, "I would have to agree with Mr. Pennyworth. With no preparation you did very well. I wouldn't have done that well."

Lucius places a hand on her shoulder, "Tam, you don't give yourself enough credit." He then looks to Bruce, "Now for the reason you are really here." He leads them to the private elevator and inserts the key once the elevator opens he hands it to Bruce.

Bruce says, "An elevator."

The chairman responds, "All in due time Mr. Wayne. All in due time. Now if you would now that the elevator doors have closed place that very same key in that key hole."

Bruce asks as he looks at the key hole that is placed right where the key for opening the elevator panel. "I take it that keyhole doesn't open the maintenance panel."

"With that key it doesn't" Lucius responds.

Bruce turns the key and the elevator goes down to the sub-basement. as the elevator opens the lights come on exposing a long room with supercomputer against one wall a forensics lab against another. in the middle of the room are two things covered in tarps.

Tam's eyes grow incredibly large as she says, "You weren't lying when you said I would be working for Batman."

"Very true," Lucius says as he removes the first tarp showing a sleek new batmobile. "Mr. Wayne, The new car you wanted. We were able to reverse engineer the Arc Reactor technology from the information you gave us on Tony Starks and how he made it back from that POW situation and that Jericho missile you bought."

"Dad and I took that and were able to engineer one that could produce three gigajoules but we tested it and found it could have only ran this car design at full capacity for only fifteen minutes," Tam continues

"Right you are, princess," Lucius then finishes for her saying, "We used the Tumbler during its rampless dump as the test engine. So we took those basics and came up with this. We know its capacity is at least 3 times that of our prototype and this is able to recharge using fuel from the very air."

Bruce blinks saying, "From the very air."

Tam snickers saying, "Yes, Hydrogen."

Lucius then removes the tarp the second item as well., "And from there we came up with these two designs. Wayne Industries Mark 8, Urban Terrain Armored vehicle and the Banebuster Mark 2. The Mark 8 has an adamantium armored body. The engine is an arc reactor fueled micro-turbine jet engine. We were able to break the sound barrier with this one. though with the weight of the armorments we lost a bit of that speed."

Bruce paces around it saying, "Understandable. You were able to get your hands on True Adamantium though our contract with S.H.I.E.L.D. for the survival suits right."

Lucius nodded saying, "And as you predicted they tried to get us into developing weapons for them shortly after."

Bruce nods and looks over the new Banebuster armor, Its smaller than before.

The older man looks at it, "Very observant of you Mr. Wayne. It is. Though not nearly as versatile as your normal fare. It is sleeker and able to take much more damage. The plates are now using the Adamantium formula we gained from S.H.I.E.L.D. and it is now powered by the new reactor. And the inner lining is EM protected. This allows the armer to 'carry' its own weight and increase your strength. I doubted you wanted to become an Iron-Batman so I left the rest of your armaments as they were. Simply contained in your utility harness."

Bruce walks away from the new armer and removes his coat. "Sorry I am going to have to use it so soon but I have a god to meet and my equipment from the plane wont be in until later so I will have to use the Banebuster. "

"Indeed Mr Wayne we will be out of your way then." Lucius says as he turns to go back up into Metropolis tower.

Bruce stops with his shirt half unbuttoned, "And Lucius, thanks."

"Any time Mr Wayne, Any time."

 

[ChasNicollette]

...with apologies to Brian Michael Bendis. And, uh, Joe Strazcynski.

Grasping his mask spawn slowly peeled it off his head and showed his burned head, the green necroplasmic eyes glowing while a few maggots could be seen wiggling out from his flesh, and looked at the red blue dressed hero, their faces just inches apart.

To his ever-loving blue-eyed credit, Spider-Man did not recoil from this. He did not vomit in his mask, nor run screaming and hide behind Thor, nor pitch himself off of the tower and decide to ignore the spider-sense all the way down.

But, almost reflexively, he quipped, he had to quip, he made with the quipping: "Oh, so that's what Jason looks like without the hockey mask. Another victory for The Wade Wilson School for Plastic Surgeons Who Can't Sew Good."

He tilted his head, and added helpfully, miming scratching at his own cheek. "You know, you've got a little something on your -- ah, no, it's probably fine, just a mole."

"This is what I got for 'showing respect' to my 'superior' bugman, he was a hero of the nation, I looked up to him, I served him for five years and when I turned my back once during a mission, he pushed me down a cliff and into a mine field. Respect is not given, it is earned, so why don't you look over at the piles of dungs at the alley and try to catch yourself a fly for lunch eh?"

