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"Well well, I'd say more of those and you'd really lose your marbles." he quipped as he turned around to meet his foe, bringing his Spirit Gun up to head level to open fire. Either that or stir what's-his-name into a fit of unspeakable rage. Of course, if a human screws up, that's one thing, but a God?

"THAT MUTINOUS LITTLE s**t!!!"

Wait, did BOTH of you just scream that?! I mean Past and Present C.J.?!

((That . . . that just happened!))

C.J. smirked as he eyed Merida. "Stand back, stranger! Time for me to do what I do best: ******** s**t UP!!!!" he crowed as he got the Bulldozer in gear . . . and it started rolling BACKWARDS?!?! He put the bulldozer back in park and realized the important thing: He forgot to start it!

"Whoops! hehe . . . had to start it first!" he quipped, a little embarrassed as he fired up the engine and put it in gear, full-throttle charging the door with the bulldozer blade up, ready to take out the door and anything else stupid enough to be behind it. "YEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAW!!!" he crowed.

The door didn't stand much of a chance. It resisted for a moment, then crumbled behind the force being shoved against it. It cracked and snapped against the wall, then fell inside the castle. Breaking against the ground with a thundering crack. As the dust and dirt clouded the hallway, a large, hulking figure moved through and towards the door.

"Hmh. This is the insect that's causing so much trouble?" a thick, raspy voice sneered. Doomsday emerged from the smoke. Or, what used to be doomsday before his life was claimed by Nekron. His eyes shined with a white light, his skin was gray and decaying, and a Black Lantern symbol overtook the diamond-hard bone that covered his chest. The alien that had killed Superman himself walked up to the machine and scoffed. "And what is this? Some toy?" The creature held his hand out, allowing his Black Lantern Ring to unleash it's power onto the bulldozer. "I'll crush it into dust." he spat as the black energy engulfed the machine. Giving CJ only a moment to react or get off the thing before it was thrown into the nearby wall and flipped. "Pfft. I don't know who you have causing the Abolisher so much trouble, but you won't be going any farther. I'll rip your heart out of your chest and feast on it before you take another step inside!"


"Oh, please. Let ME rip his heart out." a woman's voice called from the smoke. A very familiar voice.

A woman stepped through the smoke. She was far less intimidating than the last two Black Lanterns that had tried to stop the group. Her hair was pinned up with locks falling messily around her face as though the pins were falling out. Her eyes were glowing white, as most Lanterns did. Her skin was gray and spotted with decay. She wore a black dress that was torn and ripped, with a silver Black Lantern symbol hanging from her necklace. Her gaze was fixed on CJ.

"I've come to understand that I'm quite good at that." Misty all but purred.

// I told you things were going to get dramatic... //

/ Keep to your own side of the Underworld and kill stuff. Er... dismember stuff. /

// But this is more fun! Besides, the boys are just going at each other and I'm just shooting stuffs. I'm waiting till the lady on the roof gets down here and pulls a few pranks on this CJ. While that CJ meets up with his future... erm, sapphire double? //



”Pfft. I've had cities collapse on top of me. I doubt YOU can do much to me.” Doomsday growled, moving towards CJ.

”I'm more interested in the “girlfriend” bit.” Misty said with a small grin. ”He's called me a lot of things, but THAT'S one I haven't heard in quite some time.” she added, then dismissed the whole thing. ”Whatever the case, feel free to try and hurt him. He's rather good at pulling tricks out of his hat. This should be interesting to watch.”

”You got a better idea?” Doomsday hissed.

”As I said, let me rip his heart out again. It's long overdue, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind trying to rip me apart either.” she said with a shrug. ”Or he'll just spout a few nasty things and leave. He's good about that too.”

Merida finally stepped in,drifting silently to perch near Cj,one hand latching onto his shoulder,"Sometimes it's better not to ask questions..",she said below her breath.No readable expression was in her face...but..the voodoo woman's gaze was fixated on Misty, both mix matched eyes softly blazing.

"Well, right now the only thing I'm really feeling is confused as ********> C.J. quipped, flat-out ignoring Doomsday at this point. He was confused, but more importantly, he wanted answers. "I really, SERIOUSLY don't understand you, Misty. The Halloween party? The Holiday shindig over at Arell's pad? The rescues? Hell, you didn't even think I EXISTED in this messed-up world until I broke the door down to get you to the hospital!" he explained.

"CLEARLY you're from another time or another universe. Apparently something went down . . . " he said. Contrary to Merida coaching him that some things are better left unsaid, he HAD to go down the rabbit hole. Where did this go to?!? Why him?! He loved her!! He would have GLADLY taken a bullet for her. WHY?!?

Meanwhile, on the other side.

"Oh no ya don't, ya b*****d. You're staying RIGHT here and finishing what you ********' STARTED!!!" he growled and sent the butt of that Soul Shotgun into Abolisher's face. It was ON!! Of course, smirking over at Lady Deadpool's reaction. "Well, at least we have Mexico, LD! 'Scuse me while I knock this dude's HEAD OPEN!"

"REALLY, LD?!? It's kinda obvious it's me. Well, right, skull paint. 'Rida's idea."

