NOVEL WEB We Have Much to Discuss
11 chapters in my Patreon.
Patreon.com/Saintbarbido.
I messed up guys, this is the real chapter 14.
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(General P.O.V)
A few things happened almost at the same time. The eruption of power instigated by the clash of the divine and Spiritual energy would not have looked out of place in a battlefield. Streaks of lightning washed out, blasting everything at close range.
Captain Atom being the only thing at that proximity, took the blunt of the attack. The energy was nullified by his own aura of nuclear energy, failing to really hurt him. What it did was obscure his vision. When the light show ended, it was to find that Davian was nowhere to be seen. Somehow he was gone. That took a backseat to something more immediate.
Captain Atom wasted no time to dive after his teammates, their descent aided by the massive pressure blast caused by Shazam's lightning and Davian's own power.
He managed to grab Green Lantern on his right hand and Canary was safely soon held by his left arm. The fall slowed down as Atom directed their flight path towards where he could see some of the other Leaguers.
Atom went over the cordon before the eyes of the many officers, stopping next to Superman who was watching the child form of Shazam get attended to by the authorities. Welp, that was definitely going to be a problem later as the backlash from the public came in. No one would be okay with the fact that one of the League members was a kid.
"Are they both okay?"
The man of Steel asked in concern. Batman was there in a flash, kneeling over Canary and checking her vitals.
"She's fine. Merely unconscious."
Superman's eyes lost the glow as he deactivated his supervision to see past Green Lantern's environmental cloak.
"Stewart is okay as well."
He turned around to face the sky.
"He's gone..."
Captain Atom's fists powered down. Superman was right. There seemed to be nothing in the sky.
A different figure descended from the sky. WonderWoman looked at the devastation caused. The docks were no more, just a flat piece of space with broken and shredded metal, a few spoiled commodities and nothing much.
"What happened?"
She enquired looking around at the destruction.
"A hundred million worth of damages."
Batman growled out, quickly tapping on his wrist device.
"I've called for the Batwing, it would not be wise to leave League members with the authorities in case their secret identities are compromised."
He added, obviously referencing Shazam and the other two.
Superman and Wonder Woman shared a look.
"That's obvious isn't it?"
The Themiscyrian princess wondered.
"Mmmh."
Batman grunted as he walked away, approaching Harvey who was standing around with his officers, before one of the only intact shipments to survive the fight.
"How's Flash?"
Captain Atom questioned WonderWoman.
"The same."
She sighed.
"I had to restrain him with my truth lasso and order him not to escape."
"Wait, you can do that?"
Superman wondered.
A cheeky smile was all he got. Then Diana's face changed.
"What really happened?"
The expressions on both Supermen changed.
"A lot."
"Batman! Batman!"
A few reporters called out as The Dark Knight crossed the distance between him and the police.
"Yes?"
Batman growled at Harvey Bullock, not in the mood for small talk. He'd walked over after noticing how the Stand in commissioner was eyeing him. It was clear he wanted to talk.
"We found something."
Bullock replied before addressing the cops with him.
"Rip it open boys."
There was a grating sound as the metal was pulled apart by their combined effort, exposing something that made everyone recoil in shock. Bodies, pale and very clearly dead were revealed. Some looked to be no older than 10, young children exposed to the cruelty of life. Further in and the bodies were burnt or crushed into meat paste owing to the fight that had ensued.
The smell was bad. Enough to make everyone around but Batman start retching in nausea. Batman on the other hand was not amused. Something had been going on. Something that had happened right under his nose.
His mind was clearing up somewhat and that allowed him to see some inconsistencies with his memories. For starters, he did not remember having any base this close to the docks. It was too risky. Secondly, how had he missed this? He knew himself, he would have picked up on the clues.
"Something isn't right here."
One question remained. Who was the enemy? And where were they hiding?
(Elsewhere)
Psimon and Deathstroke watched the scene from a different space entirely. A dimension created by mirror master.
"What should we do?"
Psimon enquired.
"We not only lost the asset, the white Martian from Maalefalaak's insurgent group is very much not alive. This is...bad."
Deathstroke hummed, tapping the fingers of his left hand on the forearm of his other arm.
"Nothing much. What we need to do is make sure that we erase our tracks. Deploy the agent."
Back on the scene of the dead bodies, a green cloud of gas exploded from within the container.
"Everyone get back."
Superman informed them, flying in as the ground around the container was quickly devoured by the acid.
"What about the bodies?"
An officer asked.
Batman straightened up from his crouch, holding up a swab stick, with a d.n.a sample from one of the corpses. The acid quickly ate through the bodies turning them into a gooey mess.
"There's nothing we can do. The acid is fast acting."
He narrowed his eyes.
"They were prepared."
"I'll grab Shazam."
Wonder Woman informed them as the scene started crawling with more law enforcement agencies and reporters. The League might have been recognized by most but there were definitely outliers that chose to display their blatant dislike for them.
"Sometimes I hate Gotham." Superman uncharacteristically told Batman as both watched the bodies dissolve.
"It feels as if nothing good can come out of this place."
The hum of the Batwing arriving cut off anything Batman was going to say.
The Dark Knight had a lot of questions. And, he was only now realizing that maybe, just maybe, this was deeper than Jim Gordon's death, deeper than Davian Mabuz, deeper than the Batman's revenge of a fallen friend.
(Davian's P.O.V)
I'm floating. I don't know where or why but I'm floating. Body suspended in zero gravity. A heavy and light feeling pressing and pulling on my skin and flesh. The weight of my own Reiryoku like a thick blanket, smothering and incredibly warm. Too warm.
