Brimstone #149
"What the fuck happened?" I asked as I kneeled next to the profusely sweating J'onn, turning to the massive pillar of flames at the center of Gotham.
"Something terrible..." J'onn shakingly said as he tried and failed to stand up. "We must contact the League..." he added, his face turning pale as he reverted to his original martian form.
"So many people... suffering..." he went on, clutching his head in pain before promptly passing out, to which I could only click my tongue in annoyance.
I quickly picked him up and slung him on my shoulder, immediately freezing as gunshots and police sirens echoed from every direction, causing my expression to darken.
"That didn't take long..." I said, sighing as I started moving towards my hideout to drop the martian telepath while trying to figure out what the fuck was happening with my Personal Computer power.
...
Old Gotham
It was a tragic scene in the center of the city. The once bustling area was now in ruins. Only ashes remained, a flaming giant standing midst what once was, surrounded by falling embers, ruined structures, and the charred corpses of its hapless victims.
"Father!!" the flaming giant raised its head and bellowed to the sky. "You have not forsaken me, after all, father!!" it went on, glee audible in its tone as it looked down, appreciating its handiwork.
"Behold the angel of vengeance, reborn anew with the power of the mighty one... behold ye mighty, behold ye graven images... look into my eyes and despair...!" the fiery titan bellowed once more, grandly spreading its giant arms.
"Darkseid is....!" it exclaimed, sending out a colossal wave of flames that wiped everything in its path, leaving a wasteland behind that had no sign of life.
...
Gray's hideout
"Fuck..." I cursed, rubbing my forehead as the camera feed cut off, and I lost visual on the giant cluster of humanoid flames as he'd torched every fucking camera in a mile's radius.
I quickly hacked into the closest satellite orbiting above Gotham, and my expression worsened as I realized the flaming monster was heading eastward, clearly intent on repeating his performance.
I turned to J'onn and had the urge to bang my head against the wall at his still unconscious, sweating, pale figure. "Fucking comic book logic...!" I grunted as I put on my equipment and headed for the exit.
...
The citizens of East End could do naught, but huddle in their homes, trembling as the flaming giant continued to make his way toward them, unmindful of the military jets raining ballistic missiles on its body.
It would occasionally stop to swat away the occasional jet or attack helicopter, as if to prove it could, before marching on as if nothing had happened.
Even batman's sidekicks could do nothing to halt the giant's steps as Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin tried everything in their power to stop it and failed, barely clinging to their lives with severe injuries.
Their fear grew as the giant stopped, having reached the edge of East End. "The day of reckoning has come, mortals..." the giant roared, raising a clenched face.
"The graven images, the false gods you call heroes and worship so dearly, can not save you now...!" It exclaimed, its body glowing as it prepared to unleash another wave of flames, much to the people's despair.
"Perish...!" it remarked, unleashing its devastating attack in all directions, clearly intent on wiping all signs of life around it. However, the flames did not go far as a giant transparent dome of green light materialized, encasing and stopping the fire.
A man in a green costume appeared in the dome after the raging flames dissipated, gently floating in the air as he calmly stared down at the giant, radiating a bright green aura.
"This is as far as you go, monster," the man said, and his mere presence was enough to calm the people watching in fear. It imbued them with a will, the will to live, and the will to see another day.
"And so you appear, false god..." the titan calmly said as it stared into the floating man's eyes. "You shall serve as the first sacrifice...!" it calmly remarked as it raised a hand in the man's direction.
"Watch me, father, as I slay the first of many pretenders in your glorious name...!" the giant remarked, a ball of flames materializing in its humongous hand.
"Hail Darkseid....!" the giant bellowed, clenching its fist, and the ball of flames immediately turned into a scorching beam that flew towards the floating man at an incredible speed.
The man frowned at the mention of the intergalactic warlord but reacted quickly, reaching forward with his right hand that had a glowing green on it to create an energy shield.
He struggled to maintain the shield as the protective dome was already straining enough but endured and warded the attack before creating a giant fist construct he used to strike the flaming titan.
"You dare...?!" the giant indignantly howled as it staggered two steps back due to the force of the attack before returning the favor with a punch of its gigantic hand.
The man, Green Lantern, moved away to dodge before flying head-first into the giant's stomach, causing the latter to fall. He created two missile launcher constructs and started raining explosive projectiles on the fallen titan.
The flaming giant, Brimstone, raised its hand to shield its face before quickly getting up, opening its mouth, and unleashing a pillar of concentrated flames from its throat, flying through the smoke towards Green Lantern.
Hal Jordan was surprised by how quickly Brimstone recovered and didn't see the attack because of the smoke. The attack connected, sending him flying and crashing into the top of the protective dome.
He grunted in pain, his green light flickering for a second, and the dome seemed on the verge of dissipating. However, Green Lantern quickly firmed his will, gathered his bearings, and reinforced it, much to the awe of the people watching.
The fight continued, and though Green Lantern's will was unbending, akin to steel, he could not keep up with Brimstone as he had to worry about the safety of the people.
Brimstone caught his foe off guard after deliberately targeting the protective dome to drain his energy. He delivered a devastating punch to Green Lantern. The force of the attack was enough to drain the last of his ring's charges and send him crashing to the ground.
The dome dissipated as Green Lantern fell towards the ground, the brilliant shimmer of emerald surrounding his body fading as the people began to lose hope.
However, two figures emerged. One of them performed a mighty leap into the air and caught Green Lantern before he hit the ground, while the other jumped at Brimstone, delivering a punch with so much force that people on the other side of the city heard it.
"It's you... Grayson, was it...?" Green Lantern said as he raised his head to look at his savior after they landed, and the latter put him on the ground in a hurry.
"Introductions will have to wait," Grayson said, ignoring Green Lantern as he looked at the flaming giant, who'd fallen on the ground after the surprise attack.
The second figure, who'd attacked Brimstone, landed not far away and approached Grayson. "That thing sure is tough," she said, raising her scorched hand that was healing at a visible rate.
"Can you handle it?" Grayson asked, frowning as he alternated his gaze between her hand and Brimstone, who was scanning the area to find the assailant who dared to sucker punch him.
"Handle it? No. I'm going to crush that motherfucker," she said, grinning as she turned to Brimstone. "And if you don't make good on your promise, I'll crush you next," she added with a laugh as she leaped at Brimstone without bothering to wait for a reply.
"Well, she looks like she has it in the bag..." Green Lantern said, bitterly smiling as he sighed after watching Crush leap towards Brimstone, knocking him to the ground again.
"No, she doesn't," Grayson said, his expression blank as he turned to Green Lantern. "Charge up, or whatever it is you need to do," he added as he walked past him, two guns materializing in his hand.
"We'll buy you some time," he concluded as he raised one of his guns, its barrel radiating a dazzling golden light for a second before unleashing a giant projectile towards Brimstone.
The attack hit, pushing the giant away as it attempted to swat down Crush in midair.
"It won't be much, so I'd hurry up if I were you," Grayson concluded, his expression grim as he watched the giant stabilize itself and resume attacking.
...
Want more chapters? Then consider subscribing to my patrēon. You can read ahead for as little as $1 and it helps me a lot!
-> (patrēon..com / wicked132)
You can also always come and say hi on my discord server
-> (disc ord..gg / sEtqmRs5y7)- or hit me up at - Wicked132#5511 - and I'll add you myself)