"First of all," Spider-Man mused, getting warmed up, "spiders aren't bugs, though I'd bet my cephalothorax you couldn't tell the difference without phone-a-friend-ing your friendly neighbourhood entomologist. Second of all, dudely, bubely, this is Metropolis, the only piles of dung you'll find in the alleys 'round here got bought in a joke shop. Third of all, the emerald-hued guy here has earned your respect a thousand times over, you just don't know it yet."

--he was about to speak up when a very annoying and wizened old voice came from the corner of the rooftop.

"You should hold your temper Spawn, it is not good to insult the few allies you have." Turning around the agitated hell warrior growled, he had been getting more and more infuriated by this old man for the last couple of years, constantly he came forth giving bullshit riddles of advices and yet never giving him a straight answer until after shit hits the fan.

Spider-Man blinked. "Okay, uncredited cameo appearance, enter stage left?"

"What is it you want this time!? Have you nto caused enough trouble with your riddles and half arsed answers!?" The old man drank from the whiskey bottle in his hand and spoke to the hellspawn in a calm voice. "Calm yourself hellspawn, we both know the answers were there and you had yet to accept them."

Spider-Man turned and glanced at a number of the other gathered heroes, shrugging helplessly. He got a number of dumbfounded looks in return, particularly from Kyle, and the stoic Welsh Captain Britain chica looked like she had her eyebrow permanently affixed to the upper reaches of her forehead.

"Oh blow it out your hole old man! Your riddles and shit answers have caused me nothing but trouble and anguish since I was reanimated by Malbolgia's necrophiliac powers! I have only gotten a handful of straight answers for the last five years! First you tell me I am an officer in hells army driven by torture and desire to swear an oath to Malbolgia to lead his armies, then you say I am NOT sworn to serve Malbolgia because of some supernatural interference, then you tell me I am will create Armageddon if I have sex with a woman I am in love with, and then you tell me I am Malbolgia's latest attempt to create a super hell warrior called a reaper!"

At this, Spider-Man swung back around to regard Spawn, completely lost. "Seriously, it's like 'Babylon Five' Year Four, you miss one episode and the meta-plot leaves you in the dust. Though that 'Malbolgia' thing sounds like you should run it by WebMD or something."

"Yes."

"'Babylon Five,'" Spidey shot his hand up, "totally called it, there's your Kosh impression."

--the hell spawn gripped his skull in frustration, his claws tearing green gashes into his skin, which swiftly healed up within seconds.

"Uh," Spider-Man squinted, "ewh?"

"Grrrrr! Your bloody answers does not help in any way you old fart! Last month I was being chased down by a squad of angelic bounty hunters because it had become known I am this Al Simmons guy! I didn't fucking know shit about that guy until I they told me as I knocked them down a few pegs! I am not this fucking Al Simmons! It's not who I am! My name was lost in the torture I endured in hell, I am called Kraven and that's just fine with me!"

Spider-Man held up a finger. "Actually, about that, I hate to tell you this, but you miiiight wanna rethink that name. Beaucoup baggage attached."

"You are correct, Al Simmons is not who you are."

"It's who you was."

A twitch could be seen in the burned face of the hellspawn as he froze, it grew more rapid and then suddenly he started to sputter gibberish while clenching his claws in strangle like motions towards the old man, his eyes burning with green fire.

"I know, I know," Spidey lamented in mock-sympathy. "Grammar Fail always has the same effect on me."

"Grxzxtyn!"

"Is that his name?" Spider-Man continued, it was almost a compulsion at this point, he just kept right on going, "sounds Fifth-Dimensional. S'cool, though, you just gotta make him say his name backwards, like, uh, 'Kebert Xela.' Repeat after me: 'Nytxzxrg!'"

Green foam pooled out of his lip-less jaws and pooled down his chin and to the ground as the hellspawn went into a mental breakdown at the sheer anger, frustration and irritation he felt at that moment.

Spider-Man lifted his foot quickly as though to avoid getting the green foam on it. "Hey, no fair! I didn't even say 'I don't know!' (Also, double-ewh.)"

 

[Drakkwall]

After a few moments of his mind wishing to kil lthe stupid old man, Spawn took a deep breathe before putting on his mask again, the hellmade warrior glared at the old man and crossed his arms. "...What...do you want..." Yeah it felt painful to say it, he just knew he would get soem shit ass riddle of answer for it.

"To tell you to keep your temper in check while you aid these people Spawn, and try not to seduce women of the divine, that last incident with Gloria was just not right." The warriro just stared at the old man and finally his brain registered just that the old man had given him a straight answer for once, which followed u pby hi mrealizing just what the answer was.

