Adventures of John: Heroes
Chapter 5: Liberation
It was a sunny day in the shining city of Metropolis. Or it was, until Thor began to spin that hammer of his, calling forth a storm that blanketed the city it dark clouds. The city was lit by brilliant flashes of light, some green, some various other colors. In the skies the Green Lantern battled Iron Man, the might of the green power ring facing Tony Stark's mechanical armor. Flashes of lightning illuminated the battle between Wonder Woman and Thor, the amazon warrior going toe-to-toe with the Norse deity, blade clashing against hammer, Thor's lightning deflected by Wonder Woman's magical bracelets. Hulk and Superman crashed through the city, the occasional burst of heat vision or freezing breath punctuating their titanic struggle. Down in the streets below, the Flash and Quicksilver engaged in combat faster than the lightning that flashed around them, their attacks so fast that to the human eye they would seem to be nothing but a blur.
Yet despite the fury of these battles, none of the combatants appeared to be winning. Each attack was either blocked, parried, or dodged. Each construct Green Lantern employed was either destroyed or evaded, and all of the weapons at Iron Man's disposal were useless against the same constructs that failed to defeat him. Wonder Woman and Thor failed to gain the upper hand against the other as well, both mighty warriors failing to find their opponent's weak points. Every blow Superman landed on the Hulk healed soon later, and each blow of the Hulk's failed to find its mark. The Flash and Quicksilver moved at exactly the same speed, neither one slowing down or speeding up by the slightest increment. It was as if they were all toys, being played with by a child that didn't want the game to end.
Suddenly six figures materialized in the middle of the wreckage-strewn city, and everything changed.
. . . . .
"We need to deal with Superman and that creature first," Batman said back in the Batcave. "If we are going to even think about catching the Flash and his counterpart, we are going to need a speedster of our own. Plus, their strength will make grabbing Diana and the thunder god that much easier."
"But how are we going to do that?" Hawkeye asked. "I don't know if you noticed, but the Hulk is the strongest guy I've ever seen. Not only that, but he gets stronger the angrier he gets, and he looked pretty angry to me. If this Superman really is strong enough to take the Hulk on, then taking both of them down is nothing short of a miracle."
"It is true that Superman is virtually unstoppable," Batman agreed, "but he does have a weakness."
"Kryptonite," I explained. "Radioactive pieces of his home world. Get a chunk of it close to him and he not only gets sick, but his powers begin to drain away. Have a big enough piece of it around him long enough it could kill him."
"That's one nasty allergy," Cap remarked. "Do we have any of this Kryptonite?"
"I can create a large enough chunk of it to take him out of commission temporarily," I told them, "but I won't be able to maintain it while I am working inside his head. Bats, we are going to need some from your vault."
"You've got a kryptonite vault?" Green Arrow asked in shock. "I thought you and Superman were best friends or something? You certainly act like it, what with the two of you working together independent of the rest of the team so often."
"They are friends," I answered. "But Mr. Wayne here is incredibly paranoid. He has contingency plans for dealing with each and every member of the Justice League. I don't know what his contingency plan for you is. It's not like you've got any real powers or anything."
"Hey!" Green Arrow and Hawkeye said together. Apparently I had offended both of them with that comment.
"I'll get the kryptonite," Batman said, walking down into the depths of the cavern. "Don't try to follow me."
. . . . .
Superman grabbed the Hulk and flung him into a nearby building, one that had surprisingly not yet been destroyed by their rampage. He was about to fly after the beast when he was suddenly encased completely in kryptonite, and immediately dropped from the sky. The kryptonite prison shattered as it met the ground, leaving Superman laying on the ground amidst thousands of shards of the rock, many of them sticking out of his flesh. Six figures materialized before him and the kryptonite shards vanished, his wounds healing. But before he could wake, a pair of kryptonite shackles were placed around his wrists. One of the figures, a man dressed in a red cloak and golden armor, placed his hands on Superman's head, and both of them screamed in pain.
. . . . .
"What about the Hulk?" Hawkeye asked. "This Superman might have an Achilles heel, but our big green friend certainly doesn't. How are we going to deal with him?"
"Hopefully when Superman wakes up and we take the kryptonite away he'll regain his strength quickly enough to take down your oversized gorilla," Green Arrow responded.
"It's great that you have confidence in him," Cap said, "but what if the Hulk attacks while John is still messing around inside his head? What then?"
Elsa smiled. "Leave that to me."
. . . . .
The Hulk smashed his way out of the now demolished building, roaring in rage, searching for something to destroy. But instead of a red and blue boy scout facing him, he was faced by several dozen giant snow golems. He roared his defiance at them, a roar that was met by dozens of others, icicles erupting from the golems' backs, icy claws sprouting from their fingers. The Hulk leaped into the air, landing with a smash that blasted a golem to smitherings and sending the others flying back. The Hulk then continued to tear through the monsters, roaring as his adrenaline surged, getting stronger every second.
