THESSALY, GREECE - August 22nd
2:17AM
Desmond yelled with effort and slammed the shield across Nabu's face, sending him reeling metres back.
But Nabu wasn't done yet.
With a loud roar of anger, Nabu launched a volley of beams at Desmond, brightening up the sky and sent Desmond flying down onto the roof of the building below, dust and tiles clattering onto the cobblestones below.
Desmond groaned as he shook off the loose bits of dust and brick clinging to his pale skin and looked at Nabu with a proud smirk.
Nabu clenched his fists and flew at Desmond, firing impossibly fast barrages of light at him.
"Admit your defeat before Doctor Fate!!" Nabu demanded. "Order ALWAYS prevails!!"
But Desmond's shield kept absorbing the attacks.
Nabu's hands became shrouded with glowing blades as he landed in front of Desmond, the two weapons meeting and sending sparks everywhere.
Superman was both awestruck and frightened simultaneously. He had never seen a battle this intense! He didn't want to entertain the thought, but he realised that Desmond might even be able to stand up to Doctor Fate!
The sparks kept flying all over the building and onto the cobblestones below, lighting up Desmond's dark and merciless eyes.
"So that is why you sought the Nth Metal, child..." Nabu said. "So you could contend with me..."
Desmond's only reply was a cold, evil smile, one so dark it unnerved even Nabu...
But Nabu pushed his sword upwards, dragging Desmond's shield up with it.
"But you forget, boy!" he yelled as he threw Desmond into the air. "I am a Lord of ORDER!!!"
He flew upwards after Desmond and slashed at him with quick succession, beams of light following after his blade like light trails before he backhanded Desmond to the ground.
"And I will NOT be beaten by a child of EVIL!!!"
Desmond panted heavily and got back up to his feet. That was when Nabu noticed something was wrong.
Desmond should have been hacked to pieces! Why wasn't he injured?!
"You know, Nabu..." Desmond scoffed. "You act all high and mighty, but you're just like all these other clowns!! Once your weakness is known, you're defenceless!!!"
"SILENCE!!!!" Nabu roared, throwing a bolt of lightning.
But Desmond caught it with the end of his shield and redirected it at Nabu, which shot through his shoulder and left a scorch mark on his arm.
"Nth Metal!!" Desmond yelled at him. "A very handy piece of scrap, but want to know the best benefit?"
He spun around and launched a purple beam at Nabu, which the latter barely deflected, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
But Desmond tore straight through the smoke cloud and slammed the end of the shield across Nabu's face.
A crack went across the bottom of the helmet.
"It completely nullifies Magic!!"
Desmond beat Nabu across the face again and grabbed onto his forearm, his shield powering up with purple energy.
"So when you say you're the Lord of Order...I think it's time you were disgraced!!!"
The energy went off and sent Nabu flying into the hills past the town.
Superman's eyes went wide when Nabu flew over into the hills, but his shock subsided when he heard a the sound of wind whipping from behind him.
"Barry?!" Superman exclaimed.
Flash was panting heavily, still not completely recovered from his injuries.
"We need to get out of here!!!" Flash yelled. "Desmond and Nabu are going to tear this place apart!!"
Superman looked away from him and toward the bodies of Aquaman, Lantern and Wonder Woman.
"Not without them!!" he yelled back over the thunderclaps.
Flash shook his head sadly.
"No! We have to leave NOW!!!"
Superman grabbed him by his suit.
"NO!!! I'm not leaving them!!!"
Flash's hand snapped out and grabbed Superman's chin, pushing his face towards the bodies.
"They're dead!! There's nothing you can do!!!"
He dropped his hand from Superman's chin, tears stinging at both of their eyes.
"Don't let their sacrifice be for nothing, Clark..."
Superman let out a sad sigh and slammed his fist into the ground.
He looked at Flash and held his arm out.
"Let's go..." he said with defeat.
Flash threw Superman's arm over his shoulder and with a loud, sonic boom, they were gone, leaving Thessaly to the mercy of Nabu and Desmond.
