Breaking Free

by sorahart

In a future where Apokolips has conquered Earth and executed all of it's heroes, all hope seems lost. But now, the children of the JLA are banding together! Can they overcome their differences and free humanity, or will they fall like their parents did?

25. Sunfish With Shark Teeth

A/N: Here it is… the chapter you've been waiting for. Everything is revealed her. In fact, I feel confident saying that there are more important developments in this chapter than in the rest of the story combined. Granted, this is also a very long chapter (I'm sure you've come to expect that by this point in the story) and contains a few of my favorite scenes that I've ever written. In case you couldn't tell, I'm quite excited for this one. Plus, today happens to be my birthday, so be generous and give me lots of reviews!

Oh, and a heads-up to Janagirl 123… I may have stolen something you said in one of your reviews and used in a piece of dialogue here. I'm sure you don't mind ;)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Sunfish With Shark Teeth

Troy Prince strode into the ruins of the Bat Cave confidently, whistling a tune as bats swirled the room. Troy reached what had used to be the super-computer used by Batman, and eyed the dust-covered machine with a bemused smile. "What a dinosaur," he laughed to himself, and withdrew a flash-drive from his pocket. He activated the computer for the first time in nearly two decades, and inserted the flash drive into a USB port. Troy then activated his Amazonian super speed, hammering away at the keyboard faster than the human brain could even register.

Sifting quickly and methodically through all Batman's old files, Troy began copying several items to the flash drive, a satisfied grin on his face. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the screen filled with static and the computer went berserk, becoming unresponsive to anything Troy attempted. "Electromagnetic pulse…" Troy muttered, sensing the presence of a figure behind him. "I wondered when you would come for me, Alex."

"Good to see you too, bastard," Alex Luthor stepped out from the shadows, his EMP gauntlet glowing with activity. Alex looked as though he hadn't slept in days. His usually cold and calculating eyes were sunken in and tired, his cocksure expression replaced by solemn determination. Alex extended one of his wrist-blades. The eerie light cast by the fuzzy computer screen gleamed off the blade, lighting Alex up in a radiant aura.

"I take it you aren't here to talk about the weather," Troy grinned. "I'm a bit confused as to why you are here, actually."

"It really isn't all that complicated. You killed Corey. So I'm going to kill you."

"I hate to kill your revenge boner, Alex, but I seem to remember Corey sacrificing himself. Sure, I roughed him up a bit, but I didn't kill anyone."

"You created the scenario that forced Corey to sacrifice himself. Compromise and justify all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that his blood is on your hands. And I'm going to make you pay for it."

"You're preaching to me about compromises and justifications? Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at yourself for a minute, Alex. You repeatedly screw over everyone who tries to be your friend, and justify it with this melodramatic nihilist idealism that all people are evil at their core. You pretend to be some deep intellectual who understands the truth in human nature, but here's the real truth, Alex. You only convince yourself that everyone else is terrible and deserves to be cheated and manipulated, because it helps you sleep at night. Isn't that right, Alex? It's easier to live with your lying, cheating self if you believe they deserve it."

"Is this the part where you try getting into my head, toying with my emotions and breaking me down? Sorry Troy, I'm not that gullible."

"Aren't you though?" Troy smiled, "I can name at least three lies you've believed your entire life."

"What are you rambling about now?"

"Don't you know who I'm working for? Or in your relentless pursuit of me, did you neglect to investigate that little detail?"

"I couldn't care less who you take orders from. I just know that before I leave here… they'll short one errand boy." Wasting no more time, Alex activated his magnetic field and ripped the rusted guard rails off of the platform, hurling them at Troy like javelins. Troy dodged around them with ease, just as Alex had expected. Shifting the magnetic field, the pipes suddenly began to warp, and bent around Troy mid-dodge, clasping around his body like a cage.

Before Troy could break free, Alex lunged forward and drove his gauntlet blade toward Troy's chest. The blade was just beginning to break skin, causing blood to spurt from the puncture, when Troy ripped himself free of the piping and drove a powerful knee into Alex's stomach. Alex dropped to his knees, and Troy punched him in the jaw, rocketing him across the floor.

Alex got back on his feet quickly and stepped to the left, barely evading a well-aimed throwing knife. Alex looked up to see Troy descending upon him, preparing to swing his sword! Alex made an X with his gauntlet blades, shielding him from the blow. Troy's sword connected with the blades, and the sheer force of the impact nearly broke Alex's arms. Cracks emerged in his blades, slowly growing.

"I soloed your entire team… did you seriously think you stood a stance alone?" Troy growled.

"They are not my team."

"Oh, right… Alex the loner," Troy doubled back and delivered a crushing roundhouse kick to Alex's side. "The loner dies alone. How poetic." Troy raised his sword, and plunged it downward. Alex rolled, and the blade sliced his upper arm. Alex grabbed the blade and sent an electric pulse through the metal, into Troy's hands. Troy let out a yelp and leaped backward, disoriented. Alex jumped into the air, planted his feet onto the hilt of Troy's sword, sprung off of it, performed a backflip that landed him behind Troy, and slashed the back of his neck. Blood sprayed from the wound, and Troy let out a cry. However, as he tried to react, he felt his muscles lock up, his body became nonresponsive, and a searing pain erupted through him.

Troy fell onto his hands and knees, trembling, fighting back painful muscle spasms. "What the hell did you do to me?!"

"I channeled an electrical surge through my blade when I slashed your neck. Sent a powerful shock right into your central nerve system."

"Son of a bitch…" Troy tried to stand, and immediately found himself stumbling. Alex struck him down with a fierce right hook, and watched the young half-Amazonian convulse on the floor.

"You'll regain control over your motor functions in about fifteen minutes," Alex held out his hand, "Not that you'll live that long." Activating his magnetic field, Alex levitated Troy's sword into the air, and caused it to float menacingly toward Troy's throat. Alex ran the blade ever so precisely down Troy's cheek, drawing a crimson stream down the length of his face. "Troy Prince, the Trojan Horse… killed by his own sword. What were you saying about poetic deaths?"

To Alex's surprise, Troy began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You…" Troy chuckled, "You're just like your father."

"You know nothing about my father."

"I know plenty. Egotistical, ruthless, brilliant, tactical, narcissistic, manipulative, vengeful… it must be in the family name. Like father like son."

"Shut up."

"Remember all those times daddy beat you when you were little, Alex? All those times he lost his temper, or got a little too controlling, or just plain felt like hurting you?"

"Shut up!"

"I bet that's where you got this self-aggrandized sense of personal justice… how many times did you defend your little sister from him? How many times did you step in front of her and take a beating from your father, just to watch her die at the hands of Granny Goodness, knowing you were absolutely, utterly, powerless to save her?"

"I said shut up!"

"You've been punishing yourself your whole life haven't you? You didn't take that last beating for her… you didn't step in front of her and give up your own life… you just watched her bleed, heard her scream… did she call out to you, Alex? Did she plead for her big brother to come and save her? With her last breath, did she ask why you weren't there? Or do you think she knew why? Perhaps she knew the real you, Alex… she knew that you were just like da-"

"Stop!" Alex struck Troy in the face, knocking him to the floor again. His hands were shaking, and as he backed away from Troy, a single tear ran down his cheek.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Knowing that in your quest to avenge your sister, you allowed yourself to become the very thing that hurt her. The mirror image of the man you once defended her from. Is that why you keep your hair long? Some kind of final act of defiance? I'm genuinely curious."

"Do you ever turn off?" Alex muttered, his voice shaky. He willed himself to regain his composure, calling back his strength. "You can't manipulate me like everyone else. I won't let you get in my head."

"Nope…" Troy grinned, "But you will let me stall you while I recover from your little shock."

"Wha-" Alex's eyes widened with the realization that Troy had just been killing time. In a blur, Troy delivered a powerful blow to Alex's midriff, collapsing him onto his knees. Alex swung his wrist-blade forward, but Troy grabbed his wrist and snapped it back, jerking Alex onto his feet and pulling him into a tight hold. Troy flung Alex with frightening ease.

Alex collided with the monitor of the Bat-Computer, shattering the screen upon impact. His skin shredded by the glass, Alex slumped to the floor in a bloodied heap. "You could have killed me," Troy laughed, walking casually toward the defeated Luthor. "You were so close. But I got you with the single deadliest weapon in my arsenal… the truth."

Troy knelt down and grabbed Alex's chin, moving his gaze toward him. "And now, I could kill you just as easily. But here's the truth, Alex… I could use your help."

"Go to hell," Alex spat.

"Hear me out now," Troy grinned. "You ever hear that old saying, The Enemy of my Enemy is My Friend? That applies here. You and I share a common enemy."

"Tommy and his friends are not my enemies."

"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about Apokolips. One resident, in particular…" Troy withdrew what looked like a PDA, and flashed the screen to Alex. On it was a picture of Granny Goodness. "As I've mentioned before, Alex, I work for some very powerful people. And Granny just happens to have something in her possession that these people want. I've been assigned to take it from her. But… that's a bit of a problem. As you know, her palace is pretty well guarded. However, if I had an ally…"

"You want me to help you kill Goodness?"

"Killing her is your call. I'm simply supposed to retrieve something from her possession. But if you help me get to her... she's all yours."

"So I can get revenge on the bitch that killed my sister… if I side with the asshole that killed my friend."

"You'll just have to decide which vendetta is more important to you." Troy got on his feet, and typed a code into the PDA. "Oh, and decide soon. I've got this cave rigged to explode in about ten minutes."

As Troy headed for the exit, Alex struggled onto his feet and called out, "Wait…" Troy turned around and eyed Alex quizzically. "I'll do it," Alex breathed. "But if I help you… I want to know exactly who you're working for. I want to know everything."

