Chapter 10
Reformation Part 2
"Martians? How is that possible?" The Flash asked what everyone else was wondering. "I thought J'onn was the last of his kind."
"Perhaps I can explain, Flash." The Martian Manhunter said weakly from behind the gathered heroes.
The heroes turned to face the Manhunter, who had regained consciousness and was sitting on the edge of the building.
"J'onn, your still weak…" Superman began, moving towards his old friend.
"Yes, but you need to hear this." J'onn sighed. "You need to know what your up against."
"Years ago, when Martian society was flourishing there became a group of Martians who had a tendency to lean more towards warlike, or military thinking. Generally most of us were more philosophical, enjoyed peace. Violence was an absolute last resort."
"These White Martians began causing more and more trouble on Mars. Finally after an incident involving the evolution of life on Earth…their group was sentenced to eternity in the Phantom Zone."
Hushed whispers spread throughout the heroes. Many knew of the Phantom Zone, which was more or less a dimension of limbo, of nothing at all. To be banished there for eternity their crimes had to be heinous.
"Somehow…I don't know how…they have escaped." J'onn continued. "They plan to conquer Earth, to make it the new Martian home world."
"What about this black cloud, and the riots?" Troia asked.
"The black cloud will eventually spread over the Earth if their bases are not shut down. It's laced with psychic energy." J'onn explained. "By broadcasting intense signals of hate and fear the White Martians hope that Earths citizens will destroy themselves, leaving minimal work for the invaders."
"But why Titans Tower?" Kim asked softly, her normal boldness in check slightly due to the company she was keeping.
"From an attacking point of view, its an obvious target." Nightwing responded. "They know regular armies don't have the might to stop them."
"And the Justice Society is off planet currently." Wonder Woman chimed in, referring to the team of elder heroes who was currently fighting the good fight in another dimension.
"Which leaves the Titans as the only active super team on the planet." Nightwing said, pounding his fist into his open palm. "They caught us completely off guard."
Troia placed a reassuring hand on Nightwing's shoulder, which had a calming effect on the vigilante.
"We'll get Roy and the others Dick, don't worry." Troia whispered into his ear.
"All right everyone, we know what we're up against. Let's move." Superman said, motioning towards the tower.
J'onn moved to stand but stopped when a black gloved hand gripped his shoulder.
"Stay here J'onn, you're still to weak." Batman commanded. "If we fail…it'll be up to you."
J'onn nodded and reluctantly sat back down.
"You won't fail." J'onn said, as Batman nodded and walked to the end of the Tower.
--GL—
"I'm starting to think coming down here was a bad idea!" Bonnie Rockwaller called over the roar of the crowds and the fires.
Bonnie and Monique had decided to head for their apartment after they had finished tidying up Ron's. Unfortunately for them, they had run right into the middle of a riot.
"Monique?" Bonne called, panicking when she realized she couldn't find her friend. A shrill scream caused her to jerk around, where she saw her friend in a tussle with two men.
One of the men had taken Monique from behind and had his arms wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms at her side. The other was approaching her from the front with a large switchblade drawn.
"No!" Bonnie called as she raced towards the three. The man with the knife turned surprised and was met with a swift kick to the groin. He let out an otherworldly scream and dropped to his knees, tears forming in his eyes.
This surprised the other man, who loosened his grip on Monique, who wriggled free. Once free, she reached into her purse and produced her mace, which was promptly blasted into the mans eyes.
Their attackers dispatched, the two girls turned and embraced each other. Pulling away both of them could feel their adrenaline still running high. Exchanging wicked smiles and ignoring the slight glow to their eyes, the girls picked up a couple broken bottles, and discarded bricks, and with a yell charged headfirst into the riot.
-GL-
"Everyone clear on what to do?" Nightwing asked one final time. The heroes had gathered outside a point on the far side of the tower, near the lower level. Nightwing had pointed that spot out as an emergency escape hatch, which would be easy to breach once the Martians defenses were cracked.
"Alright then," he continued as he armed a pair of explosive batarangs. "Go!"
Batman and Nightwing each fired their batarangs at the spot, all of them hitting their mark. As soon as the Batarangs lodged into the surface, Superman ignited them with his heat vision. A fairly large size ball of fire erupted on the side of the tower, revealing the shiny surface below.
"Lantern, now!" Nightwing called.
Lantern nodded and fired a beam of energy at the center of the hole. He felt the beam strike the surface of the tower, and began to push it outwards, widening the hole and creating a good size doorway.
