Dark everywhere. Sounds from bats on roof. Cold.
Button for lights, push. Humming sound filling cave. Slow, lights come on. Base of Batman able to see.
She walk down stairs. No sound from feet. To big computer. Light coming from computer. Showing picture, not sure what it is. Shapes with different color dots blinking. Not sure what mean.
At computer. Not sure what to do. She saw one button blinking like dots on keyboard. She push button. Different picture showing, had people moving around. Light beams coming from guns, making fire and...and killing.
Hands become fists. Something wrong in city. Very, very wrong. Batman needed. Must be out there. Had to be. Why he not in picture? She sensed something wrong, not right. Batman leave in plane long time ago.
Something inside, calling to her. Do something. Fight. Kill. No, no kill. Protect. Protect like Batman. Batman not kill.
Something inside change. Feel different. Feel strange. Not sure what, why. Do not think. Think later, only do.
But not like is. Change. Look different. Teacher show uniform once. To be hers. That no longer. But...Batman? Yes, look like bat. Already in black, good. Need weapons, no killing weapons. Base have them here. And mask. Cover face like Batman. Thoughts feel right. Yes, much better than killing ones.
She look from computer. Stop. Car. Can't look away. She...might...could...use car.
Yes, use car.
The problem with hitting spaceships was that they were high in the air while he wasn't. Not being able to fly really sucked in cases like this. Hell, even Bats had a jet he could use and he didn't have powers at all!
Yeah, it was times like this Flash felt rather useless. Still, if there was one thing he could do, it was improvise. And seeing how the space fleet was flying over water, that at least gave him an idea.
Racing towards Gotham Harbor, the red-clad man was soon running on water, splashing up water to either side of him and leaving a disturbed trail in his wake. Repeatedly glancing upwards, Flash kept an eye on the slowly descending ships, gauging just where they were.
When he was almost certain he was underneath one of the UFOs, Flash changed course, beginning to run around in a circle. Lap after lap he ran, swirling the water until it began to rise up into the air. A few seconds later and a column of water shot skyward, just as he intended, forming a growing water spout.
And just like he wanted, the water spout rammed right into the underbelly of the spaceship. The force of the collision pushed the ship upwards, tilting it at an angle. Unfortunately, that was the only positive result he saw, something that disappointed him a bit. Even now the ship was moving backwards, removing itself from the column of water.
Soon, droplets of water began raining down around him, the result of the sea water ricocheting off the hull of the spaceship. God, this was proving to be worthless, but what else could he do?
It seemed the universe decided to answer his self-pitying question. A nearby spaceship began to open its bottom, revealing its inner workings, not that Flash could tell just what those were. Still, it provided a very tempting target. Edging his circular path towards the ship, the waterspout moved with him until reached it, sending the torrent of water inside.
It seemed his timing was spot on too. What looked like smaller spaceships had begun dropping out of what must be a hanger. The moment his water spout began filling the hanger with water, the fighter ships were caught in the vortex. The next thing the Flash knew, those small ships were firing wildly out of the hanger/waterspout, many of them spinning through the air until they collided with the sea around the speedster, or even better crashed into the side of one of the larger ships.
Ah hah! Now he was doing some good!
And as luck would have it, more of the fighters were being released from the other larger ships—they must've been carriers instead of destroyers, he thought. That meant the smaller ships were the threat, not the big ones. Once again moving his waterspout, he made for the fighter ships, sweeping them out of the sky as the vortex of water slammed into them. Seeing the spacecrafts being flung in every which direction, Flash felt grim satisfaction. Every little bit was going to help here and the more of these guys he took out, the better off the world would be.
Hopefully he didn't hurt too many of these guys though. Well, maybe a little hurt. A few bumps wouldn't kill anyone.
The man before him was no Earthling. Earthlings could not fly nor demonstrated the power to wreck entire battleships of the Kalanorian fleet, not in the manner that this man had. Curiosity more than anything caused Despero to reach out along telepathic paths to learn about this foe; surprisingly, there were no defenses to stop him, something he was not unaccustomed to, but had expected from seasoned warriors. It was because of this he was able to quickly read the man's thoughts.