"Believe me Alex," Troy grinned, "You really don't."

…

Allie, Jesse, Flo, Quinton, Mckayla and Sky regrouped in the center of Central City. "We can't keep this up much longer," Quinton huffed, "Darkseid's forces just keep coming."

"Why hasn't Tommy contacted us yet?" Sky asked worriedly, "They should have the Hellspear by now…"

"It's obvious that something went wrong," Mckayla stated. "For all we know, the others might not even be alive."

"Don't say that," Jesse spat immediately. "Seriously. Don't say that."

"Tommy isn't answering his communicator," Allie frowned, worry heavy in her voice. "I'm just getting a bunch of static when I try signaling him."

"Maybe we should just retreat…" Flo sighed.

"And let all these innocent people be massacred? Not a chance," Allie shook her head.

"But maybe we can lure Darkseid's invasion force away from the city," Mckayla suggested. "This will be a lot easier if we don't have to keep stopping to save a civilian at every turn. Maybe we can draw their forces into a rural area."

"Where we won't have the cover of buildings or any battlefield advantage whatsoever? A rural area means more open space, which means more room for them to blast us into oblivion," Quinton argued.

"Yeah but-" Mckayla began to protest, when suddenly a loud rumbling filled the air.

"Um… what the hell is that?" Jesse blurted.

"Thunder?" Sky suggested.

"Don't think so…" Flo shook her head, "If it were going to storm, I'd be sensing a lot more moisture in the air than this. In fact… it's getting hotter. Like, a lot hotter."

"Sky, can you fly up and check it out?" Allie asked.

"Yeah, just a sec," Sky activated his flight ring and took off into the air. Once he was well above the rooftops, he looked to find the source of the rumbling. And what he saw horrified him. The clouds began to disperse, and a massive figure descended from the sky. It possessed a burning skull for a head, complete with an armored red body and a blazing cannon in place of its left arm. It stood over fifty feet tall, and its very presence seemed to heat the atmosphere.

"Oh my God…" Sky stammered, awestruck by the creature. It readied its arm cannon, spying Sky from across the city, and fired a powerful blast of intense heat. Sky shielded his face with his arms and braced for impact. The blast washed over him, and an intense, searing pain ripped through his body. He could feel himself burn, and all of his senses died, consumed by agony. Then the beam faded, and Sky fell. Smoldering, he tumbled through the air and crashed into the streets below, leaving a crater.

"Sky!" Allie and the others ran toward him. Jesse reached him first, and sat him up. Sky groaned, barely conscious, his body covered in ash.

"Dude, are you alright?" Jesse shook him, trying to keep him awake.

"We…" Sky coughed, "We have a big problem."

Thunderous footsteps blasted in the distance, growing closer with each passing second, and soon the monster was looming over them, its burning skull looking upon them with an amused expression.

"What the holy hell is that?" Mckayla gaped.

"If I'm not mistaken…" Quinton frowned, "That is Brimstone."

"What the heck is Brimstone?" Jesse shouted.

"A nuclear monster… a being of sentient plasma created within the depths of Apokolips' lake of fire."

"Give me a scale, Q… how tough is it?" Allie asked.

"Well, last time it was on Earth, it took the combined efforts of Captain Atom, Supergirl, Green Arrow and Green Lantern to put it down, and all of them nearly died in the process… if that's any indication."

"Its official… we're all dead," Mckayla sighed.

"Not very optimistic, are you?" Jesse helped Sky stand, "Can you still fight, blondie?"

"Absolutely," Sky brushed soot and ash off of his tattered clothing. "This thing just pissed me off."

"Allie, strategy?" Flo asked, extending her water swords.

"Q, any weak spots on this thing?"

"Brimstone's reactor core is held in his chest. If we can destroy that, he should burn himself out."

"Got it," Allie turned to the team. "Jesse, keep this thing distracted. Try and keep it isolated to this general vicinity, we want to keep the destruction as localized as possible. Quinton and Mckayla, clear out any civilians in the area. Sky, get Flo and I onto the rooftops. The three of us will go for the reactor core. Everybody clear?"

"Why am I always the distraction?" Jesse grumbled, taking off toward Brimstone's feet.

"Remember, Brimstone is radioactive… he doesn't necessarily have to hit us to kill us. If we're in the area around him too long, we'll die of exposure," Quinton warned.

"Why not?" Allie readied an arrow, "It's not like we've been in enough danger today."

…

Tommy wobbled onto his feet, thrown back by Ethan's surge of energy. Connor helped him stand.

"I'll kill you all!" Ethan roared, his eyes glowing a fierce red color, dark tattoos writhing beneath his skin.

"Something's controlling him," Zatina warned, "I sense a strong supernatural aura coming from him… but it's not a kind of magic I recognize."

"Just like the magic obstructing my memories," Kavita noted.

"Yeah… it feels exactly like that, except while the seal on your memories seems more concentrated… whatever's going on with Ethan right now, its chaotic, unstable… I think Ethan's fighting it."

"Well I think he's losing," Connor shouted as Ethan's palms began to glow.

Ethan plunged his hands forward and fired a blast of energy toward the group. Chris leapt to the front of the team, in his metallic form, and molded his body into a shield. The blast struck Chris and rocketed him into the dirt, smoke billowing.

"What do we do?" Zatina shouted over the roar of the blast.

"We need to take him down, there's no other choice…" Tommy frowned. "Zatina, provide cover, keep Ethan distracted. Kavita, fly Connor to the top of the fortress. Connor, once you're at a high vantage point, put as many arrows into him as you can. Kavita, regroup with Chris and I… we'll lead into an assault, I want to take him out quickly and efficiently. Go!"

"Eralf!" Zatina cried out, and a burst of light exploded from her hand, showering the area in blinding radiance. Ethan winced, blinded by the flare, and the team dispersed. Following Tommy's plan, Kavita grabbed Connor, spread her wings and flew upward, dropping to the top of the fortress that had previously been used by the Legion of Doom. Connor did not hesitate to open fire on the still blinded Ethan, raining arrows from above.

Kavita swooped downward, morphed her sword into a large hammer, and swung it into Ethan's head. With a thundering crack, Ethan was rocketed across the landscape, arrows penetrating his flesh. He hit the ground in a heap.

"Think he's down?" Chris asked.

"That easy? Not a chance," Tommy sighed.

Ethan quickly got back on his feet and let out a roar, releasing a burst of energy that shook the landscape. The quake was so intense that the ground began to split, becoming highly unstable. Tommy called out, "Z! Give us some stability!"

"On it!" Zatina held out her hand, glowing with mystic energy. "Mroftalp Tsefinam!"

A flat platform constructed from solid purple energy manifested underneath their feat, allowing them to stand evenly as Ethan destroyed the landscape. Tommy looked to Chris and yelled, "Think now would be a good time to try Attack Pattern Delta?"

"I think now would be an excellent time," Chris nodded. Suddenly, his robotic arm morphed into a sonic cannon!

"Whoa…" Connor spoke into his communicator, "Chris, when did you get that?"

"Back when we used the old Titans Tower as a base, I found some of Cyborg's old schematics. After Darkseid cut off my arm, I decided to copy his design and make a sonic cannon of my own," Chris grinned. "With a few modifications of course."

"You never cease to amaze me brainiac," Connor laughed, firing off a flash-bang arrow to confuse Ethan.

Chris fired the sonic cannon, releasing a powerful blast of compressed sonic vibrations. Tommy threw an explosive batarang into the blast, and it moved within the stream. The sonic wave struck Ethan head on, blasting him backward, and within the same instant Tommy's batarang detonated, sending Ethan flying. Kavita touched down behind Ethan and, as he flew toward her, delivered a powerful punch to his back that rocketed him the other way.

Zatina held out both hands and unleashed a torrent of energy blasts toward Ethan. However, Ethan saw them coming and smiled. Zatina's blasts seemed to melt into Ethan's flesh, and a supercharged aura appeared around him. In a blur, Ethan was in the air. He flew directly toward Connor, murder in his eyes. Connor fired an arrow, but it entered the energy field around Ethan and disintegrated.

"Oh boy…" Connor back-flipped out of the way just as Ethan collided with the rooftop, throwing up a storm of debris. Before the smoke even cleared, Ethan fired an eye-beam that struck Connor in the chest, blasting him into submission, a smoldering hole in his body.

Connor let out a pained groan as he slowly began to collect himself. Ethan neared him, and formed a spear of pure energy in his hands. Ethan raised the weapon, and prepared to plunge it downward and impale Connor.

At the last moment, Zatina arose through the floor, intangible. She grabbed Connor and phased back through the roof with him, causing Ethan's spear to strike nothing but ceiling tile. Zatina reappeared behind him, and held out her hands. "Esaeler Dniwlrihw!" And a gust of powerful wind formed around Ethan, quickly creating a tornado that lifted Ethan off of his feet, spinning him violently into the air.

"He'll absorb whatever energy we throw at him," Chris observed, "Stick to physical attacks as much as possible."

"Aren't New Gods generally as durable as Kryptonians?" Kavita frowned, "None of us are packing a punch big enough to take him down with brute force."

"We just need to subdue him until we can figure out how to break whatever's controlling him," Tommy reasoned.

"And what if we can't contain him?" Connor knocked an arrow, "If push comes to shove, how far are we willing to go?"

"If you feel like you have no other choice than to make a kill shot… do it. But don't expect me to condone it," Tommy responded, looking to Zatina. "How much longer can you hold him back with that whirlwind?"

"At the rate he's struggling? About fifteen seconds."

