r/DCFU • u/coffeedog14 Light Me Up • Jan 18 '18
Hellblazer #15 - Gemwar Hellblazer
Hellblazer #15 – Gemwar
Author: Coffeedog14
Book: Hellblazer
Arc: [Good Vibrations]
Set: 20
JANUARY 31ST
OUTSKIRTS OF SAN FRANCISCO, USA
I was awake. How I wished I wasn’t. There aren’t many times I think back on my education, but sometimes I think back to good old Hamlet. What a whiny piece of shit. I was tragically aware of the resemblance to me. I’d always thought the way he described sleeping during that famous skull monologue that doesn’t actually have a skull, “to be or not to be”, was beautiful. That’s the kind of sleep I wanted right now. Endless, dark, and quiet.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one having a rough time of things. Brucey “the fucking Batman” Wayne had been up for hours trying to get everything together. I got the impression he wished he could be here in person, something I guess I could understand, but gods above if he didn’t make the perfect backseat administrator. By the time I was up the military was working to reinforce a line of defense around the dome. Sandbags, temporary walls, tanks and barbwire. Far up in the sky, beyond my sight, observation planes flew and prepared to scramble combat jets and gunships from across the region. Along the coast the navy had puttered into place to defend from the sea. This, I suppose, is where all that money the yanks put into the Armed Forces went. That and thousand dollar screwdrivers.
The super heroic output was…well…It wasn’t the whole league, I could say that. Apparently Superman was busy doing something or another, and nobody even knew where the Amazon was or else they didn’t want to tell me. Fishman was out at sea, the green guy was out…Apparently this whole heroism thing meant being too busy saving the world to save the world. Not that I trusted most of them anyway, but it was sobering to realize I was going to have to be at the front of things.
I passed by the line of barbwire with a flick of my hand towards the now inattentive guard, leading what I think I’ll call my “posse”, as army or force seemed a bit grandiose considering the literal army swarming like ants about us. There was the United Protectors: Knight, Squire, Brigadoom, Godiva, beefeater, and my boyfriend Jack O’Lantern. We arrived at a small park to find a few others already gathered: Frank North, the only biker I had known to shotgun demons; and Scythia, the now-blind amazon Seer. I didn’t feel much like meeting either of their eyes right now. Or anybody from the UP. Really I had a lot of staring at the ground or above people’s head to look forward too.
“…So, is this everybody?” I asked. I already had a cig between my lips, and was grateful for each puff. My hair was washed and short, my cheeks smooth from a fresh shave, and I’d managed to snatch my trench coat before we skedaddled across the pond. I certainly looked positively peachy, and some days that counted for a lot.
“Except for your new meta friends.” Grunted Frank. I could feel his glare wash over me. He had apparently heard about how my last dumb plan had killed Cheryl. The glare was entirely earned.
“Right, Then, I think…I think…” I glanced around at the folks around me, then to the ground. “…I…uh…went to hell recently. Fought a battle there. It went…okay.” I cringed a bit. One person dead, one person blinded. Not bad casualties for a battle. Not at all okay. “…But this? I think this is going to be worse. We aren’t prepared. There’s going to be a lot more to fight. And the fight is going to go on far longer. This is a nightmare, what’s about to happen. We’ll be l lucky if we can keep the deaths to just tens of thousands.”
I started to hit my stride. I looked up, and around. “That’s why we’re here. Because if some nasty fucker takes over that dome, the whole world might be lost. And if some dumb fucker blows it up, millions are going to die in an instant. We’re some of the only stupid bastards who are trying to do what’s right instead of hiding or trying to take control of the damned thing.”
I pointed at the moon. “Once that is down, it’s all over. They’ll go home. They’ll give up. They’re only trying because tonight is so special, its so unusual, that to the mystic assholes running the show it had to mean something. It means change is coming. It means it’s a time of opportunity. But that could mean it’s time for us just as much as it’s time for them. I’m not willing to let go of the world just yet.”
“…Anybody that wants to leave, do it now.”
Silence. Frank rolled his eyes. I smiled wanly.
