Justice League Past Imperfect 60
In Earth orbit…
Flying up through the debris, Starman stopped behind a particularly large piece of wreckage. Observing the battlecruiser, he saw that none of its defensive systems had targeted his position. He motioned the others forward and the combined Justice League and Legion of Doom team joined him. John Stewart gazed out at the cruiser and came to the same conclusion that Starman had.
Encapsulating the others within an emerald sphere created by his Green Lantern power ring, he spoke; "All right, listen up. Starman, you are on the neutron cannon. I want that sucker slagged before it can fire on Earth. Orion, you and Lightray knock out its shields. The rest of you, we cover the other teams and handle the weapons systems."
He turned to the Legionnaires, "You three with protect Starman. Kyle and I will shield Orion and Lightray."
Sinestro looked disgruntled but Spencer Hawk and Star Sapphire nodded their compliance. John's unwavering eye passed over them, "Good luck."
Both teams fanned out as one. The Gordonian defenses were still down as Starman flew in front of the warship. Hawk took up position next to him even as Sinestro and Star Sapphire took up station a half a mile to their right and left. Recognizing the threat, the Gordonians opened fire.
Even as Hawk deflected the onslaught away from Starman, Prince Gavyn gathered all of the solar fire at his command. He unleashed a single burst that was akin to a supernova. The neutron cannon fused and melted under the blast.
Drained, Starman signaled Hawk that he would need a few minutes of rest before joining in the second round of the battle. Hawk grinned his understanding and gave Starman a thumbs up.
Sinestro and Star Sapphire deflected blast after blast from the polaron blasters. In between shots, they fired off blasts of their own to destroy or cripple a cannon. The problem was that the cruiser's hull was liberally blistered with the things. As things stood, they were on the defensive 95% of the time.
Meanwhile, John and Kyle were being besieged by the entire Gordonian broadside. They were managing to defend Orion and Lightray and that was it. The two New Gods paused for a moment and then unleashed hell upon the cruiser.
At the ship's fore, Starman recovered from his exertions, or at least he'd mostlyrecovered; and he joined in with Orion and Lightray's efforts. Between Lightray's cosmic rays, Orion's weapons harness, and Starman's solar assault, the shields collapsed within five minutes. Still covered by their Lanterns, the three then went to work destroying weapons emplacements.
Seeing that his ship was now in danger of falling to a group of neobarbs, He ordered an uncontrolled matter/antimatter intermix. Within minutes the ship would explode and his enemies would be taken with it. His crew cheered and celebrated wildly while awaiting death.
The guns quieted and John grew suspicious. He began scanning the ship with his ring. Detecting an energy surge, he barely had time to yell, "Watch out!" into the subspace comm field surrounding the ring bearers. The explosion hurled all of the JLers and Legionnaires miles away. Lingering between consciousness and unconsciousness, the life support fields of the Lanterns, Sinestro, and Star Sapphire dimly glowed but they began to flicker and fade as they lapsed into comatose states. Without the fields, the vacuum would take them and they would die.
In the Kaznian skies…
"Here they come." J'onn warned, "Be ready."
It was eight against fifty but still the heroes and villains expected to easily come out the victors. Superman and Supreme each surged forward and smashed into a saucer, crippling its primary weapon, the released their craft and moved on to the next one. As they took hold of another, its neighbor fired.
The Kryptonian and the Daxamite were bombarded with energies they'd never encountered before. It was the same type of assault that Amazo had dealt Wonder Woman and her companions the last time they'd met. Like them, the duo felt as though they were twisted inside out and then pulled apart. They helplessly fell away and plummeted towards the ground below.
Angered, both Supergirl and Galatea hurled themselves into the fray. Not stopping long enough to be bombarded by the anti-proton cannons they attacked one saucer after another. J'onn grabbed hold of one saucer and threw it at another. Both suffered damage and they headed for the ground.
A nearby Gordonian support craft targeted the Martian Manhunter. Supergirl blocked the shot but she paid a terrible price doing so. She too plummeted towards the Kaznian forests below.
J'onn dealt with the offending craft but while he did so, another fired upon him. His vulnerability to the weapon was as great as the others'. He suffered a similar fate.
Luck ran out for Galatea and she was caught in a crossfire. Her scream was inhuman. Rocket Red caught her and began to carry her to the forest grounds below.
Captain Atom stood alone. An anti-proton blast caught him but it had little effect. Since he was a living nuclear reaction contained within an exosuit, few energy weapons could harm him. Physical attacks could rip his suit and render him a helpless ball of energy but the Gordonians weren't set up for that.
