Post by redsycorax on Aug 31, 2022 2:17:43 GMT
On Earth Q2, the Decima Plague wiped out all heterosexual humans on the face of that Earth after a reverse transcription error caused the mutation of a plague that had originally targeted lesbian and gay humans instead. As a consequence, all of Earth Q2's straight metahumans- Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Atom, the Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Donna Troy, Zatanna, Kid Flash, Aquaman, and countless others- perished. With a sharply reduced population, the survivors of this brave new world are engaging in reconstruction amidst forrmidable odds. While Superman and Starfire have left Earth due to heartbreak over the deaths of Lois Lane and Dick Grayson, nevertheless there is still a Justice League to defend this planet from those who would wish it harm. Together, Batwoman, the Question, Blitz, Green Lantern (Gan Malloy), Aquaman (Jackson Hyde), Starman (Mikaal Tomas), John Constantine, Krypton Man, Power Girl and Wonder Woman (Menalippe) stand alone against the darkness...
++
METROPOLIS:
"Welcome to WGBS World News, I'm Toby Raynes. On this evening's broadcast, we mark the fifth Remembrance Day since the global pandemic that transformed our world forever. Not a man, woman or non-binary person alive today can forget that in a matter of several tragic weeks, many of us lost former partners, parents, grandparents, children, relatives, friends, workmates and nine-tenths of our world's population. We loved them, we lost them and we still cherish their memories. Today, Metropolis City Police Commissioner Margaret Sawyer spoke out about what today meant to her..."
"I lost my beautiful daughter, my little girl, my darling Jamie, to that plague and it still hurts. I would gladly exchange the world around us now just to hear her voice, hug her and hold my child close again. I don't claim to have any particular distinguishing mark that privileges my grief above anyone else here today, but the fact remains that those indelible losses have affected all of us deeply. Some of us ... did not make it out the other side, and could not live without their beloved straight parents, children and friends around them. Today, we remember them as well." In her Kate Kane persona, Batwoman leant forward and softly kissed her wife on her forehead, joining her tears with those of the woman she loved more than anything else on that world. They'd had so few years together as a family before Decima ripped all of that away from them.
GOTHAM:
As she strode the Gotham streets and laid into anyone who tried to disturb the sanctity of that evening, the Question (Renee Montoya) wondered when she'd find time to mark the deaths of those she'd cared for. Although the 'anti-straight" group Razor had faded into the mists of historical record, some of the more blase and marginalised supervillains and everyday street crooks saw no reason to behave any differently from the way they usually did. The truth was, despite her combat proficiency and fighting prowess, the Question resented the demands and priorities that this duty placed on her, today of all days. This wasn't going to be a queer utopia any time soon, and no-one sane or sensible thought that it ever would be. Just because you loved the same sex or had transitioned to a different gender than that of your birth, that didn't mean that you suddenly got unhooked from alcohol or drug problems, the habits or damage of a previous lifetime, or antisocial or criminal predilections. But she had this sacred obligation, to protect the survivors of Gotham City at any time and any place, whether as a civilian police chief or as one of the masked superheroes that protected this city from its darker side. Damn it all to hell. Was tonight ever going to let up??!
JLA SATELLITE:
As he watched over the world below on JLA monitor duty, Green Lantern remembered what the world around him had been like before Decima descended. Hell, he'd just been a plain beat cop in Bludhaven, no different from any other everyday police officer, except dudes floated his boat. And for the most part, his colleagues accepted that. One or two of them had even been close friends and drinking buddies. And then, the plague had descended on humanity and around him, police hierarchy and colleagues were dropping around him and only a handful of LGBT Bludhaven police officers were left alive to deal with the disruption of services, deaths of valued professionals, emergency staff shortages, suicides of vulnerable people and the overwhelming of hospitals and clinics as the death toll mounted. The ordeal seemed as if it would never end, but gradually, it did abate. And then, one night, out on curfew patrol, these blue skinned dwarves. the Guardians, appeared to him and declared him, Police Officer Regan Molly, BCPD, Green Lantern of Earth and Sector 2813. And suddenly, his police experience, self-discipline and professional expertise came in handy on a far vaster scale than he'd been able to imagine. Unlike the other JLA members, Gan had been an orphan, but that didn't stop him being there for those who had undergone their own personal tragedies, and it never would. He wished he had what Kate and her Maggie had. Shame that Mikaal and John had hooked up so fast. Ah well, there was that date with Jackson to look forward to. Please, God, don't let there be some sudden interstellar emergency that takes me away from all this.