"More than enough time," Kavita took off into the air, morphed her sword into a mace and drove it straight into Ethan's skull as the wind carried him toward her. To her surprise, Ethan was barely fazed by this assault, and grabbed her by the throat. She delivered a flurry of punches into Ethan's face, but again, there was barely any effect, and she realized that the energy Ethan had absorbed as augmenting his durability.

Ethan began to choke Kavita with terrifying ease, cutting off her breathe with the simplest squeeze. His eyes were glowing a fiery red, the mysterious black tattoos snaking and writhing beneath his skin, a wicked smile on his face. But as her vision began to darken, she saw something startling… Ethan was crying. Tears poured from his eyes, and quickly evaporated on his skin. Behind his forced, sadistic smile Ethan managed to mouth the words, "I'm sorry."

Suddenly, the claws of a grapple gun shot into Ethan's back, clenching around bone with crushing force, and Ethan let out a shriek of pain. Tommy retracted the grapple and pulled himself upward toward Ethan. He wrapped his arms forcefully around Ethan's shoulders and placed his knife threateningly at his throat. "Let her go!"

Ethan's pained expression quickly morphed back into his murderous smile, and Darkseid's voice emerged from his mouth; "My pleasure."

Ethan threw the barely-conscious Kavita with tremendous force, and she spiraled toward the ground. Ethan then let out a roar, and a pulse of destructive energy erupted from his body, blasting Tommy off of him. Ethan spun around and brought his fist forcefully down onto Tommy's chest, bolting him downward.

Tommy smashed through the roof of the fortress below them and hit the concrete floor in a heap. Ethan crashed down behind him immediately after, and fired an electrical bolt that knocked Tommy across the floor. As Tommy began to wobble onto his feet, he was met with a punch to the face that smacked him into the wall. Another bolt of electricity washed over his body, dropping him. Ethan approached menacingly, tears glistening on his face, and Darkseid spoke through him; "Prepare to die."

Outside, Zatina spied Kavita falling, and called out, "Sesor fo Deb," causing a mass of large flowers to sprout up beneath Kavita, cushioning her fall.

"Flowers?" Connor raised an eyebrow.

"It was the first thing that came to mind," Zatina shrugged.

"He… he was crying…" Kavita coughed, gasping for air.

"Who was crying?" Zatina asked, helping her up.

"Ethan. And I swear he whispered 'I'm sorry.'"

"He's trying to fight whatever's controlling him," Chris reasoned.

"Well he isn't doing a very good job. He nearly killed you."

"That means there might be hope for him though," Kavita pleaded, "We need to try and get through to him."

"We don't know that it will work. For all we know, whoever is controlling him is making him cry so that we'll hold back," Connor argued.

"So what are we supposed to do? Keep throwing punches at him? Clearly that isn't working."

"You're both right," Chris stated, stepping between them. "We can't beat him in a straight up fight. He's got more power at his disposal than all of us combined. And Ethan is the most strong-willed and stubborn person I've ever met, next to Corey… if he can't fight off whatever's controlling him, we probably won't be much help."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Zatina eyed him.

"Ethan's being used as a puppet, right? So we need to find the puppeteer."

Back inside the fortress, Ethan flung another punch at Tommy. Tommy reacted this time, ducking aside and rolling behind Ethan. He slashed out with his knife, catching Ethan in the ribs and drawing blood. Ethan spun around, and Tommy barely dodged his kick, flipping up and planting his hands on Ethan's shoulders. He sprung off of him and threw a batarang his way. Ethan caught the weapon, but it quickly detonated, releasing a haze of liquid nitrogen that froze Ethan in a block of ice.

Right away, the ice began to crack, and Ethan smashed free within seconds, charging toward Tommy to find that he had planted C4 on the floor. Tommy pressed the detonator as Ethan stepped over the explosive, and the resulting blast blew Ethan straight upward.

As Tommy anticipated, Ethan absorbed the thermal energy from the blast, and unleashed a torrent of flame. Tommy rolled, ducking behind a concrete pillar. The fire wrapped around the pillar, engulfing the room in intense heat. Tommy tried to catch his breath, and called out to Ethan over the roar of the fire, "I know you can hear me, Darkseid! I figure you've got Ethan wired well enough…"

"I'll make you a deal, Thomas Grayson…" Darkseid's gravely, powerful voice radiated from Ethan's lips. "Surrender yourself, and I shall spare the lives of your friends. For the time being, at least."

"Bullshit," Tommy spat, "If you're going to lie to me, at least put some effort into it."

"I speak truthfully. You give them direction, and you give them hope. I suspect that with you out of the way, your little friends will quickly fall apart and fade into obscurity."

"If you believe that, you don't know a thing about them. Not one of us will ever give up… we're the perpetual thorns in your side, Darkseid. Kill one of us, and it just motivates the rest of us more. We're going to be in your hair until you're out of ours." Tommy grinned, "You and me… our paths will never stop crossing. Till death do us part."

"Very well," Darkseid uttered, "Death it is." Ethan's body lunged forward, smashing the pillar with a mighty punch. As the concrete pillar crumbled, Ethan was shocked to see that Tommy was no longer there. A grapple line fired out from the shadows behind him, and clasped the far wall. The line retracted as Ethan turned around, and was met with a high-velocity kick form Tommy riding the grapple line. Blood sprayed from Ethan's nose, but he recuperated swiftly and grabbed the line, yanking it from the wall and swing Tommy into another pillar. Tommy collided against the concrete with a brutal crack, and slumped down, groaning painfully. He barely rolled away from another of Ethan's blasts, which decimated the pillar.

Tommy whipped out a smoke pellet that shrouded the room in thick smog. He then flanked behind Ethan and went in for a tackle. Ethan's super-hearing made it easy to track Tommy's location, however, and he spun around, grabbed Tommy and smashed him into the floor.

"Pitiful," Darkseid's voice growled. Suddenly, a chunk of debris levitated into the air and flew into Ethan, knocking him away from Tommy. Zatina teleported into the room in a flash of light, bringing the others with her. "Lambs to the slaughter…" Darkseid growled, and Ethan got to his feet, energy surging in his palms. "Very well, heroes. Line up to die."

…

Allie fired off arrows toward Brimstone's chest, but his armor proved impenetrable by anything in her arsenal. Performing a series of acrobatic flips, Allie leapt from rooftop to rooftop as Brimstone devastated everything in his wake, firing blasts of powerful radiation that she was often barely able to evade. She hid behind the debris of a fallen billboard, drenched in sweat and ash, breathing heavily. She took note that she was running low on arrows.

Allie contacted Sky and Flo on a joint radio channel and asked, "Any luck on your end?"

"Not much," Flo's response came first. "No matter what I do I can't get through this things armor. He's just shrugging off all my attacks like its nothing."

"Same here," Sky responded. "I've been flying around firing heat vision at this guy for twenty minutes, no luck. And I can't get close enough to punch him… it's like flying into a nuclear oven."

"So… a microwave?" Allie grinned.

"A what?"

"Never mind. I forgot you grew up in a bubble."

"I take offense to that! It was really more of a pod."

"Guys," Flo interrupted, "I appreciate the banter as much as anyone, but we're trying to stop a freaking Hiroshima bombing with legs."

"What the heck is a Hiroshima?" Sky questioned.

"If we survive this, remind me to buy you a history book," Allie rolled her eyes. "How's Jesse holding up? I can't get him to respond."

"From what I can tell, he's still zooming around Brimstone's feet and throwing rocks. To be honest, I don't think Brimstone even notices," Flo responded.

"What about Quinton and Mckayla? Either of you two seen them?"

"I spotted them about fifteen minutes ago," Sky said, "They were heading down 21st Street with a family of four. It looked like Mckayla was providing cover fire while Q got them to safety."

"Have you been able to get in touch with Tommy yet?" Flo asked.

"No… I'm really starting to worry," Allie sighed, peering around her cover to get a look at Brimstone. The nuclear monster's back was to her now, and he was lumbering toward Sky, who was buzzing through the air unleashing combos of heat vision and freeze breath. Allie reached into her quiver, and counted six more arrows. She considering firing one off to try and deter the creature's attention from Sky, but decided against then. She had to be conservative with what little ammo she had left, make every shot count.

Suddenly, Jesse's voice buzzed in through the communicator. "Anybody else feel like they're going to barf?"

"Now that you mention it…" Flo muttered.

"Must be the radiation poisoning Quinton warned us about," Allie sighed, "Be careful. Try and keep distance from this thing whenever possible."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Sky shouted, dodging around a blast from the creature's cannon arm. He dove underneath the blast and grabbed the remains of a semi-truck, hurling it at Brimstone. The projectile had no effect whatsoever, and Brimstone swept its arm out with surprising speed, striking Sky with the metallic palm of its hand. Sky went barreling through the air, and crashed through several buildings before finally tumbling into the street. "Ugh… this thing just bitch slapped me!" Sky shouted, crawling up from the rubble.

Up on the rooftops, Allie's communicator sounded, and she looked down to see Tommy's name. A wave of relief washed over her, and she answered the call immediately. "What's happening on your end?"

"Kind of a long story…" Tommy responded.

"Got a short version?"

"Darkseid already has the Hellspear, and Ethan is being mind-controlled by some crazy magical force that Zatina can't identify, and now Darkseid is speaking through him and we've been fighting him without any luck. You?"

"My day has been about as lovely as yours, consisting of innumerable Parademons, enemy drones, tons of civilians to save and, to top it all off, we're fighting an unstoppable nuclear monster that we can't even seem to hurt."

"Darkseid is pulling out all the stops, huh? He's not holding anything back this time."

"I'm a little bit flattered, actually. Who else since our parents have made him try this hard?"