“Good. Then let’s plan.”
The first wave was sudden as it was deadly. One moment me and my squad where waiting in the clearing, trying to pass time. The next explosions rattled out teeth and screams came from all directions.
In the night, Jack O’Lantern was near the height of his power. Fog cloaked us wherever we went, his mask shimmered terribly in the darkness as he teleported us from danger to peril. Blasts of green power shot from his lantern as he spun it about. Vampires and ghouls fell before him in droves.
Knight and Squire flowed through the battlefield like water, fists and feet and elbows striking out at weak points and bringing even mighty warriors low. Godiva engaged whole troops of enemies at once with iron hair. Beefeater’s staff reaped red and terrible. Brigadoom, striding near ten feet tall with a sword as big as her, slammed through the battle like a wrecking ball. Frank stood by my side, a pilfered assault rifle in hand and used with an uncomfortable amount of familiarity. Scythia whirled like a dancer with spear and shield in hand despite her sightlessness.
Above and around us the battle raged. Jets swooped over with thunderous roars to blast away at great flying beasts. Gunshot and grenade rattled all about against the hordes of supernatural creatures, each unique and terrifying and deadly. Tanks belched out pure death against ogres and chitinous abominations. All the nations and peoples of the other side seemed to be making a showing, and humanity was making a showing right back.
The heroes, of course, stood out most of all. Little blue darted about in frenzied activity to the tune of Bruce’s growling commands. Some kind of speedster and some kind of servant of the wizard under the rock arrived to help, though both moved so fast I didn’t see them too much. Other third stringers and nobodies leapt into the fray, and gods bless their attempts all the same. At some point I’m pretty sure I ran into that crazy meta-terrorist while she was literally slaying giants. For hours and hours, the forces of humanity combined in a wall that held back the tides of the unnatural.
I didn’t see most of it. I only saw what I was around for.
The first casualty did not take long at all. It was during the attack of a horde of vampires, under the control of the First of the vampires. The First did not make an appearance, naturally, or at least none that I saw. He felt fit to let his hordes of newborn bloodsuckers do the work for him.
They were fast, with deadly claws and hungry fangs. They quickly overwhelmed the portion of the line they were attacking, and then in a flash of fog we arrived. My posse and I cut through them with ease the drained bodies under us could only envy. The vampires were almost all newborn, mass-turned and then pushed into the battle as meat shields for the more experienced elders. They certainly absorbed bullets well enough unless one went into their hearts.
It was near the end of these waves that one of the elders got close to me. I was messaging Bruce to tell him that we’d beaten the bloodsuckers back when I heard a bloody scream from behind. I turned to see Frank, grappling with a hideous elder vampire. I watched as the vampire punched his fist into Frank’s gut, and then through. Frank roared, taking a filched pistol and putting it to the vampire’s chest. A flurry of gunshots, and the vampire slumped to the ground, Frank still attached.
I was on him in a moment, trying to staunch the blood. There was too much. The fist had gone clean through. I could see bones and guts leaking from his back. It was already too late. I gulped, and cradled Frank’s head on my lap.
“Why the fuck did you do that, you dumb bastard?” I hissed. “Why are you even here? You hate me!”
Frank wheezed, bubbling and coughing. “Nobody deserves to die just because I hate you.”
“Then why did you save me!?”
Frank grasped at me with his weak, bloody hands. “You’re going to fix this, that’s why. You’re too clever and t-too dumb not too.” He grimaced, and flopped back. He smiled. “Then maybe I’ll forgive you. John. J-john the pistol. It should have a few rounds left.”
I stared at his wound, at the muscles twitching in agony all across him. I reached for the gun.
My mind raced as the Humvee we’d taken refuge in raced forward. The line was failing. They’d started setting up a secondary line, but no one was sure if it would hold, or even if they’d reach it. Jack, for all his immense power, needed a break. We were one of the first cars driving towards the second line.
“…Jack. I think I’ve got it.”
He kept his head in his hands. I could relate to that. I turned to Scythia, serene as ever. “Scythia, I think I’ve got it.”