LONDON:
John Constantine waved as his lover Mikaal Tomas alighted on the pavement outside the pub:
"Thought you'd never get 'ere, Mik."
"Sorry, Jackson needed some help. Japanese whalers out in the Pacific, despite the International Prohibition Agreement. Not all of us are on the side of peace and love. C'mere, Constantine... mmmm..."
"Ah well, you're 'ere now and that's all that matters. So, we get plastered in memory of Zee, yeah?"
"And all those others. Weird that it's almost as if peace broke out. Although according to Gan up in orbit, that's not what Renee said about Gotham tonight. You'd think that tonight of all nights, people would remember everything we've lost and just put aside all of our old antagonisms, just for the space of a day or night. Which is what it does mean for most everyday, decent people. Right, I take it you've ordered food and booze?"
"You know me too well, gorgeous..." And with that, Constantine and Mikaal Tomas once more were lost in each other's eyes and in an embrace. Over Mikaal's shoulder, though, Constantine looked at the raft of photographs and wreaths and a lump came to his throat. Gemma. Zee. Chas. All those others. Even those prancing costume galleries over in the States. However much he played the hard man, tonight he would drown his sorrows and regrets, which, for him, were considerable.
SOPWITH BRIDGE:
And only a matter of kilometres away, over the English Channel, Krypton Man (Zar-Al) and Power Girl were putting together the final repairs to the immense engineering project that spanned the English Channel and connected Europe with the United Kingdom. For Power Girl, it was a matter of everyday responsibility and duty. Even if she'd grown up on a very different alternate Earth to this one originally, Kara Zor-L still loved this planet, even if the whole angle of xenosexuality wasn't for her. It might be different if she ever met an eligible surviving Kryptonian guy, but right now, she was technically asexual. That was fine with her current team mates, although she was aware of heroine worship amongst some of the younger lesbians out there. Heh. Okay, cool. Even if it wasn't for her, she was glad that she still lit some lights out there. It was different with Zar, though. Krypton had been very divergent from Earth when it came to many things and one of them had been the inclusion of sexuality. It had never been seen as a salient social differentiation back home and was just a mere variation. None of Krypton's major religions or philosophies had ever stigmatised it. And thus, Zar-Al had been brought up by Zal-Zu, both gay and so what? And then, Zal had sent Zar to the future after the end of Krypton to Superboy in Smallvile and tried to retrieve enough zeelium to thwart the destruction of Krypton. But it hadn't worked. Zar steered his timeship back to Krypton, or at least tried to do so. As Krypton began to disintegrate around him, Zal-Zu explained to his tearful son that he had locked the controls to prevent Zar throwing away his life and that at least one of them would survive the inevitable demise of their homeworld. And then Krypton had obliterated itself and the shock wave had thrown Zar-Al two millennia to into the future. He emerged near Earth, where he was energised once more by its ultrasolar radiation and joined the fortieth century Convocation of Meta Sapients - and fallen for Jeem Rehtu, the illusion casting Command Kid. They had spent two decades together, until the Dancing Sickness had ended their idyll. As an adult now, Zar-Al travelled back to Earth's past and witnessed the chaos of the world around him and his commitment to service and duty overrode all else. And thus, Earth gained a new Kryptonian champion. Although, he reflected ruefully, he would have given anything to have his own "Lois Lane"...
