Justice League: Spectre
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Mass Effect or DC so don't bother me with legal summons and stuff.
Chapter 1
Formation…
( ): Thoughts
…
The heroes gathered as the Martian, one J'onn Jonzz as he was able to refer to himself began to tell his story after they began to introduce each other to one another. Dylan made sure to record those names and he had no doubt that EDI was doing the very same thing. For now, it was the time to learn just who these invaders were and he would need all the data he could get.
J'onn told them all about how his people the Martians had once lived on a thriving planet that had a very prosperous and peaceful civilization that was there long before the rise of mammals on Earth. His people who had lived in peace for centuries, only to have it shattered by the invaders, who came just as they did on Earth now, in meteorites and then unleashed their forces on the peace loving Martians.
He told them that all attempts by his people to reason with the invaders failed and thus despite their dislike for taking life, he and his people began to fight back. They used guerilla tactics and ambush to even the odds as best as they could, but their efforts were proving to be a delay of the inevitable. The alien invaders continued their ruthless advance and captured or killed many of them, using he captured ones as food and stole the ability of the Martians as shape-shifters to infiltrate the surviving Martian resistance cells and help eliminate them.
J'onn then mentioned the last desperate gambit that he and the last surviving Martians did to halt the invaders. A small strike team was deployed including J'onn to release he nerve gas that they developed that could finally halt the invaders cold. It had worked, but the price was the literal extinction of the Martian race as the last Martians died in the assault, with only J'onn as the survivor. He made sure to seal up the invaders and make sure that he did all that he could manage to contain them. That is until the expedition from Earth finally freed them accidentally and that naturally led to their current situation here on Earth.
…
All the while, Shepard recorded all of this and quickly transmitted the data to EDI, to make sure that she was able to record and study it, just in case there might be some clue there. He on the other hand was beginning to recall that last gambit assault he and the others did in the Collector base, since the last strike of the Martians sounded very much like that mission he undertook with his team when the Collectors abducted his crew. They however managed to go in and come out not only alive but rescued the whole crew, saved the Normandy from any serious damage, and no one got killed period. That was probably why he could not help but feel greatly sympathetic to J'onn since while they had one that was nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory and no one wanted a pyrrhic victory under any condition no despite the fact such things could indeed happen in the brutal mathematics of war
. Even more so when the Reapers finally invaded his universe and began to cause all sorts of damage and killing many organics in their mission to complete the cycle of extinction, and where he had to determine how he was going to save the galaxy, it cost him a lot of good people, both in the military and out of it. Too many good people in his memories died in saving the galaxy, that was why he felt for J'onn and respected the fact he was willing to do what he did to make sure that it never happened again.
As soon as the discussion was over, one of the costumed heroes spoke, the one in red, the weird golden lightning bolts, and the bolt symbol on the chest.
"What a minute! If that's the case, then why didn't the guys in the mission on Mars report it?"
The African American in the black and green jump suit with the symbol of a lantern on it in green snorted and spoke in annoyance.
"Probably because some pencil pusher in Washington thought it would be better of made top secret."
Dylan looked at the man and could easily tell the guy was military, possibly a former Marine, judging by the way he acted and the certain…gait he moved with. Anyone who lived in the military long enough could recognize one another, and Marines knew other Marines well enough. Being an N7 Marine was enough to give him an edge which was why he did not comment in the way John spoke.
But he also knew that now was not the time to be asking those kinds of questions as he replied while placing back on the helmet of his Collector Armor with a hiss of atmosphere and a snap of seals as he replied afterwards.
"Now's not the time to ask how or why they got here, best guess is that they got teams of their people here to do as much damage as they can before all this happened. What matters now is to stop this invasion cold in it's tracks."
Superman looked at the new arrival going by the name of Spectre and knew that he was right even though he, and no doubt Batman and the other known heroes were curious on who he was. They had to deal with the soon to come invasion first and foremost, they were getting ready for the worst yet before they could do anything, the sky was soon being darkened and it was an unnatural cloud cover that seemed to spread all over the place. Flash saw that and was more than ready for a question on what was happening before them.
"What the heck is happening now?"
J'onn was able to provide a more than adequate answer.
"The invaders are nocturnal creatures and do not operate in the daylight, that is why they had deployed special factories that release a specially made ion particle field that helps block out the sun. They did the same to Mars when they invaded and that aided them considerably in eventually driving my people to extinction."
Flash decided to try and lighten the mood as it were, even though he knew that this was not going to sit well with the more serious heroes here. And naturally seeing that their foes were the night loving type, he turned to the Dark Knight himself.
"Friends of yours?"
Bruce already knew that the joke was directed at him and was not in the mood for such things
"This is not the time to act funny Flash."
Flash moved towards the Martian in his usual fashion and replied.
"Why are we worrying anyhow, all we have to do is make of that gas and then knock them all out with it and finish them off before they can be the wiser right? And I bet that you have the gas with you as well right J'onn?"
J'onn however replied seriously.
"I am afraid that it is not going to be that simple, the gas has been destroyed. All the samples of it that I had with me were confiscated by the invaders when I arrived on Earth. And the plants that my people used to make the said gas no longer grow on Mars due to the destruction of the surface by the invaders, and any samples I had of the plants were also destroyed."
Shepard was not the least bit pleased by the news, the loss of the nerve gas J'onn and his people created that proved highly effective against the aliens was bad. But the loss of the plant samples was even worse in his mind. Without the samples, there would be no way EDI could use them to create a viable copy of the same nerve gas in the new Normandy's lab which would be more than able to replicate the nerve gas. That meant that they were going to have to do this the hard way.
That train of thought was enough to remind him of the times his crew onboard the second Normandy commented on how many times he had dragged them into suicidal missions. Missions that by most standards would have looked like the kind only a complete moron with a very blatant disregard for their own health would take. And if any on them were around, especially Garrus, he would have said something sarcastic already. Maybe along the lines of…
"So we're going to be walking right into the base of the unknown hostile aliens and using our guns on their faces? Now this feels very familiar, I'm right behind you Shepard!"
Shepard mentally snickered at the thought and once more felt a twinge of guilt at not being able to see his old Turian friend.
(Damn it, I miss that guy, sure could have used his input on this one. And the others as well since I have no idea what these new aliens can do already.)
Flash couldn't help but feel a bit defeated by that and replied lamely.
"So, uh what exactly is Plan B?"
Diana then replied in her own way as she knew that in this case, destroying the enemy's factories were a much better choice.
"Then we must focus on destroying the factories if we cannot use the gas J'onn had with him."
The reborn Spectre nodded at the logic of that, if these aliens were indeed nocturnal, then depriving them of any cover that would allow them to operate would not only inhibit their ability to wage war, but make them easier to track down and corner. The same thing had formulated in his mind earlier but he had been busy trying to get all the details of his plans right
"I can agree with Princess Diana here, plus we might be able to find data on their technology so we can counteract their tech and systems if J'onn's way is no longer viable."
Diana looked at the armored man with a slight smile on her face, it was a bit surprising for her to hear a man agree with an Amazon, usually she expected the men to say no or consider her idea as foolish just because she was a woman, as what her mentors in the fighting arts back in Themyscira told her.
John Stewart however was not very happy with that and replied.
"This is not the time for amateurs' lady! That goes for both you and the new arrival."
Dylan looked at the Green Lantern with a raised eyebrow, being called a rookie just as he arrived was rather preposterous and insulting. And had any of his old crew and the people he worked with been with him, they would have taken some very serious offense to that. But he was professional enough not to react negatively and decided to just get the job done. He could surprise the man later once the battle started. He could have bet his old crew would have taken offense to that, Jack would have either given this guy a Biotic punch to the jaw, or a knee to groin. Grunt would have given him a Krogan head butt for insulting his Battlemaster. Garrus would have just laughed, and who knew how the others would have taken it.
But the dark haired woman was quick to react in an offended tone. Not that he could blame her in the first place either.
"Amazons are warrior borne! You care to test me?"
The man turned and was ready to face off with her without hesitation, but before things could get risky Dylan decided to get between them; he placed both hands in a warding gesture to both Diana and John Stewart, or the Green Lantern as he was called. He was not in the mood for a pissing match between the two people and made that pointedly clear to both of them.
"Enough! Both of you keep your cool right now!"
He turned to face Stewart and replied in a cool tone.
"In case it has escaped your attention Lantern, the Earth is being invaded by hostile forces and right now the entire military of all the nations all over the globe are all FUBAR. And they don't give a damn if you're a rookie or a veteran, they only want you dead. So now is not the time to be picky on who's the more senior one here. I can tell you're a former Marine from the way you move and act so I am disappointed you are not acting like an officer and a gentleman, so you had better re-learn to respect those who offer their help willingly to fight the enemy. Besides, considering what I have seen personally, she might not be the most experienced here, but she's got the right reasons to be here and has the powers to boot. And right now, Earth's going to need every able bodied person it can get, that includes everyone here, including Diana. You don't like it, then that is your problem."
He then turned to Diana.
