Chapter 32: Debt

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"First our pleasures die - and then our hopes, and then our fears - and when these are dead, the debt is due dust claims dust - and we die too."

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Chapter 32: "Debt"

(Monday-May 19, 2014)

Nekron looked around the cave. He only spotted the many enemies that he had defeated, "Wait. Are you really the only one here? You came alone?"

Amorpho trembled in fear as he stood in front of the Reaper, "Y-Yes…"

Nekron tilted his head and burst into laughter, "Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! You have to be kidding me! You?! You are Life's last line of defense?!"

Amorpho took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm his nerves, "I suppose so."

"Oh, this is rich," Nekron shook his head, "At least with the villains, they came in with heavy hitters and a plan. You, though…You can't fight at all. This is just pathetic. How did you even know how to get here? The villains could track my energy signal, but I doubt you have that ability."

"Poindexter told me where to go. He said that if I didn't come here and fight you then we would all die," Amorpho explained.

"Right. Poindexter. That one has been surprising me with his boldness as of late," Nekron sighed, "Tell me. Why didn't you just run? You know you don't have a chance. Just hiding and waiting this out would be a lot less painful."

"I thought about it, but…" Amorpho shook his head, "I couldn't do it. I may be weak, but I'm not a coward. The world needs me to do this. Even if…even if I die, I won't run. I have to stop you."

Nekron sighed, "Very well, Amorpho. I accept your challenge. Goodbye."

With a wave of his hand, Nekron sent a large wave of black energy that would instantly disintegrate most living beings. Amorpho was instantly consumed by the black wave of death. His energy disappeared from Nekron's senses. The fool was dead.

"Now to get back to the Life Entity…" Nekron paused as his attack died down to reveal himself. More accurately, it revealed Amorpho transformed to look like the Reaper, "Well that was unexpected."

Amorpho nodded and slid into a defensive stance, "I won't go down that easily."

Out of curiosity, Nekron flicked some more energy at Amorpho. The result was the same, "Oh…OH! I see! That crafty little nerd! Poindexter knew this would happen. You change the fundamentals of your energy signal. My energy recognizes you as part of me, and doesn't affect you. Brilliant! You're effectively immune to all of the effects of my death aura and degradation abilities."

Amorpho said nothing. He just continued to hold his ground while trying to stop his legs from trembling in fear.

Nekron gave a slow clap, "Excellent work, Amorpho. You have become the one person that I can't overcome with just my death abilities. Impressive. But the thing is…"

Nekron disappeared in a blur and reappeared right in front of his lookalike.

"Even with that ability, I'm still hundreds of times stronger than you."

Hotep Ra watched as Damon Gray jumped back to his feet and pointed a gun at the ghost. He was stopped when Harriet Chin gently placed a hand over his, "Trust me. That's a waste of time."

Nodding at the statement, Hotep Ra looked across the actually still intact main lab of the facility. That was not just because of luck or good fortune. The mummy ghost had ordered the monsters to avoid this area. He needed everything perfect for his plan to work, and a broken lab would not help.

"Hey," Harriet's voice turned Hotep Ra's attention back to her, "When I agreed to come with you, I didn't know that I'd be left alone with a kidnapped child and a convicted psychopath. What exactly is your game? Why did you want all four of us here?"

"I would like to know that as well," Silas Stone and the other three head scientists all stood off to the side with fearful looks on their face, "You came in and shut down or defenses. We could have died."

Hotep Ra scoffed, "Fool. I saved your lives."

The mummy lifted up his ring to show a large hologram of the other six Black Lanterns in action. Their names all appeared by their pictures. A small gasp came from the scientist.

"Mr. Hand?"

"Indeed," Hotep Ra dismissed the hologram, "His obsession with death and destruction caught Nekron's attention years ago. He was ordered to infiltrate this lab as a custodian to spy on you and to tamper with experiments when needed. He was the one that turned off your defenses. I only showed up to deter Nekron's forces."

"But why?" Despite lowering his gun, Damon still gripped the weapon firmly in his hands, "You're part of Nekron's forces, right? Why go against him like this? And gather us?"

"Unlike the other Black Lanterns, I was never given a choice in being a Black Lantern," Hotep Ra explained, "I never would have agreed to join him if I had a choice. My entire life was dedicated to serving others. I want to be a ruler, not a lackey. So I've been looking for years to find a way to free myself from Nekron. But there hasn't been an opportunity. If I stepped out of line once…well, I'm sure you've seen Nocturne's scar."

Harm was the one that spoke up at hearing this, "But this apocalypse was your opportunity. He finally took away all of his attention from you."

"Indeed. This is my one and only chance to stop him without getting killed," Hotep Ra stated, "But I couldn't go around saving people who were already targeted by Nekron. If I drew his attention to my location by interfering with a Black Lantern, he would have killed me without batting an eye. So I had to gather a force that even he overlooked, yet wouldn't run at the first sight of him."

"So…" Harriet looked at the four people he gathered, "You picked a reporter, a security guard, a broken criminal, and a child? Good job there, mummy guy. You might as well have trained an army of fluffy bunnies to fight that freak of nature."

"Right now? Yes. But I do have a plan," Hotep Ra opened a portal with his ring. He then pulled out a familiar looking sword and threw it to Harm.

Harm examined the sword, "This…"

"Beowulf the Third," Hotep Ra stated, "Luckily, I managed to maneuver myself to save Morgaine le Fey and a few others during Nekron's initial attack at the Ghost King's palace. The downside is that Nekron probably realized that I stand against him now, but as long I hid myself and had that group distract him for me, then I was safe. I then had her enchant one final sword for you as payment for my help."