Krypton.
Now there was a word he had not heard of in some time, not since the planet and its inhabitants destroyed themselves. To think one of its denizens had fled here. Most interesting.
It was because of these thought that Despero nearly missed the initial charge. The Kryptonian rushed at him with incredible speed. Were Despero's mental faculties not as refined as they were, he would have never noticed the red-and-blue blur that sped towards him. Regardless, he was unable to defend himself as this man—this "Superman," his mind told him—slammed his extended fists right into his chest.
The force of the blow seemed to shake the planet, or so the Kalanorian thought. Finding his feet picked off of the deck, he flew a considerable distance, his followers diving out of his way until he finally touched down again. Physical pain sent jolts throughout his entire body, an unfamiliar and joyless feeling.
Superman drew back one of his fists then before ramming it back into his chest again, sending another wave of pain through him. Grunting, Despero felt each and every punch hit him as his opponent railed against his tough hide. Gritting his teeth, the Kalanorian raised both of his hands up, clasping them together before he swung them down, jackhammering the Kryptonian on his back and sending him crashing down onto the deck with a loud BANG! Metal dented and cracked from the impact, his foe seeming dazed from the hit.
Raising up a leg, Despero made to stomp on Superman's back. The Kryptonian, however, was quick to recover and rolled out of the way, Despero's foot creating an even bigger crater right where the man had laid.
The moment Superman was back on his feet, he became the multicolored blur again; the next thing Despero felt was a fist colliding with his chin, his head snapping backwards as a result. A moment later and another blow rammed into a face, knocking him back a step.
Though this was unpleasant, Despero could feel his blood scream, coming alight with excitement. It had been a very long time since someone had demonstrated such strength to rival his own. He was going to enjoy this, he could feel it. He just needed to return the favor.
Though his speed was not at the level of this Kryptonian, Despero reacted much quicker than his opponent expected—his thoughts shouted as much. With his much larger fist, the Kalanorian slammed it into Superman's face, stunning where he stood.
With a snarl, Despero charged forward, ramming a shoulder into Superman's body as his arms wrapped around him. Pounding his legs, he was soon running at top speed all the way to the edge of the ship. With one last step, he leaped off his ship, sending them soaring through the air.
As it so happened, one of his carrier ships happened to be descending right by them. Because of their momentum, the two crashed right into the side of the ship, bursting through its hull.
The moment Despero felt his feet touch the floor, he pushed Superman from him, holding him at arm's length away with one hand. With his other, he balled it into a fist and swung it, slamming it against the Kryptonian's face. His opponent sailed into the wall ahead of them, breaking through it.
Running, the Kalanorian kept up with his airborne foe, not finished with their fight. Lashing out, he rammed his fists over and over into the Kryptonian, attacking all weak points. Abdomen, face, chest, abdomen, chest, face—his blows rained down unrelenting. Each punch coincidentally kept Superman flying through the air, crashing and bursting through wall after wall, all the while Despero kept up his running pace to continue his onslaught. Countless walls fell before they finally reached the other side of the ship, exploding out into empty air.
With one last fist, Despero slammed it against Superman's face, snapping his head to a side as he went careening downward, landing on top of a cruiser ship. Letting the planet's gravity take power over him, the Kalanorian fell, the wind whipping at his body until he arrived at the new ship. Keeping his legs underneath him, he extended his feet as far as they could go, so that they rammed right into his fallen opponent, cratering the deck from the force of his landing.
Quickly spreading his feet to either side of the crater, Despero looked down in disappointment. Was this all the Kryptonian could take? Pitiful. He had expected—
Red light suddenly flashed and the next thing Despero knew, a hot red beam blasted into his abdomen, sending him flying straight up into the air. A startled cry escaped his mouth as he sailed upward. Eventually the blast faded away, leaving him to continue his skyward trek until he slowed at his peak.
