League headquarters was under attack. The weaponry had just exploded. The whole place was on fire, smoke filled what was left, making it heard for almost everyone to see.
She stumbled through the rubble, tripping several times, hissing in annoyance as a piece of shrapnel cut into her leg. 'Block it out' she thought firmly, pushing through the pain and running even faster.
She pressed her finger to her comlink, "Calling all points. Metro Tower is under attack. Security has been breached."
Another sudden explosion from right ahead of her threw her back. She hit the wall and touched the back of her head, pulling back in pain and noting the blood on her gloved hand. It was probably staining her long blond hair. She'd kept it braided back for a while now, but it had come loose in the chaos.
Growling in frustration she lifted herself back up and ran into the room that had just exploded, searching for anyone who could have been caught in the explosion. A green glow caught her eye.
"Lantern?"
He coughed, "Yeah, Cat. It's OK. I'm fine."
She pressed, "Are you sure? You aren't exactly as young as you use to be."
He smiled wryly, "So you keep reminding me. Get outside. Search for any injured on your way."
She nodded, turning around, before he stopped her.
"Cat, do you know if-"
"I saw Shayera flying overhead."
"And-?"
"Coms are down, and I haven't seen him. Take it how you want to... John, I'm sure he's fine. "
John shook his head, "I know. He's strong. Stronger than this old man."
She smiled, and took off as fast as she could before he noticed the blood running down her leg.
Breathing was hard enough without having to keep her voice even, and trying to deal with her leg seemed impossible when she had to stand there like that. At least while she was running the pulsing in her heart was more adamant than the pulsing in her leg. She had to keep moving.
She stopped, kneeling next to a hero who was lying on the floor. She felt for a pulse... there was none. Closing her eyes, she shook her head. How had this happened?
Sighing, she stood up. She wished she could offer the fallen hero more respect, but there was a time for mourning, and this was not it. She scanned the rest of the broken room for anyone else lying amongst the rubble. She found one. A young girl, with a similar appearence to the boy she had just pronounced dead. Telekinetic. One of the newer members. She was alive, if just barely.
She picked the girl up in a fireman's haul and continued to run. At one point there was another explosion and she almost dropped the girl, but quickly forced herself back up.
Finally she made it outside, and she felt as though it was worse than the broken remains of the half destroyed Metro Tower. She was right.
The sky was dark grey from the bomb smoke, and even some of the rising black clouds were streaked with red. There were sirens, from police cars, ambulances, fire trucks... some of them were over turned. Buildings were melting to the steel work, there were gaping crevices in the roads, rubble and stones littered the streets like paper. Something white and soft dropped on her face. 'Snow?' she thought. No. It was ash. The city was burning.
"Cat? Cat, that you?"
She looked up to see someone flying down to her. The Thanigarian was only a few years younger than her, not that she was very old herself; nineteen and a half.
"Yeah Rex."
The boy's name was Rex Stuart. He had just recently joined the League, this year, he had turned sixteen. He worshiped his father and the League, and had his mother's stubborn spirit. They had tried to keep him away from the League until he was at least eighteen, as her parents had tried to do, but they couldn't, and finally relented and let him officially join.
"Your father was worried about you."
He didn't even seem to hear her words in his near-panicked state. "I don't understand. What's going on? Why is this happening? Who did this?"
She growled in frustration, "I don't know."
He looked scared. He was still just a rookie. A rookie raised by soldiers, but still a rookie. No amount of training prepared people for things like this. Armageddon.
The girl she had rescued stirred, opening clear blue eyes that seemed to glow. She laid the girl on the ground.
"Do you know how severe your injuries are?" It wasn't the first question the child should have to hear, but years of training taught her to ask it anyways.
"My brother! Where's my brother?!" She was frantic, screaming. That boy, they were similar in appearance because they were siblings.
"We need to get you to a medic." She stated calmly. Oh, God, she couldn't tell her. This kid was still in training. She couldn't have been more than sixteen, probably younger. She couldn't tell her that her brother was dead.
If it had been one of her own brothers...
"Where is he?! Eric!? Eric!! Ricky!!? Where's my baby brother!?!"
She felt tears sting at her eyes, and she quickly blinked them away. She had to stay strong, even when everything else was falling apart. But for just a moment, her thoughts strayed on the same path as Rex's.
She looked out at the burning, broken city. Ash falling from a blood red sky. The cries of now motherless children... or childless mothers. So many dead, or dying, or despairing... It had all happened so fast.
This morning they had been joking. She had whined good-naturedly as her father had kissed her hair, called her his 'Little Cheshire'. It was a joke. Cheshire had been a pet name through out her childhood, it was a play on 'treasure'. When she became a hero, Cheshire became a legacy. Her friends called her Cat.
She had known half of the Justice League for her whole life, and now, it seemed like she would have to bury half of it... if she survived.
Helena Wayne closed her eyes is despair.
How had they come to this?