WASHINGTON DC:
Meanwhile, in the US capital, Wonder Woman (Menalippe), chosen successor to Themiscyra's late Princess Diana, was conducting a torrid game of beams and bracelets with her new paramount foe, Dersinoe, as the renegade Amazon sorceress absconded after an abortive attempt to ransack the Library of Congress for thaumaturgic volumes of ill repute. Scowling, the adept's hands weaved rapidly as they attempted to find a weakness that would cancel the Amazon warrior's prodigal strength and determination. Unfortunately for her, Menalippe was well-warded and was not succumbing to her enemy's spellcasts. As with many of her JLA colleagues, Menalippe ruefully reflected that she would rather be back on Themiscyra, doing homage to the memory of the late Queen Hippolyta and Princess Diana today, instead of thwarting the malice and greed of the renegade before her. She wasn't quite sure how Dersinoe had survived her period on Reformation Island unrehabilitated, and then, even worse, escaped to wreak havoc in "Patriarch's World" (except given the degree of gender equality that now existed in the surrounding world, was that even an accurate designation anymore? She was one of the most powerful members of the current Justice League configuration, as Princess Diana had been before her. Could this mean that the surrounding world had finally caught up to Themiscyra? If so, what did that mean for the Amazon nation's future? Unfortunately, not all Amazons held to the high ethical standards that the late Queen and Princess had so pre-eminently modelled. She was bemused by the outside world's stigmatisation and distrust of those who loved the same sex, though- it didn't matter at all back on Themiscyra. Unfortunately, though, as her other colleagues acknowledged, simply loving some of that same sex did not confer moral probity or exemplary virtue. Madeleine Giles was every atom as devious and predatory as the late Lex Luthor had been before her and still determined to covertly fund anything that obstructed the work and mission of the League as LexCorp's chief executive. And Dersinoe was her lover. How could she had fallen from the embrace of Hippolyta to entwine her life with someone like the ruthless, highly disciplined and intelligent LexCorp chief executive? Clearly, that was something that she had to raise with Queen Penthesilea when they next had their audience.
SUICIDE SLUM:
Obsidian was also cursing his luck that evening, but reminded himself that even if he really wanted to be at home with his husband Damon and their adopted daughter Jenny Lynn (named for his deceased sister Jade), he was on JLA deep surveillance duty this evening and that according to what Gan was feeding him from the satellite, at least Menalippe was having an equally torrid time of it. At which point, his luck changed for the worse. A large dumpster flung itself at him and although he shadowselved at once and absorbed the object into himself, it took effort. With that much ooomph, it was clear who was behind all this:
"Hello, Toddy."
"Manchester. I might have guessed. So that's what you meant when you said you were forty eight percent into guys."
"Aw, mate, don't be like that. Incidentally, that outfit really suits you."
"Sorry, I'm strictly a one-man man and that man is more man than you'll ever be."
"And why'd you cover up that face, sport? Because you're looking good..."
"Is that why you're trying to demolish the surroundings? Or is this your idea of pointless flirting?"
"Hey, I'm flattered I get one of the major Leaguers after me, though. All right, who's playin' sillybuggers with me psi?"
"That would be me, sorry." Aquaman emerged from the sea, arms folded.
"I'm more than a match for you, lad." Black furrowed his brow and concentrated his attention on Jackson Hyde, but to his shock, he found that the maritime telepath could match him in strength. In fact, it took effort to prevent him gaining the upper hand. Hellfire, he was out of practice. Time to play the hidden card in the deck.
And thus it was that Obsidian was blindsided by an adversary of his own: "Oh, come on! Triumph?"
"Light and dark, Obsidian. How symbolic."
"Yeah, well, I'm the son of Alan Scott and I know a thing or two about photonic manipulation or obscurance. Like how your abilities are dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum."
"Never underestimate me, Obsidian. Too many people have made that mistake before."
"What is this, anyway, mercenary failed superhero talent evening?"
Triumph turned and was instantly felled by a blackout bomb. Obsidian grinned:
"Hey, Selina. Nicely handled."
"I try my best. Oh no you don't, MacIntyre. You're not getting away that easily." Catwoman managed a strong uppercut.
Meanwhile, Manchester Black's contest of telepathic wills against Jackson Hyde was not going particularly well, either. Damn it all, he would have to come up against someone who was the kid of a major supervillain and had a tactical advantage because of that. It meant that every time Black tried to use a ruse against the younger man, Hyde realised what he was doing and almost immediately countered it. And there was no denying it, the bloke was a powerful telepath. Suddenly, this evening promenade to secure STAR Lab scientific secrets in their covert lab in downtown Metropolis didn't seem as promising as it had when Billy Boy over there had talked him into it. That'd probably teach him to overestimate the prowess of previous bedmates when it came to push and shove. Bill MacIntyre was just a pretty face, it turned out. At which point, Jackson Hyde pressed home his advantage and landed a punch. Manchester realised that even with his dutch courage and egotism, it was highly unlikely that he'd make it out of here unhindered unless he resorted to a cheat. And thus, no-one was particularly surprised when he activated a teleport and got out of the alleyway battlefield.
