CHPT 7: Nekropolis

The City scarred by War. Left disfigured by death beams, decimated by Kryptonian hands and stomped to rubble by the massive foot of beings from beyond the stars. Greed's consequences had come to full fruition on the very ground, John walked over.

In his absence, the wounds had closed. The city had been reborn. Life went on. Forever changed. Growing. Rebuilding itself with its previous catastrophe close in mind. The bright and glassy oasis of Metropolis was new more.

Nekropolis was what remained.

What did that truly mean though? John held such a question within his active mind as he walked the streets of downtown with his fellow Red-Lantern and Kryptonian partner in crime, Kara Zor-El.

The sidewalks were busy. Some things never change. People moved in waves, heading to work, to school, to breakfast. The city was in motion, as John and Kara were. And so were their eyes. All over, people glanced at Kara in confusion and surprise. John caught onto the matter quickly, noticing she was the only woman wearing a simple red shirt and black jeans.

That would've been fine if it wasn't fifty degrees. Being off world for so long and fully suited up made the effect of temperatures or the lack thereof easily forgotten.

John chuckled to himself, noticing the people's glares before he took off his black overcoat and slung it over Kara's shoulders.

She jumped at the sudden action, "The hell are you doing?-- I'm not cold."

"Maybe not, but you are standing out as clear as daylight. Let's not express how foreign we are the first chance we get, hm?" John explained while flashing a fake smile for the public more than it was for Kara.

He was about to release her when he pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her to whisper into her ear, "And smile, dammit. I'm sure one of the reasons they're staring is because you look like you're about to fist fight a semi."

Kara turned to face him and whispered a reply into his ear as they headed down the sidewalk, "You're an ass."

"You are what you eat." John whispered back with a playful grin.

Kara's cheeks reddened once more at the blatant sexual inuendo.

*[SHzzZZ!-- Kryptonian Female is experiencing an unusual heart rate spike. Preparing possible counter measures....]*

John sighed at the Scarabs voice before carrying on.

He found the people that they passed were now less likely to side eye them or stare warily. All of a sudden they looked like a simple couple..... getting a bit too mushy in public.

"Not a smile.... but I'll take it if you'll give it." John thought aloud as he kept his arm around Kara's shoulders.

"When we get back to the others, I'm going to skin you alive." Kara said. The validity in her claims was compromised by the fact that her cheeks hadn't yet cooled. Somehow, fighting off a horde of White Martians was easier than dealing with John in public for the young Kryptonian.

John shrugged, "Maybe."

They fell back into an observant silence soon after...now fitting into city life a bit better than before with the occurrence of small fake conversations and John's ability to fluster his teammate.

Nostalgia and wonder came in stride.

Feeling the hard sidewalk pressing up against his black dress-boots felt so bizzare yet familiar. As did the smells of the restaurants lining the sidewalks. Spices-- oils, sizzling manufactured meats. It all filled his nose in a sensory overload of memories. All while other portions of the city stood out like a sore thumb.

Windows weren't really a thing anymore in the classic sense.

As they passed barber shops, Media stations and all other socially functional locations, they found the buildings styled almost akin to something like prisons. Thick black bricked walls. Barred windows. Alleyways in-between blocked by barbed wire fences-- with the help of his Scarab, he was able to tell the barbs were electrified due to the pinpointing of electrical currents and power boxes lining the alleys.

That was on the tamer side of things that had changed. The other-- something he noticed upon arriving at Nekropolis' border only a day ago, stood out even greater.

Metropolis had always been an ambitious city. Adorned with beautiful glassy skyscrapers and sculptures of the Heroes it made a home for. They kept their skyscrapers and turned them into militaristic hot spots and vantage points.

The black shielded plating lining the massive buildings walls was lined with platforms where law enforcement and military personnel roamed in shifts.

John found himself halting at a crosswalk to watch them in more detail as cars whizzed past all around him in a sort of controlled chaos. The men and women roaming the skyscrapers platforms fashioned weapons he'd never seen. Not on humans at least. They were automatic weapons, but different in design from the classic M4 and other Rifles or the smaller-- Carbines. Some even had swords and large batons at their hips. Under the clouded sun's rays, they glowed a bright and tawny shade of gold. The same color ran through their protective vests and utility belts in barely noticeable accents.

"That's new." Kara commented.

"What is it...?" John questioned.

Suddenly, a hud of sorts adorned his vision as his eyes zoomed in even further on the beings manning the skyscrapers. Inhuman symbols and writings ran across his vision as the shapes of the weapons and their gear was scanned and studied by the scarab.

*[Serial Number searches in local law enforcement databases shows results for state-of-the-art spacial material infused gear for all military and law enforcement specialized personnel of Nekropolis.]*

Johns rings sizzled in his pocket, "English for fucks sake."

*[ShzzzZ!-- The golden material lining their gear and comprised of their weapons is a Hyper-Conductive Metal introduced to the Law by the Justice Force. It is referred to as Nth Metal.] *

"Something tells me you didn't respond to anything I just said because you were talking to your back-bug." Kara commented.