And then Superman was there. With a fist drawn back, he then slammed it into Despero's face, altering his flight as he went flying once more. This time it was his turn to crash into one of his ships, this one being a destroyer considering all of the outer cannons on the deck. He landed on one of the gunstations, destroying it as the barrels twisted and snapped beneath his impenetrable skin. Again, Despero felt himself doing something he hadn't done in ages, grimacing from the soreness he felt.
His face scrunched, it took a moment for the pink-skinned alien to recover, opening his main eyes when he was able to. As it so happened, he saw Superman racing towards him, arms extended out in front of him as his cape whipped around behind him.
So, the Kryptonian could take a physical beating—promising. However, Despero was not one to willingly hand over the upper hand in a battle and this would be no different. Opening his third eye, he reached out with his mind, finding his opponent's to be unguarded still.
Perfect.
Mentally, he lashed out at his charging opponent, attacking him where he was most certainly vulnerable. Despero wasn't disappointed when Superman suddenly broke off his approaching, his body cringing backwards as he exposed his full torso to Despero. His momentum kept him flying towards the Kalanorian and he was not one to leave such an inviting target to go unattacked.
Forcing himself onto his feet, Despero let out a cry as he leaped up into the air. Bending an arm out in front of him, he began to drop just in time to intercept Superman. With his bent elbow, he rammed it down on top of the Kryptonian's shoulder, forcing him to crash down on the deck.
Landing a second later, Despero reached down and grabbed Superman's cape. Letting out another war cry, he pulled the cape upward, lifting the Kryptonian up into the air. Moving his arm to a side and then down, he swung Superman back down onto the deck, causing another BANG! to ring out. Twisting his body, the Kalanorian then swung his foe up until they were both spinning in a circle, becoming a swirl of pink, red, and blue.
Finally, Despero let go of the piece of cloth he held, sending Superman flying into the ruined debris of the laser cannon, the man bursting through it and kept sailing until he began skidding across the deck, slowly coming to a stop.
Despero stared at his opponent for a moment before he began walking purposefully towards him. His heavy footsteps shook the ground, sure to alert the Kryptonian he approached. He wasn't wrong in that regard as he noticed Superman beginning to stir, shaking off the beating he had received. A trail of red liquid trickled from the corner of the man's mouth, along with the formation of what must be his species' form of bruising on his face. They were an interesting mix of blue and purple, colors he was not expecting to see. Aside from that, the man didn't look as if he were out of power or spirit.
Very promising.
Again, Despero reached out through his third eye towards the Kryptonian's mind. He wasn't going to read the man's mind or attack at his abysmal defenses; this time he was going to...what was the saying? Make himself at home? Oh yes, that was it.
A very fitting description.
To the left, the right, left again, Batman jerked the joystick all over as he maneuvered his plane. Shortly after he had taken toward the invading fleet, smaller space ships had been launched, creating an even more intense situation than he had hoped. He hadn't been entirely sure he had enough firepower to take down one of those behemoths, but he sure as hell was going to try.
That all changed within seconds.
Giving chase to one of the smaller ships, Batman closed the distance between him and it, though it wasn't all that easy. He had one of the best jet engines in the world flying his aircraft and he was still struggling to get a good lock. These aliens had much better technology it seemed, something he was not the least bit happy with.
A beeping sound filled the cockpit. Glancing down to the dashboard, he saw a small computer screen alerting him that he was almost within range of a missile lock. Shooting his eyes back up, he focused on the small fighter he was chasing, determined not to let it get away. Several seconds passed before the beeping began occurring in closer intervals until finally it was a solid sound.
With his thumb, he hit a small red button on the joystick. A moment later a missile shot out in front of him, racing towards the enemy spacecraft. Batman watched as the missile rapidly closed the distance between it and its target, reaching it, and detonating. An explosion blew out, fire enveloping the ship before it began falling from the sky.
That was one. Changing course, Batman spotted another fighter and gave chase, this one seemingly unaware of him as it was much easier to get a lock on this one. Another fired missile and the ship was shot out of the sky as well.