This left the Justice League trio nonplussed and annoyed. Obsidian hauled Triumph to his feet:
"Right, MacIntyre, talk. Who put you up to this?"
"I'm not talking until I get a lawyer. Miranda rights haven't been suspended, or did I miss something?"
"Damn. He's right. Which means I can't get a telepathic scan in, either. Any evidence to that effect would be automatically nullified in court." Aquaman cursed.
"Uh, guys? I'm thinking that this is probably some kind of new Injustice Gang. It figures. First Mads escapes from the Phantom Zone and can't be returned there, now this. So, she's basically assembled a squad of heavy hitters or would-be heavy hitters to take us on." Catwoman offered.
"Damn, lady, Batman taught you well."
"What can I say? Batwoman, Question and I have been racking up a lot of combat time together and some of it rubbed off."
EPILOGUE: PALLAS:
As a battered and bruised Manchester Black stumbled off the teleport pad, he was met by a solicitous Kanto the Assassin. He relaxed into the other's arms:
"Hello, sexy."
"Don't you ever stop with the chat up lines, Manchester?"
"Oh come on, Kanty. You've slept with Leonardo da Vinci, remember? He must have tried out his fair share on you."
"Yes, but it sounded better in Renaissance Italian. Although I do admit you're seriously cute. Come on, let's get you tidied up and debriefed."
"Oh, is that what you call it?"
Kanto delivered a slap to Manchester's behind: "Behave!"
"You do have strong hands, Kanty..."
As the banter dwindled into indecipherability, Madeleine Giles lit a cigarette and cursed her foul luck:
"I knew I shouldn't have listened to Triumph. The man's a pathological boaster. At least he was only into the first echelon stages and can't give away too much."
Dersinoe brought a wine glass for her lover: "I'll cheer you up, dearest. Our recruitment efforts have borne abundant fruit."
"How intriguing, my love. Tell me more."
"My network has located Nyssa Rattko al-Ghul, and that's not all. Edward Nigma, the Riddler, is still in the land of the living. As is Barbara Minerva, the current Cheetah."
"Excellent news. We need more experienced and cunning operatives and both of them are matches for Batwoman, Catwoman and Wonder Woman. Now, we just need to find more men who can be used as foils against the other significant players in the Justice League. At least we have some strategic assets. Even if he can be a boastful oaf, Black is a cardinal pawn in our game of nerves."
Dersinoe kissed her lover on the lips: "Oh, I do love it when you talk villainy."
And thus, Remembrance Day ended on Earth-Q2, for good or for ill. Or for both.
THE END [2.20 PM, SEPTEMBER 1, 2022]
++
METROPOLIS:
"Welcome to WGBS World News, I'm Toby Raynes. On this evening's broadcast, we mark the fifth Remembrance Day since the global pandemic that transformed our world forever. Not a man, woman or non-binary person alive today can forget that in a matter of several tragic weeks, many of us lost former partners, parents, grandparents, children, relatives, friends, workmates and nine-tenths of our world's population. We loved them, we lost them and we still cherish their memories. Today, Metropolis City Police Commissioner Margaret Sawyer spoke out about what today meant to her..."
"I lost my beautiful daughter, my little girl, my darling Jamie, to that plague and it still hurts. I would gladly exchange the world around us now just to hear her voice, hug her and hold my child close again. I don't claim to have any particular distinguishing mark that privileges my grief above anyone else here today, but the fact remains that those indelible losses have affected all of us deeply. Some of us ... did not make it out the other side, and could not live without their beloved straight parents, children and friends around them. Today, we remember them as well." In her Kate Kane persona, Batwoman leant forward and softly kissed her wife on her forehead, joining her tears with those of the woman she loved more than anything else on that world. They'd had so few years together as a family before Decima ripped all of that away from them.
