Chapter Text
Emma wasn't herself.
The adults spoke furtively about the man that intruded upon their little town yesterday.
How he looked at the children playing in the street like they were rodents under his feet. Nose turned up at the abandoned buildings as though it was their fault the plague took so many. Staring with those same small-minded eyes all the People of the Air had when gazing at the Children of the Deep.
Like he wished the earth would open its maw and devour them whole. Just so he wouldn't have to look at them.
Emma shuddered shoulders that were not her own and all but dragged her little brother back to the house. Leaving Father to speak with the other fishermen.
She couldn't wait to join grandmother beneath the waves. Even if the metamorphosis was still decades off. The sea called to her... Though she would be lying if she said the weight of this surface world didn't bear down on her like Atlas lifting the sky.
It didn't always. Once, when she was much younger, Emma begged her father to let her see the world outside their small town. That day was so full of promise. The sun shone down like Father Dagan himself and glittered on the waves.
It was only the next town over but to Emma it was a whole nother world. There were so many people! So many kids her age. It was a holiday, she couldn't remember which, but it meant the adults didn't have to work and their children played.
That's how Emma met her first (and last) friend. The fancy ladies kept their daughters away but the common folk cared little for the propriety of children. Running and playing with the boys. Teaming up when one of said boys remembered they were girls and didn't keep it to himself. For a whole day that girl was Emma's best friend.
Until it was time to leave.
Mother came to fetch her but Emma didn't want to go. She pulled and Mother's shawl slipped. Revealing eyes too round and too far apart; a wide mouth with thin lips; skin patterned with green scales; hair already falling out.
The girl screamed. Calling Emma's mother a monster before running away. Not even looking back.
Suddenly the town that had seemed so inviting a moment before was like the open jaws of a shark. But with less mercy in those cold, judging eyes. Mothers held their children close as violence filled their Fathers' eyes. They left quickly.
Emma never asked to go outside the town again.
So she waited.
Day after day.
Year after Year.
Waited for her eyes to grow apart and her hair to fall out. Like her grandmother and her grandmother before her.
... Perhaps it was alright that the man had escaped, she hoped. Even if the adults worried no harm came of it.
But Emma didn't really believe that. Didn't believe the People of the Air would leave them alone.
Because she saw it.
Growing out of their heads. Pulsing like veins. Bulbous mushrooms not glowing a sickly yellow but made of yellow. It's spores spreading, infecting the mob.
Fear made manifest. A Parallax in spiritual form.
And yet, it was still a shock when a dozen war vehicles came roaring down the only road into town. Yellow mushrooms of light that only she could see encrusting every vehicle. Carrying the same small-minded men that threw rocks at her Mother.
Only this time they brought more than stones.
Wade's legs were too slow.
His brother and sister raced past him. Cobblestone streets blurring as they raced. Cutting a tunnel through the fog with their speed. The Flash Twins always too fast for him.
"Wait for me!" Wade called out, voice high and young. He was still a kid and his legs were much shorter than his older siblings.
"Keep up, Wade!" They laughed, zooming on ahead of him. Lightning throwing the old wooden buildings into stark relief.
"Wait- ahhh!"
A loose stone caught his foot. He tumbled end over end like Dad taught him. Dispersing his momentum. Ending in a heep with cuts and bruises but otherwise alright.
He'd landed in a square. Boarded up windows staring at him from empty buildings. The morning mist creeping in from the gaps between buildings. Wade picked himself up and dusted himself off.
There was a shadow on the road. In the shape of a man. Mist swirling all about him like a cloak.
Wade's heart beat faster. "Who are you?" He demanded, voice deeper and not quite so young. Legs stronger and longer than when he was a little kid.
"I am... the second," the shadow rasped. Becoming more solid, more... familiar.
His brow furrowed. "I don't-"
Wade blinked and the Black Racer stood a hands breath away from him.
"Yes, you do."
Thunder struck as Wade ran. The road stretching on forever. Wade screamed as he pulled on the Speed Force around him and ran.
The Black Racer's words echoing in his head. He was 'the second'. But there was no second. There was Jay Garrick, the first. And Wally West the third. Everyone knew that... Right?
His father ran beside him. That wasn't right. Dad was in a wheelchair for as long as Wade could remember. But here he was. Younger than he should be.
"Why Hot Rod?" The third Flash asked.
Iron giants loomed above the buildings on either side. The sound of metal and splintering wood reaching him as they faught. Obscured by the mists but Wade still recognized their silhouettes. He named himself after one of them after all.
Because they were cool. Because they stuck by their principals and were punished for it. Because he needed the reminder of what true heroism looked like.
"Because they deserved better!"
Wade tore through the mist, shredding it as he left the outskirts of this cursed town. Sand glassing with the heat of his steps. Miles sailed past in sand and mist as he tried to put as much distance between himself and the town.
The stich in his side and the ache in his calves begging him to slow, to breathe. Wade ran faster.
Lights ran beside him. Blurred by the mist.
"Hey, you've gotten faster, twip!"
"But still not as fast as us!"
Wade reached out a hand towards them.
The lights shot forward. Vanishing into the mists.
A strangled cry escaped his lips and he stopped, panting, hands on his knees. Tears threatening to spill over as his fists clenched. Gripping his head as he tried to yank out the cotton clouding his thoughts.
... Why was he here? They were looking for someone... A favor for a friend... Right? That's why he was on this sand dune...
Wade's face shot up.
Innsmouth laid out before him. The same town he just escaped. Impossibly, undeniably. Reaching out for him but never quite managing to grab him.
Only this time, it was burning. The schoolhouse, the library, his neighbor's- No, other people's homes. All burning. Wade could hear the sounds of mecha fire and the yelling of mercenaries. Smoke turning the sun red and the sky black.
The town of brick and mortar flickered. Interposed with a maze of twisting stone-like towers. Someone's scream abruptly cut off by the sound of plasma fire.
Wade flinched. Body begging him to keep running. To turn his back on this cursed place and not look back.
"There are some things you can't outrun," the Black Racer promised.
Hesitating for only a moment, Wade ran towards the fires and screams.
Hugo never felt more like himself.
Body dancing weightless in the shallow waters off the coast. He spun and looped as he listened to the song of the ocean itself. It's currents flowing over his skin and tickling his fins like the clothes he'd discarded after the metamorphosis. He was so young to have undergone the change. Barely an adult even by the People of the Air's standards.
