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Monthly Prompt: Briefing (Full Release)
🕑 Added 2020-09-30 15:05:33 +0000 UTC
An alert on the Batcomputer made itself known as Batman looked up from his game of Animal Crossing -- Bruce Wayne couldn't say that he cared for the game, but after Stephanie Brown brought it into the house, the rest of his family started playing. First Cassandra, because she was Stephanie's best friend. Unfortunately. Tim was the second due to the fact that he was dating Stephanie. Also unfortunate. Dick was next because he loved these kinds of games, meaning that Barbara and Damian were the next to fall.
At their… requests, Bruce also started paying. Enough so to meet the obligations pushed into him, at least. At the moment, Jason was the last hold out and as persuasive as his family could be, Bruce didn't expect them to have much success convincing his wayward son. Though, it was entirely possible for Jason to start playing just because Bruce thought that he wouldn't.
But, any heartwarming thoughts were quickly pushed to the side. His eyes narrowed at the screen -- he had alerts for thousands of things. A break out at Arkham, global threats, alien invasions, anything that he could think of. Yet his lips thinned as the blood drained from his face even as his resolve hardened as he realized what the alert was for.
He stood, nearly knocking over his half-eaten breakfast as he pulled up his cowl and put out an alert for an emergency Justice League meeting. Batman was prepared for this. As much as he could be, at any rate, but the day had finally come. He strode away from the Batcomputer and walked around his giant penny, through the legs of his machine dinosaur, towards a rough cave wall. Placing his hand on the hard stone, the false wall side to the side to reveal a teleporter.
Stepping inside, he felt an odd sensation flow over him -- it was enough to make his gut tighten no matter how many times he felt it, but when the doors opened, Batman stood on the Watchtower. A while floor was underneath his feet, the teleporter that connected the planet Earth with the Watchtower, the seat of the Justice League. Batman walked a few steps before a bulkhead door opened up and a red blur ran into the room. The wind brushed his face, enough to stir up his kevlar cape, as the Flash came to a sudden stop in front of him.
Barry Allen, the Flash, wore a skin-tight red outfit with golden boots, a matching belt, that also matched the lightning bolt emblem on his chest. "What's the emergency, Batman?" Flash asked, his voice serious.
"The worst-case scenario has happened," Batman informed as he strode to the briefing room.
"Which worst-case scenario? I didn't see anything from up on the Watchtower," Flash remarked, falling in step next to him.
Batman's eyes narrowed as a set of doors opened to reveal a large room. A half dozen rectangle windows that stretched to the ceiling offered a beautiful view of Earth. A U shaped table was the only thing in the room -- no decorations of the sort. This was where the fate of nations, the human race, was decided more than once. As well as the role the Justice League had in that fate.
"Prince Tarble is coming to Earth," Batman answered as he brought up a holographic screen from his gauntlet and flicked a file to the hologram projector that the table was wrapped around.
Flash was silent for a solid few seconds, a telling reaction from a man that could think at the speed of light when he had to. "Oh. That worst-case scenario," He muttered. This was a day that the Justice League expected for years, a decade at this point, but they hoped that it would never come.
As Batman prepared the relevant files, the doors slid open again to reveal Superman and Wonder Woman. Two of the most powerful people that Batman had ever met.
"Batman," Clark Kent, though the world knew him as Superman. A solidly built man wearing a blue bodysuit with red boots and a cape. Displayed on his chest was a shielded S, the Kryptonian symbol of hope. Despite his human-like appearance, the man was an alien. The last of his species. At least until his cousin and a Kryptonian general, and Clark's dog showed up.
Diana Prince, also known as Wonder Woman was an equally impressive woman. An amazonian made from clay and given life by Zeus -- her body was defined with muscle, but that only seemed to enhance the untamable beauty of the woman. She wore a red corset marked with a golden eagle and a blue shirt skirt with a golden lasso hanging off her waist. The outfit was made by the god Hephaestus, and few things could injure her in it.
