Chapter 13: Do or Die
Authors Note: Thank you all for your reviews once again. Glad to see that you weren't totally surprised, now you know how I felt in Arkham Knight. Anyways big, big, big battles this chapter and more to come. I hope you all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own JLA or Batman.
Everyone had their wardrobes on and Shadow had her wearable's holographic map of the whole city with multiple red dots in various locations. Shadow started marking the ones that were closest and tried to work on a way to get there, but there were too many enemy forces blocking their paths.
"What the hell are we going to do we do?" Gauntlet snapped. "This whole city swarmed with Dollotrons, Adonis Drones and mercenaries while a bunch of powerful troops are unknowingly wearing a beacon that can guide a giant solar powered laser beam down on Earth. Did I miss anything?"
"We're severely outnumbered and over powered." Sparrow chipped in. "We can do this though, we can make it. Let's start out with the closest one."
"Any idea on who that might be?" Black Mark asked.
"Not a clue, whoever it is, is on top of the parking garage." Shadow stated. "Let's leave the ground forces to Barbara's team and Batman. We'll deal with the beacons."
"Alright, let's go." Artic said.
The team made their way through the garage taking down anything in their way. When they finally made their way to the top they saw that their first mark was Hyperion.
"Welcome." He greeted mischievously. Gauntlet didn't waste any time in drawing his bow and readying an arrow. Hyperion merely shook his head in disappointment. "You are naïve."
"Not as naïve as you." Gauntlet said. "You have no idea what is about to happen do you?"
"I know exactly what is going to happen. I along with my other colleagues are wearing a beacon that will attract the laser of Gordon's satellite and destroy us all, did I miss anything?" Everyone looked at him in shock.
"You know and you're just standing here?" Gauntlet asked.
Hyperion smiled and everyone watched his eyes glow light blue. Everyone tensed when they felt his dark magic flowing around them. The magic started breaking off, creating fiery images of him.
"Everyone be careful, these things explode on contact!" He shouted before firing off three arrows at the holograms. All three arrows were caught at the exact same time, shocking the young warrior.
"Actually, they explode on my demand." Hyperion chuckled as his copies threw the arrows away. "You have ten beacons and any enhanced army to deal with all alone." He smiled before creating four more clones as a few Adonis drones crawled up on the sides of the roofs ledges. "You are all going to die."
"Like hell they are." Hyperion quickly turned around and was greeted with a heavy fist connecting to the left side of his face. He staggered back and watched as an optical image formed into a large black armored man in a nanosuit.
"Specter!" Sparrow and Shadow exclaimed. Just then another black figure leaped out of nowhere with two scalers and cut down the Adonis bots. Everyone watched as he connected two wires to the bottom handles of his scalers and started swinging them around, cutting down the copies turning them into light blue flickers of flames. When he finally stopped moving, Shadow finally managed to get a good look at him and smiled.
"Ronin!"
He looked up at her, his mask was still on, but she knew deep down it was him.
"Hey kids." Specter chuckled. "Heard you were a little overwhelmed and we decided to give you a hand." He turned to Hyperion and smiled at his brainwashed friend. "Hey buddy, long time no see."
"Cut the crap. You really think that you two has-beens will be any match against me and the rest of the team. You're finished." He snapped. "And with the power I absorb from this attack I will be unstoppable."
"Keep dreaming." Another voice said. A cloaked figure blasted dark energy down on Hyperion, but the God countered with a plasma blast from his chain arm. He pushed the cloaked figure back and was soon jumped from behind by Gauntlet. The two were locked in battle while the rest of the warriors dealt with the drones.
Hyperion sent a punch straight for Gauntlet's face, but the young boy ducked and sent a few quick jabs to his stomach before sending a large magical punch to Hyperion's whole body sending him crashing into the doorway. Gauntlet leaped forward and readied another punch, but Hyperion summoned another copy out from his body and straight towards Gauntlet. Gauntlet raised his fist and managed to block the copy as it blew up in front of him, but the explosion knocked him back across the garage.
"Dammit!" Gauntlet growled from his spot on the ground. Hyperion slowly made his way towards his nephew.
"Your father had that same look on his face as well." He snickered. "Anger and defeat, knowing that you have no chance of winning."