"Hurry…through…" Lantern grunted as sweat beaded his brow. "The coverings…pushing back!"
Superman obliged, blasting forward through the opening and the side of the tower. Everyone followed in after him, with the fliers carrying the non-fliers.
Once everyone was inside, Lantern dashed in himself, barely making it in before the hole resealed itself.
"Good god" Lantern breathed as he slouched against the inner wall. "Let's hope we can take the front door out of here."
"Nice work son." Superman said with a smile as he offered Lantern a hand. "But there's no time to rest."
"Is there ever?" Lantern replied as he took Superman's hand and was easily pulled up.
"All right guys, let's split up. Everyone knows the objectives. Move out!" Nightwing called, as the previously assigned groups split and ran separate ways down the hall.
"Ron!" A harsh whisper stopped Lantern in his tracks. He spun around and found himself with a face full of Kim. She pressed her lips to his in a quick kiss.
"For luck." She said before she turned and ran off with the Titans team.
Lantern smiled to himself as he watched her run off for a moment, before turning to catch up with his team.
-GL-
The Titans team ran down a seemingly endless route of hallways and stairwells. They had stopped briefly at a computer terminal, which Nightwing used to deactivate all the towers defense and monitoring systems. Though he was sure the Martians knew they were inside, they didn't know when or where the Titans were going to strike next.
"Where exactly are we heading?" Kim asked as the group made a sharp turn down another long hallway.
"We tracked Arsenals signal to the holding cells, about one floor down." Troia responded, then added with a smile. "The tower is a lot easier to get around with the elevators, trust me."
"I'll bet." Kim said returning the smile. She faced front in time to barely avoid running right into the back of Nightwing.
"They're right below us." He said, closing a small tracking computer on one of his gauntlets. "Raven, can you use your soul self to see what we're up against?"
Raven nodded and closed her eyes. She floated a few feet off the ground, and folded her legs under her in a meditative stance. Kim gasped as a giant raven, which was made of some sort of dark energy left Ravens body and vanished through the floor below.
A couple moments passed and the dark shape returned, and reformed with Ravens body. Her eyes opened wide and she floated back down to the ground.
"There are six Martians on guard Nightwing." Raven said in her monotone voice.
"Lovely." Nightwing said as he looked at his companions. "Everyone ready?"
Donna responded by cracking her knuckles. Kim nodded as she pulled a handful of her explosive pellets from a pouch on her belt. Raven said nothing.
"All right then. Lets go." Nightwing said with a nod towards Raven, who spread her cloak. The others were encased in her black energy and were teleported through the floor into the holding area.
-GL-
Meanwhile on the upper levels of the tower in the main conference room, the other group had already encountered the first wave of the Martian resistance.
"Ya know, when I woke up this morning, the first thing I hoped for was to get to take on an army of beings almost as powerful as Superman." Lantern quipped as he deflected a blast of heat vision back at a Martian with a construct mirror. The Martian screamed in pain as the heat returned to its eyes.
Lantern turned to his left hearing a loud thumping noise, and his eyes went wide behind his mask. He barely had enough time to duck as the Man of Steel went flying overhead, the recipient of a powerful blow from a Martian.
"Then I hope your not disappointed that they're actually as powerful as Superman." The Flash said as he skidded to a stop next to Lantern and crouched down.
Before Lantern could ask what he was doing, two Martians came flying over the Flash's head and crashed into the wall at the far end of the room.
"I can pull things at super speed if I catch them in my slipstream and bring them behind me." Flash explained before dashing off.
In the air above them Wonder Woman was trading blow for blow with another Martian. For every awesome punch the Amazon landed the Martian had one of his own to counter.
"You are a strong warrior." The Martian hissed as the two circled each other in mid air. "If earth women weren't disease ridden dogs, I would keep you around after our conquest is complete. As a personal plaything…"
Wonder Woman's eyes narrowed as she unhooked her golden lasso from her belt.
"I can't begin to describe how that thought sickens me, Martian." She spat as she lassoed the Martian around the neck. She spun him around several times in the air before firing him at the floor, the lasso unraveling itself from around the Martians neck.
The Martian headed straight for the Green Lantern who had turned his eyes upwards after hearing the insult. Lantern stepped aside and whipped up a construct pet carrier, which the Martian crashed into.
"Dog huh?" Lantern asked. "Looks like that's the other way around. Go fetch."
