Game Changer - a DC Universe Online fanfiction

[cleverusername8]

Hello SHH, I posted this on fanfiction.net in the Justice League section, and so far I haven't gotten any feedback at all. I'm not sure what to think about that, but I figured I'd post it here as well since there's a particular liking to superheroes around these parts t:

Before I start, I just need to make it clear that I do not own DC Universe Online, its characters, story, or trademarks. This is a creative work made solely for entertainment purposes and does not intentionally infringe on any copyrights. All characters belong to DC entertainment.

Now that that's out of the way, here's a little intro: Welcome to my first ever published fan fiction. This story will require a considerable amount of background that will aid in understanding and enjoyment of this story so I do not suggest skipping it. However, if you wish to just jump in and start reading, the story starts after the three ~’s.

This story takes place in the world of DC Universe Online, an MMO based on the world DC Comics. It follows the story of my main character and the events that follow the releasing of exobytes into Earth’s atmosphere by a futuristic Lex Luthor. He has come to the past to warn the present day Justice League of the advent of Brainiac, a hyper intelligent artificial intelligence. He brought along small devices called “exobytes” that have copied the data from Earth’s super powered beings such as the Flash, Green Lantern, Deathstroke, etc. and released them into Earth’s atmosphere. Once in, they sought out human hosts to inhabit and in the process granted the host a set of powers or abilities based on the copied superhuman. Future Lex tasked the JL, namely Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, with seeking out and training these newly empowered people to help fight the coming Brainiac threat as it seeks to digitize all life in the universe then destroy it.

However, Earth’s villains capitalized on the ensuing madness by appointing the present day Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman’s rival Circe, and Batman’s archenemy the Joker as leaders of a united supervillain force known as the Legion of Doom to recruit exobyte wielding humans to help accomplish their goals. An all out civil war breaks loose worldwide between the new heroes and villains as the world submerges into chaos.

