chapter 31: Solomon Grundy

"Remind me again, why did you bring those hulks here, exactly?" Dick asked me as I placed the last of the devices I had VEGA make for the mission, essentially Tesla coils the size of a van, on a square formation, as Bruce made sure his wasn't budging. The lad had nothing better to do at that moment, to be fair to him.

"To capture Solomon Grundy in case he proves to be unreasonable."

"If with unreasonable you mean 'mouth covered in foam and roaring mindlessly'..." Barbara noted as she stood with her arms over her chest.

Two nights after visiting the manor and telling everyone about the plan and preparing for it, we went to Slaughter Swamp, ready to engage Solomon Grundy and see if he was guarding something related to Rachel... but not to kill him, not if I could avoid it. You'll see my reasons below.

"Again, why can't you just beat the hell out of him and be done with it?" He continued as I activated the device, all four machines emitting a whine as they sparked and came online. "What if instead of, say, going straight at you he goes on a rampage across-"

Bruce, who was holding a talisman made by Zatanna that would warn us of any undead creature, chose that moment to shut him up. "Dick, stop it, we already know the risks."

Robin raised his arms in a defeated pose. "Alright, alright, I just wanted to remember the plan outloud and point out possible flaws, nothing more. I got that from you, remember? You made sure to ingrain it in my head."

Bruce grunted before turning to look at me. "Still, he's got a point. Grundy might be more than you could handle, Clark might not get here in time to assist, and I'm still not sure about if these incapacitators can affect the livind dead."

In truth he wasn't, and while we'd end up finding out he would be quite close to the idea, at that moment none of us knew that. "I know, which is why I brought these, remember?"

Bruce didn't reply directly, instead deciding to pace around with talisman in hand to try to discern Grundy's presence. Nonetheless, I heard a grunt coming from him.

Barbara walked up to me and sighed as she watched her mentor scout the area for Grundy. "Forgive him, he's simply not used to this, what with basically being ordered to do stuff by someone else instead of the other way around."

"I'm not ordering you anything, I'm just making you follow instructions."

"Yeah, we know but you're a giant super soldier from the future bigger than Bane hopped up on Venom, not an english butler in his fifties." Dick chimed in with a smirk. "A balding english butler."

"Master Dick, do you realize I can hear you perfectly from here?" Came Alfred's voice through his communicator. As always, Alfred was the trio's mission control, and naturally he wasn't amused by their statements, but you couldn't heard that from his voice. Robin began spewing apologies to the butler as Barbara laughed at his lapse of memory, while I looked around without moving, waiting for the giant undead to come to us. He was supposedly a very territorial creature if the sightings and engagements were anything to go by,

As for why I wanted to capture Grundy instead of simply blowing him apart, aside from several reasons involving collateral damage, it was simple.

He was strong, tough, fast despite his size, could heal any damage done to him, and overall was amongst the most powerful beings on Earth, myself included... but despite this, he wasn't actually evil, or at least the current Grundy wasn't evil in the sense that he enjoyed causing pain and wanted to inflict more: he was just very territorial and had difficulty understanding certain things in depth, things like collateral damage, due to a combination of inhuman experiments from Ra's part and Lazarus Pit magic messing with his brain.

That, and something else, something that made him far, far more mystical than a mere reanimated, bloated corpse.

In other words, this Solomon Grundy, just like some other itinerations of him, had the capacity of becoming less of a giant shambling corpse and more a force of nature, and sooner or later he would end up reaching that potential.

I wanted to make sure he did, but on the right path... and not stop with just him.

Pretty sure you already know what I'm getting at.

I wanted to make those villains capable of abandoning their ways to not merely reform, but actually turn into heroes... and in this particular Earth, there were actually many of those, even if some didn't really mind being assholes; for thos,e the fame, the feeling of accomplishment, or simply not ending up in jail might be enough to change their minds about their careers. They would also have many ways to do it, from rescuing people from burning buildings and similar, to even just turning their wickedness to those people worse than them, just like I was doing, public opinion notwitstanding. The rest, though, I would help personally to abandon their drudges they carried against the world.