"Hey! You cannot blame me for that! I didn't ask he to suddenly have a emotional shift and declare me her soulmate! I hardly know her! the only times I have meet her is when she makes a dramatic entrance, barely dressed in bikini armor, swirling those magical ribbons of hers around dramatically before either fighting me or dragging me off to fight some great evil or some other shit! How the heck could I have made her fall in love with me?! While I do appreciate it, seeing how I have been nothing but killed or raped, though that might be debatable if mind rape is in the question, for over five years, I do not see what she sees in me, considering I have been a total ass to her most of the time."

And he has yet to realize he is speaking of himself as an ass, wow, the old man just stared at the hellspawn before shaking his head in wonder. "Women are strange Spawn, that's an universal rule, now I will leave you be, as I feel your temper has been cooled down. But be warned, all of you, Spawn may not be the brightest, kindest or complimenting man, but he will do what is right in the end, so do not judge him for how he behaves, just give him some time and he will eventually stop actign like a child."

The hellspawn growled out as the old man climbed down, jerking his clenched fist at him. "HEY! Whose acting like a child!? You're the one who keeps watching Tiny Toons o nthat portable TV of yours!" There was some grumbling from both Spawn and the old man, it seemed like a common thing for them to act like a pair of family members arguing about silly matters, though when the child is a hellspawn born fromthe reincarnation of a former hellspawn and a former soldier of the government and the father a wisened old bum who lived in the dark middle ages, it kind of gets much sillier.

 

[AmenRa]

Martian Manhunter

He had landed lightly, and he suddenly found himself holding onto Peter Parker's arm. Holding him back for just an instant, fearing the Spider-Man would rush headlong into a down and out fight with this......Spawn.

But, J'onn discovered Parker was simply being Parker-ish, and he had much respect for the human arachnoid type creature. (Truthfully the reason J'onn often hung around Parker was because of Aunt May. She always had cookies!).

The Martian Manhunter left Spawn to his conversation with the old man. He was mostly sure what this was...what Spawn was...and knew deep within that Spawn's addition to this alliance was well placed.

J'onn shook hands with Green Lantern and with Captain Cymru (whom he looked at rather strangely, she seemed familiar to him, also). He quickly embraced Diana, and gave her a grim expression. He still lives, but barely. He then moved to Iron Man.

"It is my understanding you recently purchased the remnants of the InGen Corporation," he said, shaking Tony's gauntleted hand. "I am very glad to see that technology has been absorbed. The planet will fare much better knowing you will use this type of genetic engineering for the good of the world, and not for it's....entertainment."

J'onn turned to Thor, who took two strides towards him and offerred an outstretched hand. The two clasped in the old way, hands around the other's forearms.

"Thunder God," J'onn said.

"Martian," Thor replied. Thor was indeed glad to see the Martian Manhunter. J'onn J'onzz was known to be level-headed and directional. As one of the founding members of the JLA, J'onn's reputation as a strategist and planner was well known, even to the Son of Odin.

J'onn then moved to the center of the group. "I have just traveled from the Fortress of Solitude. Kal-El's situation is grave. He has survived an attack that very nearly killed him. Due to the nature of his healing, I could not risk a telepathic probe to discern the variables involved in the assault. I can, however provide you with a detailed description of his injuries."

The Martian Manhunter closed his eyes. "Prepare yourselves for what you are about to see," he whispered.

And then he instantly connected with all the minds present. And, upon doing so, he sent his memory of seeing Superman lying in the Fortress of Solitude.

Some of the minds were familiar, some not. Some were calm, others in turmoil.

They all saw what J'onn had seen.

Superman.

Bleeding.

Broken.

Beaten.

"As Thor stated in his communique', Doctor Doom and Darkseid have allied themselves against us," J'onn continued, ending the psychic link with them. "Only an alliance of these two powers could have rendered Kal-El in such a state. However," J'onn said, cupping his chin, "I believe others are at work as well.

"Where did they obtain Kryptonite to use against Kal-El? Of course, the logical answer is that Doom provided it through use of his applicable resources. However, not too long ago, The Batman and I rounded up what we believed were the last deposits of the remnants of Krypton on this world. The Batman currently keeps these pieces safe himsel, at Kal-El's request. But, there is someone else who has the resources to obtain such an elemen, and quite possibly already had what was left of it on Earth stored away. Someone who has used it against Kal-El of Krypton before...."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Kyle, Rose, Peter, Di, and Tony.