Then at the peak of this dramatic conflict, purple alien dropships fill the skies…

~~~

“Happy Thanksgiving, world. What a fabulous day to be puking your guts onto an already dingy Gotham sidewalk. I would hate my life if I could say for sure that I still have one. But frankly, I’m not sure if I do. But let’s back up, shall we? To Tuesday. No, Sunday.

Yeah, Sunday. That was the day that the first scroll of the apocalypse broke open. One minute I’m dragging twigs off of my lawn and chucking them into the woods and the next thing you know my whole neighborhood is thrown into convulsions. Little tiny, metallic bugs – the classic swarm of pestilence that accompanies any end time prophecy, were raining down on our little corner of this floating rock we called Earth. The same rock that we believed to be the most secure place in the universe thanks to a gang of godlike minutemen known as the Justice Leauge. They like to float round in a big ol’ space station and watch for trouble. All of the big shots are in the club: Green Arrow, the Flash, Wonder Woman… I think Wonder Woman’s kid sister is in the mix now too. Or something like that, maybe that’s insulting to think that all Amazon warrior goddesses are related…

Well, they’ve done a decent job keeping us safe for my 18 years in this rodeo called life. Not that we’ve been 100% comfortable all of the time. Like when that crazy dude tried to make our sun go supernova prematurely and I thought we were in for the hottest day since the bikini supermodel contest aired on TV last summer. But, of course, we didn’t blow up and neither did the sun. It’s just the constant fear that eventually the League will screw up or maybe some threat will prove to be too powerful for them to keep a lid on. Every week my family and I have to prepare in case alien subjugation prevents us from buying groceries or an ice age makes our bedrooms uninhabitable. We must prepare for the day that the League can’t bail Earth out of a hot… or cold mess.

Well howdy do, Sunday sure looked like a prime candidate for a day like that. Imagine the worst pain you’ve ever experienced. Now image re-living that experience three times a day every day for ten years. Now imagine all of that happening in a time span of about five minutes. That’s what it felt like when that tiny metal bug hit me in the neck. After about 15 minutes, I felt like it had never happened. And all of my neighbors who lived the horror had the same experience as well. Fortunately, my younger sister and twin brothers were inside the house and did not get pricked by the cruel thorns of fate as I just had a few minutes prior. And after my parents’ return from the supermarket they said they hadn’t been hit either. But they watched everyone in the parking lot that had. It was a good thing my mother had left the room before I told my dad that I was one of the ones who had danced the macarena to the tune of a parasitic alien bug virus because his reaction was pretty close to what I expected to see from her. So then I KNEW her’s would be approximately 1000x worse. Dear lordy, I’m glad they care for my well being and felt sympathy for my unspeakable pain, but geez. His voice got so high pitched, it sent chills down my spine.

Things only got weirder that night. I didn’t sleep that night. Firefights, police, ambulance, even military vehicles were up and down every street that crisscrossed my suburban neighborhood nonstop. Fourteen houses on my street alone had gone up in flames. Why? The people inside them lit them up themselves. With their bare hands.

No, these are not boy scouts or fledgling chemists. These are grown, middle aged, middle class people that burned down their houses by setting their own bodies on fire. The fact that I can say that to people with a straight face is very telling of the gravity of this situation. Almost as bad off were the people who managed to make it snow inside their homes. Everything from furniture to hamster cages was deep frozen with an inch thick layer of ice. At least those people weren’t as bad off as the one couple who somehow made their entire one-level home levitate thirty feet off of the ground. Freaky. As. Frick. I don’t curse but I had to hold back there to make sure that I held to that. I was legitimately scared to the bone.

The next day, my siblings had to go to school. I’m on break from college so I got to lounge around and be useless for once. I couldn’t watch TV because all of the channels were covering the catastrophe that apparently had occurred worldwide. People everywhere were hit by the robot bug siege and people everywhere were screwing things over with psycho abilities from fire to ice to nature manipulation to freaking lifting things with their minds. It was a good thing that I didn’t need to pee because my pants would be soaked. But these feelings turned around surprisingly quickly after talking to my best bud/next door neighbor Joel. He showed me his whacko ability to control elements of the earth such as stone and dirt. ‘Earth bender’ he referred to himself as (he’s an Avatar freak) as he proudly elevated a rock under his feet which promptly dropped back to ground after barely reaching his waist. He said he learned that he could do it right after he got zapped by a metal bug but didn’t say anything so that he didn’t freak anyone out. He said that everything that happened last night was probably caused by the same thing except everyone got something different.

I was skeptical. How could all of this be happening? Why now, all of sudden, do people randomly start developing superpowers? What does this mean for people like the ones in the Justice League? What will a world look like where everyone is a super hero?

And most importantly, where are my super powers?

 

[cleverusername8]

So here is part 2. I won't throw this little blurb in front of every entry that I make, but I just wanted to stress the need for feedback. I plan on updating this at least twice a week both here and on fanfiction.net If this story is really bad and people don't like it, then there is no reason for me to continue to waste my time on it. Negative feedback is the most valuable to feel free to criticize as harshly as you see fit (within reason of course )

On with the story

~~~

“Tuesday was just the icing on the cake. Someone must have spiked it with arsenic and battery acid because it nearly killed me.

In the wake of the tragedies of Sunday night, the Justice League has set up mobile clinics in every major city to counsel anyone who would receive it in terms of their new powers. No explanations were given but it’s pretty clear to me that they know something. There was a press conference with prominent League members where the plan was laid out for investigating and coping with the superpower issue. The clinics were just step one and they hoped to double their numbers by Tuesday afternoon. So many questions still lingered in the air and the biggest one was gnawing at the fibers in my bones. Where the heck were my powers?

The most logical thing to do was go to the clinic and see what I could figure out with their help. Both of my parents called into work on Tuesday and my younger siblings stayed home although school continued to stay open. I guess a world jaded by alien invasions every other year wouldn’t close down for anything short of the Earth getting sliced in half. Even then, they might only call a delayed opening. I guess that’s just another psychological nugget to chew on during my surprisingly peaceful drive into Gotham. I nearly had to physically fight my mom for the car keys; a whole lot of crazy stuff has been going down since Sunday including a brewing civil war between ‘supers’ themselves. After only a day and a half of possessing superhuman talents and here people are using them to pull off major crimes. And I’m not talking about your typical diamond heist either. Area 51 got broken into by a gang of 18 supers who intended to see what was being hidden inside and potentially steal whatever that may be. Both on duty human Green Lanterns showed up to snuff that little escapade. The worst part is, the whole thing was caught on camera and broadcasted across every major news network. So my mom has gotten pretty freaked out about anyone leaving the house for “non essential” activities. Fortunately, I made it out with the keys and four gashes on my right arm. I really wish she’d cut her nails.