"I'll begin when everyone gets here, but… it's bad," Batman admitted. Clark looked troubled while Diana looked resolute. Batman understood what that meant coming from him. In an organization filled with optimists, he was the token realist. But even he rarely voiced that they were outmatched.
The others came in shortly. Cyborg, a young adult that was mostly made of a Father Box. The Hawks, Hawk Woman and Hawk Man. Green Arrow, and his wife Black Canary. Two Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart. And, lastly, their magic expert, Zatanna.
They took their seats, though Hal Jordan was thankfully halfway across the universe on a mission so he was here in hologram only. They were the Justice League, the first and last line of defense for Earth, and all those that lived there. Only Batman's chair was left empty as he stood at the center of them all.
"Prince Tarble is coming to Earth," Batman began gravely. A sudden tension was in the air, all of them expecting the worst. All of them except for Green Arrow and Cyborg. The former because he had little interest in things that weren't immediate threats and the latter because he was a very new addition to the Justice League, having been elevated from the Titans that Dick led.
Cyborg shifted in his chair, likely tempted to just read ahead by hacking into the files. He could do it with ease, but he didn't. Reputation was a powerful thing, Batman mused-- Victor Stone didn't because he was convinced that he would somehow find out. He wouldn't. Cyborg far outstripped anything that Batman could do with a computer, but even if Cyborg knew that logically, he still raised his hand.
"Whose Prince Tarble? He wasn't in the packet?" Cyborg said, and it was John who answered.
"He wouldn't be. The packet was just known threats to Earth who previously tried to invade," The Green Lantern explained. "Prince Tarble is an alien that… well, we've been forced to keep an eye on."
Batman nodded, "As a refresher, it would be best to start at the beginning." Prince Tarble was a threat that Batman meticulously gathered whatever data he could about him. It wasn't as much as he would like, but Prince Tarble's life was well documented. A hologram of the man in question appeared before it shrunk to that of a toddler. "Prince Tarble, second in line in succession, son of King Vegeta the Third and Queen Teach. Brother to Vegeta the Fourth and, unofficially, Elery, who is a bastard child."
That information meant nothing to most of them, but it was the foundation. "Saiyans are a warmongering race that was enslaved by King Cold of the Trade Organization several hundred years ago. At some point, they destroyed their home planet and found themselves stranded on a planet called… Plant, which was inhabited by the Truffles. For nearly a thousand years, they coexisted on the planet with them until one day the Saiyans declared war under the leadership of a King Vegeta the First."
Hal's face tightened. He knew the Saiyan history better than most. "It was a war of eradication. Every single Truffle citizen was killed then eaten by the Saiyan race. The Truffles were more technologically advanced, but with superior strategy and physical abilities, the Truffle race was driven extinct."
"And that pretty much set the tone for their species," Hal pitched in. "Saiyans specialize in genocide."
Batman paused before he shook his head. "Saiyans psychology is fundamentally different from humans. Or most races. It's a psychology that's fueled by their inquiry biology. To put it simply, the more a Saiyan fights, the stronger they can become and the stronger that they become, the longer their lifespan becomes. The desire for conflict, or overcoming challenges that push them to their physical and mental limits, is a biological trait. Killing, genocide -- to their race, that is just a byproduct of their desire for conflict. To fight."
Victor nodded, showing that he was following along. Clark eyed the hologram with a grim expression.
"So, sounds like more of the same for us," Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, pitched in. And he wasn't entirely wrong there.
"Prince Tarble is a unique existence amongst the Saiyans. The Saiyan society is determined by strength, broken up into three classes -- the low class, the mid-class, and the elite class. At Prince Tarble's birth, only two Saiyans qualified for the elite class -- King Vegeta the Third and his firstborn son, Vegeta the Fourth. Prince Tarble, however, was born into the low class this the royal family refused to acknowledge his existence until he became an elite class.
The hologram changed to show a child tv show. The only visual representation of Prince Tarble's first months of life was available. Batman saw a lot of puzzled looks and some trying to swallow laughs, so he continued before anyone could get a word in.
