Chapter 111 : A teammate’s reflexion

The Dark Knight gazed his usual cold gaze toward the vast emptiness of space. He would never admit it, either to himself or anyone else, but Bruce Wayne was terrified. There was a reason why humanity hadn't achieved much in the way of space travel yet. It was dangerous, required a knowledge, technology and resources that were either rare or difficult to produce… Humans were simply not ready for it, yet.

So, him being among the only humans to have left the solar system, in addition to face an intergalactic threat backed up by god-like aliens… The fact that he was so far from his home city of Gotham, or even Earth for that matter… All of this made him reconsider his current choice of being up here with people he barely knew.

Wonder Woman. He had managed over the last few months since she made an appearance on the national news, to gather quite the number of testimonies, archive footages and pictures about her various appearances in History. She was… old. Batman didn't know exactly how old she was, but she had kept the same beautiful features as she had during World War I… It was something obvious despite the grainy nature of the black and white picture. From what he could tell, she has been fighting the good fight much longer than he did, so unconsciously he trusted her somewhat. It wouldn't prevent him from finding a contingency to take her down… Just in case.

Steel was much like him. But while Bruce Wayne was motivated by the loss of his parents and his anger, John Henry Irons III's motivations were a little puzzling to the Dark Knight. Was he bored of his life ? Pathologically altruistic ? Or was there an unknown event in the man's life that encouraged him to suddenly become a vigilante ? Needless to say, Batman didn't trust the man, despite their similarities…

It was not the first time Bruce had met Constantine. As far as his feelings toward the man went, he didn't like him. He was brash, acted and spoke as if he knew better and was flashy. He constantly smelled of old cigarette and cold tobacco, making even more noticeable. This made him a nightmare to work with for someone like the ninja-like vigilante. Beyond that, the man was powerful and knowledgeable. As for what drove him… Batman had no idea, but Constantine was a shady character, regardless.

Superman was another unknown. He didn't go through an ordeal like Bruce's, hasn't been raised by honorable warrior women, and yet the man decided to put on a silly costume and fight crime. Despite what the alien said, that being so strong as he was, he should make use of his powers to help the needy, Batman wasn't buying it. Such a sense of responsibility that it pushed you to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders simply didn't exist. Not without some kind of trauma, at least. He was simply too good to be true.

And then… There was Edgar Stark. He started out his vigilante activities in his teenage years completely out of the blue. A few years later, he explained the reason behind them, but… Bruce always found it a little too sudden. The interview, like the emergence of the Iron Lad, came out of nowhere. As if someone had forced his hand. Moreover, the content of the interview resembled a political speech prepared beforehand. Still, at least, his motivation seemed genuine enough. The young man portrayed himself as someone selfish whose actions were driven solely by the desire to survive. And his message was rather alarming… Even if it was rather true.

Anyways, Ned Stark was perhaps the person he was the most wary of, especially after his 'transformation'. An entity supposedly took over his body while his consciousness was transferred to some kind of magic crystal… It was too far-fetched, even for the Dark Knight. Far fetched, and convenient. As if he, or his 'children', knew of what would happen and prepared accordingly.

And now, Batman, the only one without superpowers, magic or advanced technology capable of shooting lasers, had to go on to fight a battle he wasn't sure he had a place in. He wasn't even sure the threat was even relevant to their world… After all, this was a problem for the Green Lanterns, wasn't it ? Them, and all the other colored lantern corps out there. Why should they, the heroes of Earth, meddle in something like that ?

Granted, he knew the reason why. Objectively, they couldn't let the Third Army grow their numbers and if they managed to somehow take the bodies of the Lanterns, God only knew what would happen !

They had no Willpower of their own, but the 'Guardians… Could they somehow channel the energy through everyone of their drones ? And what if the Third Army won against the other Lanterns ?

The danger was great, but so were the people already on the case. To the Dark Knight, there were simply too many unknowns for them to simply dive headfirst into the conflict… If there even was one.

* * * * *

Constantine and Irons looked at the last weapon to date designed by Ned Stark. To be precise, it was just an updated version of the Rage cannon the three had built a few days ago. According to the former squib, this version was supposed to last much longer since the inside of the barrel was insulated by a special alloy. Although the two showed interest in the composition of said alloy, Ned refused to reveal that it actually was Eighth Metal. Although Irons wouldn't know what it is, Constantine probably did…

He wasn't sure what the wizard would do with such knowledge, but he'd rather keep his cards closer to his chest. Among the ship's crew, Ned knew of two people he was wary of because of their paranoia and untrustworthiness : Batman and Constantine. The two elaborated plans within plans to deal with various situations. However, they showed little care for their teammates and the people working with and under them.

« Come on, mate ! Give us a little hint ! » Constantine asked in a begging tone, one that he tried to pass off as joking. Ned knew through his sensors however, that the playful tone was actually an annoyed one.

« Sorry, mate ! It's a company secret. » Ned replied blandly, insisting on the term the British used to call him.

The fact of the matter was that he didn't know any other mortal who was able to smith divine metal. If anyone were to find out about his mastery of the technique, especially among the magical community knowing about gods, demons and the higher spheres, no doubt it would cause an uproar. Ned didn't trust Constantine to keep the secret if it didn't serve his goals… He'd say that he didn't trust him as far as he could throw him but given his body, he could throw him pretty far. Much farther than how much he trusted him…

« I have to say… It's quite beautiful. » Steel uttered, as if transfixed by the golden sheen of the barrel.

The inside was much more golden, so Ned decided to paint the outside in the same color tone to give it a more unified feel. The design had also been slightly altered because… Well, he could ! It wouldn't really suit the invisible ship of Wonder Woman but it didn't really matter in his opinion. These were weapons of destruction meant for one thing and one thing only : destroy the Third Army. Although they had the Malthusians in mind when they created it, Ned doubted it would work against them. They were simply too overpowered for these hastily designed and tested weapons to work against them. Perhaps if he had one of the Red Lantern's ring…

« Thanks ! Yeah, since I figured the time left wouldn't be enough to improve it any further, I decided to have a little fun with its esthetics. At first, I wanted to take inspiration from the weapons of Ancient Greece to pay homage to our captain, but… »

« Ancient Greece didn't have any kind of cannons. » Constantine interjected, his arms crossed and his brows furrowed.

« Exactly ! So instead, I went with this ! »

The barrel was mostly cylindrical, covered with four red plates interspersed with a little space. On the other side of the barrel, the energy projectile was generated in a massive, combustion generation lookalike, with a few straight cable on the side to help the mana travel from the reactor to the Rage-converter which was then stored in ten cells at the 'top' of the cannon.

[Author note : Look up the images section for Science fiction cannon : Ruedy stacher conceptual weapon if you want to have an idea of what it looks like.]

Ned looked at it with pride in his eyes.

« Let's show the little blue men what hell looks like ! » He intoned gleefully.