A white wave passes through Finality Man, turning grew into gold and blue so that it more closely resembles Prince Drax's armour. Its golden eyes flare for a moment, then-
BOOM!
Reprogrammed an an instant, I bet. Such is the uber-hax of the
White Light.
-it opens a boom tube beneath its own feet and falls into it.
"And now…" Mannheim turns towards the former Alliance Headquarters. "That thing. I-."
Wonder if it's back on New Genesis, or returned to the pocket dimension Drax is convalescing.
The blaster bolt hits him in the chest and knocks him to the ground.
Damn it! I dash over to him, creating a construct shield-
Shit, lucky shot by a rando, or...
"I honestly believed that this would work."
A weird… relief Mannheim walks towards us, shimmering black, blaster in his right hand.
...And from that description, I'm picturing something like
Mr Negative, the Spiderman villain. It's suitably
spooky, at least.
"And yet you cut off my origin from my present. That's an interesting avenue of attack. Not one I would have considered."
"Father."
So, all of the... Power it's absorbed allowed the Anti-life Fragments in Mannheim to... Maintain its own existence...
Somehow. Makes as much sense as anything
else New God related.
"A pale imitation, due to be reunited with my true self momentarily."
Graviton deflator, railgun with everything-. No. Message everyone. White light blast in two, one-.
Yeah, best to block any Boom Tubes, OL. I don't think you want this bundle of data getting away.
"YAAAGH!"
Orion flies across the ground and slams into him! It takes… Shadow Mannheim off his feet but he turns with the impact, getting his right hand up to turn Orion's head aside before he can vomit blood all over him.
Which at leasts suggests it's concerned about suffering damage. It can be
killed.
"Such beautiful, savage rage." Shadow Mannheim gets his feet under him and then backhands Orion into a nearby building. "Become the beast."
I fire, hitting him with mage slayer and crumbler rounds while Nommo ministers to real Mannheim. Batman is keeping his attention on our surroundings as the Justifiers are probably still coming. Carol looks like she's barely standing while Malvolio has scrambled to catch everyone that he dropped from his prison construct before they can hit the ground. Alan honestly looks a little behind events.
Give him a second, OL. He just had one hell of a few minutes. Though it's interesting that you can tell who's the most used to esoteric bullshit by their reactions...
My railgun rounds hit home, but all it does is make his image… Glitch a little.
"An interesting -if futile- effort."
It's mainlining an entire afterlife's worth of magical energy, after all...
They're not hitting the far side of him so they're not just passing through. We've shut him off from his original body and the magic he stole, but he's still got an Anti-Lifed planet to power him. Ah.
Orion staggers out of the building with glowing red horns growing out of his head. And I can feel-.
Ah. Okay, so the shit is still dripping off the fan. Earth hasn't been cleansed..
Yet.
Ah, shi-.
His right fist slams into my construct armour, completely destroying it through a combination of raw physical power and the corrosive power of the red light.
Goddammit, Orion.
I
knew this would happen.
Message to Dr. Mist. Use the Mask. Turn down his anger.
I duck back and pwguer!
Ah. Zagged when you should have zigged, huh?
Ah, he hit me in the chest hard enough to break my shields and crater my cuirass. Left ribs… Broken, I think.
"Bringing my son was foolish."
Because there's no doubt plenty of hidden hooks in Orion's soul from Apokalips...
New Gods can grow back arms.
I trigger my crumbler gauntlets and punch as his right arm, trying to-.
Not holding back, I see. The situation
is that desperate, after all.
His flaring environmental shield disintegrates the gauntlet and I snatch what's left back before I lose the hand as well.
"Calm."
Well, OL isn't exactly the most melee-oriented Lantern, after all...
"G-hyeh?"
Orion's confused snort I.. probably a sign that Nommo's managed something-.
And I half-picture him just flopping on his face as all that rage cuts out mid-flight...
I turn my head in his direction to see the Medusa Mask melt, running down his face and dripping onto the floor. Alan's taken over ministering to Mannheim, who's showing a few signs of life.
"Orion, you need to focus. You hate your father more than anything. You're this close to actually wounding him!"
Oh, that's bad. Hopefully he can still manage to summon
Compassion without it.
"I…" The horns fade, whatever Shadow Mannheim did to him needing him being maniacally angry to work.
Great. Back off and heal myself-.
Seems almost
dazed after the anger went 'poof'. Not uncommon. The human body isn't really meant to handle that much rage all at once, and a New God body is much the same despite the higher tolerances.
Lantern Stewart creates a bubble shield around Shadow Mannheim. Shadow Mannheim looks up at him in disbelief, then casually slams it aside as he walks out. Ghia'ta covers him in glowing crystals, but they melt immediately.
"Love? Really? Unreliable at the best of times."
Speak for yourself, nobody.
Ah, Mannheim's back with you? Perhaps he can put that energy he's packing to use, then.
Mannheim pulls himself up onto all fours, then points at his negative doppelgänger. A ripple of white light passes through him, making him wince.
"I offered you a place of rare honour. You should have remained my servant."
That actually
hurt it, you'll note. Might well be possible that
only Mannheim can damage it,
White Light or not.
"I shouldn'a ever bought what you were sellin'. Get the Hell outta here."
Another wave of white and Shadow Mannheim visibly fades a little before regaining his strength.
And each denial weakens it. Looks like it's only holding together as well as it is because of its bond to Mannheim.
"The network-!"
"Yeah." Mannheim looks around. "Give me a boost?"
Assuming the doppelganger gives you the chance...
"Show me your ultimate folly. This… 'Life force' that resists me."
I can still feel the link between the seven of us and Mannheim, and it's simplicity itself to let the orange light flow, and it looks like the others feel the same. Mannheim glows brilliantly-
Ah, it's overconfidence will prove it's downfall.
"Mm."
There's a shimmering… Something just behind him. It's distorting-.
Hush Tube! First time OL's ever 'seen' one, isn't it?
Graviton deflator fire.
There's a small burst of energy as I destabilise… Whatever that was. Shadow Mannheim actually starts.
No escape now, blobby. Enjoy the good feelings coming your way.
Hah. No escape for you. No taking what you learned back to actual Darkseid.
Mannheim looks upwards, white light flowing off him and into the former Alliance of the Just headquarters in an approximation of my original plan. The glowing orange lines fade, replaced with brilliant white as the vital force of life itself shines out of the building. A moment passes and I feel it pass through me on its way out across the network. Scans show the remaining Justifiers who had been fighting other Justice League forces either dropping to the ground or staggering and looking around in stupefied bewilderment.
Let's hope that whitewashing includes a free course of trauma-preventing selective amnesia. Or a lot of those folks are not going to be well.
"Another time, then."
Shadow Mannheim fades out of existence as his bond with the network is destroyed. Nothing left to sustain him.
Break out the party poppers, this shit is
done!
And then I look out across the wrecked city, and-.
"Lantern."
...Ah, right.
Orion.
Orion walks towards me, pulling the ring off his finger.
"I would have words with you."
Almost as menacing as when a battle-damaged
Thor utters those words...