When all of the creatures were destroyed, Hulk looked around for more targets. But instead of more snow monsters, all he saw was a single female figure, draped in a gown of ice. The great beast roared and leaped at the girl, only to be sent flying as she shot a blast of icy magic, sending him crashing through another building. He broke out of the building and ran at her, only to be frozen in his tracks. After a few seconds he broke out of the ice, only to be frozen again. This continued, each time him moving only a foot or so further before being frozen again. When he finally got close he charged, and the woman shot a continuous stream of icy energy, freezing him and sending her flying away.
The Hulk broke out of the ice only to suddenly be tackled by a blur of blue and red. Superman grabbed both of the beast's arms and forced them to the sides, holding him in place as the gold-clad figure stepped up and wrapped his hands around the Hulk's massive head.
. . . . .
"Once Superman and Hulk are liberated, it should be fairly easy to take down the ones fighting in the sky," I said. "Wonder Woman and Thor are both only the second strongest on their respective teams, and they aren't exactly on their best game right now. Plus, when compared to Superman and the Hulk, Green Lantern and Iron Man are basically both pushovers."
"But are you sure that we'll have the Hulk helping us?" Cap asked. "From what little I remember of what it was like, there was a lot of rage involved. If you free the Hulk from the mind control, he might revert back to Banner."
"Then let's not count on the Hulk," I told him. "I can take Thor down myself. I have some experience with his style of fighting, as I faced a version of him in my reality." I neglected to mention that particular fight had ended in me running away like a little girl.
. . . . .
Wonder Woman blocked another lightning strike with her bracelets, and was about to counter attack when she was suddenly attacked from the side by a red-blue blur. Thor looked around for what had taken her, only to be faced by a flaming sword. He parried with his hammer, but his opponent attacked ruthlessly, crimson cloak billowing behind him in the gale. Lightning and flame crashed together, but the Mighty Thor proved too strong for his opponent. Realizing this, his opponent changed tactics.
A massive blast of force sent the thunder god flying backwards. He flew back, only to be met by a burst of flame. He struggled against the blaze, but the heat grew so intense even his Asgardian flesh began to burn and blister. The fire suddenly went out, and while he paused to regain his breath, his hammer was pulled from his relaxed grip and thrown away. Without his hammer, the god of thunder suddenly found himself without anything keeping him aloft and he fell to the ground below.
His opponent followed him to the ground and imprisoned him in a mystic cage. Superman flew over, holding an unconscious Wonder Woman in one hand and Thor's discarded hammer in the other. Superman swung Thor's hammer and knocked the Asgardian out cold.
. . . . .
"With Thor and Wonder Woman on our side again, Green Lantern and Iron Man won't be a problem. The issue after that will be the two speedsters," I declared. "Cap, what is Quicksilver's top speed?"
"We don't know for sure," Cap answered. "The fastest he's gone so far is Mach 5, but he could go faster than that if he had to."
"That's all?" Green Arrow laughed. "Flash goes faster than that on his worst days! He travels through time on a regular basis because he runs faster than the speed of light."
"But at this moment they go at the same speed," Batman interjected. "Which, luckily for us, is less than Superman's top speed."
"I've got a plan to deal with those two," I informed them. I'm just going to need Superman and a whole lot of magic."
. . . . .
Green Lantern and Iron Man were taken down quickly, a small EMP thrown by Batman taking out Tony's armor while Thor and Wonder Woman smashed through Lantern's constructs. A few minutes of excruciating pain later and they were free of the rage control. All that was left now where the speedsters, and from the looks of things they weren't going to wait to be attacked.
They attacked suddenly, a pair of lightning-fast streaks zooming through, knocking everyone aside. No one other than Superman could even see the two of them moving, and from the looks of things the limits had been taken off their speed as even Superman couldn't catch the Flash. He caught Quicksilver, only for the Flash to knock the other speedster from the Kryptonian's grip.
I focused my energies and used a spell that I had only done once before, in my duel with my reality's version of Thor. Concentrating, I did something nearly impossible, even for me. Using the difference of time in the different realities I grabbed hold of the strands of time and twisted them, slowing the flow of time down to the speed of my own reality, in essence stopping time.
Or at least that was how it had worked with my reality's Thor when I was in Asgard, using that realm's flow of time. In this reality, it worked almost perfectly, I simply underestimated the speed of the Flash. Quicksilver and Superman were now moving as slow as molasses and everyone wasn't moving at all, but the Flash was still moving steadily, making his way towards me. Focusing, I loosed the strands of time around Superman, releasing him from the slowed time flow, enabling him to take out the now normally moving Flash.
With the speedsters taken care of, I was able to release them from the grasp of the rage control. I was completely out of energy and several of our heroes were still out cold, but we had won. Celebrating this victory inwardly, I decided that it was a good time to fall asleep.
. . . . .
I woke up on the Watchtower, hovering in orbit above the earth. I got many thanks from the members of both teams for freeing them from the control. It felt pretty amazing to get complements from some of my biggest heroes, but there were more important things to do. Grasping Elsa's hand for support, I stood in front of the gathered superheroes.
"We have done much today!" I proclaimed. "But there is still much more to be done. The rest of both the Justice League and the Avengers are missing, most likely imprisoned by the very same forces that were in control of your minds. Now we must free them and face your would-be masters. Heroes, are you with me?"