A little less than a week ago, a friend and me were having an arguement
over whetther a certain superhero who shall remian nameless could be
imprisoned for a lengthy period of time without being killed. This set me to
thinking, and I had a real cool idea that I HAD to get down right away. So I
put my other stuff on hold (My apologies, Richard; I'll get it to you
eventually, I swear!) and put this thing together. I don't know how good it
is, but you guys be the judge.

Oh, and if you can't guess who it is by the end of the prologue, there is
something wrong with you.


Prologue.

Tokyo, Japan.
An unoccupied development site.
Unspecified date in the late Twentieth Century.

"Sir? Final reports in from the last team. All systems are go. The radiation
count is registering in the nominal range."

"Are you certain about that?"

"Yes, sir. If you'd like to check the measurements personally..."

"No, that's quite all right. If you're wrong... well, I trust I've provided
enough incentive to make sure you aren't, hmm?"

(gulp) "Ah... umm....  no, sir. I mean, yessir. I mean-"

"I know what you mean, boy. Now go. Get out of here."

"Eh? But sir..."

"I said leave. The system is fully automated, and besides, this is between me,
and him. Go. Wait in the chopper, and cue the startup of the combat sequence
when it's time. I'll activate the final components from here."

"Yes sir. But how will I-"

"You will. Just keep watching the sky; he always liked to make an entrance."

*   *   *

Sigh. Another one of these. Sometimes I wonder why he even bothers anymore. I
always win. That's my job; I'm one of the good guys. We always win.

Standard drill. (I can't believe I've done this often enough to have a
standard drill for it.) Make a couple passes over the area. Doesn't LOOK like
any kind of manufacturing center for weapons of mass destruction, and I've
totaled enough of those over the years to have a pretty good idea of the
appearance. Still, I'd better check it out. My intelligence is generally
pretty good about stuff like this, and if there is anything untoward going on,
I'd best nip it in the bud.

Well, I might as well touch down. Go in on foot fro- what the?

Oh, trying to blind me with a searchlight. Let's see, touch of the old heat...
takes care of that. Maybe the melted glass can be recycled. 

Looks like I'm expected...

Swell. Yet another gauntlet 'o death.  The human guards are no problem, and
I've wasted enough androids in my time. This isn't any diffe-

Oh! A laser cannon. Big one, too. That tickles; probably could have leveled a
few city blocks. The mini-tanks are nice. I should probably capture one for
study.

Through the walls... and I'm in. Let's see, a big empty warehouse? Protected
by some of the most advanced technology on the planet? I think not. Let's see
what the floor is hiding...

Okay, hidden underground passage. Down I go.

Nice tunnel. Clean, well-lit, rat free. Pleasant change from some of the
third-world countries I've been in.

Punch through the steel door... Ah! A lead lined room. I AM expected. Let's
see what he's hiding... some kind of smaller lead box here in the center. This
must be what they didn't want me to find. Nuclear warhead? Anthrax? Some kind
of fancy prototype death-dealing machine? Let's find out.

A rock. A green rock. A green, _glowing_ rock...

OH NO.

*   *   * 

<Sir, he's found the initial sample...>

"I am aware. Now get off this radio channel. This is a private matter."

"Yes, sir."

On the outer fringes of the now totaled development site, hidden in a kind of
semi-bunker, a lone man hunched over a control station. He gazed at another
man, a man in a lead-lined room, on a remote video feed. 

The man at the controls smiled grimly. *All too easy,* he thought. He twisted
a knob and pressed a button. The button activated a loudspeaker. The knob did
something else entirely.

In the lead lined room, the other man was preparing to blast through the
ceiling and head for the stratosphere... when the lead walls suddenly slid
back, revealing layer upon layer of shiny, glowing green rock. The man gasped
in horror, and staggered backwards as wave after wave of lethal energy came
pouring into the chamber.

"It's not easy to synthesize, you know," came a voice over the concealed
loudspeaker. "Takes years. Costs a fortune. Not without fringe benefits,
however; this particular version is considerably more potent than in the
natural state."