"And as for you Miss Diana, I can understand why you feel offended, but now is not the time to let comments like that get under your skin. A warrior is supposed to be focused on the task at hand and not let comments like that get their tempers rising and distract them. The enemy is not going to sit down and wait for you and Lantern to settle your differences, they will use that time to do their damage and worse so focus on them along with the here and now. Lantern's reasoning is sound since you seem to be new here so it would be expected that your level of experience is in doubt so he is not stating that as insult."
Dylan moved back and then replied.
"Now can we all get focused on the mission at hand here?"
Diana was silent for a moment and nodded, the man calling himself Spectre did raise a valid point, she did have a bit of a temper, something her mother had reminded her to control. Anger was in her mother's words a double edged sword, one edge can help you win a fight, but the other can hurt or even kill you. She also felt something was different about this man, she was not trained heavily in the mystic arts, but she did notice when certain energies were about. This energy coming from Spectre was none of that, but energy nonetheless.
John said nothing and decided to let the matter be for now, he however was curious about Spectre even more. The man spoke like a seasoned veteran and as a former Marine, Stewart could tell when one is a seasoned soldier and officer, and this man showed that in volumes. He had no idea who this guy was but something told him that listening to him was a lot better than doing nothing.
Superman had to admit that the intervention was welcomed, whoever this Spectre was, he seemed to be quite used to working with various people. Superman was not aware of Dylan's history as he had forged teams from very unique individuals and with said individuals saved the galaxy not once, but three times. This was why Dylan did his best to make his team work as one, not easy since there had been some very unique personalities in his group.
"Spectre has a point, we don't know one another that well, and working together is new to all of us, even me. But we have no time to debate who's the new arrival or the veteran, Earth needs us to defend it from the invaders, so we have to do this."
Dylan was silent for now as John finally stepped forward.
"All right then, we have to focus on the factories but it would be too dangerous to go as a large group since that would allow the aliens to increase their numbers plus we would be caught in heavy firefights with the aliens. The attacks we can launch can be a lot more effective if we split into teams to handle the multiple objectives we have to deal with, that way we have a better chance of being able to take them down."
The Spectre got into the data and Lantern spoke to him.
"Anything you want to add to this plan Spectre?"
"None, the plan's very solid Gunny, two man team setup sound s to be a lot more effective since just abut everyone here seems to be given powers."
The former Marine had to shake his head a bit, as it had been a while since he had heard the usual nick name given to Gunnery Sergeants of the Marine Corps. Dylan then decided to get into contact with EDI, but he kept the A.I hidden as he decided that the A.I and the ship might become their ace in the hole when they least expect it.
"EDI, can you go and access the satellite network and locate us any of the alien factories that have just recently set up?"
"Yes Commander…I am accessing the data right now, here's the data I am now transferring to your Omni-tool should help you."
The Spectre nodded as he moved his right arm forward to him and soon the omni-tool came to life, startling the heroes as they had only seen the Omni-tool when Dylan was using the Omni-Blade.. The Spectre then placed his hand forward and the Omni-tool deployed a real time hologram of Earth and he then moved his hand over the device and located several factories, but not before speaking to the other heroes.
"First off, this device is called an Omni-tool and right now let's not get into a discussion on how it works. I'm no tech specialist so let's just leave it at that for now."
"This factory in Cairo is newly established and not yet fully defended, if there is a weakness that can be found on them, it would have to be here if we cannot use the gas that J'onn had with him. There's also one being set up in Vietnam as well. Those two seem to be our best bet."
Superman then spoke to the others.
"Lantern's plan is the best we have and Spectre's data is spot on right now, now we have to decide who's going with who."
Flash was quick to reach Diana and replied much to the woman's surprise.
"Dibs on the Amazon."
Diana had no idea what Flash was saying but Dylan could easily see that the Amazon was not used to this and Flash's forward nature was no doubt going to make things a lot more complicated than they had to be. Not to mention the fact that he knew enough about royalty in his history lessons that what Flash was doing was going to be seen as an insult to a member of royalty, and after witnessed Diana's abilities himself, that was asking for trouble.
And he decided to intervene before this turned ugly.
"I bet you say that to all the ladies."
Flash grinned at that and replied.
"Only the really attractive ones actually."
"Uh huh, and do any of those women you've said that to before Diana happen to be able to fly, block energy bolts with bracers, can possibly handle being attacked by a whole army and beat the tar out of them, and have the strength to be close to the level of Superman?"
Flash gulped a bit and replied.
"Uh, no."
"Good, so I recommend that you think twice before just saying such things Flash. Word of advice between you and me, don't get fresh with the ladies right off the bat, they might take serious offense to that. And the results can be very disturbing as well."
Hawk-girl smirked at the look of worry on Flash's face as he moved away from the female Amazon somewhat at the warning given by the armored human.
Superman shook his head but saw that everyone was in the mission now and while this was a completely new situation even for him, it was time to move out.
…
It was not long before a decision was made to have the teams move out, Flash got paired with Green Lantern, much to the annoyance of the red clad speedster. Superman was now working with Hawkgirl and the largest team thus far was comprised of Batman, J'onn, Dylan, and Diana. Green Lantern was not all too sure about that as he was pointing out that the team they formed was too big and could attract the most attention.
Dylan then replied that he had been on teams of this size before and knew just what was to do, which was not too far off from the truth. Besides that, there was not much time left and between them, they could be able to locate the data they would need to counter the invasion. With that out of the way, they were all off, but Dylan had to ride with Batman on his jet, and that was not too comfortable a ride. He could have revealed EDI and the Normandy, but decided against it since both of them were the proverbial ace in the hole for him, no sense revealing them until he had gotten enough data to work with.
For that reason, EDI and the Normandy hanged back while invisible to follow Shepard from high up and provide support when called by him. For now he had to deal with being in the camped areas of the Bat Plane, which was no doubt so due to the armor he wore and the equipment he carried. But he had been in worse and he was an N7 Marine so he sucked it up and dealt with the discomfort.
On the outside of the Plane, but J'onn and Diana were flying on either side of the Plane and this allowed Dylan to think a bit more about this new universe he was in. He knew here and now that he was going to have to chance his way of thinking if he was going to be here since all of this was really new to him. And he was going to have to make sure to adopt some new ways of looking at the world and the beings he might meet. That was easier at least due to the fact that he came from a universe where humans and aliens had met already.
…
Green Lantern and Flash were already on the move to the alien factory in the jungles of Vietnam and the speedster was none too happy at being paired with the former Marine.
"You are no fun!"
John Stewart however did not budge in the slightest, he knew that they had a job to do and now was not the time to get into word wars with one another.
"We're not here to have fun speedy! We're here to do our job and save the world, so stop complaining!"
"Yeah, yeah…"
Flash was still miffed at not being with the Amazon thought he had to admit that the Spectre did have a point. The last thing he wanted to do was court disaster with someone of Diana's abilities. But that did not mean that he was going to quit with flirting with any attractive woman.
…
As for Superman and Hawkgirl, they went back to Metropolis as the factory there was the closest to them and was therefore a logical target. However that did not mean that it was going to be easy, as it was also the one where the alien invasion had managed to fortify their location as there were now more alien walkers on patrol. That did not stop the two however as they all pressed on the attack.
…
In Cairo Egypt…
Dylan was currently moving alongside Batman as they and Wonder Woman moved closer to the now established factory of the alien forces. But their movements seemed more restricted as it was morning there and that fact, no doubt had some effect on the aliens that their factory seemed to be offline. The group however went to cover near some ruins to avoid the aliens as they needed to find a way into the factory. J'onn had gone head of the trio to scout out the area and find an alternate route but it was obvious that not everyone was happy as the sole female of the team seemed to be discontent with their course of action.
"Hiding like cowards is not the way of the Amazons."
Diana was less than pleased by this sneaking about as it grated on her nerves due to it going against her people's teachings. Batman ignored that while Dylan actually found it amusing as he looked through the scope of his Falcon Assault Rifle, the beautiful woman was definitely the warrior type in his mind, and from what he had seen already, the idea of fighting in front of the enemy was more her style.
Batman did not say anything yet so he decided to make idle conversation with the Amazon.
"It might be frustrating Miss Diana, but it does have it's purpose, as soon as we get to see J'onn the better off we are."
Diana wondered what that meant but there was no time as J'onn reappeared and gave his report on the situation that they were in.
"There seems to be no direct way in, no doubt the aliens have sealed off any entrance into the facility. I can infiltrate it and try to find a way to open it, but I will be outnumbered by then."
Diana then took out that golden lasso and replied.
"Then we make our own way in."
She quickly got into the air and soon exposed herself to the alien forces nearby, Batman was less than pleased by her actions, even though he understood the reasoning, having studied books on Amazon mythology. He knew that they still prefer to face their enemies head on and Diana proved that right, but he was stopped by both J'onn and Dylan though Dylan spoke first.
"Let her do it, she's tougher than she looks."