"And yet my dad still managed to kick your ass." He chuckled. He looked up and laughed when he saw that disgruntled look on his face. "You are weaker than my uncle and I am going to get him back."
"Good luck," He said as he raised his chain arm and conjured up a blue burning plasma ball in the palm off his hand. "But your father and your uncle lacked the power to destroy true evil and soon you and your team will meet the same fate!"
Hyperion thrust his arm out and fired his beam at Gauntlet, but the young boy raised his armored arm and caught the beam in his hand. He struggled to hold the beam while trying to absorb it, but it was becoming too overwhelming.
Then he felt it, not just Vulcan, but his father too. His whole body lit up in a fiery haze and his power started to increase tenfold. Gauntlet fired a beam of his own and tore Hyperion's attack into nothing. Hyperion looked on in horror as he was struck in the chest, his armor melted into his skin from the attack before falling back onto the ground defeated.
Gauntlet powered down and rushed over to his uncle and felt his neck. He still had a pulse and he was thankful for that. He reached down to his right hand and grabbed the wearable from his wrist and ripped it off before melting it in his hand, destroying his beacon.
"Great work kid."
Gauntlet turned and saw the cloaked figure from before standing behind him. She lowered her hood and revealed her long blonde hair and grey and green eyes.
"Evelyn." He exclaimed.
"Shh…Vendetta." She winked. Shadow had just finished off the last drone and approached her friend, giving her a hug. "Hey kiddo, you really filled your dad's shoes."
"Thanks, but I thought you lived in Central City?" She asked.
"I do, but your mother called ahead and told me to lend a hand against this copy-cat." She explained. "Gotham is our home after all."
"Well that is great, but what do we do about these beacons?" She asked.
"Let us handle the riff-raff." Specter explained. "You and your team should split up and take down the beacons at the same time."
"Right, but leave one." Shadow stated.
"Why would we do that?" Solar asked.
"If we destroy them all, the beam will still respond to its last coordinates and hit Gotham." Sparrow said. "If we can get our hands on one and lure it out to sea the beam will follow and leave Gotham untouched."
"Let me do it then." Black Mark volunteered. "I can fly and if the beam goes off I can protect myself with my armor."
"It could get hairy out there." Gauntlet warned. "That beam might be too much for you and could turn you to ash, even with your armor."
"I've been through worse." She smiled under her mask.
"Okay let's split up," Shadow informed. "My father formed his team by letting his friends bury their demons I guess it's my turn to let you do the same. I send the coordinates to known locations of your buddies."
"You're sure?" Artic asked.
"Do or die time, Artic." Shadow stated. "Now let's get this over with."
(!)
Black Stone stood in front of Wayne Enterprises with a swarm of dollotrons behind him. He always blamed the doctors and drugs for turning him into a monster and most of all for letting them turn Dany against him.
He stood his ground in front of the entrance of the large building and aimed both of his palms at the base of the building. He concentrated all of his will power into the ground beneath the tower. The ground started to vibrate slowly and Black Stone was already feeling the strain, but he was determined to rip the ground out from beneath this building and watch it fall into a heap of nothing.
Just like him.
The glass on the building started to crack and the walls started to crumble and he smiled as he felt every stone turning. It wouldn't be long now.
He was close to watching it crumble to the ground when all of his dollotrons were sent flying on top of him. The vibrations stopped and he turned to see his one true love aiming a handgun at his head.
"Stop this Andrew!" Vortex shouted. "This has gone on far enough!"
"This is their fault, Dany." Black Stone growled. "They did this to us!"
"No, you chose to kill, you chose to lie and you chose to hate rather than forgive." Vortex said. "You brought everything on yourself. The only thing they did was making your job in killing people easier by giving you that power."
"I got revenge!"
"You got even. It had nothing to do with me or revenge." She said in a low tone. "I turned you in to help you, but all that did was made you even worse."
"You turned me in?" He asked in a hurtful tone.
"You gave me no choice. I had to get away from you." She sneered. Black Stone had his fist clenched and Vortex noticed the stones and pebbles floating towards his fist before forming over them.
"No…if you…if I can't have you then no one will!"
