Gone Native: Reunion (ch. 20) (Patreon)

I was surrounded on all sides with various heroes and villains that had established an uneasy truce. For the most part. I suspected that there were others that had refused the call to unite against me. I endeavored to learn their names at a later date, but for now I had far more pressing concerns. There was a beat of silence at my words, the tension in the air swelling until it became thick enough to cut.

Things weren't looking too good for me. However, that hardly meant that the battle was lost.

'Surrender, King Tarble,' I heard a voice in my head. Male. Likely Martian Manhunter. In response, I closed off my mind with ruthless prejudice. My mental defenses were lacking in comparison to my magic resistance, but if I managed to keep the mental contamination of various power rings at bay, then I could ward off Manhunter's mental intrusions. At least, that was the thought.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" I asked the crowd of enemies as I breathed in deeply. The tension reached a breaking point and dozens of heroes and villains leapt into action. They prepared their attacks, they dove forward, they flew above and ensured that there would be no escape for me. However, trying to escape would be my defeat. I had a very different plan.

I planted myself where I stood like a stone that would break the tide that was attempting to overwhelm me.

Wonder Girl reached me first, a fist raised high to punch me in the face while Nightwing, in an advanced suit, dove low with speeds that should be beyond him. Both were fast, but I was faster. Gripping down on Enchantresses' neck, I flung her at Wonder Girl, forcing her to back off unless she wanted Enchantress to break upon her body. My trident spun in my hand as I blocked the low kick from Nightwing that was delivered with explosive force. His blows weren't equal to what Batman had delivered, but that power armor put him well above what he should be capable of.

I stabbed down, but like an eel, Nightwing slipped out of the way. He flipped up, and only realized his mistake when I batted him in the ribs, the stab having been a feint. He grunted, first at the blow, then when he was used as a shield as ice washed over his back from an attack that was meant for me. I leapt up, spinning sharply as I caught Wonder Girl in the temple as she caught Enchantress, her head snapping to the side.

Shazam seemed to blink towards me as I felt pressure on my body. I recognized it as telekinesis -- however, compared to Frieza's, who had the raw power to throw planets around, it was lacking. Shazam threw a punch at my gut, intent on seizing the opportunity as the Martians tried to help him. The blow caught me just under the ribs, but I prepared for it as much as I could. In return, slammed my knee into the side of his head, making it jerk to the side, stunning him as a ki spear formed in my hand. I began to thrust at his eyes, only to feel a hand on my wrist stop the action cold.

A boomerang raced towards me at the same time I saw that it was Martian Manhunter that stopped the attack, coiling around my wrist for extra leverage. He was strong. Shockingly so. However, I yanked my arm forward and the edge of the boomerang caught him in his stretched out arm. The green edge cut through his flesh as if it wasn't there -- it had a molecular edge, I realized. All of a sudden, the weapon didn't seem so foolish.

Manhunter gasped in pain, his grip lessening enough that I was able to heave and hurl him into Shazam the large man readied to punch me in the back of the head. The two collided, freeing my arm up as I touched back down on the ground, spinning my trident to block the incoming bullets that the gorilla wearing a baret fired at me with his minigun. Nightwing recovered quickly, two escrima sticks appearing in his hands that he lashed out at me with. He was an excellent fighter, I noticed.

It felt like I was too liberal with that compliment lately, but it was true in every case. His form was solid, his technique was near flawless. His one weakness, however, was that he clearly wasn't used to fighting at such speeds. A less trained eye wouldn't have noticed it, even among my own race, but I lived this long because I ruthlessly exploited even the smallest of openings.

Nightwing learned as much when I slammed my short ki spear down through his foot, pivoting around him as he accepted the pain to lash out at me with a swipe of his escrima stick. My ki spear elongated(,) and with a flick of my wrist the blow was blocked with the back half of my spear, creating an opening that I used to punch him in the face hard enough that he flew back, tearing my spear through his foot and slamming through a building.

There was no respite. My ears were beset by a hellish wail that felt like it was going to rupture my eardrums. I winced, feeling hot blood trickle out of my ears as I smacked away two arrows that came from Green Arrow. Shazam tackled me a moment later and I felt an arrow slam into my forehead(.) It didn't break through my skin, but it felt like I had been punched in the face by Kara. A kinetic energy arrow?

I spotted Huntress line up another shot with her crossbow, Green Arrow next to her. In response, I let my ki rise in my gut as I accepted a blow that snapped my already fractured ribs. Ki swelled behind my teeth, an attack forming that I unleashed by opening my mouth. Dark blue ki came out in a torrent, sweeping over the building that they had been pertched on, but I didn't feel their ki signatures vanish. I didn't have time to think about it much because Wonder Girl was racing forward, joining Shazam as they fought against me.

