So we finally have the story starting to really pick as Hulk faces down enhanced Parademons, The Furies, and Steppenwolf himself.
And to answer a couple of reviewers questions and or observations to this story….
Lustful-Angel96: Apocalypse will be bringing one Horseman from the Marvel Universe and it's someone that I've been mulling over for a while now, they will be the Horseman of Death and no it isn't someone we've seen in this kind of role before (Sentry, Wolverine, and Archangel) and I thought it would be unique. The other three Horseman will be composed of individuals from the DC universe both heroes and villains.
Madworld238: The heroes aren't really afraid of Hulk, more like their intimidated by him, he's a huge mass of muscle and rage, kind of hard not to be put off by the combination. Up until then there hasn't really been a being on their Earth like him before. Sorry if it looked like I was making the DC people seemed scared, but they're get over it… eventually.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel or DC character used, seen, or mentioned in this story.
Chapter 13: The storm hits…
In the two years that Barry has been the Flash he's met a lot of interesting people, both good and bad. He's been to alternate worlds and seen things he doubts he'll ever live long enough to be even coming close to understanding.
If three years ago someone asked him if he was willing to face down an army of demonic aliens led by a guy who looked like he could give Spawn a run for his money in the scary armor department with the power to run really fast and channel some kind of inter-dimensional lighting he'd say 'Yeaaaaaah, no'
But now, Barry thought as he rushed through a burning building rescuing the few still living people and getting them to extraction zones, he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
A distant boom caught the speedster's attention along with the soldiers who had their heavy machine guns focused on the air. The boom appeared to be Superman and that space gladiator guy fighting in one what was once a nice looking park in the center of the city.
Sadly the dozens of bodies of men, women and children, and fire burning around them made it look like Hell had finally come to Earth.
'God knows what the rest of the world looks like' Barry thought as he earlier overheard on a military radio that Berlin Germany was starting to look like a replica of 'Dante's Inferno'.
"How the hell are we going to survive this?" a young looking soldier with the rank of 'Corporal' asked in dread at watching the 'City of Tomorrow' burn all around them
"We keep fighting" the Flash said as he caught the attention of the men and women present causing him to blush in embarrassment at being the center of attention but kept speaking "Look we've seen the movies and our own personal history to know that if we stop and just let these things win… well this" he gestured around them "Won't even begin to compare"
A distant roar echoed through the city and Flash recognized it as the Hulk's followed by a slight tremor
He turned his attention back to the collection of Army and Marines in front of him "Look I know you guys are beyond terrified, hell it's taking every ounce of my will power to not want to find a hole to hide in and hope for the best myself. But…"
The soldiers saw Flash trail off as he looked to the side and they followed his gaze to a woman and man sheltering their two young children who both looked scared.
"… I'm not fighting these things to save my world" Flash said as he turned to look at the people before him with a determined expression "I'm fighting to save there's… So they have a chance."
He then zoomed off back into the city leaving them men and women behind who stared at the red streak in surprise.
One of the guys looked around before saying "Well if we die here" he said as he loaded his rifle "I'm damn sure I'm taking as many of these bastards with me as I can"
The others locked and loaded as they saw several dozen Parademons flying towards the extraction zone.
While the extraction zones continued to evacuate people out of the city The Hulk and Captain Marvel were near one of the Alien spires that sprouted up earlier and were being swarmed by almost a hundred of the black clad Parademons and a dozen of their war dogs.
Hulk had just finished crushing a Parademon under his foot when one of the dogs jumped on his back and began to bite into his shoulder causing the green giant to wince slightly. The creature was the size of a horse and had razor sharp teeth and claws that made fighting it a pain in the ass for Hulk. The enhancements made to the demonic creature seemed to have allowed it's claws and teeth to leave some minor but painful scratches and cuts on his green skin.
The Hulk then grabbed the dog by its head and ripped it off and slammed it in to the ground in front of him before bringing both fists up and brought them down on the snarling monster. Hulk didn't have time to see if the thing was dead before he turned and grabbed another of the war dogs by the throat as it snapped at him with a mouth of drool and fangs.