"Our parents never had to deal with this crap… Ethan is absorbing any type of energy we throw at him, and fighting him hand-to-hand hasn't exactly gone well either."

"Wait a minute… he's absorbing any form of energy…?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Tommy, make Zatina port you guys to Central City right away. Including Ethan."

"You sure?"

"Just trust me. I have an idea."

…

Quinton and Mckayla ushered a family of four down the street. Mckayla was providing cover fire with a laser weapon she had stolen from a Parademon, keeping enemies at bay while Quinton got the family somewhere safe.

A Parademon managed to get around Mckayla's defense and attack Quinton. Q aimed his makeshift freeze gun, the one he had made the cooling units he found aboard an Apokoliptian ship, and froze the creature in a block of ice. It hit the ground and shattered.

"Wow!" The little boy in the family shouted, "That is awesome! Did you make that yourself?"

"Yes. Earlier today I snuck aboard an Apokoliptian aircraft to investigate their method of transport for such a large invasion force. I was surprised to find an array of complex cryogenic cooling units used to freeze the Parademons in suspended animation. Once the ships arrive at the destination of their invasion, they unfreeze the Parademons and release them into the populace they plan to slaughter. I stealthily disconnected several pieces of these cooling units and used them to create my own freeze weapon for offensive use against the hordes of invaders." Quinton looked down at the boy to see him staring up with a blank expression. Quinton sighed and muttered, "Yes, I made it myself. It makes ice like winter time."

"Cool!"

"Yeah. Cool indeed."

"Wow…" The youngest of the family, a six year old girl, said, "Too bad it's not big enough to use on the big fire guy that your friends are fighting."

Quinton stopped in his tracks, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. "Little girl, you are much smarter than your brother."

"Hey!" The boy shouted, and the girl laughed.

"Mckayla!" Quinton called, "Get these four into the basement of this building. They should be safe there for the time being."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have an idea," and without another word, Quinton aimed his freeze blaster at the ground, fired and launched himself up into the air, where he grabbed onto a small Apokoliptian aircraft and rode it upwards toward the Mother Ship.

"Um… ok," Mckayla sighed, looking to the family. "Get into that building, quick. Find the basement and-"

Before she could finish her sentence, an incoming drone fired a bolt of energy at the little girl. "No!" Mckayla jumped in, tackling the child to shield her from the blast. There was an explosion, pain washed over Mckayla's body… and then everything went black…

…

Zatina's force field would not hold up much longer. Ethan bombarded her shields with a flurry of crushing punches that shook the very foundations of the fortress around them. Her face specked with blood, Zatina kept pouring energy into the shield, holding Ethan back. The team lay behind her, defeated. Tommy called from behind her, "Allie wants you to take us to Central City! All of us!"

"I'm a little bit busy!" Zatina cried, her nose bleeding from the sheer concentration required to keep the field up.

"I got him," Chris took metal form and tackled Ethan, knocking him through the wall. Zatina fell to her knees, breathing heavily, her vision blurry.

"Can you create a portal big enough to get us all there?" Tommy asked, helping her sit up straight.

"I need a few minutes to recharge. Can you guys hold him off a bit longer?"

"We can try, I'll promise you that," Tommy sighed.

"I'm running low on arrows and enthusiasm," Connor grumbled.

"I'm almost out of weapons too," Tommy nodded. "Kavita, how are you holding up?"

"Tired, but I can fight."

"Give me a time frame Zatina… how long do we need to keep holding him off?"

"Uh… ten minutes?"

"Any chance you can speed it up?" Connor groaned.

"At ten minutes, I can't even promise that I can get is all the way to Central City. The portal might die halfway through and we'll be trapped in limbo."

"So… that's a no," Connor sighed. "Ok then, ten minutes. I can do ten minutes. Probably."

From outside, Ethan let out a monstrous roar, and Chris was suddenly thrown back through the hole in the wall, and straight out the other end of the building. Ethan emerged from the billowing smoke, his body enveloped in a torrent of raw energy.

"Ok…" Connor backed up, "That's not encouraging at all."

…

Mckayla's eyes slowly fluttered open, adjusting to the dim light. The ringing in her ears began to subside, and the first sound she heard was that of running water. The second as girl crying. A tingling sensation ran over Mckayla's body as feeling slowly returned to her, followed immediately by pain. Her whole body ached, but the most intense point was her leg. Once her vision had recovered, she studied the leg. Though she had to squint in the darkness around her, she saw bone protruding from the wound, and a fair amount of blood. The smell of burnt flesh was evident. It was clear that her leg had taken the brunt of the blast. "Better than my head…" Mckayla muttered, looking around.

She saw the little girl she had saved, huddled in a corner weeping. Luckily, she wasn't dead. Mckayla attempted to stand, and searing pain rocketed through her body. Knowing she wouldn't be able to stand on the leg without some artificial support, Mckayla bit into her shirt, and ripped off a large piece of fabric. The shirt, already torn from battle, was now virtually nonexistent, and she simply threw what little fabric remained off of her body. She then looked around, straining her eyes to see in the darkness, and spied a broken piece of wood. She grabbed the chunk of wood, held it to her leg and tied the piece of shirt fabric around it, creating a makeshift tourniquet.

Forcing herself to stand, biting her lip so as not to scream, Mckayla got onto her feet and approached the girl, kneeling down before her. "Hey, are you hurt?"

"No…" The girl shook her head, sobbing. "You saved me."

"No problem," Mckayla managed a smile, trying to raise the girl's spirits a little. "What happened after I passed out?"

"The road collapsed and we got trapped underneath it. I was really scared… I thought you were dead…"

"I'm just fine, and you're going to be fine too, ok?" Mckayla brushed the girl's hair out of her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Amy."

"Your family didn't get caught in the blast, did they Amy?"

"Don't think so. I think they're still up top… I thought I heard daddy calling me a few minutes ago."

"Ok, so they're still alive, that's a good thing. Now we just need to figure out how to get out of here." Mckayla looked around, and once again noticed the sound of running water. She'd been so preoccupied with tending her wound and comforting the girl, she hadn't even noticed the water around her ankles gradually rising. "Hey Amy, where is this water coming from?"

"Over there," Amy pointed to the left, and Mckayla, straining her eyes, saw something that horrified her. The water main had burst, and the area around them was rapidly filling with water. Judging by the gradual rise of the water level, she estimated that they would be completely submerged in about an hour.

"Crap," she muttered under her breath. She looked up, searching for any hole in the rubble they could crawl through, but there was no such luck. The debris was thick, and there was no way they were going to dig their way out before they drown. Then, something strange caught Mckayla's eye… far down the collapsed tunnel was a dim light, a green aura that invoked an odd feeling of familiarity in her chest. "What the hell is that…?" She took a step forward, "Amy, do you see that light down there?"

"Yeah… kinda'…"

"Do you know what that is?"

"No…"

"Well," Mckayla sighed, "Might as well find out. Follow behind me, Amy. If the water gets too high for you, let me know right away and I'll carry you."

"What if the water gets too high for you?"

"Well then…" Mckayla frowned, "You're a smart kid, Amy. You shouldn't need me to tell you what happens then."

"Oh…" Amy's gaze dropped. Mckayla took her hand and, walking with a limb, urged her forward gently.

"Come on, we'll make it out of here. I promise."

…

Quinton reached the rooftop where Flo was crouched, firing off water attacks at Brimstone to no effect. "Q, what are you doing here?" Flo shouted, hiding behind a piece of fallen debris.

"Getting ready for something ridiculously dangerous," Quinton responded. "I'm going to bring Brimstone down."

"How?"

"If I told you, then I wouldn't be able to do that badass thing where I come in at the last minute and surprise everybody with my ingenious solution."

"Damn it Quinton," Flo couldn't help but smile. "I love it when you do that."

"Love… that's actually why I'm here," Quinton stepped forward. "You see, this plan of mine… there's a very big chance of, well, dying. And I really, really don't want to die with us mad at each other."

"I'm not mad, Q…"

"Yes you are. We've been at each other's throats lately, and I don't really know why… but for once, I don't really need an answer. I just need a resolution."

"Q…"

"I love you."

Flo stared at him for a long moment, the threat of tears apparent in her eyes. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of…" Flo muttered, looking down at her feet.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just… promise me you'll love me no matter what, ok? Even if I screw up really bad?"

"Flo what's this about?"

"Just promise me? Please?"

"Ok… I promise."

"Thank you," Flo pulled Quinton into a long kiss, and once he finally pulled away she whispered, "Then whatever stupid thing you're doing… I'm going with you."

"Hold on," a voice sounded behind them, and Jesse appeared, "Did I just hear that you guys are doing something stupid… and you didn't invite me?" Jesse approached them, "How about we make it a threesome?"

"You want to come with us?" Flo asked.

"Well, in once sense of the word 'come' I suppose-"

"Jesse," Quinton cut him off with a glare.

"I totally meant I want to go on a stupid adventure with you guys. Geez Q, get your mind out of the gutter," Jesse smiled. "Seriously though, what stupid thing are we doing and how can I be involved?"

…

"Z, you about ready?" Tommy shouted, dodging around Ethan's energy blasts with a series of acrobatic flips.

"Yeah, but the portal is going to be isolated. I need everyone within a confined area."

"Wonderful, because confining him has worked so well so far," Connor rolled his eyes.

Tommy back-flipped behind Ethan and wrapped a steel wire around his arm, attempting to hold him in place.

"You still attempt to contain me?" Ethan bellowed, sending a surge of electricity through the wire and into Tommy's body. Tommy dropped to his knees, and Ethan yanked on the wire, pulling him forward. He clasped Tommy forcefully around the throat, and uttered, "Do you still hold onto some feeble hope of rescuing your friend? Are you truly so simple minded that you cannot see Ethan Pierce no longer exists?"