That was when a large column of swirling water swept in front of his vision. Surprised, Batman made sure to avoid the strange phenomenon, watching as it went directly after the spaceships, throwing the spacecrafts in all directions. Batman wasn't sure what was causing it, but he was grateful it was doing some good. Angling away from it, he soared to find another target.
As it so happened, he caught sight of Hawkgirl darting through the sky. With her mace in hand, she swooped and dove at the space fighters, destroying wings or engines that sent the ships plunging out of the sky. She was extremely effective as she attacked, gracefully flitting about on her feathered wings despite the brutal attacks she unleashed. Even through the canopy, he could hear her war cries echo through the air.
Suddenly, several beams raced by his plane from below, shaking him out of his distracting thoughts. Angling his aircraft, the vigilante discovered he had flown right over one of the larger ships, one that was currently firing its energy guns. Gritting his teeth, Batman jerked on the joystick and sent his vehicle into aerial maneuvers, dodging the fired shots.
Thankfully it didn't take long to escape the enemy's barrage, Batman locating one of the carrier ships and making his way to it. Taking cover behind it, he was given a moment's peace of not getting shot out of the sky. Savoring the moment, the dark-clad man composed himself and began searching out for other spaceships he could shoot down.
Unfortunately, he found them in a location not advantageous to him. The only reason he knew that was because smaller laser flew into view, their origin from somewhere behind him. Again he began to weave his plane from side to side, trying to make himself a harder target. He even went into a barrel roll, angling off to his right in an attempt to get them off his tail. No such luck.
Emerging out of the shadow of the carrier ship, Batman spotted the gunship from earlier and an idea came to him. It was a bit crazy, but he didn't see any other options at the moments. Angling his jet towards it, he soon saw the laser cannon fire again, only this time he was flying right towards them.
Breaking off his course at the last moment, he jerked the joystick to the left, his aircraft tilting to the side as it narrowly dodged the blast. Turning his head to look behind him, he saw the giant beam do exactly what he wanted as it blew away the fighter ships tailing him. Returning his sights in front of him, he then pressed the red button on the joystick, firing a missile blindly. Though it didn't have a lock on it, the rocket soared towards Batman's target, exploding on the deck of the gunship.
Peeling off, Batman moved out of the direct sight of the laser guns, looking to find something else to get into a dogfight with. Unfortunately, his luck decided to take a different turn.
Out of nowhere, his plane violently jerked to a side, alarming Batman as he gripped the joystick harder. Alarms began blaring throughout the cockpit, lights flashing all over the dashboard. Glancing to his left and then the right, he saw something had hit the right wing of the jet, smoke pour out of it. He wasn't sure what hit him, but the vigilante knew that it had hit the right stabilizer. Already he was drifting out of control no matter what he did with the joystick.
With a prolonged grunt, Batman pulled back on the stick as hard as he could, trying to regain some semblance of control. It seemed to work as he began arcing straight up into the air, maintaining the direction for several seconds.
And then the plane flipped, now making a descent towards the water below. Growling, Batman jerked the joystick from side to side, which somehow allowed him to level the aircraft out. Just one problem.
He was now flying straight towards one of the space carrier ships.
Considering he had a damaged vehicle that was getting harder and harder to maintain, it was either continue to fight to regain control and leave him open to one of the alien ships to finish the job, or do as much damage he could before bailing.
Steeling his face, he knew what his choice would be.
Holding his course, Batman watched as the large ship grew even bigger the closer he drew towards it. When he felt that that the plane wouldn't deviate from the target no matter which direction it chose to drift in, Batman began squeezing the red button on the joystick over and over. This resulted in the jet firing the rest of its payload, a barrage of missiles sailing through the air at the carrier ship.
