Chapter 10
As soon as Diana put her down, Lois took off at a run to the command center of the Watchtower. She found her cousin Chloe working at a bank of monitors keeping tabs on the various members of the Justice League. "Chloe, I need to find Oliver, ASAP!" Lois barked as she strode into the room. "I also need whatever information you can dig up on a project he might have been working on called 'Pegasus'," she ordered.
"I just got in from a mission and am standing behind you," Oliver said as he pushed back his green hood. He lifted his bow and hung it on a pair of hooks next to the elevator doors. "As for the Pegasus project, it's a prototype J'onn and I are tinkering with," he told her. "We designed a fighter craft capable of extra-atmospheric flight so that those of us without the ability to fly and / or survive in a near vacuum can join in the fight if some of Clark's old neighbors show up. It's a blend of Earth, Martian, and Kryptonian technology," Oliver explained. "How did you hear about it?" he asked.
"J'onn told us about right before he slipped into a coma," Lois told him. "The Kawatche caves were attacked by aliens. We found evidence of large scale incendiary devices and other types of explosives used," she said. "J'onn said they captured Clark and Kara. J'onn is burned badly. Diana was only able to carry one of us, so we hid him in the caves," Lois told him. "Send Bart to go get him. He said he had to meditate and something about Mars or death," she relayed.
Chloe looked to Oliver for a stunned second and then slammed a sequence of keys into her keyboard, sending the recall code to all League members. "Watchtower to Impulse, emergency S&R mission in Boy-Scout caves. Manhunter is down and needs evac to Watchtower," Chloe said to Bart on their communications network. She switched to all channels broadcast. "All League members, we have an emergency recall to Watchtower. We have a code-7 emergency in progress! Boy-Scout and Girl-Scout are down and have been captured. I repeat BOY-SCOUT has been taken down and captured. If code-7 are encountered do not engage until we know what the hell we are dealing with people!" Chloe nearly yelled into her headset. She put the recording on a loop and set it to broadcast every 5 minutes. Chloe knew that she let a bit of high emotion show at the end of her broadcast, but she was worried for her best friend from high school and for the rest of them. Anything that was capable of taking out the three strongest members of the JLA would be a huge challenge for their human members.
"Diana, Lois, come with me," Oliver said as he grabbed his bow. "Let's go meet Pegasus," he offered. Lois and Diana followed him into the elevator. Oliver pressed his palm to a plate and then keyed in the buttons for the 4th sub-basement.
"You keep a spaceship in the basement?" Lois asked him, intrigued despite her fears for Clark.
"Yeah, Chloe got pissed when I tried to put it together in her living room," Oliver joked. "Actually, J'onn and I have a couple of labs here at the Watchtower where we have people working on things specifically for the JLA," he explained. "It was easier to build it in Sub-4 than ferry parts to somewhere else," he said with a shrug. Lois gasped all of sudden and grabbed the handrail for support. "Lois, are you all right?" Oliver asked in concern. They might be ex-lovers, but Lois was still a very good friend of his and she was also going to marry his best friend. He would always look after her well being. He became more concerned for her when he saw what she did next.
Lois lifted her shirt away from her chest and talked down into her clothes. "Oh, now you decide you want to start working. You know, a little beep or buzz to give a girl warning before you go sliding over her privates would have been nice," she said in annoyance.
Oliver gave Diana a worried glance. Diana simply said, "Wardrobe malfunction." Oliver nodded his head pretending to understand women's clothing issues. "Or more precisely a wardrobe boot-up sequence problem," Diana amended.
Oliver held up his hand to ask a question when Lois' raiment of leadership responded to her earlier request and a loud buzz came from her pants. The elevator doors opened and Lois warned, "Not a word Oliver, not a damn word!" The three of them stepped out of the elevator. Oliver Queen, CEO of a multi-national corporation used the wisdom that kept him in power and kept his mouth shut.
