Gone Native: Old Habits (ch. 58) (Patreon)

Elery's head snapped back as the kitchen was absolutely demolished in her wake as she tore through the wall like it wasn't even there before striking the crystal clear blue water with explosive force, sending up tons of water while she shot down into the depths of the ocean. The salt in the water stung her bleeding nose that felt like it had been crushed under the punch. Even before her thoughts caught back up to her, Elery felt the telltale vibration of a major league fight.

What the fuck was that?

Elery's eyes snapped open, revealing a golden yellow hue as pain flowed through her body. Up through the half mile of ocean, she saw the clouds above. It could just be a trick of the light, but they carried a yellowish hue. That was weird. It was hardly the first time that she had seen yellow clouds -- not every planet looked like Earth. It was the first time that she had seen it on Earth, though. The timing from the homeless bag man couldn't be a coincidence.

Surging upward, even before the thousands of gallons of water had a chance to fall, Elery was back in the air to see that the clouds did have a yellowish hue to them. The air tasted funny too. A certain smell accompanied the taste that was growing stronger by the second. It had been a long time since she dealt with a poisoned atmosphere, but she quickly fell back into hold habits. Taking in a deep breath, Elery knew she could hold it for up to an hour without extraneous activity. Fifteen minutes with extraneous activity.

Given how Broly’s roof was ripped apart as Kara’s heat vision carved through it like it was a cake, Elery knew that she was going to have fifteen minutes to find a rebreather. With the Wrath State filling her veins with an awesome power, Elery surged forward back at the house, tearing through a wall to see that Kara was kicking Broly hard enough that the house shuttered from each impact.

“What’s wrong with her?” Broly questioned, catching a fist that was aimed at his face and the entire scene was so wrong that she didn’t have time to marvel that Broly could so effortlessly catch a blow from a Kryptonian.

In response, Kara let out a wordless roar of rage before she unleashed her heat vision directly against Broly’s chest. For a moment, her heat vision washed over his skin like it was water, but it began to concentrate a split second later. Broly winced when her heat vision carved a sharp line across his chest as he forcefully grabbed her head to point her vision away, uncaring that the ceiling was starting to collapse or that the wall was busted out. Kara thrashed in his grip and Elery could only stare for a moment.

She had never seen Kara like this. Cocky? Plenty. Pissed? Absolutely. As much as Kara thrashed in Broly’s grip, it wasn’t the movements of someone that was aggressive. They were like a cornered animal that was lashing out at anything that got close.

“The atmosphere is being poisoned,” Elery confirmed, looking to see that Olaive was laid out on the ground, her nose and jaw bleeding. She was still alive, Elery confirmed, placing a hand on her neck. Just a shattered nose, jaw, and cheekbone. Given that Olaive wasn’t a mile out, it had to have been a glancing blow. “I don’t know how, but if Kara is this bad, then I’m guessing everywhere else will be worse.”

And Brother wasn’t here. Fantastic.

Meaning that it was up to her to take control of the situation.

“Broly, knock her out. Can’t trust her until that stuff is out of her system. Rebreathers come first, then we can figure out why we aren’t flipping out like she is,” Elery voiced, shifting into a mode that she had almost forgot. That she had missed so dearly. The clarity of battle. Of a situation going wrong and the only thing separating success and death was how strong you were. How well prepared you were.

Humans had something called a detox, and Elery was starting to wonder if she went through one, because she almost felt high with how focused she felt. Or maybe that was the poison in the atmosphere? Eh, either way, it felt refreshing. Like stretching after a hard battle. There really was no way that making cakes could ever hope to compare.

“Right,” Broly said, cupping Kara’s head before punching her in the temple hard enough that the walls to his house blew out from the shockwave of it. That punch could have leveled a mountain and all it did was knock Kara out like a light. Grabbing her and Olaive, hauling them over his shoulder, he looked to her and it was almost like they were back in the War of Light.