I don't think I have to explain to you what I helped them in.

Again, as for why Grundy in particular despite being other, more agreeable (and to be fair to the lug, intelligent) like Mr. Freeze or Bronze Tiger, it was for several reasons, chief among not wanting to leave him unchecked when he eventually became too strong. Plus, I was sure his strength might come in handy in the future.

And it did.

First, though, I had to help Raven, and for that I needed to take Grundy, and if I couldn't to it the easy way, I'll had to do it the hard way: electrocute him enough energy to power up Gotham and see if that would take him out, because the alternative would be beating the hell out of him and hope he could recover from that.

If not for the fact that the first statement about the coils ended up being reduntant. You'll see why further below.

Backtracking a little to the idea of turning villains into heroes and starting with Grundy, Bruce (to whom I hadn't told the full extent of my plan) was understandably not happy with that plan, not just because he still wasn't sure I could contain Grundy despite what he knew (a case of simple paranoia), but also because Grundy had already proven to be willing to kill. Besides, I actually wanted to know just how strong he was.

"If he decides to go the usual route, I'll make sure he won't get far. If all goes well, though, it might not come to that."

Bruce, however, was still not sure. "'Might'." Nonetheless, he still helped me.

And then, several minutes after arriving at the marsh, and before any of us could say anything, we finally heard it.

Not a guttural roar, not the beginning ot a nursery rhyme, not the ground rumbling... but the whines of Zatanna's talisman as it shined with a bright blue light, just like Sting warning either Bilbo or Frodo of the presence of orcs near by.

Or, more appropiately given the circumstances, barrow-wights.

"Get ready." Bruce whispered as he put the device in his belt. "He's here."

"Solomon Grundy..." We heard a deep, guttural voice of a man (we already knew who it was) say, said voice coming from somewhere close to us; however, we could not see where exactly did it come from, except maybe 'everywhere' around us.

Yes, Grundy wasn't your average ghoul, and we were in his territoriy.

A few seconds later, the ground of the swamp around us began to shake.

"Born on a Monday..."

Then, in a spot at least a hundred feet in front of us among the trees of the swamp proper, the water bubbled, and the floor below it raised as it was pushed upwards by a human-shaped figure the size of a small tank.

Just like a baron of Hell. Only, as I later found out, exponentially stronger.

"Aw, crap." Dick groaned as he took in the sheer size of Grundy. Frankly, given that the target of our search had just dug himself out of the marshy ground right in front of us, I couldn't blame him. "He's been there the whole damn time!"

There he stood, twice my height and nearly thrice as wide, Solomon Grundy himself, wearing little more than black tatters covering pale skin, patche of which were lacking and allowed us to see muscle, bone and even the maggots that infested his body (worms the size of my fists that made the youths behind me groan in disgust), although strangely enoug no blood poured from the wounds. He had on his face a toothy snarl showing his crooked, yellowed teeth, a snarl aimed right at us.

Or rather, right at me.

Didn't help that he practically radiated magic, to the point I actually felt it.

"Slayer." I heard VEGA say. "Scanning indicates that the incapacitators won't be enough to stop Solomon Grundy. You'll have to subdue him in hand to hand if you don't want to destroy him."

Figures that something would end up happening and throwing my carefully made plan to the crapper, but never expected it to be that.

"VEGA, prepare a portal to Cydonia." I ordered him before turning to Batman and the rest. Stay back, and turn the fence on if I tell you." I warned them before turning back to Grundy. "Grundy, I want to talk to you."

But Grundy didn't respond, instead walking towards us, his steps making nearby trees shake. "Christened on Tuesday..."

"I don' think he wants to talk..." Barbara said as Grundy began to make his way to us, slowly but surely, every step of his sending the water splashing up.

Bruce took a fighting stance as he muttered about trying to talk to mindless monsters, but I put a hand on his chest. "I expected this to happen. Leave him to me and stay here."

Bruce gave me a confused look before looking back at Grundy, who had closed the distance further still.

