Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League, nor any of it's associated characters. All original characters are copyright me, and may not be used without permission.
"Oh hell, here we go again." The robot's arm caught me in the stomach. Which is rather a funny thing to say, since the arm was larger than me. It hit me, and I hit Kara. I heard a handful of cracking noises, but that might have been as we hit the wall of the building. Thinking back on it though, it has to have been the bones. We slammed into the building, and ended up somewhere in the middle.
"I think we need some help." I suggested.
"I know, he's absorbing everything I throw at him, in every respect." Kara answered.
"Mage1 to MisterT." I called into the communicator.
"Don't call me that. What can I do for you?" Mister Terrific answered.
"We need some back up in... where are we?" I asked.
"London." she replied, rubbing at her arm. "What the hell is wrong with my arm?" she glared at it, at least that's what she looked like when using her X-Ray vision. "It's broken..." she stared in disbelief. I took a look through similar sight, though in the magnetic spectruum.
"Good god." the communicator chirped.
"Flash is enroute. Wonder Woman and Lantern are three minutes out." Terrific's voice vanished.
"Backup's on the way. Let me see your arm." she held it up towards me. I reached out, and gingerly examined it. I didn't have too, and could have probably hit it with a sledgehammer without doing damage, but I was ginger nonetheless. "It's broken in two places. You want me to try and fix it?"
"No. You need all the power you can get." she answered. "I'll just be careful of it."
"Don't worry about me, I've got tons of energy. Even if this bot's absorbing most of everything I hit it with." I stretched my hand up to heal it, when a voice broke my concentration.
"TARGET ACQUIRED." Kara pulled her arm away, and smashed into the robot's grasping hand with her other arm. It did as little good as it had before, and the robot drug her out the window. I took a breath, and exploded out after it. Bolts of pure energy seemed to do no damage. Lightning was completely ineffective. Fire didn't hurt it, and ice didn't slow it. I was about to drop a meteor on it, when Lantern's green fist hammered into it from the side, and was completely absorbed. Wonder Woman came screaming in from the other side, and bounced off. Lantern opened fire with blasts from his ring, which the robot absorbed and returned in kind.
"Where'd this thing come from?" Lantern asked, after freeing Kara.
"Dr. Robert Ashmore. He built it, and installed an AI. The AI went rampant, crazy, and started doing damage. We were supposed to be on vacation, and inactive list, but this dropped into our lap. I might not be into doing this kind of bull at four in the morning,but I don't let anything interrupt my vacation." I grinned. He gave me the 'marine look'. Condescending, and far too serious. "Whatever we throw at it, gets absorbed."
"How long have you been fighting it?" this from Diana, the Amazon Princess. Another one who was far too serious sometimes.
"About two hours." Kara answered.
"Isn't that twice your normal operational limit?" Lantern asked me. Kara could, and often did go far longer than I could. An hour was about all I could manage without needing a break.
"Normally, but I'm drawing off the Carseid Nexus." Lantern looked blank. He wore that often, and more often when I started telling him things. "It's the name of the magical nexus underneath Stonehenge. It's the second largest in the world."
"Second?" Diana asked.
"Or third. I don't recall. The Tartarus Gate, and Cradle of Life Nexii are the only two in it's class. I think it's a toss up betwen Tartarus and Carseid as to which is larger, but the Cradle Nexus is the largest in the world. You can draw on it from anywhere in Africa."
"How the hell can we smash this bot if the two of you couldn't do it in two hours?" Lantern wondered.
"I was going to smack it with a rock." I offered. Stares. "A really big rock."
"What?" Kara stared.
"I was going to hit it with a meteorite. I thought I could overwhelm it's compensators."
"Wait, overwhelm it... can you channel power through my ring?" Lantern asked.
"Sure, it's not a problem. You might be a bit uncomfortable though." came the answer. I'd done it before, but I knew why he was asking. This was going to require a massive amount of power, and I wasn't sure if he, or his ring could handle it.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Just be ready on my signal." Lantern turned towards the robot, which having identified us as potential threats, was waiting for us to make a move it could react to. Lantern pulled up and back, while Kara and Diana swept to the sides. I saw where they were going with it, and dropped down to approach from close to ground level. Since I was flying on a cloud of wind, it naturally kicked up an enourmous amount of dust, even on the paved street. I took advantage of it, and imbued it with energy. Weapon fire from the robot cracked the pavement near me, and caused even more dust to burst up. It too was imbued with energy. The robot was slowly driven backwards, until it was just short of the river. "Do it, now!"
Lantern's voice screamed. I released my consciousness, and discharged my body into an energy conduit. I drew from the nexus, while also feeding him the energy gathered in the dust in a single massive block. Green light lanced from his ring, slamming into the robot. I was watching, not through my eyes, but his. I had to be directing both ends of the stream, and physically I was shut completely down, functioning only on the most basic levels. Five minutes, then ten passed. I was beginning to worry, because I could feel the ring beginning to stress. Five minutes later, just as I was about to sever the stream for my own safety, when the robot flinched. Lantern saw it, and discharged again. I opened the stream wider, and felt the ring begin to stress. The blast sheared through the center. I saw the ring cut off, and severed the stream, snapping my own consciousness back into my own body. The stress was enourmous, I knew there was going to be some serious medical problems. I was also still standing about three feet off the ground. As I snapped back, I collapsed to the ground. Kara landed moments later, still cradling the shattered arm.