"HULK LIKE PUPPIES. YOU NO PUPPY!" Hulk growled before he rammed his fist down the creature's throat and used it as a make shift weapon and smacked two flying Parademons away into a parked truck, causing a small explosion
BOOOOOM!
Hulk looked down on the beaten form of the war dog he was using as a make shift weapon and saw that it's lower torso had been ripped off when it was used to hit the black clad Parademons.
Hulk grunted before tearing off the carcass and turned his attention to Captain Marvel landing in a group of Parademons
"BOOOOOOM!" Marvel shouted as he sent out a pulse of mystical lightning and reduced most of the aliens closest to him to ash and sent the others flying with severe magical burns on them.
A war dog tried to attack the hooded individual from behind but he simply leaned to the right and let the creature sail past him before he grabbed it by its spike tail and swung it right into Hulk's approaching fist.
The impact created a minor shockwave as it sent the head of the demonic dog into a taxi and caused it to cave it on itself slightly.
"Yeah that's what I can call team work!" Marvel cheered as he held out his fist to the Hulk with a smile on his dirt covered face.
Hulk looked at the outstretched fist in confusion before Banner's voice spoke "Bump it with yours, sort of like a high five"
Hulk snorted before gently bumping fists with the energetic man. The action caused the man to beam brighter, almost like a child.
Several fire balls pelted Hulk and Marvels forms as dozens of Parademons surrounded them along with a few war dogs. Captain Marvel looked around them for a moment before a thought crossed his mind
"Hey Hulk!"
Hulk turned his attention the hooded hero with a raised brow wondering what the man wanted
"High Five!" Captain Marvel said as he held up a lightning covered hand
Hulk looked at the man in confusion before seeing the approaching Parademons. It was then he understood what Marvel wanted to do and turned to the man with a savage grin
"HULK HIGH FIVE!"
The two slammed their palms together which created a small shockwave and sent the surrounding aliens flying from the force of the powerful high five.
After seeing no more enemies in sight the two super powered men (or in Marvel's case, boy) then turned their attention to the 300 foot alien spire next to them and mulled over on what to do with it. Hulk thought of smashing it but Banner had recommended on holding off until they know for certain that destroying the odd device won't do anything extreme like a nuclear meltdown.
Before he Hulk, Banner or Captain Marvel could come to a conclusion on the alien spire, Superman came smashing through a building and skidded across the street before he was able to right himself and slow dis acceleration by digging his hands into the asphalt.
The man of steel looked a little worse for wear, his suit had a few burns and tears on it, a small cut on his right cheek that was bleeding lightly, dirt and grime on his face and his cape had a few tatters.
"You are strong, boy…" A dark voice said as an armored figure came through the hole that was created by Superman armed with a glowing red sword and battle ax. "…But I've killed greater beings then you!"
The figure was revealed to be Steppenwolf has he slowly approached the trio of heroes with several elite Parademons landing beside him or hovering.
Behind Steppenwolf was a rather tall woman with a beautiful face and rather attractive body dressed in silver and gold armor with a slightly tattered midnight blue cape and a helmet that looked somewhat similar to the one's used by ancient samurai in Feudal Japan. She stood at 7'1 and carried a large ax that had a faint glow coming from the pale white blade.
This was Big Barda, the current leader of the Furies, some of Darkseid's most elite warriors.
"You won't win!" Superman growled as he stood tall with Captain Marvel standing to his right and the Hulk to his left.
Barda snorted before saying "Greater men and women then you have said such things Kryptonian, and they all died in the end"
"Having said that, kneel before us and I may convince our lord that you'll be more useful to us alive" Steppenwolf stated as he raised his sword and pointed it at the 'last son of Krypton'
Superman's eyes glowed red before he unleashed his heat vision at the smirking uncle of Darkseid. Barda moved in front of him and used her ax to block the wave of red energy. She gritted her teeth a little when she felt the attack had a bit more force behind it then she expected but held her ground while several Parademons launched themselves at the heroes.