Harm glared at the sword, "Harm does not like the idea of using le Fey's powers once more. He committed atrocious acts because of the previous swords."

"And now you can make up for them, but only if you use that sword," Hotep Ra argued. He was pleased when Harm nodded and tightly gripped the sword.

"And what about us?" The terrified Richard questioned. His voice came out as a tiny squeak, "How…how can I fight? I don't…I can't face the Nekron guy."

"Directly? No you can't. Those two will soon, though," Hotep turned away from them and began to walk across the lab.

"The Exorcist Armor," Damon nodded at the thought of getting in the battle suit again.

"Nope," Hotep Ra walked past the motionless armor and another familiar looking broken armor set.

"Then what exactly do you expect from us? We have very little training and no powers," Harriet hissed out.

"No powers right now. But you will soon," Hotep Ra reached the end of the lab. He pulled off a large tarp to reveal tall canisters of purple gas with wide labels across the top reading "Big Bang Gas."

Cyborg didn't know what to do as he watched his girlfriend. He had seen her cry and mourn before, but this seemed different. Spirit never looked so outright broken before now. This was different than the other instances where they lost someone in battle. He suddenly regretted his decision to give her the letter, "D-Dani?"

Spirit didn't react. She continued to sob into the ground.

"I…I know that it hurts…" Cyborg took a breath to force his own tears down, "But…we can't dwell on this now…"

Spirit still didn't act like she recognized his voice.

"Dani?" Cyborg gently placed a hand on her shaking shoulder. The halfa jerked at the contact like she had forgotten that she wasn't alone. Slowly, she uncurled herself from her ball and sat up to her knees. Her tear filled face looked up to the man.

Cyborg had to fight not to the flinch at the devastated look on her face. It seemed like all possibility of joy had been drained from her eyes. She blinked at him like she was trying to work her mind on how she forgot about him, "Oh…Victor…I…I just…"

Another sob jumped from Spirit's throat. This time, Cyborg couldn't fight a flinch, "Dani, I know how you're feeling right now, but…we can't stay out here…it's still too dangerous…We can't let Chuck's sacrifice be for nothing."

"For nothing…" Tears continued to run down Spirit's face. She clutched the letter at her chest, "I…Right, we have to move."

Spirit carefully folded the letter and put it into her pocket. She then allowed Cyborg to help her up and slowly lead her to the front door of Axion Labs. As she moved, she looked back with tear-filled eyes to where Youngblood had been left to die. Cyborg was right. No matter what, Youngblood's sacrifice could not be for nothing.

Dusk sat meditating on the beach. He took deep, calm breaths. The other members of his group lacked such calmness, though.

"What are we waiting for?" Torch questioned, "We need to go stop Nekron."

"We can't. There's no way of knowing where he is," Ember argued, "For all we know, we could go in the wrong direction and waste time and energy."

"Well, waiting here is wasting time too," Torch argued.

Dora nodded, "We need to figure out where to go. Donna, is there anything on this island that could help us?"

Troia shrugged, "Maybe? But it might take a while with all the Amazons hurt."

"There's no need for that," Dusk suddenly spoke out, "We'll know soon enough."

Ember raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think that?"

"Because…" Dusk reached over to unsheathe his sword, "Soul Shredder will want to get revenge for its owner. It will point us the right way. I just needed to give it a chance to find Nekron's energy signal."

"So…" Torch did not look pleased, "We're following a sword?"

Troia nodded, "I am pleased with this plan. It's like following thine battle instincts into battle."

Dora gave Dusk a questioning look, "So where are we going."

Dusk felt a familiar pull of energy as his sword communicated with him, "Oh, you won't believe it. We actually don't have to go that far."

Amorpho's ribs shattered with a single kick by Nekron. As soon as the foot rammed into the changeling's sides, a sickening crack sounded through the cave. With a groan of a pain, he clutched at his side. Despite this, though, he refused to move and give Nekron an open path to the Life Entity. Instead, he swung a wild punch at the Reaper of Death.

Scoffing, Nekron didn't even try to block the blow. Amorpho's fist bounced off Nekron's face uselessly. Still, this did not stop the changeling ghost. While still clutching at his broken ribs, he used his free arm to throw even more punches that were just as useless as the first. Nekron reacted to the punches as if they were balls of cotton being tossed at his head.

A vicious elbow to the head caused Amorpho's forehead to be cut right open. Green blood splattered across the ground. Once again, though, the disguise ghost did not move despite the blood flowing down and impairing his vision. Knowing that the punches to the head weren't working, Amorpho directed his blows to Nekron's own ribs. Unlike the changeling's own ribs, though, Nekron's side remained completely intact.

Rolling his eyes, Nekron viciously back fisted Amorpho across the face. The Reaper lookalike stumped to the side, but quickly moved back in Nekron's way. Feeling the blood in his mouth, Amorpho swished the loose contents of his mouth around and then spat out a combination of blood, teeth, and spit right into the Ghost of Death's face.

Sighing, Nekron wiped the liquid from his face. With that same hand, he grabbed Amorpho by the jaw. He then lifted his foe above the ground before slamming him down to the ground. The life energy rich ground held from the force, but Amorpho was not so lucky as another loud crack echoed through the chamber. Annoyed by the ghost's bug like persistence, Nekron didn't stop there.

The Reaper lifted Amorpho up once again and then slammed him down a second time. More cracks and breaking sounds flowed off the ghost. Nekron then did this a third time to receive the same result. He repeated this action several more times, flinging Amorpho up and down liked a ragdoll. Now done with his unwanted toy, Nekron then flung the changeling away.

