Chapter 56: Just Starting (Part 8)
[Clock - 10:02 | 10:02 AM]
[Calendar - 03/05/2003]
[Location - Meeting Room of the United Nations - General Assembly Hall, New York, USA]
---
Warning: I don't know how this shit works. Suspend thy disbelief, think in comic book logic.
Remember, in this DC Universe, the UN actually has some clout. All politics or political opinions are in light of the characters- i couldn't give less of a shit about politics.
---
POV Change
3rd Person POV
"We are here gathered to discuss incident N°098 dash B-0, also known as the Incident of No Man's Land-" The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Andrew Apperson, said. Andrew was a 78 year old white man, bald patch right on top of his head, missing a few teeth that had been replaced, and using these little glasses that helped him focus on the papers on his hand. Before him were the other representative members of the many nations that were recognized under the banner of the United Nations. He could see the representatives of Bangladesh, Argentina, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, and Australia having a chat by their respective seats close to one another, he could see the representatives of Benin, Bhutan, and Belarus speaking casually while the rrepresentatives of China and Singapore speaking to one another. "-and the official request by the public to do something about it. We have gathered under the request of many, and together we are to make a decision of interference."
This roughly translated to "Fuck, the people want us to do something", which- well, it was kinda expected. Let me show you a bit of what the public had access to, thanks to the [Gothamite Survivalist Guide], a blog that suddenly appeared and had detailed descriptions of what was happening in Gotham right now alongside video and audio evidence! Let's ignore the big room of old fucks for a few moments, okay? I will show you three examples of the things the public had access to, and that had slowly made the public opinion about the goverment and the united states president go from bad to worse. Let's start with the first post made on [Gothamite Survivalist Guide], because that one was the most read one, and it was also shorter and had audio too. Just to be clear, there was always a disclaimer at the beginning of the story that read: [This is a true story. Being written with the consent of the victims, please read at your own description. It may contain haunting audios, videos, or images.]
---
[Today I saw Firefly set my family on Fire.
That's exactly that. We were hiding in one of the many destroyed buildings because of the many fights for territory in Gotham- it has become a nightmare to live in. My little sister, Agatha, was only 6. My mother was 35, my dad was 38. Me? I'm 12. I heard their screams as I had to stay quiet, I had to hide- he was right there. I could hear his laughter. I could feel the heat of fire. I could smell the scent of burned flesh.
And then there was only silence. I owe my life and the life of my family, who was saved, but only by a thread. Long live the Queen and his grace, long live the King and his benevolence. Praise the gods of Beastialis.]
[*Audio Sample N°3 - Victim of Firefly, Firefly Laughter*]
---
If you clicked to play the audio, you'd hear Firefly laughing as someone screamed at the top of their lungs. Pain and misery were palpable through the sound, and such suffering ended with the soft click at the end, there were no clarifications if the victim survived or not. It was a haunting audio, and many have stopped midway through the audio because they couldn't handle it.
The next story had an image. It was the image of a very, very twisted body. Blood and severed body parts spread out in a pool of blood, the severed and broken head of a man stared right at the screen, his skull cracked open and a bit of his brain being visible, his small intestines were used as a rope to hold the skin and some bones, and at the background you could see the shadowy signs of hundreds of corpses just like this.
----
[I was rescued from a cannibal's warehouse.
I don't want to say my name. I don't want to say my age. But I wanma say is that I am was not a good person- I worked for the mob, I killed for the mob, I painted rooms with blood because that was all I could do, all I had to do. In Gotham, you do what you can to survive. I remember what I did, and although I don't regret a lot of things I've done before, I still can't stomach what I saw. I still have nightmares about it, and I still fear for my life.
His name was Cornelius Stirk.
For those who don't know, Cornelius Stirk was a very dangerous cannibal with the power to make you see shit. Illusions from what I've been told, and you don't know the difference between real and fake until you gotta a knife sticking into your stomach because the woman you've been living with for years, the love of your life, suddenly isn't even a woman anymore and is this ugly fucking guy with a knife- that is in your stomach. He eats people, plain and simple, and he is also fucking batshit crazy! The guy laughed- laughed while he cut people to pieces. He's got chopping people up as an art now, he deboned my wife with such terrifying ease that I can still hear the sound of him pulling out her spine and throwing it out in the ground. He explained, in great detail as he was cooking my wife and children, how each organ tasted. Cornelius Stirk was. Because he is no more. I killed him- I was able to kill him when he was distracted, adding pieces of my wife, her skin and bones to "dry" by using her intestines and the intestines of many people as ropes.