It's not that the reef city held no interest for him. Every building carved from living coral over millennia. Thousands of fish swimming freely between the great arches of the sea palaces. Elders who were there when Y'Lyntias itself fell recounted the history of their people in the great lecture halls to newly transformed kin.
It was just... The far ocean beconed him to leave the relative shallows of the continental shelf. A blue so deep even Father Dagan himself would have trouble finding him from his heavenly throne.
An all consuming darkness where even the sacred sunlight of Utu could not reach. Sometimes he would stare at it. Lost in it's featureless void for hours. On some moonless nights, very rarely, he could catch a glimpse of three pin points of green light staring back at him from the shadow of the world.
Hugo could've stayed out there forever.
The ripple of something unnatural ran over his fins. Rousing Hugo from his waking dream.
Instinctively, Hugo hid against an outcropping as the discordant ring sounded from this creaking behemoth. Even before he laid eyes on it Hugo felt it's size from the way water rippled in its wake. A massive shadow barely fit to dive into the sacred Deep fell upon the coral cliffs. A rounded cylinder that made mockery of even the great whales greeted Hugo's eyes.
Forged of ugly metal unlike the handcrafted goldworks of the Children. This monstrosity so lacking in form or sense it could only come from the People of the Air. Could only be one thing: a machine of war.
No sooner did Hugo think it than the behemoth opened its mouth to release a skreeching missile. Hugo covered the holes of his ears but it was no use; the sound vibrated in his bones as the projectile roared past him.
Straight for the dancing lights of Y'ha-nthlei.
Izel was dreaming.
She knew she was dreaming and yet she couldn't wake up. How did she get here? It was... blurry. Fogged over. She came here with someone. Many someone's. To find... she couldn't remember.
Izel walked out of the stiffling barn they put her family in and walked around the camp. Barbed wire lined the fence so no one could climb out. Soldiers with Immigration- no, US Army Corps patches on their uniforms patrolled both inside and outside the gate.
Her mouth was so dry.
"Please," she asked an officer, "we need more water."
The officer barely glanced at her. "All water is to be strictly rationed to prevent the spreading of the affliction," he said as though reciting a regulation.
Izel shook her head. "It doesn't work that way. The change comes whether there's water or not. We'll just die instead."
The officer finally looked at her and Izel stepped back. There was no soul in those eyes. Just a pulsing yellow buried deep beneath the skin.
She walked back to her "room" in a daze. Her friends were missing. She came here to find one of them. The youngest.
The heat ate at her. Lips cracking with lack of moisture. Rage building as she saw her people baking in the sun. The barns were no refuge. They sweltered in the day and were freezing at night. Only the occasional breeze offering relief.
Izel's rage grew so she took her thumb and pressed it into a loose nail. Pain sharp and immediate. Focusing her mind through the haze. Blood oozed from the wound and she dripped it into a circle. Wiping the sweat from her brow, careful not to let the drops near her injured hand. Slowly, carefully, she drew a rune. Then another. Sumerian script mixed with medieval practice. As her grandparents taught her.
A prayer to Dagan.
For several long minutes nothing happened.
Then the wind picked up, clouds covered the sun and the smell of water filled her lungs. Rain poured down like someone opened the floodgates of heaven.
Soldiers screamed and barked orders for everyone to get inside. Orders which were promptly ignored.
Izel laughed as she spun in a circle. Tilting her head up and closing her eyes. It was so long since she was surrounded by so much water.
"I said get inside!"
The crack of the soldier's rifle meeting someone's temple echoed across the courtyard.
Izel didn't remember summoning the flood. Only the outrage of being denied the rain itself. Only the feeling of mentally taking the hand of every other Child of the Deep. Only the roar of the flash flood as it struck their camp.
The water tore apart the barns and uprooted the fence. But it flowed around the Children of the Deep like they were stones in a river. Leaving them untroubled by the watery chaos.
The soldiers were not so lucky.
Izel raised her webbed hands to the stormy sky in gratitude. Even though a little voice in her head said it was her power that called the storm, not Dagan.
It didn't matter.
Greenish scales spread up her arms. As she took in her people Izel saw the same happening to so many. They called on the power of the Deep, and these were the consequences.
Izel found her brother and sibling preparing to leave. They would follow the floodpath until it reached a river. And follow that to the sea.
She gazed back at the remains of their prison one last time. Izel knew the People of the Air would condemn her kind for what they'd done. She found she did not care.
Let them have these Air blighted "lands". The Deep belonged to her Children.
Àngel dropped to their knees in the ruins of their home.
Rain and wind conspiring to burry the charred remains of Innsmouth in sand. The schoolhouse where they learned of the outside world. The library where they fell in love with reading. The temple where they gave praise to Dagan for delivering them from the plague and subsequent famine.
All burned and buried.
It was years since they laid eyes on it. Years since their kin escaped the prison of thirst. And still they mourned.
Tears burned their cheeks as they fell. "Why? What did we do? What did we do?"
An Elder with burn scars on her limbs laid a webbed hand on their shoulder. "Oh, child. We didn't do anything."
Àngel squeezed their eyes tight as though that would dam the flood of grief that threatened to drown them.
And they sang.
They sang of the long swim from fallen Y'Lyntias. Sang of the lost ancestors whose names they'd forgotten when the Y'Lyntians stole them from their people and remade their bodies. Sang of the eternal ocean that welcomed the souls of the dead.
And as they sang the sand began to move. Little grains at first then whole streams of sand. Swirling in front of them with singular purpose.
The sand rose up in a pillar. Glowing with heat as the coarse grains changed into smooth, black stone. The lighthouse pointed to the dim noonday sun.
Every last centimeter covered in names.
Those who died in the attack, those who died in the camps before they could escape, and those who vanished without explanation.
Àngel's throat was sore by the time they stopped singing.
Above the door they engraved the words:
"For those who were taken. May your souls find their way back to the sea."
Jules shouldn't be here.
The Children of the Deep worked hard to restore their town. In defiance of fear and common sense both. This was where their children died and their grandparents were born.
And they refused to leave it.
That was why they pointed spears of driftwood and bronze at his chest. Further back more held hunting rifles. Though the true threat was not of a physical nature.
'Emrys,' they hissed psychically. 'What do you want?'
