Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 123: Ch.122 Retaliators

Chapter 123: Ch.122 Retaliators

The battlefield continued to burn, filled with the sound of clashing weapons and distant cries of pain.

The alternate heroes who had come to aid the fight were already suffering casualties. Though their losses were significantly fewer than the enemy's, this was not a good sign.

Barbatos could endlessly summon his dark followers from the void or conjure up nightmare creatures from nothingness. His divine power spread across the entire Multiverse, seemingly limitless.

At this moment, several Lanterns joined the fray, their colorful lights flashing across the sky. This stabilized the situation somewhat, but Su Ming only glanced at them briefly. These reinforcements could hold the line, but they couldn't stop the world from falling.

The key was still Barbatos.

As mentioned before, the Cosmic Tuning Fork resembled a massive tree, its trunk thick, with a diameter of over ten meters. The higher it went, the thinner it became, until at the top, it was as slender as a lightning rod.

Barbatos was now coiled around the upper section, raising his hands to channel dark energy. His massive form was clearly visible from Su Ming's position.

After calculating for a moment, Su Ming estimated that a surprise attack from here had at least a 50% chance of success. Whether he hit Barbatos or the tuning fork would depend on luck.

He looked up at the sky, searching for something—or rather, someone in a red cape.

"Superman, over here!"

There were too many people in the sky, with both sides constantly flying around, battling each other, and colorful energy beams streaking through the air.

It was like watching bees and wasps fighting—a chaotic mess, with bodies and creatures occasionally plummeting to the ground, creating craters upon impact.

But Su Ming's eyesight was sharp. He spotted a Superman flying nearby. With his hearing and vision, if Superman wanted to help, he would notice Su Ming.

Sure enough, the red streak in the sky veered toward him, landing beside Su Ming.

"Lasviche, Davaarysh."

This Superman greeted Su Ming warmly in Russian and helped clear away some of the ground troops swarming around them.

But Su Ming's expression turned a bit strange.

This Superman spoke with a thick Ukrainian-accented Russian, as if every word was flavored with caviar and borscht. As he landed, Su Ming realized that his chest bore not the familiar 'S' symbol but the emblem of worker-peasant solidarity.

This was the Red Son Superman. How did he get here?

The timeline on Earth-30 moved much faster than the main universe's, and after the New 52 reboot, Su Ming wasn't sure what was happening in that world.

Judging by this Superman's youthful appearance, perhaps the story of Red Son was still ongoing, or maybe that world had reset itself.

But that was his fate, his story, and Su Ming had no intention of interfering.

"Hello, Comrade Kal-El."

Su Ming greeted him with a comrade's warm handshake, then explained his plan in Russian. As a competent mercenary, Su Ming was fluent in nearly every language on Earth.

After all, the more remote the place, the more divided it was by warlords, and the more business there was for mercenaries.

Whether dealing with bearded warlords, black chieftains, or self-proclaimed generals and governors, knowing some foreign languages always made business easier.

Knowing Russian also made it easier to procure cheap arms and ammunition in bulk.

Su Ming's plan was to launch a surprise attack and have Superman distract Barbatos. However, as he was about to proceed, a group of people ran by, catching Su Ming's attention instead.

"Retaliators, assemble!"

Leading them was a man dressed like a medieval crusader, wearing blue chainmail and a white surcoat, wielding a red, semi-transparent energy shield. As he charged toward the enemy's densely packed ranks, he passed Su Ming, shouting his battle cry.

This group of heroes didn't quite match the DC art style—they were advancing toward the tuning fork, making a big show of it.

They were the Retaliators from Earth-8, a world where DC parodied and paid homage to the neighboring universe. That's right, instead of the Justice League, Earth-8 had the Retaliators—a DC version of the Avengers.

The man who had just passed by was American Crusader, DC's take on Captain America. In fact, all of Captain America's virtues were amplified in him. He was courageous, noble, with impeccable leadership and tactical skills.

If the perfect knight was the warrior described in the Bible, then he was the saint embodied by the U.S. Constitution, perfectly aligning with American values.

But it wasn't just him. The group behind him were all familiar, yet slightly off versions of Marvel heroes.

There was the brilliant inventor in his self-made high-tech armor, powered by an Arc Reactor, known as "Machinehead."

There was "Blue Bowman," a giant who had been transformed by Beta Ray radiation into a massive, blue-skinned being.

Then there was "Red Sickle," a super spy trained by the Russian Bear; the bald, alien thunder god "Wanjina"; the hero who could shrink or grow at will, "Bug-Man"; the powerful mutant girl "Silver Sorceress"; and "Beetle," who became a superhero after being bitten by a radioactive beetle.

Additionally, Earth-8 had two mutant groups known as the "G-Men" and the "Brotherhood," and in the Himalayas, a super-powerful sorcerer who loved taking apprentices, "Special Effects Master," resided in Kamar-Taj.

In short, whatever heroes and villains Marvel had, Earth-8 had a parody version of them, and their stories were quite the opposite of DC's usual tone—mostly comedic.

Of course, Marvel also had characters that referenced DC, like Sentry being a version of Superman, Thanos mirroring Darkseid, Hawkeye referencing Green Arrow, Quicksilver being inspired by The Flash, Ant-Man drawing from Atom, Hulk taking cues from Solomon Grundy, and Moon Knight echoing Batman.

But Marvel didn't create an entire world like DC did with Earth-8.

Fans of both companies often argued over who was better, but writers from both sides frequently switched companies, and they often shared ideas, maybe over tea or dinner.

They'd discuss their creativity, sharing stories—there was no plagiarism, just creators exchanging ideas.

There was even a time when the comic market was struggling, and Marvel was in a tough spot. DC stepped in, and they collaborated on a crossover comic—"JLA/Avengers."

Both companies knew they had to work together to maintain the market, despite their competition.

Whenever the market struggled, they'd unite to release crossover comics featuring their top characters, like "Batman and Spider-Man," "Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man," and the combination of "Batman and Captain America."

There were many such works, including "Wonder Woman and Conan the Barbarian," "Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk," "X-Men vs. Teen Titans," "Batman and Daredevil," and "Batman and The Punisher."

So, when DC created Earth-8 and the Retaliators, Marvel didn't mind at all.

Su Ming didn't care either. These familiar-looking heroes were still heroes, and their presence on the battlefield was only beneficial.

Their goal coincided with Su Ming's—they too had likely identified Barbatos as the target through tactical analysis. Although they didn't have the means to deal significant damage to dark creatures, they charged forward anyway.

Like Captain America, sometimes a hero had to step up even when the odds were against them.

Faced with enemies in their path, they couldn't inflict much damage on the dark creatures, but they could rely on Blue Bowman and Wanjina to hurl them off the planet.

This drew Barbatos's attention to them as well, since their group was unique in the DC Multiverse.

Even Barbatos, who had destroyed countless universes, had never seen anything like them.

From his perch atop the tuning fork, Barbatos seemed perplexed. Su Ming saw him tilt his head slightly, as if pondering something.

This presented Su Ming with an excellent opportunity.

"Comrade Kal-El, please fly me up and throw me at Barbatos."

He grabbed the Red Son Superman's arm, feeling the iron-hard muscles beneath the blue suit. Perhaps due to climate and diet, this Superman was even taller and stronger than others.

"Are you sure? Comrade, you'll be at great risk, possibly even facing death. I think it would be better if I handle it."

Superman hesitated, seeing this man who didn't exist in his world, who seemed to be just a skilled warrior, not beyond the realm of mortals.

"Don't worry, comrade. I have an extraordinary healing ability, and my bones are unbreakable. I am the sharpest weapon."