Reign of Krypton: The Rogues
Issue 2 of 3
Written by Bodhi Ouellette
Previously: The Rogues, having been caught in an embarrassing battle between Flash, Kid Flash and Green Lantern, were taken in and being transported back to prison. However, a Kryptonian ship attacked the truck, allowing the Rogues to break out and return into the city to find out what that ship is going to do. Little do they know, they were now being caught in the invasion of the Kryptonians.
Central City:
Kryptonian Warships descend onto the pavements of the roads or up above on rooftop buildings. Kryptonian Soldiers disembarked out from the ships, wearing dark grey extravagantly detailed armor, and wielding large equally outlandishly designed weapons. The soldiers started to raid through homes and stores below, rounding innocent bystanders and families out into the streets. Other Kryptonian soldiers, such as Enforcers- taller figures with lots of armor and muscle can be seen falling from the sky, and smashing right onto the ground, denting the pavement, or on the front ends of cars, ripping off hoods of vehicles and pulling out helpless bystanders that way.
Nearby the Rogues, an Enforcer and two regular Kryptonian Soldiers had cornered a family into a wall. The father, trying to protect his family, made an attempt to defy an Enforcer from taking them. The Enforcer replied by quickly gripping the father's head and crushing it effortlessly. His family screamed, terrified of the might these Kryptonians have, made even worse when the Kryptonians aimed their weapons at the family and fired at them. The three dropped onto the pavement, gushing out blood from bullet wounds; dead. The Rogues watched the chaos endure in the city, feeling helpless and unsure of what to do.
"Blimey," whispered Captain Boomerang. "That's a lot of baddies."
"I know," replied Heatwave. "Did you see what they just did to that family?"
"This does look to be a near impossible task we can perform for just five non powered crooks," stated Mirror Master.
"My god, why did we even bother listening to ya, Lenny?" asked Captain Boomerang. "If we had known that these bastards were this brutal, I wouldn't said 'Run for the hills, everyone! We're all gonna die.'"
"I stand by my point, Boomy," retorted Cold. "We're definitely helping these people out now."
"F&^% 'em! They have two Flashes that'll protect these pansies! I say we get the hell outta here."
"Boomy's got a point, Cold," said Heatwave. "What good are we against them?"
"Enough."
A couple of police cars and military vehicles pulled out, blocking a whole street. Police officers and military soldiers exit out of their vehicles and got into position to aim their pistols and semi automatic rifles at a group of Kryptonian soldiers, including two Enforcers. You could not see the Kryptonians faces, but what these officers and soldiers thought of what they must've been feeling most likely was that of a face of pitifulness. They stood no chance at all. But they needed to do their duties.
"Put your hands up in the air right now, or we will shoot!" one of the Officers ordered.
The Kryptonians made no effort to give in to their demands, as they immediately started firing at the small squad of reinforcements. They retaliated back, firing endless amounts of bullets, but not one bullet even made a dent in the Kryptonians armor. When the ceasefire ended, the Enforcers charged at the squad like furious rhinoceros, however, the Enforcers stopped in their tracks, unable to move their legs. They both looked down to see their legs were frozen, stuck to the ground. The cops, soldiers and Kryptonians looked over to find the Rogues have arrived, and were ready for a fight. The cops, however, were quite confused by their appearances.
"The Rogues?" questioned one of the cops. "You're helping us?"
"That's right," spoke Trickster.
"... Wait a minute, how the hell did you guys escape from the truck?!" screamed back the officer.
"Blew up," answered Heatwave. "These bozos took it out."
The normal Kryptonian soldiers engaged the Rogues by blasting them with their rifles, but they were thwarted by fire blasts conceived by Heatwave, though it did not harm them, it forced Kryptonians to drop their guns, followed by Cold freezing them to the ground to prevent them from getting back up, though this would not hold them for long. Mirror Master looked back at the officers. "Where's Flash?" asked Mirror Master. "Shouldn't he be here defending this city?"
"He's in D.C.," answered one of the officers. "He tried to stop these guys from killing the President. He's safe, but man did they give him, GL and KF a beating."
"Ha! What a bunch of bitches!" cried out Captain Boomerang in gleefully. "Serves them right! Bloody wankers deserved a good beating."
"Yeah, ok, you go ahead and continue on with your speech, meanwhile there are a bunch of alien scumbags committing mass genocide across the city, and probably the entire planet," rambled Captain Cold.
"Does this mean you'll be helping us?" asked the Cop.
"I... guess we are..." said Heatwave. "And I don't think you're going to deny our assistance, are you?"
"Nope," the cop replied back. "Right now, I think we have a better chance of beating these guys with your help then with all of us alone."
"So... if we help you guys beat these aliens up, does that mean we won't have to go back to jail?" asked Trickster curiously.
"Not in a million years," the Cop answered.
"Oh, well in that case, I guess we don't have to help you now," stated Trickster.
"Wait! Maybe we can figure something out."
"That's what I thought."
The Enforcers finally broke their legs through the ice, as they turned over and immediately started charging at the Rogues members. Trickster and Captain Boomerang were the quickest to respond; Trickster pulled out a few sharpened tacks out of his satchel and threw them right at the Enforcer's exposed head, killing him instantly. Captain Boomerang flung his sharp boomerang weapon right into the neck of the other Enforcer. The Enforcer grasps his throat, as he slowly begins to choke on his own blood, until he falls over dead. The Rogues looked back at the cops and soldiers. "So, what now?" asked Captain Cold.
