Chapter 16: Intermission 1: DC aftermath 2

~A week since Artoria was forced out~

 

— P.O.V. 3rd —

 

In the main meeting hall of the Hall of Justice, there were several heroes filtering in for a meeting that Batman had called for. Some of the more notable attendees were Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Black Adam, Shazam, Green Lantern and Hawk Girl.

 

As they were all taking their seats, one more attendee arrived a bit late. As he made his way to a semi isolated spot to sit, Batman gave him a nod.

 

Batman: “That’s for coming, Constantine.”

 

John: “It’s fine, Batman. I’ve seen what I’ve needed to see anyway.”

 

John released a sigh, and took out his pack of smokes and a canteen. Items he was sure to need for this meeting, he had felt.

 

Batman: “It’s been a week since we forced Artoria out of our reality. Where are we on the Black Water that was conjured by her arrival to the fight?”

 

As he asked that question, he looked towards Black Adam.

 

Black Adam: “Not far. This water, for a lack of a better term, is something horrible. If this truly is ‘All the World’s Evil,’ and I fully believe it is, then I understand Artoria’s personality more. And respect her for not being a blathering invalid that just destroys.”

 

Green Lantern: “Respect?”

 

Shazam: “No, I agree with Black Adam. You simply can not comprehend what we are actually dealing with yet. Let me explain. That ‘water’ is the physical manifestation of billions and billions of curses.”

 

Wonder Woman: “Curses?”

 

Black Adam gave a nod to Wonder Woman.

 

Black Adam: “Indeed. From stupid little things like always stubbing your toe on a Tuesday, to things so horrifying they would make Darkseid blush in envy.”

 

Several heroes present had their eyes widened at that.

 

Batman: “Can we get rid of it?”

 

John Constantine sighed at that question, and lit up a cigarette.

 

John: “Batman, you are underestimating magic yet again. And are not grasping just how horrible that ‘water’ is. It takes time to remove a curse. The more deadly, typically the more time. We are talking about BILLIONS of curses Batman. From what I saw personally, there were over 6 billion of them. Six. Billion. That is nearly a single curse for every human on this planet.”

 

Flash: “That is a lot of curses.”

 

Shazam: “Our saving grace is that it is not spreading. We have some solid wards around the area though, as the smoke it generates every now and then is just as bad.”

 

Black Adam: “I highly suggest the League builds something around the area to contain the site. If someone somehow got a hold of any of this substance, the damage they could deal would be immense to say the least. I would suggest destruction, but it is just not a realistic approach this time.”

 

Batman: “Noted. I will begin making plans to contain this ‘water’ then. Anything else we should know about it?”

 

Shazam: “This goes without saying, but do NOT touch it or the smoke it makes. A bird had flown over the area when the smoke was around… and well. It was not pretty.”

 

Black Adam: “The thing liquified in less than a second.”

 

Flash: “Eeww.”

 

???: “That’s not all~.”

 

A new voice had rang out, from the side of Constantine. As he looked left and saw who was now seated next to him, he could only sigh in exasperation.

 

The other heroes, though, stood up and took combat ready stances. More notably though Black Adam and Shazam had really worried looks on their faces.

 

Before anything could happen though, Constantine held up his hand to stop everyone and took a puff of his cigarette.

 

John: “Calm down everyone. Now, do you mind explaining why you are here Lucifer, and what do you mean?”

 

Lucifer only gave a cheshire-like smile to Constantine.

 

Flash: “Wait. Lucifer? This is the Devil you were talking about? He’s uhh…”

 

Lucifer: “Handsome? Devilishly so? Why thank you.”

 

Flash just deadpanned at that.

 

Flash: “Not what I expected.”

 

Lucifer: “I nor hell ever really is, honestly. Now, I could tell you what I mean Constantine, but you know how I work. As for why I am here? I was curious to how you fuck ups were planning on dealing with this horrifying situation you all created.”

 

The eyes of Constantine, Black Adam, and Shazam all hardened when he called the situation horrifying.

 

John: “What do you mean, Lucifer. Nothing scares you.”

 

Lucifer: “Correction. Nothing DID scare me. Until I learned that an entity stronger than my Father is backing the woman you all decided to make an enemy out of. Needlessly I might add.”

 

Everyone's eyes shot open at that claim.

 

Shazam: “Stronger than God?!”

