Chapter 11:
They watched in horror as John Munch, trusted Special Victim's Unit detective, transformed into an alien. When he was finished, Sarah slammed the creature into a wall. "Where is John Munch?" She growled, eyes flashing dangerously.
"Why would I tell you, Human?" The creature hissed; Sarah didn't notice as her hands began to glow crimson. She was angry.
"Tell me, or I'll kill you." She promised, not bothering to get her Gift under control; it was obviously hurting the alien as it squirmed in pain.
"We put them in the ground." He sounded pleased with himself, even as she slammed him again.
"They're dead? Wrong answer." She snarled, allowing her hands to burst into flames. The alien melted around her hands; Sarah swallowed hard and turned to face the detectives.
"John…" Fin breathed, eyeing the puddle of alien muck at Sarah's feet.
"That wasn't him, Fin. Wherever he is, they must have gotten him before I came; he scoffed at the idea of aliens invading, remember? Damn it, I should have realised!" She turned and let her anger out on the wall, punching it with all her strength and ignoring the scraped knuckles she received in reply. I should have! He was wearing a hat and those huge sunglasses, and a long sleeved shirt! He didn't let a single part of his skin get exposed to the sunlight! Damn it!
While she was seething, hands opening and closing impulsively, jaw clenched so tight her teeth creaked, she noticed the two detectives from the Major Case Squad still standing with the SVU detectives, eyes a little wide, at least in the case of the woman, Eames. Goren just seemed mildly interested, one eyebrow raised as he stared at her. She had the feeling she'd picked up another observant type in that dimension – just someone else to psychoanalyse her. George would have competition.
"Why don't you two head home, before the invasion begins in earnest, okay?" Sarah tried, nodding to the two new detectives.
"We got off on the wrong foot. We thought you might like some help. I mean, even if you have people that can fly," The man nodded at the Justice League members before continuing, "There's still only seventeen of you. Who knows how many of them there are?"
"Yeah, well, these guys are all used to the supernatural. We can't wait for you two to stop and gape, so I suggest you return to your precinct or go home." Sarah was in no mood to bicker.
They just stared at her. It was obvious they were going to tag along if they could, regardless of the stupidity of the idea.
She sighed. "Can you follow orders? Not from me, because the extent of my experience with aliens has been with ones that didn't want to hurt me, but from my friends?" At their uncertain looks, she continued. "If any of us tell you to get down, you get down. If we tell you to run, you run. If we say 'fire in the hole', you get the hell out of the way. Can you do that?"
Goren looked to Eames. "It's not as though this is a normal situation."
She nodded, taking a deep breath, seeming to recover from the shock of the situation in only a moment. "Yeah, we can do that."
"Alright, welcome to the club. Quick intro; my name's Sarah, as you might have heard. The people in the colourful costumes are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, J'onn J'onz, Zatanna, the Flash, Black Canary, and the two Green Arrows. Don't be surprised if we can do things that normal people can't, but I'm not going to go into our abilities now. Suffice to say your planet is in very good hands." Sarah turned to gaze at the platform, where the Lake impostor was still imprisoned. "Excuse me."
Batman intercepted her as she began her storm up to the stage. "Allow me." He wore a small smile before turning with a flourish of his cape. As he walked slowly, menacingly, towards the captive creature, Sarah saw his hand move to his belt and remove a batarang.
Olivia was at her elbow. "Where do you pick up these people? Batman just creeps me out…"
Sarah grinned as the Dark Knight said something to the alien, who attempted to swipe at him without touching the collar. She tightened it ever so slightly, just as Gotham city's protector swiped at the canvas sunshade with the batarang, opening a cut that let just enough light in to burn the alien's foot. "He tries, he really does." Sarah answered. "As for where I pick them up? I honestly don't know. I think they picked me up, actually. My last mission was to their dimension…"
"Ah. And is it a usual practice for people to run around in brightly coloured costumes in their dimension performing vigilante activities that would otherwise be illegal?" Casey asked from her other elbow.
