Nightwing stepped into the throng of people. There were more students than Thanagarians especially given that most of the latter had taken to the air, but with the panic that was spreading it was almost worse. A step behind him Red Arrow was sending shaft after shaft towards the ceiling, but Nightwing couldn't split his focus enough to see if he was doing any damage.
"Stay Calm. We're here to help you." as Nightwing shouted one of the hawks fell out of the sky. "Stay calm and move toward the walls." he added pushing forward against the tide that had dived away from the spot of the fallen. No one was hurt though one boy, maybe fourteen years old, was shaking as a shield charm crumbled from his wrist.
Nightwing checked the kid over and pulled him to his feet. By that point the general crowd had noticed the large arching doors leading into the rest of the house of mystery, and were swarming them.
Red Arrow was the only force attacking the hawks, and it hadn't taken long for them to notice. A group of them was mobbing him barely being held off by his array of trick arrows. That left the rest of them free to mob the crowd.
Screams echoed as they lashed down with lances and whips. People fell to their knees, flinging themselves down in an attempt to escape. Nightwing pushed the kid behind him and sent a pair of birdarangs flying. He was still screaming at the crowd, trying to give orders that no one could hear. Another hawk fell, lashing out as its wing was hit. It landed in the crowd and this time they weren't so lucky. There were screams, and the flow of the crowd changed again as desperate people tried to flee.
A red blur was suddenly flickering through the crowd. Nightwing had a brief moment to think "Wally?" before he was distracted by the curtain of people in the doorway going limp and falling to the floor. Another birdarang was in his hand before he could even see a target. Then a cloud of sparkling dust filtered in surrounding a figure in a tight brown uniform and a gas mask. He threw His strike was perfectly on target but at the last minute a man in a gold and black hood and cape placed himself in front of the shot, knocking it aside. A second blur, this one red and blue, flickered into the room and stopped beside him.
"Hey ease up, we're on your side." Jesse quick said before she once more blurred into motion.
It only took that for Nightwing to connect the dots. Jesse Quick AKA Liberty Bell, her boyfriend Rick AKA Hourman, Sandman. They were all Ex-Heroes who had been captured at Wally's Party.
Nightwing turned back to Red Arrow about to assist but Jesse was already on it, retrieving his arrows and using her speed to create updrafts that the thanagarians didn't know how to handle.
With the added help it was a simple matter to wrap up the rest of the fight. Sandman had merely put the crowd to sleep, so there was no danger on that front.
Jay Garrick Slid to a stop by their group a minute or so after they managed to wrap things up. "Everything sorted here?"
Nightwing nodded. "Yeah, thanks for the assist."
Jay tipped back his silver mercury style helmet. "No trouble son. Wildcat and Green Lantern should be just finishing up with the other group. Now I don't suppose any of you know what's happening? The last thing I remember it was a summer afternoon and I was about to ask Wally for another burger."
Jesse and Rick nodded their agreement.
Nightwing looked down at Red Arrow who was tending to the still unconscious Zatanna. "That's a little harder to explain. Better hook up with anyone else before we go into it. There's a lot to tell."
Wally hated aerial fights. He wasn't afraid of heights and he certainly knew more about aerodynamics than most, but it wasn't like he had wings. Interesting fact, there was no way to change your velocity in the air without wings.
So he was stuck on the ground while everyone else duked it out. Oh sure he did his part. There wasn't a single civilian left in this part of the city and everyone who fell out of the sky, friend and foe alike found themselves safely on the ground. Sure some of them ended up in handcuffs but at least they weren't falling to their deaths.
He caught rubble, stabilized buildings where he could, and above all he watched the sky.
Moving at superspeed gave Flash a unique perspective. He could see every attack as it happened, every wave, offensive and defensive. He wasn't a tactical genius, not like Batman or Nightwing, but he had an advantage the others didn't. With his speed he could take as much time as he could ever want to piece together strategies and predict the outcome of different tactics. Most people wouldn't have time to think in a fight like this, Flash did.
Flash watched as Stargirl fought her way up through the sky. She had talent, even if she didn't have much experience. if they all made it out of this he promised himself, he'd make sure she got all the help she needed to become one of the greats.