"I'm a bit confused about what you want us to do," Tommy choked, fighting Ethan's grip. "You could have killed us by now. Why haven't you?"

"I enjoy watching you struggle," Ethan grinned, tightening his grip to cut off Tommy's speech. "I find it amusing, how you continue to fight when surely you must comprehend that you cannot win. Ethan Pierce is no more. This body is only a vessel of Darkseid. A weapon for me to wield."

"Th- then why not attack us in person?" Tommy coughed, "What's the point of turning our friend into a puppet?"

"Puppets have strings, Thomas. There is nothing left of Ethan for me to control. His mind is gone. His body is Darkseid. What will you do when the rest of your pathetic little team have met the same fate? What will you do when all is Darkseid? The air you breathe, the ground you walk, the insects you swat… all merely an extension of my mighty will. What then? Will you still continue to oppose me?"

"Quit dodging my question. Why possess Ethan? Surely the almighty Darkseid isn't afraid to fight me in person."

"I simply want to see how far you're willing to go in the name of your futile little rebellion. The lengths you'll go in the name of freedom. Have you honestly not yet figured it out? I have your friend in my possession. I am using him to destroy you. You possess the tool necessary to kill him. Are you willing to do it?"

"So that's your game," Tommy grinned, and suddenly, a monumental burst of strength roared through his body. He pried Ethan's grip off of him and delivered a powerful kick to Ethan's jaw, blowing him backward.

"What the-" Ethan growled.

"Did you forget I'm one-third Amazon?" Tommy smiled, cracking his knuckles. "Short bursts of super-strength. I didn't quite have that mastered last time we fought."

"Tommy, what did you mean when you said 'that's your game?' What does he want?" Kavita asked.

"He wants us to kill Ethan," Tommy looked to Connor, "And he wants us to use that Radion bullet."

"What?" Chris shouted, "Can somebody catch me up?"

"When I got captured and was taken to Apokolips, Kavita gave me a Radion bullet," Connor reminisced.

"I had gotten it from my older brother Rex… when he died during the Invasion, he gave it to me. He wanted me to use it to kill Darkseid… but I wound up siding with him," Kavita frowned. "I gave the bullet to Connor and rigged the Mother Box so that he would be sent back to Earth and it would look like an accident. That was before I joined you guys."

"Radion is like Kryptonite to New Gods," Tommy continued, "It would be the one substance that Darkseid is vulnerable to. He knows that we have it… and that scares him. So when his spy reported back to him that Ethan had become a New God, he decided to kill two birds with one stone. He possessed Ethan so that we would be forced to kill him… with the bullet. Of course, the bullet would only work once…"

"That way, Darkseid can rid of his two biggest threats at once… Ethan and the bullet," Kavita nodded.

"That's why he hasn't killed us yet. He's trying to make us desperate, so that we'll have no other choice," Connor reasoned.

"Very clever," Ethan grinned, Darkseid's voice emanating from his throat. "But simply understanding my plan will not stop it from unfolding. This is a win/win scenario… either you use the bullet and kill Ethan Pierce, or I will use Ethan Pierce to kill all of you. Either way, I win."

"He's right…" Connor withdrew the bullet.

"No," Tommy snapped, "We're not killing Ethan. That's final."

"Tommy, he'll slaughter us. Now that we've caught onto his plan, he won't be holding back anymore. What's to stop him from releasing all his pent up energy and blowing the island straight to hell?"

"If we use that bullet to kill Ethan, we lose two of our most valuable assets."

"And if we don't, we'll lose our lives Tommy. Then there's no chance of stopping him. Sure, we're less likely to beat Darkseid without Ethan and the bullet at our disposal, but if he kills us, we'll have no chance at all."

"There are still other alternatives. Allie seems to have a plan once we get him to Central City."

"And what if her plan fails, Tommy? I love Allie, but she's never been our greatest strategist by any means. What if we bring him to Central City and he winds up slaughtering the entire population? Not to mention the other half of our team."

"Hey Tommy," Zatina shouted, "Portal's ready any time you are!"

"We're trying Allie's plan first. And if that fails…" Tommy sighed, "If it comes to it… we'll kill him."

Kavita flew toward Ethan, sword drawn, but Ethan moved with startling super-speed and evaded her attack. Before he could strike her, however, he realized that the metal platform he had stepped onto was actually Chris in his metal form. Chris melded himself up around Ethan and formed a steel cage around him.

"Now!" Tommy shouted as he and Connor approached.

Zatina conjured up a large reserve of magic and called out, "Nepo ot Eeht Dnammoc ,I Ytic Lartnec ot Latrop!"

…

Mckayla felt herself getting light headed. She was losing a lot of blood. The pain was worse with each step, but she had to stay strong. For little Amy, holding her hand and straddling behind her, she had to stay strong. She had to find a way out. In all honesty, Mckayla didn't care a whole lot whether she lived or died. But she couldn't allow Amy to die. She couldn't let Amy suffer.

Mckayla's vision was growing blurry and darker by the second, but Amy assured her that the ominous green light was getting brighter. For a moment, Mckayla wondered if this was all an illusion. Perhaps they had been killed by the blast after all. Perhaps they were dead already, and this was the light at the end of the tunnel that everyone spoke of.

The water was rapidly growing deeper. It was up to her knees now, and nearing Amy's chin. Mckayla knew that soon she would have to carry Amy on her shoulders, and she questioned whether or not she had the physical strength for that in her current condition. She could barely carry herself.

No! Mckayla pushed the thought away. Stay strong. Keep moving. Push through. You can do this.

Suddenly, her leg completely gave out and Mckayla fell forward, her head sinking beneath the water before she had time to react. The filthy, polluted water filled her longs and her nostrils burned. Beyond the thumping in her eardrums, Mckayla could vaguely hear Amy's distorted scream. Get up. Get up. Get up! Get up! Mckayla willed herself upward, gasping for air.

"Are you ok?" Amy murmured.

"Fine…" Mckayla lied, wobbling back onto her feet. It occurred to her for the first time that the water was incredibly polluted and filled with bacteria, probably not good for the open wound on her leg. She could already tell it was infected. No wonder I'm feeling so sick.

"Come on, we're almost to the light," Amy urged her forward, and Mckayla forced herself to move along.

"Amy, the water's getting too deep for you. Get up on my shoulders." Mckayla hoisted the girl up, and with all of her inner strength, kept moving forward. The water was at her hips now. She noticed a few loose electrical wires hanging from the ceiling, some of them dangling very close to the waterline. Wonderful, she thought, I get to be electrocuted and then drown. But hey, at least I'll be dead before the infection in my leg can kill me!

Suddenly, Mckayla reached a ledge that she hadn't noticed, and slipped forward, beginning a free-fall. She rolled in the air and braced Amy against her chest, hoping to shield her from the coming impact. Mckayla hit water first, and was immediately sucked under. As her senses were thrown into a panic, she became vaguely aware of her head cracking against a concrete floor. A cloud of blood filled the water, her muscles gave in, her lungs screamed for air, and her brain quit working.

Mckayla closed her eyes, ready to succumb to death's embrace. Then she felt Amy kicking. Amy.

Mckayla opened her eyes, clenched her teeth, and summoned her last ounce of willpower, pouring it through every fiber of her being and pushing forward. She held Amy close, moving her legs fast, doing everything she could to ascend.

While it only lasted a few seconds, it felt like hours. Finally, she broke the surface of the water, immediately taking in as much air as she could. Mckayla spotted a few planks of wood floating, forming an island, and swam over to them, placing Amy on the makeshift raft before pulling herself up with all her might. Her head was bleeding almost as badly as her leg now. Her vision was distorted, her body thrown into a frenzy by a lack of oxygen. And all Mckayla could think was, Amy. Amy. Amy.

Moving over to the little girl, Mckayla felt for a pulse. It was weak, but still present. Thank God. Mckayla began pushing on Amy's chest, trying to expel the water from her lungs. The moment she felt as though she had enough breath, she began to perform CPR. No luck. Her pulse was fading.

"Come on…" Mckayla muttered, pressing on Amy's abdomen. "Come on! Come on! Come on!"

Finally, the water came shooting out of Amy's lungs. Amy began to cough, her lungs demanding air, and Mckayla held the girl up, trying to get her breathing steady. "It's okay Amy. You'll be okay."

"L- Look…" Amy coughed, pointing to their left.

Mckayla looked up to see the source of the green light. Far to their left, the glow erupted from beneath the water. Squinting her eyes, Mckayla could barely make out a skeletal form beneath the water. On the skeleton's finger was a glowing green ring.

"What the…" Mckayla's eyes widened. "It can't be…"

"What is it?" Amy asked softly.

"It's…" Mckayla carefully stood up on the raft, taking a cautious step forward. "It's a Green Lantern."

"That's one of the superhero guys who died fighting the bad guys, isn't it?"

"This… this must have been the location of John Stewart's last stand. I'd heard rumors that he was killed in a battle over Central City… his body must have been entombed here."

Suddenly, the ring began to glow brighter, and lifted off of the skeletal remains of John Stewart. The ring levitated toward Mckayla, and a voice spoke in her mind; "Mckayla Saunders: You Have Been Chosen."

"What…"

The ring started glowing brighter, and Amy huddled up against Mckayla. "What's happening?"

There was a blinding flash, and Mckayla felt a sense of power wash over her. Suddenly, the light began to dim, and the ring had materialized itself on her finger. "I… I'm a Green Lantern…"

"How does it work?" Amy eyed the ring, mystified.