Joel asked to come along since he didn’t have a ride other than possibly levitating a rock for a personal hovercraft. I told him to forget it. We’ve been friends since the 5th grade when I moved to the suburbs from Gotham and had a hard time making friends. Honestly, I can say that he’s probably the only real friend I’ve ever had. But he rarely thinks things through to a satisfactory level. I guess you could say that I’m the brains of our friendship while he’s the charisma. He constantly tries to set me up with girls even now although we go to different colleges in different places. The saddest part about it is he suggests the same four girls each time. Like I said, great friend but not the roundest rock in the ravine (heh, it’s funny because he has earth powers).

In any case, we got into Gotham and drove to the closest clinic we could find – it was set up in front of City Hall. The line was horrendous and my jaw nearly hit the steering wheel but Joel seemed to have a good attitude about walking so that’s just what we did. I had to cross the river to find parking which was obnoxious. I’m pretty sure a good amount of these people can fly. Why even use a car anymore?”

~

“Yo dude, you’re going to think this is crazy but watch this.” Joel blurted as we stepped out of the car. He stood there starting intently at the hood of the car and trembled. I looked from him to the hood and back to him in hopes of seeing what earth shattering revelation he was attempting to bestow (I crack myself up).

He stood and trembled some more than and as much as I regret admitting it, I was getting pretty irritated.

“Joel what the he-“PSSSSSSSHHHHHOOOOOOOO

An overwhelming rush of wind and I find myself on the ground between my car and the black SUV to the left of me. After three and a half seconds of sprawling, I shoot up only to find thin air where Joel had been now five and half seconds ago. I spin my head around every direction but he was nowhere to be found. “Invisibility? How does that relate to earth pow-“WUSSSSSSSHHHH

And there he was right back where he started.

“How awesome is that? I figured out that I could run at superspeeds this morning when I went for my 5 AM jog. And I’m getting really good at controlling myself too. Stopping is mad hard, I have no idea how the Flash and his little yellow buddy do it! The trick to turning is to distribute your body weight and-“

I was getting a headache. This was just too much for me to handle right now. Without another word I turned and walked toward the stairs of the parking garage. We were on the fifth level. Gosh darnit.

“…and then I couldn’t find the screwdriver- do you want me to carry you bro?”

It was unintentionally but the look I gave him must have been nastier than the refuse in the river down below because Joel stopped short. The only way to shut him up is to ask him a hard math problem or hurt his feelings. It was pretty obvious that I had done the latter. I shook my head and tried to clean up my expression.

“No, Joel. I’ll just walk like a normal human being. You know I have a sensitive stomach anyway. How could you forget, huh? Haha.” Reminding him of that memory that I usually actively tried to avoid seemed to lighten him right back up as he let out a classic two second Joel laugh. He went on about how funny my face was as I doubled over a hay bale at the county fair in 7th grade. Field trips hate me.

Onward we marched down the stairs until we reached street level. The stench was even more rancid as we reached the bottom just in time for the clock to strike 1 PM. We were making decent time but the sooner we got things over the better.

“D’oh! Ahh crapsicles…” I said as my voice trailed off. Another two second Joel laugh.

“What a catchphrase! When we start kicking bad guy butt together in the Justice League, I say we make that our war cry” Joel said, his eyes barely open from trying to fight laughter.

“In the Justice League? Joel what are you talking about? They sponsor these clinics, not run them for one thing. And two, this isn’t some kind of screening for finding new members. It’s not high school intramurals where everyone gets to play as long as they’re wearing the right shoes. It’s serious man, the League has no room for error so they only take the best.”

“That’s why we prove it to them at this clinic thing. I’ve been practicing my rock lev’ing and I think I’ve got it down. No one in the League can levitate rocks!”