"It is for the superheroes that protect the world and have very sensitive hearing." Sarah glanced at Superman, who was smiling knowingly. She just grinned.
"You didn't say they have super hearing!" Casey hissed, glancing from hero to hero, trying to find who had super hearing. "Who does?"
"Yes I did." Sarah shook her head, even as Batman sliced another whole in the canvas sun cover, engulfing the alien in sunlight. He turned around as the creature disintegrated, making his way back to the group.
"He didn't know anything." He said as he folded the batarang away in his belt.
"So you just killed him? Just like that?" Casey demanded.
Batman stared at her, as though to ask 'So what?', and Sarah hastily stepped between the Dark Knight and the lawyer. "Case, you don't understand. This is an invasion. We can't just apprehend them, and we can't spare anyone to stand guard over them. If we let that guy live and I got out of range my spell would have crumbled, then he'd've been one more enemy at our back."
The ADA stared at Sarah incredulously. "You condone what he did?"
The young knight scrubbed her face as she thought of the best way to answer. "Casey, you don't understand." She repeated. "If you'd dealt with invasion forces or infiltrated behind enemy lines before, you'd understand. This is guerrilla warfare, you don't leave enemies where they can stab you in the back. I know you won't understand, and I don't expect you to, but you can't stand in the way of what needs to be done."
Anger blazed in her eyes, and she opened her mouth to argue further, but Elliot beat her to it. "She's right, Casey. You're all used to enforcing the law with the odds in your favour; when I was in the Marines it was never so simple. It's kill or be killed, and I'd rather it be them than us."
The other detectives all watched with varying levels of interest as Sarah continued. "What would the government do to these bastards, if we did apprehend them? It's just like raiding season; I can apprehend the raiders, maybe injure them painfully, and deliver them to the King's Own so they can wait for a hanging on Traitor's Hill, or I can aim to kill, rather than maim, and save them the anxiety of death row."
"You call that mercy?" Eames had raised an eyebrow as she spoke.
Sarah sighed, and with a quick prayer to the Goddess for patience she tried to explain. "It's more mercy than they deserve. Do you want to know what raiders do, when they manage to storm a village? It's nothing so simple as stealing the food and clothes they need to survive, if it were I'd offer every single one of them asylum and a job. No, no. They steal food, clothes and women. They rape the daughters and wives while fathers and husbands die at their blades. If you'd ever seen the mess they leave in their wake… you'd agree with many of the members of the Own; I'm much too kind to them."
Goren whispered something in Eames' ear; if Sarah had Superman's hearing, she would have heard him telling her to forget about it, because it's obviously done differently where Sarah came from. Cragen cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well, I think we should focus on the task at hand. Where do we go from here?"
Superman had a suggestion, "Why don't we go to the nearest military base? They can organise proper recon and surveillance, better than we can provide anyway, and we can operate better if we have proper intel."
Sarah nodded. "Alright, it looks like it's about to get hairy. Are you all sure that you want to be involved-"
Fin interrupted. "They took Munch. They might have killed him. We're coming."
Cragen nodded. "Besides, your request for surveillance will be taken more seriously if you have the support of people from this dimension." He nodded to Superman, who nodded in return.
"But won't you get in trouble? That IAB rat seemed like a real prat…" Sarah was uncertain.
"Sarah, this is the fate of our planet at stake. We aren't leaving it to people who don't even live here. It wouldn't be fair. Now come on, the longer we wait the more time them have to infiltrate." Elliot nodded to the cars. "We need to get to Fort Lincoln; will your friends fly?"
Sarah looked to the heroes, who nodded in reply. "Yep. Shall we? They'll follow above."
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"Hello! We're here to speak with whoever's in charge." Sarah released the button on the intercom and waited for a reply. Fort Lincoln was located in a foresty area, surrounded by trees, but the base itself was a monster of a building, an eyesore on the scenery.
