Alright, and now we shall be begin the next chapter right from where we left off. Well, not exactly, there is another scene that happens which will become important here, but trust me, things are going to be interesting. Anyway, let's just dive in.
Disclaimer: I do not own, Halo, Star Wars, blah, blah, blah, you all know the drill.
The space battle that raged above Vardos was not going well for the Shadow Collective and the Banished. They had been hiding just outside the system when their leaders sent a distress call, and jumped into orbit immediately.
Once they got there, the two criminal factions were ambushed by a large amount of First Order ships, with more Star Destroyers than either side had believed they had. To make matters worse, their weapons were much more powerful than they had been before, destroying a number of criminal capital ships in a matter of minutes.
But then something even more unusual happened: several of the Star Destroyers suddenly went dark, as a blue and red blur shot through them, two red beams tearing up the engines of one before tanking the barrage of missiles like it was nothing.
Superman wasn't the only hero present, as Captain Atom also began tearing through multiple warships, alongside Icon, the Martian Manhunter and Rocket. The criminal organizations were hoping to capitalize on that, but the heroes were more than willing to turn against them, going the extra distance to actually disable the ships with minimal loss of life instead of destroying them outright.
Unfortunately, the First Order upgrades obtained from Luthor had included some more esoteric weaponry, as Superman first learned the hard way when a turret spun towards him and started firing red energy beams.
He was forced to retreat as the red sun energy began taking its toll. Similarly powerful weapons were turned on the heroes as the First Order made their displeasure with the Justice League clear.
Through all the chaos of the battle, no one noticed as a unknown ship appeared from interdimensional space. It was a relatively small transport, rather nimble for its size as the ship weaved through the chaos of the battle almost effortlessly.
Plotting a course for Vardos' capital building, the ship began making its descent.
...
The fighting throughout the building was was getting both more and less chaotic. While most of the Stormtroopers had already been dealt with, Luthor and the Brain were putting up a surprisingly good fight against the heroes.
The battle suit the businessman was wearing had been designed with fighting Superman in mind, which was more than sufficient to deal with the current team present. The Brain was no slouch either, unleashing a massive array of weaponry and keeping the weaker heroes off balance.
But for Darth Maul, that whole battle was barely worth the recognition. Instead, he Atriox and Vestara Khai had been caught up in a fight against the much more powerful Supreme Leader Snoke. It was only after Vestara and Atriox were knocked out of the fight that Maul learned just why Snoke was so powerful.
"Master?!"
A distinct cackle emanated from Snoke's mouth, the voice still his, but the tone and inflections very clearly those of Darth Sidious, the Emperor of the Galactic Empire and the single greatest Sith Lord the galaxy had ever known.
"Good, good. You do remember." Snoke, no, Palpatine gripped Maul with the Force and pinned him to the wall, unleashing powerful strikes of Force Lightning against the lesser Sith Lord. "And this, this has been long overdue."
Maul screamed in agony, and fell to the floor, his body still sparking. But despite the pain and choked breathing, a noise emanated from the young Sith Lord that Sidious wasn't expecting. Wheezing laughter mixed with coughing emerged from Maul as he struggled to his knees.
"You think-you think I fear you anymore?" Maul coughed. "I have faced enemies that would make you beg for mercy. I have adapted and grown, while you? You are just a relic from a bygone era. You are nothing, Sidious. You are nothing more than a patch of darkness struggling against the light."
Sidious's sadistic smile vanished and Palpatine simply let loose with Force Lightning, aiming to make his former apprentice suffer. But he realized too late that he had made a mistake, and barely had enough time to avoid Atriox slamming Chainbreaker down on him.
The shockwave sent him flying, and flipped in mid-air to land on his feet, before sliding underneath the waiting lightsaber blade of Vestara Khai. Palpatine overwhelmed her with a flurry of strikes, then blocked the lightning sent by his apprentice.
...
Their battle continued inside, while outside, the First Order forces were still overwhelming the Shadow Collective and Banished troopers with the arsenal they now possessed. But the tide of the battle was about to turn once more, as a ship rocketed down through the atmosphere.
A number of units spotted it, and several First Order AT-STs turned their attention to it, with blasterfire streaking through the sky and impacting against the ship's shields. But the vessel had been clearly upgraded, allowing it to land safely in spite of the fire.
Several First Order soldiers moved in just as the landing ramp lowered, letting loose with blasterfire as a figure walked out. But the energy bolts vanished before they could even touch the figure.
A strange spinner-projectile struck them all, seemingly leaving them no worse for wear. Unfortunately, their perception of time had been reversed by a few seconds, and they only learned this too late when their lives sped up thousands of years and they aged into dust.
The Shadowed One followed behind Voporak, alongside Sentrakh and more of his Dark Hunters, smirking all the while. Conflict raged around them, causing chaos, destruction and leaving so many dead on the ground.
