Ok, after the voting four competitors are left:

Rokk Krinn

pdbeberry

jgonsby

kalel21

The second round challenge can be for any comic universe and can be 1000 words or less.

Your story pitch must either include the redemption of the main villain or the corruption of the main hero.

Voting will start either next Wednesday or when all entries are in.

Good luck, true believers!

Here's mine:

Batman, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Zatanna, Green Arrow and Black Canary stand together against C.C. Saturn--a demonic creature summoned up by human worshipers. The humans thought Saturn would grant them power, but he simply sucked out their life forces and went on a rampage, trashing a section of Gotham City. Saturn back and forth from 7-foot-tall demon form to a Godzilla-sized multi-tenacled monster at will and seems impervious to human weapons.

Batman had called the JLA for help, but most of the more powerful members were on a deep space mission. Still, Zatanna is able to generate a spell that teleports the JLAers inside Saturn, where they can confront his corrupt life force directly.

They all stand in a seemingly endless dimension of floating pathways and spinning balls of searing heat. They make their way carefully along towards an area of pitch blackness. As they approach, monsterous creatures rise up out of the path in front of them. This, Zatanna explains, is Saturn's psychic defense system.

Each creature is designed to read the mind of one specific opponent, thus anticipating that hero's every move. Batman soon deduces this and orders everyone to swith opponents. They do so, then enter the area of darkness.

Here, they are all crippled by a barrage of mental energy. Only Zatanna and Batman manage to stay standing. Zatanna realizes that they can only hold out for a few more moments before their minds are destroyed. Desperately, she improvises a complex spell.

This spell draws Saturn's life force into her own body, then hurls her body into another dimension. Zatanna knows this will corrupt her--once Saturn is inside her, she herself will turn evil. But it's the only way to save her friends. In fact, it's the only way to prevent Saturn from eventually destroying the world.

She speaks the spell. Saturn is drawn into her and she's thrown into a barren, lifeless dimenison. The other JLAers are saved.

But Zatanna, her merging with Saturn having stripped her of all moral values and inhibitions, is already plotting ways to escape from this dimension and use her power to become ruler of the world. Some day, she will make her former friends bow before her as slaves...

1000 words... gah! Why even give a word count if you're not going to enforce it...

Bookmarked for... ??

Out of curiosity, what are we defining as "main" hero in an ensemble title? If, for example, one were using the Scooby Gang can any of them be a "main hero"?

It's pretty much anything you'd want it to be, as long as the character(s) that fall from grace were on the side of good beforehand. If that means Shaggy to you, fine, if it means the whole gang, also fine. I'm pretty open to interpretation.

Can't let Kal be the only one here. Think I'll go with both corruption and redemption:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season Six: The Alternate Tale

Using a tool of Keith Giffen’s – working layouts for this series – we begin with a short recap of Buffy Summers’ career, culminating in her death at the end of Season Five. There’s a shot of her friends around her grave focusing on the words, “She saved the world. A lot.” The following page is an ominous “Five Years Later” and the next regular comic panel is again the tombstone, overgrown with weeds. So begins the first issue of the maxi-series. This issue focuses on finding out what has happened in the five years that Buffy has been gone. Our first “Scooby Gang” sighting is of Dawn – now a young woman – still on the run from the forces of evil (perhaps she gets attacked at a rest stop, we’ll flesh this out); no great surprise is that Spike still protects her – he gave his promise to Buffy and has kept it. The power of the Key is still a great draw meaning Dawn is constantly on the move and it’s revealed she still can’t believe the one who most wishes to utilize that power is someone she trusted so deeply. We learn that Anya was slain during the battle with Glory – the ending of the season left it ambiguous – and that Xander (perhaps missing his eye as would happen in the normal series; he’ll have some sort of battle injuries to emphasize he’s a normal human up against more powerful foes) is obsessed with hunting down demons, vampires and what-have-you. His best ally in this is a strangely sullen Oz – both former jokesters have taken on a rather grim aspect and we know only that while it would be easier for them to side with their main opponent, they feel it’s against the spirit of the Scooby Gang. No sign of Giles in the first issue but the final two pages give us a glimpse of someone in the shadows – not enough to reveal who it is or the situation but enough to show that a spell is being invoked; the caster is obviously mad from his/her ramblings but the energies are invoked and seek out the grave of Buffy. The final shot is Buffy crawling forth from the earth.