Wait. Shit. Maybe they should have waited to knock Kara out. How was she supposed to get in contact with the Justice League? Wait, they were on the west coast, so… Teen Titans. They would know a way.

“What did the Hero-Force have to say?” Elery questioned, wanting to know what kind of response she could expect. She might have created it, but that didn’t mean she was the best person to lead it. She learned that from Brother -- he was a leader. Elery was a fighter, pure and simple. Didn’t want to be anything else either, and right when she was entertaining other possibilities, this happened. Humans also talked about signs a bunch. This was about as clear of one as you could get.

“Patrol is on their way,” Broly answered but there was a note of hesitation as they flew toward the Titan Tower. “I didn’t get much from them, but they said that they were busy,” he clarified after a moment, and that instantly killed whatever excitement Elery was feeling at the moment. The Hero-Force was busy? That was a tall order to make happen. Part of the reason why Elery wasn't with them right now was because it felt like she was almost always on standby.

"Broly? Get us to Titans Tower," Elery said, knowing that Broly was holding back on his speed for her sake. Grabbing hold of him, it felt like her heart and stomach were dragged to her feet at the sudden burst of acceleration. they were hundreds of miles off of the coast, but there arrival a minute later was herald by the sound barrier shattering and rattling every pane of glass at the Titans Tower. Broly smashed through a window to see that the rest of the Titans were gathered up in the living room with gas masks.

They looked ready for a fight until Broly offered a thin smile, "We're okay. But we could use a rebreather," he remarked, bringing Kara and Oliave to a couch and setting them down.

"It's good you're here," Robin began, tossing them a pair of rebreather -- military design. Fixing it onto her face, Elery almost felt like she was back during the war. "We could use the help. Scarecrow released fear toxin into the atmosphere. We need to figure out how he did it."

Elery crossed her arms, looking out at the city, "Shouldn't we handle population control?" She questioned, stealing a glance at Kara. The Kryptonian fought through her fear. Elery thought most humans would just panic, far more likely to hurt themselves than others, but there were some that would lash out at people as well. Maybe not many, but it would be enough to make the casualty report for this tick higher than it needed to be.

It was Garfield that answered, "Luthor snapped a bunch of people back to the parallel dimension that humanity camped out at during the fight against your brother. The Flashes are out grabbing people that were too affected to get bounced out."

Brother had a soft spot for Lex Luthor. Well, maybe 'soft' wasn't the right word, but Brother respected the human to some degree. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given him as much leeway as he had. And Lex Luthor just proved why Brother gave him that leeway. He just turned an unmitigated global disaster into just a normal global disaster. Casualties could still be in the hundreds of thousands, but that was a whole lot fewer than, say, half the population.

"Good. Hero-force is on their way," Elery informed, her gaze drifting over to the computer screen that displayed weather patterns. They were trying to locate the point of origin for the toxin. If they were having any luck, then Elery wasn't seeing it. The dispersal pattern was non-existent.

Robin saw her looking at the screen, "Scarecrow has never attempted something like this before. Unless he found a way to replace oxygen with fear toxin, then there's something that we're missing." His tone was deadly serious and focused and, however begrudgingly, Elery could admit that there was a reason that he was leading the Titans. Even if he was, by far, the least impressive out of the bunch.

Before they could think more on it, an alert from Kid Flash stole their attention. It said something, but Elery was far more focused on the video attachment to the message that showed Wonder Girl, someone that Elery had been itching to fight, hurling a car at Kid Flash. Like she suspected -- those that were trained to ignore their fear and fight responded with violence.

Elery looked at Robin and saw a bead of sweat drip down his forehead. His heart was beating pretty fast too. That dumb domino mask covered his eyes, but if she peeled it off, then Elery would guess that his pupils would be dilated. He was affected by the fear toxin, but he was holding it together. Well enough that she didn’t feel the need to step in as leader. He turned to her, their gazes meeting, and based on how his lips thinned, he knew that she knew.