"Married on WEDNESDAY!" He didn't even finish the poem that gave him his name before roaring at the top of his lungs and charging at me, a fist the size of my torso raised. From the corner of my HUD I saw Bruce pulling out a batarang, and Barbara and Dick taking fighting stances, despite them knowing they had no chance against the colossus.

"Slayer,it may appear that you'll have to resort to violence." VEGA said. "I'll prepare a portal in any case."

I gave a deep sigh as Grundy ran at me. Hard way it was then.

Not that I actually minded.

"I'll try to keep the fight in Cydonia. Warn the others."

Not bothering to reply to the group's combined 'what', I ran at Grundy at full speed, not to meet his fist on with mine but to slam his torso to try and force him to the ground.

One second later, our bodies collided before the force of my slam send us both into the portal VEGA opened at the last second, a portal that led to the dune of Cydonia, a hundred miles from the Fortress. And no, this time there were no wandering rovers near by if some of you are wondering that, though the shockwave of our clash did cause a sandstorm of epic proportions, one that would have laste for an entire had we stopped fighting.

Let's get back to the fight proper.

The strongest opponents I had faced until that moment had been quite strong indeed, one enough to give trouble to Clark even though he held back, and the other turned himself into a giant.

Grundy, though? He made them look like mere chimpanzees compared to a gorilla... or more fittingly, a gigantopithecus, given the sheer size difference.

An angry, undead gigantopithecus.

For several days, Grundy and I fought without abandon, making the sand around us fly with each strike we inflicted upon each other, but soon it became obvious to me that we were at a stalemate: I had no way to truly subdue him without killing him as long as he kept struggling, even with the application of pankration; conversely, despite hitting much harder than either Brushogun or King Shark had done, possessing unlimited stamina, and feeling no pain, Grundy was still not strong enough to actually harm me in any meaningful way.

Didn't mean his punches didn't hurt like Hell, only that they didn't do anything more than that.

On the second day, John, after finishing his job in Brazil and meeting with Bruce, finally caught up to what was happening.

"Slayer, Constantine has been trying to communicate with you for the last thirty hours." VEGA reported as I pried Grundy off of me.

I pushed the giant away before replying. "Patch him through."

VEGA did so, and soon I saw John's unshaved face on the HUD glaring at me. "Slayer, what the fuck is happening out there?! I'm gone for a week, and first thing I know is that you're going berserk on Solomon fucking Grundy!" He then whispered: "I know you can take him on, but still, have to keep up appearances."

"The situation is under control, John." I replied as Grundy jumped back at me roaring. "And I hope the kryptonians can't hear you."

"Magic, and even then they're not here." He then began shouting again. "Situation is under... Your brawl caused a fucking sandstorm the size of Ireland, the Super Friends are asking me what is happening, and the mutts are scared shitless, which makes sense given that a zombie the size of a lorry might crash on their base, but still! The fuck did you just do?!" He screamed at me.

"Tried to talk to Solomon Grundy, failed, now I'm trying to subdue him by beating the shit out of him."

"I already knew that! I want to know why did you bring the giant revenant to Mars of all the places in the solar system!"

"He's strong enough to actually pose a challenge to me when not puttwing all my effort, and Mars is the only one with an actual surface. Besides, what do you think would have happened to Gotham, maybe even the Eastern Coast, if we stayed there?" I told him. "Besides, it was VEGA's idea to bring him here. Call me later."

With that I cut off the transmision just as he shouted. So, we kept fighting, changing Cydonia's landscape as we did so, neither of us willing to stop the fight.

After a week of us going at it like elephants on musth, I decided to try and talk him down. Uppercutting him just as he was about to slam a boulder the size of the Empire State on me, I once more forced him to the ground and grabbed his arms behind him, only this time applying more strength, even though I still didn't know how much he could resist and didn't want to rip his arms off.

"Grundy, stop. I just want to talk!" I ordered him, but he refused to listen.

"Green man hurt Grundy, take Grundy from home!" He roared at me.

"Calm down and then maybe I might take you back! But first, I need to talk to you!"

