Legacy & War (Battle of Nippur)

[Proto Man]

The city burned.

Great pillars of flame and smog twisted above the post-apocalyptic, pre-modern skyline of Nippur. Entire districts of the city lay in smoldering heaps, their once busy streets buried beneath the debris.

For his part, Proto Mouse wandered down one of the less obstructed thoroughfares. During his confrontation with the gilded king, the cyborg had known that battles raged throughout the rest of the city. In his focus on Gilgamesh, he had paid little attention to the rest of the situation as it raged around him. Now he found a scowl embedded across his features as he soaked in the true extent of the devastation.

Accounts spoke of the battle mostly focusing on the struggle between groups of primes. Proto Mouse recognized many of the names—Sinestro, Ganondorf, Gildarts, Victor Wolfe—although a few were new to him. From reports, the majority of the combatants had since fled the city, leaving behind a few fallen primes amid a sea of secondaries caught in the conflagration.

Proto Mouse, wrapped in a cloak, made his way toward the interior of the city. On his way in, he passed a column of refugees shuffling toward the periphery. Up ahead, the street opened up into a town square. A once gleaming palace lay behind a shattered wall and a gate long since blown off of its hinges. The cyborg made his way through the destruction and into the palace. Smoke still hung in the air as he passed over a threshold blown apart by some sort of wayward energy blast.

“Defensive positions!”

The voice rang out as a collection of men in armor wielding crossbows and poleaxes rushed out, forming a loose semi-circle around the cybernetic mouse. For his part, Proto Mouse lifted up his hands and made no aggressive maneuvers.

“I’m looking for who is in charge,” the mouse inquired as he glanced around at the assemblage of soldiers.

From behind the line, someone stepped forward—a man in bronze armor. “Gilgamesh.”

Proto Mouse shook his head. “Who is in charge after him.” To help sell the point, the cyborg presented the sword. “He’s gone.”

“Dead? He’ll be back soon.”

“He’s gone.” The rodent replied. “You need to enact whatever protocols you have to ensure this place doesn’t collapse into the sand.”

The officer in bronze scowled and reached for a sword at his side. “You banished him?”

“If you draw that weapon, you’ll wake up with a really bad headache,” Proto Mouse muttered as he turned and made his way out of the palace.

***

Half an hour later, Proto Man and Mickey Mouse slipped out through a breach in the city wall. Hand-in-hand, the undersized twosome made their trek back through the Dunes in relative silence. In their heads, they each processed the recent battle in their own manner, reflecting on the experience.

“Think we did those people any favors?” Proto Man asked after nearly forty minutes additional minutes of silence. “Or you just think that Lieutenant Despot will just take up the mantle?”

Mickey thought for a moment and let out a soft sigh. “I’m not sure, Bud. This place… the Omniverse… the rules are different here, you know?”

“What you mean?”

“People like you and me,” Mickey started, glancing over at the visor-covered eyes of his friend. “We’re the minority. The whole premise of this place is the pursuit of power, and most of that power is gained through the… the destruction of others. Power through blood.

I mean, do you really think that Sinestro and Roland lead that assault because they’re saints?”

The mouse’s question brought a frown to the android’s face, but try as he might, he couldn’t deny a thing. Sinestro and the others had seemed utterly at peace as they burned and blasted their way through the streets of Nippur.

“This place is terrible.” Proto Man whispered.

When Mickey broke the momentary silence, the former king’s voice was thick with sadness.

“This is not home for heroes.”