“Our priority is disabling the toxin at the source. Global weather patterns indicate that this is a worldwide event that began at the same exact time. That narrows down the possibilities, but given the wide variety of people affected and in comparison to prior samples of fear toxin -- this is something new. Our cures for it are proving… ineffective,” that last bit sounded like it was personal.

“How long until a cure is ready?” Elery asked, narrowing her eyes at the screen. Similar reports of heroes falling prey to the fear toxin were filing in. However, it was the lack of a dispersal pattern that was weirding her out. She never saw anything quite like it.

“Too long,” Robin answered, his tone grim. That wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear. This was shaping up to be a real mess. However, Elery wasn’t seeing a plan here. Something was going on outside of Earth, true, but what was the ultimate goal? The homeless sack man was trying to terrify everyone on Earth because of what? What did he get out of it? For that matter, how long-

An idea struck Elery, making her flinch back as it suddenly clicked why the lack of dispersal pattern struck her as so weird. That only happened when the atmosphere itself was toxic prior to a landing. To some aliens, oxygen was as deadly as carbon dioxide while the latter was necessary for life as the former was to her. But how could that be possible? Things were fine until literally five minutes ago-

“The terraforming disks,” Elery spoke, bringing the attention of the Titans to her. “He got access to the terraforming disks,” she clarified and she could see Robin making the connection. Kori looked worried for a moment because that was a rather unsettling prospect. The terraforming disks were put up to unfuck the atmosphere because humans had been speedrunning to ecological collapse. Without even another planet to escape to.

Sometimes, humans really did seem like really weak Saiyans at times.

“He’d have to have subverted it for weeks,” Robin voiced as Elery started to head to the busted out window, feeling a bit guilty about it now she understood exactly what was going on. “Scarecrow doesn’t have that kind of know-how. And if it is the case, then it won’t be as simple as resetting the disks. We’ll have to synthesize a cure and use the disks as a dispersal method. Otherwise, we could be looking at long-term side effects.”

Elery offered a curt nod, “Either way, we should secure the disks. Either to get them ready to disperse a cure or to take them out.

“I shall join you,” Kori spoke up, her tone unusually serious. Robin looked to her for a moment before nodding.

“Elery, Broly, Kori -- you three on securing the terraforming disks. Beast Boy, Kid Flash, and I will secure the civilians and subdue anyone under the fear toxin,” Robin decided, earning a thumbs up from Elery and a smile and a nod from Broly. “Try not to break another window on your way out.”

She thought about doing it anyway, to be honest, but she decided to fly off through the busted window that they already made. Almost on cue, Elery saw a small fleet of ships falling from the sky over the city, and others in the distance. The Hero-Force was already taking action. Robin or the Justice League could update them on the situation. For now, Elery was far more focused on the task at hand.

At least until she saw one of the ships get shot out of the sky above Jump City. A small explosion rang out, little more than a flash of light, before the chunks and corpses of the members of the Hero-Force rained down upon the city. Well-honed instincts immediately took over. There wasn’t the slightest moment of hesitation as she immediately pivoted to give whoever was attacking the drop ships something else to fire at. Something she had perfected during the war.

“I am never on time, yet I am always greeted with gratitude. I make many tremble in fear, yet I inspire others,” Elery heard a voice through a speaker begin, a mad cackle coming through it as she looked for what had taken out the ships, only to see no gun emplacements. Meaning that it hadn’t been a what, but a who. Perfect. That was exactly what she wanted to see.

“A corpse,” Elery responded, blasting the speaker uncaringly as she looked around for who took out the dropship. She never knew how reliant she was on a scouter until she needed one. Another drop ship exploded in the air and this time, Elery honed in on it, darting up into the sky before seeing a flash of movement. Thrusters based on the smoke trail. Elery smashed through a building, heading straight for the culprit- “A midget?” Elery questioned, finding who was taking shots.

“Gizmo!” The midget shouted back, a snarl on his face. He was a grand total of three feet tall, but he seemed larger with his equipment -- a jetpack with some guns on it. Particle-based munitions. Nothing she hadn’t dealt with a bajillion times. “And you’re the butt muncher, Princess Elery, huh?”

