Xcalibur Xc
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[SHAZAM] Ch: 4 [Into the Pit]
🕑 Added 2025-05-10 20:51:09 +0000 UTCAN: I think I kinda went a little fast paced with this one.
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The mountains were cold. Fog covered the surroundings. John flew through the clouds, the wind cutting around him like knives. He held Luna close, wrapped in his cape. She felt lighter than ever. Too light. He couldn't stop thinking about the hole in her forehead.
She didn't deserve this.
The GPS from Bruce blinked steadily. He followed it through snow-covered peaks until the signal turned green.
The city revealed itself slowly, like a ghost. Hidden in the mist, built into the cliffs. John landed just outside the gate, dust and gravel exploding under his boots. He walked forward with Luna in his arms, his eyes locked on the temple doors.
Two assassins stood guard. They drew their swords without a word. Figures dropped from the rooftops. From behind columns. From the trees above. Dozens of assassins in black robes surrounded him, blades drawn, eyes locked.
John didn't want a fight. Not now.
"I'm not here to kill anyone," he said. "I need Ra's al Ghul."
The assassins didn't care. They attacked.
John ducked the first strike. Stepped left. Moved faster than they could follow. He dodged a bunch of daggers and...
Clank!
A sword struck his neck. He didn't move, and the sword failed to cut through his flesh. Even the poison on the blade didn't even leave a scratch on his body.
"Wait," John said. "I'm not your enemy. I just want to talk. Don't make me repeat myself."
One assassin rushed forward.
John stepped back.
Another came from the right, sword raised.
Something inside him snapped when the blade came too close to Luna’s face.
"ENOUGH!" He shouted.
A flash of gold lightning burst out from his chest. It exploded outward in every direction. A wave of power rippled through the courtyard.
The assassins dropped their weapons and fell to the ground, stunned. Some were twitching. Others groaned. None were dead.
John stood in the center of it all, breathing heavily.
“Stop.”
A voice came from the temple gate.
It opened with a loud creak...
An older man walked forward. Long black hair with white streaks, green eyes, and hands behind his back. He looked too calm even after witnessing John's power.
Ra’s al Ghul.
Beside him walked a woman with green eyes and brown hair. She was wearing a black ninja outfit.
Talia al Ghul.
They stopped at the edge of the stunned soldiers.
Ra’s looked down at them, then at John.
Ra’s raised a hand. The rest of the assassins stopped moving. “You came with force. That means you are desperate.”
John said nothing. He looked at Talia, then back at Ra’s.
Ra’s stepped closer. “We know what you did in Kahndaq. That kind of power doesn’t go unnoticed. You could level this mountain if we fought. But you didn’t kill my men. That says something.”
"You know what happened there?" John asked.
"We have eyes and ears everywhere," Ra's replied.
John vanished in a blur of speed and reappeared right in front of Ra’s. Their faces were inches apart.
Ra’s didn’t flinch.
John’s voice was low, calm, and deadly serious. “Take me to the Pit.”
Ra’s al Ghul studied John in silence, his eyes calculating. He looked down at Luna’s lifeless body cradled in John’s arms. The red smear across her forehead. The way her hand still curled like it had been reaching for something before death took her.
“You understand what the Lazarus Pit does, don’t you?” Ra’s asked quietly.
John’s jaw tightened. “It brings people back.”
Ra’s nodded once. “Yes. But not as they were. Resurrection is not a gift. It is a curse wrapped in a second chance.”
John didn’t move.
Ra’s walked slowly toward the edge of the courtyard. The stone path curved down to a lower chamber, hidden beneath the temple. He gestured for John to follow.
“The Pit restores life, but it takes something in return. Memories twist. Emotions fracture. Souls scream through the flesh. Some return with madness. Others return with... hunger. The girl you carry might not remember you. She might not remember herself. You must be ready to lose her all over again.”
“I’ll take that chance,” John said.
Talia stepped forward now. Her eyes were on Luna, not John.
“She fought for something, didn’t she?”
John nodded. “She believed someone would come back for us. That someone would tear down the walls.”
Talia looked at her father.
Ra’s sighed.
“Very well. But once this is done, you are in our debt.”
"Debt?" John stopped and looked at Ra's. His eyes were sparkling with lightning. He read it in one of the comics series about how Ra's "You think I don't know you plan? You manipulated those bastards by giving them the information on the hidden treasure underneath. You knew very well that an internal conflict would break out, and slowly their lust for power and treasure would destroy Kahndaq. And when they are at their weakest point, you'll eradicate the entire city, including the civilians."
He grabbed Ra's throat and pulled him up in the air with his left hand.
"Which means, Luna would have died had I not gained this power..."
"Kuggg!" Ra's struggled against John's grasp. Even his enhanced strength, which he gained from the pit, was nothing before the solid grasp that was slowly squeezing out his life.
"And you dare talk about debt?" John pulled him close and looked into his eyes.