"Hey this is like the duck shooting game I played at the arcade once!" Marvel said as he held up one of his hands and extended out his index and middle finger with his thumb up making it look like as if he was holding a gun. "Phew, Phew, Phew!" bolts of lightning were shot off and nailed the flying aliens in the chests and caused them to explode from the sheer power and force of the mystical attack.
Hulk grabbed a nearby news stand and chucked it at Steppenwolf who grinned at the incoming projectile and shot a wave of red and black energy at it from his sword. The news stand was torn to shreds and ash.
Hulk let out a growl before he ran towards the new god assassin, causing the ground to shake at his powerful foot falls.
Steppenwolf smirked darkly before rushing to meet the larger being with both his weapons drawn and ready to cut down the green brute.
Big Barda seeing that her commander was about to engage the green being used this moment to deflect the heat vision right into the Hulk's charging form. The action caused him to stumble and let out a pained growl as Steppenwolf leaped up and brought his ax down on to the Hulk's rising arm.
The blade imbedded itself into the Hulk's limb who growled in anger before punching the New God of Apokolips with his uninjured left arm.
The leader of the furies made to attack but Superman quickly crossed the distance between them and grabbed the woman by her helmet and threw her into a parked van before lifting another car and bringing it down right on top of the startled woman.
"Sorry but I don't take too kindly to people coming to my home and trying to destroy it" Superman said with a glare
As the man of steel turned to see how his comrades were doing the car was sent flying towards him at speeds in the triple digits and smashed right into him. Superman's durability protected him from any damage, but did push him back slightly at the sheer force the vehicle had hit him with. He turned to see Barda ripping her damaged helmet off and revealing her shoulder blade length ebony hair. She also had a small tickle of blood coming down the left side of her face but for the most park looked fine.
"Well it's official, you're the third toughest woman I've met" Superman said with a smirk at the glaring woman "I'm afraid Wonder Woman and a reporter I know are tied for first and this little girl scout that sells me cookies sometimes"
Big Barda raised her glowing ax with a snarl and leapt at Clark and brought the blade to bear, intent on decapitating the man. Superman flew to the side and dodged the attack but didn't hear or see the Parademon that slammed into him form above and towards the ground.
Barda made to follow after she landed with a grunt but Captain Marvel landed before her with lightning sparking around him "Uhh hi scary alien lady… guess it's our turn to fight right?"
The woman narrowed her eyes at the man before her "Out of the way child!"
The man looked surprised before saying "What, child? I'm an adult Ms. Scary alien lady!"
Barda rolled her eyes before charging at the man with her ax raised towards Captain Marvel who shot forward with a lightning encased fist. The two met in a explosive clash that sent both stumbling back.
Big Barda looked to see that her ax was destroyed. She looked to Captain Marvel shaking his hand slightly before returning an even stare at the woman
"Not going to lie, that one hurt a little."
"This will hurt a lot more…" Barda growled as she reached behind her back and pulled out a metal rod that formed her most powerful weapon, the Mega-Rod and shot of a concussive blast at the red clad hero.
While Superman and Captain Marvel were dealing with Steppenwolf's soldiers Hulk was facing the invading god himself.
"You're strong beast!" Steppenwolf said as he narrowly dogged another punch and used his speed and smaller size to embed his sword in the back of the Hulk's knee
"RAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!" Hulk growled out as he grabbed the armored god and repeatedly smashed him into the pavement before throwing him into a Parademon that was attempting to aid its master. Hulk stared at the rising form of Steppenwolf with a dark glare "HULK WILL RIP YOU APART!"
Steppenwolf's response was a sinister smirk "I'm a god you simple minded brute, but you are more than welcome to try…"
Hulk lunged at the god while squads of black armored Parademons and a few of the furies war dogs rushed him from all sides as they arrived to aid their general in felling the green giant.
