The Justice of a Tech-Priest
is a Warhammer 40,000/Young Justice (2010) Crossover by TheBadPanda. Much like The Inquisitor, it is based on Lord-of-Change's Death Korps of Justice (and made with his permission), but it does something different and establishes itself as such from the start.
A Tech-Priest named Cardsharp pursues a rogue Imperial soldier named Callig through a chaos portal, and ends up on 21st-century Earth. After a venomous first meeting with the Justice League, Cardsharp realizes that Callig plans to destroy "Holy Terra" before the Imperium of Man comes into being, thus erasing it from existence. When Callig makes his move and the Justice League is forced to respond, they have no choice but to take Cardsharp with them, unaware that things will soon spiral out of their control.
It currently stands at 19 chapters.
The Justice of a Tech-Priest provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Klarion knows all about the Imperium of Man in this story, whereas in Death Korps of Justice, he didn't seem all that knowledgeable about it.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: This is the official position of the Cult Mechanicus towards artificial intelligence. Once he meets Red Tornado and learns he's a robot, Cardsharp's immediate reaction is to try to kill him.
- Alternate Universe: Because the fic was written before Outsiders was announced there are important divergences from canon. The most notable are that Cyborg is part of the Justice League before the Team was founded and that Ma'alefa'ak is a high ranking general in the Martian military.
- And I Must Scream: The Skitarii are criminals that Cardsharp captured and tortured into becoming his enforcers.
- Asshole Victim:
- Being turned into a servitor is a terrifying fate, thus it is only reserved for the vilest of criminals, such as pedophiles and rapists.
- Nobody sheds a tear when Batman kills the Joker.
- Big "NO!": Calig's last words when his relic is destroyed and mutated into a Chaos Spawn.
- Blackmail: Following the Roanoke Island incident, Cardsharp breaks into the Batcave, takes Robin and Alfred hostage, hacks into the Bat computer, steals every scrap of information contained therein, and uses it to force the Justice League to sign a treaty guaranteeing that they will leave him alone.
- Klarion also subtly threatened Vandal Savage by telling him that if he (Klarion) were to tell everything about himself to Savage and the Light, then Savage must tell everyone about his "Scandals".
- Break the Badass: The forces of Chaos seem to specialize in this, as the Justice League—especially Batman—can attest.
- Breaking the Fellowship: The aftermath of the Roanoke Island incident causes several League members to leave. Aquaman returns to Atlantis, Batman returns to Gotham, the two Green Lanterns are recalled to Oa and replaced by alien Lanterns who are neutral towards Earth, and Martian Manhunter is imprisoned on his home planet for interfering with his brother's attempted invasion of Earth.
- Broken Base: In-Universe, the Justice League, particularly Flash, and Robin, are hurt and devastated that Batman would keep extensive files on how to defeat them and even their pressure points while refusing to even apologize for it.
- Broke Episode: After coming to an agreement with the Justice League, Cardsharp goes to Detroit which is suffering from the Great Recession which has gone worse in the Young Justice universe as major automative companies like Ford and General Motors were liquidated or absorbed into Wayne Enterprises, Queen Industries, Lex Corp etc.
- Christmas Episode: Chapter 12 which is divided in Two Lines, No Waiting storylines. The first one sees the homeless that Cardsharp gave shelter to offer the Tech-Priest an analog clock which had long been extinct in his time period. The second storyline deals with Batman killing the Joker
- Colony Drop: Cardsharp resort to dropping the Watchtower on weakening the Warp tear.
- Costume Evolution: Played for Drama: After being almost killed by Cardsharp, Dick Grayson's Robin costume incorporates a helmet which protects him from skull fracture. It also serve as a Shout-Out to Red Hood.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Being forced to Mercy Kill Catwoman hits Batman so hard that he drops all niceties when it comes to crime-fighting from then on, such as making open death threats and killing the Joker after (unintentionally) injuring a hostage to get to him.