"Prince Tarble, as a newborn infant, was placed in a room with several saibamen and he was instructed to kill them," Batman began, his hands curling into fists. "To put that in perspective -- as a newborn infant, Prince Tarble was placed in a dogfighting ring for three months where he fought to the death every day until he emerged victorious."
That killed the smiles and chuckles. Batman did his research. He formed psych profiles and triple checked his work. Despite their desire for conflict, Prince Tarble… was shockingly human-like in mentality. At least, he was.
Diana scowled, having already known the information but she hated it just as much as he did. The callous brutality… alien or not, it galled at him that anyone would do such a thing.
"Three months later, that is when Prince Tarble became a unique existence. Saiyans, prior to Prince Tarble, very rarely moved up in class. Prince Tarble was born low class but by the end of that three months, he qualified for high class. Though, he was not treated as such and wouldn't be for until the age of six." Batman continued, "At the age of three months old, Prince Tarble was sent on a suicide mission to instigate the TO-Reach war."
That, everyone in the room knew about, if only passingly. Batman's gaze slid to Hal again to see him scowling deeply. He had fought in that war, and Batman knew it was a sore subject for him.
"He fought as a part of the Planetary Elite squad comprised of five Saiyans -- the leader of the squad, Bardock, the second in command Tora, Fasha, Shugesh, and Borgos. To note, Bardock was a genius-level tactician. He mentored Prince Tarble for several years through the campaigns." Now it was time for a sense of scale. "By the age of four, Prince Tarble had aided in the extermination of all sentient life on no less than fifteen planets."
Everyone shifted uneasily at that. It was so easy to forget at times that Earth wasn't the only planet in the universe. And those planets didn't have a Justice League to protect them. "All the while, Prince Tarble grew in strength at unprecedented rates. It was on planet D'xe that Prince Tarble's fate changed. He killed a Green Lantern in single combat, winning some renown and the favor of Frieza, the head of the TO." And everyone looked at Hal and John.
It was all too easy to tell their thoughts on the subject. John frowned deeply, but Hal was the worse one. He was too close to the issue, despite the fact that he hadn't known Kaylark either.
"He was placed in charge of the Planetary Elite squad and sent on a planet called Rench. A manufacturing planet dedicated to providing the Reach with supplies. The initial invasion was a complete failure, but this is where Prince Tarble established himself as a leader despite being four years old." Batman would have continued but Victor hesitantly rose his hand. Batman nodded at him, allowing the question.
Viktor glanced around, still uncertain of his position at the League table, but he pushed on regardless. "To be clear, four years old isn’t Saiyan for like twenty, right?" He asked, and Batman couldn't blame him for his confusion. It was a hard pill to swallow. Though it wasn't he that answered.
"As far as we can tell, Saiyans have a similar development to humans, just as Kryptonians do," Clark spoke up. "Mentally at least. It's dubious because Saiyans spend their first three years of life in an incubator with information downloaded into their brains because… their parents can't be bothered to teach them, so it's difficult to pinpoint what age Prince Tarble was mentally when he took command."
Diana nodded, though there was a deep frown in her face, "But Prince Tarble is still an extreme outlier even when compared to Saiyan children of a similar age."
It sunk in that it really was the case of a toddler being handed military control. And, more shockingly, the Saiyan prince was deadly competent.
"After escaping from Rench with a high-value target and military secrets, Prince Tarble was officially acknowledged by the Royal Family as his personal power exceeded ten thousand PL and he was placed in charge of a Special Forces Unit, the 501st." It was the Hawks’ turn to frown deeply.
Hawkwoman sighed, "Though they're better known as Tarble's Fist." She offered with some reluctance.
"To summarize, over the next several years, Prince Tarble proved himself to be an unparalleled genius in small scale warfare to galactic spanning. His achievements are numerous and… impressive." Batman allowed while Oliver Queen let out a huff.
"He's pretty much the alien version of Sun Zu," he said, proving that he did know of the Prince.
Diana seemed to consider that before nodding, "That comparison is frightfully accurate."
