Sell you a Bridge chapter 233 (Patreon)

April 22nd 2016 Gotham City 10:00 PM EDT

I  woke up in pain. Not too much pain thankfully, my armor had stayed on  during my brief time unconscious, but still, it was not fun coming back  to reality. My head was pounding enough that I was pretty sure I  couldn't use my ability raw again tonight. Luckily I had fifteen  thousand points in reserve to use in case of emergencies, and I was  still strapped with my armor and keyblade. I climbed to my feet with a  groan. I hadn't been out for long as far as I could tell so the battle  was still underway.

Based on energy signatures my people  were all still fine, none of them had run afoul of some New God who had  managed to hurt them. In fact, several of them had won their fights  while I was out. I'd taken down two, and three of the others had  finished their own battles (Blood, Morana, and Adam specifically) and  had moved on to a new fight each. Jim was still fighting his which left  one more for me before this whole thing was over.

I wasn't  flying anymore, though I hadn't noticed it, and I just shrugged and  started walking. Fifteen thousand points was plenty to get me through  one last fight, and the despite my still throbbing head the signature of  the last fighter I had to face was much weaker than Kalibak. I wouldn't  need my demonic empowerment, which meant this was going to be a pure  brawl with just a bit of keyblade work. I walked stiffly through the  rubble, looking around at the results of what had been done to my city  as I casually killed Parademons when they got within range.

I'd  dropped Kalibaks body through a corridor into the sun. With him dead  there was no resisting or moving, even if I knew from his aura that he  wasn't actually dead. I didn't feel like listening to Barbara bitch  about me ripping out someone's heart. Other than some Parademons though,  his was one of the few corpses I could see. I'd been expecting mass  casualties here, but though I could spot the occasional dead Gothamite  and felt for them, it seemed like most of them had avoided danger.

Trust  people from Gotham to have the instincts to avoid damage in an alien  invasion. Anyone in town would know what to do in the event of danger.  It was kind of amazing. Of course it wasn't all them. With Superboy and  Wonder Girl and the other Team members allocated to Parademon duty there  was a massive amount of firepower dedicated to protecting civilians.  They'd left the New Gods to the heavies and it had worked pretty much  flawlessly. Not to mention dads people weren't the only ones packing  magic gear.

I saw various street gangs armed with mystical  items butchering Parademons. Axes, swords, bows, even some magic users  strapped with dungeon tomes. Eventually though, I reached my destination  and stepped up to battle the last of the New Gods. The last one  was...weird. I actually came up short to stare at him. "Ok, what the  fuck is this nonsense? Who are you even supposed to be?" I was expecting  another literal monster like Kalibak, but the guy I found was some tiny  Mr. peanut looking asshole.

He'd been staring out grimly  at the battle, and when I spoke he turned to look at me. He wasn't up on  the floating things like the others, but standing on a building, which  I'd been able to jump up on easily enough. He was short. Five foot two  and had slicked back dark hair and a monocle. I knew from his aura that  he was dangerous, all the New Gods were, but he was such a ridiculous  little man in his old school german military uniform that I was actually  having a hard time considering him a threat even knowing that.

The  pinched little man sneered at me. "I am Virman Vunderbar, the great  tactician of Apokalips. I have commanded these troops well fool, and  despite your assurance in the capabilities of your pathetic defensive  force, you stand no chance at repelling our invasion. Even now I expect  your compatriots are being whittled away one by one, victims of the  efficiency of my Parademon army." He stared at me coldly a snide smile  twisting his ridiculously puckered face as he gloated about his  'victory'.

I just stared at him through my armor. "You  know Kalibak is dead right?" He froze, blinking in confusion. "Kalibak  is dead, I killed him myself. Gilotina is gone. Three of the others went  down and the last four other than you are engaged in combat right now,  and they aren't doing great." I didn't mention what happened to  Gilotina, I didn't feel like dealing with rescue attempts if they would  even bother with that. "All in all there is pretty much no chance for  this to end in anything other than a complete crushing defeat, so maybe  you want to go ahead and surrender."

I saw his sneer  fracture a bit, and I had to admit it felt good. I liked mocking the  ones who didn't shut up. He put on a brave face, but I assume he had  some method of reaching the others because after a brief pause his aura  started to flicker with fear. He cleared his throat. "Nonsense. You seek  only to delay the inevitable. Even if your forces managed to repel this  scouting party you have no chance of driving off Darkseid. Earth is  doomed and you will all-" He was babbling at this point, glancing around  in terror as he desperately tried to figure a way out of this.

It  was pretty funny. "Be absolutely fine? Bitch please. I know Darkseid is  at constant war with New Genesis. Not to mention  I'm guessing The  Reach is pretty annoyed at him right now. This planet isn't worth the  time investment for a full out invasion, not with how crazy things are  in the galaxy right now. If they were he would have sent and ACTUAL  invasion force, not his son and a bunch of half assed godlings. So  again, are you going to surrender, or am I going to beat your ugly  little face even more out of shape."

