PART 7: The Resistance
Green Arrow fell into a pile of rubble after Brainiac shot down the building the Justice League was standing on, causing him to lose consciousness after his fall.
As his mind faded, he reflected on recent events, and how he and his teammates came back from the dead to quickly and surprisingly defeat their killers….
The Justice League members' souls floated in the purple and white Limbo, Ares floating in front of the group.
"Welcome to Limbo," Ares explained. "I'm not through with you all yet".
"What do you mean?" Green Arrow asked angrily before anyone else could.
"Scorpion and Superboy have conquered America, and they are threatening to take over the world," Ares answered, telepathically showing the heroes what the "Sons of Death" have done in the past 3 days.
"Why do you need us?" Hawk Girl asked. "We're dead".
"Not if I wish you to be alive," Ares responded as he put out his arm, commanding 10 red balls to float above his palm. "These balls represent lives I can bring back. I receive 10 of these "Life-Balls" every decade, allowing me to bring back any being I choose".
"Then why didn't you bring back the original Justice League?" Nightwing asked angrily.
"Because their deaths did not threaten any of my power sources. The "Sons of Death" wish to completely conquer and separate America from the world, thus eliminating the country that gives me my greatest source of strength, the country that is involved in the most wars and battles since Greece and Rome," Ares explained. "Their deaths only threatened one city. Besides, souls are only available in Limbo for 7 days".
"You are the God of War, why can't you just go down there and fight Scorpion and Superboy yourself?" Raven interrogated.
"As I have explained before young sorceress, if my magic were to mixed with this "Scorpion's" magic, it could rip a hole in reality. That is not an ideal image, especially for me as I would lose all my powers and fade away into oblivion," Ares explained. "But, as a master tactician, I can give you a plan to defeat these dictators. Also, you all are more entertaining than the previous Justice League".
"This seems like a trap," Nightwing muttered.
"Like you said Nightwing," Static encouraged. "It's always a trap".
"Instead of having to thoroughly explain this detailed plan, I will simply program it into your minds," Ares whispered as the Justice League became aware of how to defeat their killers. "Good luck, young heroes".
Nightwing and Green Arrow simultaneously as the Justice League was teleported in a flash of blood-like light.
"What?" Green Arrow yelled as he awoke rubble and bodies strewn around him. "Brainiac"….
Green Arrow grabbed his bow and walked through the path of rubble, looking for his teammates and any survivors. Remnants of Brainiac androids and Overseers lay broken under buildings. American landmarks such as the Liberty Pond were drowned of its contents, memorials in rubble, the Washington Monument broken in half.
"No…" Green Arrow sulked, burying his head in his knees. "Why couldn't I do anything"?
"It's not your fault, Ollie," Black Canary assured, standing above Green Arrow. "Why don't you check the subway"?
"Good idea, Dinah," Green Arrow acknowledged. "Let's go"!
Green Arrow and Black Canary ran towards the subway station and hopped down its steps. Green Arrow looked around only to find Black Canary nowhere to be found.
"Dinah?" Green Arrow shouted.
"She's gone, Green Arrow," Katana whispered, mending one of her arm wounds. "So are the rest of the Birds of Prey".
Green Arrow looked over to see Black Canary lying on the floor, a deep gash in her abdomen.
"No…. She can't be dead" Green Arrow sobbed. "I just saw her".
"It must have been your mind trying to comfort and guide itself using a familiar and welcoming figure," Katana explained. "But she is gone".
"DINAH CAN'T BE DEAD"!
"She isn't, Oliver," Bat-Girl proclaimed as she emerged behind a large light source that revealed itself as Static Shock using his powers like a flashlight, the rest of the Justice League beside Bat-Girl. "We can still save her if we hurry".
"But I checked her body," Katana whispered in pain. "I thought she was dead. I thought you were dead"….
"Dinah probably used her skills to slow down her heart rate before she went unconscious to convince any androids or Overseers that she was dead," Bat-Girl explained. "I saw Nightwing and helped him relocate most of his team. We figured that you guys would take shelter here in the subway, so we came down here".