They looked so awkward outside the water. Webbed feet necessitating a wide stance. Head fins drooping without their fluid support.
'You are not welcome here!'
'Return to your precious island!'
'Failed scion.'
'Failed? I suppose it would look that way to you,' Jules snapped. His voice old and raspy but with an undercurrent of restrained power. Even though they spoke mind to mind.
'How else would one see it?' asked one of the younger Deep Ones.
'Enough," an Elder cut any retort Jules could make. "Your reasons are irrelevant. Why have you broken through our barrier?'
Jules looked back at the hole he tore through the mist to get here. Did he do that? He had to apologi- 'Oh was that meant for my kind? I thought it was for children.'
... Why would he say that?
The Deep Ones' bristled.
'Failure has taught you the wrong lessons, it seems.'
Jules' eyes narrowed. 'We'll see, won't we?'
'Why are you here?'
Jules straightened, using his staff to support his old bones. 'I'm looking for someone, aren't I. A witch.'
"There are no witches here.'
'No, but there will be.'
The Deep Ones glanced at each other nervously.
'It's time you depart, Emrys.' They raised their spears.
His lips were pulled upward in a smile. They were too late. "Wake up, Jules. Deffri di!"
Jules' eyes snapped open with a start. Surrounded by screams.
Louis was standing on the beach.
The sun obscured by mist, the ocean grey and dark. In the distance modern Innsmouth rose from the fog. Cryptid coral growing far faster than it should in the likeness of Y'ha-nthlei, the sister city beneath the waves. The spires shimmered through the fog, replaced with buildings of wood and stone only for a moment before reality manifested once more. Yet the lighthouse on the edge of shore remained in both versions.
But more stunning than a Deep city growing on the surface was the Merfolk in front of him. A Deep One. Greenish scales covered their entire body. Large fins on their limbs and head. Giving the illusion of hair. Sharp claws atop webbed fingers. Muscles lean and strong, like that of a swimmer.
The merman stood waist deep in the cold surf. Large eyes unblinking. Louis was grateful for his visor so he could maintain the illusion of eye contact.
'Who are you?' the merman demanded in his head. 'What do you want?'
"I..." For a moment Louis thought of giving his "hero" name. But he wasn't here for half measures. So he took a deep breath. "I'm Louis... We need your help."
The merman scoffed. 'We have seen how the People of the Air treat their allies. The Children of the Deep want no part in it,' he turned to leave.
"W-wait!" Louis pulled out the files Bucky stole for him. The data-solid's crystal codex completely waterproof and unhackable. "A gift. So you'll listen. So you know I'm... sincere."
The merman eyed the crystal wearily but did not leave.
Louis activated the hologram.
The merman frowned, then his eyes blew wide open. He stepped out of the surf and onto dry land. Hand trembling as he held out his hands for the data-solid.
Louis placed it in his webbed palm.
The merman barely noticed him now. Eyes roaming the files projected into the air. Mental voice choked with unshed tears. 'This is...'
"Yeah..."
The files contained the names of all those who were lost. Their children and grandchildren. Siblings and cousins. All who died in the government camp... And those who did not.
'What is Area 51?'
Louis shuddered. "It... wasn't a good place."
The merman frowned. "I thought you wanted me to trust you?'
"...It was a prison," The words left Louis before he could swallow them. "A place where the Earth Protection Force experimented on... non-human sapients."
The merman moaned as he squeezed his eyes shut; fighting back tears. 'We knew. We knew but could not prove it. They wouldn't even tell us what happened to their bodies.'
"I... I'm sorry." Louis winced at how far his words fell short.
But the merman wasn't looking at him the way people usually looked at Louis. More like he was surprised Louis bothered to offer condolences at all.
'... Arik. My name is Arik.'
They didn't smile exactly but the silence was less tense. Less awkward.
An explosion echoed across the fog.
Their eyes snapped towards Innsmouth as a tower of coral and glass fell. Spilling water like lifeblood upon the ground.
More explosions followed.
'NO!' Arik lunged at Louis, claws extended.
In panic, Louis froze his limbs, scrambling back. "I-I-I didn't! I wouldn't!"
'LIAR!' Arik screamed, thrashing against Louis' invisible restraints. 'People of the Air always lie!'
As suddenly as his rage came it vanished. Arik sagging as he let his body go limp. 'Why can't you just leave us alone?' he cried.
Louis' vision blurred. He released Arik and the merman fell to the sand. "... I didn't lie. I'm here to help."
BOOM!
For the second time in practically as many days Louis entered a warzone.
The soldiers' uniforms changed before Emma's very eyes.
Instead of the U.S. Army come to take her family away it was Lexcorp Security. Mechas and drones by the dozens marching down the street. And a thousand mercenaries and Synthoids in case those weren't enough. One of them fired a missile into a tower and brought it tumbling down.
Emma froze. The tower froze. Deep Ones falling to their death froze.
'Well?' Morgan asked. 'You just going to stand there?'
'If you don't move, I'm sure the mech will simply flatten you,' Morgana supplied helpfully.
Emma shook her head, fists clenching as time resumed.
"Aria, Sea of Storms!"
The sky darkened, thunder booming high above.
"I call upon your wind!"
She caught the falling merfolk in cushions of air. Setting them down away from the approaching soldiers.
"I call upon your lightning!"
Bolts of purple light flashed between the gathering clouds. The wind blowing away the mist so she could clearly see the coral nature of the town.
"Strike down these soldiers of metal! And let them harm Dagan's people no more!"
As the last syllable left her lips the lightning bolts thundered into the mechs.
Wade zoomed between Lexcorp Security.
Tasing them with their own weapons; disassembling their guns; knocking drones out of the sky. So fast no one could see him let alone catch him. He stopped to observe his handywork.
"Speedster detected. Activating Slow Zone Protocol," a Kanté announced.
"Shit!"
Hot Rod sped back up but it was too late. The drones rose higher and projected a field that disrupted the Speed Force. Like Louis' powers only less effective. He still had superspeed but now he was slow enough to get caught.
The Synthoids and mechas turned to look at him.
"... Fucking slag it!"
Hugo's muscles strained as he lifted a mecha over his head and hurled it at another.
A satisfying crash announcing their early retirement. He may have been panting but a wide grin wouldn't leave his face. He was a lot stronger than his previous fight with Lexcorp.
