Chapter 5: Formation of the Justice League; What the hell happened?

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING, other than my created character, DC belongs to Warner Bros, and Marvel belongs to Disney, which almost owns the world.

....

"talking"

'thoughts'

National City, March 10, 2010, beginning of the invasión

Edgar Bones POV

'What are these things?', I was heading towards a street with my motorcycle because I could hear many voices for help, I am not a hero, but when you hear dozens of voices begging for someone to come help them, I could not stay with my arms crusaders. When I arrived at the place I could glimpse a horrible scene, if my radar didn't fail me, they were monstrous winged beings, I couldn't make out their features and I didn't care either, they were taking people and at this moment, maybe I was the only one capable of help them.

I transformed my hands into skeletal hands, I didn't want to transform completely, I didn't want to scare people who were fleeing in panic, they were scared enough, I wasn't going to add fuel to the fire. However, when I was about to burn these beings with my flames from hell, I caught a glimpse of something, my eyes that visualized souls saw something that disgusted me, 'these beings had a soul!', no, I correct myself, they had a soul, it was faint, but it was there, a signature that had lingered and was slowly fading.

When a person dies, the soul disappears, but it takes a while, thus leaving a soul trace, a unique signature that evidences our existence and our experiences, if we were good or bad in our lives, this trace would represent it. However, this only disowned me, these beings, whatever they are, were people, that's when the realization hit me, people were being kidnapped and then sacrificed to turn them into these monsters, I was furious, what kind of being so repulsive would do this. It didn't take me long to find out, because a voice sounded from a screen that was in a building

"People of Earth, my name is Steppenwolf, general of Lord Darkseid's army, feel blessed, our lord is coming, kneel and surrender to the inevitable, fight and die"

Despite the electronic interference, my eyes could still distinguish the souls on that screen, this being was a being full of evil and darkness, a soul totally black as musk, he was the creator and maker of all this. My anger began to rise, the spirit inside me wanted to go and burn this monster to ashes, that's when I decided, this Steppenwolf would die, and I would be his executioner, but first I have to deal with the plagues, my hands increased the temperature a few degrees, the parademons did not have a chance, little by little they were reduced to ashes.

...…

Washington DC, Hall of Justice, March 18, 2010

Outside an imposing white marble building you could see thousands of people, reporters and cameras, waiting for report the great event that was taking place. Today, a week after the invasion, things could finally be said to have calmed down.

"The actions of the UN, along with various independent companies and the United States government have come together in an effort to help build, rescue and support the disaster that occurred a week ago, the leaders of various countries are standing by, waiting for what is achieved today, and I will be here to report everything, I am Lois Lane, reporter for the Daily Planet, thanks for tuning in", "cut", "you have it all Jimmy?", she did not let his assistant answer when she started to walk towards a coffee stand that was nearby, "yes, well I'll go for a coffee, this is going to take a long time and I haven't slept at all with all the things that have happened."

A raven-haired woman dressed in a pencil skirt and a red jacket, walked out from the hordes of journalists, people easily let her pass, some with amazement in their looks, others with clear envy, this person was none other than the youngest Pulitzer Prize winner, Lois Lane, an intrepid reporter who had no qualms and fears in telling the truth, she had been the first to report an interview with Superman and she had run the whole invasion thing from start to finish.

As she mentioned, after defeating Steppenwolf, many organizations, as well as several countries, stood in solidarity with the United States and sent response teams to rescue and provide medical support to those injured in the invasión. Three days later and thanks to the efforts of heroes like Superman, the cities were little by little returning to normality, or at least the greater normality that would be achieved after this invasion.

From that day on, people no longer doubted superheroes, even Batman, a vigilante hated by the police, was hailed by the public. Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash and Cyborg were idols of the masses, all the journalists wanted an interview with those involved, to know their history and unravel the mysteries that each one was hiding.

However, the most striking were the last two heroes, Aquaman, as the public had called the ruler of Atlantis, and Wonder Woman, someone who had already fought a war but who, for the first time, was being fully recognized for her abilities. The fact that she was sent as ambassador of her island, being its princess, gave more merit towards her popularity.

Sure, when it became known where these heroes came from, the governments of the world demanded that they release their locations and secrets, but they stopped protesting when they were 'subtly' convinced due to the not-so-subtle non-threats of the heroes, clearly they were for it to make peace, but even so, they would ensure the safety of their peoples.

Inside the building that was named Hall of Justice, were these seven heroes, however, the joyous atmosphere that was outside was completely different from the environment inside, since each one had a serious look, some even had an annoyed and tired countenance. They clearly just wanted to end this meeting and go home.