Batman thought so as well, but Prince Tarble wasn't one to share his secrets. "The key to his success can be traced to three things that mark him as fundamentally different than the vast majority of his race. As stated, Saiyans are extraordinarily uncaring of anyone but themselves. This is possibly a symptom of the mental conditioning they undergo, but this conditioning was overcome because Prince Tarble placed an extreme focus on preserving the lives under his command."
Diana nodded, "We believe, giving his circumstances, that Prince Tarble developed a pack mentality because he and his team were stuck behind enemy lines for the first four years of his life. That mentality then spread to the 501st."
"The second key to his success was constant adaptation in tactics, techniques, and a willingness to use whatever means necessary to obtain victory. This is a similar case with his mentor, Bardock, and it seems that he pushed it to extremes," Batman remarked. He compared their strategies and tactics and it was very clear where Prince Tarble found inspiration. "Lastly, it was his active seeking of unique skill sets and powerful individuals to fight with him. Where he then unified them into a singular fighting force despite severe clashing personalities and ideologies."
Prince Tarble was a pragmatic, ingenious, and charismatic leader.
Clark spoke up for the next part as he was the one that had the most experience with it. "That success doesn't end with warlike abilities. After conquering several Shield Worlds, he was awarded the right to own planets that he conquered. And, naturally, Prince Tarble conquered a fair few."
"Hundreds of thousands," Hawkwoman offered stiffly. Clark sent her a glance before he nodded.
"Hundreds of thousands. He currently owns a sizable empire, and it's… flourishing. An economic hub for the galaxy. Despite his race's predisposition towards racism, might makes right laws and the complete destain for the concept of trade -- Prince Tarble turned those planets into a powerful empire."
"Inhabited by those that he stole it from and slaves that the Trade Organization took in the first place," Hawkwoman said tersely. Like Hal, she was also too close to the issue to be impartial.
Victor nodded, "Okay. So, it sounds like this Prince Tarble guy is… a character." He said, looking at the hologram of the Saiyan. A lean but powerfully built man in his late teens, his face set into a smoldering scowl. According to Stephanie, he was 'yummy' for an alien that committed countless acts of genocide. "And it sounds like he's coming to Earth for a fight. Alright. What can he do."
Clark answered, "Physically? He's in my weight class." Clark was a humble man at heart, but that didn't mean he was ignorant. There were only a handful of people in the universe that could match him blow for blow. Batman nodded before he showed a short video.
It was a planet-sized asteroid floating in space. In the distance, there was a faux planet -- it was a Reach superweapon the size of a planet, but not a true one. The asteroid was still in space for a few seconds before, with hardly any warning, the planet-sized asteroid lurched forward at incredible speeds towards the superweapon.
"Wait, what?" Zatanna spoke up for the first time, blinking. Batman replayed the video, but this time he offered a zoomed-in window at the same time. Prince Tarble placed his hand on the planet-sized asteroid before he pushed. A crater formed instantly, the tectonic plates shifting that would end with the asteroid falling apart if it wasn't for the fact that it was on a collision course with another planet. "How is that possible? Does he have planetwide tactical telekinesis?"
Clark shook his head, "It seems that he's able to infuse his energy, which he calls ki, into an object to increase its durability. That's what he used to throw a planet roughly the size of Earth."
Zatanna blinked, idly twirling her stage wand as she watched the two planet-sized objects collide in an explosion that would have wiped out the Sol system. "Oh. Is that all?"
"No," Batman answered. "It's not." Several other video feeds appeared, "Ki is a type of energy that Saiyans can manipulate. Similar to the human variation, it's their life energy that they can use for various things. Prince Tarble is widely regarded as a genius in this regard -- he had created well over a thousand techniques with various effects ranging from simple blasts to producing various types of light waves, radiations, basic utilities techniques. In short? He has a technique that's tailor-designed to whatever weakness you might have. And if he isn't then he'll make one on the spot."
"So… Superman's strength combined with Batman's gadget for every occasion, backed by a powerful empire with eighteen years of war experience…" Victor noted, frowning as he considered the information. His red eye glowed as he sorted through the information at breathtaking speeds. At some point, he must have hacked the files to get a more complete look of Prince Tarble's dossier. "This guy is bad news. Real bad news. The Green Lanterns have how many charges of genocide on him?!"