Most of the others were doing well. Static's trio had clearly worked together before, possibly against similar odds, though when that might have been, Flash couldn't guess. Captain Atom and Green Lantern were taking the brunt of the strike. They both had military training and similar weapons at their disposal. They were able to watch each other's backs without having to really think about it.
It was the others who were faltering. Vixen had been injured, blood running down her right arm even as she refused to give in. Unlike the others she was fighting alone surrounded by hawks and barely holding her own.
Then there was the Ray. When bouncing around as a beam of light he was nearly impossible to hit, but he also couldn't do any damage of his own. He had managed to knock out a good portion of their communications but he had to slow down to act and when he did, he was vulnerable. Add in the fact that he was nearly as untrained and untested as Stargirl, and fighting on his own. Unless he got some backup he was going to slip up sooner or later and it would put him out of the game. Unfortunately Flash was about the only one on the field who could keep up with him.
Mr Miracle had joined the fight but he was an escape artist not a brawler. Fire was holding her own but the hawk's energy weapons seemed to be doing more damage than she could easily shake off. None of them were coping well with the numbers they were fighting. Apart from Green Lantern none of them had the kind of experience they needed to survive this kind of fight.
Flash desperately hopes Batman's plans would be able to turn the tide here because they needed something to give them an advantage before it was too late.
Then a Lucky shot too Captain Atom out of the fight. One of the Hawks managed to slip in close enough to cut a stripe in his containment suit. On anyone else it would have been nothing, just a scrape, but Captain Atom was living energy, a nuclear explosion in a bottle. when his suit was torn open the temperature in the air above the battlefield went up by at least five degrees. The shockwave alone sent half the fighters on the field staggering back and trying to stay in the air.
Captain Atom didn't hesitate. He shot skyward, entering the atmosphere where the nuclear energy would do less damage. Even at that distance the explosion, when it came was enough to rock Flash back on his heels.
It was a turning point.
Green Lantern was forced to go on the defensive with Captain Atom to watch his back, and without the two of them working to draw the enemy's main fire, more pressure was put on everyone else.
Vixen was the next to fall. She was double teamed by three hawks that came at her all at once, and while she managed to take down the first of them the second caught her off guard. She lashed out and managed to make him retreat only for the third to grab her from behind. Half the battlefield heard her yell. "Elephant." and saw them plummet towards the ground.
Flash was immediately there beneath them, for what little good it would do. As long as Vixen was conscious her powers would stay active. They hit the ground together and neither would have survived it if Flash hadn't grabbed them and got them to the medics seconds later. The hawk was likely beyond help but Flash could at least hope for Vixen.
Flash didn't see Ray go down, but he heard the screech of feedback and was immediately searching for a falling form.
A flash of green caught his attention instead. The Lantern was doing the impossible, driving his way towards the main Thanagarian vessel, without backup or strategy. His ring drove a hole in their defenses, cutting down the streams of fighters they threw at him. even when one of them managed to get close, he brushed off their attacks and his own injuries as if this was no harder or more stressful than his daily workout.
His constructs appeared and vanished in flashes of green light, men and beasts and weapons, each a perfect reflection of his will to win. His precision was incredible. Each attack a string of tiny movements, the absolute maximum effect for minimal effort.
That was When Flash realized the truth.
The haunting echo of an unearthly voice filtering through the battlefield cacophony.
WARNING. POWER LEVELS APPROACHING ZERO.
"No." Flash whispered and grabbed at his speed. He raced for the high ground trying to get as close as he could, see as much as possible.
Stargirl was faltering, she had fallen back caught by Supergirl, and was now helping Static's group fight off the overwhelming opponents, still looking for an opening to get to Green Lantern. She waved a hand in his direction as she spoke to Supergirl.
Green Lantern just kept going, pressing forward, until by chance or fate he got a clear shot at the distantly floating command ship. The beam was white hot and thin as a pencil, condensing the power of a star into a single green beam.
The command ship rippled, folding in on itself then exploded, fragmenting into chunks.
WARNING POWER LEVELS 04%
Green Lantern took a breath, ready to rally his people in the shocked aftermath, and the strike fell.
GREEN LANTERN OF SECTOR 2814 DECEASED.