The reply came with a tremor of fear. "You won't be admitted to this base! You transformed General Garrol into some, some creature."
Sarah sighed, impatient. "No, I didn't. I just showed what was being hidden; he wasn't General Garrol, he was an alien. What did you do with him?"
"Get off of United States Military soil, you w-witch!" The voice stuttered the word, and it trembled with fear.
"I'm a mage. Mages can't transform people into things they aren't." Sarah released the button again and turned to her companions. Muttering, she said, "I'm a witch too, but he doesn't need to know that. So I lie a little. It just makes it so much easier."
"I am the commanding officer of this base now that General Garrol is out of commission, and you won't be granted access! Now get off of US Military soil, or we'll come out firing!" The man seemed to have gathered his courage.
Sarah sighed. "There's no need for that, we'll leave."
She turned to the heroes. "Well, you didn't have military support the first time, did you?"
They exchanged glances. "Actually, we didn't catch the invasion this early last time. They managed to infiltrate and usurp the military, so we were fighting them too." Wonder Woman explained.
Just as Sarah was about comment, she felt a presence forcing its way into her mind harshly, violently just before she lost all sense of the world. The last thing she felt was her body flopping to the ground as another presence entered her mind, this one strangely familiar.
When she came to she was lying on the pavement, J'onn was kneeling beside her, his eyes glowing yellow as his hand sat coolly on her forehead. Casey knelt on her other side. Sarah struggled to sit up. "Gods, what happened?" She gasped out, feeling a warm wetness from her nose – it had started bleeding.
"A White Martian attacked you psychically." J'onn's voice was grave.
"White Martian?" Sarah questioned as she flopped back onto the concrete. Her arms were too shaky to hold her own weight, so she stayed lying on the cement ground as she asked her question. "I thought we decided those guys weren't involved."
"I sensed his presence in your mind and forced him out. I am sorry to say that may have contributed to the pain you are feeling now." His voice was apologetic.
"No problems, J'onn." She tried to shrug, but she was still lying flat on the ground, and the gesture didn't turn out as she had hoped. "But again – I thought we'd decided the White Martians weren't involved."
"Well it seems they didn't get the memo, kid, cause J'onn said it was definitely a Martian." Green Arrow Senior replied, standing just behind J'onn.
"So they, what, teamed up?" Casey asked from next to Sarah, worry on her voice.
"It would seem that way." J'onn replied, and Sarah groaned.
"Perfect. Just perfect. Two sets of aliens invading." She screwed up her face at Casey, the closest of the SVU crew. "Your dimension sucks." At this she tried forcing her way into a sitting position, letting Casey help her. Just sitting had her feeling a little better, and she held up a hand, looking for someone to help her to her feet.
Green Arrow complied, steadying her as she swayed on her feet.
"Sarah, are you alright?" Olivia asked.
"Never better." Sarah bit out. "Remind me to learn occlumency one day."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Olivia pressed. "It sounded painful…"
She shot the detective a frown and a questioning look. "It did?"
"You were screaming." The woman's voice was low, and Sarah heard a trace of pity.
The knight bit her lip. "I don't actually remember much past the first moment. A couple of flashes of memory, but…"
J'onn saved her the need to explain further. "Something good, however, has come from the White Martian's attack. I was able to track his location to a base underground. It is somewhere nearby, but I could not get an exact position while trying to help you."
"Underground…" Elliot frowned in concentration. "What did that alien say before you melted him, Sarah?"
Her eyes widened uncontrollably as she gasped. "That he'd put John in the ground. Maybe he didn't mean dead, maybe he meant-"
"Superman." The Dark Knight nodded towards the Kryptonian, who immediately began to scan the area with his X-ray vision.
Meanwhile Sarah had looked down at the mess on her shirt with a grimace – she had been right about the nose bleed. Before she could draw her wand, Zatanna walked up to her. "Let me handle that for you. evomeR eht doolb morf s'haraS trihs."