Bat-Girl kneeled over Black Canary and examined her wound.
"What do you need us to do, Barbara?" Static asked, causing Nightwing to look at the two oddly.
"Dick, sent your Escrima Sticks to your rod mode and allow Virgil to send a volt of electricity at the proper frequency in case we need to revive Dinah," Bat-Girl ordered as she had more medical skills than most of her colleagues. "Raven, use you're healing powers to mend her wound up. Hawk Girl, use your Nyth metals properties to clean her wound and stop the infections".
The Justice League followed their orders. Hawk Girl put her hand above Canary's wound, the glowing Nyth metal cleaning out all of the debris and puss from the wound. Raven followed and used her healing powers to form the muscles, bones, blood vessels and skin back together.
"Hawk Girl, use your Nyth metal to snap Dinah out of unconsciousness," Bat-Girl continued.
Hawk Girl followed and put her hand above Black Canary's head, causing the heroine to awaken and go into shock, lowering her heart rate rapidly and uncontrollably.
"Virgil, Dick, QUICKLY!" Bat-Girl yelled.
Static shot a blast of electricity at the proper frequency through Nightwing's escrima sticks which Dick used as defibrillator to revive Black Canary from death.
"What happened?" Black Canary whispered rhetorically as she slowly stood up.
"We just revived you," Bat-Girl explained as Raven mended Katana's wounds.
"Thanks," Canary acknowledged as Green Arrow helped her up. "Now let's go and take down that ugly robot"!
"I concur!" Green Arrow agreed as the Birds of Prey and the Justice League ran out of the subway and prepared for battle.
MEANWHILE
"CATWOMAN, GET BEHIND THE OVERSEER!" Steve Trevor, the leader of the Justice League of America, yelled while firing a machine-gun at the large Overseer.
Catwoman followed her orders and cartwheeled behind the Overseer skillfully and retracted her metal claws out of her finger-gauntlets and slashed out the circuits of the Overseer, which turned and exploded, sending Catwoman skidding through the dirt.
As Catwoman stood up, a Brainiac android, a robot with a humanoid shape dropped Steve Trevor's body in the dirt.
"No!" Catwoman yelled as the leader of her team was dead.
Selina Kyle attempted to scratch through the androids metal armor, but she ended up breaking all of her claws.
The android prepared to strike when suddenly a high pitched screech sent to the drone and its metal armor flying into an Overseer and blowing that drone up like a domino effect.
"Who was that?" Catwoman asked, brushing dirt off and out of her leather suit.
"Just us," Black Canary announced as the Justice League and the remaining members of the Birds of Prey stopped behind her.
"GET AWAY!" Catwoman yelled. "THIS IS YOUR GUYS' FAULT"!
"What do you mean?" Static asked with a confused tone.
"You and your Justice League almost made us lose our country, and then you all let Brainiac attack, and finally I lost all my teammates!" Catwoman explained.
Bat-Girl walked over to Catwoman and whispered, "We can't change what happened in the past. I especially should know that. But if you come with us, we can still save more lives".
Catwoman nodded as she grabbed replacement claws from inside her suit and put them on her fingers.
As the borderline hero walked over to the other heroes, Nightwing spoke, "Welcome, and congratulations, you're our first recruit"!
Catwoman had joined The Resistance.
MEANWHILE
"Interesting," Brainiac spoke to himself, floating inside his ship as if gravity had no effect on him, only being held down by wires attached to his back, head and arms, feeding the android a constant stream of information from all his drones fighting below. "This small group of heroes is attempting to form some kind of resistance against my forces. I will need more scans to assess their threat level and abilities".
Brainiac accessed his ships barracks and activated several being that he had put under his adapted mind-control and teleported them near The Resistance.
"I believe these being are sufficient for my research," Brainiac whispered as deviously as a robot could.