The man in the chamber shook his head, trying to clear it. *Blast! I let him
lure me right into his trap... I should've known!!! It was too easy to get
here!*  He stumbled, feeling his power being rapidly leached away. *If I get a
good... running... start.... I might be able to punch through a wall...* He
readied himself for a last-ditch, all or nothing strike... when he felt
something prick his left arm.

Turning his head, he saw a small robo with a syringe depress the plunger, and
a lime green liquid flow from the needle into his body. He gasped as pure
flame seemed to course through his veins. 

"Oh, did I mention that I managed to develop the ore in a liquid state as
well? And that I adapted that liquid state into a special kind of toxin?"

"Nnnggghhhh...." the man collapsed into a ragged heap on the floor. Dimly, he
was aware of other automated devices strapping things to his legs and arms,
and felt himself being slid onto his back on some kind of metal support
platform.

"I could kill you now, you realize. You've been sapped of enough strength. My
remote drones could snap your neck quite easily."

"You can't... kill me..." the man on the platform wheezed.

"Oh, I most certainly can. But then I thought, where's the sport in that? No,
I want you alive. And you'll stay that way, too; the bio-bed you're strapped
into will monitor your condition and allow your body to be exposed to just
enough radiation to keep you in a state of semi-consciousness without killing
you. It will see to all other needs neccessary to keep you among the living as
well."

The voice on the loudspeaker suddenly adopted a hard, cruel edge. "Consider
this a reward for all the trouble you've ever caused me. You should lead a
long, long life, there in that room, always knowing that, at the last, you
lost. And I won."

"You can't... do this!! My friends... will come for me!!!" 

"I think your friends will be busy. I have plans for them as well, and they
aren't nearly as nice as the ones for you. I'm beginning my most ambitious
corporate takeover ever, you see, and I don't want them interfering. In fact,
I really must be going. Ta." The loudspeaker clicked off.

"No... it won't end.. like this!!!! You can't just... leave me like this!!! I
won't let you!!!!!!! LUTHOOOOOOOR!!!!!!!!!!"

*   *   *

"LUTHOOOOOOOR!!!!!!!!!"

"My, he didn't take that well at all, did he?" said the man in the control
room as he shut down the audio feed. Exiting the bunker, he made his way at a
brisk walk to a chopper waiting a couple thousand yards away.

"Well, that went better than I thought it would," he said as his aide assisted
him in. "I was half expecting him to thwart me yet again. So, who's next on
our little hit parade?"

"Ummm...." The aide took a moment to check a clipboard. "That would be Mr.
West, sir."

"Excellent. And the operation against Mr. Hawke?" 

"Without a hitch, sir. The authorities will discover the body shortly."

"Good, good. Get us out of here, then."

"Yes, sir."

The chopper rose into the night sky. Turning, it whirled away from the final
resting place of one of the mightiest people Earth had ever known.

At least, that's what was assumed...

End Prologue.


Lunatic Fringe Fanfic Productions is proud to present....

BGC: When Giants Walked the Earth.
-by Mercutio.

Copywrite 1998, Matthew Giglia.

"And this space,
that which they call "Terra"...
was of a form most rare and mysterious...

Especially those surface projections,
"Humanoid" by label,
which engaged ceaselessly in the most
remarkable behavior..."

-from "The Space Diaries of Greenpeace Crolis."


"Every year they grow smaller. Every year they hate us more."

-anonymous quote overheard during the U.S police acion at Corto Maltese.

Chapter One: Regenesis.

Megatokyo, Japan.
An unoccupied Genom development site.
14 August, 2034.

"Dammit, Sylia," yelled Priss as she pivoted neatly, bringing her Leg Bomber
in contact with the Bu-12B's face, completely mangling the thing. "I thought
this was supposed to be a simple strike-and-run op against a small group of
C-55's!!! Instead we find of mixed bag of some of Genom's most advanced units!
What the hell is this?"

"It looks," Sylia replied in that maddeningly calm voice of hers, as she
neatly parried several attacks with her vibro weapons, "like we've been set
up."