And sure enough, Diana was able to take down the alien walker despite it firing it's weapons at her. She used her lasso and managed to capture one of the alien walkers by a limb and soon wrapped the rope around the legs. Dylan had to whistle a bit in appreciation as he and the others watched her bring down the walker with one powerful punch as it was too busy trying to right itself to counter her. The blow sent the walker smashing hard into the side of the factory and soon an entrance was made.
Dylan smirked a bit as he and the others moved out with EDI speaking to him privately.
"That is no ordinary rope Commander, I managed to run some tests and it's tensile strength is beyond any known rope material on record. And I have managed to scan it and there seems to be no record of the material as well as picking up some form of energy coming from the rope."
"I think we can place that aside for now EDI, we still have a mission to accomplish. How far is the Normandy?"
"At least several kilometers from your position, I will be ready to move in to support you should you need it."
Dylan nodded in agreement as he and the others came into the factory, but they soon found themselves under fire from alien forces and here Diana showed her reflexes up close as she deflected several of the laser bolts that came towards them. Dylan was quick to back her up as he used his Hurricane SMG to take down several of the aliens. This was able to weaken the number of aliens attacking the team and as the aliens moved back, Diana was quick to follow them, but not before turning around and speaking to the group as J'onn joined them.
"The cowards are retreating! Come on!"
Dylan could not help but smirk behind his helmet and mentally spoke to himself as he loaded a thermal clip on his SMG.
(I swear that she's like a more regal and refined version of Jack with her love of fighting balanced by her royalty status. Still, she's got the moves, skills, and heart to be here.)
He placed that aside as he and Batman spotted one of the aliens smoking still from sudden exposure to sunlight. He looked at Batman and spoke to the Dark Knight as he knew that there was no way that either of them missed that.
"You saw that?"
"Yes, looks like we're about to find out more on the aliens."
Both men followed both Diana and J'onn as the mission was still on, and only Dylan knew that behind them was his ship, ready to make it's move to support them should he call it in for battle. Dylan was sure that this battle was going to move in to the really hard phase and he knew that he had to be at his best. He only hoped that the rest of the teams he was working with were going to do all right in their own missions.
…
In Metropolis…
Hawkgirl and Superman had some level of good luck as they were finally able to takedown some of the walkers. Superman managed to use his speed and raw strength to knock done one of the last walkers. The Thanagarian soon came into the fact was able to use her mace to make sure that the last remaining walker could not get up. Superman then used a karate style chop to cut one of the legs and used it to make a hole into the factory. He did not hesitate to put all of his strength into the throw and he turned to call to Hawkgirl.
"Hawkgirl, follow me!"
The walked in and Superman told her to keep her eyes open, to which she replied.
"I always do."
It was not long before they came under fire from the aliens and Superman was about to handle it while telling Hawkgirl to stay back before the woman ignored him and charged in with more than serious intent. The Kryptonian watched as the winged woman used her charged mace to bash the aliens around with considerable force, forcing him to duck when one flew overhead and was in a mess behind him.
"Whoa."
He turned as Shaeyra spoke while walking ahead to lead the two.
'What? There's a time for words, and a time for action and this is obviously the time for action."
Superman shook his head a bit and hoped that the other teams were doing all right on their own, even though he had no doubt that there would be some conflict.
…
Back in Vietnam…
Green Lantern was in a foul mood as he had finally freed Flash from most of the gunk that had held him captive and he had managed to do so while getting himself and Flash away from the enemy so he could free the speedster from the rest of the gunk. He was not happy on how the mission was turning out and there was the chance that they were going to have to pull back soon before things got really bad. And it was already getting to that stage now.
How it happened was due to the fact that instead of listening to him outlining a plan to take down the walkers, the speedster from Central City scoffed at the idea of having a plan and moved ahead. His antics did distract the walkers, but it also got him into trouble as he inadvertently stepped on what appeared to be some form of mine. Which resulted in the speedster being covered by the gunk, and was when he moved in to save his 'partner' before he was killed by the walkers either by being blasted or skewered.
"Of all the boneheaded, ill advised and reckless things to do on a mission of importance like this one, even an FNG fresh out of boot would have better sense than you. In your entire career Flash, have you ever heard of the concept of teamwork?"
"Uh, maybe we should save the motivational speeches for later? Like when we don't have massive alien walkers trying to kill us?"
As soon as he was free, the two tried to get back into the fight and while it seemed that they were finally getting somewhere, things took a turn for the worse. The alien walkers tried to take down Lantern's shield, but got nowhere until they decided to take out the shield by targeting the Green Lantern and fired a pod shaped missile that released a powerful yellow gas that was some sort of tranquilizer drug.
The weakness of the Lantern ring came to play as the gas bypassed the shield and soon drove Green Lantern to the ground in an unconscious state.
"GL!"
Flash reached the downed Lantern using his speed to make his arms move the gas away. It worked but it became obvious to the speedster that his partner was now officially out. And that was enough to make the light hearted speedster get serious and he saw that sticking around as more walkers came at them was a bad idea. And with that in mind he quickly got the unconscious Lantern and high tailed it out of there.
Their mission to take out the factory in Vietnam was a bust and now they would have to hope that the others were doing a much better job than they were at the moment.
…
Back in Metropolis…
Superman and Hawkgirl moved deeper into the factory, the two of them were ready for a possible ambush and Superman knew that it was going to happen soon enough if they were this deep in the enemy's backyard. Hawkgirl was taking the whole situation seriously and the Thanagarian was tense, holding her mace close to her and she spoke seriously.
"They're close by…I can almost smell them."
Superman was not too comfortable with the way Shaeyra acted and asked the question that was in his mind after seeing her decimate the aliens. It was not the first time he had met people who had such a desire for combat, he had met Lobo, Maxima, and a few others, but usually this attitude was not what he expected from someone like Hawkgirl. He had little knowledge of her due to not being where she had been located on Earth, but he was still curious.
"Are you always this eager to fight?"
Shaeyra turned and replied stoically as she had a very accurate idea on what was the reason behind the question.
"My home-world Thanagar is a war like world, there it's either you strike first, or you die. And believe me Superman, the very second you don't strike first, it's over for you."
Superman's reply to that was cut short as the aliens came back for more but instead of engaging the two of them in either close or ranged combat like before they retreated. Superman wondered why but got the answer as the tunnel was suddenly sealed in front of him and Hawkgirl and then behind them. They were soon hit by gas, and Hawkgirl was down as she was trying her best to recover from the sudden release of gas in the room. Whatever the gas was, it was potent though his Kryptonian physiology allowed him to have some brief resistance to it, resistance he planned to use.
"Hang on Hawkgirl! I'll….AAAAAAGGGGGG!"
Superman's attempt to rip open the door behind him was cut short when massive amounts of energy were unleashed on him that forced him down, he was still injured and he too was soon overtaken by the gas due to the shock of energy that smashed into his body at the same time which lowered his resistance to the gas.
As soon as that occurred, both heroes were soon retrieved by the aliens for who knows what purpose.
…
Back in Cairo…
Dylan was quick to support the others as he moved ahead and firing several blasts of with his Hurricane SMG. The rounds helped pin down the aliens and take out a few of them, he was not alone in the attack as Batman was quick to toss explosive batarangs at the alien forces to support the Spectre. The two of them were not alone as J'onn and Diana were coming in and attacking the alien forces. Both of them used hand to hand combat and they were not alone as Batman took one of his weapons, which was an electrified knuckle.
The weapon proves useful as Batman takes down several attackers and he was not alone as Dylan used his Omni-Blade to curt down and stab the aliens attacking them. He quickly spotted one alien about to aim at Diana from a corridor and he quickly summoned a Barrier with his Biotics to block the bolt as best he could.
Diana turned and spotted the attack as she quickly used her lasso to grab the alien and yank the attacker forward and then smacked the attacker with a punch that sent it flying and smashing into a stain on the ground. She smiled at Dylan and planned to repay the debt and Dylan knew it, and he spoke to the Amazon.
"No need, you can pay that debt later."
Diana nodded and Dylan quickly turned to shoot another alien attacker coming right at Batman from behind. The Dark Knight had turned to attack only to see the alien get cut down, he turned to see Dylan popping out the thermal clip from his SMG, and he soon moved to using his Falcon Assault Rifle but not before the Spectre spoke to him.
"You all right Batman?"
"Yes, but we have to keep moving, I have no doubt that the aliens know now that we're here."
Dylan nodded as he moved ahead, taking point with his Falcon Assault Rifle and they were soon cut off by the aliens. They managed to fight off the attackers and tried a new path to try and locate the core of the factory. But as they were moving forward on the new path, it was only minutes before they were once more under fire.
Diana did not like that one bit and made her displeasure clear.
"They've cut us off again!"
Dylan had already an idea as to why as this situation reminded him of the Collector Base he and his crew dealt with before.
"This is their base, so it should have some form of warning and surveillance system that's guiding them to our location. We just can't see it!"
Batman agreed to that assessment as he tossed another batarang at another band of aliens coming their way.