Diana looked around the hangar, taking everything in. The walls on three sides were two stories tall done in concrete. The forth wall was missing and opened up into a long, straight tunnel that went on for miles. The three remaining walls were covered in computers and diagnostic machines. The most obvious thing about the room was the lack of anything resembling a spaceship, plane, or vehicle of any sort. The center was completely empty. At least it was when Diana looked the first time. She looked closer and saw the shadow of one of the pieces of equipment bend slightly at an odd angle. Diana looked in the direction of a light and tracked a dust mote in its path across the room. Near the center, the mote veered off, moving up and over something. "By Athena, it's invisible!" she muttered. She walked forward with her hand outstretched until she encountered the cold, smooth skin of the ship. "You made an invisible jet fighter!" she said loudly to Oliver.
"Um, actually its engine is based on a Kryptonian drive system funneled through a Martian exhaust manifold," Oliver said lamely. He realized he had just confirmed himself as the nerdiest person in the room. To try to save to semblance of respect he said, "I don't have any action figures, I don't have an Empire Strikes Back bedspread, and yeah, we'll call it an invisible jet."
Lois patted him on the head. "I still think you're cool," she said sarcastically. "How many people does it hold?" she inquired.
"Thanks, Lo," Oliver muttered. "It seats 3, but we have a problem. It reacts to thought commands and we had only gotten to the point where it was responding to J'onn as the most powerful telepath. I'm not sure we can even open the damn door, let alone pilot it," Oliver admitted.
Diana looked at the center of the room and projected her thoughts, "Hello, beautiful. My friends and I need your help to save the woman I love. Please show yourself so we can save her." A silver ship with swept back wings shimmered into view. A portal opened on the side and a ramp lowered to them. "Thank you, dear. We will be ready to leave soon. Begin pre-flight check list now so we will be able to take off as soon as we are ready," Diana thought. Lights came on along several of the machines near the Pegasus and her engines started a low rumble.
Oliver had been looking at Diana who had been staring in concentration at where the Pegasus was. He was shocked when the stealth field dropped. "How did you do that? None of us were able to communicate with it," he asked her.
"You just have to know how to talk to a lady, I suppose," Diana said as she ran her hand down the fuselage. "Before we leave, I need to change into my battle clothes," she told him. "It will only take a moment. I will have my father Hermes transport them here. I want those who took my Kara to know that it is a daughter of Athena, goddess of battle, who is kicking their ass!" she snarled.
"As long as you're quick," Oliver said. "Did she just claim to be the daughter of a Greek god?" he wondered. He blinked and a pile of red, blue, and gold clothes were in her hands.
"Thank you, Father Hermes. I owe you another one," Diana said into thin air. "Where can I change?" she asked. Oliver pointed to a locker room on a side wall. Lois went with her, shifting her shoulders and squirming like something was moving along her back. Bart raced in from the stairs carrying J'onn over his shoulders in a fireman carry.
"Dude, he's hurt bad," Bart told Oliver, worried for his now green skinned friend.
Oliver took J'onn from Bart's arms. "Help me load him into the bomb bay. When we get out of Earth's atmosphere, I can evacuate the air in the bay and the lack of oxygen should help stabilize him," he stated. "We should be able to buy him a little more time that way," Oliver said. The bomb bay doors opened before Bart could reach the panel on the wall that controlled it by remote. "Did you just think real hard about opening the doors, Bart?" Oliver asked. "If Pegasus responds to Bart, I'm hanging up my costume," he thought.
"Uh … no … actually, I was thinking about that sexy girl who works the register at Talon and how nice her tits are," Bart admitted sheepishly.
"Why doesn't that surprise me that 'Impulse' has sex on the brain," Diana scoffed. "I asked her to open the doors for you two, so if you wouldn't mind, please get the Manhunter secured," she commanded.