They came at me from two sides, throwing kicks and punches at high speeds, their arms little more than blurs to the naked eye. They came at me with everything they had, determined to push me back. To defeat me. Yet, I stood my ground and refused to give an inch, weathering their blows as I did my best to counter and give as good as I got.

It was my worst case scenario -- fighting multiple powerful people at the same time. Each blow I took shaved a little off my endurance, the injuries stacking up. Healing myself was a dangerous card to play(,) because it would further sap my endurance. I found myself in a fight of attrition and I knew that I would give out long before the heroes did.

I dodged out of the way of a punch, leaning my head to the side as I used the trident to divert a punch from Wonder Girl, before kicking at her knee. She fell back, avoiding the blow, creating an opening for me to slam the shaft of the trident into Shazam's ribs. My one advantage was that their teamwork was not flawless. Wonder Girl was weaker than Shazam by a decent margin, and she was pissed at me.

Using that, I spun the trident, gripping it near the fork and using it to divert a punch that Wonder Girl threw as she pressed the attack, pulling her in front of Shazam, who was forced to abandon his own. I drove a kick into Wonder Girl's stomach, knocking them both back just in time for Nightwing and Harley Quinn to press an assault of their own.

"Batter up!" Harley shouted, swinging her wooden mallet down at me. The idea that she would be insane enough to attack me with a simple wood mallet seemed ludicrous -- it was likely enchanted in some way. It was best to avoid the unknown, so I sidestepped the attack, my knee coming up to drive it into her stomach as I narrowly blocked a blow from Nightwing. My lips thinned when I felt my eardrums once again assaulted by Black Canary's screeching just as several arrows made their way to me from Huntress and Green Arrow. It also turned out that Captain Boomerang wasn't the only one that used boomerangs because a number of them were closing in on me.

I flexed my aura, blasting the air away from me. It diverted the projectiles away, letting me focus on Nightwing. He lashed out with his escrima sticks, attacking high and low, but he wasn't ready for me to switch my grip on the trident and slam the butt of it into his chest, knocking him back. A moment later, I felt bullets bounce off of my body, but I ignored them in favor of dodging another arrow, the butt of my spear catching it behind the arrowhead before I flicked it back at Green Arrow. The arrow struck some kind of shield, making my eyes narrow as I realized that was how they had survived my attack.

The scent of ozone forced me to move. A split second later, a powerful bolt of lightning slammed into the ground where I once stood, a bright flash of light that nearly blinded me. Shazam pressed forward, flying at me at high speeds to tackle me. Instead of allowing it, I slammed the butt of my trident into the bottom of his chin, sending him up into the air before I countered Wonder Girl, grabbing her by the wrist as I smelled ozone again.

Using her as a shield, Wonder Girl cried out in pain as the lightning bolt slammed into her. She fell to the ground, a dark spot on her chest that sizzled.

"Wonder Girl!" Nightwing cried out, diving towards me, and he somehow was shocked that I would fling Wonder Girl at him, using her as a weapon to smash him into the ground. I caught a hint of movement in the corner of my eye -- water was flooding the streets in a tidal wave, but what caught my attention was three figures moving towards me.

Martian Manhunter. Miss Martian. And… Elongated Man, if memory served.

Raising a hand, hundreds of ki blasts erupted from my palm as I was forced to back off down the street to avoid the water. I could feel a noose closing in around my neck with the action. They were leading me somewhere. A trap that they were willing to risk their lives shoving me into. The three attackers shifted and contorted to avoid the ki blasts that devastated everything behind them(.) Buildings were vaporized, and it was only by quick action from various heroes that ensured that no one died.

They still approached(,) and Martian Manhunter caught up to me first. He reached out with a single hand that became a dozen, all of them reaching for me. I lashed out with my trident, attempting to skewer him, but instead it simply passed through his body harmlessly. A mistake, in hindsight. One I paid for with my arm as he covered it like a viscous ooze, and I felt pressure all around my arm, as if he was trying to restrain me with physical force since telekinesis hadn't worked. It worked better, but I was still able to move my arm to some degree, letting me bat away an arrow with my trident as we skated down the street.

"Open up!" Elongated Man exclaimed cheerfully, shrinking-

Ah.

I flexed my power to blow him away, preventing him from entering into any orifice to attack me from the inside. Elongated Man flew away, but I did as he said and opened wide. A dark blue ki attack struck him head on, and I felt him burn away into nothing in the face of a plant busting attack. I heard cries of disbelief, before the two Martians attacked me with greater ferocity.

Miss Martian gave herself a dozen arms that she used to punch at me(,) while Manhunter spread across my body, making it more and more difficult to fight. I grit my teeth as I felt him prying at my fingers to force me to let go of the trident. I eyed the water that surged as Miss Martian continued to attack -- her blows had weight behind them, but in comparison to Manhunter, her physical strength was lacking. She was just acting as a distraction, I sensed(,) as my enemies gathered.

