Sell you a Bridge chapter 281 (Patreon)

June 13th 2016 The Street of Gods 9:30 PM EDT

Darkseid was suffocating. Just being in his presence was like standing in front  of a tidal wave or staring up at a tornado. Well, for other people. I'd probably be fine in either of those situations, but his presence was  what those things would have felt like for me before I got my powers.  Something about him just scared a part of my brain, he was pure unmitigated evil, a predator, entropy made flesh, and looking up at his  brutally chiseled gray face filled me with a sense of hopeless despair  unlike anything I'd ever experienced.

Of course, I didn't  let that show, but I did focus on him completely to the exclusion of  everyone else, knowing I couldn't afford to ignore this monster. I  pasted a smile on my face. "Oh, well speak of the devil. Wait, no, that  would be me. Speak of the evil god maybe. Whichever, it's nice to see  you Darkseid. You certainly came a long way for little old me. Is there  some reason you wanted to chat? Maybe trade recipes for seven layer dip?  I'm told mine is out of this world." I admit, I might have been  babbling a bit, but I kept my tone light and breezy, which was an  accomplishment for the moment.

There was no motion on  Darkseid's face. He didn't smile, or raise an eyebrow. Considering his  face looked like literal carven stone I didn't even know if he could,  but those dull, burning eyes bore into me like flickering coals from the  deepest pits of hell before his voice boomed out again. "I find  myself...underwhelmed. Given all you've accomplished, I expected more of  a threat. Something more impressive than a whimpering child with a bit  of power. This trip was a waste of my time."

I smiled  charmingly. "Ah, well I don't suppose you could just go back the way you  came? No need to hang around if you aren't enjoying the trip. We can  catch up later. Though you might want to check out some of the local  sights before you go. The food here is pretty great." I tried to keep my  tone casual even after his disdain, but the longer I was in his  presence the more terrible it became. I felt like I was swimming through  jello, except instead of fruit flavoring it was made of pure hatred.  The air was almost congealed with malice around me.

The  massive head shook, and I realized that Darkseid was about eight feet  tall. I hadn't even registered it before that, it had been such a small  part of his intimidating presence it hadn't mattered. Now though, I  could appreciate the sheer size of him as he sneered down at me. Oh, so  he could make expressions. Fun. "You are a gnat, child. Return my Fury  to me. Your paltry attempts to obscure her from me were in vain. None  can steal from Darkseid. If you present her to me I may give you a quick  death."

I took a deep breath, focused my demonic power  into my armor, and pushed my ability to shift the reality of this aura,  to give truth to the lie in my voice that said I was unaffected as I  straightened up and glared at the huge god. "How about go fuck yourself  chief? You think just because you're scary I'm going to be your bitch? I  don't get why someone as badass as Black Adam was so scared of you.  Once you get past the imposing manner you're just a big melodramatic  poser. God of tyranny? More like god of little bitches."

It  wasn't my best attempt at shit talking, but I was kind of getting over a  bout of knee knocking fear from his appearance, so sure me. His eyes  flared a deeper red, and he seemed to grow in size without moving a damn  muscle. "You dare? I rescind my generous offer. You will suffer, as  will your people. I will break this planet over my knee and butcher the  inhabitants. I will invent such cruelties that the most terrible  monsters in the history of your pathetic race would vomit at their  mention, and when at last all of earth is under my thrall, when they beg  and plead for mercy, I will tel them that it was you who caused their  torment before I finally take their lives."

His voice was  smoother now, like rich red velvet cake, like talking about unspeakable  horror made him some equivalent of happy. His eyes pulsed along with  what I quickly realized was my heartbeat, and they were pulsing faster  every second. So I did what any reasonable person would have done in my  place. I teleported into close range and I fucking belted him in the  face with every ounce of force and demonic power I could summon. I  really put my fucking back into it too, planting my foot and making sure  my body was behind the blow.

My first landed against his  face with a roaring crash, the sheer speed and force tearing the air and  unleashing a near gale force wind as it split the night, my black metal  coated knuckles smashing into his face with fifty times the speed of a  supersonic jet. I had never unleashed a blow this titanic on anyone, and  I needed to reinforce the ground with darkness under my feet so the  actual motion didn't turn the ground to powder as I made it.

For  all the impact and force though, nothing happened. The fist made  contact, but it didn't matter. His face stopped my blow head on,  absorbing so much of the force that it seemed like his neck hadn't even  received and pressure. He just glared down at me, eyes pulsing rapidly,  and his face began to change. His lips shifted, his granite grey teeth  were revealed, and I learned the answer to my earlier pondering.  Darkseid COULD smile. And it was absolutely horrible.

A  sound rumbled up from his chest, like the churning of a volcanic  eruption before it was unleashed, and I realized it was laughter. "This?  This is what defeated my son? I am deeply disappointed in Kalibak.  You're nothing but a squalling infant.. You're hardly fit to stand in my  presence, boy. But since you dared to raise your hand, allow me to  instruct you on the finer points of violence from the perspective of a  master." There was a small blur and I felt a crashing impact against my  chest.