In front of him, an army of robots. To his back, the ocean and the secrets of Y'ha-nthlei.
A guandao he didn't remember grabbing twirled in his hands as he set his fighting stance. The blade shining on the end of the staff. Feet swaying with the waves as he stood on water instead of sinking. "You want their city you're going to have to go through me!"
The Synthoids raised their weapons in response.
With a roar Hugo charged.
"Àngel de la Guarda, protégelos!"
Just in time, Izel's Guardian Angel shielded a group of fleeing Deep Ones from the plasma fire of Lexcorp goons. His transparent form tanking their hits with no apparent strain. Great glowing wings extended, ageless dark drown face framed with the white hair of age. Armor shifting between times and places.
Some of the goons noticed her and pointed their guns at Izel.
"La Llorona, disciplina tus hijos."
What was left of the mist that covered the town thickened and condensed. Forming the shape of a ghostly woman with thick black hair almost as long as her wedding dress. She smiled before letting out an ear-splitting wail. Lunging at the panicking squadron of goons.
The mist swallowed them all up. Their screams echoing from far away.
Izel shuddered. They were adults so La Llorona wouldn't keep them... Probably.
A family stubbled past. An older son carrying his young siblings as his mother supported their injured father.
... Izel slapped her face with both hands. Now wasn't the time to second guess herself. She ran towards the gunfire.
"Lemme go you dregs!"
Àngel didn't know what one of the Flash Family was doing here but if he was fighting Lexcorp that was good enough for them.
Tocayo launched himself from one of the coral towers and basically, no, definitely, tackled Hot Rod from above.
As soon as they touched Àngel felt a surge of Speed supercharging their, well, everything. Their mind thought faster, limbs moving instantly, heartbeat like a hummingbird.
They had one second before they hit the ground.
"Who the fuck are you!?" Was the first thing out of Hot Rod's mouth.
Which, fair. "Tocayo! I'm breaking through whatever's dampening your powers! Andborrowingsomeforabit."
"What was that last part?"
"Never mirrored a Speedster before! Any pointers?"
Hot Rod narrowed his eyes but it's not like he had much choice. "Roll when you fall! You try to stop all at once you're momentum is gonna slamming break something! Schway?"
"Schway! Here we go!"
One second the Lexcorp goons were taking a prisoner to the command platform, the next they were on the ground with the wind knocked out of them and maybe a few broken ribs.
Àngel whooped as they blasted to their feet.
This was amazing!
The Speed Force was like a sugar rush dialed up to infinity! Àngel could feel themselves vibrating faster and faster.
Hot Rod's after image blurred in front of them. "Ready? Follow my lead and let's slag these dregs!" Then he was off.
Tocayo grinned and zoomed after him.
Which wasn't very far as Hot Rod ran in a circle. The combined force of two Speedsters summoning a tornado.
The sky darkening further as they pulled stormclouds towards the ground. The force of their man-made disaster pulling Synthoids and mercenaries off the ground and sending drones crashing into each other.
A mech tank tried to anchor itself to the ground but the compact coral gave way under its grip. The twister lifting it up into the air.
Thunder boomed as their funnel touched the sky.
Louis let his power wash over the town.
Synthoids and drones falling to the ground. Mechas and plasma rifles simply turning off. He tried to be gentle. Synthoids were sapient, he didn't want to harm them. But that meant he had to keep constant focus. He couldn't simply fry their circuits like he'd done in Kandor.
So instead Louis made his way to the command platform. The command platform that still floated above Innsmouth when every other electronic bent to his will.
Ping!
"Of course it's dangerous. But we have to go anyway."
BOOM!
The command platform wasn't anything like Louis expected.
Absolutely everything was gilded in gold.
It reminded Louis of the hover yachts owned by billionaires even wealthier than his own family. The ones who mocked Papa behind his back because he actually cared about the 99%.
Instead of the rows of stations manned by command staff relaying orders to the goons below there was a single massive screen shifting between points of view. It was almost like the elements themselves were fighting back against Lexcorp until he spotted Emma pulling lightning from the sky. She wasn't the only one; Hugo held the line as Deep Ones poured back into the sea. A tornado filled with Speed Force sent a camera swirling into static. And was that Izel?
What were they doing here?
Louis didn't have time to ponder because his entrance was anything but subtle. A tall, muscular man rose from his reclining chair. Like he was having a day at the pool and not overseeing the destruction of an entire town. Several servant Synths stood back, carrying grapes or wine. Hover tables set for a buffet sensed his movement and drifted back.
"You've certainly done a number on my little army," the richest man in the world smirked.
He was no mere billionaire. His personal wealth exceeded the GDP of most countries. The "inventor" of the Synthoids. Distributor of hover tech. Out of the reach of the Justice League themselves.
Alexander Luthor stood and smiled. Raising his arms as though he was happy to see a meta foiling his plans. "Welcome, Louis Dupain-Cheng. I've been expecting you."
"Do it."
"..."
"Do it now!"
"..."
"While she's distracted!"
Piles of molten slag surrounded Emma as she darkened the sky and called lightning down from the heavens.
Fish people... Deep Ones? ...ran from the advancing army of metal. One froze in shock as he spotted Jules before being shoved into motion by who Jules assumed was his father.
A look of disgust filled his too wide eyes before the fish man averted his gaze.
Right. Jules was "People of the Air" and People of the Air were attacking their home for the second time in living memory.
"Are you deaf boy? I said strike!"
Bolt after bolt hit their target but Lexcorp kept coming. Yet here was Emma. Using her powers to save as many people as she could. Putting her life on the line against a megacorporation that had toppled nations.
And what was he doing?
"Give it here! I'll do it myself!"
Jules yanked his staff from the old man's grasp and raised it high. The staff he found in a dream. Where he was speaking a foreign tongue. A tongue of knowledge and power.
Which he could bend to magic!
"Mind i gysgu!"
Jules' words rolled over the battlefield like a wave. Blaster fire stopped. Replaced with the thudding sound of every goon, Synth and mecha falling to the ground, asleep.
Emma turned towards the source of the spell, her eyes widening incredulously. "Jules!?"
Louis took a step back, suddenly exposed, vulnerable. Like the Mother Box suit was a Halloween costume rather than New God armor. "How did-"
"Did you really think your little side quest with Buenaventura went unnoticed?" Alexander smiled with too white teeth, so understanding, so condescending. He held out his glass and a Synth poured more wine. "Granted, my Kanté wouldn't have been able to track him down if he hadn't just stolen from me."