Oliver's brain was desperately trying to multitask. Part of it was busy moving J'onn to the bomb bay doors of Pegasus. Another part was admiring at how stunningly beautiful and downright scary Diana looked in her battle dress. His eyes started at floor and moved upwards. She was wearing blood red boots that stopped about 3 inches below her knees. Around her waist she wore a blue, leather armor kilt. At the end of each pleat was a gold button with a different Greek symbol. Had Oliver known Diana's history, he would have understood that she had a gold button for each Greek god that had taken part in her birth. Oliver let his eyes wander upwards to the blood red leather corset that showed off her incredible breasts. The cups of the corset were outlined in overlapping gold that met in her ample cleavage; giving the impression of a letter "W" overlaying another "W" on her chest. The only other things she wore were two large gold bracelets (one on each wrist), a golden tiara, and a lasso that also looked like it was made of gold coiled at her hip. Oliver warred with himself, "Don't get a hard-on, don't get a hard-on," he chided himself, "She'll probably rip it off if you get a hard-on, don't get a hard-on."
"Wow, you are smokin' hot, Diana," Bart exclaimed. "When you get back, you want to out for somefastfood," he offered with a leer.
"I'm sure like all fast food, it wouldn't satisfy me and I would hate myself later for having it," Diana replied.
Bart winked at her. "I can wait. Everyone gets the urge for a Big Mac every now and then," he said as he helped secure J'onn into the bomb bay. He finished tying the strap when Diana stepped up to him, looked him up and down, and said, "Maybe a Jr. cheeseburger, but that's being generous." Bart stood up straight, but the top of his head only came to her chin.
Oliver laughed at his friends discomfort and he started to forget about his accidental erection. However, it came back with a vengeance and he cursed himself for wearing leather pants when Lois stepped out of the locker room. Lois Lane had shed her earthly clothes and now stood in only her raiment of house leadership as Lois-El, Head of the House of El. She was wearing a red, skin tight one piece suit that covered her from collar bone to foot. The suit was so tight that it left nothing to the imagination. Her boots looked like shiny, deep blue patent leather that came almost to her knees. (Lois was glad to see that instead of heals they were flat soled and comfortable, perfect for walking and fighting.) Her cape was also a deep blue. Instead of being attached to the suit at the neck like Clark's, she wore hers attached by a silver chain. Like Clark, she wore their family symbol proudly displayed in the middle of her chest. Unlike Clark's suit, her symbol was only the outline of the pentagon and the "S" symbol done in silver. The widest point of the pentagon on either side resting an inch from either nipple.
Kara had told Lois that the suit would create itself based off a psychic reading of her and an image of "her true self". She didn't have time to analyze what the nano-machines had been thinking, but she liked the suit, and she was sure that when she got Clark back, he was going to like it as well. "Bart, you're drooling," she said. "So are Oliver and Diana. I really like this new suit," she thought. "Saddle up people," Lois said as she walked to the Pegasus and climbed on board.
Oliver had been about to stop her, hoping to convince her to let another meta-human go in her place, but when he saw the determination in her face, he wisely kept his mouth shut for a second time that evening. Diana followed Lois into the ship and Oliver raced after them. He paused at the base of the ramp. He looked back at Bart and shouted, "Take care of Chloe for me if something happens." Bart nodded and Oliver scooted up the ramp.
The ramp closed and soon Pegasus began to hover above the ground. It rotated silently to face the tunnel opening. The ship shimmered out of sight, becoming invisible. Diana was sitting at the controls and thought, "Take me to find my lover so we can either save her or rain hell upon those who took her." Diana got a mental flash back from the Pegasus that either choice would be acceptable with it. They shot through the tunnel and then out into the night sky.
Tee'ann looked down into the brig cell where the two Kryptonians lay. If things progressed as they had since they had transferred back onto the ship, she doubted the pair had much longer to live. She had placed the glowing green crystal she had grabbed, as well as the one that had been stuck in her armor, into the cell with the their two captives. At first, both of them had been conscious, but in pain; however, the female had soon passed out due to the strange radiation poisoning. Tee'ann was impressed by the male leader of the El family. Before he passed out, he was able to maneuver his body between the crystals and the woman in an attempt to shield her from their deadly effects. She couldn't think of any of her family that would do that for her. Her family would be more likely to use her as a shield to gain those few more precious moments of life for themselves. She had to look away when his head turned toward her and she saw that he had not slipped fully into unconsciousness. His face was a web of black veins and his teeth were set in agony. Tee'ann knew that he didn't have the strength to speak but his eyes said everything. They asked her "Why?" "Business, Mr. El. It was never personal. This is just business," she said trying to convince herself and him.
