The Art Of Taunting #222

Author's note: This chapter and the one before it ended up being info dumbs, but I thought I'd explain what was happening to anyone who didn't read the comics. There's still a lot of stuff going on behind the scene, but this should help ya'll get a pretty good idea of what's going on.

...

"It looks like you have everything figured out," I said as I picked up the crystal and flared my energy, and it immediately began absorbing it greedily, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"But why did you come to me with this?" I asked, frowning as I cut my energy's flow and threw the crystal back into the suitcase right into its socket.

"Superman and Wonder Woman have recently appeared in the country," I added as I turned to the blonde scientist. "They seem to be targeting these so-called horsemen of the apocalypse," I concluded, crossing my arms as I paused and waited for a reply.

"Superman and Wonder Woman are indeed here to stop the creatures..." The blonde replied, trailing at the end of her sentence as she hesitated, seemingly pausing to choose her words.

"However, the latter has a less than stellar opinion of me," Veronica explained, causing my frown to deepen as I wordlessly asked for an explanation with a deadpan expression, and she obliged with a sigh.

"Let's say we don't see eye to eye..." The blonde added, sighing as she helplessly shrugged her shoulders. "I might have attempted to sully her reputation on multiple occasions..." She continued, her expression turning bitter as I maintained my neutral face.

"It's unlikely that Wonder Woman would trust me, and Superman would likely heed her advice," Veronica remarked, shaking her head as she shrugged and put on a calm expression.

"That only leaves you. But I would have preferred to come to you either way," The blonde hurriedly added as she realized what she'd said, much to my silent amusement.

"Oh yeah? And why is that?" I asked, letting out a smile as I crossed my arms, staring directly into the blonde scientist's eyes with an unconvinced expression, to which she maintained her composure.

"Superman and Wonder woman are powerful. They are more than capable of destroying the four creatures' host bodies," Veronica calmly explained without missing a beat as she nodded. "However, brute strength is not the key to dealing with the horsemen," She added in a matter-of-fact tone as she shook her head.

"They are not well suited to deal with supernatural threats, and controlling the crystal would require a certain mastery over energy," She went on, her tone growing more confident as she spoke, emphasizing the last word of her sentence.

"Intergang forced us to study your abilities to discover weaknesses and create counters for you..." The blonde explained, to which my smile disappeared and my lips pursed into a thin line.

"We didn't discover any, by the way," Veronica said, sighing as she noticed my expression. "We concluded that your power was to control, channel, and manifest energy," She explained as she cleared her throat and paused as if remembering something.

"We also realized that you don't draw your energy from outside sources but from withing yourself somehow, hence our failure to find ways to shut it down," Beronica remarked, shrugging her shoulders as she shook her head.

"But that is beside the point. What's important is that you are capable of controlling energy..." The blonde said, getting back to the subject at hand, her expression turning resolute.

"And that is what we need. An energy expert capable of using the crustal effectively to ensure the horsemen don't escape," The blonde concluded, trailing at the of her sentence as she caught her breath and waited for my answer.

"Fine. Give me the crystal," I said, sighing as I extended my hand after a brief pause. The way I saw it, the four horsemen, whatever they were, would become a problem eventually if no one dealt with them.

They were undoubtedly strong, but if Black Adam could take care of them, then I shouldn't have any problems, not to mention they were in a weakened state since they were currently possessing the bodies of regular humans.

Wonder Woman and Superman were also here, so I wouldn't have to deal with the four creatures alone, and I'd have backup if something went wrong. Now was the best time to take care of them before they became a real problem.

"The crystal will do most of the work once you force the horsemen to abandon their hosts," Veronica said as she took the crystal from the briefcase and offered it to me.

"If something goes wrong, then you'll have to take control of the crystal yourself and capture their souls," The blonde went on as she watched me take the crystal from her hand.

"And how am I to do that, exactly?" I asked as I held the crystal and raised it in front of my face to inspect it before turning back to the blonde scientist.

"I have no idea," Veronica replied with a deadpan expression, to which I felt the urge to smash the crystal into the ground. "These were the instructions of the mystic who helped us create the crystal," She went on, shrugging her shoulders.

"He said that anyone adept at controlling supernatural energies would know how to use it," The blonde added, pausing as she studied my expression to measure my reaction.

"I guess I'll have to figure it out on the way, then," I said, sighing as I put the crystal into my inventory. "I'll find you after I finish the job. Don't get in my way until then," I concluded, jumping into the air and flying away without waiting for a response.

...

"What in the...!" Superman muttered in surprise as he levitated in the air, looking down on the undead horde below gathered around an enormous burning mound of earth and corpses.

"I don't know what is happening here, but we must stop it at any cost!" Wonder Woman said in a grave tone as she looked down on the unholy mound and sensed the sinister presence emanating from within it.

"I'm with you on that one," Super Man said with a nod, deeply inhaling as he prepared to extinguish the fire with his ice breath. However, a strange creature emerged from within the undead horde and attacked him, forcing him to stop.

"I knew more of you meat sacks would show up sooner or later..." The strange creature with the head of a bull, a human body, and the wings of a crow said as it swung its scythe at Superman, forcing him to stop.

"But you can not stop the inevitable," The creature stated as it raised its scythe over its shoulder. "As I have been rebirthed, so will my brothers," It went on as it charged Superman.

"We are the harbingers. We are inevitable. Your world will be ours!" The creature didn't stop talking as it wildly swung its scythe with enough power to force even the man of steel to dodge.

However, the creature's assault did not last long as Wonder Woman stepped in and sent it crashing into the ground with a mighty punch that echoed all over the area.

"My amazonian steel shall be the judge of your self-proclaime ineveitabilty, creature," Wonder Woman said as she drew her sword and hit the blade against her bracers to taunt the strange beast.

"I'll keep it busy, Kal. Extinguish the fire quickly," Wonder Woman said as she briefly glanced at face Superman, giving him a nod before turning back to the creature.

"Today you face a daugh of Themyscira, offal-spawn!" Wonder Stated, letting out a battle cry as she dived towards the strange creature, and her words seemed to anger the latter as it roared and met her halfway.

"You dare mock Azraeuz, The Silent King, you worthless sack of bones?!" The creature bellowed in a rage as it swung its scythe, meeting the edge of Wonder Woman's blade.

The two quickly started exchanging insults and blows, creating numerous explosive shockwaves and eruptions while Wonder Woman continued to mock the creature to keep his focus.

Meanwhile, Superman watched in stunned silence for a second, only to quickly gather his bearings as he shook his head and flew towards the flaming mound.

He inhaled deeply before releasing an icy breath that froze everything in its way, including the undead creatures. They instantly stopped moving as the ice engulfed their bodies.

The icy breath reached the enormous fire. The unholy flame rippled for a brief second before it continued to burn with the same intensity, causing Superman to frown.

The man of steel repeated his action, taking a deeper breath and exhaling more forcefully, but the result remained unchanged. "It looks like we have a problem, Diana," Superman said as he turned to Wonder Woman, who was still fighting Azraeus.

She frowned as she pushed away the strange creature and turned to see what Superman was talking about, only for her frown to become more pronounced as she noticed the flame burning with the same intensity despite being surrounded by an icy wasteland.

"Take this creature from my hand. I have an idea," Wonder Woman said, gritting her teeth as she blocked another swing of Azraeus' scythe. She grabbed his wrist and forcefully tossed him towards Superman before flying away.

"It is too late to escape!!" Azrael bellowed as he regained his balance and tried to go after Wonder woman, only for Superman to punch him into the ground before he could even move.

"Sorry, pal. But you'll have to make do with me..."

...

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