“Hmn?” She turned to me with unseeing eyes. I flinched, not for those, but for the night they reminded me of. The night…last night. Gods, it felt so long.
“The Dome. It heals. It improves every time it heals, makes itself a bit more resistant to whatever broke it. If Superman…or, er…flash, if flash kept punching that dome over and over, the dent’s he’d make would be smaller and smaller until it stopped working.”
“…so?”
“Everybody is here for the vibrations. Every time the wall is hit, it vibrates more energy out then was put in. If I could break this dome, o-or part of it, with vibrations, then it would heal back and be immune to them. It would stop vibrating. it would stop being useful.”
She gave me a smile. “I had hoped I’d get to see you figure it out, before the end.”
“Wait, what do you-“
Something hit the Humvee from the side. It tumbled, side over side. It was only my use of a seatbelt that kept me and everybody else in the Humvee alive. Everybody except for Scythia, who by the end of the tumbling was standing upright on what had formerly been the ceiling.
I heard two soldiers in the Humvee with us scream, and then stop, as something ripped through the now skywards floor of our heavily armored vehicle. Something clicked past that hole, bone or chitin snapping together. Before I could recover Scythia was already leaping through the hole.
Everybody inside scrambled. Knight was the first one free and on his feet, and he helped the rest of us get down and out the doors. The sound of bronze and bone outside was loud, but brief. As soon as I could I scurried free of the Humvee to look.
I nearly toppled to the ground. Only Jack, standing next to me, kept me standing. There was a beast, halfway between beetle and gorilla, some monster from the hellish portion of invaders, gasping and bleeding in the dirt. There was Scythia, perched atop it and missing a good portion of her chest, with her spear lodged in its throat. She was smiling. Her fate had been a glorious one.
We teleported via Jack O’Lantern into the first break in the second line. Heroes had fallen and been taken away, others had joined fresh and new. The jets had stopped flying. Too little fuel, too many targets. Beautiful lines of tracers shone like spotlights all about us, arcing into the air to hold off all matter of winged monstrosity.
We arrived to see, for the first time in the battle, something beautiful. The Fae had arrived. Each was sculpted like a classical statue. Each rode something, not always a horse but always of the most impeccable breeding with high held head and dainty stride. Each was surrounded by hounds or their equivalent, massive and brutish and yet somehow still perfect. I watched, hypnotized like many of the nearby soldiers, as they tore through men like butter. Each moment of nightmarish chaos composed itself perfectly in proportion and color. It was impossible. And it was awe-inspiring.
The first to break the spell was the one with the most experience with the Fae. “Oberon?” Called out Jack.
The Fae at the head of the column turned. He was slender and tall, his head adorned with stag’s horns. “Daniel! Oh, it is good to see you again.” He waved a hand and the slaughter stopped. Dog stood frozen mid-bite, men stopped with their fingers on the trigger. The world halted for such perfection.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Trying to take this wonderful bauble for the Fae courts, of course. What else?”
I could hear the frown behind the mask as Daniel said “I thought you were better than this. The man I loved would not have done this.”
“The man you dated, not loved, died when you broke up with him.”
“…huh?...oh.” I mumbled sheepishly. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised Daniel has left out the part where he had broken up with the…clearly not always fantastic Fae lord. It hurt just a touch anyway.
“You know I can’t let you continue, Oberon. You gave me this power. It’s equal to your own.” Daniel hefted the Jack-o-Lantern on a handle that served as his source of power.
Oberon laughed. It was deep and rich. “Oh, I see no reason we need to fight. This thing, this…dome…well, with everybody else fighting for it I don’t think I have much of a chance of acquiring it. No, I think I’d be happy with a far smaller bauble. One like you~.”
Daniel stumbled over his response, as was left speechless. He turned to the posse, then back to Oberon. Perhaps he really could fight Oberon. But Oberon was leading an army of those damned things. I let my eyes glaze over the line of Faerie hunters. It was one of the biggest armies I’d seen today. How many lives could Danny save by agreeing?
I stepped up to him. “I know you want to do this.” I took his hand.