"Waitaminute, I ALWAYS trusted you, Mist' . . . it's just . . . okay, this is freakin' weird. I mean seriously. What in the wild blue Hell happened to you, Misty?! Who did this to you? You point him out and he's gonna regret the day he was born!" C.J. said, his passion, and love for her turning him into what he was the best at: a maniac bent on destruction . . . wait, that's ARELL'S schtick! Where the hell is he, anyways?!?

"Probably still in I.O. wreckin' s**t. Wait . . . what the?!?"

What? I don't see nothin'!

((who's the a*****e with the clammy freakin' hands?!?))

So while the Narrator's booth was up to their asses in Zombies, THIS time's C.J. was confused as hell and possibly the twist to beat 'em all, over on the other side of the battlefield . . .

Blackjack snarled at Abolisher. "That's right, RUN ya little b***h!" he snarled, drawing a bead on him before hearing that little voice . . . and seeing the little girl, his heart sank to the ground.

Whatever had happened while he was gone from the modern day had affected MORE than he thought it ever did. He turned around slowly. Was that . . . Amanda?!

"Amanda?! What the?! My god . . . what happened to you?!" he asked.

((Damn, Rosie! Ya HAD to drag the kids into this, didn't ya?!?))

"What on earth is she doing down there?!? I mean ya gotta be kiddin' me!!"

// I warned you things were going to get dramatic. >,>
I have a habit of slathering on the feels when I come up with dark plots. Here, have some complimentary sleepy kitten videos to help lighten the mood a bit. Kittehs!! ///



Misty smiled softly and moved her hand up to his cheek. "Ah...I remember that too. So eager to jump into the role of the knight in shining armor." she said, brushing her thumb against his cheek. "It's... such a shame it never lasted. You always seemed so happy to come to my rescue. But when I had to rescue myself... you just assumed the worst of me." she said. Then her expression darkened.

"YOU did this to me...in a way." she said gently. Accusingly. "You didn't trust me. Even after the first misunderstanding. After I came back, explained everything... I thought you understood. I thought you trusted that I loved you." she said, then pulled her hand away.

"We lived together on the train. You, me, the children. But Vandal was always keeping tabs on us. It wasn't hard for him to keep up with where the circus would be stopping. You couldn't protect us all the time. I had to grab the kids and leave the train yard to hide from his men. I missed the train, the circus was sold, and I couldn't get in contact with you. You just assumed that I abandoned you." she began.

"Then you murdered Vandal and were thrown in jail. I was finally able to find you then. I did whatever I could to try and help get you out of Arkham. I tried to explain what had happened. I thought you understood. I thought you trusted that I still loved you. That I wanted you to be the father of my children." she continued. Then her frown deepened. "But it wasn't enough, apparently. Blackstone came next. He insisted that you were the worst sort of person I, or the children, should be with. He also couldn't stand the thought of what sort of birth father the children had. What sort of man I had children with. I was either to marry him, or he'd let his anger get the better of him."

"I did what I thought would be best. He would not allow me to come back to Arkham alone to talk to you. I had no way of telling you what I planned to do, so I married him without telling you. Knowing that I would be able to talk to you afterwards when Blackstone felt more secured that I wouldn't be going anywhere." she continued. Her frown deepened and her eyes narrowed on him. "You killed for me... I was going to do the same for you. Blackstone was going to erase your record. You would be free again and no one would be after you. The children and I would be in Blackstone's will, we'd have protection, we'd have his money.... and after his unfortunate accident during a business trip.... I'd be a very wealthy widow. We would all be set for life. We would all be able to have the life we deserved. That you deserved for everything you had done for us." she said.

"But... I suppose I should have expected something very... alarming to happen. You were always very good about surprises. Crashing the wedding. Making a scene. Telling me off. Then leaving me there. Never to be seen again. I certainly couldn't just tell you what I planned with Blackstone standing beside me. And I certainly couldn't tell you after you left as far from us as you could possibly go." she continued. She was beginning to sound angry. It was unclear if she was growing angry at the memory of what happened, or if she really blamed CJ for what happened.

Then she tilted her head to the side, allowing the gash in her neck to stretch open again. "Needless to say... everything slowly went to hell after that. Not that you would know. Or care. About me. The children." she said. Then sighed deeply. "The poor things. If only you hadn't left. If only you had trusted me. After all, why would I have even come to Arkham to try and help you if I didn't care about you? The kids took it so hard to know you didn't care. The poor things. They should be around here somewhere..."


========================================================


Amanda looked up at the man for a moment, then her eyes widened as recognition hit her. And she smiled. "Daddy!?" she cried excitedly. The next moment she had ran forward and wrapped herself around CJ's leg. She very much felt real. She gave him a tight squeeze for a long moment, then gasped and pushed herself away from him. "Oh.... sorry..." she said as she backed away from him. Her expression a little upset. "I forgot. I just... I missed you." she said sheepishly. The way a child might after they had done something they weren't allowed to do.

"And, what do you mean what happened to me? It's been a long time since you seen us." she said, then she brightened a bit. "I got taller!" she said excitedly. "My hair grew longer and Mommy got it cut really pretty! I got a new dress! I got lots of new dresses! Step-Daddy even got me pretty jewelry!"

It didn't even occur to her that he was asking what happened to her that caused her to be... here. Not that she would really know how to explain. It all happened so fast.


// Holding off on the "what happened" bit until then next post or so. Long post is long. @_@ //