5th February
21:01 GMT -5
Armourcoldgunwidebeamgoldkryptonite!
Now, if this were
my Justice League, I'd be in a great deal of trouble. But it's not. Superman's shoulders are a little too broad, the red of his cape and boots a little too bright, and his hair has a little too much volume to it. Diana's.. pant area has more blue in it, and her tiara is smaller. Their Flash is a little slimmer, their Martian has a popped collar and.. isn't wearing much. Their Lantern Stewart has a shaved head, a goatee and an unarmoured costume, and their Hawkwoman is wearing bright unarmoured clothing that my version wouldn't be seen dead in. This is probably the Justice League variant who attacked the Syndicate's moon base a year and a half ago. The Syndicate didn't have a great deal of footage of them in action, but from what I could tell their peak output was roughly in line with what I'm used to.
Still: they're the Justice League. They almost certainly have years of experience on me, and they're famously powerful superheroes for a
reason. And it's the famous bit that's going to cause them problems. I doubt that there's anyone with superpowers who hasn't at some point thought 'how would I beat the Justice League in a fight?'. Heck, there are probably plenty of people without superpowers who've thought about it, if only to mock Batman or Aquaman. The point is, while I might have trouble with someone whose abilities I don't know well, I know these six
extremely well.
SupermanweakeningconstructstriketoheadknockbacktakeDiana'spunchonkineticbarrierpullHawkwomanasidewithconstructcoldgunonFlash.
And they haven't had
me helping them cover their weaknesses. And they haven't tried fighting me before. They don't know
my weaknesses. They don't know what
I can do.
ShockcrownFlashgreenblockedcrumblershockcrownvertigoonDianaandHawkwoman.
The only person here whose abilities I don't know well is Talon and… Duela Dent, or.. Napier, or whatever she's called here. Talon is an athletic thirteen year old with a cybernetically enhanced brain. I hope. I'm.. sure someone would have done something if his implants were going to rip him apart as he grows Gunslinger Girl style. But if Owlman had weapons that could easily kill Lanterns then their John Stewart would have died on the moon. And Power Ring Green would have died years ago.
ThanagarianriotgasonHawkwomanmoveNthmetalmacekeeptankingDianawithkineticbarrierfirecrumblervolleytobreakStewart'sbarrier.
But what the heck am I going to do with a Justice League? Oh… Sai's going to call in
more reinforcements, isn't she? Not a lot of times when it's possible to get so many Made Men together in one place, and no one really expects telepathy or magic to work on one of Owlman's… 'Products'. Both Talon and Sai have been Syndicate members for years and they're both under sentence of death. Talon could authorise Duela to attend on his own recognisance. Him bringing in one extra helper wouldn't raise any eyebrows at all.
PsishockDianatitaniumchainsbindandclampstunHawkwomanmorechainsrefresh-
**Stop.**
Everything speeds up for a moment as I fight off J'onn J'onzz's mental command. Flash collapses, his costume covered in ice from his repeated attempts to speed through cold zones specifically designed to disrupt his super speed. His speed stops his attempts killing him right away as they would most people but he's still getting dangerously cold. Superman is trying to regain his feet, right hand smeared with blood as he cautiously probes where my construct hit. Hawkwoman can't do much more than flail under the effects of the vertigo inducer while Diana remains coherent enough to
glare at me. Lantern Stewart is trying to shield his team mates, my crumbler rounds preventing him from… No, he's… Only maintaining a single construct. Huh.
I grab Hawkwoman's mace with a construct, charge it with a generator construct and swing it through their Manhunter.
**AAAAGH!**
He staggers, curling up as the mechanism he uses for phasing is painfully disrupted. Fabricate phase-blocking chains, psi-suppressor and wrap him up, which leaves Lantern Stewart and Talon as eff-.
Superman punches me in the helmet, his now human-strength blow easily absorbed by my kinetic barrier.
"Kal-El, don't-.
"
Two more punches, then I use a vertigo inducer on him. He collapses, and I chain him up while suppressing Lantern Stewart.
"
Kid, what's our exit?"
"There isn't one."
He doesn't seem unduly troubled. "
Then I guess I'll have to dig deep-."
I fire a rapid volley of crumblers to disrupt his environmental shield and then cut off his right middle finger with an x-ionised knife. The finger and his ring fall to the floor as he winces, and I swiftly recover both. He grimaces,
then takes a fighting stance. I shock crown him and then chain him up as well.
"Talon… What was any of this in aid of?
"
"How can you even
ask that? You know what the Syndicate
is. I know Blue only works with them because he didn't have a choice, but you're far more powerful than he is. You wouldn't let something like the Syndicate exist on
your Earth."
I construct grab his planeshifters and-. And they self-destruct, marvellous. I haul the recumbent Justice League into an approximate line and then remove their vertigo inducers. I then give Flash a quick coat of one of Trickster's anti-vibration gels and then give him a quick warm-up ring-blast. I then.. pull Lantern Stewart's severed finger out of his ring.
"Lantern Stewart, if you hold still I can probably reattach this.
"
"
Don't go to any trouble on my account."
"Al
right.
" I pick him up in a construct grapple and bend him around until I have access to his right hand. Put the finger back in place and then purple healing ray for a few seconds… And then drop him back down.
"Don't put any weight on it for a few weeks.
" I sigh.
"What the heck am I supposed to do with you?
"
Hawkwoman sneers. "You could let us all go."
"That would be my
preferred option if-
" I hold up the planeshifter.
"-this hadn't
fried itself. Talon, what parallel are they from?
"
He regards me impassively.
"Do you want me to send them back to a
random parallel universe?
"
"Twelve."
!
"T-twelve?
"
Hawkw-. Hawk
girl smiles. "Worried?"
"More.. embarrassed. I'm-. Ac-tually a.. fffan of yours.
"
Kal-El 12 frowns. "You've got a funny way of showing it."
Aaaaaaaggghhhhhh!
I take a hologram projector out of subspace.
"I'm-. I came here from Earth Sixteen. This is-
" I activate it.
"-my Justice League. The.. original seven members, anyway. I'm a member of a youth team run by our Batman.
"
Flash gapes slightly. "Huh?"
"My alter ego from
this parallel has a
blue power ring. I first came into contact with Earth negative fourteen when
their youth team attacked our LexCorp. I'm here
now because the Syndicate's new management want to… Well, survive. Having studied the situation in detail, I decided that the most useful thing I could do-.
"
"Is let us go and help us take the Syndicate down?"
The other Leaguers stare at Flash, who shrugs.
"What? He
might."
"Is to finesse them into becoming a less malevolent organisation. A direct fight would risk massive collateral damage, and I'm not totally comfortable with how police-statey Slade Wilson is making things. This gathering of the Syndicate is happening so that the management can set out their new policy and you being here is
really going to undermine that. Is there any chance at all I could persuade you to accept a
parole arrangement?
"
I get glared at.
"I'll throw in the mace, power ring and turning Superman's powers back on?
"
The glares continue.
"Fine. Flash, how fast can you read?
"