"NANI?" Linna cried as she leapt away from her group of assailants with her
trademarked backflips. "This is all your fault, Nene! If you'd done a better
job hacking the data that got us this mission, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"It is not my fault! Blame Sylia, she accepted this contract!" Nene, as usual,
was attempting to avoid death while waiting for her EMP cannons to recharge.
"Besides, we're holding our own. Things could be worse!"

Twelve more Boomers chose this moment to arrive via jump-jet, their presence
hidden until the last minute because they had come in with the setting sun at
their backs.

"Next time keep your big mouth shut, Nene."

"Be quiet, Priss."

*   *   *

Genom Tower.
Office of the Chairman.


The normally sparse area, generally occupied only by the large oaken desk that
was one of the Chairman's few affectations, today was a bustle of activities.
It was jam-packed with technicians and computer equipment, and the large
viewscreens occupying the south wall were showing the results of a battle
taking place far across the city. Through the  panoramic window on the room's
west wall, the golden-red ball of the setting sun provided a ruddy
illumination over the scene.

"Give me a status report."

"Wave One has been 75% destroyed or disabled, sir. Wave Two arriving now,
waves three thorough seven standing by. It won't be long now."

"Good, good. The plan is proceeding precisely on schedule. Excellent work,
Miss Madigan."

Chairman Quincy slowly paced the room, using his cane for support. He would
stop periodically to survey this readout or that visual, most of them showing
four women in hardsuits battling heroically against a swarm of Genom-made
Boomers. He let out a slightly wistful sigh.

"Do you know, Miss Madigan, I rather enjoyed having them around. It reminded
me of the old days; a real challenge, a genuine threat, something to take
seriously. Made the game enjoyable again."

Kate Madigan listened intently. She was one of the few people the Chairman
trusted enough to engage in casual conversation like this, she knew, and she
always made sure to pay close attention.

"Too bad it has to end like this, though." Quincy turned from the display he
had been studying to look at the main viewscreen, which was displaying the
battle in life-size, real time images. "But they were growing to serious to
just ignore. Starting to rally public support. Hitting more and bigger
targets. Can't have that. Fortunately, I was always very good at
deathtraps..." At this, Quincy chuckled, as if to some private joke. Then he
paused. He peered closely at the screen. "I thought I ordered this to go down
at site fourteen. That doesn't look like site fourteen."

"Ummm....." Madigan checked her datapad. *Let's see, logistics and planning...
that was...* "Oi! Kousuke!" She called to a nearby technician, a brash young
man with a lot of ambition, who had been a major part of the planning phase.
"This  op was supposed to take place at site fourteen, ne?"

"Yes, ma'am." said Kousuke, leaning up from a nearby terminal. "But site
fourteen is currently being used as a dumping ground for some of our
electronic waste, and the scatterbursts from the residual energy caused Boomer
operations to be made unreliable at best." The up-and-coming employee smiled,
obviously very sure of himself. "So, I took a little initiative and ordered
the plan moved to site three-"

"Site three?" Quincy said. "This-this..." he gestured at the screens, "is
taking place at _site three_?"

"Yes si- AGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kousuke flew backwards across the room, propelled by a powerful backhanded
blow from Quincy's cane. He landed heavily, and his nose was spurting blood,
probably broken. The other occupants of the room turned to stare.  

"YOU'RE FIRED!!!!" Quincy practically screamed, his normally impassive face a
towering visage of rage- and terror. He wheeled to face Madigan. "Miss
Madigan," he said in a voice like ice, but with the power of thunder, "You
have exactly five minutes to order all remaining Boomers in the strike zone
pulled back. I want that area left as undamaged as possible, and a mop up team
set to ascertain that nothing was... disturbed. Your job is on the line here.
Is that clear?"

"Ye- yessir." Visibly shaken, Madigan turned and began yelling orders.
"Transmit the retraction codes on all Boomers NOW!! Igarashi, you handle
deplo-"

"Madigan-sama!" came a voice from one of the consoles. "We're getting some odd
readings from the site!! It looks like some kind of low-level radiation count,
but it's not any kind we have in the database..."