MEANWHILE
Through The Resistance's search for a place to rest and reconvene and in fighting Brainiac's' forces, the group had acquired Metallo, Captain Atom, Steel, Blue Beetle, Black Lightning, and Blue Devil.
"Where are we going Nightwing?" Blue Beetle asked quietly.
"We're heading towards Gotham," Catwoman answered, the only one beside Nightwing that knew their way to Gotham. "Probably to a Bat-Bunker".
"Precisely," Nightwing shouted as he marched along.
"Did you hear that?" Steel asked as his metal suits sensors picked up a nearby vibration.
"Hear what?" Raven asked as she was thrown aside by a large grey and black figure, sending a cloud of dust, sand and dirt flying as she crashed into a car.
"RAVEN!" Hawk Girl yelled as she started to fly to help her teammate as the hulking zombie known as Solomon Grundy stepped in front of the heroin.
"GRUNDY KILL YOU!" the zombie shouted as he attempted to flatten Hawk Girl who simply touched him with her Nyth metal mace.
"Nullifies the powers of the undead and dead," Hawk Girl mocked.
"You think too quickly Senorita," Bane spoke as he almost spontaneously appeared behind Hawk Girl, standing upon a pile of debris. "We have been upgraded".
Hawk Girl slowly looked up and gulped as Solomon Grundy threw The Winged Avenger aside like paper.
Nightwing yelled as he jumped towards Bane, preparing to kick the champion of Pena Dura in the face. Bane simply grabbed Nightwing's leg and smashed him into the heap of debris.
"If you are trying to sneak up on me, do not yell," Bane muttered as he almost supernaturally threw Nightwing into the air and kicked him into the same car as Raven was thrown into.
"I do not wish to vaporize you, alien," Captain Atom spoke firmly as he floated above Bane.
"I am a human, Senior Atom," Bane explained.
"Alien as illegal immigrant," Atom responded as he charged up his nuclear fists.
"I have my papers," Bane answered as he got in a fighting stance. "They are written on my fists. Would you like to read them"?
"I do not wish to use brute force!" Atom yelled as he charged towards Bane.
"I am brute force!" Bane explained as he charged forward and jumped into the air. "But you will not fair better than Nightwing, Raven nor Hawk Girl"!
As their fists met, Bane absorbed the energy Cpt. Atom had on his fists and sent the hero flying.
"You see," Bane explained as he grew larger and stronger. "My upgrades allow me to absorb meta-human energy and magic and use it like my venom-serum. Who is next"?
MEANWHILE
Tim Drake slowly walked through the debris field, holding a wound on his side, Wonder Girl and Flash limped behind him, his two teammates nearly killed in the encounter with Scorpion and Superboy.
"I…can't take it…anymore," Solstice whispered in pain as she fell over on her knees.
"SOLSTICE! GET UP!" Tim ordered angrily.
"I don't…feel so good myself," Wonder Girl muttered as she fell to her knees also.
"CASSIE! KIRAN! WE HAVE TO GO!" Tim continued to yell, pulling his Batman cowl down.
"INFERIOR HUMAN!" his teammates yelled in unison, their eyes a sickly purple and yellow.
"Brainiac…" Tim whispered, realizing the genocidal android had taken over his friends.
"DIE!" Wonder Girl yelled as she threw a heavy punch at Tim who narrowly dodged the attack by doing a back flip.
"Not today," Tim mocked darkly as he threw several enchantment-laced batarangs at Wonder Girls magical bracelets, cutting the source of her power in half and rendering her normal.
"NO, YOU WILL DIE TODAY!" Solstice yelled as she flew towards Tim.
The Batman want-to-be was sent flying upon contact with Solstices fist, but Tim simply threw two batarangs at her back, sending chemicals through her spine that caused her lead encasement to simply shatter and fall to the ground.
"I'm sorry that I have to do this," Tim muttered in a slightly sad tone. "But I can't let Brainiac use your memories to beat me or any heroes".
Tim threw two batarangs that landed in both of his teammate's heads.
Solstice and Wonder Girl were dead.
