6 Justice League Conflict
Hidden as they were behind white lenses, Jack O'Lantern's eyes weren't seen as they began to open. As his vision cleared Jack realized that Power Ring had formed a stiletto above his chest and the blade was beginning to fall. Jack thrust his lantern in front of him at arm's length. Yellow energy flared out of the eyes and mouth of the lantern.
The stiletto shattered and Power Ring backed off. Jack scrambled to his feet and faced the villain. Since Jack's mask completely covered his face and head, his ire wasn't visible.
"Tryin' t'kill me are ya, boyo?" Jack rhetorically asked, "Lemme show ya what happens to yobbos that fug with me."
Superwoman wrapped her lasso around Owlwoman's throat and then cinched it tight. Finding her air supply restricted, Owlwoman became fully alert. She rose to her feet and tried to throw her Amazonian tormentor over her shoulder. Trying to fly just tightened the lasso.
She extended the talons of her left hand. She plunged them into the meat of Superwoman's thigh. The Amazon screamed but didn't release the lasso. Wenonah twisted her hand and Superwoman let go of the golden rope with a heart wrenching scream.
Owlwoman retracted her talons and pulled free of Superwoman. She expanded the lariat's loop and pulled it over her head. She rubbed her savaged throat while Superwoman tried to staunch the flow of blood pouring from her leg. The Amazon collapsed onto the ground.
She looked to Owlwoman, "How could you? It's against everything the JLU stands for."
Owlwoman grinned, "I'm not part of the JLU. I'm a Global Guardian. I do what needs to be done in order to capture folks like you."
"You're more like a Legionnaire now then when you were part of the Legion." Superwoman sneered as she tore her cape into strips and began to bandage her leg.
Owlwoman struggled to reply but then Wonder Girl intervened and took away the need to address that issue.
The Olympian staggered as Wonder Girl connected a spin kick. Donna followed through with a punch to the gut and then an uppercut. The Olympian was barely standing. Wonder Girl threw a tremendous roundhouse that floored the Greek hero.
It was then that she heard Superwoman's screams. Seeing the elder Amazon fall to the ground bleeding hardened Donna's resolve. Personally, Wonder Girl thought Superwoman was a psychopath but she was the only Amazon sister that Donna could claim. Owlwoman would be dealt with and dealt with harshly.
Black Adam blocked Ultraman's roundhouse and delivered a staggering counter punch. It had become obvious that he could knock Ultraman out but that it wouldn't happen as long as he exchanged blow for blow with the Kryptonian. It was just as likely that Adam would get knocked out if the situation continued.
Ultraman staggered backwards. He then snorted like a bull and threw another roundhouse. Adam ducked underneath the blow. He surged upward and drove a blow directly into Ultraman's nose. The Kryptonian blinked back tears as he sniffled.
Bellowing his rage he threw another round house. Adam ducked again. When he rose he drove a left jab into Ultraman's gut. This was followed by a right handed uppercut. Ultraman was lifted off of his feet and thrown onto his back.
Ultraman snarled and scrambled to his feet. He rushed forward and threw another roundhouse. This time, however, he kept his other hand free to bash Adam if and when he ducked.
Anticipating that his tactic was obvious even to one as dim as Ultraman, Black Adam went up and over Ultraman's head. Twisting in mid-air, Adam landed in perfect position, poised to land a punch. Ultraman spun out of control from losing his target and his momentum spun him around, right into Adam's trap.
Adam drove another devastating blow from his shoulder into Ultraman's face. Ultraman reeled. His hands were vaguely up around his chest but his focus was vague and ill defined. Black Adam unleashed a right cross and then a left. Ultraman tottered and Adam finished him off with another blow straight into his head.
Now that Ultraman was out, Adam was free to assist other Global Guardians. The trick was, in a sea of need, who to help first?
Maxi-Man struggled with Atom Smasher. The two brawlers were evenly matched…at least they were until Atom Smasher chose to use his density altering abilities. Maxi-Man threw a punch and he went through Atom Smasher. Stumbling at first, he recovered his footing in time to see the Smasher throwing a punch from behind him.
Maxi-Man ducked and threw a jab into Atom Smasher's gut. With his density hardened, it was like striking rock. Maxi-Man threw an uppercut but Atom Smasher jerked his head back. With his arm flailed out into the air, Maxi-Man found his left side exposed. Atom Smasher capitalized upon the weakness.
The Smasher drove a right jab into Maxi-Man's abdomen. He followed this with a left cross. Maxi-Man went down on one knee. Atom Smasher laughed.
"I'd hate to be a second rate hero right now." He said.
"At least I'm still a hero." Maxi-Man shot back.
Hidden behind a full face mask, Atom Smasher's expression remained obscured but his anger was in full evidence as he said, "Get up. This isn't over."
Mammoth delivered a downward angled right cross and Grundy doubled over. Growling his displeasure, Grundy pushed forward. Catching Mammoth by surprise, Grundy wrapped his arms around Mammoth and plowed him into the earth. Grundy extricated his arms and began to pummel Mammoth.
Praxis began to sweat as he faced off with Psimon. His facial expression was a frozen mask of stoicism and his posture was relaxed, standing tall and proud with his hands thrust in his trenchcoat pockets, and his sunglasses permanently affixed to his face. Nothing to give away the pressure he felt except the beading perspiration on his forehead and at his hairline.