His whole skin was covered in stone and he charged straight for Vortex. She fired her five-seven at him, but the bullets bounced off of him. She ran out of ammo and quickly blasted a burst of air beneath her feet and jettisons herself in the air, dodging Stone's tackle.
When she landed back down on the ground she started waving her arms around, summing as much wind as she could before blasting Stone with a wind as strong as a tornado. Black Stone was sent flying across the street and crashed into a wall leaving a large crater in its place.
"Stay down." She warned.
She quickly rushed over and grabbed the beacon off of his wrist, but before she could get it she was blasted by an electrical charge and was knocked on the ground. She cringed in pain as she looked up to see Bombshell and Invulnerable Man standing before her.
"I won't waste any time in asking, wear is Gemini?" Bombshell asked.
"We are right here." A pair of voices said from behind. The two turned around and Bomb Shell smiled when she saw the two in their uniforms.
"You can just make it easy and come with us." Bombshell snickered. "Your purpose is to help us change the world after all; it has always been your fate."
"I think we shall decide our fate from now on." Maria said in a neutral but stern tone. "You can either destroy your beacons and leave,"
"Or we will be forced to kill you, either way we will not be going with you." Stephan said narrowing his enemies. Bombshell just smiled and snapped her finger. Men in black body armor, armed with assault rifles started to scatter around the young heroes.
Vortex staggered next to her friends and quickly loaded a new mag into her handgun. She turned to her friends.
"If you guys have any ideas or plans you better do it now." She said.
"We do," They smiled. "Just wait for the lighting."
Just then Surge and Static shock flew in on their static saucers, electricity cackling as they struck their guns and blasted them back.
"Do it now!" Surge shouted as he blasted back a few more troops.
The invulnerable man rushed straight for the trio and crashed through anyone in his way. Vortex rolled out of the way with Stephan, while Maria leaped towards Bombshell. She levitated a nearby dumpster off of the ground and hurled it right at Bombshell.
Bombshell raised her hands and blasted the dumpster into pieces. When the dust cleared, Maria leaped through the smoke and kicked a surprised Bombshell square in the face. The woman was knocked onto the ground, but quickly raised her hands to fire another electrical charge.
Maria held up her hands and caught the blast before redirecting it to hit a building. Maria levitated herself forward and sent a series of quick jabs to her face, but she was blasted back by Bombshell's attack. She let out a frustrated growl when Maria landed on her feet.
"Why the hell are you so good at martial arts?" She shouted. "Your file said you had no training in combat!"
"Sparrow and Shadow taught us how to defend ourselves and we made the effort to learn." Maria snickered. "We don't see why we should join you when we are better than you. Maybe we should capture you and lock you away against your will."
Bombshell let out a loud scream and blasted a large electrical blast wildly aiming wherever Maria flew. Maria levitated another trashcan and flung it at Bombshell hitting her in her back. She was distracted by the impact allowing Maria to deliver drop kick into the center of her face. Bombshell was knocked out cold as she flopped onto the ground. Maria quickly grabbed a rebar and used her power to wrap it around her like a rope, restraining her on the ground.
Meanwhile, Vortex and Stephan were mostly evading Stone and Invulnerable Man's attacks, using their own power against them. Vortex fired her gun at the two, but her bullets bounced off of them like they were made of paper.
"We have to come up with a way to beat them." Vortex said to Stephan who launched assorted shrapnel at Stone.
"I think I have a way." Stephan said. "I need you to summon up as much wind as you can. When you have them pinned to the wall, leave the rest to us."
"You got it!" Vortex shouted.
She swung her arms around as fast as she could and as hard as she could before, thrusting her arms out and blasting a gust of wind as strong as a hurricane. Black Stone and I.M. were both blown against the wall and even with all their strength they could not break free.
"Maria, now!" Stephan shouted.
The Gemini twins both grabbed each other's hands and focused all of their power on Black Stone's and Invulnerable Man's minds. They started twisting their minds and sanity upside down until they couldn't even remember who they were anymore. Once they were sure that the damage had been done, they told Vortex to cancel her attack. Vortex let out an exhausted breath before the twins disassembled the beacons with their telekinesis.
"Love hurts." The twins said.
"So does a massive ego." Vortex chuckled.
(!)