Alexander held out his glass in a toast. "I really should thank you."
Louis felt his knees go weak. "No..."
"Yes!" Alexander Luthor laughed, sipping his wine. "Who do you think taught those idiots at the Pentagon how to use Apokoliptic technology without getting the entire planet eaten?"
Louis shook his head, feeling Luthor's eyes boring into his soul. "No no no no no!"
"No use entertaining denial now, kid. I've got a laser sat tracking Buenaventura's smart little hovership right now." The massive holoscreen switched to an aerial view of Bucky's hovership. "One order from me and-" he made a popping sound with his lips, fingers miming an explosion.
"No!" Louis thrust out his hands and poured his power out like a tsunami. Desperation fueling his reach. The gathering storm outside dulled as a bubble of stillness enveloped the command platform. Enough to melt every circuit into molten slag and stop time.
Except nothing happened.
Louis fell to his knees. "No..." he pleaded.
"Aww, don't give me that look! Fine, I'll admit your powers not working right against magical shielding is a bit of a happy coincidence." He snapped his fingers and every surface glowed with runes. The walls, the tables, the Synths, even Alexander himself. "Had a witch trying to kill me a few years back so I had this installed in everything I own. Which, you can imagine, costs an arm and a leg to keep the wards charged."
"Please, please..." It can't be my fault. Not again.
Alexander smiled as though Louis had spoken aloud. "Here's the deal, kid. And it's one of my better ones. Really, it's a bargain!"
Luthor paused, looking in a floor length mirror. Taking in his half unbuttoned dress shirt and lack of shoes. He snapped his fingers and the Synths moved into action.
"I won't blast the little thief out of the sky."
A Synth buttoned his shirt and tucked it in.
"I won't turn him in to the authorities either. Even though they would love to get their hands on a wanted terrorist and would be oh so grateful."
Another Synth brought shoes made of crocodile skin and he stepped into them.
"You, your friends, even that wannabe supervillain that broke into my company get to go home. Scott Free."
He chuckled at his own joke as a Synth put on his suit jacket and put cufflinks engraved with the Lexcorp logo into place.
"I won't even tell anyone about your, ah, extracurricular activities."
A Synth made to put on his tie but he smacked its hands away and tied it himself.
"All you have to do is walk away. Never speak about this to anyone. Never mention Innsmouth again. Just go back to your safe, pampered little life across the ocean."
Alexander Luthor ran a hand through his wavey red hair. Giving the mirror a dazzling smile. The epitome of a megacorp businessman. He turned back to Louis.
"Oh, and leave the Mother Box."
Thunder boomed.
Louis learned of the Third Apokoliptic Invasion in school.
After six years of absence Darkseid returned. No careful planning, no convoluted scheme to kill Superman, just an army of parademons that had conquered galaxies against a single, primitive world.
No one could stop him. Not the New Gods of New Genesis, not the Justice League, not Superman unleashed. No one.
Except Lex Luthor.
Lex Luthor, who poisoned thousands of people because he couldn't be bothered to shield his radioactive trap properly.
Lex Luthor who almost handed the world over to Brainiac (twice!).
Lex Luthor who thought he was equal to a New God.
And he was. That was the fucked up part. He was.
Willpower so strong he could Return from beyond the Source Wall with the Anti-Life Equation in the palm of his hand. Sacrificing himself to send Darkseid back into the Divine Embrace of the Source; burning their likeness onto the Source Wall itself.
Like nuclear shadows.
Barely a year later, Alexander Luthor II revealed himself as the only heir to Lexcorp's empty throne.
What most people didn't know was that Alexander Luthor II wasn't Lex's illegitimate bastard (in more ways than one) he was Lex's clone.
An open secret among the elites of the world. Even though no one could prove it. The disappearing journalists were considered proof enough.
Ping!
"No," Louis forced himself to his feet. "You can't have her."
Alexander Luthor smiled but there was an edge to it. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear: the only reason I let you get this far is so you could bring me a New Genesis Mother Box."
Luthor loomed over him. Synthoids surrounding Louis on all sides. "The only reason you're not a bunch of particles in the upper atmosphere along with that Robin Hood wannabe is because I was unsure the Mother Box would remain intact."
Louis stepped back but Luthor's arm shot out and grabbed him by the wrist.
"AHHHHHHHH-"
His scream abruptly cut off as Luthor backhanded him. Tears prickling Louis' eyes. Skull throbbing as his vision blurred.
PING! PING! PING! PING! PING!
Apokoliptic warding sigils flared up and burst across Alexander's body as Mother Box sent divine lightning to smite him. But he just pulled Louis closer. Squeezing so hard Louis can feel the bones in his wrist slide together.
"I've seen the Source Itself you impudent rats! If It couldn't stop me what makes you think this paltry power will!?"
"LET GO OF ME!" Louis screamed, skin crawling. He was touching him. He was touching him! Hewastouchinghim!!!
"Give her to me!" Alexander roared, shaking him.
Louis screamed again.
Luthor pulled his fist back-
The command platform lurched sideways as something punched through it. Gilded walls buckling, buffet plates scattering across the floor, holoscreen fritzing out.
A shadow with three green eyes slammed into Alexander Luthor.
"Get your fucking hands off my son!"
Hugo could see Children of the Deep diving beneath the waves out of the corner of his eye.
Fleeing the spreading chaos on the surface. Entire families from newborns to grandparents running from the second purge of Innsmouth.
Most of them hadn't undergone the transformation yet. Atlantean rebreathers were affixed to the youngest of them. But there were also syringes pulled out and injected before they dived. Splicer tech. They were accelerating the transformation by Splicing their DNA with post-transfornation family members...
A mecha tank slammed its metal claw into his side. Sending him skidding across the waves like a skipping stone. Hugo lost his breath from the blow, paying for his temporary distraction.
Growling, Hugo halted his momentum by pushing his feet against the air and launched himself at it guandao first. Qi reinforced blade slicing its titanium alloyed shell in half. Sliding to a stop on its other side as both halves exploded.
Hugo twirled his guandao with a toothy grin, eyes glowing as he leaped for the next one.
Lex screamed as Chat Noir dragged his claws down his face.