GOTHAM:
As she strode the Gotham streets and laid into anyone who tried to disturb the sanctity of that evening, the Question (Renee Montoya) wondered when she'd find time to mark the deaths of those she'd cared for. Although the 'anti-straight" group Razor had faded into the mists of historical record, some of the more blase and marginalised supervillains and everyday street crooks saw no reason to behave any differently from the way they usually did. The truth was, despite her combat proficiency and fighting prowess, the Question resented the demands and priorities that this duty placed on her, today of all days. This wasn't going to be a queer utopia any time soon, and no-one sane or sensible thought that it ever would be. Just because you loved the same sex or had transitioned to a different gender than that of your birth, that didn't mean that you suddenly got unhooked from alcohol or drug problems, the habits or damage of a previous lifetime, or antisocial or criminal predilections. But she had this sacred obligation, to protect the survivors of Gotham City at any time and any place, whether as a civilian police chief or as one of the masked superheroes that protected this city from its darker side. Damn it all to hell. Was tonight ever going to let up??!
JLA SATELLITE:
As he watched over the world below on JLA monitor duty, Green Lantern remembered what the world around him had been like before Decima descended. Hell, he'd just been a plain beat cop in Bludhaven, no different from any other everyday police officer, except dudes floated his boat. And for the most part, his colleagues accepted that. One or two of them had even been close friends and drinking buddies. And then, the plague had descended on humanity and around him, police hierarchy and colleagues were dropping around him and only a handful of LGBT Bludhaven police officers were left alive to deal with the disruption of services, deaths of valued professionals, emergency staff shortages, suicides of vulnerable people and the overwhelming of hospitals and clinics as the death toll mounted. The ordeal seemed as if it would never end, but gradually, it did abate. And then, one night, out on curfew patrol, these blue skinned dwarves. the Guardians, appeared to him and declared him, Police Officer Regan Molly, BCPD, Green Lantern of Earth and Sector 2813. And suddenly, his police experience, self-discipline and professional expertise came in handy on a far vaster scale than he'd been able to imagine. Unlike the other JLA members, Gan had been an orphan, but that didn't stop him being there for those who had undergone their own personal tragedies, and it never would. He wished he had what Kate and her Maggie had. Shame that Mikaal and John had hooked up so fast. Ah well, there was that date with Jackson to look forward to. Please, God, don't let there be some sudden interstellar emergency that takes me away from all this.
LONDON:
John Constantine waved as his lover Mikaal Tomas alighted on the pavement outside the pub:
"Thought you'd never get 'ere, Mik."
"Sorry, Jackson needed some help. Japanese whalers out in the Pacific, despite the International Prohibition Agreement. Not all of us are on the side of peace and love. C'mere, Constantine... mmmm..."
"Ah well, you're 'ere now and that's all that matters. So, we get plastered in memory of Zee, yeah?"
"And all those others. Weird that it's almost as if peace broke out. Although according to Gan up in orbit, that's not what Renee said about Gotham tonight. You'd think that tonight of all nights, people would remember everything we've lost and just put aside all of our old antagonisms, just for the space of a day or night. Which is what it does mean for most everyday, decent people. Right, I take it you've ordered food and booze?"
"You know me too well, gorgeous..." And with that, Constantine and Mikaal Tomas once more were lost in each other's eyes and in an embrace. Over Mikaal's shoulder, though, Constantine looked at the raft of photographs and wreaths and a lump came to his throat. Gemma. Zee. Chas. All those others. Even those prancing costume galleries over in the States. However much he played the hard man, tonight he would drown his sorrows and regrets, which, for him, were considerable.
SOPWITH BRIDGE:
And only a matter of kilometres away, over the English Channel, Krypton Man (Zar-Al) and Power Girl were putting together the final repairs to the immense engineering project that spanned the English Channel and connected Europe with the United Kingdom. For Power Girl, it was a matter of everyday responsibility and duty. Even if she'd grown up on a very different alternate Earth to this one originally, Kara Zor-L still loved this planet, even if the whole angle of xenosexuality wasn't for her. It might be different if she ever met an eligible surviving Kryptonian guy, but right now, she was technically asexual. That was fine with her current team mates, although she was aware of heroine worship amongst some of the younger lesbians out there. Heh. Okay, cool. Even if it wasn't for her, she was glad that she still lit some lights out there. It was different with Zar, though. Krypton had been very divergent from Earth when it came to many things and one of them had been the inclusion of sexuality. It had never been seen as a salient social differentiation back home and was just a mere variation. None of Krypton's major religions or philosophies had ever stigmatised it. And thus, Zar-Al had been brought up by Zal-Zu, both gay and so what? And then, Zal had sent Zar to the future after the end of Krypton to Superboy in Smallvile and tried to retrieve enough zeelium to thwart the destruction of Krypton. But it hadn't worked. Zar steered his timeship back to Krypton, or at least tried to do so. As Krypton began to disintegrate around him, Zal-Zu explained to his tearful son that he had locked the controls to prevent Zar throwing away his life and that at least one of them would survive the inevitable demise of their homeworld. And then Krypton had obliterated itself and the shock wave had thrown Zar-Al two millennia to into the future. He emerged near Earth, where he was energised once more by its ultrasolar radiation and joined the fortieth century Convocation of Meta Sapients - and fallen for Jeem Rehtu, the illusion casting Command Kid. They had spent two decades together, until the Dancing Sickness had ended their idyll. As an adult now, Zar-Al travelled back to Earth's past and witnessed the chaos of the world around him and his commitment to service and duty overrode all else. And thus, Earth gained a new Kryptonian champion. Although, he reflected ruefully, he would have given anything to have his own "Lois Lane"...