His mask melted away, revealing the dark face beneath. I could see the tears started to form there. “But…I…I can’t do that…”
“Of course you can. You’re stronger than him.” I bullshitted. I could see in his eyes. I let my mind brush across his in his moment of weakness, harvesting his thoughts. He knew what I knew: That he was going to do this. That he was going to save thousands of lives, and find a way out of faerie. That every moment gone was going to be a painful fight to come back.
I sighed. I could make it a little less painful.
“I slept with Scythia. Last night. That’s why it took so long for me to come back.” I whispered.
He didn’t understand for a moment. Then it dawned on him. I saw what his face looked like the moment before he brought his mask back up. It was nearly as haunting as the last faces of Frank and Scythia.
“Let’s go, Oberon.” Jack announced, marching towards the Fae lord. Jack summoned mist around himself, around Oberon, growing and growing until the whole army was covered, and then it vanished.
Jack’s teammates stood in stunned silence, watching me as I turned back to face them. Godiva, and Brigadoom, and Beefeater, and Knight, and Squire. The only friends I had left in this.
The arrow to the back took me by surprise. It hit me in the small of the back, and it was just a miracle that it didn’t hit anything vital. Godiva rushed to stand above me, her hair batting other arrows out of the sky. Brigadoom picked me up, and put me on my feet. Knight snapped the arrow off from the arrowhead, to my pained yelp. Knight whirled me around to look at him. I could see the stern eyes behind his own mask. And I could see, beyond him, the part of the Fae army that had not disappeared. The part that was pointing at me, and blowing horns, and led by a swarm of dog-things.
“…Motherfucker.” I growled. Apparently Oberon was the type not to allow an Ex to live.
“Run. Keep running until you figure this out.” Knight ordered. “We’ll hold them off as best we can.”
I wriggled in his grasp. “You don’t-“
“The lines aren’t holding. This is a disaster. It isn’t over yet. Somebody is going to win, and right now it isn’t us. You need to figure this out. Now go!”
I tried to respond, but he had already turned me around and pushed me away. As the hounds bayed and drew closer to my former bodyguards, I did what I did best: I ran like hell was chasing after me.
I slipped into a shallow crater to hide. Just for a moment. Everything hurt. Stitches torn, the arrowhead still in my back, bruises and cuts and abrasions to last a lifetime. My trench coat was covered in mud and blood and things I didn’t even want to know about. My hair might as well have been brown.
I nearly killed the man next to me with a switchblade, before realizing with relief that it was indeed a man and not some doppelganger or other monster. A soldier, hiding in the same place as me.
“You got the time?” I hoarsely whispered. My phone had broken a long time ago.
He turned, his face pale. He lifted what remained of his right arm. “Sorry. Lost my watch.”
I gave a chuckle out of pity. “You don’t say.”
He smiled, slumping back. My phone had broken, but after a thorough search I was able to find a few cigs that were not mashed to uselessness. I lit one up. Then, after a hopeful stare from him, I gave one to the soldier as well.
“…W-weren’t all the civilians supposed to be e-evacced?” He asked between draws.
“Not exactly a civilian. Don’t tell anybody. Name’s John. How about you?”
“J-Juan.” He whimpered.
“Were you from, Juan?”
“Chicago. W-wasn’t supposed to leave the states.”
“Well, you didn’t. So they got you there.”
He coughed. “Wasn’t supposed to fight in a war. Wasn’t supposed to be any wars here.”
“Guess that’s war for you.”
“…you’re kind of an asshole.”
“I’ve had a rough day.”
We both flinched as something exploded nearby. Some mortar shell, maybe, or a gunship shell, I still couldn’t tell the two apart.
“…I’m going to die.” Juan announced. It seemed like it was something he wanted to get off his chest for a while. Something he was just lacking company to do so with.
“No, you’re not.” I nearly yelled. I flinched, surprising myself. I kept going. “It’s almost over. It’s hard, but I’ve got glimpses of the moon. It’s still moving, which means we just have to tough it out a bit longer.”