Finally satisfied, Batman let go of the joystick and hit the eject button, his hands dropping to either side of his seat. Immediately, the canopy was blasted off, followed by his pilot's seat launching him upward and out of the cockpit. The g-forces assaulting his body made the vigilante grimace. Through cracked eyelids, he saw his missiles collide with the spaceship, exploding fireballs covering its sides. Moments later, his jet crashed headfirst into the damage side, causing an even bigger explosion to blast out.
Well, that was $73 million down the drain.
Now he just had to get out of this war zone in one piece. His ejector seat was beginning to slow down, so he was going to have to bail soon. Though it would have been smart to activate his glider cape and ease his way back to the city, he would be making himself a target for these aliens and there was no way they wouldn't take a shot at him.
At least, that was the way with his present location. If he could get under them, he would stand a better chance…
His chair finally reached its peak, hovering in midair for a moment. Quickly, Batman undid the safety harness and pushed himself off the seat, sending it tumbling away from him even as he began to drop through the sky. Angling his body to where he was falling head first, he pressed his arms into his sides to make himself as aerodynamic as possible.
Now he just needed to not get shot at.
"HAAAAAA!"
With a swing of her mace, Shayara slammed it into the wing of one of the fighter ships, snapping it right off. Turning her swing into a side sweep, the head of her weapon rammed into the side of the ship, the electricity from the Nth metal delivering additional damage. Pulling away, more electricity began to dance over the spaceship before it finally exploded into a burning fireball.
If Shayera was honest with herself—and she was usually brutally so—she felt right at home in this fight. Adrenaline awoken her warrior blood, the thrill of battle burning within her unlike any of the battles she had fought on this planet before.
Darting towards another fighter, she closed in on it quickly as she let out another war cry. Smashing her electrified mace on top of the ship, she knocked it right out of the sky, watching its damaged wreckage drop towards the ocean below.
Who's next? her mind screamed. Who wants some more? C'mon!
Another fighter ship answered her silent demand, flying at her head on. Twin blasters were fired, sending yellow energy beams at her. Smirking, Shayera dashed upward, dodging the lasers. Holding her mace above her head, hearing the crackle of electricity with her ears, she waited half a moment before she lurched downward, swinging her mace as she did so.
And as she timed it, her weapon collided on top of the attack spaceship, sending it spiraling out of control once it passed her. Sparing a glance behind her to make sure the ship was effectively out of the picture, the redhead woman turn her sights onto other prey.
Unfortunately, that prey got swallowed up as a hurricane swept by. Watching with disinterest, the Thanagarian glanced downward to see the red blur circling at the base of the water column. Well, that was a buzzkill, if only momentarily.
That was when a sharp whistling sound reached her ear, sounding all like an out of control plane on the verge of crashing. Searching for the source, Shayara quickly spotted Batman's jet rushing through the sky, a trail of black smoke following it. Watching it with alarm, the Thanagarian wondered what had happened when she noticed the plane was beginning to angle itself towards one of the larger space carriers.
So, Batman was attempting to get as much bang for buck as he could before pulling out. The winged woman wasn't all opposed to the choice. However, the longer she watched, the more alarm she was beginning to feel. Why hadn't the pilot ejected yet? Even from the distance he was at, he couldn't miss.
A partial answer came later when several missiles were launched. Again, Shayera found herself agreeing with the strategy to cause as much destruction as possible, but again she could feel worry building up. Why wasn't Batman ejecting? He had done all he could, so he needed to get out. Eject you, pompous ass!
Then, at long last, the canopy shot off and Batman rocked out of his jet, mere moments before his payload and plane exploded on the enemy ship. At last relief filled her.
Normally the Thanagarian would have turned to go looking for another opponent; it's what she would have done on Thanagar. However, something within Shayera made her keep watching Batman. There was something wrong here, her gut told her.
It turned out her instinct was right. Eyes widening, she watched as Batman began descending through the air headfirst, as if he were on some kamikaze run. What the hell are you doing, you idiot?!
Shayera had enough. Launching herself, she flew towards Batman's falling form, fully intent on snatching him and setting him out of danger. Unfortunately, two fighter ships decided to intervene, which only served to frustrate her.