"Batman, any clues as to what happened?" asked Wonder Woman, she had also been a part of the rescue efforts, and later had a series of meetings with the UN to request a place as an ambassador for Themyscira, she was already very tired, she just wanted to go home, an apartment that had Diana Prince's name, the name she had used to hide her hero identity long ago, however, she knew that this discussion was serious and they couldn't leave without concluding it.

"No, the entire video network was burned, nothing could be saved just than 20 minutes before the event happened." The event Batman mentioned was in reference to Steppenwolf. Officially the public had been told that the new god had died from his injuries from his fight with the heroes, however, unofficially, the truth was that the god had survived.

While the other heroes were helping the rescue effort, Batman and Cyborg had taken it upon themselves to build a prison that would prevent him from escaping. It had motion sensors where as soon as the god moved, he would be electrocuted with more than 20 thousand volts, if that It's not enough, the chamber was designed to hold 30 times earth's gravity, any normal person would be squashed like a bug, but for Steppenwolf this just prevented him from moving freely, and along with his energy suppressing handcuffs, let's just say that the god didn't would escape soon.

All the recovered bodies of the parademons were also placed in a special chamber, their composition and development were also going to be studied, perhaps in the future they could prevent the same thing from happening again, although people like Lex Luthor had other thoughts, this technology would grant the ability to create an army to defend the earth, from alien threats, from threats like Superman.

Lex had cheerfully requested that he be given permission to study the god and parademons, however, it was Starlabs ultimately chosen to study this technology, after they had already begun research on the motherboxes, and with Cyborg as aid, the investigation painted to be very fluid.

However, one day after placing Steppenwolf in his new prison, the alarms went off, implying that there was a leak, the heroes responded immediately but when they got there, they only found Steppenwolf's body badly burned, he also had the wrong look scared with eyes like coal. The heroes were stunned, whoever did this, had managed to break through all the security, and the cameras had left no evidence because the circuit was also burned, rather melted due to the high temperature. The passed out guards weren't much help either, they had only remembered the sound of a loud engine, perhaps a motorcycle, and maniacal laughter. They thought that was bad, but when they got to the parademon's area, there was nothing left, no bodies, just a pile of ashes.

The authorities called the best forensics to inspect the area, they could not conclude much, only that it had been burned with a temperature higher than that of the sun, which only brought more uncertainty to the heroes and people involved. However, the worst thing was that even the body investigated by the forensics was stolen a few hours later, the heroes were already upset with the first, but with the second, they felt completely useless.

Batman investigated the cameras, but they had also been modified to not record at that time, and unlike the first time, this time, no witnesses remained, all security had been killed. Batman felt bad for having so little evidence, however, he concluded one thing, the one who stole the body the second time had nothing to do with the first. His modus operandi was different and although he had little evidence, he already suspected of several people that they could have done or gestated this, however, he had no indication of the first case and that bothered him a lot.

"Well let's leave the sad faces, it was negligence on our part, but it won't happen to us again", Superman all optimistic tried to encourage the group. "Now let's talk about the important thing, 82 countries have signed the agreement, the Justice League is inaugurated today as protectors of the world, I know that everyone here has their life, but I hope that everyone is committed to give their best effort to make this work. You know, when I started this hero job I thought I could do it alone, but this event opened my eyes, only together we can fight for a just world, together we can protect the world. FOR THE JUSTICE LEAGUE!"

"FOR THE JUSTICE LEAGUE!" everyone chanted, Superman's speech seemed to lift everyone's hearts as they all had smiles on their faces.

"I only have one doubt, as a member of the Green Lantern organization I have to be in other places in the universe and I won't always be on Earth, you understand that the seven of us are not enough to cover all these countries, right?"

"I've got this covered," Batman replied to Green Lantern. By activating a device, a holographic screen had been displayed, in which several heroes could be seen fighting against the parademons in their respective cities. An archer dressed in a green suit could be seen shooting explosive arrows, a blonde woman dressed in black leather and tights destroying the parademons with her sonic scream, a woman and a man dressed as a falcon flying while destroying the parademons by brandishing a mace and an ax respectively and finally, the most striking of all, a humanoid man with green skin that changed his composition by lengthening and taking out several protrusions that tied the parademons destroying them.

"The league was never meant to be just us, it was always looking to expand, these are one of the candidates I've been monitoring, they certainly have the hero material", Batman said with his serious expression. Or would it be his common expression? (this author is a little confuse)

The future was uncertain, but with the Justice League it looked a bit more certain.

Starlabs, March 13, 2010

"Oooff", a man dressed as a guard yawned, "this is your third yawn Sam, are you sure you don't want to go rest for a while?", "No, I don't want to leave you alone, besides they are paying us almost double, I don't want them to see me leave my post, I just need another cup of coffee", "if you say so man" commented his fellow guard.