A pair of Torquise eyes, appear before me. Bright and mischievous. Following the eyes, white teeth set in a too wide smile become visible. Slowly the face becomes visible. A cat, a really huge cat. It's gaze makes me feel like a mouse.
"Oh stop it. I'm not in the mood to chase and hunt right now...hahaha."
A deep voice rumbled out of the cat. I immediately wish I could get control of my body and just...escape this thing.
It rolls it's head in a complete 360 degrees.
"I haven't introduced myself and you are already spooked? Nice, I must be doing something right then."
It states, disappearing into the nothingness of the darkness and appearing close to my left ear.
"So...you want to know me?"
It asks and I find myself nodding in response, despite the terror of the unknown before me.
"As you wish, you can call me... ch!;'*$+((-"@@#. "
It paused, the grin washing of it's face as a disinterested look comes over it.
"I thought for sure this time would work."
It muses.
"Oh well," I felt an impact on every single inch of my body.
"Run along little mouse. You are not ready."
My eyes widened as I sprang awake. Looking around, I panicked a little upon seeing the different environment. I was no longer chained to the chair as Batman's prisoner. Then I asked myself why I was panicking over that. I was lying on a bed in a small generic room. It had a table and a wooden chair with a few clothes slung over it.
I brought my palms to cover my face in relief. I was out...I was free. Kinda...
What the fuck had happened? Then there was that dream...yeah you know what, let's just forget about the dream.
My body felt sore and achey all over. I removed the sheet covering me and found myself wrapped in bandages around my mid section. Pressing a palm over the tender flesh made me wince in a little pain. I swung my legs off the bed with another sigh.
When I tried to stand on my feet, I was hit with a momentary feeling of vertigo, groaning before sitting back down on the bed.
No...I couldn't stay. Not without knowing where I was. All I wanted to do was go back inside the sheets and sleep for an eternity. Something forced me not to. I can't explain it, it could have been self preservation or fear but I forced myself to stand up and wear the clothes.
A simple button down shirt and grey pants. Then a pair of sneakers completed the look. I looked at myself on the mirror in the small bathroom inside the room. Good enough, if you consider that I had basically not had a moment of peace since coming to this world. There was a light stubble on my chin and my hair was singed in places.
"Work with what you got Davian."
I slapped myself lightly, before turning on my heels. I still felt the urgent need to leave and go... somewhere. A sort of pull that I could not see, merely feel.
And so, I chose not to ignore it any longer, lest it got annoying. As I was walking out of the room, my legs tripped on something placed at the corner of the bed. I frowned, reaching down to grab... a...sword? The handle was matte black and the length from the cross guard to the tip of the sheathed weapon was about 3 feet long.
I grabbed the body of the sheath and pulled out the blade, whistling at the straight, double edged Longsword. There was also the matter of the familiarity, I could feel from the sword.
"I don't know where you came from but I'm not leaving you alone in here."
I muttered, instinctively placing the weapon behind my back.
Somehow it stayed there without falling off. I hoped I wouldn't need it to face whatever was outside the door. I pushed it open, expecting something crazy.
The hallway revealed on the other side was at first glance, almost too normal. The walls were covered with renaissance-era styled paintings, depicting nobles, knights, and battles. As I walked further down the hallway, I noticed the style of the paintings change, and they depicted life in the 1700s, then the 1800s, and finally the 1950s.
At the end of the hallway, I was met with a strange staircase, where going up meant going down, and going down meant going up. It was... uncomfortable for my eyes. Space seemed to warp and twist. This place was definitely not normal. I grabbed the handle of the longsword behind me and then stepped on the staircase.
The world stop spinning but I found myself walking upside down. After what felt like an eternity, I reached the top/bottom of the staircase and pushed open the massive wooden door infront of me. I wanted to get as far away from the strange staircase as I could.
To my surprise, I found myself inside a huge chamber outfitted with large suits of armor lining the walls. The suits all had the same color pallet and make. Weirdly enough, it felt as if something was watching me. The grip on the sword tightened. I wasted no time, crossing the distance to the end of the chamber, stopping infront of another door.
I then pushed it open.
This particular one was different. It swung open to reveal a massive library. One filled with books of all shapes and sizes. Books that were actually flying through the air, sorting themselves out on the shelves. My jaw almost dropped as I looked around, taking in the sheer size and beauty of the library.
It was massive, almost too massive. Opulent chandeliers hang overhead on a ceiling that shifted color to show voluminous grey clouds. The walls were laden with flashing symbols, glowing with power. Power that made my skin shiver. I won't lie, my hold on the handle of the longsword behind me was a vice grip.
This...none of this was what could be termed as normal
It was hard to believe what I was seeing. I has no idea where I was or how I got there. Suddenly, one of the flying books swooped down towards me, hovering in front of my face. I reached out to touch it, but it quickly darted away.
"It's like magic." I muttered.
"It is magic. Oh and seems like you're awake."
I felt a presence to my side and quickly turned to face whoever it was, unsheathing the sword and pointing it their way.
An older gentleman with gray hairs and a bright but mischievous smile looked at me. Next to him was a girl dressed in a purple leotard and a hood that covered most of her head. I blinked in realization. She was very familiar. I think I was staring at Raven.
"We have much to discuss, Davian Mabuz. You can call me Kent Nelson."
The man told me.
Kent Nelson? Wait... isn't that the identity of Doctor Fate?