-Chapter Thirty-Four-

Missile Launch

Superman dropped to his knees as Batman released him from the shackles, shutting off the red light above him switching off. He could feel his skin bubbling around him as though every cell his body was slowly slithering back into place. He had felt so weak under that light as though every cell in his body working like a snail, now he was starting to feel back to normal as though his cells were slowly quickening its pace, getting back to normal.

"Batman?" Superman groaned looking up at Batman as he helped him up. He had heard rumours of him, many thought of him as a ghost, a monster, a giant bat, but he was neither cowardly or superstitious knowing full well that he was a man in a suit, but a man on a mission and a man who could do good, no matter how much he may not approve of his methods. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a feeling you were here," Batman growled, "despite what Watch Tower argued otherwise."

"Watch Tower?" Superman replied confused his head dazed, realisation suddenly dawning on him, "Chloe? So she did track you down?"

"No, I tracked her down," Batman corrected, "I'd tracking an organisation forming..."

"Twilight," Superman nodded knowingly, a thought suddenly dawning him, "Buffy! Is she..."

"She's in danger," Angel said urgently, "we have to go."

Superman turned to Angel curiously, unsure of who he was, glancing down at the clothes, his eyes widening with anger at the sight of the uniform exploding at Angel, his speed returning as well as his strength as he slammed him against the wall.

"TWILIGHT!" Superman barked furiously, his whole face turning red with anger as well as his eyes. "What have you done?"

"No, Superman, he's on our side," Batman said placing a hand on his shoulder pulling him back slightly.

"He's a part of this!" Superman snapped looking at Batman incredulously as he held Angel against the wall. "He's in charge of everything! Because of him girls died!"

"I know," Batman snarled glaring at Angel, "but whatever the evidence. He does has a soul, so you can't kill him," he noted giving Superman a knowing look.

"Y-you're Angel?" Superman stuttered disbelievingly turning wide-eyed at Angel who nodded softly, "How? Why?"

"You know what Buffy did," Angel snapped knocking Supes' hand away, he bowed his head with disappointment as he remembered Lex taking great delight in telling him of Buffy's criminal act. He was disappointed, but then when Lex had told him, he had gotten over that revelation; he had known for months. He had wondered how Buffy could afford all this and had put two and two together through much investigative reporting. At first he had been angry, disappointed, how could he let this pass? Despite how he loved her, could he love a criminal? But then that charity he had mentioned to the Department of Domestic Security was true, he had found that Buffy had used this charity to help victims of vampire activities and also to repay all the people she had stolen from. She wasn't a criminal. She was just desperate, but despite all that she never became one of them, he could see it in her eyes whenever he mentioned where the money came from; not greed, but shame. "Everyone was after her. All of them. Everyone who saw her as a threat."

"Power Brokers, politicians, criminals, black ops mercenaries," Batman said as he looked over computer system, "even the League of Shadows is involved."

"What?" both Angel and Superman cried.

"Don't worry I dealt with them," Batman replied as he pulled out a disc, "I've been tracking the organisation for months as well as Luthor's involvement. You underestimated him," he added to Angel.

"He's been making waves for the past few months," Angel snarled angrily glaring at Superman, "ever since you made your big show."

"So, you put every threat to Buffy under your control?" Superman said ignoring Angel's glare, "but why attack Buffy?"

"I had a warning," Angel said solemnly, "of something coming. Something bad. Something apocalyptic. I had to keep her focused on a concrete threat to keep her ready for when this threat comes."

"Well, a threat about to hit right now," Batman said turning away from the computer, "Luthor's got a missile heading their way."

"WHAT?" Superman and Angel cried in horror.

It shot through the sky, thundering through the air like a bullet, long and sleek with an almighty fiery jet behind it propelling it across America blasting through the Virginian plains making its way towards the Atlantic Ocean, exploding across the ocean water.

"Giles, look out!" Willow cried over the sound of metal swords clanging and cries of battle and bloodshed, her eyes darting to Giles as a huge goliath demon, a huge orange ox-like creature, stormed towards him. Giles turned blood dripping from his head as the battle took its toll, the Goliath demon crashing past the slayers and demons as if they were nothing. Girls screamed as it backhanded them with contempt and hatred. Giles looked up in horror as the Goliath leapt in to the air holding its large axe over its head ready to strike. Willow gasped as she knew she wasn't going to make it.

"Nomed htailog knirhs!" a voice echoed overhead a yellow glow emitting around the Goliath demon, its eyes widening with confusion as strange sensation occurred before pop! It appeared in mid-air, shrunken, three inches small and dropping to the ground with a thud.