"No idea. I guess I just try imagining somethi-"There was another flash of light, and a green and black costume materialized over Mckayla's body, complete with a GL insignia on her chest. A domino mask appeared on her face, completing the uniform. And more than that, the emerald energy seemed to have a healing effect on her body, closing both her head wound and her leg wound within seconds.

"Whoa!" Amy's eyes widened. "That is so cool!"

"Yeah…" Mckayla grinned, "I guess it is." She looked to Amy with a smile, "Now how about we get out of here?"

…

Allie rolled away from Brimstone's blast as it decimated the building behind her. The foundation of the building began to collapse beneath her, and Allie leapt into the air, grabbing the rusted skeleton of a flagpole to stop her fall. Sweat, blood and ash drenched her from head to toe, but she couldn't stop. Not even for a second. She flipped upwards on the bar, planting her feet atop it and springing off.

Brimstone aimed his cannon, and called out, "Sky!"

Immediately, a light blue blur soared in and pulled Allie out of the blast range. Sky dropped her atop a water tower and knelt down next to her. "So… we're making on progress at all."

"No kidding. I've got two arrows left, and we haven't even put a dent in this radioactive bastard."

"Where are Tommy and the others? Didn't you tell them to come here?"

"Guess they ran into complications on their end. Can't say I'm surprised."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to realize that this is never easy."

Brimstone turned around slowly, catching sight of Sky and Allie. The nuclear monster eyed them with a look of soul-crushing curiosity. After everything, after they had battled the creature all day and given it their all, he was only meagerly interested in them. It was as if he were just noticing them and was a bit curious as to what they were trying to do.

"You know what?" Sky sighed, "I'm gonna' end this."

"What do you mean?"

"Wish me luck."

"Sky, what are you doing?"

As Brimstone readied his arm cannon and prepared to fire, Sky took off in flight, soaring directly toward the mouth of the cannon! "If I can't hurt this thing from the outside, maybe I'll have better luck inside!"

"Sky, don't!"

Sky was just about to enter the cannon, when a portal opened above them. From it, Tommy, Zatina, Connor, Kavita and Chris leapt frantically. "Tommy!" Allie shouted as he descended toward her.

"Get ready… we brought you one hell of a party," Tommy said as he landed next to her.

Ethan burst from the portal, rage burning in his eyes, the black tattoos writhing under his skin. A monstrous roar erupted from his mouth, and he grabbed Sky in mid-flight, hurling him away. Sky smashed through several buildings, unable to slow himself, crashing through wall-after-wall until he was far out of sight.

"Whoa… you weren't kidding. Not only did he evolve like a freakin' Pokemon, but a super evil one," Allie took a step back.

"Yeah…" Tommy got a look at Brimstone. "And you've been fighting that?"

"Among other things."

"Well this day just sucks all around, doesn't it?"

"Pretty much. At least the weather's nice."

"I don't know," A familiar voice filled the air. Suddenly, a bright green drill erupted from beneath the ground, drilling a gaping hole in the landscape. From it, Mckayla emerged, wearing a green and black uniform and carrying a little girl. "I personally think it could use a little more green."

"Whoa… that's new," Allie smiled.

"Is that a GL ring?" Tommy gaped.

"It most certainly is," Kavita answered immediately, recognizing her father's ring.

"A Green Lantern," Darkseid's voice carried from Ethan's body, "What an interesting development. I suppose I should have foreseen such a thing; my intel stated that the Saunders girl possesses remarkable willpower."

Mckayla created a bicycle out of emerald energy, and placed Amy on it. "I want you to get out of here fast okay? Find your family. Tell them you're alright."

"Thank you," Amy nodded, escaping the area quickly.

"Alright," Mckayla cracked her knuckles. "I can finally play with the big boys. Time to kick some ass."

…

Quinton, Flo and Jesse snuck aboard the Apokoliptian Mother Ship, and were now fighting their way through legions of security drones. Flo used her water-weapons to cut down the opposition, slaying dozens at a time, while Quinton hacked and slashed with his Atlantean gauntlet and Jesse zoomed around the room disassembling the drones quickly.

"I get the feeling that I'm enjoying this way more than I should be," Jesse laughed, landing between two drones. Both aimed their cannons and prepared to fire. Jesse vibrated his molecules out of the physical plane, and the blasts sailed straight through his body, causing the drones to shoot each other. Both of them collapsed into smoldering piles of scrap.

"I'm glad one of us is," Flo morphed her weapon into a solid water hammer, striking an attacking drone down. Several droplets of water flung off of her weapon. She hardened them into ice daggers, and flung them into the head of a drone behind her. "How many more of these things can there be?"

"This is the Apokoliptian Mother Ship, it won't be guarded lightly," Quinton bashed a drone in the head with his gauntlet, destroying it. "We need to get to the cooling units, where they carry the Parademons in suspended animation. Jesse, can you do a clean sweep through the ship and figure out where that might be?"

"Give me a sec," Jesse blurred out of few. Moments later, he returned. "Ok, I just searched the whole ship. I can't read any of these directional signs, but as best as I can tell, the cooling unit should be right below us. However, there wasn't anyone around there… I don't think that's where it's controlled from."

"Ok," Quinton dropped another drone. "Jesse, Flo… I need you two to get down to the cooling unit and aim all of the vents toward Brimstone."

"What are you going to do?" Flo raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to get to the control room and do what I do best… save all your asses."

"Be careful," Flo grabbed him for a quick kiss, stabbing an attacking drone as she did so. "Don't get killed, ok?"

"Promise," Q smiled, kicking a drone behind her.

"Geez, the sexual tension in here just went through the roof. Why don't you smile just a bit more like a love-struck dope, and we'll see how fast I can choke on my own vomit?" Jesse shouted, dodging around several laser blasts.

"Jesse, if Flo gets killed, I'm putting it on you," Quinton called.

"Excuse me? You think I need him to protect me?" Flo laughed.

"Not at all. I would just need somebody to blame, and it's easy to stay mad at Jesse because he's always doing stupid things."

"Love you too buddy," Jesse kicked a drone as it flew toward him. "Now can we get on with this? I think you two should separate before Q starts leaking jiz from his nipples or something."

"What…?" Flo stared at Jesse with a look of semi-disgust.

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that I work in a joke about male orgasmic lactation before I die."

"Quinton, promise me that if we have kids, your friend will never be exposed to them."

"Deal," Q nodded, "Now get going. I have a feeling they need us down below…"

…

Brimstone aimed his cannon, charging up for another blast, this one directed at Tommy. Just before the blast hit, a green force field went up around Tommy, created by Mckayla. The barrier shielded him from the blast.

"Thanks," Tommy nodded. "Don't suppose that ring works as well for offense as it does defense?"

"Let's find out," Mckayla reared back created a giant, emerald-green hammer on a chain, which she hurled at Brimstone. The weapon struck the monster and sent him stumbling backward. Mckayla began flying around Brimstone at light speed, and created an array of green rocket launchers. She fired off the projectiles, striking Brimstone from every angle. The creature roared, swatting at her violently. She dodged around his strikes and unleashed a stream of energy machine gun fire onto him, offsetting his balance.

"She's doing well," Kavita acknowledged.

"But all she's doing is pestering him. There's no actual damage to his armor," Chris pointed out.

"Allie, what was that plan you had in mind?" Tommy questioned.

"Ethan is absorbing energy, right? What if we could turn that against Brimstone, sap all the power out of him?"

"And supercharge Ethan with unstable nuclear power? Good plan, sis," Connor rolled his eyes.

"I'll admit, I was sort of self-prioritizing at the time," Allie sighed.

"It's better than nothing," Tommy reasoned. "If we can get Brimstone out of the picture, it'll be easier to handle Ethan. Especially now that the whole team is together… we'll have him drastically outnumbered."

"And it's a lot better than the other option…" Kavita grimaced.

"What's the other option?" Allie raised an eyebrow.

"Killing Ethan," Connor chimed in. "Which I'm perfectly willing to do, if push comes to shove."

"Hey, guys…" Chris looked around. "Where is Ethan?"

Suddenly, a scream erupted from the sky, and the group looked up to see Ethan flying toward Mckayla. She created an energy shield to block his attack, but Ethan simply absorbed it, draining the shield out of existence and continued his assault directly toward her.

"He wants to drain the ring!" Kavita's eyes bulged. "If that happens, he'll be unstoppable."

"All the more reason for me to take the shot," Connor glared at Tommy.

"Not yet."

"When? How long are we going to drag this out, Tommy?"

"Until there's no other option. And if you take that shot without my permission, I will make damn sure you regret it. Am I clear?" Tommy commanded, his gaze fixed firmly on Connor.

"Let's get clear on onething, Grayson… I'm only here because Corey wanted me to be here. And I'm going to honor his wishes. But I have no obligation to follow you. I'm perfectly happy to work with you, but I will never work for you. Got it?"

"Excuse me, I understand that you're both incredibly high on testosterone at the moment, but there's a fucking nuclear monster turning the city into a pile of ash, and on top of it our brainwashed teammate is trying to drain the power out of a super-weapon belonging to another teammate. So if you don't mind shutting the hell up and focusing, I'd really appreciate it," Allie glared at the two, and they both backed down immediately.

Up above, Ethan was quickly absorbing all of the constructs Mckayla threw at him, and soon had her pinned down. He was reaching for the ring, when suddenly a bright-blue blur tackled him, smashing him through the wall of a building. Ethan hit the floor hide, sliding through an old parking garage. Sky touched down before him, his eyes burning with heat vision.

"I was just getting ready to make my big, heroic sacrifice… and then you showed up and punched through nineteen buildings. Not cool, man." Sky, knowing that Ethan would only absorb his heat vision, didn't fire at him directly. Instead, he unleashed his heat vision on the surrounding pillars, causing the ceiling to collapse atop Ethan.

