4 Justice League Twice Shy
Supreme intercepted Superman and the force of their blows shattered nearby windows. A boom tube opened and Doomsday strode out of it. Supergirl headed straight for him.
"Time to save the world." She declared as she reached the monster and punched him in the face. Doomsday staggered back and one knee buckled. He caught himself with one of his massive hands and stayed upright.
Wiping his craggy lip, he chuckled darkly, "Nice blow. Now it's my turn."
Moving impossibly fast, Doomsday threw himself forward while leveling a right handed roundhouse. Supergirl dodged it but he caught the back of her head with his left as she moved away from the feint. Lifting her high, he then drove her face into the concrete with all of his might. He repeated this three more times before he was knocked back by a powerful right cross.
Captain Marvel stared him down, "I've already beaten you once, brute. Let's try it again."
"Ha!" Doomsday retorted, "Last time you and the super brat caught me by surprise. Now you're alone and I'm ready for you."
"I'm also ready for you." Marvel replied, "So let's do it!"
Doomsday surged forward but left himself open as he swung another punch. Captain Marvel rocked him with an uppercut. As the behemoth stumbled backwards, Marvel flew into him and pushed him back outside of the city limits and into a rocky hill. There, the battle began in earnest.
Mary knelt next to Supergirl as Aztek, Steel, Rocket Red, and Lightray engaged Atomic Skull, King Kull, Atom Smasher, and Volcana. Supergirl pushed herself up. Pebbles and chunks of concrete that had caved in around her head fell from her. She was upset with herself.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she berated herself.
"At least you're all right." Mary said as she helped her to her feet. Solomon Grundy suddenly emerged from the crowd. Mary frowned as she turned to Supergirl, "Kara, d'you think you could take him on. Billy needs help with Doomsday, even if he won't admit it."
"But I…" Supergirl began to protest.
"Kara," Mary began evenly, "Doomsday doesn't know me. He'll underestimate me and that'll prove to be his undoing. Besides, this is the wisdom of Minerva talking. You really should listen."
Kara grinned, "Okay. You win. I'll tackle the zombie. Go nail that uber-clone."
"You know it." Mary smiled as she flew away.
Supergirl watched her go, "Good luck kiddo."
"Grundy will crush you!" the zombie cried as he reached Supergirl's position. He tagged her with a right cross and she went down on one knee. Shaking her head, she gathered her wits.
She came to her feet and blocked Grundy's next blow. She followed through with a punch straight into his nose. The undead brute stepped back, sniffling.
"Stay back, Grundy." Supergirl ordered, "I don't want to hurt you."
"I want to hurt you." Grundy declared, "And I will."
Grundy leapt forward. He landed in front of Supergirl. She sidestepped his attempt at trampling her and responded with a left jab to his head. Grundy responded with a massive backhand.
Supergirl went through the cornerstone of a neighboring building. Rubble buried her and she stayed down as Grundy inexorably marched towards her fallen form. Murder was on his mind and in his heart. Soon both would be united in a single purpose.
The Javelin shuttles formed up on Corsair Lead, also known as Blackhawk's craft, and they landed on the outskirts of the city. The Flash came forward before exiting the shuttle and Blackhawk addressed him, "The entire Bailyan air force has scrambled and is en route. We'll take to the air try to swat them out of the sky. If we're successful we'll station ourselves over Babel and provide air support."
"Don't worry. We'll manage. We always do." The Flash shook his hand, "Good luck."
"You too." Blackhawk said and then added, "If you see Galatea before I do, tell her I wasn't planning on our second date being so turbulent."
"Huh?" the Flash was confused.
Blackhawk grinned, "Never mind. I'll tell her myself."
"In that case, I'd better run." The Flash streaked off of the shuttle. Blackhawk ran a life sign scan and it revealed that the shuttle only had one occupant. Sealing up the ramps and hatches, he applied thrust and took to the embattled skies. Corsairs 2 thru 5 followed him.