The Dark Hunters were right at home in such a conflict.
"You all know your assigned roles." The Shadowed One said. "We're here to for one objective. Once we have it, we are leaving." The leader of the Dark Hunters turned to Voporak. "Clear a path."
The altered Steltian did as ordered and casually walked through the city, demolishing buildings, structures and soldiers with every step he took. A single massive AT-AT stood in his way, but even it could not stop the rise of the Dark Hunters.
The walker collapsed as Voporak walked between its legs, with the other Dark Hunters more than willing to take care of the survivors. Soon, their target was in sight, as the battle continued to rage on between the criminals and the former PMC.
But the tide shifted as the Dark Hunters began slaughtering their way through the First Order, their esoteric abilities taking the First Order by surprise. Savage's Rhotuka paralyzed a Dark Trooper, leaving it open to being liquefied by his Tri-Claw.
Lurker mercilessly carved his way through the Stormtrooper ranks, alongside Gatherer. Firedracax unleashed his own Rhotuka, burning through a dozen Stormtroopers, while Kraata-Kal added its own fire and Shadow powers to that effect.
Prototype absorbed several rockets without a scratch, before burying the attackers who had done so underground. And all the while the Shadow Collective and Banished forces were stunned at the proceedings.
"Who-who are you?" One Mandalorian asked, his weapons aimed at them.
"For the moment, we are allies." The Shadowed One's eyes narrowed. "Though that may change if you shoot me." Reluctantly, the Death Watch commando lowered his weapon. "That's better. Now, where are your leaders?"
"They're in there." One Brute pointed to the capital building. "We've been trying to get in, but the First Order have blocked our path."
"Not anymore." The Shadowed One turned to two of his Dark Hunters. "Charger, Gladiator, open a path inside."
With their affirmations, the two Hunters nodded and charged the door, heedless of the people caught in their path. Battering aside the Stormtroopers and commandos protecting the building, they broke their way in.
The battle against Luthor and the Brain was not going as well as the Team had hoped. Lex's armor and the Brain's weapons were putting up a hell of a fight, having already knocked Impulse out while the Brain was keeping Blue Beetle restrained in some sort of energy cage.
Connor was just getting back up after being struck by another kryptonite blast when he heard something outside. The wall collapsed behind Superboy, the force of the blow sending him flying. A biomechanical being entered, almost looking like a bull in some ways.
Another being entered, its body covered in razor sharp claws. Together, both looked more than capable of and willing to level the whole building. M'gann wasted no time however, and telekinetically launched them aside, throwing one of them at Luthor.
The victory was short-lived as a spinner struck her, leaving the Martian shrouded in darkness and struggling to escape. Sentrakh emerged from the hole and launched another Rhotuka spinner at Nightwing, who leapt aside and narrowly avoided being turned to sand by the spinner, which struck a section of the nearest wall.
The Brain responded by firing a laser beam at Sentrakh, forcing him to back up. But the Shadowed One emerged and immediately put a stop to that, using his staff to trap the cyborg supervillain in a mound of crystalline protodermis. With him contained, the Shadowed One looked over the Team.
"These are the best operatives of the Republic?" The Dark Hunter leader snorted. "Children?"
"The Shadowed One, I assume?" Aqualad raised his water bearers. "Leader of the Dark Hunters. You're a wanted criminal as well."
"Then you have two options now, don't you." The Shadowed One smirked. "Take me in, or lose the ones you actually came here for."
That was the moment Lex freed himself and blasted Gladiator aside, before unleashing more energy blasts against the heroes. With their distraction returned, the Shadowed One turned to the balconies, where another battle was raging.
...
Outside, Voporak continued his role as a walking wasteland through the First Order lines, proving once more just how dangerous he was. It was why the Republic had kept him in such a secure cell, suspended in the air by gravity generators to keep his temporal field from allowing him to break free. It had taken the former Supreme Commander to imprison him the first time, and the First Order soldiers were learning that lesson the hard way.
Everything in his way simply crumbled and fell, thousands of years catching up to them in an instant. One Phase I Dark Trooper moved in to strike, but it even the semi-indestructible machine couldn't withstand the concentrated ravages of time, and fell apart almost instantly.
As he kept moving outside the building, another explosion expelled several humanoid individuals, most of them the colorful heroes from that one Earth. One of the individuals was the Brain, who immediately unleashed energy beams upon seeing him.
The beams dissipated before they could even touch Voporak. Most of the other heroes attempted the same, but it was an exercise in futility. Explosives, projectiles, arrows and batarangs, all of them simply turned to dust before they could strike the former Steltian.
So unlike most of the First Order soldiers, they did the smart thing and retreated, knowing that nothing in their arsenals would have a chance at even scratching him. This allowed the Dark Hunter continued onward to his major destination.