'Incoming big guy!' Banner shouted in Hulk's mind as he noticed the all-out attack
Hulk looked to see he was surrounded and let out a grunt "HULK DOESN'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU WEAKLINGS"
Green energy began to manifest around the Hulk as he channeled a large amount of gamma energy through his body, most gathering in his arms which he slowly raised over his head as Steppenwolf looked on in confusion and his soldiers continued on undeterred
"RAAAAAAAAAGH! HUUUUULLLLLKKKKKK SMAAAAAASH!" The Hulk brought down his fists into the ground
KRAAAAAAAAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The impact created a massive explosion that sent shockwaves of energy and debris in every direction and caused massive tremors felt throughout the city.
The Parademons and war dogs that were too close to the point of impact were obliterated while those further back were burned from the sheer intensity of the blast and radiation. Steppenwolf was able to escape from suffering any serious damage by hefting a abandoned tank and using it as a makeshift shield from the pseudo nuclear attack unleashed by the Hulk.
The force of the blast however still sent the protected new God sliding back several dozen feet before he came to a stop. The tank shield was reduced to a burning slag of metal with only a few feet left hanging on. Steppenwolf tossed the destroyed hunk of metal to the side and was greeted by a sight that enraged the assassin
Standing in a small crater a hundred feet away was the Hulk covered in arcs of green bioelectricity and gamma energy. Flames were surrounding his form and casting his glare in shadow so only his glowing green irises were visible. The surrounding buildings and street were scorched and damaged to the point that it was a miracle any of it was still left.
Steppenwolf narrowed his eyes at the Hulk "Impressive beast, you'd make a fine addition to lord Darkseid's army"
Hulk began his approach to the New God while cracking his neck and his knuckles "HULK WILL SMASH HIS ARMY! THEN HULK SMASH DARKSEID!"
"(Sigh)… Such a pity then" Steppenwolf drew his sword and ax and charged at the Hulk with red energy glowing around his blades
Not too far away Batman and Cyborg were in the middle of fighting off a Fury by the name of Granny Goodness who had the resemblance to an ancient looking old skinny woman dressed in faded looking robes with bits of metal plating that somewhat resembled Big Barda's only thinner. However Batman and Cyborg quickly discovered that not only did her speed defy her appearance, so did her strength.
"Come now children, there's no need to fight…" Granny Goodness said in a waspy voice that had a sinister edge to it.
"And yet you're trying to kill us!" Cyborg yelled as he tried to shoot the old hag with his arm cannon and several rockets off his shoulders. The barrage of advance weaponry missed as the Fury dodged the attacks with ease before a stray rocket hit the ground before her and caused a small explosion of fire and gravel.
Just as Cyborg lowered his weapons to see if he made a hit, Granny Goodness appeared behind him with a malevolent look on her withered face "I don't like that tone your talking to me with boy!"
She reached out to grab the young man but several batarangs embedded themselves in the Fury's arm causing her to hiss in pain and retract her arm as she glared at Batman's slightly damaged appearance.
His cowl had several cracks in it, his chest armor was scorched and a small section on the right batwing's symbol was torn away to expose the under armor he wears and his cape had several tears and holes in it.
Before Batman could blink the old crone was holding him up by his throat with a dark smile on her face "Shhhhhh, don't be scared. It will only hurt for a moment young man…"
Granny pulled back her hand that was holding a dagger she drew and prepared to stab the Dark Knight in the chest with it.
"I'm not afraid" Batman said before aiming his gauntlets at the woman's head and shooting his arm blades right into her face.
"Aaaacccckkkkk!" the Fury let out a shriek of pain as the titanium tipped blades pierced her left eye and the rest embedded themselves in her cheeks.
Batman then drew a small device that had the last of his explosive gel and shot the alien hag in the face with it.
"Shhhhh, it will only hurt for a moment old lady" Batman told the snarling woman before the gel ignited and sent the old crone tumbling back and down into a crater that was made when a helicopter earlier had crashed.
Batman waited to see if she would appear again and when it appeared she was dealt with, he turned his back…
Only for Granny Goodness to jump from the crater with part of her face badly burned and an arm blade still in her eye.
Before Batman could react a blue energy beam hit the old woman and sent her flying down the street and into what was left of a home goods store.