"I hate leaving Penny like this." Plastic Man grumbled from the ground.
"And you think I like leaving Sue in the lurch?" the Elongated Man retorted.
"Sue's sitting in an island fortress and Penny's riding off into a dogfight." Plas grated, "Now think about it Ralph, who do you think I have more concern over?"
"Sue?" Ralph answered with a question of his own. Seeing Plastic Man's glare he held up his hands, "I'm joking! Really!"
Plastic Man sighed and let go of his hostility. Ralph thought it over, "Sue's always waited for me while I was in danger. She's usually safe. I've never thought about what it would be like if we both flew headfirst into harm's way."
"Gives you new insight into Green Arrow and Black Canary, or GL and Shayera, doesn't it?" Plas asked.
"Yup." Elongated Man confessed, "But head's up pal, we're getting organized."
Above Bailya Kyle used his ring to force Sinestro's "hand" open. He then formed a shield to block a giant yellow battleaxe. Next, a pair of scissors came at him. He barely dodged them in time but it gave him an opening. He formed a giant fist with his ring and punched Sinestro with it.
The Yellow Lantern was staggered. Kyle manacled him in green shackles and placed a force bubble over Sinestro's ring. Sinestro focused all of his willpower on one focused burst and a golden beam erupted out of the guard and flew straight and true towards Kyle.
It hit him and knocked him out. Kyle plummeted towards the ground as Sinestro was released. Sinestro then decided to assist Star Sapphire.
Back in Babel, Supreme ducked under Superman's roundhouse and drove his knee into the Kryptonian's solar plexus. All of Superman's air was forced out if his lungs. He was dazed long enough for Supreme to deliver a left cross.
Supreme took Superman's dazed form and threw it into the mountain range hundreds of miles away. The Daxamite followed Superman's ballistic flight. The Man of Steel plowed a furrow into the rocky ground atop of a peak. Supreme alighted nearby.
"Ready to submit and die?" Supreme inquired.
Superman struggled to regain his footing. Still, he defiantly replied with; "Never!"
Supreme responded by subjecting Superman to his heat vision. Superman's costume caught fire as he charged Supreme. A right cross followed by another and then a left effectively diverted Supreme's attention away from frying Superman to grappling with him.
The two musclemen grabbed hold of each others' forearms and stood squared off against each other. While trying to gain leverage and throw his opponent to the ground, Superman was caught off guard as Supreme suddenly pulled him in and head butted him.
A second head butt caused Superman to let go of Supreme's arms entirely. His entire body went slack as he flickered in and out of consciousness. Supreme cocked back a fist and began to pummel Superman with one punch after another. After three mighty blows, the Man of Steel went down.
In the upper atmosphere Kilowog reached with his ring's energy and caught Arkus's falling form. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kyle dropping to the ground as well. Kilowog hurriedly pursued Raynor and caught him as well. Now only being a few hundred feet from the tallest buildings that Babel could boast, Kilowog set the pair down on the roof of one of them. He then rocketed skyward to reach Tomar Re and Spencer Hawk.
Kilowog was worried. Arkus was one of the Lantern Corps' fiercest and most experienced members. This Spencer Hawk could prove to be real trouble. As he soared upwards he spotted Stewart and Katma Tui.
John Stewart was facing Star Sapphire. Sinestro absorbed all of Katma's attention. Kilowog wondered what had happened to Kyle. The young man was a formidable Lantern in his own right. He assumed that Kyle must have been felled by his own inexperience.
Kilowog pushed himself until he gone suborbital. There he found Tomar Re at the end of his tether. Kilowog charged at Spencer.
Kilowog used his ring to augment his own natural strength. He rocked Spencer with a right cross. Next came a solid blow to the human's gut. This was followed by a left cross.
Kilowog followed this up with an uppercut. He used his ring to keep Spencer close, rather than floating off in the near-Zero G environment. Kilowog's next blow was suddenly blocked by a shield.