To Nekron's surprise, Amorpho held onto Nekron's arm to prevent himself from flying to the far wall. He flung around Nekron like a cape flapping in the wing. As Nekron's arm dropped, Amorpho flopped onto the ground tiredly. He was draped across the ground yet he still did not let go of Nekron's arm just to make sure that he didn't lose track of the Reaper in his dizziness and pain.

"Wow," Nekron chuckled, "You are a persistent one, aren't you? I'd be impressed if this wasn't so sad. What do I need to do to you?"

Amorpho's response was to lunge up and violently bite at Nekron's neck. He didn't even manage to pierce the Reaper's skin. Not even blinking, Nekron grabbed Amorpho's face and pushed him away.

"Beat you to death? Okay, I can do that."

Aquaman gently tucked Mera into her large bed. Once she was safe and secure, he stood up and sighed, "Forgive me, Queen Mera. I never intended to take your and King Orin's place. Do not worry. The moment you are well again, I will step down for you. And in case the power changes me…I will make sure to put safeguards."

Taking a deep breath, he turned around and swam out of the room. The guards to Mera's room saluted him as he passed. Wearily, he saluted them back and continued onward through the hallway. Kaldur quickly made his way to his strike force of Frostbite, Tempest, and Lagoon Boy. They all saluted him as well.

"At ease," Aquaman looked to Frostbite, "How are you feeling?"

Frostbite looked down to both of his frozen, synthetic limbs, "Pretty good considering that I lost my other arm. Your healers are top notch, though. I'm far from one hundred percent, but I can still fight."

Kaldur nodded and turned to his fellow Atlantians, "And you two?"

"You could not stop me from fighting if you wanted to," Tempest had a dark look on his features, for obvious reasons.

"The fight is not done yet!" Lagoon Boy clenched his fists, "We need to end this now!"

"Yes, it is time to leave."

"Would it not be smarter to take the army?" Tempest questioned, "I know the four of us are strong, but it will not be enough for the Reaper from the stories I have heard from Frostbite and the signals we received from the surface."

"The soldiers would crumble upon seeing Nekron," Kaldur argued, "Their morale is low as it is."

"But…" Lagoon Boy bit his lip, "Fighting him alone will be useless."

"Who said that we would be fighting him alone?" Aquaman gently placed a hand on La'gaan's shoulder, "Do not forget. We have friends on the surface waiting for us."

Thorn stretched her body out sensually to receive a few satisfying pops from her joints. Once she felt comfortable, she looked down at her at her outfit, "Not bad. My other self has good tastes, but I'm going to have to add a few personal touches of my own."

With a wave of her hand, Thorn changed her clothes. The first thing to change was the color. All of the red shifted to a leafy green, except the green fishnets turned to crimson red like her new hair color. Oddly enough, her black tank top morphed and shrank to emphasize her cleavage.

"Nice~" Thorn did a few sexy poses, "Now I feel a lot more comfortable."

"How did you do that?" Nyx was now on her feet. Despite the grief she felt for her mother, the survival instincts in her told her to never take her eyes off the insane woman in front of her.

"Didn't you know that my other self could create dimensional rifts?" Thorn questioned. With a wave of her hand, she created a mirror and fixed her hair, "One kiss, and she could send men to an alternate dimension. That was a toned down version of my real powers. I can cut through dimensional rifts and change scenarios to one that more fits my mood."

Nyx paled when she heard that, "No way."

"Way, my little precious thing," Thorn seemed satisfied with her hair and dismissed the mirror with another wave of her hand, "I know. It sounds pretty frightening. There's a reason why I was sealed…Who sealed me again? I feel like I should know. Hmm…"

Queen started to pull Ten away, "Come on, idiot. We need to—AH!"

The two former ghost hunters froze when ectoplasmic knives pointed at their necks. Thorn lowered the hand she waved at them, "Come now. You don't need to run from me. I don't bite too hard as long as you're nice to me~"

Ten trembled in fear, "W-We have to go, though. N-Nekron…"

"Right. The Reaper," Thorn nodded, "From what you told me, only an insane person would be willing to fight him. That sounds so PERFECT! A great way to wake up. I can get a good little workout while the precious little thing can get revenge. It's a win/win scenario, no?"

Nyx didn't know if she trusted Thorn enough to fight by the older woman's side. Right now, though, she didn't have a lot of choices, though, "Right. How do we get to him?"

Queen shakily held up piece of paper, "T-The nerd ghost gave us t-this…"

Thorn quickly took the note. After spending a quick second reading it, she tossed the paper away. The psycho ghost then waved her hand to create a dimensional rift, "And there we go. Our destination is just a hop and a skip away."

"Right…dimensional rifts…" Nyx nodded slowly.

"Yeah! Now let's go fight the guy that can kill us with a look! What a great day to wake up!"

Hotep Ra looked up to the tall canisters in front of him, "This is what we need. Big Bang Gas."

"I fail to see how the gas will help us," J.A.Z.Z.'s voice sounded through the lab surprising everyone but the mummy ghost. Hotep Ra just smiled at her voice, "Danny designed the gas as a measure to rapidly increase healing in humans. An emergency special gas that could close deadly injuries, perhaps at the expense of shortening one's lifespan. Unfortunately, it has yet to be perfected."

"I am aware of this. Remember that William Hand was spying here for us," Hotep Ra turned around to face the others. His smile was still firmly in place, "Once he gave us the report, I looked into it more. A bit of experimenting showed that if I manipulated some of the elements with my ring, then I could instead create a more potent gas. One that awakens the meta-human gene."

"The what?" Damon questioned.

Silas answered the inquiry, "The meta-human gene is something that very few scientists have even began to understand. From what I studied from formal papers, the meta-gene is theorized to be the next step in human evolution. It has the ability to awaken during stressful situations and allow humans to live through them while gaining what we would classify as 'superpowers'."