"No..." whispered Quincy, "That could only show on scanners if the chamber was
breached. He can't.... HE CAN'T!"

Perhaps it was time, Madigan thought as she observed the once-rational
Chairman stand trembling from the corner of her eye, to find a new career
path...

*   *   *

In the face of new Boomer reinforcements, the Knight Sabers had been forced
into temporary retreat, deeper into the rubble of the development site. They
were currently dodging in and out piles of scrap, trying to keep the boomers
from getting a solid lock on them.

"If we can hold out for ten more minutes," said Sylia, boosting over a piece
of scrap, "It'll be full dark. We should have more luck then, and," Sylia
paused briefly to switch to another com channel, "Mackie says he can get the
Knightwing here in fifteen minutes."

"If we still have all our original limbs by then!!!!" Priss yelled as she
barely avoided a laser strike, and fired a answering bolt blindly back behind
her. "In case you haven't noticed, things are getting all fuc-"

Just then, a Bu-12B swung out from behind the scrap heap that IT had been
using for cover, and released a volley of missiles at Nene, who screeched and
dodged.

The missiles impacted heavily against the ground. However, instead of the
usual shower of dirt and debris normally thrown up, the Sabers were subjected
to a shower of molten lead slugs and some kind of faintly glowing rock with a
greenish hue. Also, instead of a crater, there was a gaping hole leading into
some kind of subterranean room.

The time of day and position of the hole were suitable enough for the last
light of the setting sun to send a shaft of gold streaming into the hole. It
reached across the intervening space...

And struck a rather haggard looking man strapped down to a metal bed. 

For the first time in many years, the man raised his head. He opened his eyes.

Then he began to pull at his bonds.

*   *   *

Sylia had managed to rally the team together, and they had repositioned
themselves to launch a brief counterstrike before once more pulling pack. They
stood, weapons at the ready, as three boomers came roaring in...

And swept right past them, igniting their jump-jets and going for altitude.

The Sabers stood agog as the scene was repeated all around them, formerly
rampaging and bloodthirsty boomers lifting peacefully off into the sky and
soaring away.

Linna, after putting her eyes back into her head, said, "Now what in the name
of all that's holy could have made them do THAT?"

About then, an explosion rocked the area, sending all four Sabers staggering.
Nearby, something blasted out of the ground.

Something blue carved a swath across the evening sky.

Something leapt Genom Tower in a single bound.
All was quiet for a single, perfect second.

Then, a slight fluttering sound was heard.

A torn scrap of red cloth came drifting down out the sky. reaching out with a
hardsuited hand, Sylia caught it. And looked at it.

"I don't the question is WHAT, Linna," she spoke as she spread the cloth wide,
for all to see, "I think the question is WHO."

On the red cape, there was emblazoned a large, pentagonal S.

End Chapter One.


Authors Lengthy and Annoying Post-Fic Rant: My exact train of thought when
putting this together was "Let's see, Man of Steel... Man of Steel... Woman of
Steel... Women of Steel... women in hardsuits... heyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!"

Don't plan to see any other super-people show up in this thing, though.
they're all dead. Quin- err, Luthor was VERY thorough. Flash? Dead. Green
Lantern? Dead. Aquaman? Dead. Batman? Dead. Martian Manhunter? Dead. Wonder
Woman? Dead. (well, in her case, raped, THEN dead) In short, everybody's dead.
Expect a visit to the meta-humans graveyard.  

I plan to finish this, but not anytime real soon, figure six months at LEAST
before I even get out Chapter Two. Oh, and this isn't even the only BGC/DC
Crossover I have planned: there is another, which I won't say anything about
other than to mention that I think Mackie would make a DAMN fine Boy Wonder.

Oh, and I wish to thank the aforementioned friend of mine for this valuable
advice: 

"When writing Superman, think what Batman would do in the same situation. Then
write the exact opposite."

Sage advice, that.

-Mercutio
"A plague 'a both your houses!"