I rewrote the chapter after a comment, I will leave the draft at the end.
*****
Z.A.I's words echoed in the heads of the heroes.
The heroes didn't understand the meaning of these words; even Martian Manhunter was left confused. But they knew that the fight was not over. They turned to their foe, and Manhunter commanded the troops to infiltrate.
They scrutinized Morph as he laid unconscious, the cavity in his chest filling back. His body shook, and it was just the start. Morph's body twisted and turned as if he was having a seizure. After a minute of shaking, Morph's body went completely still.
"I don't have a good feeling about this," Green Lantern commented, the horror movies he had watched flashing in his mind.
"I will restrain him," Wonder Woman stated and pulled her lasso to restrain Morph.
Suddenly,
Wonder Woman froze, an icy shiver creeping up her spine, accompanied by the prickling touch of perspiration. Amidst the eerie stillness, a faint chuckle danced on the breeze, sending a chill down her already trembling frame.
Morph's body stood back up like a vampire and bent forward. The laughter turning from a chuckle to maniacal one. Morph shivered with uncontrollable laughter, his hands covering his face. His white Martian skin shriveled up, cracks expanding around his body.
The Martian body twisted and turned as its anatomy slowly changed, accompanied by a creepy bone-cracking sound, his back expanding, cracks running along it like a dried river. The skin changed, and the cracks colored with a heated glow. The air around him twisted from the heat emanating, and his skin took on a burnt color.
Then the whole body exploded in flames accompanied by hysterical laughter.
The heroes reeled back in fear; the scene invoked primal fear. They felt their minds in chaos as nightmare fuel churned. The flaming body moved with laughter, as if it had heard the funniest joke, but his hands dug into his skin from which flames burst forth. The fingers ran their course, digging through the charred skin.
Morph's laughter stopped abruptly, his hand extended out and his nightmarish face looking to the sky. He gave the feeling that he was experiencing the world for the first time.
Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern tensed, ready to fight. Suddenly, they felt a force pull them back. It was Martian Manhunter, pulling them back with his telekinesis. He looked to be in agony, his face scrunched up.
"He is dangerous," Martian muttered through his gritted teeth.
*BOOM*
The trio turned, only to see a flaming pillar rise to the skies from where Morph had stood. They felt it twist and turn, not in their vision but in their minds, and they screamed. Manhunter bit himself to keep moving and pulled the others back with him.
The trio couldn't notice, but those flames were not just flames. They were made of psionic force filled with negative emotions: sorrow, hatred, anger, and all negative emotions filled to the brim. The sight of the flames brought chaos to their psyche.
"Leaving already?" A chilling voice spoke in their minds, shattering their psychic defenses.
*Boom*
An explosion of psionic energy pushed the flaming tornado away, revealing the transformed BOSS.
"'The fun had just begun,'" The final BOSS spoke in their minds, his overcoat fluttering in the winds of flame.
The nightmarish creature had vanished, replaced by a flaming skeleton wearing a cowboy outfit with chains made of flame wrapped around him. The skeleton tipped his hat at the trio and met their gaze. {Cowboy Ghost Rider}
The trio looked at the empty sockets that were his eyes, and the flame covering his whole skull. The creature spoke fear, and its undead appearance just added to the horror.
"What in the Hades is that?"
"Is that a flaming skeleton in a cowboy outfit?"
"'I am NioZ, nice to meet you, heroes of Earth,'" he spoke with politeness. "'You can't leave now.'"
NoiZ lifted his hand and clenched his fists as if he were grabbing something in the air and yanked it. At the same time, the quartet felt a force lock them in and drag them through the air toward NoiZ.
Using the counterforce, NoiZ pulled himself toward them. NoiZ pulled back his arms and punched. His fist exploded with flames and psionic energy mixed. The four, unable to avoid the explosive punch, were sent flying in different directions.
NoiZ freed the chains of flame. He swiftly moved his arm and wrist in a snapping motion, flicking the chains toward Wonder Woman. The chains wrapped around Wonder Woman before he pulled her to him and him to her.
Wonder Woman bounded, flying towards him, her eyes locked in with his. She felt like the skeleton was smiling before a fist wrapped in burning chains collided with her face. Wonder Woman felt the full force of the collision move through her body, causing a concussion.
*BAM*
Wonder Woman flew back like a rocket.
The chains tightening, prompting NoiZ to flick his wrists, sending a wave through the chains. Wonder Woman was lifted in the air, and for a moment, her body moved fast toward the ground.