"Then there's not doubt we're going to be boxed in soon if we don't move."
Diana then realized that J'onn could help in this matter, he knew the enemy after all so he could help in finding out just where the core of this factory was. And the same could be said for Batman and Dylan, but when all three of them turned, they spotted that the Martian was not moving and his eyes glowed.
This reminded Dylan a bit of how Biotics would act at times so instead of trying to wake J'onn up, he waited and soon they all got the answer on why the Martian was acting this way. He told them that both Superman and Hawkgirl were out of action and captured by the aliens. The news that the aliens would no doubt feed on both the Kryptonian and the Thanagarian filled all three of them with revulsion but they knew they had to keep moving for the chance to make sure that Superman and Hawkgirl were going to be rescued after they were done here.
It took them some time but they soon made their way to the core of the factory from a safe position, so far they had not been found yet by the aliens and that was good news. The Spectre carried his Assault Rifle and Batman was ready as J'onn finally spotted what they were looking for and pointed it out to them. The target in question appeared to be some sort of crystal suspended in some form of fluid that was no doubt being pumped everywhere in the facility and soon out into the atmosphere once darkness came over it. There were a number of aliens there and no doubt were the ones who were going to protect it from them.
"There, that crystal is the one controlling the Ion Matrix flow of the whole factory, if we can acquire it, we might be able to figure out a solution that can break their grip on Earth. We tried to do the same thing before, but by the time we attempted it, there were too few of us to make it viable, which led to…our last stand. Here we may have a chance, but I'll need a distraction to get close enough."
Diana nodded and cracked her knuckles a bit as she replied.
"You will have one J'onn."
Dylan and Batman got ready and soon Diana made her move as well as they did, Dylan fired a grenade into several advancing guards who were caught off guard and were soon blown to nothing but piles of goo by the detonation. Batman did likewise with one of his batarangs and soon Diana made her strike, attacking the operators nearby. All f this allowed J'onn to finally move in and phase himself to get the crystal. He soon got the crystal and that was the signal for them all to pull out.
But the aliens were not going to make it the least bit easy for them as they began to attack with even greater ferocity, making the heroes realize that now was the right time to leave. Diana covered the retreat and so did Dylan while Batman moved ahead to help scout the way ahead and fight at the same time. However, one alien soldier managed to finally hit J'onn and send the Martian hitting the ground in pain. The Martian was alive but he had been rendered unconscious and had dropped the crystal.
Dylan and Batman covered him as Diana flew in to help her injured comrade while she was covered by the others. Batman scooped up the crystal and they were on the way to escape once more, but then Dylan spotted the doors closing and quickly used his Biotics to lift both Diana and J'onn away from them. His Biotics cut off as soon as the door closed in and Batman shouted to Diana.
"GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!"
"NO!"
Diana rushed back to help the others as J'onn recovered enough to move and stand on his own, but she was too late as the doors locked down. She tried to use her strength to break through the barriers and she saw on the other side that both the Spectre and Batman were doing the same. But she was horrified when she saw flashes of lasers behind the walls and she could not help but fear the worst.
"J'onn! Are they…?"
J'onn reached out with his people's telepathy and shook his head.
"They are gone…"
Diana was saddened immensely by this and could help but speak in sadness.
"Hera help us."
The two knew that staying here was not going to help, they had to leave and meet up with the others and hope that they could still stop this invasion. But already the loss of two more of their allies weighed heavily on them, Diana most of all.
…
Unknown to Diana, J'onn managed to mentally shield the minds of both Dylan and Batman though the Martian had to exert a bit higher in terms of power over the Spectre. This was helpful as they had actually managed to fight their way through as before the beams could hit the pair, Dylan fired out a Singularity at the alien attackers. Just as the two of them quickly ducked from the incoming fire that had hit the wall which had made Diana believe they were killed, and only after they had left..
The attack caught Batman by surprise as he had not expected this, he thought the man would erect a Barrier like before but he watched as the aliens were sent up into the air as if gravity itself had suddenly gone completely haywire, the Dark Knight then watched as the sphere detonated and sent the aliens flying back in different directions and were soon out. He turned and saw the man actually trying to stand up and he was quickly concerned by this.
(Damn…I really need to get some more training in…I never used a Singularity like that level before.)
Dylan was exhausted somewhat by the use of the Singularity as he had not tapped into that much Biotic power before. He usually left the Biotics back in the day to Liara, Wrex, or Kaiden, and then to Miranda, Jack, Samara, Thane, and Jacob. He was a soldier and a Commando so he was more into blasting things with weapons than Biotics. So he was not as well trained in that field of combat than the others which was why he was exhausted.
(One thing's for sure, I am going to need to eat and drink a lot when this is all over.)
"You all right?"
Dylan turned to face Batman and nodded.
"Yeah…give me a second…never used Biotics like that before."
Batman had no idea what Biotics was, but he knew that questions of that caliber had to wait for now as they had to leave. They thankfully still had the crystal and with it they had a chance, and it was not long before Dylan finally managed to get himself up and off they went, through the same area they went it, but there were a lot of foes that were there so they moved away and soon Dylan fired several grenades from his Falcon Assault Rifle and soon blew a hole large enough for them to escape from as well as him firing several more grenades to the walls above them to cover their escape as alien soldiers came at them.
As soon as the two of them got out of the hole, they both turned to see the aliens react negatively to the sunlight, enough to actually make on them smoke like it was being roasted. And Batman was quick to reply to what he saw.
"They are vulnerable to UV radiation. That must be the other reason why they take great pains to avoid being exposed to the sunlight, and why their factories block out the sunlight once they landed on Earth."
It was also here that EDI spoke, revealing herself to the Dark Knight as well.
"I concur with that assessment Commander, the analysis of the tissue samples you sent me from those you terminated before shows that the creatures have no natural defense to UV radiation emitted by the sun. That is possibly why they deployed factories to counteract the cycle of sunrise on a planet. Removing the effect is possible by destroying the towers with a concerted strike on the factories or by creating a device that can reverse the Ion flow."
Batman was surprised when he heard the voice that sounded female yet had some sort of machine like as well. He however decided to leave those questions for later as he knew that time was in short supply.
"I can handle that with the tools in my lab in Gotham."
Dylan ran through that idea and replied.
"No time for that, the aliens would no doubt already be bringing in reinforcements, we'll get what we need on the way there. EDI, get the Normandy down here and get the Lab prepped up for Batman to use. Get him whatever resources he needs from the storage area and have the micro-fabricators warmed up now. Once we're clear of the factory and onboard warm up the Thanix Cannon and destroy the factory."
"Understood Commander, I am moving the Normandy down now."
Shepard nodded and quickly turned to Batman and replied.
"Now is not the time to ask, come on, we need to get moving."
As soon as the two heroes got to moving out from the factory, Batman spotted something shimmering brightly at the sky, and soon out came one of the largest ships he had ever seen. The ship had not appeared on the radar of the Bat plane and he had not seen it prior to their arrival so that meant it must have some form of stealth system that was unlike what he had seen before. The ship soon touched down and opened what appeared to be a cargo bay as Spectre as he called himself turned to him.
"Can you're fighter be sent back to Gotham?"
"Yes, it has an auto-pilot system onboard."
"Good, let's get this show going, is everything set EDI?"
"Yes Commander, the Lab is prepped and ready for Batman to use, and the Thannix Cannon is ready for combat."
Spectre nodded and guided Batman into the Normandy as he also pressed the control to send the Bat Plane back to Gotham. Once they were onboard the Dark Knight only felt a slight rise and soon the ship was up and they came to the CIC via elevator. All the while Batman was trying to take in the looks of the alien ship he was in. The interior was certainly different yet he noted with his detective's eye that it retained the look of being made by human hands. Yet it was made in a level that he knew was not possible without years or decades to study and practice.
Once they got to the CIC, Shepard turned and spoke to EDI who appeared near the holo-display at the elevator.
"EDI, help Batman with the lab on how to reverse engineer the crystal and find a way to break the grip of the alien factories. In the mean time, I need you do get ready for ground operations, get your gynoid form ready for combat."
"Yes Commander, the Lab is to your right Batman, if you have need of some materials and equipment, feel free to send me the requests, I will be warming up my gynoid form as we do so."
Batman nodded as he took out the crystal and headed there, only for EDI to then show both him and Dylan the sight of the Normandy's Thanix Cannon firing up and then destroying the factory in one fell strike. Dylan nodded and knew that this was only possible if the factor y was not in a heavily populated area so doing it in other cities was not the least bit advisable due to civilian losses and collateral damage. Once they were in the clean he spoke to Batman.
"Time to get to work, we'll keep ourselves off the radar until you and EDI are finished."
…
Back in Metropolis…
The situation was mad for sure as the people were trying to survive this new alien invasion. And the people were able to show just how they all coped in a crisis of this magnitude, some were able to keep their wits about them and head off to the nearest evac sites established by the police and the army. Others did their best to find shelter and escape the mobile patrols of enemy walkers, and others…well they were rioting and looting as well, showing once more that the chaotic nature that is in men can come out.