He headed to the First Order shuttle, where Snoke's personal Dark Trooper was waiting. The Shadowed One had suggested grounding the Supreme Leader here on the off-chance that he ended up escaping the Shadowed One's ambush, and that's what Voporak intended to do.
Voporak approached the Phase III Dark Trooper, which unleashed its entire arsenal against him. Unsurprisingly, it made no difference whatsoever, and the droid slowly backed away as his approach became inevitable.
Suddenly, one of the super heroes landed in front of him, Superboy to be precise, dazed from being struck by a kryptonite blast. Miss Martian flew out and saw what was happening, and in an instant, she unleashed a powerful mental attack at the Dark Hunter.
Voporak briefly clutched his head, but overpowered her efforts as best as he could when suddenly the air left his lungs: he couldn't breathe. Between the lack of oxygen and the Martian's mental attack, Voporak collapsed, the last thing he saw was M'gann telekinetically tossing the Dark Trooper aside before moving to Superboy.
...
As M'gann flew towards Superboy's groaning body, she briefly felt a presence poke at her mind. It wasn't actively trying to break in, rather it was a brief psychic probe. But it was gone as quickly as it came, and she was much more focused on keeping Connor away from the temporal Dark Hunter.
Are you alright?
I'll be fine, but man, Kryptonite still hurts.
Uh guys, we could use your help! Nightwing's thoughts became 'vocal' over the mental link. I think we might have a way to shut Luthor's suit down, but we have to work fast.
I can do fast. Impulse interjected.
What does this plan need?
Everyone of us. Aqualad answered. We are not letting these two get away again.
What about the Dark Hunters? Blue Beetle asked.
For now, they're a secondary concern. Nightwing thought. I just got a report from the League; the First Order's already armed their ships with weapons that can hurt them. We can't let them get any more.
Acknowledged, we're on our way.
...
Superboy and Miss Martian flew and leapt back into the building, just as the Phase III Dark Trooper recovered. The machine rose to its feet, looking over Voporak with its red eyes. It didn't attack the seemingly vulnerable Dark Hunter, and instead launched itself away with its jump pack.
The movement drew the eyes of several of the Dark Hunters, some of whom began moving towards Voporak. Meanwhile, several Stormtroopers were close and attempted to capitalize on this seeming advantage, but found the hard way that the temporal field was still active, even while Voporak was unconscious.
And all the while, the battle continued on.
Palpatine now had his targets beaten and battered when a warning called out to him in the Force. He was able to bring a piece of debris up just in time to block a pair of eyebeams, which disintegrated the debris.
The figure who attacked him leapt down from his perch, revealing a biomechanical creature of mostly black and yellow, with a pair of red eyes glaring at him. There was a brief pause in their battle as Vestara asked the obvious question.
"Who are you?"
"For the moment, little one, I am your ally." The being said. "And I believe it's time to leave."
"You are not going anywhere." Palpatine snarled and lunged for the Dark Hunter, only to be struck by a spinner, causing him to become intangible and fall through the floor.
He fell past the fight between the heroes and Luthor, just as the former had finally dismantled the armor of the latter and completely disarmed the Brain. He solidified once more as Sentrakh's Rhotuka wore off, gracefully landing on the ground floor. But that brief moment left him vulnerable to the Shadowed One's own Rhotuka.
The spinner struck Snoke's body head on, the madness spinner taking its toll already. Unfortunately, this just meant Palpatine's powers went wildly out of control, causing structural damage to the building.
"I believe it's time to leave." Maul murmured, as Atriox and Vestara nodded.
The Shadowed One was quick to order his own forces to do the same, with Charger, Gladiator and Sentrakh clearing another path through the now ravaged battlefield. Voporak was following as well, noticeably staggering from what seemed like confusion or drowsiness.
Nevertheless, the disorganized retreat went as well as could be expected for the Dark Hunters, with almost no casualties on their end as they fell back to the ship that brought them there.
They stayed long enough to cover the retreat of the Shadow Collective and Banished survivors, tracking the courses of both factions as they launched their vessels and fled into the battle above that now winding down.
The Dark Hunters soon followed, their ship rocketing into space, as what was left of the Shadow Collective and Banished forces fled from the battle. The League and Team had also retreated with their prizes in tow, leaving the First Order to clean up the mess.
And that's the end of this chapter. Honestly, I had quite a bit of fun with this one, especially considering everything that was going on. Still, I did kinda run out of steam near the end there, which is why the ending was a little rushed. Sorry about that.
Anyway, certain things will be happening in the next chapter, but I can't say what they are quite yet. However, it's likely that this particular story will soon draw to a close, as I kinda need a break from this. It's not happening yet, but it will be within the next few chapters.
With that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.