"No, you want to hurt Grundy more!"

"I wouldn't have hurt you if you hadn't attacked us! If anything, you're the one who wants to hurt me!"

At first Grundy kept struggling against my hold, but eventually he stopped after realizing he couldn't pry me off of him. Seeing that he had stopped fighting, I got off of him to let him stand up, making sure to step back several meters to give him space and not make him feel threatened.

Had I looked up, I could have seen that the dustorm that had raised because of our fight was slowly dying out... and a red blur running around the crater's edge.

"Are you calm now?" I asked him. After a few seconds of silence, he nodded slowly. "I just want to talk." I repeated again, more quietly this time.

"About what?"

And then, before I could speak further, a red and blue blur came out of nowhere and slammed into Grundy at supersonic speed, pushing him out of the crater.

After gaping up for amoment, I ran up the slope to see what the hell was going on before someone stopped me just as I reached the edge.It was Wally West, standing proudly in front of me and wearing a combination of his usual hero garment and SCUBA equipment.

"It looked like you needed some help, big guy." He said with a grin as he looked up at me. "I even cleared that storm for you, no need to thank me."

I looked behind him and saw the others fighting Grundy, all of them minus Steel and John wearing similar spacesuits (the former didn't for obvious reasons, while the latter had applied an atmosphere spell on himself; turned out he didn't know how to cast magic in a enclosed suit without the spell tearing it open). Grundy, though weakened after an entire week of constant fighting and being bombarded from all sides, refused to give up, and in fact began to fight harder. Still, it was obvious he was losing.

The moment John saw me he broke off the fight and rushed towards us.

"I brought the cavalry." He said has he reached us. "Before you say you didn't need it, it's your own damn fault for leaving me hanging while going up against zombie Gogmagog."

"We came here as soon as John took us-" The speedster began to say before I cut him off.

"While I appreciate your help, your assistance was not needed; in fact, Grundy seemed to be willing to talk with me before Superman rammed him at mach 2."

Wally looked at me with wide eye before groaning as he realized the mistake they (Superman attacked first, but the others followed his example) just commited. "Oh, damn."

I shook my head. "No one's fault but mine. I should have informed you about the change of plans." Before they could say anything, I charged at the battle. Had to stop it before anyone got hurt, or Grundy decided to refuse to listen at all.

Grundy was just about to crash Irons against Clark before I leaped at him for the millionth time that week and, again, forced him to the ground. The group prepared to attack, but John stopped them.

"Grundy, stop!"

Grundy struggled and snarled, trying to rip my arms off to free himself. "NO!"

I growled. "Just stop fighting and let me explain, dammit!"

After several seconds passed, Grundy, to the amazement of the group, stopped struggling against my hold. He still glared at me when I let him stand again, though.

"Now Grundy knows why green man here!" He snarled at me, huge rotting index pointed at my helmet. "Green man wants to hurt nice lady!"

The story of how Arella managed to befriend, then entrust Grundy was an amazing tale, but one that would be better heard in peace and inside walls, with everyone calm and not jumpy.

"Grundy, did this 'nice lady' wear a white robe by any chance?"

"Grundy says no more!"

I sighed at his stubborness, but to be fair to him he had good reasons. "Grundy, it might not look like it, but I actually to help the nice lady's daughter."

"Green man lies to Grundy!" He shouted at me in an accusatory tone, yet despite his anger he didn't attack. "Green man's friends hurt Grundy!"

"My friends thought you were hurting me. Right, friends." I asked the heroes, and they nodded or said 'yes'. "That's what friends do for other friends, no? Just forgive them, they didn't know."

Grundy grunted, but otherwise did nothing.

"I want to help the nice lady's daughter, Grundy. She's in danger, and our first step to help her is you. "

"Literally in his case. "John chided in. "The big dobber has something inside him."

Grundy looked at me, then at the group around us, before looking back at me and nodding slowly.

"Grundy talks about nice lady in green man's house."

If the fight seems underwhelming and poorly described to you, and the latter half of the chapter rushed, it's for a very good reason: LAG pissing me off.