Family Captain Tee'ann walked out of the brig and headed for the lift that would take her to the bridge. "It's such a waste. He's so handsome," she mused. Her thoughts were broke off when the ship gave a little lurch. "What in the name of the CEO was that?" Tee'ann wondered. She activated her communications implant and spoke to the bridge, "Someone want to tell me what just happened?"
"Captain, we're not exactly sure, but we think we were just fired upon," her astrogator said. "We're venting atmosphere from a small blast on the port side from unknown origins," she stated.
"Well Ensign, normally we look for other ships in the area and see if their weapons are pointed our way and that usually gives a clue whether or not we're being shot at!" Tee'ann snapped angrily.
The ensign gulped loudly. "Yes, Ma'am," she replied. "We already thought of that. All scans are negative and there is absolutely nothing along the vector the blast came from," she told her captain. "We …" her sentence was cut off as the ship lurched again, this time in a different direction. "Another hit, Ma'am. This time from aft and above. Still nothing on any of the scanners," the astrogator said with a hint of fear in her voice.
Tee'ann heard the fear in the young Ensign's voice and knew that if the young woman knew what was probably out there, she would probably crap her flight suit. Their family had developed one of the foremost stealth devices in the galaxy. It was sought after by the covert military operations of several planets. It was also a child's science fair experiment compared to what the Martians had been using centuries before her species had reached the stars. Tee'aan's gut told her they were under attack by a Martian craft, and if she was right, the only way to fight it was to fill the area around them with ships and pray that they got in a lucky shot. She activated her communicator implant again. "Scramble the 1st and 3rd fighter squadrons," she ordered. "Tell them to go into tight orbit around the ship and slave their fighters into firing sequence delta-45. We don't want some noob hulling us or another fighter," Tee'ann said. She had thought about sending all three squadrons, but when the ship lurched for a third time, she decided to keep some assets in reserve. Tee'ann ran the rest of the way to the lift and cursed it for its slowness as it made its way to the bridge level.
Diana sat in the pilot's seat and Oliver had taken the weapons and scanners seat which left Lois to take the co-pilot seat. As soon as they had left Earth's atmosphere, they had evacuated the air from the bomb bay and the life reading on J'onn had in fact stabilized as Oliver said they would. When they approached the huge spaceship that had encroached into their solar system, Lois asked a question that had been nagging her since they launched, "I hate to be the voice of reason, since I am the one leading this rescue mission, but does anyone here have any idea how to break into an alien spaceship?" Diana looked over her shoulder at Oliver who looked at Lois and then back at Diana.
"Hah, you know, in all of our training scenarios, we had J'onn take care of that part," Oliver admitted nodding his head. "In retrospect, that was an oversight," he said, his CEO persona taking over. He looked down at his controls, "I vote we just start shooting until something happens and wing it from there."
"Diana?" Lois asked looking for the warrior Princess' advice.
"If we can do it without destroying the other ship, I'm all for it," Diana replied. She maneuvered Pegasus to so she they were lined up with the other ship's port side. "Oliver, if you would be so kind to knock and let them know they have visitors," she suggested. Twin bolts of energy lanced out from Pegasus and struck the Tee Family ship. They watched as the moisture in the atmosphere from the ship turned to sparkling ice as it escaped from the holes punched in the hull. Diana quickly moved their small fighter into a different firing location so that Oliver could "knock" again. They sent a second volley into the other ship and swept around to the rear of the ship to line up for a third. After their third set of blasts into their opponent, Diana was preparing to move into a different position when a hatch on the rear opened and a swarm of fighters came shooting out towards them.