Solar and Artic fought against Kutthroat and Galatea while Nemera fought Archdemon. Solar swiped his fiery blades at a few of Galatea's dollotrons while Artic fought off both Galatea and Kutthroat.
"You look like you're slacking, Artic." Kutthroat chuckled as he took a stab at Artic. The warrior held his swords up in an 'X' formation and caught Kutthroat's dagger in the middle. Artic was struggling against his opponent and he was brought down to one knee, the tip of the blade moved closer to his eye with every second.
"I am not slow I just need that damn beacon!" Artic shouted. He sent a surge of ice through his one sword and Kutthroat let out a scream when an ice spike shot out of the side of his blade and impaled Kutthroat through his wrist and his beacon. "Now I can focus on killing you."
"You can try!" He shouted as his knives burst into flames.
Fire shot out of the tips of his blades and he fired them both at Artic, but the warrior created an ice shield and managed to buy him a few seconds of cover. Artic leaped out of the way before the fire could break through to the ice and swiped his ice sword at Kutthroat sending an ice edge his way.
Kutthroat's eyes widened and tried to dodge it but the strike still managed to cut his shoulder. Kutthroat screamed as the frostbite sank into his open flesh. Artic watched as his whole right shoulder became encased in ice.
"That has to sting." Artic stated.
Kutthroat said nothing and used his one good arm to attack. He swung his knife at Artic who in turn broke his knife in half with his death sword. Kutthroat froze in his place when Artic held his blade inches from his face.
"All it takes is a sliver from this blade and your life comes to an end." Artic said in a cold tone. "Is that really what you want?"
Kutthroat let out a defeated grunt and dropped his broken blade to the ground.
Solar had just wiped out all of Galatea's dollotron's, but more were on the way. Solar brought his blade down on her, but she flipped out of the way before his fire could touch her. He dashed towards her again and swiped his blades at her but she remained as evasive as ever. Galatea let out another snort.
"Flame too wild, can't catch pyg." She quivered.
"Then I guess I should be more in control." Solar growled. His blades glowed bright as the sun, blinding Galatea as she covered her eyes. Sola ran towards Galatea and brought both of his blades down across, leaving a large burned 'X' across Galatea's chest. The searing was enough to bring Galatea down and bring her dollotrons down. When smoke rose from her chest, Solar caught a whiff and let cringed as he started waving the smoke away.
"Damn, she even smells like cooked pig." He gagged.
Nemera blasted another spell at Archdemon, but she missed him again as he dashed towards her, sword in hand and swung with all of his strength hoping to cut her in half. Wolf leaped in at the last second and caught the blade with his claws before sending a kick into his gut and crashing him through a nearby wall.
"Stay the fuck back!" Wolf growled.
Nemera stood next to Wolf as they watched a dark green light emit from the hole in the wall. They both heard some disturbing growling before a dark, scaly green foot came out from the darkness. Archdemon had ditched his human form and became what he truly was.
He stood seven feet tall, black horns stuck out from on top of his head and around his jaw his suit was now back sleeveless armor with a harness at the center of his chest with red gauntlets at his wrist and matching boots.
"Aww, protecting your friend, too bad you couldn't protect your parents from that wolf!" Archdemon chuckled. "Come on kids, try and stop me!"
Wolf leaped towards Archdemon with his claws stretched out. Archdemon swatted him away with his large hand but was caught off guard by a purple blast to face. The right side of his face was scalded as he narrowed his left eye at her.
"Nice shot you little brat." He chuckled. "Stormbolt taught you very well."
"Yeah, he wanted me to be prepared to take you down." She blasted a few magical spikes at him. One of them caught his shoulder while Wolf leaped on top of his back and ripped off his beacon.
Archdemon let out a roar before Wolf managed to scratch his neck with his claws. Artic and Solar leaped in and blasted him with their elemental attacks. Archdemon was almost done for until they were both blown away by Turbine who was followed by Black Mark.
"You and your friends are going to die by my hands tonight!" Archdemon shouted.
He grabbed Wolf's arms, which were still wrapped around his throat, and broke free from his grip before throwing him over his shoulders and slamming him on the ground. Nemera quickly put up a barrier but Archdemon threw a grenade at her barrier.
