Return of Singularity Jain - Chapter 9
 
 
The streets of Portland were dark. Made sense with the black dome covering the whole city with an impenetrable field of darkness, especially one that had been active for several hours. The newly formed ‘Portland Paladins’ had gathered in their secret hideout- a basement. Their wise leader, a metahuman named Jakob Malory, going by the more heroic sounding name of “The Emerald knight” cleared his throat. “My fellow Paladins. We are gathered here...Stacy please pay attention to the meeting.” The Emerald knight looked across at a cheerleader now dressed in a skintight pink outfit, her head focused more on her phone than their leader. “I told you, Don't call me Stacy, jake. If we are going to be superheroes, Call me power princess or something.” Jakob rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Power princess. Please pay attention, now as I was saying… We are gathered here because we are in a crisis. The forces of great evil...Grace, welcome. Please take a seat…have surrounded the city with a bubble and taken hostages. This is our moment to rise up and make a name for ourselves. For the Portland Paladins to be real heroes this time.” The Emerald Knight looked to the others. Grace was clapping, dressed in an outfit with lots of leafy greens, Browns, reds, and pale blues. Solstice was her hero name. Outside of her was a devil like punk named Caleb, going by the hero name “Midnight Ripper”, who was currently leaning back in his chair as “Power princess”, continued to look at her phone. A stocky girl in a set of bandages wrapped around her body and a cloth bag over her head, going by the name “Daughter of Medjed”, slammed her hands on the table. “Well. We need to know what we have that we can use. I know that my powers are tied in to egypt. Like I can shoot energy from my eyes. What about you Caleb. What's your power?” Caleb looked daggers at her. “I can turn myself into any form of demon as long as I am sufficiently stimulated with the appropriate materials. I think I can manage at least 4 given the company I have, if you get my meaning.” Emerald knight narrowed his eyes and picked up a crystal and made a weapon appear. “I make crystals into weapons, objects and armour of the same mineral. has to be non metals, but I can still hit pretty hard with it. Solstice here has powers related to the season. We are in summer at the moment so she can make fire and heat. As for power princess…” Stacy still looked at her phone, clearly disinterested. “I can copy powers for 6 seconds after direct physical contact.” “Thank you. Now our plan is simple. We meet up with the green lantern at the mansion 6 blocks down. Once there, we meet up with the other 2 lanterns and crush the threat. That sound good?” The others nodded, though Stacy did...half heartedly. They gathered their gear and went upstairs, certain they were prepared for whatever the night would throw at them.
 
 
Diana picked her teeth with the thin shard of hardened crystal, as she gazed at her remaining 3 captive morsels. The motley crew had made it all the way to the 2nd block on their route before Diana had dropped in to attack. The devilish biker had turned into an incubus after groping his companion which could have given her some trouble had she been a helpless depowered mortal instead of a living God. She had taken great satisfaction from sucking the disgusting creature out of his skin, reducing him into a puddle of nutrients, and stealing his powers for herself. The gem user had tried to attack her with a crystal blade, but her strength and newfound resilience rendered him a defeated warrior with a broken weapon, and after a quick biting swallow, a bulge now loudly sloshing and gurgling as its occupant struggled to break free. She saunter over as she looked over the remaining 3. The pink one had tried to grab her at the start of the fight but had been pinned to lamppost by her darkened lasso, the girl with the bandages had fired a beam of energy from her eyes that was clearly magical, but her bracers deflected it back, knocking her out near instantly. The last one had unleashed a formidable burst of heat that melted the roads and scorched the pavement, but her newfound tolerance for solar radiation and heat rendered the attack a simple matter of getting close and encasing most of her body in the black dense secretions she and Jain could make. She was impressed by her new powers, but now a dark idea slipped into her head. She casually adjusted the lasso, it's dark strands emitting a penumbral darkening. “Tell me, Stacy. Do you love me?” Stacy’s mind went blank, her head nodding and her voice resounding. “Yes. I adore you, goddess. Anything I can offer you, whatever you wish is yours.” Diana leaned in closer. “Anything? Well i am sure i can think of something?...” Her lips parted, allowing her tongue to infiltrate her mouth. A pale blue light flowed between them, with a darkness flowing in reverse for a moment, as she broke off the kiss, licking her lips. A loud “BOOOOOOM!!!” resonated, along with A rhino made of green energy struck her from the side, causing Diana to skid backwards. Diana looked up and smiled. “Well it is good to see you again Jessica. You know, you could have just flown into the dome and this would be a lot easier. And who is the Bug girl next to you. Your new partner?” Jessica studied the environment, her mouth closed, her ring ready to generate another construct instantly. “Chess. Secure the injured and meet up with Zenobia. I will fight Diana.” The incestlike lantern shook her head. “Negative. She has grown a lot stronger. Go meet up with your sister, I have a plan for dealing with Diana.” Jessica looked at chess with worry, but Chess’s mouth curled into a reassuring smile. “I am a lot stronger than I look.” Jessica nodded and gathered up the incapacitated remnants of the Portland paladins. “take care, Chess.” as Diana entered a stance. The bulge on her belly quickly returning to its flat state, her breasts growing larger as she absorbed the former leader of the Portland paladins. “don't be to confident now. Your fighting a goddess.” She smiled licking her lips.
 