John shook himself from his thoughts, "You may be right. What did I miss?"

"Nothing. You find out what we're looking at?"

"It seems humans are mass producing Thanagarian resources..... at least here they seem to be."

"Why-- How did they..." Kara trailed off after easily answering her own question.

"Yes. The Justice Force. It seems the Justice Leagues choice of government employment and militarization has reached new levels." John said before the crosswalk signaled for them to walk.

Another twenty minutes of aimless walking passed, and they found themselves at a central park of sorts.

Gates bordered a field of grassy hills and cement walkways. Despite it's openness and appearance of lush trees-- if a bit scarce, nobody was inside except for one person. A young man. Visibly an athlete based on his muscled frame but otherwise nondescript. He had a militaristic buzzed fade. Black hair barely visible on the top of his head. Fair skin. The beginnings of a tattoo ran up the back of his neck. He wore a black and red leather jacket hoodie combo. Like them, he stared at the source of the parks repelling effect on people.

The effect was impossible to miss for that matter.

A statue. Made of gold with skilled and patient hands. Maybe some time ago, but all that had fallen upon the golden surface in recent times was harshness. It's head was missing. Making it's broad and confident pose with its fists placed on the hips seem almost comedic. But there was nothing comedic about the statue. Markings and graffiti marred the surface with words like False God.... Cowardice... Misplaced Greatness....Murderer and the largest writing. Beware The Great Fears.

All of it had meaning, but the most significant was the Kryptonian symbol for hope emblazoned on the chest. An old ideal that seemed to have faded.

As John stared at the statue, the memory of seeing the the cape fluttering in the sky flashed across his mind. He closed his eyes for a moment to calm himself.

"All good?" Kara asked.

"Just cheeky." John replied. "How about you..... does it hurt to see your cousin made infamous?"

"No. I don't care." Kara replied, "Wherever he is. I'm sure he's doing just fine."

With that being said, John sighed, "Well. I think I'd like a drink.... and some good ole drunk hospitality. We could get information quite a bit easier in a social hotspot instead of walking like a couple of aimless twats."

Kara nodded in agreement, and they began questioning people for directions to the nearest bar..... at ten in the morning...

***

After about an hour and a half of walking, they found themselves in a sort of ghetto. Nestled deep in the north end of Nekropolis where the quality of buildings took an obvious dip and the site of Liquor stores, Pharmacies and thrift stores rose in frequency.

*[Forty feet until destination is reached.]* Khaji-Krow cut in, highlighting John's vision with a trail to follow that glowed an eletrical red along the sidewalk.

"Cool." John replied as he closed in on the Bar and Diner. The Meta-Buzz.

Black bricked and emblazoned with an electrical blue and orange sign, it looked pretty basic. If not a little downtrodden due to the patches of torn out hair, trash and clothing lining the alleyway nearby and curbs in front of the bar. Perfect.

Before John entered with Kara, he found himself attracted to a newspaper stand beside the building. It was busted open with torn papers strewn across the stained sidewalk, but one full newspaper issue still remained. Up to date and ripe with information.

He grabbed the paper, catching that the date read, October 4th, 2017.

But the most eye-catching piece was the headline. In big black lettering two words stood out. He'd read them elsewhere, on the statue of Superman.

"Beware The Great Fears as Criminal Activity Rates Drop and Homicides Rise in Gruesome detail!"

"What is that? What does that mean?" John mumbled.

"New Heroes?" Kara suggested as he flipped through the pages trying to find more information All he got were two names. One speaking of a ground level threat that stuck to the shadows and left his victims so horrified they could no longer be considered functioning humans. The figures name was Vengeance. There was no word of the other. But according to the paper, Vengeance had a partner."

Vengeance... that was an old name for a Hero. One he watched die years ago. Suddenly his spine tingled.

"Khaji-Krow, look up The Great Fears. Tell me what you find." John said.

Kara suddenly took the newspaper and began flipping through the papers.

John no longer needed it as Khaji-Krow began feeding him liveleak videos and security cam footage of the supposed "Great Fears".

He couldn't make out one due to it's deadly speed and pension for throwing glowing yellow energy constructs at every camera in sight. The clips of.... Vengeance were short and violent. But from what he could see, Vengeance was merciless, trained and angry.

The other unnamed being was often seen in the sky. Dressed in black and steaming with brilliant yellow power. The one piece of footage, Khaji was able to find for him, showed the being sending an eyebeam at the camera before the video cut.

Heat vision.

The two were so different. But they were undoubtedly working together. One at the street level and the other guarding the skies.

The one thing joining them was their Yellow Power Rings. And it was that fact that stunned John as he turned to face Kara.

"Superman is here."

Kara blinked at him in confusion.

"He's back... and he's a Yellow Lantern. Wielding fear in a very real way now it seems...."

With that being said, they entered the bar. Now needing a drink more than ever. In their wake, a single person walked the empty sidewalk. He wore a black leather jacket and a red hoodie pulled over his buzzed head.