Wards dying as the superhero sapped their energy on contact. Vision red as his own blood seeped into his eyes. But he still felt it as Chat Noir smashed them out of the reinforced window at the opposite end of where he entered.
Out of the corner of his eye Lex sees a green sphere surround the boy. Protecting him from the collapsing command platform.
They start to fall.
Chat Noir raises his claws again.
The superhero is slammed away from Lex as his Synthoids come flying out of the destabilizing command platform. While dozens distract Chat Noir the others begin armoring Lex in free fall.
Lex grins. A Miracular! Here! Beyond the ridiculous protection of their probability manipulating leader. If he could get Chat Noir's Miraculous along with the Mother Box and the fish faces' eldritch knowledge then-
Chat Noir flies at him again. Lex activates his inertia shields. The force of his attack knocks Lex back like they're billiard balls. Lex slams into a coral tower, his forcefield leaving a perfectly round indentation. Lex sneered.
Chat Noir tosses the Synths swarming him aside like they're a nuisance. Their plasma weapons sparking off his leather suit like it was made of draconium. But when one falls another takes it's place. Despite easily outclassing them Chat Noir didn't just render them all to dust with a wave of his hand.
Lex would've rolled his eyes if nanites weren't busy fixing the wound on his face. Typical hero, no stomach for the hard calls. He raised a gauntleted fist and fired a beam of consentrated energy.
A green sphere appeared around Chat Noir and the Synthoids. His beam reflecting off it's hexagonal planes and shooting up into the stormy sky. Carving a hole through the clouds for a moment.
The clouds seemed to groan. Roiling like something hid behind them. Something the size of the sky.
Lex zeroed in on Carapace far below, the hero giving him a mocking two-finger salute. He lets a smug smirk of satisfaction out as the turtle spots the wave of Lexcorp mechs and Security he sent the hero's way. Should buy enough time to-
Chat Noir is right in front of him with his fist pulled back.
A sonic boom echoes across the city as Chat Noir punches Lex several stories down. His body making a crater as he crashes into the ground.
Lex stumbles to his feet. The forcefield and suit of alien alloys protecting him from most of the damage. His head pounding as a drop of blood drips from his nose.
Chat Noir is there again. Staff extended like a baseball bat.
Lex sails through two coral spires before Chat Noir catches up with his trajectory.
Grabbing Lex by the ankle and spinning until even his iron constitution feels sick and only then does Chat Noir let go. Skidding across the roofs of the low buildings less like a stone across water and more like a drunken bird failing to land.
Lex halts his momentum by using his rocket jets. The air friction of his acceleration almost as hot.
Chat Noir flares into view with another haymaker.
"Adrien!"
Chat Noir's fist stops inches from Lex's face.
Lex blinks away the fear in his eye as a smug smile takes its place. Dusting himself off as "Chat Noir" floats back. "That's better."
"How?" Adrien's voice makes Lex's skin crawl as he remembers - - in the pit of despair. His third eye was unsettl- huh, Lex could've sworn Adrien had a third eye.
"You-" Lex cleared his throat, windpipe as sore as the rest of him. "You called Louis your son."
Shadows curled around Adrien's feet. "Don't say his name," he growled.
"Or what?" Lex sneered. "What will you do? You won't kill me and I've seen how much of your father's wealth you've wasted trying to abolish the prison system! I have all the leverage here! Unless you want the whole world to know that Chat Noir is the first Hawkmoth's son! You do what I tell you to!"
Adrien rose in the air as the temperature fell. Shadows curling around his limbs. Eyes vertical slits. "You smell familiar."
Lex blinked. "What?"
"Why do you smell familiar?" Chat Noir's third eye was back.
Lex took a step back.
Thunder boomed overhead as the sky breathed.
It was freezing but sweat still dripped off Lex's skin.
"I know you."
Adrien's words strike like a gong and Lex fires his beam canon at point blank range.
Instead of dodging it Adrien does nothing. The beam hits him square in the chest and he... licks his lips. The green light sucked into him almost like it was entering a black hole. Except black holes weren't covered in stars.
... HOW!?
That isn't physically possible!!! As in the laws of physics don't allow it!!! ... Were his irises always purple?
Lex's draconium armored fists rain down on Adrien as the shadows engulf more of the Miracular's body. The - - lifts Lex into the air by his collar. The metal gauntlets bending from the armor's own powered blows. Yielding where Adrien's flesh does not.
"I... ate you," Adrien/Plagg/Chat Noir tilted their head like a cat eyeing its prey, "How are you here?"
Thunder roared and lightning flashed as the sky distends the clouds again. Their ears popping with the pressure of it. Like a great hand pressing down on the atmosphere of the Earth itself. Light shining out from the stormclouds. Not from lightning.
Lex's eyes widen as his form shudders under Adrien's touch. Shadow, soul and skeleton trying to vibrate apart. His hands fly to his head and he pushes his skull back into place with a scream.
This is Adrien's fault. He Knows this.
Chat Noir has Seen Lex Luthor and now his debt has come due.
The skies open.
Lex Luthor threw up as the Source Wall closed behind him. Trembling with cold. No, heat. No, it was the- -he Saw.
Metron, New God of Knowledge, curled his lips in disgust. "Not on my chair." Metron's throne was a transportation device that could travel anywhere and anywhen in the blink of an eye. That's how they reached the Source Wall at the edge of the universe.
... "Metron?"
The New God raised an eyebrow. He new that look on the mortal's face. He often sported it when he was planning to toe the line between what Reality allowed and what it did not.
"What if you bring me back earlier? Not a lot. Just enough to set some plans in motion."
"And why would I do that? I brought you here because Darkseid is a threat to my research. What do I care for the plans of a mayfly?"
Lex bit back his retort. Doing what he swore to himself he'd never do: swallow his pride. It was easier after- . "Trust me, this will be an experiment like none other."
Metron stared at him with eyes billions of years old.
That was nothing. Lex just returned from staring into the endless abyss of time itself. Its- -eating it's own tail.
Whatever he saw in Lex's eyes made Metron smile. Lex suppressed a shudder. He remembered seeing- -Metron- -but desperate times.
"It's a deal," the New God purred.
...
Lex resisted the urge to kick the cloning chamber as it drew his blood. He might have started the Superboy Project with a mere scrap of DNA but his "successor" won't need donors to fill in the gaps if he had anything to say about it.