J'onn shook hands with Green Lantern-- "J'onn," Kyle nodded firmly, respectfully, as one would nod to a man both mentor and old friend --and with Captain Cymru (whom he looked at rather strangely, she seemed familiar to him, also)-- she shook his hand firmly, and met his gaze, and wondered also at his deja vu. He quickly embraced Diana, and gave her a grim expression. He still lives, but barely.

Searching his face, Wonder Woman did not nod, but she signaled comprehension with her eyes. Thank you, J'onn.

Immediately she resolved to petition Phillipus on Paradise Island to provide Purple Ray technology, in hopes of speeding Kal-El's recovery.

He then moved to Iron Man.

Iron Man inclined his head to greet The Martian. Gods and their champions were one thing, but extraterrestrials were something far more his speed.

"It is my understanding you recently purchased the remnants of the InGen Corporation," he said, shaking Tony's gauntleted hand. "I am very glad to see that technology has been absorbed. The planet will fare much better knowing you will use this type of genetic engineering for the good of the world, and not for it's....entertainment."

Inside the helmet, Tony smirked faintly. "And here I just thought I was buying myself a couple of nice islands off of Costa Rica, instead I'm making the world safe for transgendered dinosaurs everywhere."

He shook his head. "Yeah, no, J'onn. If people want to experience paleontological species in their natural habitat, they can go to The Savage Land like everyone else. I won't see creatures exploited like that. And I promise to use the genetics research, Scout's Honour, for the betterment of all mankind. Do some experimental gerontology, build a better appendix, get some more shiny awards for the mantelpiece. Save the world, wow the stockholders, all in a day's work."

J'onn turned to Thor, who took two strides towards him and offerred an outstretched hand. The two clasped in the old way, hands around the other's forearms.

"Thunder God," J'onn said.

"Martian," Thor replied.

"That's so cool when they do that," Kyle murmured to Rose, grinning lopsidedly, "do the solemn greeting thing. Some parts of this job never get old."

Rose took this under advisement, watching quietly.

The old man descended, and Spawn brandished his fist at the mysterious figure, and Spider-Man was right there beside him, brandishing his own fist: "THIS ISN'T OVER, RICHARDS!"

He paused, glanced Spawn up and down, and shrugged. "Letterman's people said my Latverian accent needed work, it wasn't 'tinny' enough. Practise, practise, practise. Meanwhile, Plucky Duck, what's with you and Citizen Max?"

J'onn then moved to the center of the group. "I have just traveled from the Fortress of Solitude. Kal-El's situation is grave. He has survived an attack that very nearly killed him. Due to the nature of his healing, I could not risk a telepathic probe to discern the variables involved in the assault. I can, however provide you with a detailed description of his injuries."

The air grew solemn. Diana closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly, as though in prayer. Kyle reached for Rose's hand, and Rose's fingers slid into his.

The Martian Manhunter closed his eyes. "Prepare yourselves for what you are about to see," he whispered.

Tony remembered what J'onn had told him when J'onn had temporarily downloaded the piloting instructions for a Martian Still Zone supercarrier into his head: 'Prepare your frontal cortex.'

Inside his helmet, he closed his eyes. And The Iron Man responded: [Frontal cortex prepared.]

Spider-Man glanced at Spawn. "You may not recognise any of us from a hole in the ground, that's cool, who reads the newspaper anymore? But this guy. Big Blue. Everyone knows him."

And Spider-Man looked at J'onn J'onzz, and stilled his thoughts.

And then he instantly connected with all the minds present. And, upon doing so, he sent his memory of seeing Superman lying in the Fortress of Solitude.

They all saw what J'onn had seen.

"Christ Almighty," Tony breathed.

Superman.

Kyle's grip on Rose's hand became white-knuckled. Growing up in California, all his buddies had idolised the Green Lantern he now knew as Hal Jordan, GL2814.1. But Kyle, perhaps ironically, he'd been a Superman fan first and foremost.

And this was... heartbreaking. "No way."

Bleeding.

Broken.

Beaten.

"Hera," Diana murmured, and said nothing more.

"I was at his funeral," Spider-Man mumbled. "I was one of his pallbearers, for crap's sake. And even then, even in death, he didn't look that... defeated."

"As Thor stated in his communique', Doctor Doom and Darkseid have allied themselves against us," J'onn continued, ending the psychic link with them.

Kyle glanced at Rose, and saw a tear rolling down her cheek, illumined in the moonlight and the glow of the city. He stared at her for a moment. "(Hey. I don't think I've ever seen you cry before.)"

Rose didn't look back at him, but the tear crackled with the energy of her ice powers and froze and shattered and fell away as though it had never been. "(Something in my eye.)"