“That’s because either of the Green Lanterns could just use their rings to pick them up in a bubble, Superman could rip one out of the ground and carry it, or they could use something better than a rock to do whatever they needed to.”

“Hmmm speaking of better than rocks, I wonder if Power Girl is single. She’s totally dig my earthquake stomp.”

“Wait, that was you who? OH GO- Please don’t tell me you meant what I think you did.”

“Bow chicka wow-“

“Stop it. No one is joining the League. They just want information and to see if they can get people to calm down before we start civil war number two or World War 3. And crap I forgot why I got upset in the first place. I need to get home quickly because my mom is doing the budget for next month and I need to help her figure out what my end of the contribution will be this time. Plus I’ve got to look into apartments for next year and-“

“Welp, don’t worry bro, I got you”

~

“And with that, my feet didn’t even touch the ground for whole rest of the walk. The whole eight seconds of it. After Joel dropped me (on my tailbone of all things) onto the curb on the Old Gotham District side of the river, I immediately rolled onto my stomach and threw up all over the ground. Some gasps lurched towards me from further onto the sidewalk. To my horror, I looked up into a line of faces of people waiting for their visit to the super clinic. The stupidly large amount of people who had formed the line had increased at least by half since driving through about 15 minutes earlier. I groaned and nearly faceplanted back into my vomit but good ol’ Joel caught me and hoisted me to my feet. A hearty slap on the back made me sputter for a good moment and I slung an arm around Joel’s shoulder for support as we made our way to the back of the line. Such shame, I wanted to die. But I sobered up as shivers shot straight up and down my spine. Had I lost blood? I was freezing.

Two or three city blocks later, we reached the end of the line and took our spot. Settling in for the long haul, I began to feel sleepy. I was physically and mentally exhausted from a single eight second ride in the arms of a novice speedster. I was going to kill that boy when I recovered.

Then, as if a direct challenge to that train of thought, a few looming objects began to materialize in the sky. They grew into hundreds, then dare I say it thousands. Call me crazy, but I could have sworn they were UFOs. And they did not look friendly at the slightest.

Looks like I’d have to take a number for the killing Joel line.

 

[cleverusername8]

Happy new year, and cheers for my first post of 2013 Sorry for the late update, I uploaded this to fanfiction last night but was too tired to bring it here so I apologize.

As I said there, I am putting this story on hiatus. No one over there has said a word as to whether the story is enjoyable or not and there are massive drop offs from the numbers of people reading by each chapter. Therefore, I will hold off writing any more of this story until I know it's not in vain. So any feedback would be greatly appreciated especially negative reviews!

Anyway, without further ado, here is part 3

Dusk was rolling over into the darkness of night. 18 year old Calvin Grand sat cradling his knees, forehead pushed into his thighs. A puddle of rainwater mixed with vomit slowly swirls at his feet – the fumes of which barely noticeable in the smog filled air of Old Gotham. He suddenly sat up a pulled his phone back out to look over what he had written. The chore took nearly two hours since the touch screen had cracked in multiple places making the touch calibration dubious.

An inhale. An exhale. His forehead goes back into his thighs. He had never felt so alone in his life. His family must have been paralyzed with fearful agony. He had not been in his home since Tuesday morning. Now it was Thanksgiving Day and there was less food inside his stomach than in the puddle in front of him.

He looked up at the pulsating purple walls of the alien forcefields surrounding him. They looked just as dreadful from the inside as outside. The memory stung then sizzled on his lukewarm drained emotional state. It gave him a second wind to continue typing out his narration in the note app of his shattered iPhone.~

“Details really aren’t worth sharing about what happened after those ships materialized above us. Joel made his usual stupid comment followed up by a stupid question to which I gave no answer. Only one thing exited my lips as I jumped to my feet in preparation to turn and run

“Crapsicles”

Joel, the mass of people waiting in line with us, and I barreled in the same direction (at normal human speeds thankfully). Though it was clear that no Leaguers were occupying the clinics, we run towards it anyway in hopes that they brought something- ANYTHING that would prevent the incoming slaughter. Wishful thinking saves lives sometimes I’m sure.

