DC: Don't Utter A Word - Chapter 228:

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[David Lance POV]

I remained in place after Darkseid had left, ignoring Batman and the rest of his group, who had once again begun to circle me.

I couldn’t pay them any of my attention, I had just made a deal with the darkest being in all of the DC multiverse, or one of the darkest beings anyway.

The funny thing was, with or without the deal, I would have been forced to deal with the Darkseid in my universe.

“You made another deal with him,” Batman said, and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he disapproved of my choice.

I smiled, giving the Dark Knight a tired look. ~Goodbye Batman, if luck is on our side, we will never see each other again.~

Having said that, I turned around and started to make my way back to the bar. Batman, seeing this, moved, perhaps in an attempt to stop me, or question me about my deal with Darkseid.

However, before Batman could take another step, he was pushed into the ground violently, his body pressed by an invisible force.

~Raven, there was really no need,~ I smiled, looking above to see my Rae Rae, looking at Batman with a murderous gaze. God that was fucking hot.

“I disagree,” Raven replied calmly.

“You’re hurting him!” Flash shouted, before darting towards Raven to stop her from crushing Batman.

I moved, intercepting the speedster before he could reach Raven, by tackling him to the ground, destroying part of the street. Then, before he could get up, I broke one of his knees with an elbow strike.

I honestly had nothing against him, but I wasn’t about to let him hit Raven.

“Aghhh!!” Flash screamed in pain.

Serves him right, not only he had tried to attack Raven, but he had done so at a level of speed I could intercept, I mean, if he had wanted to he could’ve blitzed past me.

Speedsters don’t really have a weakness, other than the limitations they set for themselves, if Flash wanted he could make fighting him really hard for me right now.

In fact, if he used his powers correctly he could very well defeat me, as long as I didn’t have the rings, and wasn’t willing to destroy the planet with a shout.

“Batsy, weren’t we leaving?” Harley asked with a nervous chuckle, as Aquaman stared at me.

“I’m leaving, I joined this alliance for the sake of my people, to defend them from Darkseid. That threat is no more, all thanks to the one Batman said we needed to capture,” The King of the Seas sighed. “I know we won’t see each other again, but know the seas of Atlantis will remember what you did, you freed up from Superman, and from the threat of Darkseid, and for that, we will always welcome you. And for what it’s worth, I apologize.”

Unexpected.

I turned to look at Raven. ~Raven, let Batman go. We have to go.~

Raven reluctantly did as I asked, releasing Batman from her hold.

“You will never clean your hands from the blood that stains them,” Batman growled out.

I didn’t reply, I just turned around and walked.

He was right.

I would never clean my hands, but neither would he. Our hands were stained, forever. His with the blood of innocents he could have saved, and mine with the lives I had to take.

The difference between Batman and I was that I didn’t care anymore.

I just wanted to go home.

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[At Lucifer’s Bar]

I sat at one of the tables at the bar with a drink in hand, looking at the power rings in front of me. Lucifer had just finished cleaning them.

As I stared at them in a turmoil of emotions, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had taken the rings from me on purpose. Without the rings, I had been forced to approach the problem that Darkseid represented in a different manner.

If I had had the rings with me, I would have probably engaged Darkseid in combat.

“So, ready to go home?” Lucifer asked, snapping me out of my long reverie.

I nodded.

“Friend going home?” Dex-Starr said, his tail showing his discontent. “I good kitty, good kitty always with friend!”

I looked at my feline companion for a moment before reaching to him and scratching behind his ears. I had really not accounted for the fact of getting attached to him.

“You can take him with you,” Lucifer said.

I blinked. I could?

“Yes you can, and before you ask, I can read your mind,” Lucifer replied to my inner thoughts, and before I could think of another thought, he added. “And before you worry, I’m only reading the surface of your mind, I respect the privacy of others, even if I have the power to violate it easily.”

Hm… that was… very ominous. But it’s the truth, I mean, there isn’t much I can do to stop him from reading my mind.

“Good kitty, no alone, not again,” Dex-Starr said, the voice his ring was using sounding immensely sad at the prospect of being alone.

I smiled, carrying the little killer matching into my arms as I put one of the rings on, the blue one. “Well seeing you leave me no choice, you’re coming with me. But we need a new name for you, I mean, there’s another Dex in my universe, probably…”

Lucifer nodded. “There is.”

Dex-Starr frowned. “New name?”

“You could call him Dex, I mean… there are at least 1 million cats with that name on your earth,” Lucifer suggested. “That way he gets to keep his name and avoid people questioning the existence of your cat.”

I guess that works. Thanks, Lucifer.

“The pleasure is all yours,” Lucifer winked.

“Talking about pleasure, can you do me a favor Lucifer?” I asked.

“Yes, there’s no need to ask. I will teach you how to please a woman, classes start tomorrow at 8 am,” Lucifer nodded.

I… what?

“No, I wasn’t going to ask for that, not even remotely close,” I replied, trying not to picture how the hell he would teach that kind of class.

“Hm, poor girl then,” Lucifer sighed. “So, what is it that you want?”

“What I was going to ask was if you could destroy these rings?” I said, pointing at the rings on the table. “I no longer need them and don’t want others to use them.”

Lucifer chuckled. “Normally people ask me for success, money, or sex… or all three. So, why not. I’ll destroy them, but what about your little pet?”

Right. Dex has a Red power ring…

“You can always give him the blue ring, it would be hilarious if he’s the first dual lantern in your universe,” Lucifer snickered.

Not a bad idea.

“I know, I’m fabulous therefore all of my ideas are excellent,” Lucifer winked. “In fact, seeing I’m feeling helpful today. I will even fix some of the problems you could have by taking those rings home.”

“Elaborate,” I asked.

“All rings, all throughout the multiverse operate similarly, so the moment those rings enter your universe they will connect to the power ring database of the corps they belong to, and… well, you know the rest,” Lucifer chuckled. “The point is, I will disconnect them from that net, so to speak. Free of charge.”

“I know you’re getting something out of this, maybe it’s a laugh, or something else, but I thank you Lucifer, without your help, none of this would have happened,” I replied, thanking Lucifer from the bottom of my heart.

He had brought Raven here.

He had saved me from dying after my fight with Brainiac.

Even if he had ulterior motives, which I wasn’t certain he had, I owed him a lot.

“The pleasure is all yours, indeed,” Lucifer winked.