Kyle squeezed her hand again. "(Yeah. Mine too.)"

"Only an alliance of these two powers could have rendered Kal-El in such a state. However," J'onn said, cupping his chin, "I believe others are at work as well.

"Well, hey," Spider-Man mumbled, "this just keeps getting better and better."

"Where did they obtain Kryptonite to use against Kal-El? Of course, the logical answer is that Doom provided it through use of his applicable resources. However, not too long ago, The Batman and I rounded up what we believed were the last deposits of the remnants of Krypton on this world. The Batman currently keeps these pieces safe himsel, at Kal-El's request. But, there is someone else who has the resources to obtain such an elemen, and quite possibly already had what was left of it on Earth stored away. Someone who has used it against Kal-El of Krypton before...."

"Kryptonite's been synthesised artificially, with varying degrees of success," Tony recalled. "Most notably utilised by Henshaw and Mongul in powering Engine City after Coast City's terrible destruction. It could be Doom's intellect was sufficient to reproduce that synthesis. But on the other hand..."

Spider-Man nodded quietly. "First time I met Big Blue, Lex Luthor teamed up with Doc Ock to play me and Supes against each other. They temporarily infused me with red solar energy so my punches could actually hurt the guy. And if he can simulate red solar energy--" he glanced at Iron Man "--you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Luthor," Diana murmured. "Darkseid. Von Doom. Who else? Who else?"

Kyle jerked a thumb towards Spawn. "Maybe it's for the best we've got Eddie the 'Edd along for the ride. With Big Bads like that on our case, having a little Hell around can only be an improvement."

 

[Lunaramblings]

A light moves across the night sky. A blinding greenish light. So fast. So bright. It hurtles toward Metropolis. Toward a building on which stands an assembly of many of the worlds greatest heroes. As it streaks toward this buidling it takes form, slowing. A green cloak over pale flesh. With a heavy thud the figure lands.

"I am the Righteous Wrath of Our Father. I am the hand of the God of the Israelites. I am The Spectre. A great injustice has been done here. The body of the purest, ravaged by the hands of the vile. This will not stand. There will be penance. Their will be Retribution. The Spectre will be satisfied." The cloaked figure never looks up. His cowl obscuring his features. A faint greenish glow eminates from beneath the cloak.


"I am here for Justice. I am here to make sure those that have evil in their hearts feel the pain they have caused. It is time that this world returned to the world I once knew. A world where you took care of others because it was right. In life, I faced many threats. I counted among you many allies. In death, I will bring forth all of the fury of this entity to bear on those who would pervert the ideal for which I stood. It was never about the country. Never. It was about the Truth. The Justice." The cloak falls open and the hood back as The Spectre stands taller, shoulders set. "It was about standing up for what made America the best damned country in the world. Those responsible for this will know my Wrath."

The shining green star on his chest emits a fluctuating light. His face revealed. Steve Rogers has been reborn. Steve Rogers is The Spectre.

 

[AmenRa]

Thor, J'onn

A light moves across the night sky. A blinding greenish light. So fast. So bright. It hurtles toward Metropolis. Toward a building on which stands an assembly of many of the worlds greatest heroes. As it streaks toward this buidling it takes form, slowing. A green cloak over pale flesh. With a heavy thud the figure lands.

"I am the Righteous Wrath of Our Father. I am the hand of the God of the Israelites. I am The Spectre. A great injustice has been done here. The body of the purest, ravaged by the hands of the vile. This will not stand. There will be penance. Their will be Retribution. The Spectre will be satisfied." The cloaked figure never looks up. His cowl obscuring his features. A faint greenish glow eminates from beneath the cloak.


"I am here for Justice. I am here to make sure those that have evil in their hearts feel the pain they have caused. It is time that this world returned to the world I once knew. A world where you took care of others because it was right. In life, I faced many threats. I counted among you many allies. In death, I will bring forth all of the fury of this entity to bear on those who would pervert the ideal for which I stood. It was never about the country. Never. It was about the Truth. The Justice." The cloak falls open and the hood back as The Spectre stands taller, shoulders set. "It was about standing up for what made America the best damned country in the world. Those responsible for this will know my Wrath."

The shining green star on his chest emits a fluctuating light. His face revealed. Steve Rogers has been reborn. Steve Rogers is The Spectre.

Thor stood still. In the far distant, thunder rumbled and flashes of lightning broke here and there.

He stared for long at the apparition before him. He willed it to go away. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, Captain America still stood before him.

Slowly, ever so slowly, The Mighty Thor stepped up to him. He stared into the visage of his friend for what seemed an eternity.