The blood disappeared, and Sarah smiled her gratitude. Superman signalled for their attention, and the twenty odd freedom fighters turned to listen. "There's a ship underground; we saw some of the same kind during their attacks on our Earth. They'll emerge from the ground when the aliens are ready to terraform the planet. We have to assume their plan is still similar to the one they used in our dimension, regardless of any alliances with the White Martians. More ships will fall to the ground from a high orbit."
"We have to get down there. John might still be alive." Olivia was determined, her jaw set stubbornly.
"Leave that to me." The Man of Steel took off, whirling like a tornado as he struck the ground about a hundred yards away, drilling into the soil.
Sarah turned to the law enforcers. "You should all get back to the precinct."
"What?" Elliot asked, obviously not amused by her suggestion.
"Look, I know we said you could help, but we're about to march into the enemy stronghold-"
"And you were just psychically raped, and you think you should just waltz in there too?" The male detective demanded, and Sarah grimaced at his choice of words.
"It wasn't that bad-"
"Sarah, even when you crashed through the trees, off of your broom, a stormwing's talons ripping into your shoulders, burns up and down your legs, and crashed into a tree, breaking half of the bones in your body, you never screamed like you just did." Casey bit her lip. "Don't try to tell us that it wasn't that bad."
"She will not remember much of the attack, not even the pain, for a few hours." J'onn spoke softly. "Then it will come back to her."
"Are you saying she'll be fine to go into their stronghold, just because she doesn't remember that she was just assaulted?" Elliot almost yelled.
Sarah threw her head back, face to the sky, closed her eyes and counted slowly to ten. "Elliot, we aren't arguing about this. There are two things that you need to know – one, I brought these people into this, I'm not abandoning them to the danger while I go 'recuperate' from an attack that I'm not even feeling the effects of. The second – you met your first alien last night. I met mine on my third mission. Do you really want a comparison about who's more ready for this?"
"We aren't going back to the precinct, not while people from another dimension risk their lives to save our own." Cragen interrupted firmly. "And I'd like for you to reconsider that decision yourself. It's not only what just happened – you're still injured from your last mission."
Goren and Eames had been watching silently, following the group like dazed ghosts. Now Goren stepped forward, looking from the SVU detectives to Sarah, resting his gaze longest on Elliot. "So you guys know a lot about her? What are her missions? What injuries?"
Sarah glared at the detective, but Batman came to her rescue. "This discussion is a waste of time. If you want to find the detective alive – and any other hostages the invaders have taken – I suggest we get moving."
Her glare at Goren turned into a grin at Batman. Before Elliot could argue further, a lot of aliens appeared from through the tree line, keeping under the tree cover as they fired energy weapons at the group.
"Shiiiitttt!" Yelled the older emerald archer as they ducked and ran for cover.
Superman had just finished his tunnel to the ship; Sarah pushed Elliot and the other law enforcers ahead of her as she yelled, "We're out of time, get into the ship! Go, go, go!" Sarah put up a crimson shield to block their energy weapons as they retreated into the White Martian ship. Superman took several hits in the chest; he faltered, before joining in the retreat. They were surrounded by literally hundreds of creatures; their only option was to enter the terraforming ship together, the detectives and other law enforcers tagging along.
When they entered the ship, Sarah quickly carved a few symbols into the entrance Superman had made, using them to bind a shield to the opening. Just in time for the aliens on the outside to collide with the pale red shield. She turned back to the assembled group, wiping the sweat from her upper lip. "That'll hold until I take it down or I die."
Zatanna examined her work, wary of the White Martians banging on the shield in an attempt to get to the intruders. "Very impressive work, Sarah. Very impressive."
Superman took charge of the situation once again. "Alright, we have two objectives here. We need to rescue the prisoners and find any White Martians. We should split into two teams."