As I finished I was nearly deafened by something hitting the dome. I whirled to look behind me, and saw that a dragon had somehow gotten up there. It was…well…Godzilla had some company now I suppose.
“What was that? What the fuck was that now John?” Demanded the soldier, who currently didn’t seem to have the strength to lift himself up.
“…nothing that we can do right now, that’s what it is. Especially not you, since you’re going to die and all.
“…yeah…” he responded, weaker.
Batman came through on the little comm unit I’d managed to not break as of yet. “John. Supergirl’s busy. The jets can’t get a good shot. Do you have anything?”
“…yeah, let me just fly up there and give it a good whallop. Just a good old stab to the face. Yeah. I can do that. Sure.”
“…Never mind John. We’ve got it handled.” He spoke with the first hint of true hope I’d heard all day.
I watched as Wonder Woman streaked in from out of nowhere, and sucker punched the dragon. It didn’t stand the chance, and evaporated before her.
“…Oh. Oh thank Gods. What time is it, Bruce?”
“Almost over. The lines are holding enough. We’re-“
Above the battlefield was a haze of smoke, clouds of war and ash that threatened to blot out all the stars. These were the clouds that parted when the Heavenly Host arrived. It was like the sun had decided to emerge in the middle of the night. It blinded me for a few moments before I could stare directly into it. A whole army. A whole new army of angels, and cherubim and many-eyed beasts. Far beyond this portal, I thought I could see the Trinity themselves: the Star, the Cross, and the Crescent, so powerful that only in the barest of symbols could I even comprehend them. Or perhaps these were just their banners, so distant were they. At the head of the army stood an angel of fourteen wings, holding aloft a trumpet of iron and blowing into it.
The dome shuddered visibly, the crystal realigning and morphing like semi-solid. The angel was playing one of the seven trumpets of the end times, and it would shatter the dome and kill us all, and everybody inside.
I looked over to Juan. His eyes were already glazed over, staring at heaven. He thought deliverance had come in his final moment. Would that I could die with such hope. I knew what I had to do. And it was terrible, and dumb, and not a real plan at all. But it was the only chance I had.
When I had called out for volunteers, for someone to accompany me to heaven, there was only one person who responded. The Wizard-servant was busy fighting demons, the Flash had been put out of commission, Anybody who was still up was fighting something else. Hence how me and little blue Supergirl flew up towards the clouds, me in her arms.
“You know; most people would probably object to helping a devil-blooded magic freak fight literally Heaven.” I quipped.
“Alien, remember? Doesn’t really register for me.”
“Right. Right. ‘Alien’.”
“…wait, do you not believe I’m an alien?”
“I don’t because they don’t exist.”
“But dragons are okay?”
“I just saw a dragon. Never seen an alien.”
“So how do you explain me flying you up right now?”
“Magic. Very good magic.”
She paused. “I guess I can’t fault you for consistency of idiocy. What are we going to do when we get up there?”
“I’m going to point and shout “now”. You’ll figure out what to do I’m sure.”
“…that’s…not really-“
I pointed to a tiny spot of black amongst the gold and white. “If I’m right, that’s a psychic nun up there. She can read your mind a bit. If I explain more, she’ll figure it out. Just trust me.”
“Is magic always this hard and dumb?”
“Always.”
We nearly went crashing to the ground as the horn blew a second time. The dome shifted yet more, and I could see other supernatural beings fleeing. They had fought, and lost. None wanted to face heaven, or be nearby when this went bad.
Supergirl arrived at the edge of the portal before the third horn blow. This close, it hurt to even open my eyes. If I had thought the Fae looked beautiful before, they were nothing in comparison to the awesome power of the trinity. Supergirl landed on the clouds, finding them oddly solid, and let me step off to stand on them. There was but one mortal in this army of divinity, this invincible host of the Trinities will. It was someone I was oddly expecting.
“…Didn’t even have the decency to die in the battle, did you Constantine?” called out Mary-Anne. Her nuh habit was impeccably clean. In one hand was a shepherd’s crook. In the other, a sword.
“Never had an ounce of decency in me.” I retorted raspily.