"Once," Thor said, his voice low and edgy, "forces sought to re-create me, in their own image. They took my genetic code and made an....abomination. A thing. A construct. And this they told the world was me.

"There are still discussions to be had about this," Thor cast a sidelong glance at Iron Man, "but that is for another time. This night, I will tell you: I do not know you. You present yourself with the face and voice of one I once called my friend, yet your essence is different."

The thunder grew louder now, the lightning closer.

"I have seen many things," Thor continued, "and it is no stranger to me that which was once forgotten in the Neverealm can return to Midgard to once walk again. The man that was Steven Rogers once called me friend, and if this is who you are, then such will be. But know you this: should you prove to be otherwise, then I will personally unleash upon you a fury the likes of which no one, mortal, immortal, or otherwise, has ever seen."

Thus finished, Thor returned to stand beside J'onn and Diana. The thunder and lightning that had threatened to rain down upon the gathered group grew silent, and the air became still once again.

J'onn took everything in stride. He wasn't one to show emotions much, and so he crossed his arms and cupped his chin.

"We should move this meeting to a location suitable for planning," he surmised. "Somewhere we can access our relative data sources and be centrally located for strategic insertions when the time comes. A place where Canned Tomatoes," J'onn simply couldn't resist the attempt at humor and poke at his friend, Tony, and of course, to let Spawn know J'onn thought the walking corpse was 'pretty cool' in his book, "can uplink with the necessary satellites for intel gathering and communications relays."

"That can all be accomplished from Asgard," Thor stated.

"But," J'onn returned, "we are still missing one important member."

Thor nodded his head. "Gotham's Dark Knight will know where we have gone," he said. "He is a very capable detective."

J'onn nodded in agreement. "And Oklahoma is centrally located."

Thor stepped away from the group. He passed near to Iron Man, and spoke in a low whisper. "So you now see that ghosts return to haunt men and god alike." Thor then fixed him with an icy stare. "I have no wish to further a rift that may lead to the disbanding of this alliance," he continued, "and I am certain that I do not need to remind you the difference between a God of Thunder and man in a metal suit. And I think I do not need to further our discussions anymore. This," and Thor's eyes darted to the renewed Captain America, "is enough for us both."

Thor stepped to the edge of the rooftop and withdrew Mjolnir. He began to spin the warhammer by it's indestructible thong. The hammer spun faster and faster. The air at the edge of the rooftop began to burn in blue light, and then a portal was opened.

Thor was the first to step into the portal. "To Asgard!" he called over his shoulder.

And then he was gone.

When Thor stepped out of the portal, he stood on the footway of a Rainbow Bridge that crossed a bottomless chasm. For this to be a construct in the Oklahoma prairie was somewhat confounding to science, but it was there, nonetheless. Beyond the short bridgeway lay the city itself: gleaming, polished stone and woodwork, tall towers and great halls, stone steps and wooden walkways. The Asgardians walked about before him.

And there, on the bridge, to greet him was Heimdall. His armor gleamed in moonlight, and his horned helm concealed his face. Were one to look into Heimdall's eyes they would see a bottomless mirror, eyes that could see forever into the Nine Worlds.

And there, on the bridge, came the same cadence that had been called for thousands of millenia.

"Hold!" boomed Heimdall's voice, "but who should seek passage into Asgard?"

"I am Thor, Son of Odin," Thor replied, as he had done since The Beginning. "And I ask to pass."

"Then pass into Asgard, Thor, Son of Odin," Heimdall replied. Heimdall then bowed his head. "Welcome home, my lord."

And Heimdall then waited for the next to arrive.

 

[Drakkwall]

Spawn wasn't sure why but he kenw how to travel to Asgard the moment he saw the weird swirly hammer thing Thor did to make the portal. Green flames spiraled forth from beneath his feet and he disappeared in a green flash of burning brimstone, teleporting, finding himself appearing in a spiral of hellfire on a rainbow bridge. Not bothering to look at the guy standign watch the hel lwarrior just commented as he walked past. "Kraven, Hellspawn and unwilling Officer of Hell's Army, I am with thunder dude."

Catching up with the god of thunder the hellspawn was silent for a whiel before he jsut has to ask soemthing that was nagging him. "...so why a rainbow bridge? I mean, I get the bridge part but, not the rainbow part."

 

[AmenRa]

Spawn wasn't sure why but he kenw how to travel to Asgard the moment he saw the weird swirly hammer thing Thor did to make the portal. Green flames spiraled forth from beneath his feet and he disappeared in a green flash of burning brimstone, teleporting, finding himself appearing in a spiral of hellfire on a rainbow bridge. Not bothering to look at the guy standign watch the hel lwarrior just commented as he walked past. "Kraven, Hellspawn and unwilling Officer of Hell's Army, I am with thunder dude."