SCANNING SECTOR FOR SUITABLE REPLACEMENT.
The lifeless form of John Stuart was momentarily caught in a bubble of green energy, before a shard separated itself. The ring hovered over his form for a fragment of time that no one but Flash would have been able to measure. Then it streaked west. Flash put any rational thought on hold and chased after it.
The four heroes remaining on the battlefield watched their leader fall. Behind him the single largest ship in the armada cracked like an egg.
"Slag." Static muttered under his breath and Stargirl whimpered in agreement. The ring glittered for a moment then vanished like the flare of a shooting star.
Stargirl's hands were white on her staff, and she was finding it hard to breath. The order, when it came, was welcome. Anything to avoid thinking about what had just happened.
"Cover me." Supergirl called, and in a blur of her blue cape she was diving down to catch John Stuart's limp form from the air. As she pulled up the first of the hawks started rallying, attacking her while she was still on her own.
Stargirl fired off a pair of bolts, as Static, beside her unleashed his lightning on them.
Supergirl dodged around the stunned hawks coming up beside Shining Knight and laying John Stuart's body across his saddle.
"Is he?"
"He doesn't have a pulse, but we're not just going to let him fall." Supergirl cut across the question, taking charge. "Defensive formation. We're going to make a fighting retreat, and regroup with, with the other heroes, whoever's left." She made sure his form wasn't going to slip off, and then turned back to the enemy.
They had been surrounded, ranks of Thanagarians, hovering above and around them, forcing them down, with battering wings and taunting strikes. Stargirl tried to fend them off with her starbolts and her staff. Static threw out wide strikes that forced back whole flights of the enemy. Supergirl was everywhere pushing herself faster, until her movements were a blur. It made her a target. Even with her enhanced strength and speed she simply couldn't' throw them all off, and unlike the others, she couldn't stick to long distance.
They were forced lower and lower, until Shining Knight had his horse land on an open stretch of pavement between a set of destroyed buildings. Static was beside him in a moment, nearly falling to his knees as he stepped off his flying disk. His blasts were getting smaller and farther between as he slowly ran out of power. Stargirl floated down beside him her staff held defensively. Her weapon was starting to spark at odd times and if she hadn't been wearing gloves she might have dropped it more than once.
None of them said anything, none of them panicked or tried to run, but each of them knew the already slim odds were fading to zero.
Then a shrill whistle cut through the beating of wings and clash of weaponry. As one the hawks pulled back disengaging to form a perimeter around the last of the heroes. Slowly they parted to reveal two winged figures, a man and woman each with the plumed helmets that marked their rank.
"Traitorous witch." Shining Knight snarled, and a moment later the others caught his meaning. The woman, though her red hair was covered and her body was now grafted into Nth metal armor that covered her chest, shoulders and upper arms, was Shayera Hol, Hawkgirl. She looked to the man beside her, deferring to her superior. Seemingly completely indifferent to the plight of the heroes.
"I am Commander H'row Tallok of the Thanagarian Armada. I hereby claim you as prisoners of war, surrender yourselves or be killed here and now, the honor of your names forfeit and forgotten."
Static started to open his mouth, a quick comeback on his lips, but Supergirl grabbed his arm. She looked at Shining Knight, a silent agreement passing between them.
"Alright." Supergirl's voice wasn't loud but it never the less seemed to echo over the battlefield. "We're done. You win."
Let's all have a moment of silence for the brave and honorable Green Lantern, John Stuart.
…
Thank you. I would like it noted, that yes, I did plan this from the beginning. John was an interesting character to write, but like the rest of the Lords, his time is done.
Please don't kill me….
...
I believe it was Lanelle that suggested this chapter be posted as a holiday present.
…
Considering the type of chapter this is and how it ends, how about I give you another preset to counteract it.
My birthday is on the 28th, and that is when I'll be posting the next chapter.
As always I would like to remind people to review. This has been a monster of a story, and even now that I can see the end it hasn't become any easier to write. Wrapping things up in a satisfyingly climactic way is never easy. Your kind words do wonders. I have gone out of my way to fill plot holes pointed out in comments on past chapters and don't want to leave any loose strings now.
Happy holiday season everyone.