Growling, the Thanagarian glided to a side as she dodged incoming gunfire, lashing out with her mace the moment she was within striking distance. She smashed her weapon on the side of one of the fighters, hearing the metal exterior shrilly bend. Using her momentum, she swooped upwards, clearing her of the second fighter's lasers. Diving down, the redhead swung the head of her mace through the air, landing it against a wing. The wing snapped off and sent the ship spinning out of control behind her.
Sure they were out of her hair, Shayera returned her attention to Batman, only to growl again as she saw the vigilante below her now. Angling after him, she gave chase, tucking her arms to her sides as the feathers of her wings constantly made adjustments to speed her up. From where she was, she could see the bottom of the dark-clad man's feet, his cape practically straight and wrinkle-free as it dragged behind him.
With the wind shrieking at her ears, the Thanagarian began closing the distance between them, slowly, but surely. It was fortunate they had a lot of air to cover before either one of them crashed into the sea below them.
Unfortunately, things just had to get complicated. Flash's hurricane drifted into view, running right into a carrier ship. It didn't destroy the ship, which was a good thing at the moment. It did, however, force the ship to turn to its right. As it so happened one of the gunships was right in its path.
And as it turned out, Shayera and Batman had the perfect view to see the noses of both ships collide with each other, the sound of metal tearing into metal ringing out. A short moment later, an explosion blasted out, ripping into the ships and sending fire and smoke straight up to the falling heroes.
Shayera scowled. Oh, c'mon!
Of course, Batman had to be aiming directly for the explosion. He didn't even try to angle himself away from it as he continued his descent. Dark smoke soon consumed him, making him vanish from sight.
What is this guy thinking?! Though everything in her told her to pull off, the winged woman was forced to ignore her instincts as she plunged into the cloud. The scent of smoke filled her nostrils, nearly making her gag. She could barely see a foot in front of her face, which was really bad since she was going at breakneck speeds at the moment.
Fortunately, she passed through the cloud in record time. Even better, she had closed the distance between her and Batman. Right now they were in what was best described as a fiery canyon formed by the two destroyed ships. Out of the corner of her eyes, the redhead woman could pick out different levels of the ships, a hive of square and rectangular rooms. Fires raged in each room, the separating walls, floors and ceilings looking as if they were hot, liquid metal. It all created an amazing visual the Thanagarian would admit later on.
Fortunately, there was no loose debris in their flight path so Shayera didn't have to worry about dodging anything. So she focused her energies to closing the gap between her and the suicidal vigilante. Even now she could tell they were about to reach maximum velocity and she highly doubted this guy's cape would make for a good enough parachute to withstand a sudden stop.
Like bullets they emerged out the other side of the burning ships, giving them a clear view of the sea below, along with a few other lower atmosphere ships. Steeling her face, Shayera kept willing herself closer to the falling man.
Closer.
Closer…
Angling herself, the winged woman finally reached Batman, barely brushing against his back. Throwing her arms out, she wrapped one over the top of his shoulder while the other closed against the side of his abdomen. She caught sight of the dark-clad man jerking his head to a side to look at her even as she spread her wings out as far as she could.
It was suicide to try to stop their descent especially at the speeds they were at. So instead of fighting them, Shayera used them, her feathers adjusting so that they began to slowly tilt upwards. Their view changed from blue waters to the coast of Gotham Harbor and eventually to the lights and buildings of the city itself. Soon, they were swooping through the air safely.
Shayera let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Despite the tense body she felt against hers, she was content in knowing she had bailed out an unwilling teammate.
Now what was she supposed to do with him?
A couple notes: the opening scene from Cassandra's POV was a little experiment to see if I could write from a very unusual perspective. That proved a little more difficult than I had thought, especially with someone with a very limited vocabulary. From that logic came the short, stunted sentences that were used.
The part where Despero is beating Superman through one of the ships while running at the same time is based off a movie special for Dragonball Z, Super Android 13, where said android did the same beating to Goku.