Talon of Al-Gol

The Talon of Al-Gol is a mystical-claw-like gauntlet used by the Kryptonian that is its namesake.  It was forged by Hephestus with the same Eight Metal he used to forge the God-Killer, he forged it with all the hatred and rage he still had for Dru-Zod for the murder of Wonder Woman.  Al-Gol went on to use this gauntlet to not only defeat Dru-Zod, but take control of New Krypton as its new tyrant.  It is now being used by Maero Santiago Rivera, a Metahuman from Earth.

## History

Many years ago, Dru-Zod threw away the democratic notion that New Krypton was founded upon and proclaimed himself as its Lord.  However, due to him being the strongest Kryptonian at the time and the small handful that stood beside him being candidates for the same title, his coup went unpunished.  Lord Zod then proceeded to reign over New Krypton with an iron fist for nearly a century, standing on top of the totem pole unchallenged.  It was not until Lord Zod was giving a speech to the entirety of New Krypton on its hundredth year under his rule that someone decided to step up.  That someone was a Kryptonian named Al-Gol who challenged Lord Zod in one on one combat in front of the entire world.  At first, Zod simply waved his hand to call his guards to take him away, however, Al-Gol called Zod a coward that could not fight his own battles and Zod soon accepted the challenge.  This confrontation would go on to shake the Capital of New Krypton and end in the death of Dru-Zod, but not without a bit of trickery on Al-Gol’s part.

Years before this event, Al-Gol had been in search of a mystical item that he had only heard of once before when he invaded Earth with Dru-Zod.  It was a weapon said to be capable of killing a God and used by the renowned mercenary known as Deathstroke.  In order to get his hands on such a weapon, Al-Gol returned to Earth and scoured every crack and crevice until he came into contact with the one who wielded it all those years ago.  By this time, Slade Wilson had forfeited his title of Deathstroke and had accepted that his accelerated healing was unable to stop the effect that time had on his body.  Death was soon on his doorstep and he was prepared to meet the Grim Reaper like an old friend, however, he was intrigued that a Kryptonian had went across the galaxy just to find him.  After a long talk together, Al-Gol had learned that Deathstroke had given the weapon back to Hephestus after getting it back from those who stole it and Hephestus melted the blade back into Eighth Metal ingots.  These ingots did not remain with Hephestus though, instead Slade had buried them not far from his home and Al-Gol went to retrieve them.

Unfortunately for Al-Gol, he did not find a chest filled with a lot of metal, but rather Green Kryptonite, so much in fact that immediately brought him to his knees.  Al-Gol was then shot in the back six times by Slade Wilson who had molded the last of the ingots into 9mm bullets, believing it was the only way to keep himself and the metal safe.  His plan in killing the Kryptonian to do so might’ve worked too if it wasn’t for his mistake of not checking for anyone else.  It seemed in mere seconds after the gunshots rang out, the head of Slade Wilson was going to be seen flying across the air at unimaginable speeds by another Kryptonian that had appeared behind him.  Her name was Vi and she had been working closely with Al-Gol in his attempt to defeat Lord Zod, for not even a battle-hardened Kryptonian such as her was a fan of such tyranny.  She helped Al-Gol away from the kryptonite and managed to extract the bullets from his body, quickly gathering the metal left in the gun and ammo boxes he stored inside as well.  Slade had a large stockpile of these Eight Metal bullets stashed away, so much so that it seemed like a small military outpost underneath his small shack, but what they couldn’t have expected is the horde of bodies right beside it.  From Kryptonians to Daxamites to Tamaraneans, many have tried and many had failed to take these items from him, Al-Gol and Vi were the only ones to ever succeed.

Al-Gol and Vi then went on to meet with Hephestus the God of the Forge in the Greek Pantheon, requesting that he reforge the God-Killer.  Hephestus denied their request saying that it was a one in a billion weapon that he refused to recreate in case it was stolen again and even more than that he did not trust Al-Gol due to his aid in the New Kryptonian Invasion of Earth.  It turns out in this battle that not only did Superman become so severely injured that he was unable to fight injustice that occurred on Earth later on, but Wonder Woman was killed at the hands of Dru-Zod.  Al-Gol took this opportunity to say that New Krypton was manipulated into believing that Earth was the enemy and now they have seen the truth that Dru-Zod needs to be defeated for peace to reign.  Hephestus, wanting to get back at Dru-Zod for his murder of who he viewed as a friend, chose to not reforge the God-Killer, but make something from its remnants.  Then, in the deepest depths of Hephestus’ forge, where no light other than the fires of Olympus could be seen, a weapon was forged from hate, revenge and anger.  It took the form of a claw-like gauntlet that could not be equipped normally, but rather summoned and bound to the user. Its power was unlike anything seen before and more than enough to be used to take on not only Dru-Zod, but all the Gods of Olympus, and he who forged it.

This was the tool used by Al-Gol to claim victory on that day and take on the title of New Krypton’s leader, but this was not a good thing.  Al-Gol slowly began to change as a person, becoming more cruel and tyrannical, anyone attempting to make a decision that was against his own was quickly taken care of.  It didn’t take for their new leader to transform from a hero into a villain as he, akin to Zod, proclaimed himself to be Lord Al-Gol, going as far as to adorn himself in a suit of kingly armor made of lead.  Vi realized that her old friend was not only showing a different side of himself, but was in fact worse than Dru-Zod ever was and knew that she was going to need help to take him down.  It is here she gathered a small group of fighters, the two heavy hitters being herself and a Hispanic Metahuman from Earth named Maero.  Together the small group of fighters managed to plan and succeed in a raid on Al-Gol’s new home, it is here that Maero and Vi personally fought against Al-Gol and the rest of the team simply defended them.  It was a long and drawn out battle that lasted well over an hour, but Al-Gol was defeated when Maero willingly let Al-Gol punch a hole into his stomach, an act that gave Vi enough time to go up behind her old friend and snap his neck.