Catching up with the god of thunder the hellspawn was silent for a whiel before he jsut has to ask soemthing that was nagging him. "...so why a rainbow bridge? I mean, I get the bridge part but, not the rainbow part."

"It is called Bifröst," Thor answered. "And it is reprentative of the many colors of life in the Universe. The rainbow in the sky only lasts for a fleeting instant compared to the waters of the rain that makes it. Such is the nature of mortality, and those that pass into Asgard from a worthy death mark the bridge as the end of a fleeting short existence from their world, and the beginning of the rest of their lives."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Tony, Kyle, Di, Peter, and Rose. "Thoughts of a Dying Atheist." -Muse.

A light moves across the night sky. A blinding greenish light. So fast. So bright. It hurtles toward Metropolis. Toward a building on which stands an assembly of many of the worlds greatest heroes.

Tony was still recovering from the images of The Man of Steel lain in repose.

And so it took him a few microseconds longer to register the superimposition of the words relayed directly to his visual cortex by The Iron Man: [Atmospheric disruption detected.]

Track.

[Long-range projectile tracking engaged.]

Identify energy signature.

[Working.]

[...energy signature unquantifiable.]

Shit.

He glanced at Kyle. "Lantern. I don't suppose this is one of yours?"

Kyle blinked, glanced up, then glanced at his Ring hand. "Uh. Ring?"

And the Ring replied: [No additional Oan power sources registered in locus.]

Kyle shook his head quickly at Tony.

Tony frowned.

Diana smiled softly, and inhaled through her nose. The hunter's senses given her by Artemis rarely led her astray. This one smelled of magic, of power divine where Spawn was profane. "I think this one's a friend, boys. Sometimes. It will depend who's in the driver's seat."

As it streaks toward this buidling it takes form, slowing. A green cloak over pale flesh. With a heavy thud the figure lands.

Spider-Man glanced at Spawn, adding a little theatrical squeak to his voice: "'Your entrance was good. His was better. The difference? Showmanship.'"

"I am the Righteous Wrath of Our Father. I am the hand of the God of the Israelites. I am The Spectre. A great injustice has been done here. The body of the purest, ravaged by the hands of the vile. This will not stand. There will be penance. Their will be Retribution. The Spectre will be satisfied." The cloaked figure never looks up. His cowl obscuring his features. A faint greenish glow eminates from beneath the cloak.

"Far be it from me to question Athena's Wisdom, ma'am," Captain Cymru mused, evenly. "But zealotry of any faith can be dangerous."

Diana of Themyscira shook her head. "Captain."

And put her finger across her lips.

Rose Llewellyn arched her eyebrow. Again.

"I am here for Justice. I am here to make sure those that have evil in their hearts feel the pain they have caused. It is time that this world returned to the world I once knew. A world where you took care of others because it was right. In life, I faced many threats. I counted among you many allies. In death, I will bring forth all of the fury of this entity to bear on those who would pervert the ideal for which I stood. It was never about the country. Never. It was about the Truth. The Justice."

Tony's mouth went dry. He needed a drink. He needed a drink badly.

Focus.

[Voiceprint identified.] The Iron Man volunteered.

Way ahead of you, Stark lamented.

The cloak falls open and the hood back as The Spectre stands taller, shoulders set. "It was about standing up for what made America the best damned country in the world. Those responsible for this will know my Wrath."

Spider-Man held up an incredulous finger. "Hey. Isn't that...?"

Green Lantern was grinning his ass off. "Looks good on him."

The shining green star on his chest emits a fluctuating light. His face revealed. Steve Rogers has been reborn. Steve Rogers is The Spectre.

Diana inclined her head to him. He had fought alongside her mother when Franklin Delano Roosevelt had merged the superheroic teams of that era into The All-Star Squadron, including, among others, The Justice Society and The Invaders. (There had been some time travel involved.) Steve Rogers had been an Invader. The Spectre, then parceled with Jim Corrigan, had been on The Society with Hippolyta. Her mother had spoken highly of them both.

But Diana had met him, too, first-hand, fought and bled beside him, and she had not been disappointed.

Wonder Woman smiled softly, and repeated, with markedly different inflection: "Captain."

Cymru recognised the man at the heart of the burning beast, recognised him from the history of her own world. President Rogers. President Steven Rogers, no middle name, not even Harry Truman's 'S.' President Steven Rogers was their Captain America.