And he was the only one who did.
But that was the easy part. Anchoring his soul to a vessel that wasn't even solid yet? That took almost more time than Metron would give him. All he needed was- -someone to speak the incantation and- .
Yet he succeeded.
When he offered the Anti-Life Equation to Darkseid and they were both pulled bodily into the Source Wall, Lex's soul just... slipped through Its fingers.
It might have taken a year for his cloned body to mature but he did it. Making sure to purge his memory of the- -that is the Source.
Lex Luther beat God Itself!
...Or so he thought.
The clouds parted. Revealing the Source Wall. Effigies of would-be conquerors and petty despots reaching out with gilded hands from the edge of the universe. Space and time warped to breaking so that the firmament could touch the crown of the world. Heaven coming down in all it's glory.
The Golden Gates cracked open and blinding light of every color and none poured from the opening.
"Don't look!" Carapace commanded, voice echoing across the city. "Keep your eyes down!"
Emma and Jules bent the earth into makeshift shelters around families against the unyielding light.
Hugo physically tackled a pair of merfolk so they couldn't look up.
Izel muttered a prayer as she squeezed her eyes shut.
Àngel and Wade phased into a building to escape the light.
Louis didn't do any of that. He stood before Alexander Luther. Defiantly, foolishly, bravely. Mother Box whispering truths into his ear. And Louis needed Luthor to know he was Seen.
Alexander- No, Lex, clutched at his face as his soul tried to bleed from his eyes. Streams of spirit trickling out of him every time he stuffed his soul back into his body. They were carried on the wind high into the upper atmosphere and disappeared into the steadily opening gates.
"Y-y-you can't beat me!" Lex roared over the gales. "I'm the smartest man on Earth! I vanquished Darkseid! Even Superman couldn't do that!"
Above, the gates were fully open. Bathing them in the Light of Creation. Drowning out all color until there was only shades of white.
"You thought you were so clever," Louis' voice carrying on pockets of calm he sent Lex's way. "Making a clone body so you could summon yourself back. But it was too late. You've Seen It."
Lex shook his head but the wind swirled around him like a tornado. Sweat ran up his face and into the sky even as the unwavering gaze of the Source pressed down on him like a mountain.
Tears streamed up Louis' face with the full force of a god blasting past his nullification field like it wasn't there. Filling his head with words.
"Brahmin and Almighty. Teotl and Tao. The Chaos at the beginning and the Order at it's end."
Lex screamed as his head tilted up despite his hands trying to drag it down.
"Gimmi and Azathoth! He who dreamed the world into existence! She who birthed the universe from Their own flesh!"
Lex looked up and he Remembered. Eyes becoming pure white as his body went limp. Floating up as his self was split into everything that made Lex, Lex. Soul rising up out of his body. Followed by his skeleton. His whisp of a shadow lagging behind.
"Everything that is, was and will be came from the Source and to the Source you will return!"
Lex Luthor was raptured into the Highest Heaven. Body, mind and soul ascending into the White Light from which all Life sprang. So bright Louis lost track of him.
Then he Saw it.
The Source of all Creation.
It was so... Beautiful.
Your eyes burned with Its glory.
You couldn't look away.
You didn't want to look away.
It Saw you.
It Knew you.
And still it loved you.
In spite of you.
Because of you.
It was all that existed.
You were all that existed.
It was beginning, middle and end.
You were all that was.
All that is.
And all that will be.
Your universe was as nothing to It.
It was beyond such things.
You were beyond such things.
All you had to do was step out.
And become One with It.
You were already One with It.
You reach out your hand and-
"SHELL-TER!"
A great dome covered all of Innsmouth in a green sheen. Filtering out the undiluted White Light of Life.
Two massive arms made of a darkness so deep even the White Light couldn't illuminate more than their outline shot up and slammed shut the Golden Gates. Green hexagons tumbling down where they bored holes in the dome before Carapace released his power.
In an instant the universe snapped back to its proper shape. The Source Wall vanishing from the skies of Earth. Leaving behind the starry expanse of the Milky Way.
Louis felt darkness flood his vision as the strings holding up his body were cut. Sight returning as quickly as it left. He turned to look up at the person carrying him. For a moment he looks like an outline of a person with three blazing eyes. Then Louis blinks and his vision clears. Not three, just two. "Papa?"
"Hey, little man." Papa smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Glad to see you're awake."
Louis should have felt itchy from being carried. But it hardly registered and he drifted off to sleep.
Adrien sighed as his youngest curled up against him.
Something big was stuck in his teeth.
Adrien used his tongue to pry it loose then spat it on the ground.
It was warped and bent but still recognizable.
A single cufflink with the Lexcorp logo...
'What're you doing!? She was right there! At your mercy! You stupid boy!'
'Leave him be, Merl. Not every day you wake up and learn one of your closest friends is a monster.'
'Exactly my point! You were too softhearted on her in the beginning and she killed the love of our life!'
'Says the old man who got himself turned into a tree because he followed his dick instead of his brains!'
"Shut up!" Jules hissed through his teeth.
Emma turned to look back at him, several paces behind them. He gave her a wan smile. She didn't look convinced but returned the smile before going back to helping Deep Ones out of the rubble of their buildings.
Jules' grip tightened on his staff. The one he found in a dream and woke up with it still in his hands.
'You will regret this!'
'My worse half may lack tact but... he is right. Don't forget that.'
Jules waited a second before letting out a sigh of relief. For the moment, they were mercifully silent.
When Louis awoke he felt enough like himself to squirm out of Papa's arms. Their respective suits providing some insulation from being touched but still.
They were on top of the lighthouse. Louis could see his siblings and their friends helping the inhabitants of Innsmouth. Was that Wade speeding across rows of Lexcorp Security? What was he doing here? And there was someone in purple downloading Hegemonic Paranoia into the Synthoids' joint command chain. Izel tending to the wounded with her magic and first aid training.
"Are they...?"
"Miraculously, there were no civilian fatalities. A bunch of close calls though."
Louis felt a weight lift off his shoulders.
"Louis."
Oh boy, Papa had on his Serious Voice.
"Papa?"
"... There's someone here to see you."
Arik shifted from foot to foot before stilling himself. "I'm sorry I lunged at you." His voice was clear and precise, with an American accent.
