NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: Regroup
The Man:
Stepping through a portal, back into New Metropolis, I look around and the first thing I see is Batman being struck by a lightning bolt. Screaming as his whole body lights up, Batman somehow stays on his feet. It's only a second later when I see Kara behind him.
"He's protecting Kara," I think.
I follow the lightning bolt and turn to see Black Adam in the sky. With his hands out in front, Black Adam keeps shooting lightning at Batman until finally, he stops. As Black Adam stops, Batman is left shaking and smoking. Even from where I'm standing, I can still hear Batman moaning. He's trying to suck it up, but it's no use. Batman drops to his knees before falling flat against the ground.
"Take her," Black Adam orders. With the point of his finger, One Earth soldiers surrounding Kara and Batman advance toward them. For some reason, despite the advancing soldiers, Kara isn't moving. It's like she's in a trance.
Seeing Black Adam high in the sky, the advancing soldiers, and a stunned Kara, I grind my teeth. I dig my fingers into the palms of my hands. I breathe in and out through my nose as I feel the power rushing throughout my body.
"No," I cry, shutting my eyes. "I can't!"
I think back to only a few minutes ago when I became something else.
"I can't," I repeat, opening my eyes. Instead, I pull in my arms before shooting them back. As I shoot out my arms, dual black boxes appear in my hands. I push a button on both of the boxes. They open up with shining blades coming out of them.
"Just because I refuse to use powers," I think, "Doesn't mean I can't use skills!"
Spinning the handles, I hold my swords with the blades facing down before charging into battle. As I let out a battle cry, I grab the attention of all the soldiers and even Black Adam himself.
John Constantine:
"I don't fight it," I say. "Stop fighting it! Just let yourself remember!"
Holding up my hand, standing behind a magical shield, I watch from behind the shield as Ms. Lance struggles with the sudden intake of her real memory. On her knees, screaming into the air, holding her head, I smile when I see Ms. Lance open her eyes.
"Oliver," she moans. "Oliver Queen. He's...He is...He is my husband."
"Not exactly," I say, lowering my hand and causing the shield to dispense. "He is but at the same time, not exactly."
Walking up to Ms. Lance, I offer her my hand. Though a little hesitant, Ms. Lance still takes it. As I pull Ms. Lance up onto her feet, I immediately sense the presence of a powerful magical begin. I feel myself smiling again.
Despite Ms. Lance being back on her feet, I can tell the sudden flood of her real memory is still messing with her head.
"She's in no condition to fight," I think. "Bloody hell."
Letting Ms. Lance lean on me, I turn to see the others still managing to hold the soldiers back. As I watch young Mr. Reyes shoot and knock a One Earth soldier to the floor, I start to hear a voice in my head.
"Constantine," the voice yells. "Constantine! Can you hear me! Answer me, you British bastard!"
I recognize the voice and roll my eyes.
"Well, hello there," I telepathy say. "How was your trip to the Lords of Order realm?"
"It was really chilly," the man in the sunglasses answers.
"What?"
"Never mind. Listen, is Dinah Lance with you? Does she have her real memory?"
"Yes."
"Awesome. Gather everyone around! We're getting the heck out of here!"
"Wait! Ares, Mr. Cold, Ms. Ivy, and Mr. Flash aren't with us!"
"Who is with you exactly! Ahh! I'll call you later!"
The Man then ends the call.
"What a dick," I think.
"Yeah, screw you too," The Man says, startling me.
Poison Ivy:
"Lisa," Leonard says, dropping to his knees. "Lisa. Lisa!"
Raising his arms into the air, Leonard then slams them onto the floor. He slams his arms over and over, screaming Lisa's name the whole time.
"Leonard," I shout but he ignores me.
"Lisa," Leonard says again. "I'm so sorry! I couldn't do anything! Again! Again! Again! Again!"
"Leonard," I shout. I reach for Leonard's shoulder but he shakes my hand away.
"Poison Ivy," someone yells. I turn around to see Ares holding a soldier by his throat while pushing another back with his sword. A third soldier rushes in but Ares raises his foot and kicks him back. "I am getting a telepathic message from The Man. He is telling us it is time to leave! We must leave New Metropolis at once!"
"Got it," I say. "Just buy us a few more seconds!"
Ares nods and throws the soldier he's holding into the soldier he's pushing against. With his arms free now, Ares throws his sword, his sword vanishing into thin air. Ares then brings his hands together and fires some sort of blast. The red and black blasts hit a group of soldiers and knock them all down.
