The Darkseid of Secrets

The Darkseid of Secrets is the fifty first chapter in the Wombles Eight.

Tara stared at Esmerelda.  Esmerelda stared back.  They both started walking round in circles and then changed their stares into glares.

Tara flapped her wings and rose into the air.  Esmerelda smirked and then her glitter filled the room.  It cleared and Esmerelda looked, expecting to see Tara nearly unconscious on the floor, but somehow Tara had been completely invulnerable.

“I’ve had training against that.” Said Tara, “Inlustris is a good teacher. I presume, though, that you’re a lot less prepared.  Deporto.”

Esmerelda was thrown backwards out of a hole in the wall of the building and she only just manged to break her fall with a spell before Tara flew down after her.

“Hello, Esmerelda, dear.” Said Katy sarcastically, “Are you enjoying your little joy-ride with my magic?”  Esmerelda smiled madly.  “I’m enjoying it very much, Kathryn.  And soon I will rule.  Very soon.” “Right, planning on using those breaches I had built, are you?  Well, I hate to break it to you, Summers, but it’s honestly not that simple.  Going to another world doesn’t make you the queen of it.”  “You don’t know the half of it.” Said Esmerelda, still smiling madly.  “I *will* rule!”

“That’s cute.” Said Katy, “But I will ask again, how?”  “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to reveal my plan to you?  No… It has to happen before anybody knows it has.  It’s happening even now.  You’re all just too blind to see it.”  Esmerelda stared behind Katy and Tara.  They both looked there but saw nothing.  Esmerelda could see a large purple monster.

“You fool!  What are you doing staring at nothing!  You’ve gotta be hallucinating!  Get help fool!” said BA.  “I’m not hallucinating, Mr Baracus.” Replied Esmerelda, then she was clouded in sparkles and by the time they cleared she had vanished.

Barry had now finished making Cathy’s friction-proof suit for her and Cathy was trying it on.  “It’s a little bit tight, but it should be fine for now.” Said Cathy.  “Okay.” Replied Barry, “By the way though, how are you going to bring Dom back from the past?”  “I suppose I’ll just go back in time to a few days after I took him to and find him.  Do you think I should do that now?”  “Yeah, I think you probably should.  Unless you’d like me to do it for you?”  “No, you stay here and build some new engines for Dom, Bungo, Shansi and PMW.  I’ll do the dangerous bit.”  “Well okay, if you’re sure.”  “I’m sure.”

Cathy raced away and came back immediately afterward with Dom and Han. “Queenie, Flashman, meet Han.” Said Dom. “Hello.” Said Cathy.  “Nice to meet you.” Said Barry.

“So what are we here to do exactly?” asked Han.  “You and Dom have been assigned to take down Harley Quinn.” Replied Cathy, “She’s become a London street racer with the hot-rod riders, and you two can easily look in place undercover there.”

“Okay.” Said Han, “Do you know where we can find- what was it- Harlequin?” “Harley Quinn.” Cathy corrected him. “She’s actually called Harleen Quinzel, but she shortens it to Harley Quinn.  And no, I don’t know where you can find her.  Stay with the rest of the team until we find out.”

Han and Dom walked out of the building and waited next to Patrick Jane.

“Hello.” Said Jane to Dom, “You’re very big and scary.”  Dom just looked at him.  Jane put his hands up to surrender and then put them down again and remained silent.

“Jane, when are you going to learn when not to speak?” asked Lisbon. “Never, Chief Lisbon, I dare say, never.” Replied Jane.  “Right.” Said Lisbon while rolling her eyes again.

Harry, Hermione and Draco had apparated to what looked like hell. “This isn’t where we were meant to go, is it?” asked Draco.  “No, definitely not.” Replied Hermione.  There in front of them was the devil himself, looking more evil and menacing than ever before.

“Hello, my darlings.” He said, “Enjoy your apocalypse.”

The devil left through a hole with light shining through it, and then Harry, Hermione and Draco realised that they were now face to face with Mrs Peel.

“Is that Invidia, then?” asked Draco.  “Must be.” Replied Harry.  “No, she only thinks she is.” Said Hermione.