Tim continued to walk through the debris field towards Gotham, more alone than ever, a disgrace upon the Batman mantle.
MEANWHILE
"METALLO, STATIC SHOCK, BLACK LIGHTNING, BLUE DEVIL, BLUE BEETLE, CAPTAIN ATOM, AND RAVEN, YOU ALL CAN FIGHT GRUNDY! THE REST OF US WILL FIGHT BANE!" Nightwing yelled as The Resistance split up into two groups.
Cpt. Atom sent a huge blast of nuclear energy at Grundy's chest, blasting hole through the monster, but it did not stop Grundy.
"If you all can weaken Grundy enough I can lift Brainiac's veil over Grundy and imprison him in the Dark Realm for a little while," Raven yelled as she began to meditate and gather her strength.
Blue Devil used his pitch-fork to burn the ground at Grundy's feet.
"HOT! HOT!" Grundy yelled as he whacked Blue Devil away.
Static and his mentor, Black Lightning, used their electricity powers to shock Grundy, who was temporarily paralyzed.
Following up, Metallo used his nanobytes in his arms to make is fists grow, and Blue Beetle made two blades out of his hands. Metallo repeatedly punched Grundy in the face while Blue Beetle chopped the zombie's arms off.
Before Grundy could pick up his arms and reattach them, Cpt. Atom used his nuclear power to burn the ends off Grundy's arm, making it so that nothing could regrow or reattach to them.
MEANWHILE
Nightwing tried to throw his Wing-Dings at Bane's Venom-pumpers, but the projectiles simply bounced off.
"I have learned from your mentor to make my pumps stronger," Bane mocked as threw Nightwing aside.
Green Arrow shot an arrow at Bane's face which exploded into a cloud of dust and pepper-spray. Bane coughed as Steel hit Bane in the abdomen with his hammer. As the villain went flying, Steel quickly flew behind Bane and sent him flying back into the dirt.
Bane quickly got up, grabbed Steel, ripped the heroes hammer in half and threw Steel all the way into Gotham city, which was not too far away.
MEANWHILE
"AZARATH…" Raven started to enchant. "METRION"….
Before Raven could finish, Grundy stomped the ground and a pair of vines entangled the sorceress and messed up her enchantment.
"I got him," Blue Devil assured, stabbing Grundy in the chest with his pitch-fork.
Grundy simply kneed Blue Devil, stepped on his head, and ripped out the weapon with his teeth.
Blue Devil was dead.
Before any other heroes or villains could react, Grundy disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.
MEANWHILE
Catwoman jumped onto Bane's back and clawed at his pumpers, but even her claws could not penetrate his pumpers.
Bane grabbed Catwoman and threw her on the ground and grabbed her throat and whispered, "Nothing can break through my Venom-pumpers, senorita".
"It wasn't supposed to, senior," Catwoman mocked as Green Arrow shot Bane's Venom monitors on the villain's wrist, sending all the Venom through Bane's body.
"Aargh!" Bane yelled as he could not take all the Venom.
Steel flew back, grabbed Nightwing whose escrima sticks were fully charged and combined as a staff. Steel threw Nightwing at Bane who was going to render Bane unconscious after his Venom overdose, but Bane disappeared and Nightwing skidded through the dirt.
The other members of The Resistance walked over as Nightwing stood up.
"Bane disappeared too?" Blue Beetle asked.
"Yeah," Green Arrow asked who was worried about Black Canary, Bat-Girl and Katana who had gone on a secret mission.
"Here anything from Dinah?" Nightwing asked his teammate.
"No," Green Arrow answered simply
"I'll call Damian," Nightwing muttered as called Robin through the com-link. "Damian, how is the mission going"?
"The Bat bunker is ready and we have saved most of the civilians of New Gotham. We're at Arkham right now, fighting off Overseers and such. Katana and Black Canary are good fighters. Why don't we hang out with them more?" Damian responded through the com-link.
"I don't know," Nightwing answered as an explosion occurred nearby in Gotham. "Damian-what was that"?
