Justice League: Vertigo

Chapter 35 - Gone But Not Forgotten

A spark ball the size of Astrid's finger took out Superboy in one hit, and even then she was pulling her punches. This one was as big a fist and the blast was massive. The blue energy hit Bad Superman like a train.
It knocked him back with incredible force and planted him into the ground. Astrid had a weak smile on her face. A smile of fulfilment. She had done what she came to this dimension to do. But she didn't have a dimension to return to. She really didn't want to become a resident of the New Krypton.
"Damn you!" She huffed. Her knees buckled and she fell from exhaustion but Adam caught her.
"Nice job, sis. You did it." Said Adam.
"We did it."
"But you're completely drained. You won't be able to use your powers for, like a month."
"So it's a holiday."
She managed to stand on her feet, and was immediately swarmed by her whole Team.
While everyone congratulated Astrid, Adam went to talk to Rose.
"So I guess we won." He said to her.
"And you didn't even have to kill anyone." Rose replied.
"Sadly." He said. She laughed and there was a short silence.
"Can I ask you something?" She asked.
"Sure."
"Was that your first kiss?"
Adam's face turned red. He scratched his hair and suddenly took an interest in the ground.
"Well, umm, I didn't really have time for things like that." He said, sheepishly.
Rose smiled. But her smile faded away.
"Astrid, watch out!" She shouted. But she was too late. A beam of heat vision shot out of the rubble and hit Astrid straight through the chest. She fell to the ground with blood flowing from her mouth. Adam ran over to her and put her head on his lap.
"Astrid." Adam said. Tears were welling up in his eyes. Astrid put her hand on his cheek and smiled.
"It's OK. I'll be with Ryder. Mom. Dad."
"But you're leaving me alone."
Fresh tears were streaming down Adam's cheeks now.
"You're not alone. You have the Team. And I'll always be with you."
The Team had gathered around, and they were all stunned. Tears were in Rose eyes, but she forced herself not to cry.
"Zatanna, can you help her?" Asked Adam.
"I'm sorry, Adam. It's too late." said Zatanna, who was also crying. She had her hand on his shoulder.
Astrid closed her eyes and fell limp on Adam's lap.
Bad Superman flew out of the rubble. His suit was ripped, and he was bruised and burned.
"Finally. You guys are so damn hard to kill." He said.
"Take care of her." Adam said, quietly. Adam wiped the tears of his face, and the sight of Superman sparked unimaginable anger.
"I should have done this long ago." He said.
He communicated with the dragons in his head.
"We're going all out guys. No holding back."
"Finally! We are going to kill him, aren't we?" Nix said, in a cheerful voice.
"It will be nice to stretch my legs a little." Said Fanny.
Red scales emanated from his sword and scarf and covered his right arm, while electric blue scales covered his left arm and neck. He rushed to Bad Superman with incredible speed and uppercut him to the air. The punch sent shockwaves around the city.
Adam then sprouted two red dragon wings and flew to Superman.
"Fucking wings?" Exclaimed Rose.
Adam punched Superman again and flew to him and threw him through a building. Adam got on top of him and started punching him repeatedly.
"Adam, he's had enough!" Shouted Robin.
"He's not dead yet, so he hasn't." There was energy flowing around Adam now.
"You can't do that, Adam." Said Artemis.
Adam had pulled his hand back for the final punch.
"It's not what Astrid would want." Said Rose. Adam punched the ground beside Superman's face. He stopped because he knew that she was right.
Adam stood up from him and looked at his hands he felt his body dissipating. Did he go too far? Did he use the power too much.
"What's happening?" Kid Flask asked.
"I don't know. This has never happened before."
"His body can't handle it anymore. He's not able to control his powers." Said Zatanna.
"I'm sorry, guys. For all of this. I brought all this on you. On your world. "
He looked at the destruction that the fight had wrought.
"But it was nice. To have people to confide in. To stand by me. To have a family. So thanks." He said solemnly
His body disappeared in a yellow haze "Adam!"
But he was gone. Not even a body was found. Everyone was mournful as they stood in silence, in memory of their two teammates that they had just lost.
Good Superman and the League.
"They will be remembered as heroes, who stopped a tyrannical mad man from enslaving the earth." Said Batman.
Rose stepped in front of Good Superman with a scowl on her tear-stricken face.
"If one Superman can go rogue, what stops another?" She said to him.
"After this event, ample fail-safes will be put in place to prevent that from happening."
Bad Superman had an inhibitor collar put around his neck and was taken into custody.
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Adam and Astrid had a joint funeral. Everyone in the Team and the Justice League were in attendance.
"So will you stay?" Zatanna asked Rose. They were both wearing all black clothes.
"For the most part." She said. "But I may need to go on my own now and then." She replied.
"That's alright. We'll be happy to have you." She said.
"I'll be happy to stay."
The service went on, and Adam and Astrid had their graves side by side , but there was no body buried in Adam's grave.
Back at the cave, everyone was solemn and sad.
"We have put holograms of them in the memorial room." Aqualad said. "Even though Adam and Astrid are gone, their legacy still remains. They're principles and beliefs still remain. It's our job to honour them by living by those principles and carrying on their legacies, so their deaths will not be in vain."
That cheered the Team up.
"But Adam may not be dead. I mean, there was no body so we don't know if he's gone." Said Rose
"His body wasn't found because there was no body to be found." Said Superboy.
"We don't know that." She replied.
"For now, it will be business as usual." Said Aqualad.
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10 days later
Adam didn't know where he was. He didn't know who he was. He knew his name was Adam. He knew the names of things. But he didn't remember anything. He tried to move his hands but he found that they were bound. He was in a dark room. He looked around him and saw nothing. A door opened and light penetrated through it, blinding Adam. A chubby African American woman walked into the room.
"Close the door." He said.
She closed the door, but immediately bright lights turned on, hurting Adam's eyes again.
"You have a lot of nerve." The woman said.
"What do you mean?" Adam asked. "I don't remember anything."
"Amnesia, huh. That's interesting." She smiled, menacingly. "That means you can join up with the programme."
"What programme? Why am I here?"Adam demanded.
"All your questions will be answered in due time, Mr..."
Instinctively, Adam kept quiet. He didn't think it would be a good idea to give the woman who had him chained his name.
Then a jolt of pain shot up his spine. He didn't know what it was, but he was sure that it was because of the machine that he was strapped.
"You will answer questions when asked, Mr..."
Adam was about to tell him his name when alarms rang out all over the room. The woman put a phone to her ear, and was talking to someone.
"Well, lock it down. Lock it all down!" She yelled.
The doors were suddenly reinforced with steel. And locked itself. The woman pointed a pistol at the door. Adam could hear the sounds of punches connecting to various body parts. Wait, how could he hear so far? Could normal humans hear so far?
Adam was ripped out of his thoughts as a man in a mechanical looking mask burst out of the vents and took down the woman with a quick punch. Adam looked in awe as the man in the mask stared at him. The man put his hand on his face and pressed two buttons on his mask. It released some steam and some mechanisms moved on the mask allowing him to take it off.
Adam saw a blonde haired man with a not-so-thick beard. The man stared at Adam as awestruck as Adam was staring at him.
The man finally talked.
"You're me."
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Wowie wow! It's over. I finished writing a book. Although it may be relatively short, I don't care. So the next book is coming up shortly. I haven't decided what the name will be, but I know it's going to be called Justice League: something. You know, I have no idea why I make the name of the book Justice League when it's a young Justice thing. Well, it is what it is. So thanks guys. It's been real fun and the next book will be up in about a week or two. I'll update again when I've decided a name. So for now, see you later.