Multiverse: Deathstroke-Chapter 489: Rocket-Riding Pole Dance

Diana approached the massive lever, a hollow ring. Turning it should initiate the rocket’s pre-launch sequence, sending it toward its preset target.

Gripping the ring with both hands, she strained to turn it. Neglected for ages, it was harder to move than lifting a plane barehanded.

Creaking echoed through the cavern as Diana gritted her teeth, sweat beading on her forehead.

Suddenly, she released the lever, rolled aside, drew her sword, and thrust it backward.

The blade sank into a furry body.

Her old nemesis, Cheetah.

Luthor had seen through Batman’s plan, using the Doorknob’s teleportation to send Cheetah into the underground chamber.

With night vision and silent movement, Cheetah had the edge in this environment.

Minerva thought so too, stalking Diana from the shadows. Her yellow fur blended seamlessly with the golden glow of the cave.

Hiding in machinery crevices, her feline body slipped through tight spaces like she was boneless.

Her claws were coated with the Tear of Extinction, giving her confidence to kill Diana.

As Diana wrestled with the metal ring, fully focused, Minerva crept up for a sneak attack, aiming for her neck.

But just as her claws reached out, Diana countered with a swift sword strike.

"Why? How did you know?" Minerva clutched her wounded stomach, retreating from Diana.

Diana stood, her lips twitching as if recalling something unpleasant.

"When you’ve been ambushed from behind multiple times in a short span, you get sensitive to the slightest rustle."

Cheetah lacked healing powers and needed treatment for the wound. "You got lucky this time. You tricked me before, but I will kill you!"

"No, Minerva, Luthor’s wrong. You don’t have to serve him." Diana didn’t want to kill the big cat. Minerva was once her best friend.

Though likely a deception, memories of their time together stopped Diana’s hand.

Minerva had taught her about human society, history, and a love for sculpture.

Back then, Cheetah wasn’t a feline—she was Professor Minerva, an archaeology Ph.D.

But learning Diana was immortal sparked her own desire for eternity. How could she keep up with her friend if she aged?

Using her connection with Diana, she stole a magical dagger from the Order of the All-Seeing Eye, performed a ritual from ancient texts, and plunged it into her chest.

It wasn’t a blessing of immortality but a curse, transforming her into a beastly form—not a cute catgirl.

When Diana came to retrieve the dagger, a furious Minerva fought her. Since then, they’d been locked in a love-hate feud.

"Too late, Diana. Too late. Either you kill me, or I kill you. No other choice."

Minerva shook her head, golden eyes fixed on Diana, before a blue light teleported her away.

Luthor never hesitated to retreat. Once Minerva reported the plan’s failure, he pulled her out, giving the League no chance.

He knew Diana wouldn’t kill her but wasn’t sure if Cheetah might defect.

Diana sheathed her weapon, sighing. Time didn’t allow for sentiment. She resumed wrestling the rocket’s lever, the Justice League counting on her.

Turning the giant key activated the console, and the rocket began fueling.

Soon, flames sparked in the abyss below. The rocket ignited, ready to launch.

The chamber would collapse soon, like Poseidonis above, turning to ruins.

Diana had to leave, but she worried about the rocket’s trajectory. It needed to hit the barrier head-on.

Thinking quickly, she unhooked her Lasso of Truth and looped it around one of the rockets.

Grabbing the lasso, she mounted the rocket like a horse, clamping her legs tightly to the cold metal.

Aside from looking undignified, it worked. She could steer it like a griffin, guiding it to the right path.

The rocket’s thrust vibrated beneath her, tingling her thighs. Her face flushed briefly, but she focused ahead, waiting to break the surface.

Above, the Justice League clashed with the aliens. Countless enemy ships swarmed their vessel like a carousel, bizarre fishmen dropping like paratroopers from air and water.

Superman and Barry were fast, but for clearing grunts, the mystics were unmatched.

Raven’s dark magic didn’t even need visible energy. Fishmen withered in droves, as if drained of moisture.

Black smoke or water-like souls spewed from their mouths.

Nightshade’s magic was like Pac-Man, opening a sliver of the Shadow Dimension to suck fishmen in, then snapping it shut.

They’d likely end up in space, pissed out by the Source Wall’s giants.

Without ship protection, the fishmen couldn’t survive space, probably freezing instantly.

Black Alice was versatile, mimicking Superman’s heat vision one moment, Flash’s speed the next, even Mera’s water control.

The Titans, with Blue Devil, protected the mystics on the ship.

Superman charged the sky barrier. After soaking up sun, he had some strength and tried to break it.

Diana was slow. At this rate, the fishmen would overwhelm them.

He struck the barrier with full force, but the red energy didn’t budge, shedding only cookie-like crumbs.

"No good, Batman. I can’t break it."

"Wait—something’s happening below." Batman, on the deck, knocked a fishman away and eyed the surging sea.

Dark shapes rose rapidly from the water, displacing waves outward.

"Did it work? Unbelievable—Atlantis had rockets?" Mera marveled. Orm kept secrets, fine, but Arthur too? What else hid in the deep?

Arthur tore through fishmen barehanded, about to speak, when Diana burst from the sea, riding a rocket.

A long-legged warrior clung to a massive pillar, wavy hair whipping in the wind, flames and smoke trailing, seawater refracting rainbows.

Arthur forgot his words, staring as the rocket soared.

Mera, fuming, pinched his waist, twisting hard.

"Wonder Woman’s legs are long, three inches taller than me, but do you have to stare?"

"Huh? I’m watching the rocket, to see if it breaks the barrier." Arthur looked baffled at his wife. Why the pinch?

"Hmph." Mera turned away. Mid-battle, she’d settle this at home.

Batman pressed his comm, using Starro’s telepathy at this range, calculating the rocket’s speed and angle. "Diana, status?"

Diana gripped the Lasso of Truth with one hand, deflecting alien fire with her shield in the other.

"I’m riding an ancient rocket like a horse. All instinct."

"Angle’s good, thrust sufficient. Jump off before it leaves the atmosphere." Batman replied calmly, then had Starro contact Bobo. "Ascend now, follow the rocket. We’re boarding the sea gods’ ship."

At close range, hard-water swords infused with the Tear of Extinction could kill the gods.

Batman avoided having the League kill. He’d seen seven alternate Batmen lost to slaughter—madness born of bloodlust.

Killing was addictive, like a drug. It felt easy short-term, but it eroded reason, turning you into a destruction-craved monster, alone on a dead Earth.

Those Dark Batmen were their worlds’ sole survivors, having killed entire universes.

Weighing costs, Batman concluded killing humanoid beings did more harm to him and the League.

They had to preserve humanity—their final line.

After the Anti-Monitor’s fall, for a higher transcendence, heroes needed to be better.

He hadn’t decided if he’d personally kill the sea gods. If it came with consequences, he’d bear them.

As he pondered, the rocket pierced the red barrier like a pin through plastic, leaving a hole.

Bobo, quick on the draw, spun the helm. The ship drifted through the gap.

Wiping sweat, he sipped from a seashell, not spilling a drop during the drift.

"Nice, Chimp. Drifting a spaceship?"

"Deathstroke?" Bobo jumped at the voice behind him, turning to see the familiar black-and-yellow figure. "When’d you get back?"

"Shh, quiet. Let’s see how the League plays this. Batman looks conflicted." Su Ming put a finger to his mask, clearly ready to watch the show.

Bobo’s eyes glazed over. Deathstroke’s twisted sense of fun was just... too much.