Beyond the Limit (DC)

 | Thanagar - August 29

All Joseph could think about as he plummeted through the upper atmosphere of Thanagar at over 400 miles per hour—his limbs ragdolling from the force of Despero's punch—was how stupid he'd been not to immediately ask M'gann or Martian Manhunter for help after gaining psychic abilities.

After gaining his psychic absorption and sealing ability and noticing his psychic presence had shrunk and that even trained telepaths couldn't detect his surface thoughts, he assumed he was untouchable. When Queen Bee's influence failed to affect him, it only confirmed his delusion. He'd stopped developing, convinced that his mind was now an impenetrable fortress when he'd only had these abilities for less than two weeks.

But Queen Bee had always been second-rate. Her power was rooted more in pheromones and seduction than true psychic warfare. The Martians had probably held back out of respect—unwilling to probe a mind that resisted, especially if it meant hurting him.

Despero didn't have that kind of restraint. He was a true psychic juggernaut. And Joseph, for all his might, had walked into the fight with his mental defenses made of glass.

The blow that had sent him spiraling wasn't just physical—it had been layered with psychic force, a spear through his consciousness. His body was numb. His thoughts scrambled. But Joseph wasn't the type to die screaming through the sky.

He clenched his teeth and took control.

The intense heat of atmospheric reentry built around him, flames licking at his body, but he embraced it. Absorbed it. The Nova Force pulsed within him, wrapping him in a golden-white aura. His anti-gravity field surged against the pull of Thanagar's gravity, grinding his freefall to a halt midair.

But Despero was already on top of him.

The Kalanorian warlord slammed into Joseph again, his grin feral and body wreathed in flames of atmospheric heat. Joseph felt his ribs buckle from the hit, his lungs struggling to recalibrate. That one had hurt. Bad.

'If I take a few more of those, I won't be standing.'

Despero came in for another strike, but this time Joseph juked left, slipping just past the path of the punch. In a burst of light, he looped behind Despero and hammered him downward with both fists, sending a sonic boom rippling through the sky. Despero's descent accelerated, but Joseph wasn't done.

He widened his anti-gravity field and locked Despero mid-fall, suspending him in the air just long enough to swoop in with another devastating double-fist slam—this time his gauntleted fists flared with concentrated Nova Force, gold igniting on impact. Despero howled as he was launched downward like a comet, a trail of fire marking his path.

Joseph didn't waste the opportunity. He yanked two Gordanian carrier ships that had recently come through the planetery shield from nearby with his anti-gravity control, ignoring the throb in his skull, and hurled them after Despero like missiles.

The mountains of Thanagar were now in view—jagged ridges and sharp plateaus rising from the planet's surface. They had a few minutes until impact at the rate they were descending.

Despero's telekinesis surged to life, catching the ships before they hit him and sending them back toward Joseph. But Joseph didn't flinch. He extended both arms and, fists glowing, punched through the hulls like they were wet paper. Green Gordanian blood splattered through the air before vaporizing against his blazing aura.

Despero responded with a barrage of thermal blasts—ribbons of red-hot energy that screamed toward Joseph. He dodged, feeling the heat brush past him. One beam struck a Thanagarian patrol ship nearby and warped its Nth metal plating like it was wax under a blowtorch.

'This guy is dangerous. Strength. Durability. Regeneration. Telepathy. Telekinesis. Thermal projection. A perfect counter to me.'

Joseph retaliated with twin beams of white-gold Nova Force from his eyes, carving through the sky and slamming into Despero's chest. The impact flared, searing flesh from his body, and Despero howled—but his regeneration was already kicking in.

Enough playing around. Joseph locked eyes with the alien warlord and tried to pull them both into the Dream State.

Despero laughed as his third eye opened briefly.

"Do you think your meager attacks will work on me?" he sneered in Interlac, his voice dripping contempt even as he plummeted.

Joseph's eyes narrowed, energy coiling around him. "We'll see who's laughing when I'm done with you."

"I look forward to it," Despero said, smile widening. "You've caught my interest from the beginning of your battle, great warrior. I won't rest until your head is mounted on my wall."

Joseph clenched his fists, Nova Force building until it buzzed in his ears like a storm trapped in a bottle. Despero could be injured—he'd proven that. The trick would be hitting him with something so massive, so final, that even his freakish healing factor couldn't keep up.

Despero charged. Joseph did the same.

They collided in midair, fists colliding in a blast of light that turned the sky orange.

They exchanged blows, a storm of fists and energy. Despero's power was brutal, each strike carrying the weight of dozens of tanks. But Joseph was faster, more precise. His martial arts training let him weave through Despero's attacks while landing burning punches of his own. Coating his Nth metal gauntlets in Nova force had let him withstand some of the heat of Despero's blazing fists.

But Despero adapted quickly. Realizing he was being outmatched in combat speed and form, he did what a true psychic would: he cheated.

Another psychic spike stabbed into Joseph's mind like a needle to the brain. He saw static. Pain bloomed across his skull. His defenses strained. His muscles tensed involuntarily.

Despero capitalized.

His fist, now cloaked in searing red thermal energy, slammed into Joseph's side.

Joseph didn't even feel himself black out. One moment, he was upright. The next, he was tumbling uncontrollably toward the jagged Thanagarian mountains, blood trailing from his lips, Nova energy flickering like a dying flame.

Despero wasn't done.

With telekinetic precision, he halted Joseph mid-fall, holding him in the air like a ragdoll. Joseph groaned, fighting through the fog of unconsciousness.

"Let's see how you like it," Despero growled.

His fists came together above his head, twin hammers of thermal power. They descended in a blur of motion, striking Joseph's spine with a boom that echoed across the sky.

Pain detonated in Joseph's back, bright and white and paralyzing. He roared in agony as he was driven down once more, smashing through a floating rock spire and cratering the base of the mountain with his body.

The dust hadn't even cleared before Despero landed on the ridge above him, looming like a god of war. His armor was gone. His chest already healed from the burns. Blood dripped from his mouth—but he was smiling.

"You're strong, warrior. But not strong enough."

Pushing himself up from the rubble, Joseph could only groan.