Lantern closed the door to the cage as a batarangs went sailing through the opening. Lantern jumped back as he heard the quite bang and saw flames erupting out the front. Screams of Martian agony followed shortly.
He turned skyward and gave thumbs up to Wonder Woman, who returned it with a smile. He glanced over at Batman, but three more Martians already surrounded him.
Lantern made a motion to go help, but was stopped by a strong grip on his shoulder. He turned to see Superman pointing at the ground around Batman. There was a medium sized circle of powder spread on the floor, just big enough for the four fighters. Once the last Martian had entered the circle, Batman dropped a shiny silver ball onto the powder, which caused it all to ignite, encasing them in a circle of fire.
Inside the circle the three Martians circled the Batman.
"Your puny fire matters not. Despite it, you are still human." One of the Martians declared.
That Martian quickly caught a strong sidekick to the gut, doubling him over. He was then grabbed by his neck, and flipped over the Batman's shoulder into one of the others. The third tried a flying lunge, but the heat had weakened him more then he thought, and he crashed to the ground at Batman's feet. As he pushed himself up the steel toe of the Dark Knights boot crashed into his chin, sending him sprawling backwards. The three made an effort to stand again, but the fire and the Bat were to much. They fell back to the floor, unconscious.
The rest of the team gathered outside the fire, the rest of their attackers subdued, or retreated. Batman emerged through the waning fire with his cape wrapped around him to protect him from the flame.
"Lets go, this isn't over." He said as he pushed past the group and began walking in the direction they had been heading before.
"Imagine if he had superpowers." Flash whispered to Lantern as they followed Batman.
"You mean he doesn't?" Lantern asked wide-eyed, which got a chuckle out of the Flash.
-GL-
In the holding area of Titans Tower, the Titans assemblage was having mixed luck with their rescue mission. They had initially caught the Martians by surprise, but that advantage didn't hold long.
"Kim! Get to the holding cells and release the other Titans!" Nightwing called out as he flipped away from a blast of Martian heat vision. "We need the reinforcements!"
"I'm a little busy at the moment here!" Kim called as she found herself cornered by two of the Martian warriors.
One of the Martians made a move towards her, but was stopped dead in its tracks. The alien reached for its neck and gagged, as Troia's lasso dug into its throat. With a mighty tug, Troia pulled the alien away from Kim and sent him crashing into another that was moving in towards Raven.
Giving Troia a thumbs up, and using the surprise her attack gave the other Martian, Kim leapt into action. She took two steps towards the other Martian before stopping and delivering a powerful savate kick to its face. She followed that smoothly into a leg sweep, which deposited the Martian on its backside.
She was quickly on her feet and sprinting towards the holding cells. On her way by though, she left her foe with a parting gift in the form of one of her explosive fireballs. The alien's cries of pain were an afterthought as she reached the holding cells control panel.
"What's the password?" Kim hollered to anyone who was listening.
Her answer came in the form of a silver bat shaped shuriken, which whizzed past her and struck in the center of the control panel, sending sparks flying. The doors then unlatched themselves, allowing Kim entrance.
Kim rushed in hoping the other Titans were in condition to help them out. Across the room Nightwing was hoping the same thing.
"I hope Roy and the others are able to fight, because I don't think we're gonna be able to carry them out." Nightwing tossed over his shoulder to Troia who was fighting the aliens from behind him.
"I hope so to hon." Troia agreed. "How do you think the other team is doing?"
"Hopefully better then us. Lift us up in five."
Troia nodded, and began counting the seconds off in her head. As she did a thick cloud of smoke appeared around them. Once her count hit five, she grabbed Nightwing around the waist and flew out of the smoke cloud. She saw the Martians rush in, and smiled when an explosion knocked them back, flames licking at them from where Nightwing and Troia once stood.
"Ok, that's three down." Troia said. "Three more to..ah!"
Troia screamed as a blast of heat vision hit her in the back, causing her to lose her grip on Nightwing and plummet back towards the floor. Nightwing tucked himself into a roll and landed gracefully on his feet. As he did he spun around in time to catch Troia in his arms. Unfortunately this left him wide open to attack by the two Martians who were floating towards him.
Nightwing ran through his options quickly as the Martians eyes began to glow read. Fortunatly for him, an unexpected option turned up. Before the Martians could fire their heat vision, each one was struck in the face with a red arrow. The arrows lodged in Martians face, and then erupted with a small explosion.