We had turned a corner and now had the massive clearing containing the clinic tent in sight. I was already huffing and puffing but Joel was perfectly stoic, eyes fixed on the objective ahead. Amidst the whirring of ships overhead, bangs of their guns blasting buildings into pieces, and bloodcurdling screams, Joel had somehow found a some sort of a peaceful balance which in turn set me at ease.

“How come you’re not hyperspeed boosting out of here like you did earlier? This is, like, the one acceptable time to use it.”

“I won’t leave you bro, we’re buds. Plus I’m not sure if I have enough control to avoid getting blown up by all of this-“

He stopped short, for the first time in his life, for no reason at all. He just stopped talking. This threw me off and I stopped thinking. I had stopped running.

Joel did not. He slowed down when he realized I had fallen behind and attempted to turn around but the crowd following were pushing him forward and carrying him like a stream heading for a waterfall.

“BRO! WHAT’RE YOU DOING BACK THERE MAN?”

Looking up at the sky, a ship had parked itself right about the clinic and was charging up some thing on the underside of it. Whether a gun, disintegrating ray, teleporting beam, or a flag with bang written on it, something was about to shoot out and instinct was wailing in my mind’s ear to not run towards it. Joel broke free from the stampede and jogged back across the street from the clearing just as about five police officers dove in front of him.

“SIR WE NEED YOU TO BACK OUT OF THE STREET RIGHT NOW! …HEY WHA-A-A”

“CALVIN, GET OUT OF THERE, THAT UFO THING’S GONNA SHOOT YOUR-“

It fired. Simultaneously, I conveniently went blind and deaf with bones of Jell-O. My legs were missing and I hit the ground hard. Suddenly a massive whoosh sent me rolling to the left, careening into the brick wall of the building that the sidewalk ran along. The sharp pain struck then dulled gradually, my whole back throbbing to count out the seconds. A cough ushered a close to a tablespoon of blood out of my mouth and nose. That must have been what death tasted like because it felt like I was numbly dangling over the edge of consciousness. Bright, purple light danced over my face as the sky deepened from light blue to neon purple. A metal wall replaced the brick I had become so acquainted with and suddenly I felt very cold. Then,

Silence.

Darkness.

Onset of the ultimate peace.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calvin closed his eyes again and put his iPhone to sleep. Back to cradling, the memories successfully hijacked his will for control. With whole body trembling, he shook violently with every sob. What a fabulous day for an emotional breakdown. The memories of the last two days seized his thoughts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“….-oing to get you off this ship. Look for a doorway out.”

Calvin Grand’s eyes were only 25% open but his ears heard that. His mind jumped with startled terror when it realized arms were wrapped around him from behind. Probably the burliest arms he’s ever seen. His body, however, remained limp. There was no energy for him to move his physical body. His mind, however, worked just as fast. Maybe faster.

“He’s breathing and I think I feel a heartbeat,” growled a raspy voice from right behind his ear. He shut his eyes then opened one that rolled upwards to see what was in front of him. The same purple, metallic walls were- wait, no. This place was different. Same design, same color, same coldness. But it was dim and pretty smoky. After another eye shut, he opened both to 75%. A girl with light blonde hair so fair that it looked almost white stood before him with some more people in his peripheral.

“Oracle, he’s alive. He just opened his eyes. That’s nine of us now”

“Excellent. Has he given any indication of his powers?”

“No, but the ground has a good mix already. I’m sure we’ll make do with what we have. How’s teleportation calibration coming along?”

“It’s coming, but from my other sources, your level is clear so try making your way to the central gun. If you and your group can take that down, it’ll be a lot easier to transport League members to come and assist. I’ll see who I can get, but know that the freed prisoners are the League’s number one priority at the moment.”

“Thanks Oracle, you’re a life saver.”

“Literally! Haha”

*click*

“She’s so cute. I can’t believe she used to be Batwoman,” said a man to Calvin’s left.

“As cute as she is, she can’t help us in here so we need to get a move on,” the blond girl said. “Clarence, you’re on point. Everyone else, stay close but form a perimeter around Jed and the kid.”