"Wait!" Harriet held up a hand, "You want to give the three of us superpowers?"

"Yes. Although giving you three powers might create enemies in the future for me, I can't worry about that now. Nekron has to be defeated, and we need people to help fight him," Hotep Ra held his ring up once more, "I have done a scan with my ring on all of you. You three have the meta-human gene inside of you. Once exposed to this gas, your latent powers will awaken."

"But what about the boy?" Harm questioned as he looked to the shaking Richard, "He is far too young and inexperienced to fight a schoolyard bully let alone Nekron."

"He won't be fighting. Not directly," Hotep Ra explained, "Black Lantern Rings are more capable then other power rings. We are able to look at things at the genetic level. I have determined what all three of your powers would be. The boy would become a technopath once exposed to the altered gas."

"Wait? I could control tech with my mind?" Richard's eyes widened.

Hotep Ra nodded, "That's why I picked you. I found other children that had the capability to become meta-humans, but I knew that none of them would be able to fight Nekron. You, though, don't need to be on the battlefield directly. Instead, you're going to control the Exorcist Armor from afar."

"That's brilliant…" Damon realized, "You'd have a fighter without any real reason not to take fatal blows."

"Indeed. Plus, we'd gain yet another fighter," Hotep Ra pointed to the destroyed Red X armor next to the Exorcist Armor, "You will be able to fix that with ease as well. Then the A.I. can upload herself to get a sixth combatant on our side."

"Woah, there's a reason Danny destroyed that suit!" Harriet argued.

"It's not like he'll be around to argue," Hotep Ra noticed their troubled gaze, "What? Do you really think that we can free him? Nekron took over his body. The only way to stop Nekron is to destroy him, and that will destroy Phantom as well."

"Phantom…" Richard looked confused at this entire conversation. Harm, the other outsider in this conversation, seemed to be connecting a few dots.

"There has to be a way," Harriet argued.

Damon gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "Harriet…Val gave her life for Danny. I don't want that to go to waste, but…We can't let Nekron live. He has to go."

Harriet took a deep breath, "Still…It doesn't feel right to rebuild his suit like before."

"Then we'll change its design so that he couldn't use it anyway," Hotep Ra shrugged, "Not like I care. I just need more fighters. You can control the machine, right, Miss A.I.?"

"Yes…But Nekron's energy in the sky limits wireless connection. I will have to completely upload myself into the machine, and if it is destroyed then…" J.A.Z.Z. drifted off.

"Indeed, you will be vulnerable like the rest of us," Hotep Ra nodded, "It seems like even a machine has self-preservation. After all, if Nekron succeeds, all organic and ectoplasmic life will come to an end. Synthetic life won't, though. You'll live on in the machines."

The silence that came from J.A.Z.Z. made everyone shift uncomfortably.

"Well, I'll make it easy on you," Hotep Ra held up a glowing black ring, "Either you get in the machine, or I destroy the equipment in here and delete you."

"No. Your threat is not necessary. My programming is meant to help bring joy to organic life. I cannot do that if Nekron succeeds," J.A.Z.Z. noted, "Get the armor ready, and I will download myself."

"Good," Hotep Ra looked at Richard, "Are you in, child? Because we need you."

"Superpowers. Controlling tech. Saving the world," Richard adjusted his glasses, "Of course, I'm in."

"Good," Hotep Ra turned to the adults he wanted to expose to the gas, "And you two?"

"I'm in," Damon said automatically, "If this is our best chance for the survival of mankind, I can't refuse."

"And if you die a hero's death in the process, all the better," Harriet glared at the man.

"No…I…It's not like that," Damon futilely tried to defend himself.

"Valerie wouldn't have wanted you to die. And neither do I," Harriet sighed and rubbed her temple, "Damn it. I miss having a normal life. Fine, I guess someone has to follow after you to make sure your dumb ass stays alive. I'm in."

Hotep Ra smiled and turned to the gas canisters, "Then let's begin."

Miss Martian's eyes stopped glowing as she looked down to the small grave in front of her. It was too small of a grave for someone who had died too young. Refusing to let her brother's corpse go unburied, she had quickly drifted him and the Bioship up to Mount Justice to bury him outside the cave. The entire burial process was quick with her powers.

"M'gann!" Zatanna rushed into the area holding the comatose form of Madame Rogue in her arms, "God, girl. You can't just leave me behind like that. We need to stay together."

Miss Martian turned to the magician, "Oh…sorry. I didn't think about it."

"Yeah…" Zatanna gently placed the villain down, "I get it."

Miss Martian nodded, "Thank you."

Zatanna took a shuddered breath as she looked at the tiny grave, "Maybe we should have waited for the others to bury him? I mean, they would want to show their respects."

"We'll have a full funeral once this is all over," Miss Martian began to cry once more, "In fact, I have a feeling that there will be more than just his funeral."

Zatanna couldn't argue with that, "Let's not think about that right now. We still have work to do, right? Does the Bioship still work?"

Miss Martian shook her head, "She still needs a lot of time to recover. We'll need to find a new way to travel. Especially because the Zeta Tube system is probably down."

"I'm going to put out a few feelers and see if I can't find any large energy sources," Zatanna mentioned, "When we find out where we need to go, then we can deal with the problem of how to get there."

Miss Martian turned back to the grave, "Noted."

Colossus groaned as he came back to the realm of the living. He blinked as he looked forward to the form of the Earth. His arms were completely numb like most of his body. The only thing he really felt was a needle being pushed into his neck, "Ugh…"

"He's awake," King removed the ecto-boost and moved the needle back to his belt.