"Help around in the city," answered a Military Official. "You guys seem capable enough to help out with saving citizens in pearl. Least you can do. We can keep these other Kryptonians at bay with their weapons."
"Understood," said Captain Cold. He turned back to face the other Rogues members. "Let's split up," suggested Cold. "Heatwave, you and I will take downtown, the three of you take the rest of the city. Let's go!"
Downtown:
Many Kryptonian soldiers and Enforcers are rounding up Central City citizens, and escorting them on the streets, assembled in straight lines, and defenseless. Their destination; concentration camps set up inside of the city, where the weak humans will be placed and watched over in. A horrible fate for any being to endure. But they're forceful escort was cut short.
Standing on a roof above the streets was Captain Cold and Heatwave, who both blasted the Kryptonian soldiers with their blasters spewing out ice and fire. Though they didn't stay down for long, this allowed many of the citizens to pick up their weapons and point them at the downed Kryptonian forces. The Enforcers were however, a bit trickier to take out. Luckily, Cold created an entire block of ice that flung down right into two Enforcers, smashing them into a building. The citizens looked up to see Cold and Heatwave.
"Grab their weapons!" yelled Cold. "Blast them to a crisp! These punks are gonna show what a bunch of humans can really do!"
The citizens roared with thunderous cries at Cold's speech. Cold looked back at Heatwave with a smile. "Look at that, Mick. They're cheering at us. How does that feel?"
"Gotta say, it feels good to be treated like a hero," admitted Heatwave. "Now, let's keep that streak up."
Upstate:
More cops and military soldiers defend against the forces of the Kryptonians, with little success; their bullets make no dents in their armor. The Kryptonians retaliated by using their laser weapons to blast the cops and soldiers away. As the Kryptonians continued to advance on, Captain Boomerang, Trickster, and Mirror Master materialized out from a nearby car mirror, and gave them a surprise attack. Trickster threw a jukebox that was actually loaded with a bomb that exploded, knocking back the Kryptonians down.
Captain Boomerang used this time to throw his boomerangs at the downed Kryptonians, all of them stab through their necks, cutting off their air supply and slowly killing them. One Kryptonian however was still alive. The Kryptonian removed her helmet, and her eyes glowed red. A strong blast of laser eyes shot out at the Rogues, however, Mirror Master created his own mirror construct, in which the blast went into the construct. The Kryptonian was confused for a moment, until the blast projected out from a nearby mirror and hit her right in the face, defeated by her own attack. A few pedestrians behind a damaged car looked up to see the Rogues, much to their surprise.
"The Rogues?" said one of the pedestrians. "What the hell are you guys doing?"
"Saving your lives, what else?" said Mirror Master.
"Really? Y-You're not gonna rob us or anything?"
"No. We're trying to save ya dumbasses," said Captain Boomerang.
"Whatever. Thanks for saving us, though. You kicked those Kryptonians real good."
"Yeah, thanks. Man, being a hero actually kinda feels good," stated Mirror Master.
"I'm still a bit iffy on the whole thing, but hey, it beats being in prison," replied Captain Boomerang.
"Maybe people will finally respect me, forgetting about my silly costume," spoke Trickster.
"Nah, ya look ridiculous," chimed Captain Boomerang. "Get a better costume. Like, now…"
Underground Bunker Station; Hours Later:
Originally a Nuclear Fallout bunker, it was built in case of a nuclear war back during the Cold War. Once the Cold War officially ended, the bunker ended up turning into a storage center. When the Kryptonians invaded, it was hastily set up to become a refuge location for the citizens of Central City, where those freed by The Rogues would be relocated to.
The location was large and was made with nothing but dull grey stone that enclosed the bunker, with lights dangling above the ceiling. No windows either. There are vents up above on the ceiling as well, designed to filter out any nuclear substances that may be in the air. People are cluttered within the enclosed space, struggling to make room for more and more refuges to arrive. Police officers, Firefighters, Nurses, Doctors and Military Soldiers assist the people by supplying them with food, blankets, or alleviating injuries. It was manageable. For now.
Present inside of the Bunker, helping to care for some of the people was Heatwave and Trickster. Heatwave's job was to provide heat by lighting fires inside of lanterns. Trickster's job was entertainment. His ridiculous antics entertained the kids and adults alike. Even though Trickster was making himself look like an utter fool, he didn't mind. People loved him. Soon, the rest of the Rogues entered into the bunker, with a few dozen more citizens brought in. Cops and Firefighters approached the citizens and began to redirect them to free spaces to relax.
"Well, we've managed to get around half of the city's citizens freed and in these bunkers," stated Captain Cold, "But we've still got a lot to do. So, whose ready for another round?"
"Ah, hell no," cried Captain Boomerang. "Give us a little break, Snark. Don't let this act of heroism get into your head."
"Can't take any breaks, Boomy. I've found out their strategy. I know what their weaknesses are, so we can easily continue to beat them off."
"Defeating these aliens head-on isn't going to solve the massive problem which this whole city faces, Cold," said Mirror Master. "We need to come up with a plan to end this once and for all."
"Hm... Maybe you're right," pondered Cold. "We need to find a way to take that big ship in the sky out... and I think I might have a plan."
To be concluded in Reign of Krypton: The Rogues Issue 3! To continue on with the full story, read Reign of Krypton, along with it's other tie-ins!