Calvin owes his life to that hedge of protection because each member of that group was subsequently killed while shielding Calvin with their own bodies from the alien robots’ attacks.

The robots were relentless- often continuing to shoot even after losing heads, arms, legs, or all three. Each squad of attacking robots that met defeat meant another would appear to take its place. ‘Jed’ himself went down when only he and the blonde girl were left of the original group. The blonde girl iced her back and behind her head with her powers and scooped Calvin into her arms pulling him in tight. The blasts from the robots chipped shards of the ice shield away chunk by chunk. The exhaled quickly and swallowed.

“I still don’t know what your powers are nor does it matter. You could have no powers at all as far as I’m concerned, but I need to you be a hero right now. I don’t have time to explain but you need to take out that gun. Please, please! This mission cannot fail or the whole northeastern coast could be overrun. I beli-AGGHH”

She lurched forward carrying Calvin down with her. The robots stopped advancing. They were actually running away like a pack of geese that had just been shot at. What gives, you guys owe me death now after doing this crap to me unprovoked. Come on now! Calvin thought. The girl groaned as she struggled to pull herself off of Calvin who was trapped underneath.

He crawl out from under backwards and stood to his feet for the first time in almost 24 hours. His back was killing him faster than smoke inhalation. The girl actually didn’t look that badly hurt, relatively speaking to the rest of the group. Calvin knelt back down and helped her roll over onto her back. Then grabbing hold of both hands he tried to swing her upwards to her feet but one, he wasn’t that strong himself (not from fatigue but because he was build skinny and lanky without much muscle mass) and two she wasn’t ready to walk or even stand on her own. He needed a different approach.

“Go, I-I’m not going… to make it- anyway. You- you should… you’re just dooming us both by *gasp* struggling with this” she breathed slowly into his ear. He only caught about half of it but he was NOT about to leave the only live superpowered person in the room to die when there was a gun to detach. Absolutely no way.

He slung her arm around his shoulder and hoisted her up that way. It worked because they both were off of the ground then. The blonde girl, (Calvin had already nicknamed her ‘Sarge’ due to her commanding mannerism when leading the group) weakly a walkie talky out of her pocket and dropped it in Calvin’s hands.

“Oracle is… going to teleport some of the… of- the- Justice League in to help destroy *swallow* She’s going to send them to destroy… the ship.” Terror gripped Calvin’s chest as he thought she just died. Leaning in to get a closer look, he was greeted with a spray of sneeze mist onto his lip.

“God bless you… yeck” He wiped his mouth with the inside collar of his shirt for ten or so seconds until “Sarge” elbowed him and directed him in the direction of the gun chamber. They made it to the doorway when Oracle called in.

“Chel, the teleporter is ready to go. How are you and your group holding up? Chel? Chelsea?”

“Yeah, hey hi. This is, this is Calvin… Chelsea is-“

“OH MY GOD”

“HEY Chelsea is alright, she took a beating, but she’s conscious and still very adept at telling me what to do.”

“Oh thank goodness I was about to have a- anyway. You’re the unconscious boy from the experiment wing right? Superman himself has volunteered and has brought a couple of heroes to back you up. We need you to take out that gun and then the League will work on taking down the ship. We’ll teleport you and Chelsea out first to get you two medical attention. I’m afraid to ask, but are there any others still with you guys?”

“Eh, no. I really feel bad but they all died trying to protect… me.”

“Don’t blame yourself, they died heroes’ deaths. It was worth it right? Superman is getting prepped, he’ll be there shortly-“

“Alright, cool. I’ll leave this communicator whatchamacallit with Sa- Chelsea over here where it’s safe and stuff.. Thanks for the help!”

“Hey, WAIT! Where are you- don’t run off yet you’re not supposed to take out the gun by your- Are you still there? Was it Kevin? No, Calvin! Come back! Dang it…”

It was already off to the races. Too bad it didn’t occur to Calvin Grand that there would be guards for the main gun of the alien robot dropship. It really was too bad...

 

[Midnight Black]

Dude, one suggestion....put names next to quotes of who is talking sometimes lol. It gets a bit confusing.

Good stuff though.