Lois closed her eyes and prepared herself for the inevitable crash. When it never came, she opened her eyes and looked around. Had just one of the enemy fighters gone straight ahead they would have run into them. Luckily the enemy fighters had poured out of the hangar and immediately set off on their individual courses to take up their position around the mother ship. Lois looked at the open hangar doors and grimly smiled. "Oliver, we got their attention. Diana, let's leave these fighter jocks to play with themselves. Take us in," she ordered. Diana had already goosed their acceleration so that they would slide in right before the doors managed to close.
The Security Chief for the Tee Family ship was busy watching the numerous monitors covering the various video feeds from around the ship. His captain had given him strange orders. He was to report any strange activity inside the ship, even if they had not been boarded. He was trying to figure out what constituted as weird when he saw the mechanic with the cute ass walk across the hangar deck. He was watching the other man walk and was taken by complete surprise when the mechanic fell to the ground unconscious. The Security Chief rewound the video and zoomed in. Even though the hangar deck was empty in that area, it looked like the mechanic had struck his head on something, hard. The chief looked to another monitor and zoomed in on the downed mechanic and saw a goose egg forming on the man's forehead. He activated his communications implant and said, "Captain, I think I just found what you were looking for."
Lois took off her cape and draped it across her seat, not wanting it to hamper her when she fought. She nodded to Diana and the ramp lowered to the hangar deck floor. Oliver was the first one out, his bow sting pulled back; his eyes scanning for targets. He looked down and saw the unconscious mechanic on the ground in front of their left wing. Oliver relaxed the bow string and motioned with his head for the others to follow. Lois was next out followed quickly by Diana. As soon as they were out, the ramp raised back into Pegasus. Diana pointed towards a door that led off to a corridor of some sort. Lois nodded her head and they set off at a fast walk. When they got to the doorway, they saw the long corridor had several doors lining each side. A red light started flashing and an alarm sounded in the hangar.
"I guess they know we're here," Oliver said with a shrug. He smiled his perfect smile full of white teeth at the women. "I have a little surprise for our hosts that I think you two will like. J'onn and I set it up for psychological warfare. Diana, would mind thinking 'execute irritate J'onn playlist' back to Pegasus?" he requested. Diana raised her eyebrow, but did as he said. A loud squeal sounded through the hangar and then the familiar voice of the singer Pink and her song "So What"came over the hidden speakers on the outside of Pegasus.
Na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na
I guess I just lost my husband I don't know where he went
So I'm gonna drink my money I'm not gonna pay his rent (nope)
I've got a brand new attitude, and I'm gonna wear it tonight
I wanna get in trouble
I wanna start a fight
Diana met Oliver's smile with a large one of her own. She held out her right arm with her hand clenched into a fist. Oliver let go of the bow string for an instant to return the fist bump and then turned his back to the women. Diana looked to Lois who nodded her head once. They both started down the hall on the same foot in time with the music. Oliver kept pace, walking backwards.
The technician that had discovered the location of Earth had heard the red alert and had gone running for his quarters. He left one corridor and rounded the corner to enter the last one before he could enter the lift to get to the correct level. His feet skidded to stop when he heard the rhythmic bass beat coming down the corridor. He looked behind him and said a phrase that translated quite well across most languages in the galaxy, "Oh Shit!" The technician's fear caused his time sense to slow to a crawl. To him, it looked like the three people walking down the corridor were walking in slow motion. He saw two beautiful women, both brunettes, both obviously pissed off walking in the lead. A man dressed all in green carrying some sort of weapon was walking behind them. One of the women was wearing a red skin-tight suit emblazoned with the symbol he had become way too familiar with during this voyage. The technician's hopes began to rise as crew members began filing out of the doors connecting to the corridor. His hopes were dashed soon enough though.
The first crew member to approach the trio of heroes came at them from behind. The technician saw what happened in agonizing slow motion. The mechanic ran at the green clad person with a large spanner raised to hit him. The man in green leather dropped into a low crouch and extended one leg. He spun around and swept the legs out from underneath the mechanic. As the man in green stood back up, he drew back his bow string. At the instant he was standing again, the man in green let loose and an arrow pierced the mechanic's upper leg pinning the mechanic to the floor like an insect in a display case. The mechanic grabbed his leg and writhed in pain, blocking the corridor.