Virman scoffed.  "Fool! I am Virman Vunderbar, I am the general supreme. I will not be  spoken down to by-" He stopped talking mid word and turned to bolt away  at top speed. Sadly for him I had seen that coming in his aura and I was  already there, having walked through a corridor and show up behind just  in time to punch him in his scrunched up face. He howled in pain and  fear. "NO! Please I beg you please do not hurt me!" He curled up in a  ball on the ground to protect himself, nose running blood like a faucet.

At  this point I wasn't even having fun anymore. This was just sad. I  rolled my eyes. "Call off the Parademons and I'll let you live." I would  just hand him over to the League. I had no use for him, and as  mentioned I absolutely didn't feel like dealing with Apokalips knowing I  had one of theirs. I'd beaten Gilotina viciously and dropped her into a  shadow portal so I was hoping they would just assume she was dead while  I tried to fix her.

Virman stuttered, blubbering through  his bleeding nose. "Fine! Just please don't hurt me!" He started  muttering into a communicator. I expected some kind of double cross, so I  watched his aura, but no, this guy was just a whimpering bootlicker. It  was honestly a bit of a let down after Kalibak. Still, I supposed not  every fight could end with me going toe to toe with progressively  stronger warriors. I was bound to end up with a dud eventually.

The  Parademons began to retreat, and I grabbed Virman by the neck, dragging  him to his feet and then along next to me as I headed for the Leagues  position. He stumbled after me, snivelling and sobbing, which was  admittedly getting really old. Zee and Dreamer showed up to meet me,  both of them seeming a bit nonplussed. My sorceress raised an eyebrow.  "I see you've captured their most dangerous warrior. Must have been a  battle for the ages, I have to say I'm grateful you survived." Her  sarcasm was noted, though not appreciated.

I rolled my  eyes. "This is my third New God of the day, they can't all be winners. I  took down his boss earlier, he actually WAS their most dangerous  warrior." I didn't mention killing his meat suit given the mixed  company, but she looked pretty pleased to hear that. "The others are  doing pretty well from what I saw, so I figured I'd come hand this  little disappointment over to the League to deal with. A gesture of  goodwill if you will."

Dreamer was just...staring. I  understood why. Her people had been at war with Apokalips for so long I  couldn't even comprehend it. In all that time I think the war had become  less of a battle and more of a fact. Water was wet, the sun was hot,  and Apokalips always came back. This time though, we had won. Even as we  watched the Parademons were returning to their ships at Virmans orders.  I could also see the other New Gods begin to go down, their auras  dimming as they were restrained or in one or two cases going out as  their mortal bodies were killed.

At the very least if the  League made a big deal about it we could point out they weren't actually  dead. I doubted it would come up though. Nightwang didn't want that  trouble any more than we did. I dragged the little God over to the  League and passed him to Captain Atom who was standing next to Black  Canary. The two of them had obviously been fighting, though for Captain  Atom that was only visible as a bit of dirt and for Black Canary it was  bruises and exhaustion. I let my own armor drop as I felt the exhaustion  hit me even harder. I barely caught myself and could only kind of  stand, but with my girls nearby I wasn't worried.

They  gave me a suspicious look but I just put up one hand placatingly.  "That's for you. Just figured you would know what to do with him better  than I would. Plus my cells won't hold a god." That was actually true,  if they were in top form. After a thorough beating they would work fine  though, which was why I didn't worry about Gilotina escaping before her  treatment. Even a god would need time to heal the beating I'd given her.  Black Canary hesitated but then smile gratefully, giving me a nod to  show her appreciation as she massaged her apparently sore throat. Guess  she used her canary cry one too many times.

As  I turned to leave though, I heard a sound. Clapping. I was expecting  some kind of sarcastic mocking slow clap so I turned warily, waiting for  an enemy. To my surprise though it was just a man. No aura of power or  divinity, just an old man in a dirty blue sweater. Another man picked up  the action next to him, stepping from the shadows, then a woman, and  the little girl who was with her. All over the surrounding area hidden  and scared Gothamites came out of that dark, applauding us for saving  them, cheering and clapping and screaming in defiant joy at their  survival.

I  just kind of stood there, frozen in confusion. I hadn't expected...that.  I'd done this for my family, to keep them safe, not for all these  people. But they'd seen me fighting for them and they appreciated it. I  couldn't lie, it felt good. I wasn't a superhero and had no real desire  to become one, but I was and always would be a son of Gotham, and  knowing my city appreciated me like that was kind of indescribable. I  couldn't think of anything to say so I just stood there and smiled. My  girls came up behind me, each sliding themselves under an arm so they  could help me stand without it being obvious and we all stood there just  taking it in. As I let the sound wash over me I reflected on the fact  that here in the rubble, listening to the cheers of Gotham, this city  felt like home again for the first time since we returned from New  Genesis, and it felt good.