"I'm alive?" Colossus questioned, "I thought for sure that going all out like that would kill me."

"It almost did," Jack reasoned, "You're the goddam luckiest ghost in the world. If the Green Lanterns didn't distract Nekron's monsters long enough for us to get out of there, we wouldn't have gotten you out of there and given you an ecto-boost."

Colossus looked back to see the still fighting Green Lanterns, "I see. Tell me, why did you save me? Aren't you ghost hunters or something?"

"Look at the Earth. Isn't it obvious that there's still the issue of Nekron?" King questioned, "We need every bit of weight on our side of the scale as possible."

"I won't be able to fight well with just my legs," Colossus noted.

Jack scoffed, "Like that would stop you from fighting."

Colossus burst out laughing, "Hahahahahahahaha! Good point! Let's go get him! Where are we going anyway?"

King pulled out a note that had been given to him before he was dropped off, "Oh great. That place. Bad memories from there."

Nekron held Amorpho down with his foot on the disguise ghost's back. Having laid his scythe down, Nekron now gripped Amorpho's right arm with both his arms, "This is your arm."

A quick jerk of the Reaper's arm provide a loud snap followed by pain filled screaming by Amorpho. With his arm now pointed at an unnatural position, Amorpho couldn't help by crying out in agony. Once Nekron released his arm, the changeling rolled over and desperately clutched at his shattered limb. Covered in blood and feeling the pain of having dozens of bones broken, Amorpho couldn't fight back the tears of pain running down his face.

"Now it's not," Nekron then silenced Amorpho by stepping on the disguise ghost's head and stepping over him. With the changeling now quiet, Nekron walked over to his scythe and then picked it. He admired it for a brief moment before swinging it viciously at the barrier.

Tired of waiting, Nekron did not hold back at all with his attack. A thick black arc of energy slammed into the shield and instantly shattered it. The Endless appeared for a brief second. Each of them had a shocked face before they disappeared into the spiritual realm, except for one. Extending his hands out, Nekron pulled Death towards him and held her up by the neck.

"Hi," Nekron smiled at her.

Death desperately kicked at Nekron. This proved just as fruitless as Amorpho's attack.

"Sorry, that won't work," Nekron noted, "Nothing you can do will ever hurt me. The same goes for me, though. We share the same element after all."

Death could only glare at him.

"But I am the better version of Death," Nekron noted, "Is it not clear that death is just the goal? It's what everyone works their entire lives to get to. I'm just helping everything along. It's the inevitable end. Everything will die eventually. Why postpone it?"

Death gave him a disgusted look.

"You don't need to say anything. I know I'm right. You don't need to worry. I'll do your job for you," Nekron threw Death away and dismissed her from the physical realm, "You can relax now."

Nekron took in the sight of the vulnerable Life Entity. His obsession was right within his grasp. Excitement surged through his chest. Bringing his scythe over his shoulders, Nekron was just about to trek over his last victim when he felt a hand grab his ankle. The Reaper looked and with a raised eyebrow, "Really, Amorpho?"

"No…I won't…let you…" Amorpho gasped out in pain as he desperately clutched at Nekron's ankle with his still working arm, "Not yet…Just need…to buy more time…"

Hotep Ra had torn open the canisters and contained the gas in a bubble of black energy. As he changed the molecules in the gas to make it effective for its new purpose, the three subjects walked over to an area clear of other people. Once everything was set, Hotep Ra moved the bubble over to the subjects while containing the gas to their area. All three of them burst into a coughing spurt and dropped to the ground holding their throats.

While nothing visibly changed for Richard, the same could not be said for the adults. Harriet's skin and hair turned to an ashen white. Thin black lines then appeared downward across her lips while a long black line ran across each cheek. The blackness also formed around her eyes which turned a crimson red. As this happened, Harriet's rather petite frame expanded to show a lot more curves and pronounced assets to her simple blouse and slacks.

Damon's change could be described as even more drastic, if not simpler. A large skin of silver concrete formed around the man. In seconds, a giant form replaced Damon. Stone muscles and body features curved to demonstrate the man's now great strength and dexterity. The only part of his body that wasn't as smooth was his head which was now cubed. The only other color other than the grayish silver on the man's body was his glowing red eyes.

Once the gas died down, Hotep Ra removed his bubble to expose the new meta-humans to the world. The other humans in the room all stood back as the terrifying new forms of Damon and Harriet stood. To everyone's relief, the two of them just examined their new bodies.

"God, you have to be kidding me," Harriet eyed her new figure. Her blouse and bra were struggling to hold back her now larger chest. The same thing could be said for her pants with her rear and hips. A younger, less mentally mature version of Harriet would have been delighted at the thought of obtaining such features. Now, though, it annoyed her, "This is like out of some teenage boy's comic book. Why in the hell did my boobs get so—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A scream jumped from Harriet's throat unintentionally. As everyone covered their ears in pain, the entire room shook. Before any real damage could be done, Harriet clapped her hands over her mouth. Damon, who was the least affected by the scream, turned to her to speak. He quickly found out that he couldn't.

"Wow," Richard looked to the other humans, "It seems that the genetic alterations had a drastically different effect to both of your outward appearance and vocal cords. I'm intrigued by the possibilities of this. Can you two metamorph back to your original states naturally? I'm sure with a few tests and scans, there would definitely be a way to at least temporarily give you a more 'normal' humanoid appearance, although perhaps with a few different features than you had before—Woah! Someone please stop me! What the heck did I just say!?"

"It worked," Hotep Ra noted, "The kid's mental capabilities now work faster than a super computer while you two have become absolute powerhouses. My ring predicated that Damon could bench press a fully loaded semi-truck with ease. Harriet, your screams can literally cause steel to bend and kill a normal person with just a few seconds of hearing it."

