Chapter 1: Who Can Take a Sunrise

Helena Bertnelli, the Huntress stood in front of the purple portal, stealing herself to step through. All across the multiverse these portals had appeared, leaving devastation in their wake. Most of the Justice League had gone through, hoping to stop whatever was on the other side and close the portal. None had come back. The remaining heroes, mostly C and D listers by now, tried to stem the chaos, but it was like trying to fight a hurricane. Helena wasn’t sure what help she was going to be against whatever had taken down her friends, but she needed to try something. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and stepped through the portal.

Opening her eyes Helena’s vision was assaulted by color, everything so hyper saturated it hurt to look at. It felt like this world was colored by a child with only a basic eight color box, splashing saturated color wherever they wanted. The sky was bubblegum pink. Flowers of every color of highlighter dotted the landscape, a road of canary yellow stretched out from the portal leading to a vivid violet building.
Helena had expected a hellish landscape of battle and smoke, like Apocalypse or War World; but this? This caught her off guard. Even the smells felt like a child had picked them, sweet cotton candy floated on the wind. Changing to the taste of blue raspberry candy when she inhaled through her mouth. Everything around her was bright, cloying, and sweet? The world seemed so innocent, Helena was tempted to believe it. But she couldn't. She had fought a mad clown who used joy buzzers to kill and a Toy maker who dropped bombs from remote control planes. A world trying this hard to seem safe was the most dangerous of all.

Heading toward the violet building Helena struggled with her nerves. She was prepared for battle, not Candyland. Still maybe she could find a clue to where the others had disappeared to. Approaching the building it became clear it was a factory of some kind, tall smokestacks littered the roof and a large gold gate opened to a red carpet that said “All tour guests welcome but proceed with caution”. Helena took the words to heart. Drawing her crossbow she silently skulked through the halls of the seemingly empty factory.

The farther in Huntress got the more a creeping sense of wrongness slipped into her mind. The factory was beautiful at a glance, wrought gold and purple, but something was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. There was a wrongness in the details,an uncanny valley effect. The walls were just too clean and too short, the air too sweet, the machines hummed just a bit too rhythmically. like they were hiding a secret message or just audio pumped in to cover the sound of screams. It felt like a trap. The maze of hallways ended in a beautiful grand atrium topped with a stained glass dome. Dazzling patterns of color danced on the floor

In the center stood what looked like a man. But again the longer Huntress looked at him the more that feeling of wrongness crept in. He was tall and handsome chiseled from what smelled like chocolate. Clad in a beautiful purple suit he smiled like a hungry predator at Huntress “Greetings,” he said his voice rich and flowing and scented with cocoa “Welcome to my factory, May I have your name?”

“Huntress,” she said.

“Huntress” he repeated, tasting the name in a way that seemed like he found it distasteful. “Very well, Are you here for a tour? This is the finest candy factory in the entirety of Fairie. I supply chocolates to the queen of the Unseelie court itself. And you may call me the Candy Man.”

“The Candy Man?” Huntress said questionly.

“I’m sure you have heard of me! Bards on your plan tell tales of my exploits, such as when I took a sunrise sprinkled with dew and chocolate to the Queen to win her patronage. But enough about me, you are here for the tour!” He said with glee.

“I don't have time for a tour. I’m here to find my friends”

“One and the same my dear! We have had an awful lot of people come through here recently. I'm sure your friends are further ahead enjoying one of the many rooms on the tour”.

He spun on his heel and began to walk down the hall. Huntress followed behind him after a few paces he spun back around “oh where are my manners I forgot about your welcome gift!” He pulled a handful of various candies from a coat pocket. “Here take one.”

Huntress looked at the treats warrily. She knew these treats, like everything else, had to be trapped, but thought it best to play along. If the Candy Man was as powerful as he seemed to be, angering him was not a smart option. Looking at the offered treats she saw a gummy bear, a stick of gum, a bonbon, a lollipop and a milk dud. For some reason the gum seemed to call to her and stuck it in her mouth with a polite “Thank you”.

The Candy Man grinned even wider and more predatory “You are very welcome Huntress” before turning again and heading off.

As he did Helena caught sight of the one thing that was distinctly non-human about him, his ears were long and pointy like an elf or a vulcan.

Helena followed the Candy Man away from the atrium feeling a warmth flooding her body soft and soothing the way a comfort meal of grilled cheese and soup dulled the senses and encouraged relaxation. She found herself almost feeling drowsy, her eyelids heavy and drooping. A warm smile creeped onto her face. She pressed her hand to her exposed midriff which suddenly felt tight and bloated. The metal plates in her gloves send cool shivers through her warm body.