Injustice 3: The Might of Magic (Book 3)

The Man:

Our eyes snap open and the first thing we both do is gasp for air. Coughing and hitting my chest, I shake my head and look at Oliver. He's breathing normally and the color is returning to his face. He's not shivering anymore and has stopped sweating.

"Are you okay?"

"I--I think so," Oliver answers, still gasping. "Wa--Was all of that real?"

Choosing not to answer Oliver, I lean to the right and look at my arm and hand. My two fingers are still on Oliver's forehead. The black lines that used to be all Oliver and in my arms are all gone. Now that they're gone, I grab and put my sunglasses back on.

"Where is everyone," I ask after standing back up.

I take a hard look around but the only thing I see is a still destroyed, burning city. There is no Kara, Cyborg, or even Flash. There is no one here.

Moaning as he pushes himself up, Oliver stumbles but I shoot out my hand and catch him. I then place my foot on his bow and tilt it. Quickly placing my foot underneath it, I kick the bow into the air.

"Here," I say, catching and offering Oliver his weapon. "I hope you're healthy enough for a fight."

"Yeah," Oliver says, placing his hand on his head. "Ahh. Wait, what fight? What are you talking about? Trigon is gone. So are his demon minions."

"There's only one reason we would be left alone and defenseless."

My theory is proven when we hear an explosion, and then gunfire. Oliver and I look at each other before following the noise. Climbing over some debris, we see an all-out brawl.

While Kara is in the air hitting Wonder Woman with her laser vision, Reverse Flash is running circles around Solomon Grundy. Meanwhile, Flash is dodging flames from Firefly. Simultaneously, Cold and Ivy are doing their best to build walls to hold off the advancing One Earth soldiers. Looking behind Cold Ivy, I see the Solar Streak train. The people of Jump City are hiding inside it, covering their heads and staying as low. Thankfully, they look unharmed.

Seeing this, I grab and pull Oliver close.

"Grab everyone and get them onboard the train," I order. "I'll hold off the regimes and the soldiers."

Getting off, about to take off, I stop when Oliver grabs the back of my jacket.

"What is it! We don't have time to spare."

"That...memory," Oliver starts. He murmurs as if he's trying to find the right words. "I know what you can do now. What you have done. You're not going to...to...send rats. Are you?"

"No," I answer without hesitation. "I'm not."

Remembering something, I reach into my pocket and pull out the Master Morpher.

"Even if I don't have this. Here. Catch!"

Throwing the Morpher, Oliver catches it.

"What is this?"'

"Something very important to me. Do me a favor. Don't lose it."

With that said and done, I jump off the top and slide down the mountain of debris. While sliding down, I shoot out my hands and pull my swords from thin air.

"Ivy," Cold screams when a tank fires and blows up a root wall Ivy made. He stops shooting his ice gun and jumps out from cover. He runs over to Ivy and picks her up. "Are you okay?"

Moaning in pain from the explosion, Ivy holds her hip while pointing.

"Tank," she shouts. Cold turning his head sees the tank and raises his cold gun. However, before he can shoot, I run and jump in from the side, slicing the barrel of the tank right off. Hitting the ground with a loud thud, I then move fast. Grabbing and turning the wheel, I open the hatch and throw in a handful of smoke pellets. Kicking the hatch close, I then rush to help Cold and Ivy

"You're here," Ivy screams, flinching as Cold and I help her back up. "Is Oliver okay?"

"He's fine," I answer. "What the heck happened? Oliver and I weren't gone for that long. Were we? Yes, we journeyed back to 1954 but that was only a memory. It shouldn't have affected the present."

"What," Ivy asks. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Anyway. Again, I asked. What the heck happened?"

"They found us," Cold answers. "While you and Oliver were doing whatever, Wonder Woman, her regimes, and God-knows-how-many soldiers attacked. We're managing to hold them off but just barely."

"How did they find us? What are they even doing here in the first place?"

"That's easy an answer. To both questions. Cyborg! Whether or not he told them or they're tracking, that bastard is the reason. That bastard told and now here we are!"

Cold and Ivy ducking their heads when the ground beside us explodes, I turn around and face the advancing soldiers.

"Get back to the train," I say, pushing Cold and Ivy away. "Get back to the train! Grab anyone you see on the way and get back to the train!"

Pushing Cold and Ivy until they turn and run, I turn around myself and charge. Screaming as I jump into the air and roll, I slice and dice dozens of soldiers' weapons. My swords cut through endless sub-machine guns. Stunned by their guns splitting into two, I finish the soldiers with a hit to the head or a precise strike to certain pressure points.

Throwing a soldier into another soldier and knocking the two out, I stop when I hear a crashing sound behind me. Turning around, I see Wonder Woman standing in front of me.

"You," Wonder Woman shouts, pointing at me with her sword. Besides the sword, she's holding a shield in her other hand and a lasso tied to her hip. "This is all your fault! Everything is your fault!"

"How is Jump City my fault," I ask. "I wasn't the one shouting 'pain' and 'misery' while blasting magic from my eyes."

"Prison is not for you," Wonder Woman says, walking toward me while spinning her sword. "I sentence you to death!"

Screaming as she charges toward me, Wonder Woman slams her sword down. Raising my swords, sparks jump from both our swords as they clash. Swinging her shield, Wonder Woman tries to hit me with it but I jump and backflip away, dodging her attack.