The rest of the arc (#2-#4) deals with Buffy learning of the situation of the world and coming across Xander, Oz and their version of the Scooby Gang. Buffy learns that Willow has been missing ever since a failed resurrection attempt and that Tara left to seek her; neither has been seen in years. The big revelation is that Giles’ grief – coupled with everything else of the year leading to Buffy’s death – has pushed him back into Ripper mode. Xander breaks the news to Buffy that the so-called “Scooby Gang” is the closest thing to a Watcher’s Council as Giles destroyed the previous one and has undertaken a totalitarian crushing of “all things evil” though his definition is rather wide and has lead to the world becoming a rather dark place; Giles and his armies “keep things in order”. Working from within – no one suspecting him – Giles was able to use the vast magic resources available to him to slay the few that could stop him (such as Angel) until he became the head of the world’s supernatural forces. The final issue of the arc enables Buffy to learn the truth of Willow’s whereabouts – she has been kept prisoner of Giles (and in her madness uses a comatose Tara as a battery, which enabled her to resurrect Buffy). Giles is the one seeking Dawn for he feels if the world was rewritten once at the behest of the Key than he can use her to undo everything back to the way it was after the battle with the Initiative – a world without Dawn but one where Buffy need not die to protect her sister.

Issues #5-6 involves Buffy’s quest to find Spike and Dawn. The two have been cornered by Giles’ forces and in the course of the two issues we learn that Dawn still has a majour crush on Spike. Spike, however, just sees her as a little sister which frequently drives Dawn to try and strike off on her own – an on-going feud between the two. Spike’s feelings for Buffy are rekindled – but not reciprocated (the variation of the spell used by Willow does not leave Buffy with memories of Heaven or feeling empty) – but in the end he sacrifices himself in battle against Faith, Giles’ main assassin (desperate for approval from a “father figure”, Faith is as devoutly loyal to Giles as she was the Mayor though he sees her as nothing more than a poor substitute for Buffy).

The next three issues are the build-up of forces – sparse though they are – including the crucial freeing of Willow. Crucial to this is Willow realizing what has she has done to Tara; a grieving Willow sets free Tara’s soul whom, in return, heals Willows’ mind but leaves her without magic. Oz leaves at the end of the arc, feeling rebuffed by Willow. Part of the arc also involves Buffy making an alliance with demons and vampires – though they’re mortal foes they realize it’s best to return things to the status quo than allow the Ripper to continue unchecked; thus Buffy cuts a deal to make an army from those she once fought.

The last three issues are, of course, the battle with the Big Bad – Rupert “The Ripper” Giles. Halfway through issue #11 things look bad as Buffy is no match for a fully prepared Ripper; the final dagger is that the majourity of her forces see a chance to be rid of both enemies and turn on Buffy as she battles with Giles. A last minute save happens when Oz returns, having gathered together the last few werewolves that he could find “free” in the world – it was a plan he concocted with Xander (whom has been putting together the group’s “military tactics” for the battle). Information gathered by Xander’s double-agent – Cordelia Chase - reveals that while Giles headed into Ripper-mode on his own, it was the machinations of Ethan Rayne; Rayne was slain shortly after invoking Janus into the form of Giles (bringing forth Giles’ second personality) but his ghost coordinates with Dawn’s energies to create an opening into the true mind of Giles where the essences of Buffy, Xander and Willow confront Giles and help him battle free from Janus. Giles casts away Janus and the end of the arc concludes with the original Scooby Gang together again and working to fix the supernatural aspects of the world.

Why do we have a deadline if we're just going to wait for all entries? Anyway, sorry mine is so late, but my internet connection has been dead the last few days so that's been getting my attention. I'll have it finished by tonight though. Hopefully anyway.

I think he meant that Wednesday was the latest deadline but if everyone got in their entries -prior- to Wednesday he would end the deadline early rather than have us wait.

That was basically it, yeah.

I'll extend the deadline to midnight tonight. After that if it's still just Rokk and Kalel, they'll automatically move on to the final.

Excelsior!

Damn, my illiteracy is finally being exposed. Anyway, here's my story. Personally, I didn't like how it turned out, but whatever. Maybe someone will enjoy it, though I feel like I'm bending the rules slightly. If you take it by surface value alone anyway.