Hal answered, "Just a couple hundred. This guy has personally killed billions. Personally. If you're counting the operations he's been on then that number jumps up to trillions." On paper, Prince Tarble was an absolute monster. One of the worst that the universe had ever encountered.
"There is a stipulation," Batman spoke up before either Clark or Diana could do it. "Prince Tarble has a code of conduct. He does not kill noncombatants. He began accepting surrender to forces that did not belong to the Reach. To be blunt -- out of all of the generals and commanders of the Frieza-force, he is somehow the kindest among them."
The argument between him, Clark, and Diana was a deciding one. Batman, in the end, couldn't accept the idea of redemption. Or, rather, he thought it was pointless because Prince Tarble would never repent for his crimes because he likely wouldn't view them as crimes. Diana, on the other hand, claimed that Tarble was blameless. It had been war and he chose the most humane option every time it had been available to him.
Clark was a middle ground. He believed redemption was possible, but he also believed that Prince Tarble should have made the humane available every time. Idealistic and naive, but that was Clark in a nutshell.
"Are you saying that justifies billions of murders?" Hal demanded hotly, making Batman glare at him silently for a moment.
"Of course not," He sharply replied. "But the fact of the matter is that we have to take it into consideration. Because he is coming here, to Earth to defeat us and absorb the human race into his growing empire."
Batman took in a slow breath, "We are the Justice League. The fate of Earth is in our hands whether we like it or not. We have to consider everything regardless of our personal beliefs." His gaze swept over the members of the League, one by one.
"So, how do we fight this enemy?"
…
And that’s a wrap. I had a lot of fun with this prompt, but I kinda wish that another had been picked because I couldn’t really go all in on it since I had plans for a similar chapter in Going Native. So, I couldn’t write it how I wanted to write it. Still had fun though.
As always, there are a few hints sprinkled out in the prompt for the future of Going Native. Two things are hints, two are lies, and the rest is noncanon. Have fun figuring that out!
Comments
Donovan Young
kryptonite radiation spiral buster.
Neruz
Depends on what exactly 'planets' means; if it means explicitly life-bearing planets, most likely in separate star-systems, then yeah that seems excessive unless the majority were conquered by forces under his command rather than Tarble personally. But if it refers to -all- planets, then every star-system Tarble conquered would have added 6 - 12+ planets to the count, and most conquests would probably have been quite rapid; only shield worlds would have been able to slow him down. Also, the numbers sound huge but compared to the galaxy as a whole hundreds of thousands of planets is nothing: There are estimated to be 100 - 400 BILLION stars in the Milky Way alone, even assuming every world Tarble conquered was in its own star system, that is still less than 0.00001% of the total number of stars in the galaxy.
Ezra Melman
Well, him taking hundreds of thousands of planets seems fake. A Hundred, fine. Thousands, maybe over the course of years and if you count small planets anyone in the 501 beats as his. But hundreds of thousands? That makes every planet he has done on screen worthless. He would have to take hundreds of planets a day. Freeza wouldn’t be THAT generous. And the war doesn’t seem to be THAT large in scope. That’s a crazy rediculous number right there. Especially with him devoting so much time to shield worlds. He wouldn’t be able to set more than the basest rules for each planet under his rule either. How would he be considered merciful if he can’t spare more than an hour a planet?! Also, when were the hawks allowed back on earth? And isn’t Hal more personally aware of tarble due to the event in the free chapter next week or 2? Is the hint that cyborg will be able to hack the alien tech despite it being far above earth level?
dude13537
I initially misread the “thousands of alerts” thing to mean he’d been playing Animal Crossing for so long that he had accumulated (and ignored) thousands of alerts, with the Tarble alert having enough priority to interrupt the game. It took me a moment to realize what you actually meant.
Kojivsleo
Looking forward to the upcoming fight in the regular story.
Kabir Kumar
I was really, really, REALLY waiting for the emergency to be that there was a bug in Batman's Animal Crossing account.