After Vi helped heal Maero of his injuries, the two of them had a talk about whether or not they should destroy the gauntlet due to the fact that it might have been what made Al-Gol go mad.  Maero told Vi not to worry about it too much and after some more talking, Maero managed to transform their talk into something much more intimate.  After he finished and Vi fell asleep, Maero took the Gauntlet from Al-Gol’s corpse and ran away with it into the night and would use it in aiding the planet of Tamaran.

## Appearance

Al-Gol’s Talon is not fitted to a person like normal gauntlets, instead it is more akin to a transformation as it completely alters the appendage of the wielder.  The entire area from their hand to their forearm appears to be made up of nothing more than ash covered scales that cover up the hunk of charred flesh upon bone that lies beneath it.  Above the biological change is the gauntlet itself made of intricately weaved Eight Metal meant to look like flesh barely grasping onto bone.  Across the gauntlet are three separate black dots, when the gauntlet’s powers are being used they form a bright light the same color of kryptonite.

## Powers

**Talon of Al-Gol:** At will, Maero can summon the Talon of Al-Gol, a mystical-claw-like gauntlet forged by Hephestus in the darkest depths of Olympus.  Maero stole the Talon from the corpse of the Kryptonian Overlord Al-Gol after the Battle for New Krypton.  With the Talon of Al-Gol, Maero managed to aid significantly in the Tamaran Civil War and other conflicts throughout the galaxy.  It is extremely durable as despite its use over the past thirty or so years, there is absolutely no sign of wear or tear on it and even in the heat of battle, despite being encrusted in blood and bone for hours on end, there is no stain.

* **Eight Metal Composition:** The Talon of Al-Gol is made out of the same material that the Gods of Olympus use for their weapons such as the God Killer, Apollo’s Sword and majority of Wonder Woman’s main arsenal.  This means that the Talon of Al-Gol is almost indestructible as this metal has been seen deflecting powerful blows from the Gods and projectiles such as Darkseid’s Omega Beams.
	+ **Mystical Empowerment:**  Not only was the Talon of Al-Gol forged in one of the most magic abundant places in all of the multiverse, it's blacksmith purposely imbued it with a plethora of enchantments.  Due to this, any attacks whether they be physical or ranged are considered magical when coming from this gauntlet.
	+ **Sharpened Edge:** During the forging process, Hephestus did his best to make the claw of the gauntlet as sharp as he could.  In doing so he created a weapon that has the power to cut through nearly any material as if it had the same composition of smoke.  Despite this, individuals or races that are known for their durability are capable of withstanding such blows, as for how long is another question.

* **Space Manipulation:** Legends have told that he who wields the Talon of Al-Gol is a candidate for being the most dangerous being alive for its power is unmatched.  With it, ordinary men become galactic tyrants, capable of aligning the planets into formation like a ceremonial march.  It does so, not by bending the fabric of space and time but subjugating it to the wielder's whim.
	+ **Wormhole Creation:**  Maero is capable of teleporting himself and others to another location via wormhole.  To open such wormholes, Maero must grip onto the fabric of space as if it was tangible and tear it like a sheet of paper, revealing the chosen destination on the other side.  As useful as near-instantaneous transportation sounds, it is not exactly usable in battle due to the amount of focus it takes to connect two places and the quickness at which the wormhole closes after use.
	+ **Spatial Pressure Generation:** Even though Maero is required to open wormholes by grabbing onto fabric of space, it does not mean that he can not manipulate it from a distance.  On the contrary, it is one of the Talon’s main powers as it can generate powerful spatial pressure anywhere he desires.  This pressure is capable of not only manipulating objects in a manner akin to telekinesis, but it does it better.  With a single wave of the hand, Maero can effortlessly push, pull or even crush objects or people with tremendous amounts of force.  Even worse than this, however, is the cold that follows with generating this spatial pressure as it recreates the same temperature of the farthest reaches of space.
	+ **Singularity Generation:**  Maero is able to create powerful and devastating singularities that are capable of compressing and sucking anything in their path.  These singularities are vital in battle against attacks such as Tamaranian Starbolts, Man Made Ammunition and much more.  Even more if weaker individuals end up in the way of these singularities, they are slowly broken up and destroyed as they travel through, but more than likely they’ll have time to move out of the way as the singularities travel slowly.

## Weaknesses

* **Magical Item**: Due to the Talon of Al-Gol being comprised of magical enchantments, anything resistant or immune to magic has absolutely no trouble when dealing with the item. Even more, if anyone wielded an Anti-Magic item, then the Talon of Al-Gol is unusable against it.
* **Dark Enchantment:** In order to convince those who use Talon of Al-Gol to remove it, Hephestus placed a Dark Enchantment on the gauntlet that forces the user to hear the voices that they have killed when using the item. They also have to constantly re-live their darkest decisions and deepest regrets every night their dreams. As of now, Maero constantly endures the shrieks, cries and even commands of individuals like Dru-Zod, Al-Gol and others that have fallen victim to the gauntlet.

## Trivia

* This is the Second D.C. Weapon made by the Group Owner that is a gauntlet. The first was the Arm of Aurum used by Erik J. Ashwell.
* This item was influenced by characters like Hellboy from the Comic Series of the same name and Abaddon the Defiler from Warhammer 40k.
* This item was originally going to be focused around science and technology, utilizing special gadgetry that allowed it to fire weaponized beams of plasma at the opponent. It was changed after the Group Owner was unable to find a proper picture that fit the appearance that he desired and switched over to fantasy art which held many more options that were better.