Bruised and bleeding, Spencer seethed. His eyes narrowed as he wiped blood from his nose and lips.
"Now you all die." He promised.
Katma was using every form of attack that she'd learned over her years as a Green Lantern and as an instructor for the Corps. Sinestro blocked or thwarted every one. His own assaults were coming perilously close to reaching her.
"You won't win." Katma promised him.
"Only your death matters to me." Sinestro declared, "First you, then this rabble you've collected, and then Stewart will fall. I'll do the same to every Green Lantern until Hal Jordan dies and even the Guardians of the Universe perish at my hand. The Yellow Lanterns will reign supreme."
"You're delusional. You'll never…oh!" Katma was momentarily distracted by what was transpiring between Stewart and Star Sapphire.
Sinestro created an amber pair of vise grips around Katma. He immediately began cranking them closed. Katma threw all of her concentration into her personal forcefield but the pressure was still crushing her. Any attempt to divert any attention to an attack would result in her death.
Star Sapphire had narrowed her attack to a single energy beam directed directly at Stewart. He'd erected a shield and was struggling to maintain it. Star Sapphire's intense furor was beyond anything that she'd displayed before. She'd been larcenous, amorous, and cruel before; never homicidal. This new side to her had taken him by surprise and it was costing him now.
"Don't you think you should think about this?" Stewart asked, "Do you really want to kill me? How will that get you closer to Jordan?"
Carol Ferris had first been possessed by the Star Sapphire when Hal Jordan had been the sole GL on Earth. With the jewel or without, both Ferris and Star Sapphire were consumed with the man. Jordan worked for Ferris's company and she knew him in his civilian guise. Star Sapphire was obsessed with his Green Lantern persona.
After Jordan accepted the role of General and Champion of the Green Lantern Corps it seemed Star Sapphire's fixation had ended. By now Carol Ferris knew Hal Jordan was "the" Green Lantern. Star Sapphire wasn't interested in his replacement. John Stewart had been spared that ignominy.
While Stewart served as Jordan's personal agent, Abin Sur covered the sector. He allowed Earth's heroes to fend for themselves. This ended when Sinestro killed him and his power ring chose Kyle Raynor as its wielder.
Star Sapphire remained largely inconspicuous during Raynor's tenure as the sole GL on Earth. When Stewart returned and sent Kyle to Katma for training, Star Sapphire emerged from the shadows of simple burglaries to facing Earth's titans again, particularly Stewart.
She seemed motivated by cash now. Which was ludicrous. Carol Ferris was a billionaire in her own right yet Star Sapphire insisted on performing larcenous acts. Earth's Green Lantern Corps, once it was assembled, had discussed that fact.
It was Kyle Raynor that proposed the theory that Star Sapphire was still seeking Hal Jordan's attention. Her criminal actions were a desperate cry for love. She'd get that attention anyway that she could, even through negative attention seeking. A reprimand was better than being ignored. If this theory rang true then getting her to refocus on Jordan could be the key to stopping her.
"It's your fault." Star Sapphire accused, "If you hadn't accepted that cursed ring Hal Jordan would still be here and we'd be happy."
Stewart was stunned. The Star Sapphire entity had never pluralized the gestalt formed by it and Ferris. It lent credence to Carol's insistence that she wasn't in control of Star Sapphire. Unfortunately for him, this admission distracted him and his shield failed. Her energy beam shattered it and struck him. He cried out in pain.
Arkus awoke to Kyle shaking him, "Get up fur face. Our fellow GLs are in trouble and we've got to do something about it."
"Have they launched another missile?" Arkus asked with alarm.
"I don't know." Kyle admitted, "I just woke up myself. I thought I should wake you while I had an opportunity."
"Good thinking." Arkus commended him, "We'd best return to the fight."
"Good." Kyle growled, "Sinestro owes me."
"Then let's get you back there so you can exact retribution." Arkus said and they leapt into the air.