The next attack came simultaneously at both women. The man who swung at Lois was a cook and telegraphed his punch. Lois barely spared him a glance as she parried his punch with her right forearm. She sent a downward sidekick with her right heel into his knee, shattering it, taking him out of the fight. The off duty marine that attacked Diana fared no better. For fun, she let him hit her. When she smiled instead of moving at all, he backed away. She grabbed him and threw him down the corridor, knocking down some other marines who had started to form up at the end. She also managed to mercifully knock the technician out cold.
When they were half-way down the corridor, a security team member popped around the corner and took a shot at them with a projectile weapon (energy weapons being a VERY bad idea on the inside of a spaceship.) Diana stepped in front of Lois and deflected the slug with her bracelet. A second guard appeared and opened up with another slug thrower, forcing Diana to move even faster to block them. Their forward progress halted. Lois heard the twang of Oliver's bow string again and again along with several groans of pain from behind them.
The lift door at the end of the corridor opened and two crew members wearing powered armor stood waiting to exit. "Oliver!" Lois shouted. Oliver spun around and let loose an arrow that flew the length of the corridor. The two armored men covered their faces and then smiled to each other as they realized the arrow hadn't even come close to hitting them. A loud sparking noise and the quick shutting of the lift door told them where his arrow had gone. It was sticking out of the lift controls on the wall next to the lift.
More crew members with slug throwers began to arrive and the lift doors began to tremble as the powered armor suits began to live up to their names. Lois saw a side corridor that was empty and noticed Diana's eyes dart towards it as well. "Go, we'll cover you. Find Kal and Kara!" Diana ordered.
"I'll find them," Lois promised. She tapped her ear where she wore a Justice League communicator. "Let me know when you're done playing with the new kids. Meet up with me as soon as you can," she said. Lois ran down the side corridor in search of her soulmate.
Tee'ann had watched the video her Security Chief had sent her and she had immediately set off the alarm that signaled they had been boarded. She grabbed a slug thrower and headed towards the lift to the hangar deck. She saw two of her cousin's marines in power armor get to it before her and go down. She waited impatiently for the lift to return. When it didn't, she checked the control panel and found that the invaders had managed to short out the entire lift system somehow. "The only way they could do that is to shove a huge conductor through the circuit," she thought. She headed towards the maintenance hatch and the ladders that would lead her to the trouble below.
Lois Lane ran down the side corridor and found a hatch that led to a cat-walk and a set of ladders that seemed to run the length of the ship. She flipped a mental coin and chose to climb up. Lois had climbed three levels when she heard someone above her climbing down. Lois got off of the ladder and walked silently to the shadow where the cat-walk met the wall. She didn't have to wait long before a strikingly beautiful woman climbed down to her level. She was wearing a white flight suit with a blue tribal design around the right shoulder. The woman had pale white skin and jet black hair. She had the look of a woman that kept in shape by exercising religiously. The woman stopped at the cat-walk and put her hand to her collar-bone. Lois heard a male voice come from the direction of the woman. "Captain, we have two of them pinned down, but we don't for how much longer. The male has a projectile launcher that has some kind of inertial targeting system that is unbelievable and the female is stronger out of a suit than we are in a suit," the man said. "Plus we think there was a third that managed to make their way to the maintenance tubes," the voice told her.
Tee'ann became very still and said simply, "Acknowledged." She pulled her slug thrower out of its holster and glanced out the corner of her eye at the shadow near the wall. She quickly turned her body and her arm towards the shadow and asked, "And who do we have here?"
Lois was waiting for the woman who had been called "Captain" to move. She let her anger and fear for Clark fuel her muscles and she spun on the ball of her foot while she extended the other foot in a spinning hook kick. Lois' aim was dead on and she knocked the gun out of Tee'ann's hand and over the railing to fall to the "bottom" of the maintenance tubes. Before the Captain could react, Lois punched her in the face and shouted, "I'm Lois-El … Bitch!"