Batman turned to see a slightly damaged Cyborg approach him.
"Thanks…" Batman breathed out as he felt a wave of exhaustion hit him. He may have trained to be able to operate far longer than a normal person's body could withstand, but fighting aliens all night almost nonstop with his bare hands was beginning to wear on the still very human Bruce Wayne 'It's at time like this where I begin to reconsider my no guns policy'
"Yeah…" Cyborg said before looking up at the sky to see Green Lantern and two other glowing green lights in the sky aiding him in fighting off dozens of flying Parademons. Lantern mentioned earlier that he called in some help from the 'Green Lantern Corps' and that more should arrive soon, hopefully.
Victor couldn't help but shake his head on how quickly his life has changed in the span of a day 'Yesterday I was worrying about impressing the scouts at my football games and now I'm worrying about an alien invasion. If this doesn't impress my father then I don't know what will…'
Growling caught both men's attention and they turned to see several of the alien war dogs approaching them with drooling mouths and hunger in their eyes.
However before they could pounce on the heroes Powergirl landed between them and shot the snarling monsters with her heat vision, reducing them to ash in seconds. One of the war dogs was able to avoid the blonde's attack and launched itself at her with its claws and teeth bared. Powergirl used her enhance speed and strength to grab the surprised creature by the throat and crush it.
The war dog gave out a gurgled yelp before its body slumped and the woman threw the dead alien war beast away with ease.
She turned her attention to the two men before her "Any luck on how to stop these things?"
Batman looked towards Cyborg who gave a hesitant nod before returning his attention to the beautiful woman before him "Yes… but there's a slight issue with the plan and how to pull it off…"
"What would that be?" came the voice of a descending Wonder Woman who was covered in alien blood and dirt. She was carrying her sword in a reverse like grip in her right hand while her left arm blade was out and still dripping with alien gore. Her armor was scorched and dented in some parts while the shield on her back had a large scratch going down the center from an earlier fight with Big Barda and Steppenwolf before Superman had intervened.
Cyborg spoke up "We need to wait for the next wave to appear first"
This caught both women by surprise.
"Isn't it the point to stop these things before the next and likely larger wave of fresh troops arrive?" Powergirl asked confused
Batman crossed his arms and turned to Cyborg "Victor…"
The man nodded before he pointed the swirling portal still in the early morning sky "The only way to close that thing is to take out the generators that power it… on Apokolips… where these things are coming from. However, just because that thing is open doesn't mean we can go through it. Right now it's 'closed' in a sense and will only allow anyone through when the next wave hits. After that we can send in someone to hit the generators, get out and close the portals for good, preferably before Darkseid appears himself"
"So we wait for the next group to appear and then we head to these things home which is likely under heavy guard, find the power sources for these portals which are likely also under heavy guard and somehow find a way to destroy them while not ending up trapped on a planet that make's hell look nice in comparison?" Powergirl summed up the ridiculous plan that her two teammates came up with
"Pretty much…" Batman said as he looked up at the portal again with a glare
"Who will go through the portal?" Diana asked the uneasy question that was plaguing her and her allies' minds
"Me!" Flash suddenly appeared before the group with arcs of lightning around him that quickly died out "I'm the only one fast enough that could pull it off at the moment"
Powergirl's eyebrows furrowed in confusion "Me or Superman could easily-"
"No, we need you two here to help keep these things from overrunning us. That and according to Victor here, the next wave's commander's strength will be on par with you and Superman's or on the off chance that Darkseid himself decides to appear" Batman said gravely
Before any of them could comment Steppenwolf came crashing through a building and landing not too far from the group. Wonder Woman raised her blades while Powergirl's eyes began to glow red at the rising and injured form of the alien commander.
Before they could attack, the Hulk landed behind him with a enraged expression on his face and made to grab Steppenwolf. Darkseid's general grabbed his sword that he dropped and slashed Hulk's face causing the green man to stumble back with his hands covering his bleeding eyes.
Steppenwolf then attempted to stab Hulk in the gut only for a green hand to painfully grip and crush his arm.