Atom fired a quantum blast from his "hand." It destroyed the closest ship's anti-proton cannon. Recognizing that Atom was a genuine threat, the group commander ordered his forces to the ground. Perhaps they could use Atom's teammates as shields. It was a desperate gamble but the only viable one that they had now that the mothership was destroyed.
Approaching Savage's Castle Headquarters…
Missiles flew from batteries littering the plains surrounding the royal castle. The nearby capitol city watched the skies in transfixed horror as hundreds of missiles took to the air. After three years of civil war any type of violence deeply disturbed them and evoked nightmares of a time when every one of them had been touched by tragedy.
Two miles away from the city, the Marvels, Aztek, and Black Adam slowed to a stop. Their magically enhanced vision allowed them to see the incoming swarm of missiles. Captain Marvel spoke first, "It's up to us to stop them. The Javelins can't escape that many warheads."
Despite knowing how dangerous the task was, Mary Marvel adopted her usual chipper tone; "Then let's get `em!"
She streaked off towards the threat. Captain Marvel angrily exploded, "Blast it! Why doesn't she wait?"
"She knows the risks, Captain." Black Adam counseled, "Perhaps better than you yourself."
It was a sneaking suspicion that Marvel had harbored for some time. He just didn't like hearing it from Adam. If he could be right about this, what else could he be right about? That was a slippery slope Marvel didn't want to traverse.
Knowing the only had seconds to act, Marvel yelled; "Let's go!"
Steel, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Booster Gold, Hawkman, Superwoman, Wondergirl, Kestrel, and the Man Bat leapt out of the slowing Javelin shuttles. The shuttles then began a vertical climb. Scores of missiles attempted to catch them.
Blackhawk, Penny, and the Flash launched chaff and flares. The shuttles' ECM packages screamed to life, interfering with the radar and radio signals controlling the missiles from the castle. In the end, it was shuttles' speed and maneuverability in evasive tactics that saved the day.
Hawkgirl led the charge into the array of missiles. She, Kestrel, Hawkman, and Steel used their hand weapons to damage and detonate missile after missile. The Amazons used their lassoes to grab a missile and swing it into another. The Man Bat was largely helpless and his frustration mounted.
The Javelins, JLers, and Legionnaires facing the missiles would have found three times that number facing them if it weren't for their advance scouts. Mary dove through rows of missiles, detonating those she struck and the resultant explosions crippling or detonating those nearby. Captain Marvel and Black Adam, upon seeing her success, copied her tactics.
Aztek unleashed one mystical energy blast after another. Each blast, thanks to his armor-derived reflexes, destroyed a missile but he was still only able to destroy a few dozen or so. The Marvels and Adam increased that tally to seventy percent and the remaining heroes and villains dealt with the rest. Now it was time to deal with the main threat: Savage himself.
Blue Valley, Nebraska…
Courtney Whitmore strolled down the halls of Blue Valley High without a care in the world. A week ago, she'd turned sixteen, gotten her license, and yesterday she'd bought her first car. The fact that she was one of the rare JLers that drew her UN stipend meant that she not only got her car now but that she was guaranteed a decent college education from the school of her choice.
As impetuous as she was as Stargirl, Courtney knew that she needed an education. Being a superhero only lasted so long. A paying superhero gig was even rarer. Take her stepfather, Pat Dugan; he'd financed the first two STRIPE mechas himself.
Now he had UN resources behind him and was knee deep in building a third STRIPE but he was keeping the details to himself. Of course, until a month ago, Dugan was still waiting on a clean bill of health. Bizarro had ripped Dugan out of the STRIPE armor and let go of him while they were a couple of miles up in the air. The fall had broken nearly every bone in his body.
His recovery had required a dozen surgeries and two years of physical therapy. In the meantime, Stargirl had made a name for herself on her own. As thankful as she was that Dugan had only lost 10% of his natural range of motion and flexibility, she wondered if that was enough for him to continue being STRIPE. More to the point, did she still need STRIPE bird-dogging her heels?
Realizing her mood had soured somewhat, she turned the corner vowing to put such concerns behind her. Now it was time to enjoy the second to last day of school by taking a drive! As she saw her locker up ahead, her mood tanked once again.
Celeste Holms, this year's transfer student and queen of the campus's elite of the elite social clique was camped out in front of her locker. Celeste had taken it upon herself to investigate Courtney's many absences from school and disappearances from town. Her teachers had notes from the Secretary-General and the President of the United States ordering them to facilitate her schedule as long as her grades held. She wasn't in any AP courses but she was an above average student.
I'd better be, Courtney mentally groused, when I'm not fighting crime I'm doing homework.