*BOOM*
NoiZ jumped with an explosion; he arrived next to the flying Martians, his overcoat extended like wings. He grasped Manhunter's head and breathed the flames of chaos onto him. Manhunter withered in flames, as chaos and pain dominated his mind.
NoiZ performed a somersault and kicked Martian toward the ground.
*BOOM*
Before Martian could land, NoiZ was already on Green Lantern. He hopped from TK platform to platform before swinging the chains at Green Lantern and pulling them closer before delivering an axe kick on Green Lantern. NoiZ watched the green shield turn to dust as Green Lantern fell to the ground.
And there was only one opponent left.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Superman, who was still on a collision course somewhere. NoiZ turned to scan the surroundings, only to notice that Superman wasn't near.
He had punched the guy a bit too hard, knocking him out first as he was the first to meet the fist. But NoiZ didn't know that. He squinted his eyes as he scanned further.
"Did I punch too hard?"
...
The Martians received the order to infiltrate from M'hontrr J'onn I'onzz.
The invisible bio-ships landed inside the city, dropping six troops made out of 20 Martians each. The troops then swept through the city in a practiced manner, fast enough to cross short distances between them and the tower yet slow enough that they wouldn't be flanked by enemies.
A single team separated from the troop and approached the giant gothic gate that stood tall and intimidating. They confirmed that it was safe and pushed the door. The troop struggled to push open the door; although they managed to open just enough for their weapons to pass through. The Martians then entered easily with their shape-shifting.
The Martians quickly picked up their weapons and looked alert. They were ready to be swarmed by the enemies or the security system. But nothing happened; all they met was an empty corridor with a slight electric buzz in the backdrop.
The Martian at the back gave the signal that the place was clear, and the Martians rushed in, leaving a single troop behind to keep the gate guarded.
The hundred Martians moved with alert steps, at every step of the way. They didn't believe that their enemy would leave his home unguarded when he had millions of Mechmorphs around the city.
Maybe it was his defense, his belief that no one could cross the black land.
But they didn't have time to ponder all possibilities.
They arrived at a cross-section, a spiraling staircase, but this time there were two, one leading up the tower and the other leading down. The leading Martian pondered for a moment before he instructed a troop to take the stairs down.
"Squad R'o, take the stairs down and see if you could find anything useful," he instructed before turning to the rest. "We go up."
The troops divided and took their paths. The Martians didn't have time to admire the architecture. Squad R'o took the staircase down until they reached a corridor that went in both directions.
One of the seniors of the squad commanded the troop to divide into two but instructed them not to further divide down the path. The troop divided into two teams, and each moved in different directions. Team 2 arrived at the end of the path and came to a stair that led even further down.
The team leader informed the other team before they moved to explore down. The stairs didn't lead them to another corridor but a door. The crystalline door reflected their images, making them nervous.
They observed the control board that required a palm scan. The leader then shape-shifted; his height shrunk, his hair and eyes changed color, and his skin took on a chestnut hue. He looked exactly like Zion, like a perfect clone.
The troop had received all the info extracted by the king when he scanned Zion's mind, everything the guy knew of him and things he actually wouldn't notice. They contained much of Zion's info, from his blood type to his fingerprints.
The Martian kept his hand on the panel and waited. A white light scanned his palm, and with a light buzz, the door opened to reveal the interior. The space was circular and empty except for the cells that glowed with faint blue light.
The Martians walked in and noticed that three cells had occupants. In the first two, crisp Martians were kept in a green light that kept scanning their bodies, and a panel floated next to them showing their vitals.
The third one was filled with a slight red glow, and bathing in it was Kara, unfrozen from her binding spell. Zion had unbound her after he locked her in a cell made to keep Kryptonians. The Martians locked eyes with Kara. Kara just looked at them as she sat on a block of crystal.
The team leader ignored Kara and moved to check the burned Martians. He saw the panel again and pressed his hand. The force field released, and the Martians moved to check the conditions.
"I advise not to remove them from the stasis pod," Kara advised while she locked eyes with the team leader who still looked like Zion. "That is if you want them alive."
Kara didn't need to guess to know it was a Martian. She knew Zion; he always gave her a slightly weird feeling when he was around. This was the reason she didn't trust Zion. That weird feeling always kept her alert.
And the Martian gave none.