Within seconds, Ethan blasted himself free of the rubble and punched Sky across the street. Sky grabbed a light post and swung it like a bat, knocking Ethan down. The two flew into a super-fast slug fest, fists colliding with thunderous impacts.

"Sky!" Tommy called, "Get Ethan up in the air and keep him there."

"Easier said than done bro," Sky uppercutted Ethan, "He's every bit as strong as I am." As Ethan was knocked upward by the uppercut, Sky grabbed his ankle and jerked him upward, while simultaneously using his freeze breath to cascade Ethan's torso in ice. Holding Ethan in place high in the air, he yelled, "Do what you need to do… preferably fast!"

Tommy gave Allie a nod, and she fired one of her last two arrows, striking Brimstone in the head to get his attention. Brimstone turned to face them, and immediately began charging up his cannon. "Mckayla! Kavita! Go!" Tommy called.

Both girls flew by. Mckayla created several energy tendrils that wrapped around Brimstone's arm cannon, and Kavita morphed her sword into a steel lasso, also tying it around the cannon. Flying as hard as they could, the girls jerked Brimstone around so that his cannon was facing Sky and Ethan.

"Nepo Latrop," a portal appeared behind Sky, summoned by Zatina.

"That's my cue," Sky shoved Ethan forward and backed into the portal, and Zatina closed it behind him. The cannon fired, and Brimstone unleashed a wave of nuclear energy onto Ethan.

As expected, Ethan's body began to soak up the blast, rapidly absorbing the radiation. However, before all of the energy could be absorbed, Ethan pulled away from the blast, eyes glowing a fiery orange. "Thanks for the boost, idiots."

"That didn't sound like Darkseid talking…" Connor frowned.

"That's because Darkseid isn't controlling him at the moment," Fate said, performing a magic scan over Ethan's body. "I think he put this mind-controlling spell on autopilot or something… he's got Ethan programmed to kill us, but Darkseid isn't controlling the body anymore."

"But why…?" Tommy muttered.

"Why else?" Allie looked up at the Apokoliptian Mother Ship. "He's focusing on other things…"

"Wait, you don't think…" A look of horror appeared on Zatina's face.

"Yup," Tommy sighed, making sense of the equation. "Darkseid is in there with Quinton."

Before they could decide on a course of action, Ethan fired a bolt of energy that forced the group to scatter. The blast rocketed Allie into the air. As she sailed, she withdrew her last arrow, aimed it at Ethan's forehead and said, "Plan B."

She fired the arrow with incredible precision. It pierced Ethan's forehead like butter, and the rupture in his skin unleashed a powerful wave of pent up nuclear energy. Allie summersaulted out of the way, and the blast struck Brimstone's chest, blasting off the monster's armor.

With a mighty roar, Brimstone fell backward, his armor destroyed… and his reactor core now visible. "That's it," Allie spoke into her communicator, "We destroy that thing, Brimstone is out of the picture."

"Sky," Tommy activated his own communicator, "Can you keep Ethan busy a while longer?"

"My pleasure," Sky flew in at super speed and kicked the disoriented Ethan in the jaw, plowing him into the concrete. Cracking his knuckles, Sky said, "Round 3."

…

Quinton was quickly and efficiently working away at the control panel of the Apokoliptian Mother Ship, trying to get a handle on the controls. The language barrier made it difficult, but Quinton was picking up gradually on how all the systems worked.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting boom sounded behind him. One he had become all-too familiar with. A Boom Tube. Before Quinton could even react, a firm hand grasped him and flung him across the room. Quinton hit the wall with a painful collision and slumped onto the floor, moaning.

"Pity that such intelligence must be confined to such a weak body," Darkseid bellowed, arms folded behind his back."

"I'm pretty sure that was a compliment… so thank you," Quinton stood up slowly. "It's not often that a human has their intelligence complimented by Darkseid."

"It's not often that I am impressed by human intelligence," Darkseid stepped forward, "Which is what makes you an interesting case, Mr. Sage. I would like to extend my hand and offer you a position at the right seat of my throne."

"What's your benefits package like? Because my current position provides some pretty stellar health insurance."

"Spare me the humor and I may spare your life. Stand with me, and your riches will be infinite. You will be guaranteed safety, and will have high esteem as a scholar of Apokolips."

"Hmm… scholar of Apokolips. I'll lump that into the same category with 'Professional Butt Wiper' and 'Satan's Personal Prostitute" on the list of jobs I'm not particularly interested in doing."

"Very well," Darkseid's eyes began to glower, and he prepared to fire his Omega Beams. "Remember, you had a choice."

"And you have a choice, too, Darkseid. Surrender while you still can."

"You truly believe your friends can defeat me?"

"I know it for a fact. I've run this over hundreds of times, you see… accounting for thousands of different variables, going through innumerable mental simulations… and there is literally no scenario where you come out on top. Because we've already won, Darkseid. We've given humanity hope again. We've given them something to believe in. And you can kill me, and my friends, but there will be more. More will rise up against you, because now they know that they can."

"You attribute an unrealistic degree of perseverance to the human race. Once you are all dead, humanity will slump back into fear again."

"There's your weakness… you're always underestimating us. Kill, and intimidate and conquer all you want… but short of exterminating the entire human race, there's nothing you can possibly do to keep us down forever."

"Perhaps. But you won't live to see whether or not you are correct." Darkseid geared up to fire his Omega Beams, when suddenly, there was a tapping on the window. Darkseid turned around to see Connor Queen, a cocksure smile on his face.

"I have been waiting do this all day," Connor smiled, and without hesitation, fired off an arrow at Darkseid… an arrow with the Radion bullet as the tip.

The Radion arrowhead sunk easily into Darkseid's body, and he let out a cry of pain, clearly damaged by the blow. His body began to crack, and taking advantage of his moment of weakness, Quinton created a hard-water hammer using his Atlantean gauntlet and smacked Darkseid, knocking him into the far wall.

Quinton then sprinted for the control panel, limping from Darkseid's earlier strike, and began hammering away at the controls.

"What are you doing?" Darkseid roared.

"Setting this thing to self-destruct. I'm blowing you straight to hell."

…

Brimstone, now enraged, had gone berserk and struck back most of the heroes. Allie continued to dodge his attacks, but now that she had no arrows, she had no way of destroying the reactor core. She was far too weak to muster a sonic scream, and she couldn't keep dodging forever.

Brimstone fired. Allie leapt from the rooftop she was on, and the building disintegrated behind her. She reached out for the next ledge, but had misjudged her jump, and didn't reach far enough. Allie nearly screamed, realizing that she was falling to her doom, when a hand reached out from a window. Allie grabbed the hand out of impulse, stopping her fall. She looked up, breathing heavily, to see that it was Chris Magnus's cybernetic hand. Chris greeted her with a friendly smile.

"Come on Princess, get inside the castle," Chris hoisted her up into the window. It was an old apartment complex, and with Brimstone's every step, the building shook.

"We need to destroy that reactor core," Allie huffed.

"Yup," a solemn expression appeared on Chris's face.

"Chris… what's with that look?"

"You're out of arrows. We need to take Brimstone out."

"Chris, what are you getting at?"

Without another word, Chris transformed his body into a lead facsimile… and then molded himself into a rod shape.

"Chris, what the hell are you doing?"

"Lead absorbs radiation. I've turned myself into a dampening rod. I need you to fire me into Brimstone's core."

"Chris, that's insane! You'll be baked alive!"

"Which is why we only get one shot at this."

"Chris… no. I'm not going to-"

"Damn it, Allie! Can't you see that I want to do this? If we don't stop him, Brimstone is going to kill everything. He won't stop. He's programmed to kill, and it's all that he's capable of."

"Chris…"

"Do it. Please Allie… do it." Chris returned to human form for a moment, to give Allie a warm smile. "You were my friend. That's all I ever really wanted."

Allie, fighting back tears, took his hand. "You're sure about this?"

"Absolutely."

"Ok... but I need to get up higher. This isn't a proper vantage point."

"Let's do it. And Allie… thanks for being my friend."

"Of course."

Suddenly, Brimstone's leering gaze appeared in the window, and he fired a blast that decimated the side of the building. Intense heat washed over Allie, shrapnel flew into her skin, and she let out an agonized scream. The building immediately erupted in flame, and began to collapse around her.

Allie was knocked on her back by the blast, and looked up to see Brimstone lean back into a roar, exposing his reactor core clearly.

Covered in blood, sweat and ash, parts of her hair on fire, her clothing torn, tears streaming down her face, Allie loaded the dampening rod into her bow, steadying it like an arrow. She quickly took aim, and uttered the words, "Good night asshole." She fired, sending the lead dampening rod directly into the reactor core.

There was a flash, followed by a deafening explosion as the reactor core began to collapse in on itself. Brimstone roared again, but this time it was different… this time his scream was a terrified one. He had finally been harmed. Brimstone fell backward, toppling the landscape behind him, twitching and convulsing furiously. His chest exploded, unleashing a stream of light into the sky. And then the light was gone. The reactor core died, and Brimstone burned out. The monster was dead.

Allie, limping and clutching her arm, approached the gaping hole that Brimstone had blown into the wall of the apartment complex. Looking onto the destroyed body of the creature, she sighed, "And goodbye Chris."

However, the remnants of the core then began to glow, and a terrifying winding sound filled the air. "What…?" Allie gasped. "What's happening?"

Mckayla scanned the anomaly with her ring. "It… it appears to be some sort of failsafe! A bomb hidden inside of the reactor core, set to detonate when Brimstone is destroyed!"

"Shit…" Allie breathed. "Everyone clear the area! Now!"