She shrugged at first, but the grenade let out a sonic boom, shattering her barrier and blowing her away. Black Mark rushed over to Arch Demon and used her snake tattoos to stretch her blades out and land a cut across his chest. Demon let out another roar and sent a heavy fist towards her, but she quickly turned into her shielded form and was only knocked back unharmed.
Turbine wanted to be the one to finish her off, but Solar and Artic were both giving him a run for his money. Solar had his blades ignited but the metal in Turbine's arms were resistant to the heat. Artic's blades couldn't touch them either and whenever they ganged up on him he would start to use his wind turbines and blow them back.
That's when Wolf leaped in and tried to sink his teeth into neck, but Turbine blocked with his arm.
"Can't curse me if you don't get to my flesh." He chuckled before sending a punch to the side of his jaw. Wolf fell back, but Solar leaped in and delivered a flame kick to the center of his face. Artic rushed in and swung his ice blade across Turbine's legs.
"I bet that hurt didn't it asshole!" Solar chuckled. Turbine let out a snarl and was about to engage when suddenly he just stopped in his tracks. He reached up into his ear piece and started talking.
"Are you sure?" He said. "Yes, if that is what you want."
"Hey, we're fighting over here." Solar stated. Turbine just shook his head before tearing off his beacon.
"Sorry, another time." He smiled. "Give this to Black Mark."
He threw his beacon at Artic, who caught it with one hand before disappearing into the early morning night.
Meanwhile, Black Mark sent another armored punch into Archdemon's face before the monster grabbed her by the sides of her head and head butted her in the face and kicking her off towards Nemera who was keeping pressure on a gash in her left arm.
"Damn, he just doesn't go down." Black Mark grunted. They watched Wolf fight off Demon again as Black Mark staggered to her feet. "What the hell do we do now?"
"I have an idea." Nemera said with a smile. She summoned up another spell and this time she shot it right in front of her. The purple ball opened up into a portal that opened one hundred feet in the air. "Stay armored and jump in with your fist out, trust me."
Black Mark was hesitant, but she nodded. "I trust you."
She remained in her armor and jumped through the portal as instructed and started free falling down to the ground below. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she had faith that Nemera would not let her down, literally.
Just then a portal reopened and right when she entered, she flew in straight towards Archdemon's face sending him flying across the building's rooftop and down onto the ground below.
Black Mark deactivated her power and smiled at Nemera.
"Great combo move." Solar chuckled.
"Thanks." The girls chuckled as Black Mark looked at Wolf. "Where is Finlay?"
"I don't know," Wolf said. "He grew some form of conscious when he finally realized he was working with a worse monster than me. I mean being a warrior of humanity defeats the purpose when you're aiding in the lives of a few million people. He destroyed his beacon and vowed to come after me another time."
"Shit, what about Hush?" Solar snapped.
"I am only sensing one beacon and that belongs to this one." Artic said as he held up the wearable. Black Mark didn't waste any time snatching the beacon out of his hands and running over to the buildings ledge.
Everyone watched as her back glowed a neon white, the image was a poorly drawn pair of angel wings. Everyone had seen them, but this was the first time they had seen this. She flew off of the roof and straight for the Gotham bay.
Out over the water the young warrior started to panic as the sun started to rise and the sky glowed red. The humming was starting and she knew she only had less than a minute to spare before it fired.
She didn't use her wings often since they took up too much energy and she had to focus everything she had just to fly in one direction. She dropped the beacon into the water once she was far enough and got to a safe enough distance before activating her shield.
Back on land, everyone had watched as the beam crashed down from the sky and into the water. Artic started to worry if his friend was alive or not. After a minute the beam dispersed and Artic reached for his ear piece.
"Black Mark, are you there?" He asked. There was nothing for a thirty long seconds before a choked coughing could be heard from the other end.
"Yeah, but I can't move a muscle." She groaned. "I used up all I had. Can you guys come get me?"
Everyone let out a laugh as the twins stepped forward. "We will retrieve Black Mark." They said with a smile. "You should go to Wayne Tower. Shadow and Sparrow have not called in about Hush."
"Shit," Artic grunted as the two flew off. "Come on guys. The JLA and Warriors can take on the remaining enemy forces."
They didn't know what to find at Wayne Tower, but they have been with the team long enough to know that things always go from bad to worse.