WASHINGTON DC:
Meanwhile, in the US capital, Wonder Woman (Menalippe), chosen successor to Themiscyra's late Princess Diana, was conducting a torrid game of beams and bracelets with her new paramount foe, Dersinoe, as the renegade Amazon sorceress absconded after an abortive attempt to ransack the Library of Congress for thaumaturgic volumes of ill repute. Scowling, the adept's hands weaved rapidly as they attempted to find a weakness that would cancel the Amazon warrior's prodigal strength and determination. Unfortunately for her, Menalippe was well-warded and was not succumbing to her enemy's spellcasts. As with many of her JLA colleagues, Menalippe ruefully reflected that she would rather be back on Themiscyra, doing homage to the memory of the late Queen Hippolyta and Princess Diana today, instead of thwarting the malice and greed of the renegade before her. She wasn't quite sure how Dersinoe had survived her period on Reformation Island unrehabilitated, and then, even worse, escaped to wreak havoc in "Patriarch's World" (except given the degree of gender equality that now existed in the surrounding world, was that even an accurate designation anymore? She was one of the most powerful members of the current Justice League configuration, as Princess Diana had been before her. Could this mean that the surrounding world had finally caught up to Themiscyra? If so, what did that mean for the Amazon nation's future? Unfortunately, not all Amazons held to the high ethical standards that the late Queen and Princess had so pre-eminently modelled. She was bemused by the outside world's stigmatisation and distrust of those who loved the same sex, though- it didn't matter at all back on Themiscyra. Unfortunately, though, as her other colleagues acknowledged, simply loving some of that same sex did not confer moral probity or exemplary virtue. Madeleine Giles was every atom as devious and predatory as the late Lex Luthor had been before her and still determined to covertly fund anything that obstructed the work and mission of the League as LexCorp's chief executive. And Dersinoe was her lover. How could she had fallen from the embrace of Hippolyta to entwine her life with someone like the ruthless, highly disciplined and intelligent LexCorp chief executive? Clearly, that was something that she had to raise with Queen Penthesilea when they next had their audience.
SUICIDE SLUM:
Obsidian was also cursing his luck that evening, but reminded himself that even if he really wanted to be at home with his husband Damon and their adopted daughter Jenny Lynn (named for his deceased sister Jade), he was on JLA deep surveillance duty this evening and that according to what Gan was feeding him from the satellite, at least Menalippe was having an equally torrid time of it. At which point, his luck changed for the worse. A large dumpster flung itself at him and although he shadowselved at once and absorbed the object into himself, it took effort. With that much ooomph, it was clear who was behind all this:
"Hello, Toddy."
"Manchester. I might have guessed. So that's what you meant when you said you were forty eight percent into guys."
"Aw, mate, don't be like that. Incidentally, that outfit really suits you."
"Sorry, I'm strictly a one-man man and that man is more man than you'll ever be."
"And why'd you cover up that face, sport? Because you're looking good..."
"Is that why you're trying to demolish the surroundings? Or is this your idea of pointless flirting?"
"Hey, I'm flattered I get one of the major Leaguers after me, though. All right, who's playin' sillybuggers with me psi?"
"That would be me, sorry." Aquaman emerged from the sea, arms folded.
"I'm more than a match for you, lad." Black furrowed his brow and concentrated his attention on Jackson Hyde, but to his shock, he found that the maritime telepath could match him in strength. In fact, it took effort to prevent him gaining the upper hand. Hellfire, he was out of practice. Time to play the hidden card in the deck.