"Five down." Troia smiled as Nightwing set her back on her feet. "Thanks."
Nightwing nodded and turned to the direction the arrows came from. Arsenal was lowering his bow, but was relying heavily on support from Cyborg to stand. Changeling had shifted into a green kitten, which was perched on Kim's shoulder. Starfire carried the limp form of Tempest in her arms.
"Hera." Troia breathed. "What happened?"
"Damn Martians…" Arsenal gasped. "Took us by surprise. They've been draining us mentally. Don't know for what."
"The black cloud." Nightwing theorized. "They must've been using your emotions and mental strengths to help it grow."
"Poor Garth must have taken the worst of it." Donna said as she took Tempest from Starfire. "His telepathic abilities must've amplified it all."
"How are you Kory?" Nightwing asked. Starfire seemed to be the only Titan who hadn't taken a beating.
"I have been tortured before." Starfire stated, referring to her younger days when she had been sold into a life of slavery to save her home planet of Tameran. "Though this was exhausting, I have faced worse."
Nightwing gave his one time lover a reassuring smile. Even though it had gotten them in to trouble on occasion, he had always admired Starfire's toughness and warrior personality.
"The final Martian has fallen." Raven's voice deadpanned suddenly behind the Titans.
The others turned to face her as she dropped the limp form of a Martian seemingly from inside her cloak.
"Man, I don't even wanna know." Changeling piped up from Kim's shoulder.
"I suggest we meet up with the others, before this group recovers." Raven suggested.
"Agreed. Raven, can you teleport them out of here?" Nightwing asked as he motioned towards the other Titans.
"Hell with that Robbie." Arsenal said grabbing his old friend by the shoulder. "These bastards come into our home and mess with our minds, you better believe I'm not sitting this out."
"Roy you can barely stand." Troia protested.
"If I can nock an arrow, I can fight babe."
"Titans together gang." Cyborg chimed in, his voice raspy.
Nightwing surveyed his team and nodded. "Fine, but can you at least get Tempest out of here."
Raven closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. "Without the extra energy from our friends, the shield around the tower is weak enough for me to penetrate from the inside."
"Good, take him to the Dawson Insurance offices on 45th street. It's a front for Star Labs."
Raven nodded and scooped up Tempest. With a flash of black energy, they were gone.
"All right. Batman's signal is coming from the hangar on the top floor. Lets move." Nightwing said as the Titans followed his lead towards the stairs.
-GL-
"Stand down now!" Superman called, his voice echoing through the cavernous jet hangar that made up the top floor of Titans Tower. "This is your only chance to surrender and leave Earth peacefully."
The group of heroes had made their way to the hangar facing minimal resistance. Once they had arrived, they realized they had reached the heart of the Martian operation. Several rows of Martians sat in high back chairs, all encased in some sort of stasis field. In the center of the hanger was a large machine, which had a satellite dish coming from the top, and heading out the open hangar door in the ceiling.
"That has to be what they're using to spread the cloud." Batman had said when they burst into the room.
"Then that's gotta be the leader of this outfit." Flash commented, pointing to the Martian who stood in front of the machine, monitoring several gauges.
"Well, well. It seems I have underestimated Earths heroes." The Martian said with a wicked smile. "Though your comrade J'onn J'onzz overestimated your abilities, for he predicted a victory for your cause. And that will simply not happen."
"Then you're the one who injured J'onn." Wonder Woman accused. "For that, you will receive no mercy from me."
The Martian laughed heartily. "Your threats are empty and meaningless woman. I commend your efforts up to this point, but it ends here. You meet your fate at the hands of Protex."
"Take him." Superman commanded.
The Flash dashed forward but fell to the ground, clutching his head in agony.
"Flash!" Green Lantern exclaimed reaching for the speedster, before he to fell to the ground clutching his head in agony.
One by one the rest of the heroes fell. As the last one, Batman, fell to the ground, Protex's toothy grin widened, as his eyes glowed a soft yellow.
"Earth's champions are defeated. The planet is ours."
---
Notes…
Well first off, sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I've been working some long hours this summer, and have had very little free time to sit down and write. Not to mention some issues with getting this chapter and the next to flow together correctly.
But I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed in the last couple months despite my lack of updating. You guys gave me the drive to work on it whenever I had a moment. Not to mention the encouragment from Classic Cowboy (thanks as always for the beta). So anyways enjoy, I hope it was worth the wait…and the next chapter should be coming along very soon.
-R