It took me a few seconds to realize the bastard had  hit me, and I was already smashing into one of the nearby temples when I  processed it. Luckily the pain of my impact was overshadowed by the  shattering of my sternum and ribs as his fist slammed into me like a  freight train, completely ignoring the defenses of my armor, or simply  overwhelming them to such an extent that they didn't even come into  play. I just... lay there. Trying my best to stay conscious as I  twitched in pain and defeat.

I felt my body knitting  itself back together, my entire form reshaping itself as my ectoplasmic  nature helped my bones reconnect with each other. I lay there for what  felt like an hour, but was probably more accurately a minute or two,  before slowly and painfully rolling to my side, then to my knees, and  forcing myself up onto my feet, ignoring some of the worst pain I had  ever experienced as I turned to face that massive god.

He  hadn't attacked, not me or my friends, just stood there, waiting. I  didn't need to wonder why though. He didn't need to hit me unprepared,  and doing so would be a mercy. All he needed was to swing his hand again  casually and he could crush me just as easily as he had a minute ago.  He was playing with me. Because it was fun. My earlier cat and mouse  analogy was even more accurate not as he batted me around gleefully  trying to see if I could show him anything new. I snarled internally.

Fuck  this guy. I shifted into shadows, then expanded my shadowy form,  regaining my physical presence at a whopping twelve feet tall. It wasn't  quite as big as I'd gone on the moon, but it was fucking huge, and I  felt a pang of pain through my head just doing that much.

I  unfurled my wings and flashed forward, putting every ounce of magic,  power, and my now MUCH larger mass behind this attack as I vanished and  reappeared in front of Darkseid in a flash of blackness. Between my  wings, my ghost flight, my demonic empowerment, and every ounce of skill  I had, when my now much larger fist hit Darkseid this time, there was a  give as he actually took a step back. I grinned, following up the  momentum with a rain of powerful blows to capitalize on the moment of  weakness.

I  met a fist. One fist, right to my jaw. He hadn't been phased by any blow  past the first, and only used that to set his footing. The one small  bright side was that my now much larger and more powerful form was  strong enough to keep my fucking head from collapsing like a smashed  watermelon when he hit me in the face, even if my brain was screaming at  me in pain from the effort of holding it all and my head was spinning  from disorientation. I fell on my ass, looking up at his towering form.

He  reached up and rubbed his face casually. "I admit. That  was...adequate.  Few if any have managed to elicit pain from my form. In  this state, I doubt anyone save Kal-el could have managed it on this  planet. You have succeeded in mildly amusing me. Very well, a reward is  in order. I was going to torment you for eternity, but now I suppose I  can kill you. Of course, I'll still beat you to death slowly in front of  everyone you care for, but it will only last days, not centuries. I  hope you appreciate my mercy."

Then  he kicked me. I'd say he kicked me in the ribs, but that would imply  the blow didn't harm the rest of my side, which it very much did. He  pretty much collapsed half of my torso. Pain flooded me, and a small  part of me hoped I might die, but I didn't. Darkseid had taken my  measure, and he knew how much I could stand. Until he was finished with  me, he wouldn't do anything as merciful as kill me. I thought back to  his mention of this taking days, and I felt my will begin to waver.

Zee  and Drea were crying in the background, I could hear them, though I  couldn't turn my head to look as Darkseid continued to beat me. I wanted  to change this, to turn the tables, to beat him back, but some fights  are just too much, and you can't win them no matter what. This was one  of the most powerful beings in the multiverse. Still, I wasn't going to  lie here and get beaten like an animal. I reached through the dark and  called my gun. I had to use my pinky to fire it given the size  difference, but I managed to point and shoot.

I  emptied the clip into Darkseid, and he grunted lightly and stepped back  with each impact, giving me some breathing room. I saw a dark liquid  leak from several holes, and I smiled through the pain. I might be about  to die, but at least I made the bastard bleed. The gun clicked empty  and I slumped back to the ground, drained by even that much effort. I  melted back to normal size, something I hadn't known I could do  automatically, and waited for the end.

Before  Darkseid could hurt me again though, I heard a new voice. It was  familiar, but despite me having heard it many times before, it took me a  few seconds to process who it was because I'd never heard such emotion  in the tone before. "Exactly what the fuck do you think you're doing to  my kid?" Even with the clue, I had trouble recognizing Gojo's voice, not  just because he'd never really called me that before, but because of  the white hot rage in the words. I forced my head to loll sideways to  take in the sight of my stepdad standing over me, tourist clothes gone  and replaced by a strange purple jumpsuit, fractured blue eyes burning  with anger. I smiled wider. I didn't know how he was here, but I  wouldn't turn down some help.