The sight of it filled Diana with disgust as she looked at the way the people were acting, and she could not help but speak out her disappointment and disgust. She had thought that with their militaries the way they were now, the people in Man's world would stand together and resist, instead they did this. Rioting, looting, and causing mayhem instead of standing as one and fighting to save their homes and families.
It was loathsome to her.
"I cannot believe they would become like this, the Spectre and Batman gave their lives to defend such inconsiderate and foolish people? It's unbecoming of such heroes like them and perhaps my mother spoke truly that saving man was a foolish action."
J'onn was able to understand the meaning of Diana's statements and replied.
"You should not be so harsh on them, they are merely caught by the chaos here and act out of fear and confusion."
Diana wished that she could accept it, but to know that both heroes died for these people was not welcoming to her. Batman's skill and abilities for someone who did not have such abilities as Superman and the others, was something she had no problem respecting in the slightest bit. And the Spectre's skills in combat as well as his calm and yet respectful nature was also of interest to her. He was the first to accept her among the others and had actually spoken the truth about not letting her temper get the better of her.
(To think they died for them…)
She shook her head as she finally spotted Flash and Green Lantern who were surprised to have been contacted as they had come back to help with the evacuation. The speedster asked where Batman and the Spectre were, and they were informed by J'onn that both of them were sadly killed in the line of duty. This had surprised and that had weighed on them the difficulty of their task as they were now the only ones.
The gathered heroes decided to rescue both Superman and Hawkgirl from the factory they had infiltrated. But for some reason the aliens offered no resistance. Something was not right in the minds of the heroes and they were soon proven right as they came to both Superman and Hawkgirl who were restrained. They turned out to be copies as the aliens quickly moved in and subdued the last heroes there on Earth.
The aliens did not show faces that would be described as human, but it was obvious to those skilled in body movement language that the aliens were pleased. With two of the gathered heroes gone and these ones captured, nothing and no one was going to stop them.
Unknown to all the heroes but one, and the aliens, the two supposedly slain heroes were coming back. And this time, they had backup to boot for this counter offensive.
…
Outside of the city limits…
The Normandy quickly touched down outside of Metropolis and soon out came Batman with his new device fully made and tested, along with him were Dylan still carrying his current load-out and wearing his Collector Armor. But they were not alone as EDI was now with them, carrying a Widow Anti-Material Sniper Rifle, a Vindicator Battle Rifle, and a Carnifex Heavy Pistol with the Battle Rifle fully extended and ready for use. This meant that the gynoid body that EDI was using at this moment the combat style of Garrus as Shepard had requested it, Garrus was by far the best sharpshooter Dylan worked with in his life, the next being Ash despite her skills being more with Assault Rifles that Sniper Weapons, and the next Snipers being Legion, and Thane. This was supplemented with the original EDI's ability to handle security hacking, lock bypassing and more. He was going to need that level of skill though he made sure to have some of Legion and Tali's skills downloaded into the operation matrix of EDI.
The Normandy soon took off and went invisible to avoid attracting attention and that left the trio to get to the factory that was the very first that was deployed on the surface.
The Dark Knight had to admit that working with these two was definitely different as both seemed to be quite comfortable with working with one another. And he was impressed at the fact that this EDI could be able to control the ship and move with precision in that body. Had she been decked in a disguise simulating a human female with clothing on, he would not have been able to tell the difference.
They moved quickly and efficiently with both EDI and Dylan in the lead, and once they got close to the factory, they made their way into it. EDI scanned the area ahead and then spoke to both Batman and Dylan.
"I am detecting vital signs from the others in our group Commander, they all appear to be alive, but appear to have been restrained."
"How far are we from them EDI?"
"At least several more meters, I am picking up high concentrations of alien signatures as well, and it seems that a massive ship has arrived in the planet's atmosphere. As Executive Lawson would have put it Commander, it seems that leadership has finally arrived."
Dylan nodded and they moved out as they knew that they had little time, he would have ordered the Normandy to attack the ship, but decided that stealth was more preferable at this moment than simply blasting the ship. They needed to take a chance and eliminate the alien leadership than let it get away.
…
EDI's data proved to be right as some of the space observation stations on the ground that managed to remain somewhat operational spotted the incoming ship. It was massive and certainly looked to be made of the same substance as the aliens. That implied something of a techno-organic nature in the aliens though the ship did appear to have more armor than most. As soon as it entered the cloud that covered up the city, a smaller shuttle came in and soon the heroes who were restrained were greeted by Carter, who then revealed just what he was.
Much to the dismay and shock of a certain blue and red wearing superhero with an S on his chest, he had no idea that Carter was the one helping the invasion. But he decided to focus on trying to escape and make sure that he was not going down without a fight.
…
As the trio came closer, they finally got to see the leader of the alien invasion, just as it targeted J'onn and began to torture the last of the Martians. And the one who had been a major thorn on their side ever since.
Dylan gave a look of disgust as he looked at the leader of the alien forces and was reminded of the Thorian he had to deal with on Feros a few years back. He then spoke to Batman and EDI as he knew that while he was feeling the desire to free J'onn, that would only serve to blow their cover and waste the alien survivor's efforts.
"We have got to make our move soon, EDI and I will cover you Batman once we get through that barrier and attach the device. Once that's done, EDI and I will cover you as we free the others."
Batman nodded and EDI did the same as they knew that they only had one shot at this so they had to get it right. The aliens had not been aware that they were around. No doubt feeling that their victory was assured now that the heroes of Earth that were here would not stand at all to them. And the fact that their leader was there with them as well, that was a mistake on their part as the Spectre, the A.I, and Batman were closing in on their target. The trio moved in and were now in position and ready to make their move, and it came just as the alien leader finally noted that J'onn had managed to keep one last secret.
…
"You have something here…a secret, what sort of plan has your feeble machinations conjured up in your final moments J'onn?"
The Imperium wanted to know just what was the last move of it's forces' last known adversary and it dug deeper into the Martian's mind. J'onn screamed as the alien leader buried it's tentacles into him as the other heroes watched in horror and anger at this. But he knew that he had to hold on for just a little bit longer…
"Answer me…"
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGG!"
The pain grew more and more…
"Answer me….answer me J'onn…"
Just a little bit more…
"Answer me Martian!"
Almost there…just about there…
"ANSWER ME!"
NOW!
"NOW!"
In that moment, two attacks came, a streak of blue light and followed by a large object came out and smashed hard into the shield protecting the Ion crystal core in the factory's heart. The impact caused a wide explosion as the beings below turned to see none other than Batman, Spectre, and another humanoid female looking being carrying one mean looking sniper rifle.
"Whoa! They're alive! And they have backup too!"
Flash was relieved while Diana was amazed that they were alive.
"How did they make it back from certain death?"
J'onn finally spoke as he began to fight back against the Imperium's attacks on him and his mind. The plan worked well and now the time for inaction was at an end.
"I shielded them…so they would not be found!"
Batman quickly laced the device through the now weakened section of the shield and placed the device on the crystal, activating it. Soon the crystal's red color changed to blue and the fluid inside of the chamber turned blue as well
The Carter doppelganger was shocked and shouted at what was going on and made that clear to the Spectre, EDI, and Batman.
"What have you done?"
Batman replied in his usual fashion of being stoic and calm before the odds that were there. No reason for him to tell the alien fake and his cohorts what happened after all. The results of his time in the Normandy's remarkably well stocked and equipped lab would do the answering for him.
"Reversed the ion charge."
The leader of the aliens quickly shouted two simple orders to it's minions.
"DESTROY THE CRYSTAL! KILL THEM!"
Dylan looked at Bruce and spoke as he knew that he might want to switch to all out combat.
"You free the others, EDI and I keep them off your back."
Batman nodded and quickly used his grappling gun and moved to the others as the newly altered fluid continued to spread through the factory systems. As for EDI and Dylan, the moved into action, EDI went first and leaped into action as she quickly switched to her Vindicator Battle Rifle and soon landed ahead of Dylan to cover him. As for Dylan, he decided to try and replicate that same trick that he had seen Samara use when they first met back on Ilium, when she was not yet part of his crew.. he quickly summoned his Biotics in a bright display as he soon was covered in a Biotic field to slow his descent.
As soon as he did so, he landed on the ground and took out both his Falcon Assault Rifle as he landed next to EDI and both of them began to unleash an amount of heavy fire. The aliens were quick to focus their attention on the two armed opponents as Batman soon joined the other heroes to free them. This left him and EDI to do their part in this fight and they were going to make sure that Batman was not going to be hindered. EDI quickly took down three of her attackers before using her rifle's scope to take down two more on a ledge and shot their weapons to the ground, making their weapons explode. Dylan killed two more of his own and then fired a grenade from the grenade launcher which arced over the heads of three more alien shooters to suddenly explode behind them, blowing them apart.