The Task

A dark basement is lit by the glimmer of a TV screen. Taskmaster’s mask sits on a table next to him as he hunkers over the TV. He’s analyzing the latest video of Spider-Man beating down some crooks. A figure appears behind him, his hand nearly touching Taskmaster’s shoulder. “Beat it!” Taskmaster shouts at him, his new apprentice. “Lesson number 7, never lose your cool, remember?” “Whatever Jobnovie.” Taskmaster grunts. “I want a new codename by the way.” Job mutters. Taskmaster ignores him and decides to educate him, taking him through the video of Spider-Man using his favourite desperation move, kicking a gun out of a crook’s hand to save a hostage. Taskmaster makes special note of how he’s never been able to do that in similar situations, that it’s one of the few subtle moves that video tape can’t seem to fully envision. Jobnovice makes a crack about a lack of funds to pay for a shipping bill before he hands Taskmaster a special video that just arrived, Captain American fighting Crossbones.
Stolen from SHIELD, Taskmaster is thrilled to have the video and immediately begins watching it. He tries to show his student the beauty of watching the late Captain America fight, but Job is more interested with the Spider-Man video Taskmaster had set aside. Taskmaster goes on to lecture about how Cap’s moves are the most difficult to use, almost always tailored for his specific opponent. “I’d love to try this stuff out.” Taskmaster cackles as he puts his mask back on. “You could always tackle Crossbones.” Job suggests. “That’s completely idiotic. There’s no profit in taking down that. Plus, he’s a former student, bad for business taking those out.” “Didn’t he help rub out Captain America?” Job asks. “Yeah, the ### is getting primo dollar now too. Lucky bastard.” “You know what would be better for business? Taking out the guy who took out Captain America.” Taskmaster stares at his student. “I knew you were clever enough for these one-on-one lessons.”
Crossbones walks home, a lavish apartment in the classiest part in town. He opens the door to find Taskmaster sitting in his chair, pointed to the door. “Red Skull sure keeps you on a long leash. Was nice of him to get you out of the hole too. Considering how Stark has been acting though, he probably let you out of SHIELD himself.” Taskmaster stands up and casually walks over to Crossbones. “Been a while Brock.” “What do you want?” Crossbones grimaces. “You? It used to be sir.” “You’ve been watching the news. You know my profile has gone up a bit since those days.” “Yeah, it has. I’m curious though, how much better have you really gotten?” The two stare at each other, both completely aware of what’s about to happen. They begin fighting immediately as they feel each other out with a few light attacks. Taskmaster’s mask is twisting into a smile as he tries out some of the moves he’s learned from Cap, executed to perfection against Crossbones, except they’re completely unsuccessful. A long roundhouse hits air and an uppercut is countered. Taskmaster is in shock as each of his moves is countered. “I know those moves Task, you don’t do em justice.” Crossbones counters with several powerful blows, finally dropping a shocked Taskmaster. “Cap knew how to throw a punch with some guts behind it.”
When he wakes up, Taskmaster is shackled to the ceiling of Crossbones’ apartment, his costume untouched. Crossbones makes a crack about not wanting to take away all his dignity. “You’re gonna mess up your place.” Taskmaster huffs. “Don’t worry, I was moving soon anyway.” Crossbones chuckles as he begins to use what few means of torture he has at his disposal. As he works over Taskmaster he’s suddenly struck by an object to the back of his head. He turns to find Jobnovice standing in the doorway. Crossbones laughs as Taskmaster tells him to get out of there. Job followed Taskmaster out of concern and vows to take down Crossbones for his master. Crossbones nearly falls down laughing but readies himself when a frustrated Jobnovie throws himself at him. “Lesson 7, never lose your cool.” Taskmaster sighs. Crossbones beats Job like the amateur he is. With Job completely defeated Crossbones notices the concern in Taskmaster’s body language. He smiles and pulls out a gun kept to the side. “You like this guy, huh? Your new number one?” Crossbones smirks. “Go to hell” “Yeah, you like this one. This’ll be a lot of fun now.” Crossbones laughs as he puts the gun to Job’s head. Taskmaster leans forward in shock before trying the desperation move he had seen Spider-Man do earlier and he kicks the gun out of Crossbones’ hands. “Well damn, it worked.” Taskmaster gasps. Crossbones turns, enraged, and readies to smack Taskmaster around a little more when Job grabs the gun. He turns it on Crossbones and instead decides to free Taskmaster himself, shooting the chains attached to his hands. Taskmaster tries some of those Captain America moves and manages to get through Crossbones’ defences to land several blows. Taskmaster taunts Crossbones as they fight. “Yeah, I bet these look familiar, huh? Guess I just needed a better reason to use em.” Crossbones screams in frustration. “Lesson 7, remember?” Taskmaster chuckles before delivering the final blow to Crossbones.
Later, back at his home, Job asks Taskmaster how he pulled it off. “Usually, my skills are for making cash. Might have been true after I went after him first, but when I saw you there and knew I was fighting for something more then a pay day, I guess it just seemed to click.” “Really? Does that mean you’re gonna start using some of those skills for more then making cash.” Job asks. Taskmaster “Maybe. Haven’t made up my mind yet. Till then though, we won’t be worrying about cash for a while.” The final image is of Taskmaster’s bloodstained card left in Crossbones’ unmoving hands.