"GAH!" Steppenwolf gripped his destroyed arm and glared at the bloodied and angered face of the Hulk.
"GRRRRRRRR RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Hulk roared at the injured New God before grabbing him by the uninjured arm and leg and began to pull his body in separate directions with all of his strength at the moment
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Steppenwolf let out a pained scream before the sound of metal and flesh tearing echoed through the street and the Hulk ripped the assassin in half, spraying the ground with the New God's entrails
The other heroes were surprised by the savage display as Hulk chucked the lower part of Steppenwolf's body away and brought what was left of his torso up to his healed green eyes "PUNY GOD…"
He then drooped the still living form of Steppenwolf on to the ground before kicking it away.
"Damn…" Flash said as he watched the large mountain of muscle taking in deep breaths while the veins in his body pulsed from the constant physical exertion he was putting his body through.
The large man turned his emerald gaze towards the still heroes and let out a snort of amusement "HULK SAID HE'D RIP HIM APART"
"…I'm not going to argue with him after that!" Batman summed up what everyone present was thinking.
-BOOOOOOOOM-
A thunder like boom echoed through the city causing the heroes to look up and see the Portal begin to glow again.
"Here comes the second wave" Cyborg said as Batman gave him a small tablet from his belt to transfer all of his information on to before handing it to the Flash who quickly scanned through all of it.
"Okay so it looks like I'm going to have to hit this thing with everything I got" Flash said as he sped through Cyborgs notes on the designs of the portal generators. "I think I have something that will do the trick."
"Flash you have to be fast. You will only have 9.78 seconds according to Victor to get back through the portal after you destroy the generators" Batman warned the scarlet speedster
"Okay… now how do I get up their?" Flash pointed to the large swirling vortex in the sky
"With this" Batman said as he pressed a series of buttons on his left gauntlet. Seconds later the batwing appeared with the cockpit opening "It will get you close enough that you can pass through the portal. Make it quick, the armor won't last long against these things"
"Right…" Flash said as he took a deep breath and approached the advance jet
"RUNNING MAN!" Hulk called out to the Flash who stopped to look at him. The Hulk looked at the scarlet speedster before grabbing him and giving him a nearly bone crushing hug "RUNNING MAN HULK'S AND PUNY BANNER'S FRIEND"
Flash couldn't help the laugh the escaped his slightly bloodied lips as he was put down "Aww don't worry big guy! It's going to take a lot more than what I'm about to do to get rid of me that easily! By the way if we survive this you visit Central City. Trust me, the guys I work with will love you!"
"I'll provide cover as you approach the portal Flash" Wonder Woman said as she retracted her arm blade and drew her shield
The distant howls and barks of the last of the war dogs were approaching.
"Get going speedy" Powergirl joked as she flew off into the direction of the alien howls and barks.
As Flash jumped into the cockpit he looked towards Batman "So how do I drive this thing?"
"You don't, it's on autopilot" Batman deadpanned as the cockpit closed and the jet rocketed off towards the portal with Wonder Woman flying beside it
"You really think this will work?" Cyborg asked the caped crusader with a nervous tone
"Honestly… I don't know but if it doesn't, we have a backup" Batman said as he crossed his arms and watched as new Parademons both gold and black begin to exit the portal and descend on the city
"What's that?" Cyborg questioned
Batman looked towards the towering form of the Hulk and an approaching Green Arrow and Black Canary with Captain Marvel, who was spotting a black eye, and Superman, both a little roughed up but in good condition. He then turned his attention back to the cybernetic man before him and spoke in an even tone
"We have a Hulk"
And scene.
So yeah the second wave of Pardemons under Kalibak's command have arrived and the heroes have come up with a seemingly impossible plan on how to beat the forces of Apokolips.
Next chapter, Flash speeds through the world of Apokolips while trying to destroy the mother box generators with Darkseid's deadliest weapon after him. Meanwhile back on Earth the heroes face down the son of Darkseid and his hordes of Parademons that he's arrived with along with the remaining Furies.