She'd been kicked off of the gymnastics team for missing too many practices and competitions. She still practiced kickboxing. That was included with her gym membership so they didn't care if you didn't show up once in awhile. They still got paid no matter what.
Celeste was fingering Courtney's other lock. Besides the school issued padlock Courtney had an industrial grade lock on her locker. A special latch had been installed to facilitate it. Celeste had tried guessing the combination a few times but had always ended up failing.
Courtney took great delight in knowing that Celeste would never guess the combination. The proper key was Courtney's fingerprint. Steel had designed the lock for her and it was keyed to her biometric data. All other attempts would fail.
Even bolt cutters would be hard pressed to sever the lock's loop. The entire thing was forged from the same alloy as Steel's armor. So far that had proven to be invulnerable to every man-made attempt to harm it save extreme heat. Courtney doubted that Celeste would be calling up Volcana any time soon so she should be safe.
Reflecting on all of this, Courtney looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary by the time she reached Celeste and her posse, "Any particular reason why you're blocking my locker?"
"How did you buy that car?" Celeste demanded without preamble, "Your stepdad hasn't worked in three years. He may own that garage of his but that's not the same as working and owning a garage. Your family isn't rich so how did you afford to pay cash for a Porsche?"
"I started investing when I was eight." Courtney lied through a sweet smile, "You know, stocks and bonds. I got myself a great mutual fund and I've been saving up the annuities from a percentage of the interest ever since."
"When you were eight?" Celeste challenged her.
"It's better than spending my money on pizza and beer." Courtney said with a nasty edge. She'd heard rumors regarding Celeste's last party, including the two unexpected pregnancies stemming from it.
Celeste blanched and then she grew angry, "What do you know? You're just a loser."
"Yeah," Courtney was feeling pretty cocky now, "but I'm a loser with a Porsche. What d'you got?"
Celeste stormed off and her cadre followed. Courtney enjoyed her handiwork from a moment and then opened her locker. Inside was her duffel. It contained the retracted Cosmic Rod, her Cosmic Convertor belt, and her costume. Swapping out unwanted textbooks for ones that she needed for tonight's homework she prepped her backpack.
Settling everything, she headed for the main door. When she reached it, a crowd had gathered and she had to push her way through. Once outside, she saw why everyone was transfixed. In the roundel in front of the school a flying saucer had landed and three lizard men were exiting while a fourth stayed inside of the craft.
Courtney pushed her way back through the crowd and once inside the school's halls sprinted off for the girl's locker room. Celeste Holms witnessed this and she abandoned alien watching to pursue Courtney. She was too late to see where Courtney had gone so she conducted a room by room visual search.
Inside the locker room, Courtney had stripped out of her civvies and now had everything but her mask on. Celeste burst into the locker room at that moment, "Aha! I found you, you coward. You're… Omigod!!! You're…you're…"
Courtney put her mask on. She picked up the Cosmic Rod and it extended itself to become a staff. Her transformation was complete.
"Shut up and get outta the way." Stargirl said. She stalked past and then stopped at the door and turned, "If you tell anyone, and I mean anyone, about this I will shove this staff so far up your butt you'll be sneezing starbursts. Got it?"
"Mmm-hmm." Celeste whimpered as she frantically nodded.
"Good." Stargirl said and she exited the locker room. Celeste leaned against the wall and thought about the enormity of what she'd just learned. Courtney Whitmore, her arch nemesis, was secretly a member of the Justice League.
Celeste reflected upon her meeting Courtney. Courtney had been pleasant and polite enough but she hadn't fawned over Celeste. That had sparked the enmity between them. For the first time Celeste realized how petty that feud was. Courtney knew things about enmity that Celeste couldn't dream of and she handled it on a daily basis. No wonder her jibes had failed to get a reaction out of…Stargirl.
Celeste looked at Courtney's things spread all over the place. If they were found, someone else might make the connection. She dutifully gathered everything up, folded it, and put it in the duffel. She hefted Courtney's backpack.
Cripes! What she got in this thing? Celeste wondered. She lugged everything out into the hall and sat down next to it to keep it safe.
Hall of Justice, New York City
The Gordonian craft landed outside of the Hall. Three Gordonian troopers leapt out and then the saucer lifted back into the air. The Gordonians had flat faces, heavily scaled lips and brow ridges. They also wielded tails.
Wearing segments of plate armor, they resembled Roman infantrymen. Their primary weapons were energy discharging staffs. On their belts they also carried a large machete-like blade. They were each experts in the use of both and they intended to use them with great relish.