Nabu kept launching beams of light at Desmond, but no matter how any he launched, Desmond kept deflecting them all.
"Pathetic!!" Desmond yelled, swatting the energy balls back at Nabu.
Nabu yelled with effort and sent a large torrent of energy at Desmond, who threw his shield up in defence.
The light completely covered the hills as Desmond pushed back against it, like an intense tug-of-war.
He yelled with effort and threw himself through the air and smashed the shield against Nabu's arm, making him yell in pain.
Nabu fell to the ground, his pants echoing loudly from within his helmet.
"Another weakness you have, Nabu..." Desmond told him. "Your physical body. You might be an omnipotent Lord of Order in some other dimension, but in this dimension you're just another over-powered meat-sack..."
He slammed his fist into Nabu's helmet, making him fall back to the ground.
"You say you're the Lord of Order, like it's some sort of honour?"
He punched Nabu again, who growled in anger.
"You con people into sacrificing themselves! You're nothing but a blackmailer!"
He backhanded Nabu again.
"A leech! You're no better than a goddamned PARASITE!!!"
Nabu screamed with rage and launched another beam at Desmond, but it was launched back into his face, cutting a deep, smouldering gash in the helmet.
Desmond scoffed and threw his shield aside, which turned back into cane, before putting his hands on either side of Nabu's helmet.
"Let's see how powerful you are without your vessel!"
For the first time, Nabu's eyes went wide with fear as the helmet began to crackled with energy.
"You cannot!!" Nabu yelled. "Only I can release my vessels!!"
"Which is exactly what you are going to do!!" Desmond snapped back.
Energy flew up Desmond's hand, sending waves of pain throughout his body.
"Make a choice Nabu!" he yelled through the pain. "Die with your vessel, or relinquish yourself from this plane!!!"
Both of them screamed with pain as Desmond pulled at the helmet.
"CHOOSE NABU!!!!!" Desmond screamed. "NOW!!!"
The energy became so painful, Desmond thought his arms were going to explode in a shower of sparks.
"CHOOSE!!!!!"
Nabu yelled with pain, his whole body glowing with electric gold sparks.
And then, the helmet came off.
Desmond held the helmet aloft, grunting and panting from the pain as smoke rose from the helmet.
He then looked down and saw the battered form of a middle-aged man, who was breathing heavily.
"So you're Giovanni Zatarra..." Desmond muttered, dropping the helmet onto the ground.
Desmond clenched his fists and picked his cane back up, extending the blade out.
He strode over to Zatarra, who was barely conscious and held the blade near his heart.
But something within Desmond refused to deliver the killing blow. With a defeated sigh, he pulled the blade back and looked at Zatarra, who had finally fallen unconscious.
Folding his cane back up into his utility belt, Desmond picked up Nabu's helmet and looked into the eye sockets.
"He's been through enough..." he said to it.
He then clapped his hands together, crushing the helmet together until it was just a crushed, dented pile of metal.
Desmond slammed the helmet's crushed husk into the ground below his foot before walking over to Zatarra and throwing him over his shoulder.
"You were never part of the Contingency anyway..." Desmond scoffed, as if he were arguing with himself.
He looked over the hill towards the town, which was bathed in the dark, yellow pink of a sunrise.
"Let the record show that I'm not a total psychopath, Giovanni..."
And without receiving a reply, he started down the hill.
Doctor Fate has been defeated!!
Phase Two of the Mimic Contingency has been completed!!
What sort of destruction does Phase Three have in store for the broken Justice League?!
But there is bigger question...
Despite his resolve to complete the plan, why did Desmond spare Giovanni?
Is his resolve weakening?
Was he showing pity?
Or is there another reason..?
Find out in the next chapter! :D
Be sure to vote if you enjoyed the chapter and comment your thoughts and feedback! :D
Why do YOU think Desmond spared Giovanni? :D
- Kai-Shiro :D