"Wait, do you hear that?", "Yeah, it sounds like an engine..." Out of nowhere the temperature began to rise drastically, the guards felt as if they were being roasted, when they went to call for help, the heat wave increased and became fainted. If they had stayed awake, they would have passed out from shock due to the subject causing of the noise.

A motorcycle with tires on fire could be seen approaching at high speed, on top of the motorcycle was a being whose head was a flaming skull, its hands were also pure bones. If it was Halloween, he would be deserving the award for best cosplay, but this was not a cosplayer, this was the truth. The cameras had been melted a long time ago due to the same heat wave, this was a passive power that the avenger had, he can produce and send strong waves of heat by convection that would melt the cables, naturally more heat would have killed the unconscious guards, but this was not what our rider wanted, he had a certain morality after all, and these were not the sinners he came to look for.

He walked slowly through the halls, destroying or disabling every security system, despite having the most technologically advanced security system, it wasn't designed to withstand the temperatures of hell itself. Each time the avenging spirit got closer to its destination, it was time to send a cruel soul to eternal torture.

...…

"Damn bugs," Steppenwolf muttered, the pressure was too much for him to speak, however, if he tried hard enough, he could allow himself to mutter, though only beings with extreme hearing ability could hear him. 'When I get out of here, I'll kill them one by one', thought Steppenwolf, he still hadn't recovered from his fight with the League, but, although slow, he knew his strength was coming back, even if it took him years, he would get out of here and when he does, he will become the ruler of this earth. 'To hell with Darkseid' he thought, his greed was coming to the fore, he would no longer follow orders, he would be the one to give them.

Coming out of his thoughts, he noticed something strange, the temperature of the place was rising rapidly. Being a New God, his eyes had the ability to distinguish the different energies of his surroundings, naturally he could see how the thermal intensity increased, a slight pull in his heart gave him a premonition that this did not mean anything good for him.

Steppenwolf saw how a being with the head of a flaming skull was slowly approaching and felt a primal fear, this being was weaker than him in physical terms, at least that was what he could distinguish, but something told the New God that his end was soon, that no matter how much he fought and defended himself, in the face of this… thing, there was no escape.

Steppenwolf was still injured, and although he was healing, he was not even close to an optimal level to fight, plus his suppressive chains prevented him from absorbing energy, if he could say it, at this moment he does not have even a third of his total strength, and that It made him desperate. However, the fight that Steppenwolf expected never came, the avenging spirit didn't come to fight him, there was no need to do it.

With his skeletal hand he took a chain that was tied to his torso, the point had a special edge designed to embed and cut, turning it quickly, this being tied Steppenwolf's entire torso and arms tightly and embedded the sharp point in his chest. If this wasn't painful enough, out of nowhere the chain came to life and orange flames with dark tones at their tips manifested.

"AGGGGGGGGGG!" Steppenwolf screamed, he felt very hot, even in the environment of Apokolips where the temperature was extreme, he had never felt so hot, and his arms were being melted by this chain. This wouldn't kill him though, and the avenger knew it, he just used this move to punish him a bit. Holding the god strongly by the head with his skeletal hands, this being stared into his eyes, his eyeless sockets seemed to look into the very soul and know all his secrets, actually, in fact the spirit of revenge was doing that.

"Sinner, for your crimes I sentence you to the cursed gaze, may your soul burn in hell for eternity", the being spoke with a deep voice straight out of any horror movie. Steppenwolf saw his whole life pass through his eyes, his cruel acts, his defeats and victories, and his mistakes, little by little his confidence began to waver and he began to feel sorry. For when he wanted to straighten his mind to be able to endure this punishment, it had already been done too late, the look of penance had taken effect, his soul had been taken by the avenging angel, Steppenwolf was dead.

The avenger loosened his chains and hung them back on his torso, with a quick look he saw how a severely burned body of the torso and arms was left with a scared and charred look, his job was almost done. He headed towards a warehouse, opened it, he could see hundreds of bodies of parademons gathered, he did not think twice and creating a fire in his hands, he passed the flames through these bodies with such a high temperature that it began to melt them, clearly they weren't as tough as Steppenwolf, and they began to turn to ash.

When he finished, he headed for the exit, took the motorcycle and quickly left laughing maniacally, at such a speed the motorcycle should leave a trail, however, this motorcycle was special, since it not only went at subsonic speeds but also did not leave any trace on the pavement despite the fact that its tires were on fire.

10 minutes later, the heroes arrived at the facility, however it was already too late, when they arrived, they saw how no parademon was left, only ashes, and Steppenwolf, well, what was left of him, was extremely burned, his eyes had an expression of terror, also in his eyes there was no longer a red tone, but his entire eye including the pupil was made of stone like coal, they all had the same thought in their minds

'What the hell happened?'