"You knew all that and didn't warn—AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Harriet covered her mouth again. She then let out a muttered, "Sorry."

"Good. Everything worked. You can practice your powers on the battlefield," Hotep Ra turned to Richard, "Can you fix the Red X suit?"

"Why, of course. Fenton's design of fitting the human muscles to the skin is quite complex, but all the circuitry is very distinct and organized. Plus, some parts of the weapons system could actually be activated with the right power source. It should only take a minute for me to reconnect everything. Although, changing the design might take a second of thought—done! I have the perfect way to limit who can and cannot enter the shell of the—" Richard also covered his mouth, "Jeeze, man! I don't even understand the words coming out of my own freaking mouth here!"

Hotep Ra rolled his eyes, "Just fix the suit already."

Kid Flash was running over the ocean. The water below his feet seemed solid as he moved at speeds that wouldn't let him fall through the surface. If he wasn't focused on what was to come, he would have taken the moment to enjoy his newly found speed. Wally had always dreamed of doing this. Of course the first time he could actually do it was the same time that he had to save the world.

"Hello, Wally," Kid Flash muttered to himself, "Got to stay focused."

Now was not the time to take his eyes off the ball. Kid Flash had to focus on getting to his destination and the battle ahead. Even with the Speed Force, he didn't feel confident that he could do anything against Nekron. He had to try, though.

As he saw land appear in the horizon, Kid Flash gained a determined look. He was going in with a lot of faith in what Clockwork said. What would he do if the Master of Time was wrong or even lied about Artemis? He couldn't even fathom the idea of her not making it.

Taking a deep breath, Kid Flash shook off those thoughts. Right. Head in the game. Thoughts about who was lost in the fight could come later. He wasn't naïve enough to think that everyone would make it through this. Mourning could come after the fight, though. The world needed him to stay focused.

With a determined look, Kid Flash ran towards his destination. He was going into this fight almost completely blind. There was no way to know if he could win or if he would have to fight alone. He just had to believe that everything would out.

Poindexter's eyes turned to the side as the roar of a horn sounded through his pocket dimension. As soon as a portal popped up at the side, Mal stepped into the small dimension. He was quickly followed by Karin who looked in wonder at the sight around her.

"Woah…" Karin bit her lip as she tried to think of the scientific explanations for this small space.

"Poindexter," Mal addressed the nerd ghost.

"Glad everything worked with you," Poindexter noted. He quickly turned his attention back to his typing, "Sorry, but I can't take my focus off of this."

"That's fine. I was just going to use this as a rest stop while I wait for Jericho to…" Mal blinked when Jester jumped in front of him and rapidly began to shake his hand.

"Hi! I'm Jester! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Um…Same here?"

"I just wish it was in better circumstances…" Jester released Mal's hand, "You know. With me actually being alive and Nekron not threatening all life in the universe and all."

"What?" Bumblebee blinked at the strange shade.

"Oh! Hello!" Jester shook Karin's hand as well, "Nice to meet you!"

"Um…" Karin did not know how to respond to that.

Mal looked to Poindexter, "I take it that you're almost done."

"Almost there," Poindexter nodded, "You can go ahead and move if Jericho is ready."

Mal nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the location note that he had found with the Royal Flush Gang in Nirvana, "Alright. We can go now. I hope you know what you're doing with having everything go down there."

"It's the safest location I could think of," Poindexter shrugged.

"Mal!" Karin called out as Jester was now shaking both of her hands, "A little help here?"

Mal was about to help her when Jericho appeared in a burst of energy. The blonde haired man rapidly waved his hands. Nodding, Mal raised his horn, "One second babe. I have to do something first. It's kind of life or death stuff."

"Buy more time?" Nekron tried to kick Amorpho's hand off of his ankle but didn't manage to free himself, "What are you talking about? Did I cause brain damage?"

"No…They will come…" Amorpho breathed out, "My allies…The heroes…They will come…They will stop you…I just need to buy time…"

Rolling his eyes, Nekron swung his scythe down right at Amorpho's good shoulder. The blade of the weapon instantly stabbed through the flesh and allowed even more green blood to ooze down to the ground. Despite the pain, though, Amorpho still held on tightly to his foe's ankle.

"Do you really think that people will really come? That they will even be able to make it here?" Nekron scoffed, "You saw the chaos I created out there. Even if there are survivors that are still capable of fighting physically, they're probably too struck by grief to even move. You're just struggling for nothing."

"No…" Amorpho coughed out blood, "I can't believe that…No matter…I know they will come…Hope is not dead."

"Fool. Hope is dead. Danny Phantom is dead," Nekron twisted the blade in Amorpho's arm, "And soon, you will be dead too."

"No…You're wrong…" Amorpho hissed from the pain, "He's alive…The proof…is all around us…You didn't kill…anyone here."

Nekron paused. Despite having beaten the entire Justice League, Light, and more mercenary individuals to a bloody pulp, Nekron did not in fact kill anyone. Even Captain Atom was still alive as long as the majority of his suit was intact. Still, Nekron did have an answer for that, "There was no point in killing them now. It would be more fun to make them wait for their demise instead of just giving it to them."

"Liar," Amorpho gave a bloody smile that showed his missing teeth, "He's still in there…He won't let you kill them…"

"I killed the Fright Knight," For the first time in a very long time, Nekron showed real annoyance and anger in his features.

"And that was what it took to wake him up in here," Amorpho gave a pained chuckle, "He created a mental block on you…Didn't he? You can't kill anyone, can you?"

