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SM/DC Chapter 85 : Arthur VS Johnny Quick
🕑 Added 2025-04-10 21:42:34 +0000 UTCA blur of red lightning and laughter exploded into Arthur like a missile. His body snapped through a brick wall, smashing into the side of a derelict train car that bent on impact.
He stumbled forward, coughing, eyes wide as he tried to focus.
Another punch, his chest.
A hook to the jaw.
CRACK!
A roundhouse at super speed.
Arthur was being overwhelmed by his speed, every bone in his body screaming from the force. He finally managed to block one barely but it still sent him skidding back with his heels digging trenches in the pavement.
His eyes, now glowing with cold fury, tried to track the blur zipping around him. But it was hopeless. All he saw was a flash of red lightning and
Mocking laughter.
“You’re not even reacting!” the voice taunted, full of arrogant glee. “Come on, newbie! You’re making this too easy!”
Arthur clenched his fists, muscles tensing as sparks of black shadow tendrils pulsed from his skin.
‘I can’t… even see his movements…’
Another punch slammed him against a steel beam. The world spun.
“You know,” Arthur growled, wiping blood from his lip, “I didn’t expect one of the Syndicate’s heavy hitters right off the bat…”
He steadied himself.
“But I guess Owlman’s not that stupid, so it’s not that unexpected.”
The blur slowed, just enough to take shape, red suit crackling with unstable lightning, twisted grin plastered beneath a half-cowl. It was him.
Johnny Quick.
“Oooh, so you do know us,” Johnny said, hands on his hips like this was a joke. “Before I smear your organs across the pavement… answer me this.”
He vanished, reappearing behind Arthur.
“Who the hell are you?”
BOOM! Another blow to the back of the neck.
Arthur grunted but didn’t fall.
“Hmm… one of Alexander’s new pets?” Johnny mused, zipping in front of him. “No… he’s too soft for the kind of carnage I just saw back there.”
He crouched inches from Arthur’s face, red lightning dancing along his shoulders.
“So tell me, boy… what’s your deal?”
Arthur’s lips curled into a slow grin, even through the assault. Bone cracked. Power pulsed.
DOOMSDAY bone GAUNTLETS erupted from his arms, jagged and snarling.
“I don’t have to tell you anything…” Arthur said darkly.
His voice dropped into a whisper.
“But your shadow… will tell me everything I need to know.”
And then, BOOM.
Arthur slammed both gauntlets into the ground with all his might.
The pavement shattered in a spiderweb blast. A shockwave rippled out in every direction, cracking concrete and ripping through the alley like a quake. Johnny Quick stumbled for the first time, his blinding momentum stalling, just for a moment.
“Tch—what the?!”
That was all Arthur needed.
With a roar, his eyes blazed blue and a crushing force snapped the air, RULER’S AUTHORITY.
Johnny’s body lurched in midair, pulled by an invisible force as if gravity itself had just picked a side. His smirk vanished, replaced by wide, panicked eyes.
“No, NO!”
He vibrated violently, his entire body flickering like a broken light bulb.
Arthur narrowed his eyes, stepping forward, hands clenched.
“Got you.”
“LIKE HELL YOU DO!!” Johnny roared, his body breaking into blur again, phasing through the force and bursting free in a scream of red lightning.
He landed several meters away, panting, furious. For the first time… he looked unsettled.
Arthur straightened, face hard, his silhouette cloaked in shadows, steam, and cracked concrete.
“You felt it, didn’t you?” Arthur said, voice low and certain. “I could’ve ended you just now, you got lucky Johnny.”
Johnny wiped his mouth, eyes burning.
“You’re gonna regret that boy.”
Arthur just smiled.
“How will you do that if you are dying today.”
****
A sonic boom cracked through the city as Johnny Quick blurred into motion, an afterimage of lightning. Arthur stood still in the eye of the chaos, cloak whipping, the concrete beneath his boots spider-webbed from pressure alone.
A punch. Then two. Then twenty, each strike coming from different angles, his jaw, ribs, spine. Arthur stumbled, his hood tearing off completely, face starting to bruise, eyes glowing still trying to track the annoying speedster.
“I gotta admit,” Johnny sneered mid-motion, “you’re tougher than the last poor bastard I had to erase. But you’re still too slow.” He zipped around Arthur, creating a sonic cyclone, dirt and debris lifting in the air.
Arthur’s lips curled, blood dripping from a split lip.
"Maybe..."
He raised a hand.
The air cracked, and three weapons materialized with a storm of dark energy:
The Promethium Sword.
The Demon King Longsword, seeping lightning with each pulse.
The Kryptonite Blade, glowing with that sickly green light.
They floated above and around Arthur, dancing mid-air like predators smelling blood.
Ruler’s Authority.
Invisible tendrils of power surged from Arthur’s body—gripping the blades and propelling them in swift, erratic patterns. A dance of death.
Johnny darted left
The Kryptonite sword nearly shaved his scalp.
And then he veered right
The Promethium blade kissed his shoulder, singeing the suit.
Arthur’s eyes tracked his dodges with frightening calm.
He feigned a slash, throwing the Demon King blade wide to bait Johnny into phasing through it. And Johnny took the bait
“Predictable,” Arthur whispered.
At the exact moment Johnny began to vibrate through the feinting sword, Arthur surged forward, snapping the Promethium Sword at hyperspeed and from behind, an unexpected arc.