Further back, I felt the presences of Mera and Weather Wizard -- both were working in conjunction with Static Shock to guide and empower the lightning they threw at me. However, that flaw was still there.

To prove that point, I flipped, completely changing my trajectory as I fired a ki shot at a gas station. Thousands of gallons of gasoline splashed up at the weak blast, dousing myself and Martian Manhunter in the highly flammable liquid. Miss Martian managed to avoid the gasoline herself by breaking off. "No! Don't!" she screamed as I slashed my trident on the ground, sending up a flash of sparks that engulfed us in flames.

The fire didn't affect me in the slightest, but Manhunter was a different story. His form collapsed as he screamed, his green skin burning black for a short moment before Miss Martian rescued him. She grabbed hold of him a split second before the water hit us with the force of a thousand tons of weight. I narrowed my eyes, feeling the magic in the water as it crashed down around me, as if it were trying to squeeze the air from my lungs so I would drown faster.

Instead of politely dying, I blasted forward, uncaring of the tide attempting to push me back. I clutched the trident, readying it for a throw, but I was unsure who I should attack. Weather Wizard had never done anything like this, but nothing was known about Mera other than she was the queen of Atlantis and a sorceress. It took a brief moment of thought before I threw the trident at Mera, the weapon surging up the tide and flying directly at her. It caught her in the stomach with enough force that she flew back(,) and instantly, I felt the magic in the water weaken.

I flew directly up out of the water only to get tackled by Wonder Girl, who slammed me through a few buildings before we once again found ourselves underwater. She took a few wild swings at me, opening herself up to a kick to the stomach that forced her to involuntarily gasp, emptying her lungs. She started to fly up for more air, but I grabbed her by the ankle, preventing her. For extra measure, I threw her down, punching her through the street. I didn't have the time to make sure that she was out of the fight(,) because I found myself beset by King Shark and Killer Croc, both swimming through the flood waters as if it were their natural habitat.

Summoning my ki spears, I darted in, avoiding their attacks and skewering them with my spears. They fought despite the grievous injuries, but something felt off. They fought too desperately. They ignored their wounds and were determined to hold my-

A distraction.

I realized it a moment too late as I felt chains wrap themselves around me. Up my legs and binding my arms to my sides -- they came from below, but there was no obvious source for them. The moment I was bound, they began to swing me outward, slamming through a building that had managed to stay upright despite the tidal flood, and made it collapse in my wake. I erupted from the water soaking wet and sailed through the air. I turned my attention upwards as I tested the chains.

My gaze slid to Enchantress. Next to her was Zatanna and another woman I did not know. Their hands were outstretched towards me, augmenting the magical chains to a rather incredible degree, making them dig in tighter until they dug into my skin. Enchantress slammed her hands down, and I felt the chain send me on a trajectory to the ground. My arms were bound by my side, but my legs had better leverage.

Working with it, I twisted as I broke the chains around my legs and landed on my feet. The ground held underneath me as I flared out my ki to reinforce it, surprising Shazam as I slammed my heel into the bottom of his chin with a high kick. Nightwing dove at me with desperation tainting his movements as he engaged me. I dodged his escrima sticks before lashing out with my foot, planting it in his chest before I spun sharply, slamming the back of my foot into the side of his head. Nightwing flew off to the side, but I was prevented from pursuing.

"Hm," I muttered, landing lightly on the ground as the heroes regrouped. There were a few new faces. I spotted an additional bat emblem on a girl's costume that appeared a great deal like Nightwings. But others had disappeared. My foot dug into the ground, ready to kick off, but the heroes sprung their trap as a faint blue bubble appeared in front of me, encasing me. I looked at it, and at how the heroes, almost as one, began to relax.

"This is it, King Tarble," Zatanna spoke, lightly touching down on the soaking wet ground with high heeled shoes. "You've lost."

I tilted my head as I stood up straight. I lightly kicked the bubble I was in -- the kick would have put a hole in a star ship hull, but the bubble held up strong. I tested the chains around me to find that the links were capable of binding me, preventing me from breaking them. Had I lost so much power already?

No. I simply made a grave mistake.

"I see," I said, my voice even as my gaze swept over the heroes. Many of them looked worse for wear, but most of them were still standing. "I owe you an apology."

Wonder Girl scoffed, absolutely drenched, "You think an apology is going to make all this okay?!" She demanded, appearing about ready to climb in the bubble with me to continue our fight.

"That is not why I'm apologizing," I corrected her, and with that, a heavy tension was born between me and the heroes. "I underestimated you all. As warriors, I shamed you. I considered Superman the greatest threat, so I focused on preparing myself to face him when the time came. I wanted to avoid fighting wastefully to stretch out my endurance." I told them as the air began to stir, "For that, I am sorry. I should have held nothing back on all of you from the start."