He then covered EDI as she quickly fired several more slugs into the next attackers before ejecting her thermal clip to load a fresh one. He was soon covered EDI as he also did the same as she shot two more alien attackers in the face before quickly launching an Incinerate attack on three more aliens. The trio burst into flames and were screaming in pain, two more attacked with their blades, no doubt hoping to cut the gynoid down and then her partner.
Dylan countered that idea as he soon got up with his Geth Plasma Shotgun and blasted one of the attackers right in the chest, sending it down while using the bayonet to stab into the alien's face and then yanked the weapons down to gut the attacker. He fired a few more shots from his Plasma Shotgun and then placed it aside to use both his Hurricane and Eagle, it was not the best of moves, but now was not the time to ponder it as he switched to using Inferno Ammunition and soon lit the nearest aliens on fire.
EDI was not far behind either as she turned to using her Carnifax Pistol and blasted down several more of the aliens. Both heroes moved back and got into some cover and began to lay it on. The alien soldiers were doing their best to attack and kill the heroes, but with both the Spectre and EDI covering the heroes, it was proving difficult, Dylan then turned his attention to the walls and used his Falcon 's grenades to blast holes into the walls, exposing more of the sun and it was having a very potent effect as more of the aliens were finally exposed. Both of them now resorted to their Sniper Rifles and were unleashing hell on them.
J'onn on the other hand, now fought back and began to drag the alien leader into the sunlight.
"You burrow underground and shun the light? Why do you hide, is it because it burns your pale, putrid and corrupt flesh?"
"AAAAAAGGGGGGGGG!"
The Imperium screamed out in pain as it was hit by the sun and already the results were there as the flesh of the alien began to boil and smoke. That sight made the heroes a bit green and Flash summed it up with one word.
"Gross!"
…
Batman was working on freeing the others and it was when he got to Diana that she spoke to him.
"How did you manage to do this?"
"We found out the creatures suffered horribly in UV radiation from the sun back in Cairo. We studied the crystal and developed the counter to the cloud. The Spectre's ship had a well stocked lab and his companion is here to help us out."
Diana nodded with relief as she and the others were soon freed and now all of the gathered heroes launched their counter attacks. Diana came in to support Hawkgirl as both women charged in with fists and mace at the ready. Superman busied himself by attacking the walls to let more light from the sun into the place and then come back down to deal with more shooters. Flash used his speed and knocked down several of the alien fighters, but not before looking at EDI.
And despite the fact that it was obvious that EDI was a cyborg and not an actual flesh and blood being, Flash LIKED what he saw as he moved over to her and helped knock down one of the alien soldiers trying to come in and skewer the robot.
"Whoa…for a robot, you look seriously attractive!"
EDI looked at him and actually raised her metallic eyebrow and replied as she quickly released her own attack with a fist covered in high intensity fire. Flash was surprised to see that EDI had stabbed her attack into the chest of another alien about to skewer him and the alien was literally lit up on fire by the A.I. The gynoid female looked at Flash and replied as her flame covered faded away and returned to normal in a tone of seriousness
"Fight now and focus on that, are we clear?"
"Yes Ma'am!"
The battle grew fiercer as Green Lantern attacked with beams and used shields made from his ring to even up the odds, and he was not alone as Batman was in the fight, using the taser knuckle he had and the batarangs. Dylan and EDI moved in and began to fight back until Dylan had to use Lift to send several of the Aliens into the air to be swatted like baseballs by Hawkgirl. This however drained Dylan as he was still straining from the Biotics and fell to his knees. This was not lost to a band of aliens who decided to shoot and kill the badly exhausted Spectre, Dylan saw it and tried to summon the energy to aim and fire but the shots were intercepted by Diana who then quickly took off her tiara and used it like a boomerang as it smashed hard into their weapons and made those explode just as she caught it and smashed with her fist another attacker intent on gutting the two of them.
She put back her tiara and help him up as Dylan spoke in thanks.
"Thanks a lot Wonder Woman."
Diana raised an eyebrow at that and replied.
"Why call me that?"
"Uh…just came into my mind actually…if you don't like it."
"No, I am all right with that, my mother…called me her little wonder actually, and the name fits to an extent. And you are welcome but I feel my debt to you is paid."
Dylan laughed as he managed to take something from his pack and jammed it into an access port in his Collector Armor. It was a special energy supplement that EDI developed to help him recover after heavy Biotics use, and it got him back into fighting shape. That was enough to have him attack the enemy and bring the fight to them all. Superman and the others who were not in the fight due to the decreasing numbers of the aliens soon went to rescuing the people being held prisoner. The ones who could fly were soon ripping the alien factory roof open to let more light in and many of the alien soldiers were now being killed by the light above them.
The alien leader finally managed to free itself from J'onn after one desperate blast of energy that made the Martian lose his grip on it. The pain from the burns and the fact that it's plan was falling apart convinced the Imperium to leave, and nothing was going to stop it. It knocked away the Carter doppelganger and soon left it to die in the sun and escape in the shuttle.
Diana spotted that and used her lasso to hold the ship down and keep the leader of the invaders from escaping, Superman was able to defend J'onn alongside EDI and Dylan who used their weapons to do as much damage alongside the Kryptonian's use of heat vision on the aliens before directing their attention to the alien ship despite the fact their fire power was not much.
Diana held tightly on the lasso, her intent clear as she was not going to let the monstrous leader of the invasion escape that easily. It had to be brought into account for all the lives it and it's minions had ruined, and the worlds they pillaged. And she had every intention to do just that to the creature and those like it .But the alien ship fired a beam at Diana, forcing the Amazon to block it and allow the aliens to escape.
Hawkgirl however came on the scene and used her mace to stop the ship, allowing the fully recovered Amazon to catch the rope once more to prevent the Imperium from escaping just as a doorway was revealed from the alien mother-ship. Diana yanked hard on the lasso and dragged the being back and then used all her strength to slam the alien vessel into the walls of the alien factory. This further damaged the ship just as Hawkgirl's next strike was the final deathblow. The Imperium screamed in fury as it's vessel was sent smashing into the factory and nearly crushing Batman but Flash saves the Dark Knight at the last moment.
The factory was about to blow and the heroes went to work saving the people trapped inside the same pods the aliens used, with Green Lantern carrying them in a bubble while the others flew out of the now destroyed factory. The cloud cover was gone and it seemed that light was filling Metropolis once more. However the alien vessel was now trying to escape no doubt abandoning it's fellows and hoping to avoid facing the fate that claimed it's leader.
Diana saw that and spoke seriously and with anger as she and the others were near the Daily Planet on top of the roof of the tall building..
"The cowards are fleeing!"
Dylan looked at the alien ship now that it was exposed to daylight and was not in the mood to let these alien bastards get away. They had come here with the intent to strip this world bare and consume all life…just like the Reapers had done to so many other civilizations before his and that of the galactic community. Even after conversing with the Catalyst he still did not love the Reapers much. These were not the Reapers, but they were not going to leave this world without getting what was due to them.
"Not today they're not, their reign of terror ends today."
Shepard focused his techno-organic abilities and soon the Normandy came towards them, the ship soon de-cloaked as it came over the city and it's appearance caught the heroes off guard. The sole exception was Batman as he had seen the ship before and it soon stopped next to both EDI and Shepard as he turned to face the heroes as he spoke to them seriously.
"You all coming?"
Diana did not need a second invitation as she moved to join the pair as the ramp of the Normandy's side entrance to the hanger bay, newly placed in it's construction was now there, the other heroes were quick to take up the chance and all of them boarded the Normandy. As soon as all of them were in, the Normandy powered up it's systems to full and soon got itself ready to follow it's target into the bowels of space itself.
…
Space…
The heroes followed Shepard into the Normandy and they were still surprised with the exception of Batman in the way the ship looked. The very second they came into the CIC, Dylan was greeted by EDI in her more conventional form.
"Commander, good to see you in the ship and with company no less."
"Thanks EDI how far are we from the invader ship?"
"Closing the distance Commander, I do not detect any sign of retaliation from them, they seem intent on leaving the system at all possible speed. The death of their leader seems to have broken their will to fight. Orders Commander?"
"Warm up the Javelin Torpedoes and also the Thannix Cannon, we are not letting them get away easily like that. Warm up the Guardian Laser Systems as well on the chance they deploy fighters and missiles; have the Kinetic Barriers at full power as well for extra defense. The people who suffered by their hands have to be avenged EDI, human and not."
EDI glowed with that as she replied.
"Understood Commander, I am now powering up the Normandy's weapons and Barriers. We will be in range now, incoming fighters."
The alien forces did spot the Normandy and soon deployed fighters to try and stop the reborn Alliance warship, but EDI, this version of EDI with the flight skills and techniques of Joker hardwired into her systems, coupled with her new Reaper made body was more than able to respond. Guardian Lasers fired up the second the alien fighters came into range, while the Kinetic Barriers which had Reaper technology and Quarian technology installed managed to hold their own against energy blasts aimed at them by their attackers.