"Promise me," Lisa said to me. "Promise me. Keep my brother safe."
I look down at Leonard as he keeps on shouting and slamming his hands down. I close my hand and look at my shaking fist.
"I will keep my promise," I say to Lisa. "Please don't be mad at me for what I'm about to do."
I grab Leonard's shoulder, holding onto it despite him trying to shake me off and make him turn around. Face to face now, I slap Leonard across the face.
"We have to go," I yell. "Now!"
Leonard holding his chin looks at me. He looks at Ares and then back at me. Staring right at Leonard, I step back as he grabs his cold gun. Getting up, Leonard turns his cold gun on.
"Ares," he yells. "Move!"
Ares hearing Cold uses his magic to disappear. The second Ares is out of the way, Cold fires and makes a thick ice wall. The soldiers get back on their feet and fire at the ice wall but they don't even crack the ice.
"Get us out of here," Leonard says. Before I know it, red smoke start to surround Leonard and me. It's only a few seconds later before we disappear as well.
Supergirl:
Letting out a sigh after reliving all those memories with my Mom, I look around but I can't believe what I'm seeing.
A One Earth soldier screams as The Man punches him across the face. This soldier is the last one. He falls to the ground, adding to the dozen and dozen of other soldiers already lying there.
"Shazam," Black Adam yells from high in the sky. I watch from behind The Man as Black Adam fires a massive bolt of lightning at him. Seeing the lightning charging toward The Man, he places his swords together, making an X out of them.
The lightning hits The Man, pushing him back a little. However, The Man somehow is able to absorb it. He absorbs all the lightning from Black Adam before turning around and swinging his two swords. As The Man swings his sword, he unleashes a wave of lightning that lights up the whole sky. The wave of lightning hits Black Adam and electrocuting him before knocking him back.
A smoking, twitching Black Adam falls out of the sky, the ground shaking as he hits it. The Man turns around and sees me. He runs over to me, dropping to his knees and placing his hand on my shoulder.
"Kara," he says, "Are you...okay?"
"I'm better than okay," I cry. "I remember everything. I remember everything that really happened. I remember my mom. I remember running with her, helping her with her research. I even remember her sacrificing herself so I could escape."
"I'm sorry you had to remember that last part."
"Don't be. As painful as it is, I still want to remember. She sacrificed herself so I could come here."
The Man smiles, and seeing him smile, makes me smile.
"Come on," The Man says, offering me a hand. I take his hand and together, we stand up. About to walk away, I stop, pulling The Man's hand and stopping him as well.
"Wait," I say, "We can't leave yet. Bruce!"
I look around and see Bruce lying on the ground. I let go of The Man's and rush to Bruce's side.
"Bruce," I say, slowly lifting him up. "Bruce! Are you okay? Can you hear me?"
I shake Bruce gently. As I shake him, I notice glowing wires appearing on him.
"What are these? They can't be breaks in time. Can them?"
"No," The Man answers, dropping to his knees beside Bruce with me. "These aren't breaks or cracks in time. They're the wires Superman used to control Bruce. They're coming back."
"No way! Can you do anything about this? Can you stop the wires?"
"Not at the moment," The Man answers. "This is Brainiac's technology. I don't have the right tools or the right environment."
"You don't!"
The Man is about to say something but Bruce cuts him off.
"Listen to me," Bruce says through his teeth. "I can feel Superman's mind taking over. I can't resist much longer!"
Bruce's shaking hand hits his utility belt. He starts to open a bunch of the components. Pulling things like pellets and batarangs out, he throws them away. A few components later, he pulls out what looks like a small black box.
"Take this," Bruce says, slamming the box into The Man's hand.
"An external hard drive," The Man says. "What on this?"
"Important data," Bruce answers, "But it's encrypted. You have to break it."
"Of course," The Man says. He nods before putting the hard drive into one of the pockets. The Man reaches for a different pocket and pulls something out of it.
"Here," he says, giving Bruce a strange red and gold coin. "You may need this."
"What is that," I ask.
Once again, The Man is about to say something but before he can, Bruce's hand shoots up. He tries to grab me and The Man but The Man grabs Bruce's hand first. Pulling back his first, The Man punches Bruce to the ground.
"Come on," The Man says. He helps me up again and together, we run a few feet away. Dropping to his knee again, The Man pulls out a teleporter. He sets it up and then slams it on the ground.
A portal shoots up. The Man looks at me and I look at him. We nod and jump through together.