As the arrayed heroes nodded and Sarah shrugged, the Man of Steel continued. "The White Martians will be hardest to deal with – they aren't affected by UV rays, but fire will weaken them and kill them a lot easier than other methods. Sarah, I think you should stay away from the White Martians. You've already been attacked by one, so you'll be more susceptible next time. J'onn, I also think you should go with her, just in case."
As the Green Martian was nodding, Sarah was shaking her head. "If I come across one of those bastards, I'm setting him on fire." Her voice was serious. "I don't want J'onn near that. It'll be a liability to the mission."
"Cause arson isn't one of the three signs of sociopathy." Eames muttered, and Sarah glanced back.
"I don't wet the bed, and I'd never hurt an animal." She replied coolly. "And this is your planet at stake, if you don't like my methods, too bad." Her gaze flicked back and forth from Superman to J'onn. "Anyway, J'onn should go with you guys. I'll be on the rescue team, chances are that we won't even come across a White Martian."
There were glances from the League as they assessed their options. Finally, Green Arrow Senior sighed. "I'll go with the kid, keep her out of trouble. Son, Canary, wanna keep an old man company?" The 'kid' comment made Sarah scowl.
They both shrugged, Sarah glanced at the other heroes, to see who would join in with the rescue. Her gaze caught with Batman's, and held it. His face under his cowl was unreadable, but he turned to Superman. "I'll go with them."
The man seemed shocked at the Bat's decision. "Are you sure?"
"Someone needs to be able to handle the situation if the White Martians get control of anyone in this group." His gaze lingered over Sarah as he said it, and she felt her eyes widen, but she didn't question his words. The rescue team would need all the backup they could get.
In the end, Superman, Wonder Woman, J'onn, Zatanna, Green Lantern and the Flash created the search party, and Sarah, the Green Arrows, Batman, Black Canary and the natives formed the rescue party.
Everyone waited patiently as J'onn focused on the surrounding area, searching for any Martians he could sense. "I have one. There may be more, but if I search too hard I will leave myself vulnerable to being read, and they may be able to tell our location and set up an ambush."
"Let's just start with the one you have, and deal with any others after." Superman gave the Martian a nod. "Where?"
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Superman had led the hunting team straight after the White Martian as soon as J'onn had locked on. Literally, straight after, tunnelling through the walls of the space ship in a straight line for the creature. Sarah and the rescue party had resumed a quick pace, following Batman as he led them – he seemed to know where he was going.
They ran into the occasional alien susceptible to UV rays – Sarah fried them with an intense light from her Gift, as Batman used some sort of modified flashlight to melt them. Soon, the aliens had wisened up, wearing protective suits to stop the UV rays from Sarah's Gift and Batman's flashlight. Sarah used the short sword attached to her back with her modified sheath to cut open the suits before flooding the passageway with a brilliant light from her Gift. The result was the same – they became melted piles of muck on the floor.
The group prowled the corridors, trying to keep quiet as they hunted for prisoners to rescue, and hopefully an alive John Munch. Batman didn't tell anyone how he knew where they were going, nor did he give instructions on how to act in the alien ship, and as a result, the detectives were conversing in hushed tones.
More specifically, Goren and Eames. Sarah tried to ignore them as she trotted beside Green Arrow Senior, dagger out and ready for any unfortunate pasty alien to cross their paths. Unfortunately, Detective Robert Goren took the lack of open hostility as an invitation to keep talking. "So, how do you know Detective Benson?"
Sarah shook her head and kept moving, shooting him a quick glare before turning her attention back to the front as the older blonde archer shot a wayward alien with a flashbomb arrow. She tensed up for a moment, ready to fight off any more aliens that might turn the corner, but none followed. He had been alone.
Also unfortunately, Goren decided not to take silence as an answer. He trotted after her, speeding up to draw even, and bent down and looked up, his considerably tall body stooping low to look into her eyes. "You didn't answer my question." He had a half smile on his face, and his voice was good natured. "Why is that? Did it have anything to do with that Martin Carter case a few months ago, where he was found melted into his car?"