Several alien fighters were destroyed while Normandy quickly flew around the smaller craft and soon unleashed several banks of Javelins at the alien vessel. This was soon followed by a blast from the Thanix Cannon. The weapons impact hit the alien ship hard and sections of it were blown away. The group watched as the bear began to surgically gut the alien ship and then hit what could be guessed was the drive core, and then EDI appeared in her regular form and confirmed what the others suspected.
"Commander, I detect massive energy readings all over the ship, it's similar to a wild cat effect on a ship so it is safe to assume that the ship's main power source and engines have been hit."
Dylan nodded as he and the others watched the ship go boom in a massive flash of light, enough to force the other heroes to cover their eyes from the blast. Once the flash was over, Shepard looked again and saw that nothing was left of the alien ship, and he was satisfied with that as he faced the other heroes.
"It's a safe bet they won't be coming back, now we have to help clean up the rest of them that are still on Earth."
That was when John finally decided to speak.
"Not before we get some answers, who exactly are you? Where the heck did you come from? Who built this ship and that partner of yours?"
Dylan knew these were valid questions but he knew that as long as the aliens had units still stuck on the surface of Earth, now was not the time. Had the situations been reversed and they were the ones in his universe, he and the others would have asked the same questions too.
"That can wait Green Lantern, once the aliens have been removed, then we can talk, I understand the reason for the questions and had the situation been reversed, I'd be the ones asking them myself. But you know as well as I do that until the enemy is gone, now is not the time for such discussions, so can we go down to Earth and deal with them or not?"
John hesitated a bit more and relented as Dylan turned to EDI who had remained silent for the time being.
"EDI, bring up all the locations of the remaining alien factories and strong holds that are still on Earth, we still have some serious house cleaning to do."
"Understood Commander, I am bringing them up now."
…
It was days later that the combined heroes began to clean up the remains of the alien forces that had not been able to evacuate from the battle zone when their main ship was destroyed in its attempt to flee and their leader slain. The heroes alongside Dylan and EDI were recorded by the media and many were surprised at the arrival of several new heroes, the heroes in question naturally being EDI, Dylan, Diana, and J'onn since the others were already known to them. But what was clear was they the ones mentioned were indeed there to help them and so they could not say no to them. But as it began to die down, some of the military leaders began to talk.
One such leader was none other than the very same general who was one of the most vocal critics of the disarmament plan proposed by the fake Carter. He felt vindicated by his worries but was professional enough not to mention it. But that did not mean that he was going to be less vocal about his opinion on global television.
"We got lucky that time and the heroes on site helped with the defeat of the aliens, but how can we be sure that we won't be attacked again? Darksied's invasion years ago were bad enough, but this recent attack shows that we cannot take any chances now. We need to find a way to be prepared for the worst to come, whether the threat is here on Earth our outside of it."
In the Batcave, only a few days after his battle alongside the others, Bruce listened to the news report and began to think long and hard about what was said. And though his expressions were still hard to read even if he did not have his mask on, the billionaire crime fighter now had an idea. An idea which in light of the situation involved a sideline project that he and the people in Waynetech had been working on for the past few years in secret well away from the prying eyes of the stockholders of Waynetech. It for a different set of objectives when it concerned space and everything about it but now it was going to be repurposed for something greater, it had all that was needed and more than self sufficient. And in his mind, was more than able to handle the mission that the general had unwittingly given the heroes of the world.
…
In deep space…
The massive space station continued to move over the planet Earth and inside the said station were two of the worlds' most recognized heroes. Both of whom shared a level of history with one another and now they were connected for the mission at hand. Clark Kent had to whistle at the station's looks as he and Bruce then looked at the view of Earth itself.
"This is one heck of a move Bruce, your stockholders are aware of this right?"
"This was a line in the aerospace R&D budget in Waynetech, originally this lace was to be used as station for recording and observing space borne phenomenon. Now we can use this to watch for incoming threats to Earth outside and to coordinate things for that as well as dangers down below. I've already listed this as a…contribution by Waynetech to help defend Earth under my name."
Superman shook his head mentally in amusement yet with understanding as he knew that Bruce was not the kind of person to say much about it. But this was a good move either way, this station would be a great help in keeping Earth and its people safe from any more attacks. He soon turned to see none other than Flash who was being joined by Wonder Woman, both of them trying out some new drinks.
"And this place has got one sweet fully stocked kitchen to boot. Want some Iced Mocha big guy?"
Superman smiled a bit and replied.
"No thanks."
Flash shrugged and drank some more as Wonder Woman tried some more of the drink, and despite her calm appearance, she was inwardly enjoying the taste. Such things like this were unheard of in her home island and she made her enjoyment of the cold drink obvious to the others.
"We don't such things like this…'Iced Mocha' back home on Themyscira."
Flash grinned and replied.
"Then stick with me Princess, there's still a lot of things about the world you need to see."
"Perhaps I might do that."
It was also here that Green Lantern and Hawkgirl finally arrived.
"This is an impressive installation. Very impressive, but I get the feeling that there is more to this than just showing off this place. You have something in mind that involves all of us here today, right Superman?"
Superman nodded at that and looked at Earth and as soon as he gathered his thoughts, he spoke to them.
"I once thought that I could handle defending the Earth by myself, but I was wrong, working together we saved the planet and more. That's why instead of working separately we can work together as a team to become a force that can help ensure that the ideals of justice and peace are better protected."
Flash was amused and walked over to the Kryptonian and spoke.
"Work together, like a bunch of Super Friends?"
Superman smirked a bit at the humor there and replied.
"I was thinking more along the lines of a Justice League."
Flash smiled even more and replied.
"You have any idea how corny that sounds?"
He however then turned to face the others in the station and spoke.
"But I think big guy here has a point, working together is a lot more effective and with all of us behind, it can definitely be a good thing. Count me in."
Flash placed his hand on Superman's own as Green Lantern and Hawkgirl did the same thing with the Green Lantern placing his hand over Flash's own while Hawkgirl does the same thing with the two of them showing their willingness to give this idea a chance.
"I'm in."
"So am I."
Diana looked a bit conflicted and then spoke.
"My mother would not approve of this, but Man's world is very interesting to me, very well, I am in."
The Amazon Princess placed her hand on Hawkgirl's own and then they turned to Batman who was looking at the whole thing while being apart from them with Superman spoke to the Dark Knight.
"What about you Batman?"
Bruce replied in his own fashion.
"I'm not much of a people person, but if you need me, and no doubt you will, call me."
"I understand."
"Hold up, where's J'onn?"
They found the Martian looking at a console where the image of Mars was, the alien retained his calm façade but Superman could see that the Martian was not the least bit calm and he could understand just why the Martian looked that way to his now devastated home-world.
"J'onn?"
"Mars is dead and gone now…and I am the last of my kind anywhere."
"J'onn, I know that none of us can take the place of your family at all, but we would be honored if you were to call Earth home."
The Martian looked at the Kryptonian and smiled as they shook their hands, and as they came back to join the others, Flash then asked an important question as he had a feeling that the seven of them were forgetting something or rather someone.
"By the way, what about the Spectre and that A.I ally of his, you know, the hot looking robotic one? Don't they have a stake in this as well?"
The others nodded as well and Batman spoke as he had been trying his best to locate the Normandy though he had no doubt it would be hard to accomplish. Namely due to the fact that is has cloaking technology.
"I've tried looking for his ship but it seems to be well beyond anything that I can use to track ships, no doubt due to the fact that it has cloaking systems."
Wonder Woman then spoke.
"But he and the one called EDI helped us in the battles as well as the cleanup, so we should at least present him the same chance to join this League."
Hawkgirl nodded as she replied.
"I agree with Diana here, but we are going to have a heck of a time since he's pretty much vanished from sight, along with the ship as well."
Green Lantern then spoke as well.
"I've tried to look for him too, but I had little luck even more so since his ship's using technology I have never seen or heard of before. I can guess that he wants to keep himself hidden for now, if he does want to meet us, then he will do it when he wants to."
That was when J'onn spoke to the others.
"We might not need to look for him, he is already coming here."
The others looked and sure enough there was the Normandy and it was a fair distance from them. They soon spotted a shuttle coming in and that made them head to the hanger Bay. Once they got there, they watched the shuttle land. It had some very interesting markings on it and as soon as it opened, out came one lone figure. But this one was wearing a new set of armor, it looked like a futuristic version of medieval armor with a red dragon on it that looked like it was made from blood. The helmet also had an intimidating visor on it to boot. The heroes were confused until the voice came out.
"Don't worry you guys, it's just me, I am wearing one of my other suits, aptly called Blood Dragon."
Flash whistled at that as he could easily why it was called as such and replied.
"Dude, you so have got to tell me who makes those cool suits of yours."
Dylan chuckled a bit at that and replied.
"Sorry Flash, but if I did do that, I would not be able to hold property rights now would I?"
Diana smiled warmly at the Spectre and spoke.
"Spectre, we were just talking about you."
Dylan raised an eyebrow at that and decided not to comment too much about it for now, since he suspected that there was a different meaning there. It was here that Hawkgirl also spoke out as well, she too was curious about where the man had gone.