 
The first move was Chess, launching into a high velocity kick, which Diana blocked, but still sent her a good 60ft into the nearest house. Diana's retaliatory strike was nearly twice as fast, and resulted in Chess being forced through several nearby buildings. Clouds of dust rising from the carnage unfolding, before both took to the sky to engage in a more open environment. Diana was smiling a malicious grin, her body sprouting wings and a snake headed tail from her back, as she began to focus her raw power against Chess. Chess meanwhile was letting her natural strengths be backed up with the use of various constructs, beam attacks and her mind to help hold Diana in a close engagement, not letting her have a chance to pursue. Back and forth they traded blows, several times Diana nearly landing the fatal hit that would leave the green lantern as nothing more than a filling meaty snack for the increasingly corrupted Diana. Still little by little the lantern was being worn down. Chess knew that she needed to do something to help bring down the voracious Amazonian princess. And she had a plan. It was risky, and likely would get her killed if she failed, but it was her only option. As Diana primed herself with another potential paralysing hit to leave her opponent vulnerable for a single devouring bite, Chess slammed into Diana hard, sending both of them crashing into the ground. A large explosion creating of dust and smoke masking the results from those beyond the cloud.
 
 
Jessica was moving at high speed with her passengers, desperation having set her usual calm speed into a far faster pace. It was not hard to locate the refortified mansion house. Mainly because a torch bearing mob had descended on it, gunfire being traded with lower power green energy blasts as Zenobia held off the attacks from the more crazed members that attempted to breach her perimeter. The presence of a second lantern seemed to force the mob back for a while, though they still lingered at the edge, desperate, fanatical, and angry faces glowing among the lights. The besieged lantern joined Jessica. “it's been a few hours since the dome came up, what took you?” Jessica rubbed the back of her head. “had a bit of trouble with the coordinates. Got lost for a while before I was able to like it up properly. Is Sarah safe?” Zenobia nodded, then looked grim. “Jain has been feeding people to Diana every hour. They already ate Sarah's friends. I don't know if I can handle another person being fed to those monsters. We need to stop her...” Jessica felt her fists tighten. Jain was going to pay for this, she promised herself. “we have some injured that need to be secured and treated. Where is the panic room?” Zenobia lead the way, opening the door to reveal a gagged and unconscious lady, several staff of the mansion, and Sarah Cruz attending to the radio. The sisters embraced each other, tears flowing down there cheeks. “We should move as soon as possible. Sarah. Look after the people here. I and Zenobia am going to face Jain, before anyone else gets hurt.” Jessica looked at her sister. “If anything happens to me, try and get in contact with any superhero you can. Jain cannot be allowed to win.”
 
 
Jain was smiling and reveling in the pleasure of others suffering. The Black hole she had created has drawn quite the response. Lanterns from numerous chapters had come to try and contain it. Notable, but fruitless for the moment. She had already taken the hostages into herself, now letting their individual torments fill her with joy. It was the perfect appetizer for the meal to come. Jessica was in the city. She knew she was coming for her so prepared accordingly. As soon as SHE saw Jessica and Zenobia streaking towards her, she began to laugh. “Oh my, my, My. You have kept me waiting QUITE a while, Miss Cruz. Are you going to surrender yourselves peacefully, or do you wish to have me test myself against you. Your call, but I think I know you well enough to guess a quiet surrender is not going to happen.” A potent blast of Green light slammed into the place she was resting, filling the area with debris and dust. A solid and clear statement of intent, warded off with a green barrier of Jain’s own making. As the dust began to clear, Jain rose to her feet, stretched her rested joints, and let her ring glow an umbral dark green, emerald claws of energy manifesting around her hands. “Good. It's the spirited meals that are the most enjoyable.”
 
 
Sarah Cruz ran another scan over the injured heroes. She was no medical doctor, though fortunately for her, an extremely detailed and automated medical scanner had been installed in the mansions panic room. Quite the lucky coincidence, since otherwise treating some of these injuries without a guiding hand to show her what to do would make her sisters job of fighting intergalactic and cosmic foes seem trivial. Still it was helping to guide her hands, even if she really didn't want to use them to be fishing out shards of concrete, shrapnel, and broken bones from a human’s body. Still she had the comfort of at least being able to save someone. Her mind reflected back to her friends faces. Their desperate pleas for help falling on deaf ears, as that white skinned monster forced them down into diana’s belly. She had no idea if they were even still alive anymore. Maybe that is why they were picked. She could not stop the tears falling from her eyes as she blamed herself. She was not strong enough to help them. Not when they needed her most. The scanner registered a sudden change in neural activity as the pink dressed girl stirred. Sarah grabbed her hand. “Easy there darling. You have been taking some rather serious hits there. You shouldn't be doing any big movements for a while. Although your body was reading relatively minimum damage considering who you were fighting.” The pink cheerleader looking girl looked her in the face. It was hard to get a read on her but she seemed to get up fine. “The others?” Sarah looked at her with a somber expression. “Still unconscious over there. You're the first one to wake up. How are you feeling?” She said nothing, but her stomach did growl. Sarah reflexively thought about the fact she hadn't eaten for a while herself. A stocked larder was likely here somewhere in her. She turned her back on the pink cheerleader and headed into a different section. The woman who owned the place was still there, handcuffed to a bedpost, as Sarah searched the cupboards for anything she could get sorted quickly. The lights were dim, making searching difficult, and the loud noise of the fans helping to keep the room from being filled with stale air made it hard to focus and hear her own thoughts. After some fruitless searching, her hands were able to find a few tins of baked beans, which fortunately were easy to open. Heating the dishes, she returned back to the impromptu medical bay. As she looked for the pink cheerleader, a sudden blast of intense heat struck her in the back. She winced and collapsed, nearly blacking out as the pink cheerleader walked towards her, eyes glowing with intense light, her skin now pale as a corpse, dark veins forming on her body, and her hair turning a frighteningly familiar white. Now Sarah was having the feeling of helplessness once again. And this time she knew she would not be getting away.