 

Ignoring everyone Lucifer continued, “Well, you see I like this planet. A lot actually. It’s a nice place to chill out. But when Artoria returns, and trust me she will, she is going to be so much more than what she was when she left. Honestly? You’re all fucked.”

 

“I knew my instincts were spot on when I decided to hear her out, and make friends with her.” Lucifer mumbled to himself.

 

John: “Back the fuck up Lucifer. What do you mean by an entity stronger than your Father?”

 

Lucifer: “Hmm? Just that, Constantine. My father is terrified of her benefactor. And I don’t mean like a little bit, I mean scared shitless.”

 

John: “What the actual fuck. And this entity's name?”

 

Shaking his head Lucifer said, “Nope. You don’t just say the name of something that powerful for shits and giggles John, you know this. The good news is that said entity won’t likely mess with our reality… maybe.”

 

John: “Okay, ignoring the massive fucking headache I have from trying to process that there is a stronger entity than the fucking One Above All, why are you worried about Artoria.”

 

Taking a drink from a fancy glass that was suddenly in his hands, Lucifer just casually shrugged.

 

Lucifer: “Well, I assume you know she was sealed when she came here?”

 

As he asked, he looked around to everyone. Some were still stuck at the last bomb dropped, but others gave him a nod.

 

Lucifer: “Well, from what I can tell, when she is no longer shackled, she will be my equal. More than likely surpass me.”

 

John: “Fuck right off! You have to be joking, Lucifer!”

 

Lucifer gave Constantine a sly grin at his outburst.

 

Lucifer: “Sorry, not sorry. I do not lie, Constantine, you know this. I firmly believe you are all rightly fucked~.”

 

Batman: “We’ve fought off overwhelmingly strong adversaries before.”

 

Lucifer just started to laugh at Batman's proclamation. After a few minutes, he finally calmed down.

 

Lucifer: “You mean that little god Darkseid, and a few others? I hate to break it to you ‘Batman’ but no, you have not fought someone overwhelmingly strong like she will be. She will be as strong if not stronger than myself, and I can snap my fingers and remove Darkseid from existence.

 

And worst of all for all of you? She is not bound by Fate. There will be no miraculous life saving feats that appear out of nowhere. When you fight her, it will truly be your ability versus hers. And she will come out on top, no ifs ands or buts about that.”

 

Black Adam: “Such is our Fate then? To die by her hand?”

 

Lucifer: “Pretty much the second you made her your enemy, yes. And again, really dumb fucking move. Could have just left her very well alone.”

 

Batman: “Not an option. She was killing innocents and her targets.”

 

Several heroes: “Yea!”

 

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Lucifer: “So?”

 

Several of the heroes looked quite taken aback by that.

 

Wonder Woman: “Surely you jest, Lucifer? Even you have to agree that killing an innocent person is wrong?”

 

Lucifer: “Oh I do, yes. But it was not just any schmuck who was killing them, now was it? Now you have an enemy that may very well kill all life on this planet. Thank you for that by the way. Besides, if they were truly innocent, they would either go to heaven or be reborn.”

 

Hawk Girl: “That is rather callus and dismissive is it not?”

 

Lucifer just shrugged, and grinned.

 

Lucifer: “I am the Devil. Besides, I know how things work in the background.”

 

Hawk Girl just shook her head, but let the matter drop.

 

Batman: “Doesn’t matter. We’ll make a plan somehow, we always do.”

 

Lucifer and Constantine both just sighed at the naivety of Batman.

 

Batman: “Do you have a timeframe of when she will return, Lucifer?”

 

Lucifer just shrugged.

 

Lucifer: “Time isn’t just a straight thing Batman. It could be anywhere from a few weeks, to several million years. Who knows.”

 

While everyone was frowning at that, Constantine asked Lucifer a question.

 

John: “Is it safe to assume you were the one who stopped Artoria’s first attack from hitting the ocean?”

 

Lucifer nodded his head while taking a sip from his glass.

 

Lucifer: “Correct. Another thing you idiots should have done was fight her on the moon or something. That attack she opened with would have covered half the globe you morons. Thus destroying a rather sizable chunk of its oceans.”

 

Shazam: “If you could stop her attack so easily, why didn’t you stop or kill her yourself?”

 

Lucifer looked at Shazam as if he was stupid.

 

Lucifer: “Why would I do that? She is a rather pleasant person to be around if you don’t antagonise her. And I don’t have a death wish, unlike you all.”

 

Black Adam: “Earlier, you said there was something else about that Black Water. What do you need to tell us about it?

