Justice League Z

Chapter 1: They Came From Mars

On the fourth planet from the Sun, two astronauts were conducting scientific research on the planet, hoping to find some elements that proves that life can be sustained on Mars.

"Would you look at that, a little slice of heaven." Said an astronaut while staring into the depths of space above him.

His partner looked a little irritated, "Carter, we didn't come for the view. We are here for scientific research, now concentrate on the objective will you?"

The astronaut just smiled back at his friend. His partner rolled his eyes before asking, "So, any readings on your side?"

Carter looked at his machine readings and it showed no signs of water being detected. "Nope, no detectable levels of H2O." He replied in a disappointing tone while turning to face his partner. Just then, in a few meters away, something shiny caught his attention. "Hold on." Carter stopped whatever he was doing and "hopped" over to the shiny object. "What is it?" his partner replied.

As the gravity was smaller on Mars as compared to Earth, Carter was able to hop quite a few distance before landing beside what looked like a crystal. He knelt down, took out his pickaxe and started mining the unknown crystal which was grey in color. He thought aloud, "Could be an ice crystal." His partner was startled upon hearing what he said and removed his detector like device, going over to find out what his partner had discovered. If it was an ice crystal like what Carter said then it would be a breakthrough in the research on Mars! With each "hop" he got even more excited.

With that last chunk of rock out of the way, Carter brushed off the debris from the crystal caused by the mining with his pickaxe. With little effort, he removed the crystal and stood up inspecting it. It was smooth and unlike other rocks or crystals, its texture was completely different. He corrected his previous statement, "No its not an ice crystal at all. It looks almost organic."

Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound coming from beneath the two astronauts. Carter's partner stopped a meter away from him upon hearing the noise. The rumbling grew louder and louder, and soon the ground beneath them started to vibrate. "Carter look out!" His warned while pointing to the floor in front. Carter, who was engrossed in the organic crystal, was shook back to reality and turned to his friend before turning back at where his friend was pointing to. The spot where he mined the crystal was starting to collapse and the hole grew bigger as more chunks of rocks gave way to the earthquake. More cracks started to form and those existing ones started to crawl outwards, with more of the terrain giving way. Carter took a few steps back before turning and running for life together with his partner ahead of him as the terrain started to give way even more. His partner managed to escape to higher grounds unharmed but Carter was not so lucky. The ground beneath him crumbled as he took his next step and gave way causing Carter to fall deep into the dark abyss. Soon enough, the earthquake stopped and all that was left was a huge hole filled with chucks of the terrain. After recovering from his shock, Carter's friend turned around and saw that Carter was missing. "Carter come in! Do you read me? Carter!" He anxiously tried to get a response from Carter through the communication device built-in his suit but no one replied.

Rolling and tumbling along with the debris, Carter landed in a dark unknown. "I'm ok Ed. Ed? Come in Ed!" He repeatedly tried to get his partner, Ed, to respond but the communication signal was dead, he was on his own. Because the cave was pitch black, Carter turned on the torchlight on his helmet and surveyed his surroundings. The area where he arrived from was sealed by debris and rocks, and that he was in what seemed like a cave. He turned around and gasped at what was before him, it was like a wall of some sort with some strange writings carved onto the wall. He couldn't believe his eyes that there was actually a structure built underground of Mars! He had made a groundbreaking discovery!