The Martian stopped in their tracks and backed up. The team leader walked to Kara. His eyes locked in with hers. He could tell her mind was shielded, but not a telepath.
"What do you know about the pod?" He demanded an answer.
Kara just kept her eyes locked with the Martian; she was not intimidated by the guy. The form Zion took, the hydra, was stronger and more frightening. This guy was a child acting intimidating compared to that.
"Answer me," the Martian repeated.
Kara sighed and decided to humor the guy. "The pod is keeping them stable; if you remove them, they will die."
The Martian looked suspicious of the information, but he couldn't find any falsehood in Kara's eyes. While the team leader was talking to Kara, the second in command relayed the finding to the rest of the team, and a message came back immediately.
The team leader received the relay and looked at Kara. "Are you Kara Zor-El?" he asked.
"I am," Kara answered.
"You are the cousin of Superman?"
"Yes."
"I have been ordered to release you," The Martian pressed his hand on the panel that locked Kara. "Superman with Our M'hontrr and his friend are engaging the target outside now."
That was what he was told to do, and he did.
Kara got up as the force field died and the red glow stopped. She walked up to the Martian. "Are your other teams trying to take control of the tower?"
"Yes," He answered.
"Don't try," Kara stated before walking past him, but she wasn't done. "The whole city is made of Kryptonian tech; you can't even scratch it with your powers.
You need the one with the highest authority to open the control room."
...
{This is my draft}
The heroes watched in confusion; they didn't understand Z.A.I's words. They didn't know what was happening.
But they didn't need to search much as they saw Zion's body shrivel up. His white skin cracked like dry land. The cracks extended around his body, covering it in cracks. From the cracks came an orange glow before the body exploded with flame, covering it.
The Martian reeled in horror at the sight, images that frightened him to the core flashed through his mind. He knew of the fear of fire in Martians, but he felt that fear was taking shape and coming to life.
Superman didn't know what was happening, but he felt like things just got a bit more complicated.
Wonder Woman could sense the terror and horror, the one from hell that bathes in suffering in others and flames of suffering.
Green Lantern's ring flashed with a blinking light.
The flame covering Morph's body rose to the sky, a tornado formed from flame and psionic energy. The psionic chaos caused the telepaths to shriek in pain. Even Martian Manhunter wasn't an exception.
The others felt their brains turn to mush.
Superman and Wonder Woman fell to the ground clutching their heads. Green Lantern turned into a streak of light and escaped.
The psychic tornado burst from the ground and vanished, and in the middle stood a Martian covered in flames, his skin resembling volcanic land with rivers of lava flowing through his skin. His mere presence was felt by the Martians across the planet. No one could overlook the psionic field covering the whole planet.
Morph or something more stood up, his voice disgruntled. "That punch hurt."
He turned and looked around. His transformation began when Superman punched him. Morph turned and looked at his opponents. He looked confused for a minute about their conditions, and it took a moment to realize what happened.
He scratched his cheeks in fluster. He should have known that these guys are the weakened version of the Silver Age heroes. These guys are still inexperienced in fighting cosmic threats. And a burning Martian could take out them at their best.
"Should have expected something like this?" NioZ said as he waved his hand, fixing the damage he did but keeping them unconscious. "Maybe I shouldn't have been so dramatic."
Zion knew that he shouldn't have gone for that cool entry; now his opponents are out of order. Wasn't thinking much.
["Man, That build-up went to waste"]
Z.A.I appeared as a projection. He looked like Zion
Z.A.I appeared as a projection. He looked like Zion but he was ethereal.
"I know, that psionic mixed with the tornado was a bit overboard," NoiZ admitted.
["You should have just gone with the flames"]
"C'mon, we are fighting with psychics. I want it to be a menace," NoiZ replied.
["Whatever"]
["You don't have much time left for fun"]
"Okay," NoiZ said in a deflated tone.
He moved his hand, pulling the six bio-ships hidden toward him. He knew of their existence the minute they crossed the dark planes. He was just letting them have some fun. He was supposed to be defeated here, and the Martian prince hidden among them would bring victory to the Martians.
But the people who were supposed to defeat him got knocked out.
"What a waste!! Do you guys have any idea how many plans I had for my defeat?" NoiZ grumbled. "I hope the latter half could still function."
NoiZ invaded the minds of the Martians and fixed the damages he did. He then dragged them out of the ships in troops. He felt like he was playing a simulation as he set them in position before he snapped his fingers.