I took in a deep breath as I pulled at the power deep in my gut(,) and I felt strength surge in my veins. I heard the heroes shouting(,) trying to do something to stop me, but I paid them no mind. I focused solely on the power rising from my gut. The strain on my body was incredible. I could feel every muscle in my body screaming in protest even as they swelled with strength.

The ground began to buckle around me, huge chunks of earth rising up and blasting apart. I felt a rumble deep in the earth as I began to rise -- not by flight, but the earth surging up to raise me high. The city was completely demolished, chunks of it rising with me as others plunged downwards, all the while my surroundings were obliterated from the force of my power. The shimmering golden aura that surrounded me gained flickers of green in it, the aura pushing at the light blue barrier that sought to contain me.

It developed a crack. The chains around me shifted, pushed back by an invisible force. I pulled at the source of my power, stacking the Wrath State on top of the Super Saiyan transformation(,) and it was pure hell.

I was dying. I could feel it. It was just too much -- I couldn't endure it. It wasn't something that could be weathered through willpower alone, but I did so anyway.

Then I pushed beyond the precipice, "RahhhhhhhHHHHHH!" A scream ripped itself from my throat as the chain and barrier around me were destroyed and I threw my head back and let it all out. The force blew back chucks of earth and whatever water had reached this point -- when I closed my mouth, forcing myself to swallow the scream that never wanted to end, I looked down at the various heroes before me. I couldn't see most of their faces, but I could see their eyes. They were the eyes of those that understood that they had lost but were determined to fight until the bitter end.

I said nothing(,) because there was nothing left to say.

Darting down, I rushed Zatanna before she could even move her lips to speak. Her eyes had just enough time to start to widen before I crushed her throat with my hand. Raising my other hand, I fired a blast at Enchantress, who was flanked by Black Canary and Green Arrow -- I'm unsure what saved them, but Enchantress wasn't so lucky as I felt her presence vanish without a trace. The other woman looked at me -- a red headed woman with amber colored eyes that were filled with… desire.

Batgirl was upon me, lashing out with a barrage of blows, Batwoman, and Nightwing going to help her out. The suits that they were wearing truly were incredible. What I wouldn't have given to have them during the War. But, as I was right now, I had eclipsed their ability.

In a flash, I skewered Nightwing in the stomach, a short ki spear appearing in my hand as he went on the offensive. With my long spear, I battered Batwoman away with the shaft of my spear. Batgirl, however, proved to be a different beast. Her hands and feet moved in blurs, already countering before I could even start my attack. Some matter of precog? It was worth investigating.

But, I had no time. Instead, I met her gaze through her helmet for a moment, and she knew exactly what I intended. The ki spear in my hand began to glow bright as I dropped it at my feet.

The following explosion consumed the area around me(,) and one by one, I felt ki signatures disappearing, yet I also felt them reappear elsewhere. I had no clue what manner of technology the heroes were using to save their allies at the last minute, but it was starting to test my patience. I flew above the explosion, reaching the edge of the atmosphere in but a moment and my lips thinned as I realized I had wiped DC Washington off the map.

How unfortunate. I had hoped to limit the damage to the planet, but it couldn't be avoided in this case. I took stock of my situation for a brief moment -- I needed to disable whatever safety measure the heroes had in place before I went forward. My eyes zeroed in on where some of them were in Gotham -- with a palm raised in their direction, I fired down a ki blast directly upon them. A limited one. After all, I didn't want to carve a tunnel through Earth on accident.

Their ki signatures vanished, but I didn't trust it. I've killed enough to know how death felt. Even with the most powerful blasts, it wasn't instant. It might take a brief moment as the body was destroyed, but ki signatures didn't suddenly wink out. Like a light being switched off. Meaning that they had vanished somewhere else. Possibly where the rest of humanity went?

Frowning deeply, my attention was stolen when I felt a sudden swell of power coming from below me. Off toward Hawaii. A minor presence that suddenly became a major one, and to my awe, their power level just kept climbing. Skyrocketing to my current level of strength, then surging past it without missing a beat.

"Who…" I began as I felt the presence take off, flying up at me. I didn't finish the sentence because there was no point. Deep down, I already knew exactly who it was. Because it was a ki signature that I knew like the back of my hand once it stopped disguising itself.

The figure reached me but a moment later, a fist crashing into the palm of my hand as I locked eyes with him -- blazing yellow meeting my cerulean. His shaggy black hair was blasted back, his face older, but he still had the old scar on his cheek.

"Broly," I greeted my old time friend, and at the sound of my voice, his eyes widened dramatically. "It's been a while."

"Tarble?!"