“*What*?” snapped Mrs Peel.  “I *am* Invidia!  My father told me so!  Now if you’re here to stop me from working with him, tough luck I’m afraid!  I will do what I want when I want to without any pathetic mortals to get in my way like they always used to!”

“Stupefy!” Harry shouted on impulse, without thinking.  The spell hit Mrs Peel but it didn’t work.  There was no visible effect whatsoever.  “Harry, what do you think you’re doing!” said Hermione. “She isn’t Invidia, but she has Invidia’s powers, so in a second that spell’s just going to-“

Harry fell to the floor.  “-Rebound upon you.” Hermione finished.  Draco clearly hadn’t been paying any attention, as he then shouted “Petrificus Totalus!” and then found that he was no longer able to move.

Hermione sighed.  “Honestly, am I the only person who does any research?”  Hermione pointed her wand at herself, then said, “Avada Kedavra!” It looked a lot like Hermione was attempting to kill herself as she had just pointed her wand at herself and recited the killing spell, but that’s not what happened. Mrs Peel didn’t know the difference between which end of the wand was which, so she had rebounded the spell, causing it to hit her.  As Hermione had intended, it didn’t kill her (if it had then she would have had to spend the rest of her life in Azkaban since Draco had been watching and he was the only person with the power to arrest her and overthrow her), but because of Mrs Peel’s powers it only knocked her out.  However, what happened next Hermione had not intended nor expected at all.

Mrs Peel woke straight back up.  “Heh… Did you really think you could kill me?” said Mrs Peel.  “No, I just thought I could knock you out.” Replied Hermione truthfully.  “Well either way, you’re foolish.” Said Mrs Peel.  “I suffered for so long as a mortal.  And as a human with an immortality device, that is.  But now that I am Invidia, I *can’t* suffer!”

“You’re not Invidia!” said Hermione.  “I’ve seen the real Invidia when I went out to thank Dominic Toretto for turning in Ron to the ministry, and for not telling any muggles about magic, although they all seem to know about it now.  She’s always been Invidia, always had her powers!  She didn’t need anybody to give them to her!”

Just then something swooped down on Mrs Peel and held her to the floor. That something was a woman with flaming red hair and freckles, but now complete with red eyes, vampiric fangs and demon-like wings which resembled Mrs Peel’s.  She looked completely transformed, but was also unmistakeable.

“That’s right, Mrs Peel.” Said Ginny, “*I* am Invidia.”

Hermione didn’t know what to do, so she decided to apparate away just as Harry woke up.  He saw what was happening and just stared at Ginny sucking the blood (or whatever it was she had now) out of Mrs Peel for a few minutes before grabbing Draco and apparating away with him.  The three of them then found themselves in a very beautiful place they had never seen before, along with the whole rest of the team, as well as the A Plus Team, Batman, Ghost Rider, the Marvel family, Diana, Superman, Tara, and Katy on one side, and the devil, Esmerelda, Fauna, Penny, Aaron, and a large purple monster on the other side.

“It is now time!” announced the devil.  “My dear Fauna, you know what to do.”  Fauna smiled a sly smile and then got out a wand and pointed it at the devil. “Show true nature from it’s core. Let deception be no more.  Engano Inverso!” she said.

The devil- who was now revealed not to be the devil- completely transformed. He was now extremely tall and wide and grey, covered head to toe in blue armour, with blazing red eyes similar to those of Ginny’s.  “Bow to Darkseid!” he boomed.

Fauna, Esmerelda, Penny, Aaron and to every hero’s astonishment, Draco, all bowed.  The purple monster somewhat nodded respectfully.

“Where are we?” shouted Cathy.  “We are in heaven, servant.” Replied Darkseid.  “But soon we will leave this place and return home.  I will be your God when we get there.”

“You’re not a God!” said Constantine.  “Just another freak who wants to call ‘imself one!  And if you’re about to claim that you were behind all our enemies, where’s It, then?  Hmm?”

Darkseid stepped aside to reveal the Joker.

“But… How…” said Batman.  “You were eaten by a seahorse!”

“I will explain about dear Pennywise later.” Said Darkseid, “First, I cannot resist the vain urge to recite the elaborate planning and scheming that went into this.”

Darkseid glared down at everybody and then began his story.