- Dead Man's Switch: Cardsharp built a back up plan that if he was killed, the information on the Justice League's secrets will be automatically release to the public.
- Death Seeker: Catwoman begs Batman to kill her so that Slaanesh's minions can't get their hands on her. When he realizes that there is truly no way he can save her, he complies.
- Enemy Mine: Klarion teams up with the Justice League during the battle of Roanoke Island because he doesn't want his masters to destroy Earth.
- Fantastic Racism: Unsurprisingly, Cardsharp is not enthused with the Justice League for having alien and magic-using members, and most especially towards Red Tornado, whom he eventually (and un-regrettably) destroyed him during the battle of Roanoke Island.
- Unfortunately to be developing in humanity's views on aliens following the aftermath of the battle of Roanoke Island, as the human members of the United Nations are growing irritated with their arrangement with the Martians and tired on relying the Green Lantern Corps to maintaining the peace. The Martians, on the other hand, are likewise prejudiced towards humans which is exacerbated from learning about the Imperium of Man.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: After Cardsharp exposes his contingency plans to kill off the rest of the Justice League should any of them go rogue, Batman's name is basically mud amongst his former comrades, bar Superman.
- Hero Killer: Cardsharp kills Red Tornado by conveniently trapping him on the Watchtower and piloting the station to crash into the Warp tear during the battle of Roanoke Island.
- Horrifying the Horror: Klarion in this story is a Chaos Daemon from the Warhammer 40,000 universe and for his own good reasons chose to flee to the Young Justice universe. When the Roanoke incident happened, Klarion immediately sided with the Justice League and even gave up his pursuits of the Helmet of Fate to Zatara in closing the Warp tear.
- Humanity on Trial: Earth is put on trial by the Guardians of the Universe on whether it should be destroyed as the planet pose a potential risk of another Chaos incursion and/or if Earth would be destined to become the Imperium of Man. Eventually, all parties agreed that Earth should not be destroyed due to insufficient evidence to justify its destruction, and instead the planet is subjected to regular monitoring and official contacts between Earth and Mars.
- Another way of looking at this for the readers is what the Guardians' true reasoning is. As any species could be a Chaos vector but humanity is the only one Chaos believes it must destroy and potentially fears. So...why would the Guardians consider destroying humanity? Suspicious.
- It is also suspicious that the Guardians worry about humanity becoming the Imperium of Man even though the only hostility from the Imperium was born of the aliens all trying to murderize or enslave humanity. Just think on it.
- I Warned You: Prior to the beginning of the story, Vandal Savage, using an alias, had been collecting Chaos artifacts, all while ignoring Klarion's repeated insistence that he should destroy them. After the Roanoke Island incident, Klarion calls him out on this.
- Ignored Expert: Cardsharp explains to the Justice League that there is no happy ending to dealing with Chaos, and that they can either lose small or lose big in order to contain it. They don't listen, with disastrous results.
- Among the Light, Klarion is the only one who understands how dangerous Cardsharp is, but his colleagues ignore his warnings that the boy should be eliminated.
- Killed Off for Real: Red Tornado, Selina Kyle and Kent Nelson die in the battle of Roanoke Island.
- Mercy Kill: Batman is forced to slit Catwoman's throat to prevent her from being tortured to death by Slaaneshi daemons.
- Mind Rape: The Justice League is subjected to their worst nightmares, courtesy of the Chaos daemons summoned by Callig. Only the Flash and Wonder Woman remain unshaken from the experience.
- Mundane Object Amazement: Cardsharp received an analog clock as a Christmas present in which he regard it as a rare and valuable timepiece in the eyes of the Adeptus Mechanicus from his time period.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Klarion immediately loses all of his playful charm and becomes very dead serious whenever there is any Chaos-related matters and anything related to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. When learning Cardsharp is building his Cult Mechanicus in Detroit, Klarion unhesitatingly demand to the Light that they must eliminate the Tech-Priest as quick as possible and even chide his colleagues for not taking his warnings seriously.