I was guaranteed his soul would be in Hell, more specifically, within the domains of the Lord of the Criminally insane, Beastialis' punisher of evil souls, the Demon Lord Baytor, one of many nobles of Beastialis.
I was soon rescued of that place by the King and his people. My wife and children, alongside every single person within that warehouse were brought back to life by the Queen with powers of the gods of Beastialis. Now, I have a new purpose. To serve the kingdom, and to protect the ones I love.]
----
This sparked the curiosity of many— What do you mean by they "were brought" back? Sadly, that question went unanswered. There was no extra information available about the powers of the Queen of Beasts besides little snippets that were essential to the stories. There were also many stories about the King of Beasts too, how he was an enormous dragon humanoid and how he fought off against people that threatened Beastialis- in fact, there was a video of one such fight.
----
[*The video starts showing the broken ground of a building that hadn't fallen, the came is lifted and shows the battlefield. It takes a moment for the camera to focus, but even when it does, the quality is not the best. The video shows a rather large gathering mobsters and people holding guns, they all look to be of the same gang or allies*
"You're trespassing into Beastialis Kingdom territory. And holding guns too, looks like you really wanna do som' shit, huh?"
*A voice echoes from below, and from the advantage point of the camera, you could see the big dragon human. Black scales that reflected a bit of light, like a beautiful glossy gem, a long and thick tail, and a large pair of wings. As he jumped off of this long, long wall of stone and dirt full of roots and vines covered on sharp thorn and landed before the large group of people, there was thudding sound that echoed*
"Turn back now, and I will let you live."
*The voice of the King was rumbling like thunder, and it carried power too. The answer he got was of guns firing at him. The camera angle wasn't good enough to show it completely, but you could barely see a squad of mobsters holding guns and shooting this solid wall of scales and muscles that didn't even move as bullets simply fell to the ground around him. There were clicking sounds that echoed in the deafening silent that followed after all shooting stopped, signifying that they were out of bullets*
"You shouldn't have done that. Sekhem."
*There was the loudest roar of all. It sounded like the sound of a tiger roaring, but louder and more aggressive, like thunder echoing after lightning strikes. A rush of wind push away the dust and the King had barely changed physically, but his body seemed to grow a few inches and his power immediately made the camera turn off as a wave of power hit it off of the hands of whoever was filming it, plummeting the camera down the building*
*The last shot was of someone looking down at the camers falling alongside the screams of men begging for mercy*]
---
With that last sound, the screen would then cut to black. All members of the UN had been shown at least one of the many stories about Gotham right now, and at least one image or video too, to make sure they knew the severity of the situation. They also received a complete report on all information they had about the Beastialis Kingdom, its King and Queen, and the "nobles" that were so highly spoken of in these stories. They knew the identity of one, at least someone who matched the power set expressed to be owned by the Lady of the Immaculate Garden, also known as Poison Ivy.
"Under the request and incentive of many nations, and the request of the newly established Justice League, we shall start this meeting." With a single sigh, he was mentally preparing himself to deal with as much bullshit as he could- he knew they'd be here for hours on end going around in circles until the cycle was broken by either time or someone saying something. That was politics, after all. "Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Aquaman, and Green Lantern. Please, take a seat."
As he finished saying that, there was a sudden stir in the air, and suddenly there were other people sitting at the right beside the Justice League, people he had only seen on the screen of a television or computer. A glimmer of energy seemed to materialize as a voice asked: "Is there seats for us, too?" Soon, there were eyes on them- One big bat human he knew to be the infamous Man-Bat, a green skinned gorgeous red head known as Poison Ivy, a man that he wasn't sure who he was until he recognized him as Mr. Freeze, a woman that sat by his side and held his hand, a big black scaled dragon man, another smaller one that sat by his lap: "It would be rude to not invite the ones who have been trying to keep as many people as safe as possible while Gotham burns in a blaze, wouldn't it? Thankfully I received my invite in the form of prophetic dreams." There was a sharp smile to his face as he simply rolled his eyes- The effect of whatever enthralling presence he had was strong, because nobody even spoke a word until then!
"You-?" Aquaman narrowed his eyes in surprise as he looked at the group that suddenly appeared.
"Ah, the Atlantean King-" The big dragon grinned, his sharp white teeth being exposed to everything and everyone to see. It was intimidating for sure! "-it's nice to meet the king of the people who fucked my people over a buck ton thousands of years ago or whatever. I've heard from my lovely queen that your people still treat mine as second class citizens, and even those who share similarities. You feeling like you're about to pass out from drying?"
Oh, this meeting has just started.