POV Rio
I walk around the beautiful flower fields. Mars had fully finished terraforming and was fully ready for habitation. The world truly fit the term Gaia World. It was a paradise: green everywhere, fresh water oceans, no predators, fertile black soil, clean air, naturally occurring fruit trees, and fully functioning ecosystems. We had seeded the world with various species, though some had just appeared when my Mother transformed the planet.
Speaking of my Mother, she was still sleeping on Mars in the form of a massive tree, but I expect she may awaken in not that long. A year, maybe two at most. Which isn't much when you have eternity to live. I knew it wasn't a normal slumber. She was changing. Every so often, my Mother would enter such slumbers and reawaken with greater power and control and even sometimes slight cosmetic changes. Thanks to that history, I knew that she would sleep for maybe a year or two.
It had only happened once when I was a child, and it was really early on, like when I was only a year old, so I was taken care of by my aunt. Or whatever you want to call her. She supposedly changed a lot back then to be more humanoid and able to care for me. I don't really remember much from that time, as elf babies aren't the most aware.
Once I was done exploring Mars and was confident that colonization could begin, I returned to Earth. There had been something that I had been putting off for far too long. I knew where Paradise Island was and how to enter it, but I had avoided opening that can of worms. I was at least 98% sure that it wasn't like the island from DC, as nowhere does it say men can't live on the island; in fact, many males live there, as it is a reserve for magic creatures that lost their homes to human habitation. Of course, not everyone was permitted to live there. You had to pass some sort of test to be allowed to stay there. No idea what sort of test it was, as none of my sources say.
'Probably some magical NDA, since there are no records of being killed if you fail.'
Regardless of the situation, I knew I had to deal with that place eventually. It's not that they are a threat, not even close; they have made their stance clear, and they stay out of basically all major events. They could honestly be completely ignored for the most part as we stay out of each other's way. No, the reason I had to go there was the leader of the island. Hippolyta.
Now I could say with almost certainty that she wasn't the Hippolyta from DC. At least not the real one. But at the same time, I knew she was quite strong and had been ruling Paradise Island for over a thousand years. Even the Asgardian Royal Library had records on the island and the fact that Odin forbade anyone from entering Paradise Island without approval. There was a sort of treaty with them.
This Hippolyta was strong enough that even Kamar Taj didn't enter without permission, even if they had helped build the island. Or, I suppose, expand it; the records were a bit vague on that part. Santa also didn't make stops there. But the one thing that all the records made very clear was a simple fact that Hippolyta had the gift of clairvoyance. It was said that she had made a library of everything she had seen with her gift, and it made it the most accurate historical record on Earth. I wanted access to that record, and possibly her help in finding a troublesome individual hiding on Earth.
There were very few dangerous villains left on Earth. They were in no particular order: Kingpin, Trask, Agatha, Taskmaster, Shocker, Bullseye, and Tombstone. If you count Limbo, you can add Kaecilius. Both Kaecilius and Agatha are in the wind, and I can't keep track of them. I at least know for certain that Kaecilius is in Limbo, but that is about it.
Kingpin was currently serving a life sentence in prison after I gathered all the evidence I needed to put him away for good. Taskmaster, Bullseye, and Tombstone are all in Russia under the protection of the Russian Government. Shocker hadn't done much in the way of crimes, as he had just barely started his career in villainy before getting thoroughly thrashed by an upset Luke Cage. The man was in the hospital for several months after that beatdown, and that was enough for him to give up the normal villain path; instead, he got hired by Trask for security purposes.
Trask was a villain, and I wanted him in prison for what he and his family had done over the years, but technically what he did wasn't illegal, and what was illegal was waved away by the World Security Council. They were the ones funding his and Dr Kavita Rao's research. They were working towards making the Sentinel Project. Normally, I would have said to hell with it and killed them all, but they were making basically no progress without Ms Darkholmes' DNA. If anything, all they were making were cool robots with some halfway decent technology.
I already had plans to deal with them. Heck, I had a plan to deal with basically every threat on the planet all at once. But I wanted to deal with a few thorns that could cause some issues.
'I'll deal with that island later. For now, let's focus on the ritual.'
I had made a body for Zarathos to inhabit, and he was quite pleased with it. It really wasn't that interesting. I basically just stole the Silver Samurai Armor from Ichirō Yashida. Doing so was actually really easy. The old man was a very old-fashioned man. All I had to do was get Emperor Akihito to send a personal letter reprimanding him for losing his honor and planning to betray his savior, and the old man dealt with himself. There is only one way to reclaim your honor, so he committed seppuku and thus restored his family's honor. He left everything to his granddaughter.
His son then tried to seize the company despite what the will stated, and the internal fighting led to a lot of deaths and the selling of the company to Wayne Enterprises. The armor was misplaced during the conflict, so I stole, I mean Strategically Transported the Equipment to an Alternate Location.
Now the armor was practically useless to me. But that was fine, as I now had a use for it. With a lot of enchanting and a bit of a redesign, I was able to make the armor into the perfect vessel for Zarathos. All that was left was to prepare a good ritual location and gather some valuable ingredients to use to ensure it all went according to plan.
Timeskip...
As the magic fades, I slowly lower myself to the ground. I was sweaty but not insanely exhausted. Yes, the ritual was not easy, but I had enough experience and knowledge that it wasn't too bad.
"Hmm, you have fulfilled your end of the bargain," Zarathos says as he moves his now-shifted armor.
He had changed the armor to look pretty similar to his comic counterpart. A red skeleton surrounded by blue fire with silvery armor covering most of his body.
"Where will you go now?" I ask as I make sure Johnny Blaze is stable.
"Hmm, I think I will start my justice with the Shi'ar Empire. I can practically sense the sins from here. It will also give me a good challenge," Zarathos comments.
"Hmm, very well. Do you want help getting there, or will you drive there?" I ask him.
"I would appreciate any assistance you can give me to get there sooner," Zarathos replies.
He had mellowed out quite a bit in recent times; my guess was this was how he showed he was happy or relieved to be free. That and he may just like me more.
"Sure, I can send you to a star system with a populated planet, one on the smaller side so you have time to adjust to your new body," I offer.
He nods in thanks, and I open a portal to the planet in question.
"Thank you for... Everything. You are a strange immortal, but one with a good heart. I'm sure you can finish what I started here on Earth," Zarathos says knowingly as he walks through the portal.
"Heh, how long did you know?" I ask.
"That you aren't what you seem? I've suspected it for a while. Your disguise is perfect, but your immunity to my abilities was too coincidental. Rest assured, I will speak of this to no one," Zarathos comments.
"Hmm, thanks, and good luck. I truly do wish for your success. I have seen what a world without someone like you is like, where justice isn't served and where evil is allowed to get away with crimes that should have them tortured in the darkest pits of hell. I can only hope they got their penance eventually," I say with unfiltered disgust as I think back to my first life and the scum on that list.
"Justice comes for us all. Be calm knowing that even without an angel of vengeance, they will face their penance. Whether it is in this life or the next. Nobody escapes Judgement," Zarathos says with a voice that feels almost ethereal.
The portal closes, and I think back on my life so far. I had done good, but there was still more to be done. I pick up the still unconscious Johnny Blaze and teleport to the Watchtower so he can get a through check up. Then I went back to my plan.