"What's wrong?" she asked, in an understandably concerned voice.
"No energy. Litterally." I whispered.
"Can you take some of mine?" she asked. I shook my head, or tried. Bad Idea.
"No, I think I have something internal. I need bare earth." Lantern arrived moments later, and lifted me very, very carefully then floated me to a park. "Take my glove off." I said, whispering and flexing my right hand. Kara removed the glove, and gasped. I didn't need to see it to know what was wrong. It was bleached, and the skin was starting to fall apart. I pressed it against the ground. The feeling of it was wonderous, joyous, impressive. I could feel the natural energy restoring some of what I had lost, regenerating me faster than I could have if I didn't have the connection. Feeling was already starting to return, and I could sense internal injuries healing in short order. After a few minutes, I was able to breath normally again. I broke the connection a second later. "Thank you. I'll survive a teleportation now." We flickered out, and then reappeared on the telepad. The room swam.
"We need to find Doctor Robert Ashmore, and soon. If there are more than one of those robots, I don't think we'll be able to take them down." Diana called to Mister Terrific. Something occured to me, but I was merely able to whisper it to Kara.
"Adam says he can't do it again, not for months at least. And Zatanna or Fate need to go to London, and block the nexus for a few days. It'll need to recharge." she called up.
"Right, what about him? And Lantern, are you alright?" Terrific called. He never used my name.
"I'm fine. I think the ring needs sometime to repair itself though. It seemed to be losing it's muscle at the very end." Lantern answered, staring concernedly at the ring on his hand.
"He'll be fine, but out of action for three or four days. I'll probably be out longer. Tell med bay to recieve. I've broken my arm." Kara replied, and lifted the damaged appendage.
I wound up using a med bed for a day, at the insistence of the doctors. Clark of course ran up to the watchtower, figuratively speaking. He spent a half hour talking with Kara. He kept glaring at me, until she hit him in the chest with her good arm, and then snapped something in Kryptonian. Clark seemed to relax, then he stood, and walked over to my bedside.
"So, I guess I owe you an apology." Clark started. I waved him off. "Look, she'll probably kill us both if I don't."
"It's alright, you're nervous and concerned about her. You still don't like me. I understand. Lot's of people think that. Don't worry, I seem to inspire that feeling." I told him. "Besides, if I'm sick, she won't yell at me." He nodded, smiled, and then walked away, with his serious face on.
---
Fire. It danced across her vision, green-gold, and violent. There seemed no escape, nothing to protect. A blur flickered, hammering through the gold, into the center. Light danced, the air bending. Fire reflected away, right left, another blur. Then more fire, red.
---
"Something is happening." The guardian, identified as Vao. "I don't understand it, but it's important."
"I see it, and recognize it, but sense disaster." his name was Rüu.
"Violence streams from it. The green is in danger." answered a third voice, covered in shadow.
"Send me. I hate to admit it, but I'm really bored here." Kyle Rayner. He stepped out into the light. The ring on his hand caught the light, and glowed throughout the room. The third guardian was revealed, eyes narrowed in anger.
"You do not decide. We are the voice of the..." Silence snapped into place, as the ring flared.
"Battery." Rayner answered. "I am more than able to understand the battery. You gave it to me once, and now I am inviolably tied to it. I will never be truly free of it, and you bloody well know it. You created it, and me. Let. Me. Go." the voice was implacable, deathly calm, but still implacable.
"Fine, allow him to leave." Vao.
"But he must promise to return." Rüu.
"The ring is too valuable to leave on earth. It must return to Oa." the last, now restored to his shadow.
"Fine Ouren. I promise to return to Oa as soon as this is over." Rayner lifted his ring to his chest. "I swear on the ring itself." The ring flared once. Even the shadowed Ouren nodded. The ring would not allow even Rayner to lie. At least, they believed that. Rayner wasn't going to point out that he could say he was a woman, and the ring would verify it. He was smart enough to understand he sometimes had to lie. Knowing they'd hate that, he simply didn't lie. He would return as soon as he could.
He left less than a day, Oa time, later. Kilowog was taking over his largely ceremonial duties, so there wasn't anything he'd left unattended. Or so he thought. Just a few light minutes away, he was stopped. "What's wrong Katma?"
"You're heading to earth, without mentioning it?" she questioned, looking into his eyes. Ring green or not, he knew she could read every one of his emotions in his eyes.
"Yes, but I figured you'd want to talk, and I wanted to go as quick as I could, before they came up with a reason for me to stay." He replied. That was the complete truth. "I did kind of want to avoid you though. Because now you're going to ask me to give your regards to John, and I don't know if I'll even see him."
"Actually," she swept up, almost into Rayner's face. "I was going to say good luck, but now that you mention him, tell him I said hello." she leaned forwards, pecked Kyle's cheek, and swept away. Kyle sighed, and continued on.