Nekron violently pulled his scythe from Amorpho's shoulder. He then brought it back down at the changeling's head. Right before the blade made contact, though, it stopped. The same thing happened on Nekron's second attempt.

"See? I knew it…And everyone else will know it…They have faith in him…and his family…They will come because they believe in him…in them…Because…" Amorpho coughed out violently, "We all owe them a debt that can't be repaid, and we will fight for them until our dying breath."

"And that dying breath will be soon!" In a rage, Nekron pulled his scythe up and pointed it at the Life Entity, "He might be able to stop me from killing normal people, but I will power through and take out the Life Entity! He won't be able to stop that! I am in control here! My obsession is stronger than his!"

"Right now…Yeah…" Amorpho pulled Nekron's leg to shake him up a bit, "But not for long…They will be here…very soon."

"Like hell!" Nekron gathered black energy to his scythe. He then prepared to unleash everything he had at the Life Entity, "Eventually, everything will die!"

"Yeah…" Amorpho smiled as the sound of a horn rang throughout the cave, "But not today."

In a blast of energy, Nekron and Amorpho disappeared from the Life Entity's cave. The hanging Justice League were pulled along for the ride because of how Nekron's energy was hooked onto them. When the energy died down, the only people left were the villains and Constantine. The cave was silent, even as the form of Vandal Savage began to reform and Morgaine le Fey popped in from a portal to pull Dark Dan away from the previous battle area.

J.A.Z.Z. looked down at the new armor that she uploaded herself into. The new Red X armor looked almost the exact same as the previous armor before it was destroyed. There was only a small difference, and that was the armor was shaped more to fit a woman's build instead of Danny's more masculine build, "Well, at the very least I won't have to change my voice anymore."

"Alright," Hotep Ra nodded at the sight of the new fighter. He reached to grab his Black Lantern ring with his free hand, "Now we have everything—"

"YOU!"

All eyes turned to see the injured forms of Spirit and Cyborg at the entrance to the lab. With bloodshot eyes glaring at the Black Lantern, she lunged forward to attack the other ghost. She froze, though, when Hotep Ra removed his ring and crushed it in his hand.

Opening his hand, the mummy ghost allowed the ring to rise up in black smoke, "I see that Nocturne put you through a whole ordeal, but know that I never associated with him on my own free will."

Spirit seemed to digest this. She then looked around the room, "What exactly is going on in here?"

"It's a long story," Red X spoke, "And I don't believe that we have the time to go through everything right now."

Spirit looked like she wanted to say something, but she kept her mouth shut. She turned to Cyborg and nodded. He then stepped forward, "I'm going to need a few quick repairs."

"I can do it," Richard noted.

"You?"

"Yeah. I've recently gotten pretty great with this tech stuff."

"Alright, but—"

A roar of a horn brought everyone's attention to a portal that opened off to the side. Everyone blinked when Bumblebee stepped into the lab. She seemed confused by the strange mass of people in the room, "Um…I was told that I could get my suit fixed here?"

Richard smiled, "I'm on it."

Hotep Ra nodded, "Make it fast. We have to move as soon as possible."

"Shazam!" A blast of lighting transformed Billy into the recognizable form of Captain Marvel. He looked over to Lydia, "So…Where are we going?"

Lydia shrugged.

Captain Marvel raised an eyebrow, "You don't know?"

Lydia looked down the road to where they had left the recovering children, "I was kind of in a bit of a hurry you know."

"Fair enough," Captain Marvel rubbed the back of his head, "But how do we get to where Nekron is?"

A roar of the horn created a portal right next to them.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Yes. Yes, it does."

"Wait!" Box Ghost cried after them. He looked back to his wife and child, "Hun, I know that you'll be worried, but I have to—"

Lunch Lady silenced him by gently tapping a finger to his lips, "Go. I'll stay with Box Lunch and the other children. Kick Nekron's ass for me."

"Yeah!" Box Lunch cheered, "Kick ass!"

Ace stepped to the portal without a word.

"Woah!" Artemis's voice stopped her, "I have a personal rule about stepping into random portals."

"Don't worry. The guy who made it seemed nice when I met him," Ace mentioned, "I think you know him actually. What was his name? Mal?"

"Mal?" Rocket raised an eyebrow as she finished some last second repairs to her equipment and belt, "Since when could he do that?"

"Since he got the Horn of Gabriel."

Raven's eyebrows rose, "The Horn of Gabriel? How did he get that?"

Ace sighed, "Look. I really don't know. I just woke up, got dropped off here, and saved you. If you want to know, ask him after we save the world."

The other three women shared a look and nodded. That seemed fair enough.

Ravager's eyes widened as a familiar form stepped out of the portal in front of them, "Joseph?! What are you doing here? And why are you wearing hippie clothes?"

Jericho quickly raised a notepad that Poindexter had provided him, 'No time. I helped the Herald create portals across the globe by pinpointing your spiritual energy signals.'

"Are you high?" Ravage questioned, "Because I got the feeling that you're high."

Rolling his eyes, Jericho turned and jumped back into the portal.

"Hey! Wait! You do not just get to come back into my life without a word!" Ravager jumped into the portal after him, "Joseph! Big brother! Don't ignore me, damn it!"

Gizmo sighed as he stepped after them, "I'm way too desensitized to this shit now. Oh well. Onward to certain death!"

Silently, Black Bat followed after him. Nightwing, however, stayed behind for a moment. He looked back at Barbara, "Barb…I have to…"

"I know. Go," Barbara ordered, "I'll stay here. Not like I would be much help in a fight."

Vision had given up the moment she had been carried to the Life Entity's cavern. Trapped in the cocoon of dark energy, she could do nothing but watch as things played out. Despite her nature, she forced herself to not think of any possible strategies to get out, because there was no hope for her to think about escaping. From the moment that she met Nekron face to face, she knew that there was no way to stop him.