It caught Johnny’s side, just enough.
CLANG—SSSK! A graze. A wound.
“AGHH—!”
Johnny skidded, hand to his ribs, a sliver of his suit burned through. “You... bastard!”
Arthur smirked. “What’s the matter? Can’t see the blades coming?”
He raised both arms again. The swords resumed their orbit.
“But you’re not just fighting me.”
BOOM.
The ground shattered.
From a nearby rooftop, a massive shadow leapt down, DOOM descended like an asteroid, slamming both fists into the ground with enough force to crater the street.
Johnny's eyes went wide. “What the hell is that?!”
“Backup,” Arthur said coldly. “Didn’t say I was alone, did I?”
Doom lunged with terrifying speed for his size. Johnny blurred, barely avoiding the monstrous claws. But Doom didn’t stop. He charged, swung, roared, every missed blow causing tremors.
Johnny weaved through Doom’s strikes with stunning agility, delivering rapidfire punches into the beast’s chest and jaw.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
“I’ve fought gods, freak!” Johnny spat. “You’re just an oversized monster!”
As he battered Doom with high-speed strikes, Arthur's swords closed in again, coordinated chaos, flying and slashing like spectral predators.
Johnny ducked, parried, ran up the side of a shattered building, barely evading the Kryptonite blade. One misstep and he’d be bisected.
But Arthur was watching… waiting.
He whispered, “Now.”
Ruler’s Authority latched on—invisible hands pinning Johnny mid-dash.
"What the—?!"
His limbs froze for just a heartbeat.
Arthur blurred forward, cloak flaring, Demon King Longsword in hand. He stabbed clean through Johnny’s side, the blade erupting from his back.
“AGHH—!”
Blood sprayed across the street. Doom stopped, looming, fangs bared.
Arthur leaned in close, twisting the sword. “How long will it take you to heal, I wonder?”
Johnny coughed blood, face contorting with rage and pain. “I’ll… KILL YOU!”
Arthur yanked the sword free, gore splattering, the wound gaping. Johnny tried to stand, knees buckling. Vibrations sparked at his feet.
"No!"
Arthur swung again, trying to end it
But Johnny phased, right through the blade. Then
SHHOOOM!
A flash of red lightning
He was gone.
Not just running.
Into the Speed Force.
Gone.
Arthur spat to the side. “I. Hate. Speedsters.”
Arthur stood frozen. The wind howled through the ruined city. Flames crackled around him. The Swords slowly faded back to his inventory. Doom growled lowly beside him.
The silence was deafening.
He scanned the battlefield, craters, collapsed buildings, shredded concrete. No trace of Johnny.
Just the wreckage they left behind.
Arthur’s voice was low. “Let Owlman know... I’m just getting started.”
From above, a sonic hum tore through the air. A streak of black descended gracefully onto the rooftop beside him.
Galatea, radiant in her commanding presence, dropped to one knee, her hair catching the moonlight.
“Tell him,” she said with reverence in her voice, eyes never leaving the ground.
“My King… I bring good news.”
Arthur’s glowing gaze flicked toward her, wordless.
“I’ve confirmed it. The Syndicate, they’re here, I managed to figure out their names, Owlman. Power Ring. Superwoman. Johnny Quick ...”
She paused, then added with slight triumph,
“No sign of Ultraman. Which means the strongest of them isn’t present.”
Arthur narrowed his eyes slightly. ‘I already know their names...’
“And?”
Her expression dimmed. She looked up, regret etched in her face.
“No sign of Alexander Luthor, I’m afraid.”
A slow exhale escaped Arthur’s lips. Not frustration, just the measured breath of a man used to disappointment. He turned around.
Then his gaze locked on a dark, tall building, specifically a certain window.
His eyes began to glow brighter. An eerie pulse of Ruler’s Authority crackled around his fingers.
“And what of you, little spy…” he said, voice low and cutting.
“How long did you think you could hide there?”
Arthur raised his hand sharply, like yanking a thread from the fabric of space. From the darkness of a window ten stories up, a man screamed as an invisible force ripped him through the glass, dragging him across the air and slamming him down hard on the floor before Arthur, Galatea and Doom.
CRACK!
The man coughed, dazed. “Wait—wait! Please!”
Arthur loomed over him, expression unreadable as the bones around his fists clenched.
“Who. Are. You?” he growled.
The man was trembling, eyes darting from Galatea to the glowing blades that hovered like silent executioners behind Arthur’s back. His voice cracked:
“I-I just saw you fight Johnny Quick. I’ve never seen anyone survive a member of the syndicate... let alone push one of them back. You almost killed him!”
Arthur stepped closer. The light in his eyes flared dangerously.
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
The man froze. Then, hands raised in surrender, he gasped
“I’m part of the Resistance! I work for Mr. Luthor, Alexander Luthor! Please, I was just scouting. I didn’t mean to spy on you! We were told to avoid the Syndicate but I saw what you did!”
Silence.
Arthur blinked slowly. The tension melted just slightly.
“…Oh.”
Galatea smirked faintly. “You are in luck little man.”
Arthur lowered his hand, dropping the man unceremoniously.
“Then get up.” he said with a tone like iron drawn from fire.
“Because if you’re telling the truth... then you just found the only monsters this world has left that aren’t with the Syndicate.”