And arched both eyebrows. "...huh."

Tony Stark closed his eyes. A chill ran down his spine.

Well, that figures.

The Alleged Wrath of Supposed God just got bundled together with a man whose death I helped cause.

Also, didn't I just blaspheme?

This is not my best day ever.

Thor, in his own way, seemed less than pleased to see this... manifestation.

But Thor, in his old apparent age, had apparently mellowed from the "fisticuffs until proven innocent" policy he'd had when he'd first come to Midgard. He accepted The Spectre's presence, if not his guise, and after a brief discussion with The Martian, which included, ho-ho, a dig from J'onzz reiterating that slam from Spawn-- Don't make me regret offering to be your Sponsor in an Oreo 12-Step Program, J'onn-Boy. --Thor decided to abscond this location in favour of a more remote and comfortable one.

But first, a reminder, a pause for station identification: Thor stepped away from the group. He passed near to Iron Man, and spoke in a low whisper. "So you now see that ghosts return to haunt men and god alike." Thor then fixed him with an icy stare. "I have no wish to further a rift that may lead to the disbanding of this alliance," he continued, "and I am certain that I do not need to remind you the difference between a God of Thunder and man in a metal suit. And I think I do not need to further our discussions anymore. This," and Thor's eyes darted to the renewed Captain America, "is enough for us both."

"I read you," Tony had to admit, remembering that lightning bolt from New Orleans, damage dealt a lot worse than just a chip in the armour. "Five-by-five."

Thor's hammer tore open space and time, and they beheld a golden door.

Spawn took a shortcut.

(Spider-Man waved his hand again in front of his face: "Ugh, crap, worse than Nightcrawler.")

But then he bounded through the gate. "Far be it from any spider to refuse an invitation into a parlour."

Heimdall gazed at him with an intense, molecular-level scrutiny. "The Spider. Thee be not unknown to me, heir to Kwaku Ananse. Be thee warned, Storyteller, The Aesir of Asgard taketh the misdeeds of Trickster Gods as serious matters indeed."

Spider-Man was taken aback. "Erm. I'm actually not affiliated with--"

Heimdall jerked his head towards The Bridge. "Walketh on, Storyteller. My patience for thee wanes."

Spider-Man scampered hurriedly after Spawn and Thor. "Yessir, thanky'sir."

Back on the rooftop, Kyle clapped Iron Man gleefully on the shoulder. "Look on the bright side, Shellhead. At least they haven't brought on the 'Prince Albert' jokes yet."

Tony shook his head. "Small mercies." And proceeded through the portal.

Heimdall took one look at Iron Man. And gave him the cold shoulder.

Stark grunted. And kept walking.

[Personal Area Network no longer registering on GPS.]

[...working.]

[New position: vicinity of Broxton, Oklahoma. Latitude. 34.98583°, Longitude. -98.40889°. Reconnecting with Stark Dataspine.]

[Connection re-established.]

Ah, well. Say what you will about Asgard these days, at least they get good wi-fi.

Wonder Woman followed after Iron Man, and she nodded to Heimdall, simply: "White Guardian."

Heimdall nodded back, as easily as meeting a neighbour in the street. "Truth of Olympus."

Just behind Diana, Kyle grinned at Rose, whose hand he held. "(Solemn greeting.)"

Heimdall, however, arched an eyebrow at Kyle, and barred his path. "Hold!" boomed again Heimdall's voice, "but who now should seek passage into Asgard?"

Kyle, brave as he was, hesitated a little bit at that. It was as though Heimdall had asked him his favourite colour and he couldn't think of it, it was on the tip of his tongue.

Rose stepped forward, however. "Thou art The Ram produced by the ninth wave," she declared, "and this be he who wert called Ion, and Torchbearer, The Last of The Old and The First of The New."

Heimdall pondered this. "And thou, maiden?"

Rose batted nary an eyelash. "I am but a soldier, Lord, from Midgard-1066. I aid The Lighthouse Keeper there, he who on my world is called Captain Briton."

Heimdall nodded. "Enter in."

Kyle blinked, and they strode out across The Bridge, still hand-in-hand.

He murmured to her, bewildered: "How did you know what to say to him?"

Captain Cymru didn't look at him as she kept walking. "I'm Welsh."

They caught up to the knot of travellers as Thor was explaining the nature of Bifröst to Spawn.

Kyle pondered over this. "D'you guys use the same emotional spectrum as the Lantern Corps? Red for Rage, Orange for Greed, and so forth? I'm just wondering if I should maybe avoid stepping on the yellow bit."