She had scoffed when she saw the Endless.

She rolled her eyes when the villains and Constantine arrived.

She shook her head during Nekron's fake defeat.

Hell, Vision could only close her eyes in pity when Amorpho appeared. Just hearing the beat down was painful. It was so sad to her. Nott for even one moment did she fathom the idea of turning this around in her favor…until the fell the pull of teleportation.

In a single instant, Nekron's energy holding her faltered. That was all she needed to break free. Once she was free, she immediately pulsed her energy into the sheet wrapped around her body and fused it to the private areas of her body. Despite what she thought before, Vision couldn't help but take advantage of the situation. She didn't know if she could do anything, but dying while trying sounded a lot better than dying while hung up like a rag doll.

Nekron landed with grace at the center of a large island. A quick look around the area revealed where he was. He was at the abandoned compound of the Sorcerer Initiative. That was a long way from the Life Entity. How exactly did he get here? And where did all his captives go?

Turning, Nekron saw Vision and a recovering Vlad standing over the still injured Amorpho.

"Gah…" Amorpho smiled up to them, "I did it…"

"You did, Amorpho," Vision nodded gently.

"Yes, I…" Vlad shook his head. In a burst of dark rings, he transformed into his Plasmius form, "You have our thanks."

Nekron was about to speak again when another sound of a horn sounded through the area. Different portals opened all around him. Different heroes, ghosts, and meta-humans stepped into the area. There was even a strange rift that brought in Nyx and some strange people among the portals. At the same time, a burst of water from the edge of the island brought the three Atlantians to the island. To his growing amusement, that wasn't the only direction new arrivals came from. Kid Flash ran in from the other side of the island, Dusk and his group flew in from a third direction, and Colossus came flying down from the heavens with King and Jack by his side. A fighter even came up from the earth in the form of Undergrowth. Finally, the new arrivals ended with one final burst of the horn. Mal appeared with Jester and Poindexter in tow. The nerd ghost was still rapidly typing on his keyboard while Jester floated right behind him.

"Well, now this is amusing," Nekron chuckled, "All of you survived this long just to come to fight me? Really?"

No one responded. In fact, none of them reacted to the others around them that had joined the fight…or the obvious people that were missing from the fight. They couldn't let themselves be distracted by that right now. If they started lamenting on who was lost, they would never save who was left. So, instead, they all continued to glare right at Nekron.

"As impressed and amused I am by this, I'm done playing around," With a wave of his hand, Nekron created two more shades. One of them made Lydia flinch. Dressed in a dark trench coat and top hat, Freakshow was a man with a long nose and ashen colored skin. On his arm was a familiar looking Gauntlet that had been destroyed years ago. Next to him was a voluptuous genie with deep green skin, "Bet you forgot about them, huh? Well, I haven't forgotten a single person that had has died in this little story of ours. Now, Freakshow, Desiree, I wish that you would send all of these fools into the voids of space."

"I think not!" Poindexter finally finished typing, "Now, Jester!"

Chuckling, Jester pushed his energy into Poindexter's keyboard. A wide energy blast spread out from them and continued out all around the world. In the blink of an eye, all the monsters and shades that Nekron had created disappeared in a puff of smoke. Nekron blinked as his minions disappeared.

"Hehehehehe!" Jester gave a thumbs up, "No more weak little minions for you to use, Nekron."

"And no more Black Lanterns either," Hotep Ra noted, "I was the last one. You have no more people to fight for you, Nekron."

Nekron looked around once more. Despite almost all of them being injured, everyone here had a determined look on their faces, "HeheheheHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is hilarious! Tell me, are you going to miraculously heal the Justice League now?"

Mal shook his head, "I dropped them to safety. There was no way they could handle this fight."

Nekron looked to Amorpho. The Reaper was about to speak until another sound of the horn created a portal underneath the disguise ghost. Amorpho disappeared from his sight in the blink of an eye.

Sighing, Nekron looked up at the sky, "What is it that you wish to accomplish? Have I not proven that none of you can possibly beat me? You had trouble with the Black Lanterns, and I am far stronger than all of them combined. What makes you think that you can possibly win? Even with such great numbers, most of you are barely standing as it is. There is literally no possible way to defeat me."

"That doesn't matter," Dusk pointed Soul Shredder at Nekron, "We can still fight. Even if we're not at full strength, we'll make do. We'll stop you no matter what."

"Because everything that we went through…everything that we lost…" Spirit clenched her fists, "It can't be for nothing."

"I see. Well then…" Nekron stabbed his scythe into the ground, "I suppose that this is the end, no? Either you stop me, or I kill everything. After you, I can't think of any possible force that could stand in my way. As a reward for impressing me so much with your fortitude, I'll give you one final gift. I will use my full power against you."

Raising his hands up, Nekron pulled down all the energy that had collected into the sky. A massive column of energy surrounded him and empowered him. In a blaze, the sky was clear once more. The same could not be said for the earth. All the plants and inorganic objects on the island disintegrated into nothingness. The oceans seemed to recede away from the island in fear. All of the world shook for one moment before everything went silent.

Slowly, Nekron reached down and pulled his scythe from the ground. Each of his ten fingers were covered in Black Power Rings. The same could be said for the man's toes. At the same time, different rings seemed pierced into Nekron's face, one in each ear, two in each eyebrow, one in each cheek, one on his lip, and one in his tongue. In all, Nekron had thirty Black Power Rings on his person.

The Reaper of Death pointed his scythe forward, "Come. You've all earned the pleasure of dying by your god's hands."