"What? Oh. Don't worry about it." It was only after Louis replied that he realized Arik spoke aloud and not psychically.
Arik's lips twitched at the look on Louis' face before clearing his throat. "Our Elders are grateful for your help in driving off the People of the Air... Even if you did summon the Abominable One."
Papa raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"We are willing to part with a fraction of our gold and the esoterica the Luthor came for as payment."
Louis blinked and glanced at Papa, still in his Chat Noir form. Were his irises always purple? No, focus! Papa asked a question with his face: what did Louis come here for?
"No."
Arik froze. "... No?"
"I mean, you can keep your gold and your magic. We don't need it." Louis took a breath. Arik's eyes were so intense even through Mother Box's help. "What we need is your environmental knowledge and your help in restoring our ecosphere."
Arik blinked, that's the second time Louis surprised him. "You want to know... about ecology?"
Louis nodded vigiorously. "Your people are the oldest extant civilization on Earth! Even with your self imposed isolation the handful of papers Innsmouth has published is decades, perhaps centuries, ahead of anything else! That's how I found you!"
"... Oh." Honestly, Arik looked rather stunned that Louis wasn't here for the secrets of the universe.
But Louis was getting into it now. "Atlantis and Lemuria may be advanced but they're terribly ignorant about terrestrial biospheres! And our own research has been roadblocked by corporations since before they were megacorps! Only you can help us save everyone before it's too late! Aquatic, Human and Deep One!"
Louis realized Arik was pressed up against the glass of the lighthouse. He blinked as he stepped back, suddenly self-conscious. "S-sorry..."
But there was a look in Arik's eyes that Louis had never seen directed at him before: Respect.
"The Elders..." Arik tilted his head like that might clear up the psychic signal. "...agree to an exchange of knowledge."
Louis' face lit up.
"There are certain conditions of course. Assurances. So that this" -he gestured at the scarred cityscape- "never happens again."
Papa nodded. "I will talk to Carapace about reinforcing your barrier. And see what we'll do about Lexcorp."
With one last, pointed look at Louis, Chat Noir leapt away.
"... Y'know this was easier than I thought."
Arik raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Fighting off an entire megacorp army was 'easy'?"
"Well," Louis blushed, "compared to talking... yeah."
Arik shook his head. "You are a strange child Louis."
Louis felt a prick of annoyance. "And you're what? A hundred years old?"
Arik's fins bristled. "I'm fifteen!"
"And they sent you to negotiate?"
"It's considered polite to send an ambassador the same age and gender as the one we're given."
Louis snorted. "Ambassador," he giggled.
Arik raised an eyebrow but refused to take the bait.
Walking down the spiral stairs of the great lighthouse in companionable silence until they reached the bottom.
Louis winced as he put too much pressure on the wrist that Lex grabbed.
"... Come on, I want to show you something."
Despite the devastation Innsmouth wasn't as densely populated as it looked. Meaning there were plenty of spare rooms for the people who didn't want to go into the sea just yet. And their kin below the waves caught enough fish to feed everyone.
So Arik felt only a little guilty as he guided Louis away from the city to a relatively isolated cove.
He swam under the stars. Letting the ocean sooth his aching soul. The waves moving as he moved. Sending a prayer to Dagan on his heavenly throne. Stars shining with constellations older than civilization. And if he cried his tears were lost in the salt of the sea
Louis watched this silent ritual with quiet awe though no understanding. He stared at the sand beneath his feet before coming to a decision. There was a flash of light and his suit was gone. Replaced with jeans and a hoodie. He took off his sock and shoes to feel the sand under his feet. Oddly, not one of the tactile sensations that he avoided.
Arik grinned and laughed at him for sitting so far away from the sea. Splashing water that only just missed.
Louis grinned. Content to just be in that moment. His wrist barely hurt at all.
"So, Lex failed." Felix should have been surprised but the man was a megalomaniac. His ego would get him sooner or later... Evidently sooner.
"I propose we divide Lexcorp into our other holdings," Tomoe suggested, ruthlessly efficient as always. "All in favor?"
"Aye!"
Tomoe smiled. She may be blind but she could smell blood in the water better than any of them.
"A shame Lex couldn't even isolate their mineral deposits," Donovan Lumos, the Holographic Man groused, hard light suit as gaudy as always. "Then we could see some returns on our investments."
"Yes, I'm sure the Miraculars will let you attack Innsmouth a second time," Tomoe admonished the Gothamite.
The Holographic Man stuck his tongue out at her. Something that he only got away with because she (usually) couldn't tell and he had the most advanced technology out of all of them.
A fact that filled Felix with no end of disgust.
"Come now, my fellow partners, no need for such posturing between us. We all knew the risks when we signed our contracts."
The three of them turned to see the blue haired man sitting at the head of the conference table. No one heard him come in.
"It looks like another of your number didn't make it."
They followed his eyes around the mostly empty table. The Zodiac Club started with twelve members. Now they were three. Name plaques still bearing those who were outplayed or bought out by a more powerful megacorp.
All except Xanatos. He was the only one who willingly "left them to their fate". Felix smirked. The fool.
"Such a shame to see promising hopefuls fall short of their contracts." The blue haired man's eyes drifted over Felix who forced himself not to squirm under his gaze.
The Holographic Man preened. "I already fulfilled my contract."
"Yes," the blue haired man's smile tightened. "Congratulations on basic competency."
Donovan sank back down into his chair.
"Who will meet Lex's quota?"
"Tsurugi Industries will!" Tomoe spoke up before the others could. "We have surveyed various ore deposits in Dezer. The lack of any cohesive oversight within the Triangle will make it much easier to establish mining operations. Without going through the hassle of displacing native populations."
The blue haired man's smile grew wider. "The board will be very pleased with this news. Keep up the good work."
Felix blinked and he was gone. Leaving a pit in Felix's stomach.
Apparently he wouldn't get credit for capturing Edwin Jr if they were the ones who needed to shift through his brain anyways. No, Felix needed to offer something else. Something as valuable as Synthoid manufacturing or Quantum Gas.
Not because he cared about paying the collateral but because if he got to that point he would be bought out. No way in Hell was he going to let that happen!
But what... Felix grinned sharply. There was one thing, only one, he could offer. It wouldn't even cost him anything. Besides, he ran a finger on the makeup that obscured his black eye, they owed him one.