 

Lucifer's eyes beamed at the question, and he got a greedy smile on his face as he looked at Black Adam.

 

Lucifer: “Oh, nothing much. A favour is all. To be collected at a later date.”

 

Black Adam crossed his arms in thought. After a few seconds he replied.

 

Black Adam: “As long as this favour will not directly or indirectly harm my nation, that is fine.”

 

Showing a full set of teeth in his wide smile, Lucifer held out his hand.

 

Lucifer: “It’s a deal then.”

 

As they shook hands, there was a loud crack of thunder off in the distance.

 

Flash: “That’s not ominous or anything.”

 

Lucifer: “Now, about the Waters. They are growing. That is to say, the number of curses are growing. It’s “All the World’s Evil” after all. So it’s adapting to this world's humanities evils, by adding the curses to itself. In time, I fully expect this Black Water to spread. Containing it will be hard, but I am sure you will be able to handle it. After all, you always do… isn’t that right Batman?”

 

The last bit of Lucifer's statement was covered in extreme amounts of sarcasm.

 

Black Adam: “Are we able too?”

 

Lucifer: “...fine. Yes, you will be able to. Dr Fate should know how.”

 

Taking a deep drink of his glass to finish off the liquor inside, he then tossed it up in the air. As he stood up and fixed his suit a little bit, his liquor glass vanished.

 

Lucifer: “Well, I have said and seen what I wanted too, so I’ll be going now. I got some preparations to make in Hell. After all…”

 

He cast his gaze over everyone present as a smile formed on his lips.

 

Lucifer: “I fully expect to see several if not all of you when Artoria returns. Good day ladies and gentlemen.”

 

And with that, Lucifer was gone without a trace or fanfare.

 

Letting out a loud sigh as he smashed back a good portion of his canteen, Constantine slumped into his chair.

 

John: “It’s always so stressful dealing with him.”

 

Green Lantern: “I can see why. But he left us with numerous problems to think about…”

 

Shazam: “That’s underselling it a bit there.”

 

Batman: “I’ll need to think on all this new information, and come up with a plan. Moving on, Shazam, Constantine, how are Etrigan and Superman doing?”

 

Shazam sighed a little and leaned back into his chair.

 

Shazam: “Not so hot, Batman. While Etrigan is suffering some major soul backlash from his destroyed sword he’ll be fine in time. It’s Superman I am worried about.”

 

Hawk Girl: “How come? I mean, this is Superman we’re talking about.”

 

John: “The damage done to Superman is.. Well, extreme and unique honestly.”

 

Batman: “Explain.”

 

Shazam: “When Supe’s went to punch Artoria, she didn’t just punch him back mundane like. She used magic.”

 

John: “And there are remnants of that magic left.”

 

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Constantine sighs heavily.

 

John: “We really need you all to stop underestimating magic, and take it seriously from now on. Her punch was filled with some unknown magic I am not familiar with. This magic obliterated his soulselfs arm. This is what is preventing his body from just regenerating his limb like he tends to do.

 

Worse yet, there are traces of that magic left on his soul, and it is slowly eating away at it. As you can imagine, taking damage to your soul hurts a LOT. Taking constant, agonisingly slow damage as it eats you? Little wonder he soon collapsed and isn’t waking up.”

 

Wonder Woman: “Can you do anything for him?”

 

Shazam: “Yes and no. We slowed down the decay even further, but we need time to find a permanent solution. And I have no idea if we can heal a soul like a body…”

 

John: “There are ways, but most of it is just time.”

 

Batman: “I see. Do your best to get him back into shape if you can though. The world needs Superman. Now, about the other topics…”

~Lexcorp building, CEO’s office~

 

A bald man in an immaculate white suit had just turned off a projector that was displaying a certain meeting between heroes. He smiled as he turned his chair around and got up, walking to the large window behind him that showed the view of the city.

 

Looking out into the city, he brought his hand behind his back as an evil glint appeared in his eyes.

 

Lex: “Black Water, Lucifer, and Artoria… I knew those idiots would doom us one day, and here we are.”

 

Bringing his right hand to stroke his chin while resting his elbow in the other hand he mused.

 

Lex: “I should procure some of that Black Water. It might be high time I familiarise myself with some of the occult nonsense after all. And what better place to start would there be than with ‘All the World’s Evil?’”

 

While chuckling darkly an evil grin was on his face as he looked out onto the city.

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