- Pet the Dog: Few, if any of Cardsharp's supposedly charitable acts are motivated by altruism, but when the homeless people he sheltered give him an analogue clock as a Christmas present, he is legitimately touched and sincerely thanks them for it.
- Despite his initial discomfort, he gradually hugs back John when the meet again and relents his healing other victims of the bus crash that maimed him and others.
- Room 101: The process of being turned into a Skitarii is conducted in a room like this, with Orwellian results.
- Sadistic Choice: After Martian Manhunter informs his people about the Imperium, Mars decides to invade Earth to keep that from occurring. If the Justice League steps aside, Earth gets destroyed; but if they help fight off the invasion, humanity will be gripped by xenophobia, thus hastening the Imperium's creation. They manage to Take a Third Option, but tensions are still there.
- Even better, it was made clear that the only reason the Imperium kills aliens (even then only the hostile ones...usually) is that the aliens keep trying to kill or enslave humanity. The Martians' reaction to the mere possibility of their own future destruction was to give humanity every justification to exterminate them in the future. The Guardians of the Universe were not amused by their stupidity.
- The Stations of the Canon: The fic starts approximately five or six months before "Independence Day". However the stations are becoming very different as Kent Nelson is dead, the Justice League is broken up and Batman has reject the Thou Shall Not Kill rule.
- Stupid Crooks: While on route to jail, Thomas loudly boasts to other cops that he will be out in no time and that his abused girlfriend won't testify against him. This is before they find out that the cop he shot died of his injuries and Thomas cruelly relishes in the fact. All this gives them more reason to hand him over to the Skitarii.
- The Unapologetic: After it is revealed to the Justice League that Bruce kept extensive information and countermeasures on every hero and villain, even his sidekick Robin, it is made clear that he does not actually regret creating all those files. He seems to be mostly sorry about the outcome and consequences after Cardsharp exposed him. Needless to say, Robin and the Justice League are disgusted by this and further alienates him.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Averted. Batman is forced to Mercy Kill Catwoman, and later kills the Joker. At the tail-end of the battle of Roanoke Island, Wonder Woman kills Callig.
- The law requires the Mad Hatter, Tweedledum and Tweedledee to be put on trial, even if that will likely result in them just being sent to Arkham and escaping. Cardsharp gets a policeman to agree that it would be better if, hypothetically, they disappeared and are never seen again, but still alive. So he subjects them to Servitude Imperialis.
- Underestimating Badassery: The Justice League completely underestimate Cardsharp, and they pay dearly for it.
- The Martians and Guardians of the Universe underestimate humanity. We're talking about a species who has a tiny force of superheroes who defeats literal space gods and their armies. On Earth, there are many supervillains who individually can challenge the entire Justice League as well as heroes who could wipe out Mars (like a certain Lord of Order or Lord of Chaos, perhaps). On top of this is the fact there are many rich genius like Lex Luthor who could probably exterminatus Mars on their own and can even rival the likes of Superman with technology. Basically, the Martians never really had a chance.
- Villainous Breakdown: Calig gets distracted by Cardsharp and his Chaos relic is destroyed by Wonder Woman, causing the former Imperial Guardsman to freak out in a series of Big "NO!" as his body is mutated into a mindless Chaos Spawn before he is finally slain by Wonder Woman.
- Villain Respect: Klarion gives a moment of respect to Kent Nelson before the latter dies from his exhaustion in the battle of Roanoke Island. He and Nabu even part ways by agreeing that they will settle their battle on another time.
- You Can't Go Home Again: While it is possible that Cardsharp can return to his reality through Doctor Fate/Nabu's magics, the sorcerer strongly refused to do so because this will pose the risk of bringing another Chaos incursion or any other threats to invade the Young Justice universe. Cardsharp's status is ultimately ordered by the Guardians of the Universe to be permanently remain on Earth at all costs.