If she wasn’t going to kill him before, then she was now. “What’s going on between you and the homeless guy?” Elery questioned, smiling a deadly smile as ki gathered around her hands. Might as well get a few answers out of him before she killed him. Especially considering that his voice didn’t match the one that came through the speakers.

“Homeless guy? You mean Scarecrow? Dunno. Couldn’t care less about what him and Riddler are plotting,” The midget replied, his tone flippant before he had the audacity to bare his teeth at her. “We’re here for you, fart sniffer.”

We.

Elery darted up a split second before she was nearly tackled out of the air by a hulking mass that sailed through the air into the building across the street with a crashing sound. Elery was nothing but smiles as she responded, lobbing a ki blast after him that blew out the entire floor it landed on and made the building start to collapse on itself. “A trap? For me? Finally, I get a little recognition!” She laughed jubilantly from within the dust cloud that was kicked up.

A bright flash warned her of the incoming shots from the Midget and Elery effortlessly weaved through them, flinging a ki blast at the point of origin and she escaped the dust cloud just in time to see it rip through the Midget. Only for the reveal that it was a drone that exploded in fire -- hard light projector around a weapons system. Touching down on the street below, she threw her hands back and fired blindly behind her, knowing that the Midget had been a diversion.

She heard a grunt behind her as she turned around, seeing a large human. Red hair, a squarish face, and he was closer to twelve feet tall than not. His skin burned from the impact of the ki blasts, but it quickly shifted back into place. A healing factor. “You ain’t as tough as your brother,” he spoke, his voice deep and rumbly. “And we made this trap for him. Do yourself a favor and just surrender.”

That got a laugh out of Elery, her smile growing until it consumed her face as the rest revealed themselves. A girl with pink hair and grayish skin and bright pink eyes. Some loser in a dark red suit. Another loser with his brain exposed in a jar. Five in total.

It was as they revealed themselves, Elery heard that voice ring out. “Whether it be a guiding star, a GPS, or a yellow brick road -- the destination remains the same. Follow the steps, answer my riddles, and the prize that you seek shall be yours! The first riddle of this grand game, you might ask? A simple one for the audience -- Where a battle was won, yet lost. A moment in history that decided the future. The blood which was spilled nutritious for the fruits of our labor -- where am I?”

Elery didn’t have a clue, and she didn’t care to. Using her head wasn’t what she was good for. She’d leave that to Brother, who honestly used his head too much.

“Your brother murdered our friend,” the pink haired one spoke up, a deadly edge in her voice. “Seems fair that we return the favor, don’t you agree?”

“Sounds fine with me,” Elery agreed, the power in the blood surging.

She gave it a shot. She really did.

But there was nothing better in this world than a good fight to the death.

...

So, I have a small confession to make and I wanted to get some general feedback before I make a decision on anything to make sure I'm not overthinking it.

I've been struggling a bit with Gone Native. Writer's block isn't unknown to me, but it's the first time that it's lasted this long of like two months. Normally, I can just power through it with no issue but it's sticking around this time. And, to be clear, it's not because I don't like the story. Which is part of why it's so frustrating.

I still really want to write Gone Native because I'm finally closing in on some of the ideas that made me want to write the story in the first place. The issue is two things as far as I can tell -- I've been updating this story weekly for about four years now. That's a long time.

Secondly, I'm kind of burnt out on DC. This is completely my fault. 110% percent. For about two years, I had three stories set in DC, and I'm still writing two in the setting, so it was bound to happen eventually. Between the two, it made writing Gone Native a bit difficult and there have been chapters that feel like I phoned it in, and that really upsets me because I've spent the past four years writing the story. And it's disrespectful to all of you who are paying to see advanced chapters.

There aren't any real plans to cancel or pause the story as of yet. This is basically a wellness check to see what all of you think and how you all feel. Depending on the feedback that I get, I'll make a decision on what to do.