…

Darkseid staggered to his feet, wounded by the Radion bullet but certainly not defeated. "Brimstone is down. You're wounded. And Ethan is outnumbered. There's still time for you to give up," Quinton offered.

"I am far from defeated, boy," Darkseid growled.

"In case you haven't noticed… we have a part-Amazonian bat-child with serious anger issues, a super-martial-artist archer chick with a kickass sonic scream, a Kryptonian, a redhead who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers, a Green Lantern, a second super-archer, a genius inventor with a cybernetic arm, a powerful sorceress, an Atlantean with mastery of water manipulation, a Thanagarian trained by your best soldiers, and me, a mere human who impressed even you with his intellect. What part of that makes you think that you can still win, Darkseid?"

A sinister grin crept onto Darkseid's face. "I still have an ace in the hole."

…

Ethan and Sky continued their brawl, duking it out and tearing the city apart. From the rooftops, Zatina and Mckayla watched. Zatina continued to magically scan over Ethan's body. "I'm not getting this… the energy controlling Ethan; I could swear it's a magical source. Since when does Apokolips use magic?"

"I wonder…" Mckayla created a pair of binoculars with her ring, and got a closer look at the marks on Ethan's skin. "Those weird tattoos on his body… do you think that's writing of some sort? It looks formulaic… several repeating symbols that appear to be structured… I think it's a language."

"It's definitely possible. Written incantations are often stronger than spoken ones," Zatina replied.

"The GL rings have a universal translator, right? If that's a language, then theoretically I should be able to decipher it."

"Go for it. I don't have any better ideas."

Mckayla aimed her ring carefully at Ethan, and willed it to translate his tattoos. The ring began to speak automatically; "Language Identified: Atlantean Script. Deciphering Now…"

"Atlantean…" Mckayla's eyes widened. "Oh no!"

"Bitch…" Zatina gasped, making sense of everything. "She must have put this controlling spell on him while she was scanning his body after he absorbed the Omega Beams!"

"We have to warn Quinton and Jesse."

…

Jesse and Flo had opened the hangar door of the Mother Ship, and had managed to direct all of the cooling units toward the defeated body of Brimstone. There were still high levels of radiation emitting from the monster, and cooling it down would be a necessity.

"Ok Q, we're ready for you to activate the cooling units," Jesse spoke into his communicator, but after waiting a moment, there was no response. "Q? Are you alright dude? What's going on up top?"

Suddenly, an automated voice sounded around them: "Self Destruct Initiated. Please Evacuate the Vessel Hastily."

"Well that doesn't sound good," Jesse frowned. "Flo, you wanna' go check on Q? See what's up?"

"No…" Flo looked down below. "I'm sure he's fine."

"Uh… are you ok?" Jesse looked at her for a long moment, but Flo was silent.

Suddenly, Jesse's communicator sounded with an urgent call from Zatina. "Hey babe," Jesse answered the call, "Did you just miss my voice, or-"

"Jesse, shut up! This is important!" Zatina demanded, "You're in danger!"

"We're all in danger. Like, all the time. Care to specify?"

"Jesse, Flo is the traitor!"

"What…?"

"That magic that I couldn't identify blocking Kavita's memories? It's Atlantean magic. Flo must have put a mental block in Kavita's mind while we were treating her wounds so that she couldn't remember who the traitor was! And the magical source controlling Ethan? Same thing. Those markings on him are Atlantean. She must have done it when she figured out he'd become a New God. It's Flo, Jesse. The traitor has been Flo this whole time."

"Crap…" Jesse turned around to see that Flo had disappeared. "Yeah, um… I just lost her."

"Where is Quinton?"

"Upstairs. He hasn't been answering his communicator."

"Jesse, you need to get to him fast!"

"No problem. Fast is what I do," Jesse sprinted off, heading for the stairs, when suddenly the ground beneath him became slick with water. He began to lose traction, and an electrical surge ripped through the water, tearing up through his body. Jesse hit the floor, and rolled just in time to avoid Flo's sword. "Quinton is going to be so pissed."

"Yeah," Flo pointed her sword at him. "Believe it or not, I really didn't want it to go this way."

"I figured. You've been subtly trying to convince us to surrender this whole time. Whenever we were in a dangerous situation, you were the one who suggested we give up. You were hoping none of us would have to die, weren't you?"

"I really was," Flo took a step forward. "But you're all too stubborn for that."

"You know, I never told Quinton this, because I didn't want to upset him…" Jesse zoomed in and kicked out Flo's legs, knocking her down, "But I always thought you were kind of a bitch."

"I know, I've been reading your minds this whole time."

"What…?"

"You didn't think my telepathy only worked on fish, did you?" Flo smiled, and suddenly a splitting wave of pain filled Jesse's head as she launched a telepathic assault. While he was disoriented from this, Flo took her sword and drove it straight through Jesse's abdomen. The blade exited his back, and blood spilled from the wound. "I really did like Zatina," Flo whispered, "If you survive the fall, be sure to tell her I'm sorry." Flo then kicked Jesse in the stomach, pushing him off of the blade… and out the hangar door.

Jesse began a free fall through the air, blood streaking behind him from his open wound. Flo didn't wait to watch him hit the ground. She turned and headed up the stairs. Slowly, she approached the control room, where Quinton looked at her in horror. A wounded Darkseid stepped behind her, grinning.

"No…" Quinton grit his teeth, hands shaking. "No. No. You're lying… she's not… Flo, you can't…"

"I'm so sorry, Quinton," Flo frown.

"Why?" Quinton screamed, tears threatening in his eyes. "What could possibly be worth it? What does Darkseid have to offer you that's betraying us? Worth betraying me?"

"I never betrayed any of you, Quinton. I was loyal to Darkseid from the beginning. That day Tommy snuck out of the cave, and almost drowned? I saved his life. You didn't think that was just coincidence, did you? That in the entire vastness of the ocean, I happened to be there when he hit the water? I was sent by Darkseid to investigate. And I found Tommy there. I was going to kill him, but Darkseid had other ideas… he knew that Tommy could lead him back to more League kids, and possibly even a few League survivors… like Dinah. So he had me put up a ruse. And once Tommy started building his team, I kept it up."

"It was all a lie? Your entire backstory? Everything you told us?"

"Atlantis was the first place that Apokolips invaded almost two decades ago. I was taken from my crib way back then. I grew up on Apokolips… I never even knew my parents."

"Damn it," Quinton muttered, "Damn it I'm so stupid! I should have figured it out. I should have been able to see it…"

"Actually, we knew you were a threat to the whole operation, Q. We knew that with your intellect, you'd figure it out. Fortunately, I had an easy way around that… you were attracted to me. I just had to play on that."

"Shut up."

"Once I made sure you were head-over-heals in love with me, I knew you wouldn't suspect a thing. Even if all the evidence was staring you right in the face, you'd never suspect me."

"Shut up!" Quinton took a step forward, rage filling his tear-soaked face.

"I'm really sorry Quinton. I never wanted it to be like this," Flo said with absolute sincerity. "I really didn't want you to get hurt."

"You did a pretty shitty job of that," Quinton extended the blade from his Atlantean gauntlet.

"Q, please don't."

"I'm not going to just stand here! If I have to fight you, so be it."

"Fine," Flo sighed, extending her swords. "Have it your way."

Quinton charged at her. Flo, having much superior speed, dodged his strike easily and jammed the hilt of her sword into his side, cracking a rip. She channeled an electric shock into his body, and delivered a devastating punch to his jaw. Quinton fell back against the control board, bleeding from his mouth.

"Please don't make me hurt you anymore, Q," Flo pleaded.

Quinton pressed a button on the control board, and pulled a lever. This activated the cooling units, and the machine activated, freezing Brimstone's body, including the last-resort bomb in his chest, just before it would have detonated.

Quinton then turned around and faced Flo stoically, spreading out his arms. "Kill me."

"Quinton…"

"I just stopped the bomb down below. This ship, however, is still rigged to explode in a few minutes. I'm not leaving here. Either I'll die in an explosion, or I'll die by your blade. Your choice. But I don't want to live anymore."

"Do it," Darkseid encouraged her from behind.

"I don't want to…" Flo lowered her blade.

"Do it and prove your loyalty!" Darkseid demanded.

"Haven't I proved enough?" Flo snapped, "I've done everything you've asked, I've betrayed the only people I ever considered friends, and-"

"And you have fallen in love with this boy," Darkseid growled.

"No I haven't. It was part of the act."

"Prove it then. Kill him here."

"But-"

"Kill him or you die with him!"

"Do it Flo," Quinton muttered, "Come on. It's not like I matter to you."

"Quinton please don't-"

"What, are you going to start making your own choices now?" Quinton spat, "What's the point? You've never thought for yourself before. Because at the end of the day… I fell in love with Darkseid's bitch."

Flo seemed genuinely hurt by this remark, but quickly wiped all emotion from her face. "Alright then," she conjured up all the moisture in the air, and created a tidal wave of water that struck Quinton violently in the torso, sending him flying through the window. Quinton, sliced up and bloodied by the glass, grabbed onto the ledge of the window with one hand. Flo walked up to the ledge, and looked down at him with an emotionless gaze. "Hope you weren't expecting a goodbye kiss…"

She stepped on his hand, breaking all of his fingers, and then kicked him down. Quinton fell down toward the Earth below. "Should I deal with the rest of them?" She asked.

"Not yet. We still have Ethan to keep them busy, and there is business for us on Apokolips," Darkseid clutched his wound from the Radion bullet. "I require healing."

"Fine," Flo said, sounding bitter. She opened a Boom Tube, and she and Darkseid disappeared into it together, moments before the ship exploded.