There were actually quite a few similarities between the resident psychics. Psimon was tall, fair skinned, hairless except for a dark ponytail, and his eyes were opaque. Praxis was fair skinned, blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, several inches taller than Psimon, and his sunglasses obscured his eyes. Both were becoming increasingly rigid as their battle intensified. Praxis had easily bested Psimon once before but that was because the Legionnaire had severely underestimated the Guardian. That was one mistake he wasn't willing to make now.
"Don't make me fight you, Dorcas. It won't be pretty." Goldilocks warned Godiva.
Dorcas Leigh, also known as Godiva, replied, "Don't be stupid. Our powers are the same. We'll just pound each other senseless. Why don't you give up? We'll…"
"No! Don't you understand? I'm with the big, bad bears now. If I don't fight you they'll eat me." Goldilocks insisted.
Godiva sighed. Her sister had always been delusional. It had gotten better, or so it seemed, when she was an adolescent but as she'd gotten older her fantasy world grew with her. She was completely engulfed in it now. She realized that Goldilocks had probably empowered her hair with the intention of becoming a hero too. It was just too easy to succumb to petty crime and then true villainy.
Goldilocks had originally been a member of the Brotherhood of Evil. She'd left them though and enlisted with the Fearsome Five. Now the Fearsome Five, like the Brotherhood, was part of the Legion of Doom. For some reason she was honestly scared to leave the Fearsome Five and she wouldn't surrender when confronted, no matter how much she wanted to.
"Do you remember when we used to fox Mum and Dad?" Godiva asked. The two sisters would pretend to fight to get their parents to separate them and lavish individual attention upon them.
"Yeah, why?" Goldilocks hadn't caught on yet.
"We could do that here and now. If we put on a good enough show, no one will realize that it isn't for real." Godiva explained.
"Oh. All right." Goldilocks walked up and slapped Godiva's face. Godiva was offended.
"Why did you do that?" she demanded.
Goldilocks shrugged, "It's how we always used to begin."
Godiva's memory clicked and it was true. She had no right to complain but damn it, that had hurt. She shoved Goldilocks back and then the two wrestled each other to the ground.
Multiplex had created a few hundred replicants of himself while Gizmo wielded vicious looking weaponry and Shimmer waited for some unwitting Global Guardian to get close to her. Meanwhile, Tuatara was advising Vapor, Echo, Gypsy, Reverb, Thunderlord, Rising Sun, the Wild Huntsman, Bushmaster, and the Tasmanian Devil. Vapor, prewarned about the Legionnaires abilities, ordered her Guardians to take out Multiplex's duplicates while avoiding the worst of what Gizmo and Shimmer could dish out.
Tasmanian Devil opened the party by charging into the encroaching Multiplex crowd and using his great strength to start knocking them out. Bushmaster used his reptilian powers to slither, squeeze, and strike his way through. Fortunately for the fissionable villain Bushmaster's venom was only strong enough to tranquilize. Thunderlord used his sonic powers to carve his way through the "crowd" even as Rising Sun used his solar powers to blind and lightly burn his opponents.
Gypsy turned invisible and slipped through the ranks. The Wild Huntsman released his baying hound and came at the duplicates with his spear. He used its length to bash and prod Multiplex's creations. Tuatara used his precognitive abilities to foresee what his opponents would do before they did it. Meanwhile Reverb used his vibrational talents to plow a path for Vapor and Echo to reach Shimmer and Gizmo.
Upon reaching the deadly duo, Vapor challenged them; "Surrender now or face the consequences!"
"I'd like to see what they'd be." Gizmo cackled as he racked a round into his flechette rifle. The flechette gun was basically a pump action shotgun that magnetically fired bundles of razor blades. At this range, the blades would shred every part of Vapor's body. He took aim. She smugly smiled as he fired.
Echo intercepted the blast with her reflective field. The blades returned along the route that they'd come. Gizmo had to ignite his jetpack in order to lift off and dodge the razors. Once he was in the air, Reverb hit him with vibration waves. The dwarf was shaken until he lost bladder control.
Vapor approached Shimmer. The Legionnaire laughed, "You obviously don't know anything about me or you'd know to stay further away."
Before Vapor could reply, Shimmer created a skinsuit of iron around vapor. Echo cried out but remained where she was. Shimmer laughed.
"Come on dearie. Rescue your big, bad friend." She called out.
It was then that Shimmer noticed that the iron skinsuit's head began to pit and melt. An acidic cloud billowed out of the ersatz statue. The cloud then moved in on Shimmer.
"Wha…what?" a panicked Shimmer cried out.
It was then that she felt a foot ram into her gut. This was followed by a knee to the face. She was finished off by a spin kick to the head. Gypsy then chose to become visible. Vapor returned to her human state and she wore a big grin.
"Like clockwork!" she happily enthused as she high-fived Gypsy.
There was a crash nearby and they turned to see Gizmo trying to climb out of his jet pack. He was so shaken up he was still feeling the effects. Vapor marched over to where he struggled. He reached up a shaking hand.
"Please…" he begged.
Vapor kicked him in the head for all she was worth. She grinned, "That's how you take out the trash."
"What about Multiplex?" Gypsy asked.
Vapor frowned, "We have to find the original. Knock him out and the duplicates disappear."
"That's great. How do you pick out the original?" Gypsy asked.
Vapor's frown deepened into a scowl. Then a familiar sound filled the air. A Javelin-9 shuttle was making a slow pass.
"Perfect." Vapor remarked bitterly, "Just what we needed. A group of glory hungry showboaters."
Gypsy wondered if that appellation couldn't be applied to the Global Guardians as well but she wisely kept her mouth shut.
