Camp Justice

Infinity Hall (Fanfic Captain)

Free of the guilt world, Kathy, Beast Boy, and I ran to help Robin. When he'd woken from our sleep, we'd found ourselves in some kind of advanced ship.

As we ran the halls, I noticed something odd. First, it seemed like the hallway never ended. Second, it seemed like we'd passed that airlock before.

After passing the airlock again, I skidded to a stop.

"What's wrong?" asked Kathy.

"I think we've passed that—" When I turned to look at Kathy, a large man stood a few feet away. How had I not heard him? He wore gold and blue armor and had a golden gauntlet on one hand. Colorful gems were place in the gauntlet. Oh, and he had purple skin.

"Beings from another universe," he said. "One outside even my own Multiverse."

I like to think I handled this sentence with dignity. "Huh?"

"Another universe, in need of the guiding hand of Thanos."

I tried to put on my best "superhero" voice (I've seen Damian do it a hundred times). "Not as long as I'm here."

This "Thanos" guy seemed to just realize I was there. "A child? This is who they send to stand against the might of Thanos, wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet?"

I pointed at him forcefully, again imitating Damian. "Listen, buster, I've been to Apokolips and tamed a demon-dog. I think I can handle you...you Darkseid wannabe."

Thanos laughed. "Child, with but a snap of my fingers, I can kill you and everyone on this ship." He raised his gauntlet hand.

I charged at him. With a scream, I threw my punch to his gut (frankly, that was all I could reach; he was tall). Thanos made this shocked-wide-eyed look as the shockwave from the blow echoed through the hall. Then, Thanos was sent sprawling away and against the wall.

He coughed for a moment then laughed. "It's been ages since I've been hit like that." He stood slowly and it seemed like he got bigger. "So, you do have some power, little boy."

I charged at the brute again. But when I swung, he vanished into a storm of bubbles. This time I ended up hitting the wall. When I turned back, Beast Boy had already transformed into a green tiger. He pounced towards Thanos. Thanos held up a hand; Beast Boy froze in the air.

"A shape-shifter?" mused Thanos. "Let's have some fun with that." One of the gems on the gauntlet glowed. Suddenly, Beast Boy turned into a regular colored duck. Thanos chuckled for a moment before turning his attention back on me. "Now while this has been entertaining, I have a universe to cleanse."

He pointed the gauntlet at me and blasted. I returned the favor with a blast of heat vision. The two forces met in the middle. We strained, pouring more energy into our attack.

"Impressive, little gnat. But there is no overcoming the power of the Infinity Stones. Just surrender."

I groaned as I unleashed more fire into my heat vision. "I don't know the meaning of the word 'surrender;' you can just ask my teacher."

"Then let me teach you."

His blast suddenly grew ten-fold. It overpowered me and I went sailing backwards and back into the wall. It was starting to form a dent. I coughed and leaned against the wall for balance; that had not felt good.

"How is this possible?" said Thanos. "No one could survive that."

I quickly shifted into a copy of my father's heroic pose. I even tried, fruitlessly, to get my cape to blow in the breeze. "I'm not just no one. I'm Kryptonian. Well...half anyway." How did I survive that?

He then got this smart-aleck smile on his face. I'd seen that on many bullies back in school just before they tied someone to the tether ball pole. Then, it got really bad as he slowly turned to Kathy. I'd hoped he hadn't noticed her or just simply forgot; but no, it seemed he knew she was there the whole time. He lifted his gauntlet. He put his fingers together. And...

This was the moment, Beast Boy figured out a way to transform passed Thanos' spell.

I sighed with relief as the Teen Titian became a green gorilla. It'd all be OK.

Beast Boy swung at the purple-faced creep. Everything was all right. The heroes would win. We'd finish off this weirdo and go back to rescuing Robin.

But, it wasn't all right. Beast Boy was too slow and Thanos finished his snap. The sound echoed through the ship as Thanos stepped back to avoid Beast Boy's blow. And as Beast Boy stumbled through his whiff, what looked like dust particles began to blow off him. His eyes widened in fear as the particles multiplied and his body began to vanish. Within seconds, he was gone.

"Jon?" said Kathy. Her eyes were full of worry. "What's happen—" She then was gone in a parting of dust.

Thanos just stood there, smug as can be.

I stood in silence for a moment. I could hardly comprehend what had happened. Then, the anger flooded into my body. I felt such writhing hatred for this purple punk. I was beyond seeing red. Thanos began to laugh. I could feel the power rising within me. The power of a sun. Hundreds of suns. Thanos continued to laugh as power, pure unbridled power, poured through my body. So much power coursed through my body that it had nowhere else to go. My hands began to glow. I could hear a soft crackle as the energy leaked out of me. I'd been afraid of this...this power. I was destined to kill millions with this power; but at this moment, I didn't care.

Thanos slowly turned his attention to me.

I charged at him once more.

He didn't care. He had his precious gauntlet. He didn't care about the kid radiating power that came rushing towards him in a fit of rage. He didn't even try to block as I punched him.

Big mistake.

The power of the solar flare was unleashed. A massive explosion of power rocked the small, seemingly endless hallway. Everything turned white.

The next thing I knew, I was flat on the ground and feeling slightly like that time I shrugged off that time villain's freeze spell. I was exhausted, but I found the strength to sit up and face Thanos. He stood holding his injured arm.

"Why..." he said, softly, "do care so much for robots?" He then collapsed to the ground. The action seemed to dislodge the gauntlet from his arm somehow. It rolled for a few inches and then one of the gems glowed. A second later, the world around me became like static and started to glitch. Once it stopped, I stood in a large domed room—kind of like a planetarium.

I spun around the room. "What's...going on? Where am I? What is this place?"

Suddenly, two hovering humanoid robots appeared and headed for Thanos. "We'll clean this up, Master Jonathan." The two disappeared into some doorway carrying the fallen foe.

Not a moment later, another door opened. A man stepped out.

"Excellent work, Jonathan," said Jor-el.

_____

Words: 1,200

Entry for the "Captain" prompt for the Fanfic Bootcamp contest.

https://www.wattpad.com/599066464-fanfic-bootcamp-round-4-captain-5-july-to-14-july