"Yeah, where exactly did you and EDI go to anyway?"
John looked at them and replied.
"Sorry about that, but EDI and I were busy tracking down any more of the escaping alien ships, making sure none of them come back. She's currently back on the Normandy overseeing some of the recon satellites and making some routine checks and maintenance on the ship though it can take care of itself well enough. What exactly was it that you all talking about?"
Superman then spoke.
"We have a proposition that we wanted to discuss with you."
Dylan thought it over and replied.
"I believe you can ask me that later, I am here since there is something that EDI and I have to discuss with you all as well. And I can bet you all have a good idea just what I want to talk to you all about."
Batman then spoke as he had fairly accurate idea on what was it that the Spartan was going to say.
"You're going to tell us exactly where is it that you two came from and who you both are?"
"Yes, and the Normandy along with EDI have all the data and proof that you will need to see, which is why I am asking you if you don't mind coming to the Ship, I came here on the shuttle and it's able to house all of you right now."
The seven heroes nodded and followed the Spectre as they boarded the shuttle, there was no sing of the pilot and Dylan replied that EDI was the one flying the shuttle eve though she was back in the Normandy. That was surprising and more s for Bruce as he recalled the A.I HARDAC, that rogue A.I had been a major concern, even more so with that creation of him. The cyborg Batman was something he had not expected at all, even more so when it rebelled against it's maker when it thought it had committed murder.
(That A.I of his…could it be as advanced more so than HARDAC?)
Batman shelved those thoughts aside as he had a feeling that he was going to get answers soon enough as the shuttle soon entered the Normandy. Once they were in, the Spectre led them to the elevator and the group looked at the ship's interior, and it was there that they spotted a memorial…the kind one only found at places that commemorated events, or honored fallen heroes in a battle. The League stopped and looked at it and Dylan noted that as he turned around and stood there, waiting for them to make their move.
The heroes looked at the names that were there and could see that some names were that of people and some other names they could not understand. John turned to the Spectre and spoke to him.
"Who's names are these?"
EDI appeared in her gynoid body and replied.
"That is the memorial for the crews who served on the first Normandy and the second."
Hawkgirl was surprised by that and made that obvious to the rest of the others, they had been so intent on fighting the aliens, and chasing the ship that none of them noted the memorial. They had focused on following both the Spectre and his A.I partner that none of them noticed. And days before, they had all headed back to the surface of the world to deal with the aliens os they did not notice it either.
"There were other ships by the name Normandy?"
EDI nodded.
"Yes, but I believe that you all are here for answers pertaining to who we are."
EDI turned to face Dylan and spoke.
"The War Room is ready for the meeting Commander, I take it I am to guide them there?"
"Correct EDI, I will need to get dressed for that, and make sure that all the records we have are ready for display."
"Yes Commander, follow me please."
…
Later…in the Normandy's War Room…
Flash whistled once more as they were in the War Room as this ship was certainly something else in his mind. And the same could be said in the minds of the others in the newly formed Justice League. The CIC was pretty impressive in many respects and so was the War Room, and it was obvious to the rest of the newly formed League that this was a ship built for combat and apparently for coordinating military missions and combat assets. Stewart knew that the most since despite no longer being a US Marine, he knew a War Room when he saw one.
The Spectre left the group in the CIC and left to get dressed into what he deemed would be more acceptable clothing. Normally he would have not mind the fact that he was still in Armor, but he decided against it since it would have looked odd. The heroes were watched By EDI and it was still boggling them a bit since the ship definitely looked different and for one reason or another, it also felt, alive in a way.
It was at that moment that the elevator chimed in and in walked Dylan Shepard, and he was wearing his Alliance Officer's Dress Blues uniform. That got the attention of the League, especially Stewart as he realized that the man before him was indeed a military officer. He had to resist the urge to salute since the way the Spectre walked was that of a commanding officer, and not the kind who got the office through connections or nepotism, but the kind who worked their butts off for it and earned every bit of merit to go with it. The uniform might not match anything he had seen, but to the former Marine Gunnery Sergeant, there was no denying that was a military man's uniform.
Dylan smiled a bit as he soon joined the heroes and replied.
"Sorry for the delay, it's been a while since I have worn my dress blues."
The others nodded as they took in the sight of the man in uniform, Diana was very curious as despite the look, she had to admit the uniform looked very presentable. And it seemed to add to the look of the man before them. Hawkgirl noted that as well and could tell that this was a military officer's uniform, she had seen some things similar to them back home, but this was different.
Superman commented to that.
"It's no problem, but that uniform certainly does not look like any uniform in the Armed Forces I have seen on Earth."
Dylan nodded at as he moved to the table.
"I would not be surprised about that Superman, anyway, EDI and I promised answers, so you will have them the first is no doubt who I am."
The League nodded at that and Dylan was quick to answer that as soon as he composed himself a bit more to gather his thoughts. He knew that EDI could fill in the blanks and he trusted her, it was just not easy to talk about the past that he knew was going to hurt like the devil's own pitchfork being reamed up your ass, but better to get it out and deal with the fallout now than later.
"My name is Dylan Shepard, Commander Dylan of the Systems Alliance, current Captain of the SSV Normandy, N7 Special Forces Marine and a Spectre of the Citadel Council. And before you ask, the Systems Alliance is the organization founded by the nations of Earth for exploration, colonization, science advancement, and military operations in the Galaxy."
…
To be continued…
…
Author's Notes:
There, the latest chapter is now finished and I am pleased to know that this is not going to be a one hit project. Then again, I was not all too known for such things either and I will apologize to the readers in advance for the delays I had done on many of my stories, which I will be updating soon. Now I think there will be some questions on the topic of what I did with the ship, Shepard and EDI, I had hoped that some if not most of the questions were answered in the prologue, but if not, I will be answering them as best I can.
In regards to EDI, she is what I have decided to be a multiclass character since this version of EDI has been born from the data of Shepard's memories and thus she has an array of abilities that were originally only seen in Shepard's crew. The only thing she cannot obviously do is to use Biotics since she is naturally a machine and even the Reapers did not have Biotic abilities so I don't really see why I would install such functions into EDI.
She has the ability to access the skill patterns of the others so that makes her a valuable addition to the rest of the team and she will play her part in fighting against the enemies on the field. Just like EDI did when she took over the gynoid body of 'Dr. Eva Core' and used it for her own uses in the field of combat. And as you might have guessed, this will make the League nine in total, similar to what happened in my Halo story, only difference there is that Cortana remains as she is while EDI has a physical form of her own.
You can bet that it might be interesting to see how Flash will try to flirt with EDI, and for all you know, a certain nanomachine build android might sit up and take notice as well. Who can guess how this whole situation might turn out in the end, but like they saw, this should be very interesting indeed.
…
On the topic of Shepard's Biotic abilities, I would like to stress that he only had a few months of training and had never been much of a Biotic, so it stands to reason that unlike the others in his group, he has the least experience in using them. He does know how to kill Biotics due to the years he had spent fighting many of such powers, but never using them himself. Human Biotics are known to exert tremendous efforts in using Biotics in combat and Shepard in this case, even more so since his body was not originally that of a Biotic.
Thus you can bet that Shepard is going to be drained when he goes for higher versions of his Biotic abilities and the same could be said for his Techno-organic abilities. He can be powerful, but not at the level of say Samara, Miranda, Jacob, Thane, Wrex, and a few others, and if he tries to, it will tax him greatly. His body can indeed heal well but that will not make him invincible.
…
Someone asked me if I could have Batman be given a Combat Hardsuit with the Batman theme on it. And I have to admit that the whole thing was a very tempting idea. The idea of a Batman style suit of Mass Effect Armor was good and I just might do that if I get enough support on it, and for all you know, that tech might be included or will be the basis for the future Batman's own suit and that can be fun to cook up and do right. I might even design a suit for Superman as a more advanced form of the suit he would normally use to handle Kryptonite.
The possibilities there are pretty endless.
…
On another topic of discussion, someone asked if I can do the pairing as a harem bit for Shepard, and I will admit that it might be possible to pull off. How it can be done will still be up to me, but the potential is there and I am very interested to see how that might turn out. But I will not just get Shepard in with a lot of women without make the relationship he will have with each woman actually work. And I had mentioned that since you could have a romance in ME 2 with a character that does not affect your main romance, it is good to try when we can.
And I did state that Dylan did have a romance with Miranda and a near romance with Samara, something you can totally do in the game. So I do not have anything against trying something like that here in this story. So if I do decide to go for a harem bit for this story, please tell me who you would suggest in it and I'll see if I can make it happen.
…
Anyway, there we go with this story, not my best due to some problems that I need to deal with, along with Real Life issues. If there are errors please send me a PM to point them out, and I will fix them when I can. I will be updating this time, my Naruto stories, namely Dragon Champion, Dragon Ascendant, Rune Soldier as much as I can, along with my Fallout stories. After that, then I will be working on the rest once I rest well enough.
Bye!