And thus it was that Obsidian was blindsided by an adversary of his own: "Oh, come on! Triumph?"
"Light and dark, Obsidian. How symbolic."
"Yeah, well, I'm the son of Alan Scott and I know a thing or two about photonic manipulation or obscurance. Like how your abilities are dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum."
"Never underestimate me, Obsidian. Too many people have made that mistake before."
"What is this, anyway, mercenary failed superhero talent evening?"
Triumph turned and was instantly felled by a blackout bomb. Obsidian grinned:
"Hey, Selina. Nicely handled."
"I try my best. Oh no you don't, MacIntyre. You're not getting away that easily." Catwoman managed a strong uppercut.
Meanwhile, Manchester Black's contest of telepathic wills against Jackson Hyde was not going particularly well, either. Damn it all, he would have to come up against someone who was the kid of a major supervillain and had a tactical advantage because of that. It meant that every time Black tried to use a ruse against the younger man, Hyde realised what he was doing and almost immediately countered it. And there was no denying it, the bloke was a powerful telepath. Suddenly, this evening promenade to secure STAR Lab scientific secrets in their covert lab in downtown Metropolis didn't seem as promising as it had when Billy Boy over there had talked him into it. That'd probably teach him to overestimate the prowess of previous bedmates when it came to push and shove. Bill MacIntyre was just a pretty face, it turned out. At which point, Jackson Hyde pressed home his advantage and landed a punch. Manchester realised that even with his dutch courage and egotism, it was highly unlikely that he'd make it out of here unhindered unless he resorted to a cheat. And thus, no-one was particularly surprised when he activated a teleport and got out of the alleyway battlefield.
This left the Justice League trio nonplussed and annoyed. Obsidian hauled Triumph to his feet:
"Right, MacIntyre, talk. Who put you up to this?"
"I'm not talking until I get a lawyer. Miranda rights haven't been suspended, or did I miss something?"
"Damn. He's right. Which means I can't get a telepathic scan in, either. Any evidence to that effect would be automatically nullified in court." Aquaman cursed.
"Uh, guys? I'm thinking that this is probably some kind of new Injustice Gang. It figures. First Mads escapes from the Phantom Zone and can't be returned there, now this. So, she's basically assembled a squad of heavy hitters or would-be heavy hitters to take us on." Catwoman offered.
"Damn, lady, Batman taught you well."
"What can I say? Batwoman, Question and I have been racking up a lot of combat time together and some of it rubbed off."
EPILOGUE: PALLAS:
As a battered and bruised Manchester Black stumbled off the teleport pad, he was met by a solicitous Kanto the Assassin. He relaxed into the other's arms:
"Hello, sexy."
"Don't you ever stop with the chat up lines, Manchester?"
"Oh come on, Kanty. You've slept with Leonardo da Vinci, remember? He must have tried out his fair share on you."
"Yes, but it sounded better in Renaissance Italian. Although I do admit you're seriously cute. Come on, let's get you tidied up and debriefed."
"Oh, is that what you call it?"
Kanto delivered a slap to Manchester's behind: "Behave!"
"You do have strong hands, Kanty..."
As the banter dwindled into indecipherability, Madeleine Giles lit a cigarette and cursed her foul luck:
"I knew I shouldn't have listened to Triumph. The man's a pathological boaster. At least he was only into the first echelon stages and can't give away too much."
Dersinoe brought a wine glass for her lover: "I'll cheer you up, dearest. Our recruitment efforts have borne abundant fruit."
"How intriguing, my love. Tell me more."
"My network has located Nyssa Rattko al-Ghul, and that's not all. Edward Nigma, the Riddler, is still in the land of the living. As is Barbara Minerva, the current Cheetah."
"Excellent news. We need more experienced and cunning operatives and both of them are matches for Batwoman, Catwoman and Wonder Woman. Now, we just need to find more men who can be used as foils against the other significant players in the Justice League. At least we have some strategic assets. Even if he can be a boastful oaf, Black is a cardinal pawn in our game of nerves."
Dersinoe kissed her lover on the lips: "Oh, I do love it when you talk villainy."
And thus, Remembrance Day ended on Earth-Q2, for good or for ill. Or for both.
THE END [2.20 PM, SEPTEMBER 1, 2022]