"It seems to have been the mansion…" Damian started as Nightwing grabbed Raven.
"Can you teleport us to Wayne Manor?" Nightwing asked.
"5 at a time, including myself," Raven muttered as her cloak grew around the Justice League and they were instantly teleported to Wayne Manor.
"No…" Nightwing muttered as Wayne Manor was a heap of debris and fire, remnants of old memories.
Nightwing ran through the debris to the back yard of the manor. Nightwing hopped through the hole his mentor had fallen through as a child that led towards the Batcave, if you knew your way around. Nightwing ran into the Batcave to find most of it complete except for some fallen rocks, exhibits and computers. As Nightwing walked forward, he saw Alfred lying on the floor, his body cold and lifeless.
"NO!" Nightwing cried, as Alfred, who was like a father to him, was dead and Dick couldn't do anything to stop it.
"I knew this would break the man," Bane muttered as he stood above Nightwing, laughing. "He died easily. I just suffocated him".
Nightwing grunted as Bane swatted the hero away, "I thought we beat you"?
"We simply went back for more upgrades, me and Senior Grundy," Bane answered. "I do not require pumps anymore. I can regulate the Venom flow through my body with my mind".
As Nightwing stood up and prepared to fight her spoke, "I already broke your back once, Bane! Want to see me do it again"?
"Lighting never strikes twice in the same place," Bane rebutted.
As their fists met, Nightwing hopped over Bane, grabbed the villain's leg, then grabbed Banes head with the other hand and kneed Bane in the back, breaking the villain's spine once again.
"For Alfred," Nightwing justified, spitting on Bane.
Nightwing attempted to clean up the cave as the ceiling started to shake. Nightwing quickly ran out the cave through the hole he had arrived in. As he arrived outside, he saw the rest of The Resistance fighting Grundy who had metal arms.
Metallo used his nanobytes to override Grundy's metal arm implants to render the prosthesis useless. Grundy still tried to use his arms, flinging and flailing them around.
"AZARATH…METRION…ZINTHOS!" Raven yelled as she enchanted Grundy and sent him into the Underworld.
Nightwing shifted forward angrily as The Resistance cheered and applauded Metallo and Raven.
"What's wrong Dick?" Green Arrow asked.
"They killed him…" Nightwing sulked as Damian and the Birds of Prey arrived on motorcycles.
"Where's Alfred?" Bat-Girl asked as Nightwing glared at her angrily. "No"….
"They killed Alfred?" Damian asked rhetorically. "BRAINIAC WILL PAY"!
MEANWHILE
"Alfred!" Tim sobbed as he watched The Resistance from afar, angry at Dick for not saving Alfred. "Brainiac and Dick will pay"….
Suddenly Tim was teleported onto Brainiac's ship. The demented hero floated in the zero gravity, dazed about what had just happened.
"How did you teleport me?" Tim asked as he was paralyzed in mid-air by Brainiac, who floated in front of him.
"Your former friends, the Kid-Flash and the one known as Wonder Girl had touched, allowing me to pin-point your exact location".
"LET ME GO BRAINIAC"!
"You have seen how far my reach can extend. Would you like me to kill this Resistance and your partners Nightwing, Bat-Girl and Robin"?
"Be my guest, but I don't know how you will".
"You do not care for anyone, do you"?
"No, I guess I don't," Tim confessed, laughing afterwards.
"You know these heroes' weakness'. You will defeat this group for me".
"Why should I? You killed my friends"!
"You got your friends killed. But I never killed the one known as Alfred Pennyworth. I simply teleported him here; I can also clone your friends and bring them back to life".
"GIVE HIM BACK"!
"Not until you kill The Resistance". Brainiac blackmailed. "But I will give you some help"….
"Yes, I will," Tim assured as he accepted Brainiac's offer. "But, if you destroy the world, all these offers will not matter".
"I will keep you and your friends on my ship and allow you to leave freely".
"Why do you wish to destroy Earth"?