Ra’s clawed at John’s arm, veins bulging in his neck as his feet dangled inches off the stone. His calm mask cracked for the first time in years. Surprise. Panic. Rage. It all flickered across his face.
Talia stepped forward. Her hand twitched toward the blade on her hip. The assassins around them were about to use bombs.
“Move, and I'll snap his neck,” John said without even glancing at her.
She stopped and raised an arm, signaling the assassins to stop.
John stared into Ra’s eyes. “You’ve spent centuries pretending your war is about balance, but it’s always been about power. Kahndaq burned because you let it. Because you fed them lies, let them tear each other apart, and planned to swoop in once the bodies cooled.”
Ra’s gasped, his voice barely a whisper. “You… know nothing…”
“I know enough,” John growled. “I saw what your silence cost. I carried her body through the pit of your design. You didn’t forge balance. You let monsters grow in the dark and called it strategy.”
Ra’s looked at Talia, eyes pleading now.
John turned to her. “He’s old. He’s smart. But he’s blind. You see it, don’t you?”
Talia’s eyes flicked between them. For the first time, she hesitated. No loyalty in her stance now. Only questions.
“Your father’s not building a better world. He’s hoarding a broken one. He talks about saving Earth while feeding it to the fire. That’s not leadership. That’s ego.”
John lowered Ra’s slowly until the man’s boots touched the ground. He didn’t release the grip on his throat.
“Talia. You can take the League somewhere else. Somewhere new. You don’t need to be your father’s shadow.”
Ra’s opened his mouth to protest, but John tightened his grip again.
“This is your chance,” John said to her. “Not just to rule. To change the League. Make it about purpose. Not manipulation.”
Talia stepped closer. She looked into her father’s eyes, and for once, she saw what she had spent years ignoring. Fear. Weakness. A hunger for control that had devoured his cause.
"Ta...lia... kuggg!" Ra's struggled.
Stab!
Warm blood gushed out of Ra's stomach.
Talia slashed it open in the blink of an eye. All his intestines and organs splattered onto the ground, creating a bloody mess. John snapped his neck at the same time.
Ra's dead.
But John decided to make sure he stays that way. So, he summoned a blast of lightning from his hand, overheating and turning the Ra's body to ashes.
"Let's go," Talia said, walking past John toward the dungeon like area.
John followed her down the stone steps, the air growing colder with each level. The torches lining the walls flickered in their brackets, casting long shadows across the narrow path. Luna's body was still in his arms, cradled gently against his chest. Her skin was pale. Her weight felt like a memory.
He glanced at Talia, walking ahead with blood still dripping from her blade.
"You killed your own father," John said quietly. "Why? Because I said a few words?"
Talia didn’t look back. Her voice was steady, but something deeper stirred beneath it. Regret, maybe. Or clarity.
"No. Not because of your words. Because they were true. And Nyssa and I have been plotting to kill him for years. We even turned his own guards against him, but that man killed them all, and Nyssa took the fall. He severed her arms, made her blind, and threw her into the dungeon. He was too strong. I couldn't do anything back then. But... Thanks to you, I'll be able to save my sister."
'Well, that's some messed up shit. But one less scum,' John thought.
She paused at a large stone door and pressed her hand against a carved seal. It glowed faint green and groaned as it slid open, revealing a chamber lit by eerie blue fire.
Talia looked back and noticed John's curious eyes, so she decided to tell a little bit about Ra's. Why? Why not? The more they talk, the more she'd find out about him and his character because right now she was running blind without any idea of his real power. She needs information, and the best way to get information is to talk and make friends. She was pretty confident about her beauty and manipulation skills.
"You see, my father hasn't been Ra's al Ghul for a long time," she said as she stepped inside. "He stopped seeking balance years ago. He only wanted control. Even over death."
John stepped into the room behind her. The Lazarus Pit bubbled in the center like a living wound. The surface shimmered, glowing faintly with an unnatural light. The air was slightly metallic and cold. It felt ancient. Alive.
Talia looked at the water.
"I watched him use this Pit too many times. Each time he came back less human. More obsessed. More cruel. At some point, I realized he didn’t care about saving the world. He just wanted to be the last man standing when it crumbled."
She turned to John.
"Anyway, it was just a matter of opportunity, nothing more."
John didn’t respond right away. He walked toward the edge of the Pit and looked down. Ripples moved across the surface even though nothing touched it.
"Can this really bring her back?"
Talia nodded. "Yes. But you have to be ready. If she comes back wrong..."
"She won't," John said.
Talia raised an eyebrow. "You sound sure."
John looked at Luna's face. He brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead.
"Because I know her. Whatever this Pit does to her… she’ll fight it. She’s stronger than anyone I’ve ever met. And if she forgets me, it's for the better. I wouldn't want her to remember all those cruel memories and sufferings."
Talia didn’t argue. She just stepped aside and gestured toward the water.
'So, she's his weakness, huh? Interesting.' Talia thought. 'Going so far for a girl... I wonder...'
John took a breath. Then another. He stepped forward and lowered Luna’s body into the Pit.
The water hissed.