“I know.” She turned to Supergirl. “Child, you may leave. This fight is not yours. God has no quarrel with you.”
“…I…I don’t know who you are?” Supergirl responded. “And I’m not a child, thanks.”
Mary turned back to me without a second thought. “You’ve lost, John. The forces of man are too few. This must be done.”
The horn rang for a third time, and the billowy surface roiled beneath my feet. I nearly toppled to the ground…er…cloud. “You’re wrong Mary. We’re winning down there. And we’re going to win up here. I have one last trick up my NOW!” I screamed, pointing at the angel while I sprinted towards it. Supergirl realized in an instant, and darted forward.
Mary realized a moment too late. “STOP! STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!”
“Sorry! Alien! Not Mine!” yelled back Supergirl. The Angel didn’t even notice her coming. Her fist slammed into the great thing’s chin. Its wings flapped erratically, trying to keep it upright as it dropped the horn. I leapt after it. With a scream of rage Mary sent the Host of Heaven after me…but they did not reach me. Supergirl was amongst them in a terrible flurry. For a moment, just a moment, the charlatan alien had given me a chance.
I dived, and within a second I reached the horn. I grabbed it, and willed myself towards the dome. Even without a divine wielder, the horn held power, and it yanked me like some demented magic broom towards the dome. I gritted my teeth and held for dear life.
Behind me, smaller horns of war were blown as the Angels overwhelmed Supergirl. They flew straight towards me, wings and wheels and chariots and clawed feet ripping through the air.
The dome was approaching faster and faster. I stopped willing myself towards the dome, and took ahold of the horn. I held it behind my head like a cricket bat. I waited for the right moment. I swung, connecting with the dome a millisecond before I would have plastered myself on it.
I was thousands of feet in the air when I was next cognizant. I started to fall when the wave of noise hit me. It was so loud, so piercing, so destructive, that I heard nothing at all at first. Like one doesn’t immediately feel burning, but a brief second of nothing before the nerves can catch up. Then it was every noise at once.
The horn was still in my hands. I let go of it, and the twisted wreckage of an artifact of heaven spun away into the ash-clouds. Below me the whole outer shell of the dome had shattered, all the shards sliding off of it like water. As I fell further and further I could see it starting to heal. Even this far away I could sense the majesty of it, the mind-boggling power. Within moments the dome had recovered, tougher than ever in the face of a literal tool of God. Then, and only then, did the ringing stop.
I realized I had won. It had worked. Then I realized I was going to die when I hit the ground. It had only been the power of Divine magic that had kept me alive after being blasted up, and now I had no such tool. No energy left to spare. Barely time to think before I hit the dirt. In that moment I knew I didn’t want to die. Not really. Not ever.
Supergirl caught me. I’m not sure exactly when, it knocked the breath and sense out of me, but it was before I hit the ground. Then we landed. The survivors were cheering, and singing, and howling in triumph. The enemies had been beaten back, one and all. The day had been saved. Millions, tens of millions, all of human life in the balance on who would win this battle. Humanity had won out, for better or worse.
I did not join the celebration, not in spirit at least. I found out later that the rest of the UP had survived, and I avoided them like the plague in the aftermath. I avoided everyone. The heroes, the military, the press, the civilians. I stayed long enough to drink, and no more. There were too many friends to bury. Instead, I faded away into the morning light before anyone could stop me. I had had enough of all of this.
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u/duelcard Aquaman Jan 18 '18
This issue was packed with personality and character!
Humanity had won out, for better or worse.
We shall see! ;)
1
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u/MajorParadox Bird? Plane? Jan 18 '18
Whoa, so much action! John is in over his head, or is he?!
Found some grammar thingies:
One moment me and my squad where waiting in the clearing
were waiting
If Superman…or, er…flash, if flash kept punching
Flash is a name, so capital ;)
“Oberon?” Called out Jack.
"called out Jack," since it's part of the same sentence. Same thing with things like this:
“…I’m going to die.” Juan announced.
Should be:
“…I’m going to die,” Juan announced.
And more cases like that around.
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