"Knowledge is power, Tim Drake. I was created to gather the knowledge of the universe. If less people have knowledge of a planet, the more valuable it becomes".
"I agree," Tim muttered, rubbing his chin. "Who or what is this help you speak of"?
"Mongul and Despero," Brainiac whispered as the large intergalactic villains were teleported into the room, somehow not affected by the zero-gravity. "As you know these heroes and villains more, is there anything else you require"?
"I am going to need a nice suit," Tim smirked as Despero and Mongul bowed to the rogue hero.
Batcave, 5 hours later
The Justice League, Birds of Prey and Robin cleaned up the Cave while the rest of the heroes and Metallo stood outside to protect the Bat-families identities.
The Cave was almost restored, just a few computers and tech broken and a few piles of debris.
"Are you okay Damian?" Barbara asked the young sidekick.
Damian looked up at her from the ground, Titus the Bat Hound in his arms. Robin spoke softly, "They killed Titus and Bat-Cow"….
Barbara hugged Damian and reassured him, "We'll get Brainiac".
"WE WILL?" Damian questioned, pushing Bat-Girl away. "THEN WHY ARE WE JUST STANDING AROUND ADMIRING THE BAT MUSUEM"?
"We are securing it to make sure we can do this," Green Arrow spoke as he stepped into the Batcave teleporter and Raven pressed a button that teleported GA to the Watchtower.
"I see," Damian inquired. "You are going use the broadcasters in the Watchtower to send a radio signal strong enough to override Brainiac's control over all electronics above ground"?
"That's right," Static spoke. "I even upgraded the broadcasters".
"Nice," Damian spoke as he pushed his way into the teleporter. "I'm going too".
Raven looked over to Nightwing, who nodded, signaling Raven to push the button, sending Robin to the Watchtower.
Watchtower
As Robin's molecules realigned, he looked around to see the Watchtower fully upgraded by Static Shock.
"Wow," Robin whispered to himself as he walked right into Hawk Girl. "OWWW"!
"Sorry, it's my armor," Hawk Girl spoke as she sat Robin onto a couch behind the Watchtower computer.
"Yeah," Robin muttered, rubbing his head. "I like the updates Static did".
"Yeah, they are pretty nice," Hawk Girl acknowledged, looking around.
"I upgraded the weapons systems," Green Arrow revealed. "Scared you guys, didn't I"?
"I saw you standing by the teleporter charger-box when I arrived," Robin confessed in a bored tone.
"I have hawk vision, I can see anything easily from miles away," Hawk Girl explained. "I saw you, too".
"Then how did Robin bump into you?"
"I was looking at a large meteor hitting the moon," Hawk Girl revealed.
"Super powers…" Green Arrow muttered under his breath. "I can't figure out where the stupid broadcasters are"!
As Green Arrow fumbled around the Watchtower computer console, Damian pushed the hero out of the way and simply pressed a few buttons. A soft yet metallic voice arose from the speakers of the console and spoke, "Broadcasters prepped for override".
"Stupid kid…" Green Arrow breathed to himself as he sulked in the corner, disappointed a ten-year old could figure out something he could not.
Damian pushed a button, commanding a microphone to rise out of the console. Robin gulped and spoke into the microphone, "Civilians, criminals, heroes, if you wish to live you will follow my direction. If you did not know already, an inter-galactic conquer as marked earth as his next target to destroy. If you do not wish to see our beautiful planet become a barren wasteland, listen closely. Go to this coordinates, and you will survive this metallic onslaught. The Justice League will never stop fighting".
MEANWHILE, BRAINIACS MOTHER SHIP
"Are you ready, young hero?" Brainiac questioned as a familiar figure stepped into the heart of the ship and bowed before him.
"Yes, master," Tim spoke, his voice digitized through speakers in his helm. The hero stood, revealing his attire. He was dressed in a camo-brown, padded suit with a dark colored cape and a brown helmet with red lights, a large W on his chest. "They will fear my WRATH"!