Sarah tried to hide the alarm on her face as he guessed at her first mission to that dimension. He caught it anyway. "Very good, I almost didn't catch that. But, you see, you can't stop the microexpressions that flit across your face before you have time to control your reaction. You let a little bit of guilt cross your face just then-"
"I had nothing to do with melting anyone into their cars." Sarah recovered enough to cut him off with a harsh whisper. It was true enough anyway. "And the reason I ignored your question is because your constant chatter is drawing aliens to our location!"
As though to prove her point another creature rounded the corner, followed by three more. These ones didn't have the benefit of protective suits. Batman beat Sarah to the punch, illuminating the corridor with his modified flashlight, and she relaxed back into her careful guard with the Green Arrow.
"I'm sorry, I just didn't think-"
"No." Batman interrupted Goren quietly. "You didn't think. Now shut up."
"What's going on up there?" Black Canary called from the back, where she was patrolling with the younger Arrow.
"Just a philosophical difference between me and Goren." Sarah called back to her. "Nothing important."
"Philosophical difference?" Goren frowned.
"It's what we knights call it when we're about to beat the crap out of someone." Sarah warned. "Which I will do if you don't shut the hell up!"
"Don't encourage him." Batman advised in an emotionless voice. Sarah just gave him a nod.
"Sorry Bats."
He didn't acknowledge the apology, just turned back to the corridor and kept leading. Sarah sighed and followed, giving Cragen a shrug when she noticed his raised eyebrows.
They jogged down the corridors, running into sparse numbers of the aliens before Batman called them to a stop. "This door leads to a corridor, which leads to the detention centre."
Casey, who had remained somewhat silent during the entire trip through the bowels of the Martian ship, frowned. "How do you know?"
Sarah took one look at Batman's face and rushed to answer for him. "He just knows. He's good at this kind of thing."
Cragen looked sceptical. "Sarah, you know that the 'he just knows' excuse isn't enough for us. How can he know?"
Batman fixed him with an intimidating gaze, and the most unusual thing any of the Justice League members had ever seen happened. Instead of backing down, the Captain of the Special Victim's Unit crossed his arms against his chest, meeting him glare for glare.
Sarah pushed in between the two opposing forces. "It doesn't matter how he knows, and it doesn't matter whether he's right or not." She gave them both a meaningful look before continuing. "Let's say he doesn't know where he's going. None of us do. That means that it'll be luck of the draw whether we make it to the detention centre continuing down this path or walking through that door. So for the sake of group harmony, why don't we just go through the door?"
"We could split up, we'd cover more ground that way." Elliot reasoned, but almost before he had finished, Sarah snapped back.
"Absolutely not. It's too dangerous."
"We have guns-" Fin began, but Sarah shook her head.
As though sensing the need for a demonstration, three invaders ran around the corner. Sarah pulled the gun out of Fin's holster and fired three shots at the first alien. None of them had any effect. Just as quickly, Sarah lifted her other hand and let three crimson bolts of lightning engulf the creatures, before she flipped the gun in her hand and offered it back to Fin. "Now can we please stop arguing? We need to find John before the fireworks really get started."
With that she turned back to the door; instead of trying to figure out the proper way of opening it, she blasted that too. Sarah took point again, with Batman; she was annoyed, agitated even, and she didn't want to see the unusual looks she was being given by the natives to this dimension. Batman trotted beside her. The perfect companion when you don't want to talk to anyone.
Read and Review! If you like it, if you hate it, whatever… if you want to tell me what crap weather we're having here, and how great and WARM yours is, I don't care… ha ha.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed, the next chap will be up…. Hopefully within the week… depends on how bored I get of my BRAND NEW NINTENDO Wii!! Woot!
Ha ha… sorry folks, I've been saving for months, and I'm a very excitable person when it comes to nerdy stuff… like comic books and gaming consoles.
Anyway…