Landing a few feet away, I charge forward and swing my swords in various directions. However, Wonder Woman moves faster than I expected. She blocks all my attacks with her sword and shield.

"You cannot beat me," Wonder Woman growls, raising her shield and blocking another one of my swings. "I am an Amazon!"

Bending her knees, Wonder Woman then throws her shield at me. As I see it spinning through the air, I stab the ground and let go of one of my swords. Using my free hand, I catch Wonder Woman's shield. Spinning to not let the momentum throw me off balance, I let my feet and smile.

"And I knew a man named Steve Roger," I answer. "Thought a lot of people prefer to call him something else."

Looking at me with wide eyes as I hold her shield, I throw the sword still in my hand at her. Raising her sword, Wonder Woman blocks it. My sword bounces off her sword and disappears somewhere, but as it disappears, it still grabs Wonder Woman's attention. She doesn't look back until my sword is gone, and with this opening, I charge.

"What the hell," Wonder Woman yells as I jump and flip into the air. Raising her shield into the air, I use it to bash Wonder Woman. She manages to block the bash but the force still throws her off balance.

Landing on my knee, I shoot up to my feet and spin. This time, I'm able to shield bash Diana. Knocking her back, I wind up a few times before throwing her shield. It hits Diana dead-on, knocking and stunning her.

Diana recovers but I don't let up. Her shield bounces off Diana and into the air. I jump and catch it again before throwing the shield again. It skids against the ground before hitting Diana in her feet. This time, Diana falls to the ground. With Diana on the ground, I run toward her. About to grab her sword, I hear a popping sound, and then, something grabs my wrist.

"What the--?"

Looking down, there's a batarang with a cable wrapped around my wrist. Someone pulling on the cable pulls me away from Diana.

I grab the cable and follow it back to its owner.

"Bruce!"

Standing about 20 feet away is a glowing Batman with a batarang in his hands. He pulls on the batarang, pulling me even further away from Diana. Pulling back, I shoot out my hand and pull from thin air a kunai. About to cut the cable, a second popping sound grabs my focus. I turn in time to see a second cable wrapped around my wrist. This cable came with a whole metal hand, however.

I look and see Cyborg pulling this cable. With Batman and Cyborg pulling together, they trap me, pulling my hands far apart.

"This is familiar," I tell myself as the two try to pull my arms off. The situation gets worse when something else hits my back. Whatever it is, it burns and forces me onto my knees. "Okay. This is new."

Turning around, I see Superman slowly descending toward me. While he descends, I hear heavy breathing and turn to the source.

"Wow," I say between breaths. "Superman, Batman, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman. I haven't fought the four of you in a while."

Wonder Woman, back on her feet, gets the lasso from her hip. She throws it and it wraps around my throat.

"Superman," Cyborg shouts, pulling both the cable and my wrist. "We got him! We got him!"

"I see that," Superman says, his feet hitting solid ground. Walking around me so he and Wonder Woman are standing in front, they both look at me.

"Kill him," Wonder Woman says. She takes a step toward me but Superman shoots out his hand and stops her."

"No," Superman says. "No. Not yet. I have questions. I have questions and you have answers. And I want those answers!"

Lunging forward, Superman grabs my throat. He starts choking me as he lifts me into the air.

"Who are you," Superman yells. "What are your powers! What can you do! What is that...train!"

Superman points at the Solar Streak train, where most of the Insurgency are. Reverse Flash sees me and is about to run but Slade and Jason stop him. Refusing to answer, Superman reaches for my sunglasses.

"Wait," I say. "Not the sunglasses! Not...the sunglasses. Leave them...alone!"

Superman isn't listening to me. He grabs one of the temples and starts pulling it off.

"Nooo!"

About to pull them off, about to take my sunglasses off, Superman stops when we hear another sound. It's not a popping sound but more like a whispering sound. Looking up, we all see rockets flying into the air.

"What," Superman asks, still watching the rockets. Without any warning, the rockets tilt down and head for us.

"Watch out," Diana screams. Seeing this, Clark shoots out his hand. He uses his yellow ring to summon a shield to block the rockets. While protecting us from the rockets, I use the opening to pull the cable back. Pulling the batarang out of Bruce's hand, I pull out a kunai and throw it at Diana. She screams and steps back. I pull out another kunai and cut the cable connecting Cyborg and me. Throwing down a handful of smoke pellets, I blanket the area in smoke before running off.

Running to where the train is, I see Kara, Cold, Beetle, and even Firestorm firing back.

"Finally," Firestorm says when they see me. "Where were you?"

"Getting beaten up," I answer. "Now get onboard the train!"

I point at the train's entrance. Once I say that, they all get up and run into the train.

Kara is the last person to enter. I try to follow her but when I take a step, I feel something hot being placed against the side of my head.

"Don't," a single-handed Cyborg says, his arm cannon already charged.

"I dare you," Oliver says. He jumps through one of the windows and pulls back his bowstring. "Drop it."

"You first," Superman orders, flying with his eyes glowing red.

"Hold on," Cold yells, running out the other way. However, as Cold steps out, Wonder Woman also steps out and places her blade against his throat.

"Cold," Ivy screams. Already on the train, she tries to get out but Harleen and Flash keep her in.

"What's now," Cyborg asks.