"Are you alright?" Willow asked as Giles stumbled backwards, Willow catching him slightly as his mind went faint with relief. "I'm getting to old for this," Giles groaned the Goliath demon nipped at his heels with a toy sided axe. Giles kicked it away with annoyance as he got to his feet.

"Don't thank me all at once," came a voice behind them, Willow and Giles turning to see Zatanna dropping to the ground tipping her hat to Giles as a demon leapt at her colliding into the hat, shrinking with every millimetre it came nearer to it disappearing with a poof within it, "always happy to the save the day."

"Z, good to see ya," Willow grinned hugging Zatanna.

"Ahem, could we stay focused please?" Giles asked he cut down a vampire which exploded into dust.

"We're getting majorly slaughtered here Giles! We need reinforcements!" Willow cried as she blasted two Hornak demons away, slamming them into a tree.

"My teams here," Zatanna cried as she turned a group of vamps in a flock of birds five green arrows shooting the next flank of vamps behind them turning the to dust with contact slicing through them and into the next set. "And boy we have got the magic with us."

"We're going to need a lot more than guys with arrows if Supes as gone evilly on us," Willow cried as she flicked her wrist knocking a vampire away crashing into another Goliath demon across the way.

"We got a girl who screams loud, a guy who runs fast and a cyborg," Zatanna argued jokily as she cast spells at advancing demons, "what more do you want?"

"Amazons," Willow replied mischievously as she blasted a demon away as it swung at a stunned Zatanna, who jumped unaware of her near miss, "get me to the command centre. I gotta send an SOS."

Buffy dived out of the way, rolling back to her feet as she dodged a punch from Kal, Black Canary leaping at him kicking him in the face and throwing in another kick to kick off from him knocking him back, slightly. Cyborg leapt into the air and sending an earth shattering punch to the top of Kal's head knocking him down as he kicks at his chin slamming him up into the roof.

"Get the ring," Buffy cried as Kal fell to the ground.

"What ring?" Cyborg replied looking at Kal's hand confused.

"H-he should be wearing a ring?" Buffy cried looking at his hands in shock, "P-Diddy rip off ring! Red!"

"Black Kryptonite," Kal sneered as he got to his feet with a groan, stretching as he shrugged off their last punches. They were good, the Canary had skills and she used them to leave him open. He knew why he liked Buffy, she was feisty, for a human. Maybe one day she could be a match to him, "splits a Kryptonian in two... the good and the bad, and trust me, it's gonna get pretty ugly."

"Oh I can tell you're not Clark," Buffy groaned with disgust, "Clark isn't that lame."

"Oh, but he is," Kal sneered, "he lives on this planet and instead of ruling them he saves them, and cares of them, like pets. In short, I rule!"

"No offence dude," Cyborg cried flicking his wrist his cyber-cannon flicking into action, "but we rule!"

BOOM!

Superman rocketed across the Atlantic ocean, Angel tailing behind, a blast of wind engulfing them as they shot through the air like the rocket they were chasing. He glanced back to see a black dot that could only be the Batwing a few hundred miles away from them as they broke through the laws of gravity. Their eyes targeting the missile flying miles ahead of them. Superman kicked off from the air propelling himself further.

But not enough.

Dawn and Xander ran through the battlefield cutting through the vamps and demons that got in the way, dodging the exploding debris that fell as the catapults fired wildly. Dawn screamed as the castle wall exploded debris falling down towards her.

"DAWN!" Xander cried as he ran back for her, a red blur spun around her like a tornado engulfing her as the debris fell slowing them down as they came closer to the hurricane. Xander watched in awe as it, broke apart the debris as a high-pitched hum echoed as the tornado picked up speed.

"Whoa I'm good," Flash said the tornado disappearing to reveal an unharmed Dawn stood in the middle of dust as he lay his hand on her horse back, "saved in a..." he threw his arm back at such speed it looked like he hadn't moved at all, two demons flying backwards from the aftershock, "flash," he ended smugly.

"Y-you're the Flash," Xander stuttered in awe.

Flash zoomed at Xander grabbing a vamp about to attack him spinning on the spot and flinging him away. "Always nice to meet a fan," Flash chuckled. "But come on, time for the hero battle win."

"Girls! Let's end this!" Xander cried leaping into the air and hacking down on a vampire cutting it before it bit down on one of the younger girls. He pulled her aside, "come with me, you want to live."

"Oh you've totally been waiting to say that line," Dawn groaned as she threw a spear from the ground at a demon impaling, not one but three at a time.

"It's a total hero quote classic," Xander shrugged defensively as he staked a vampire.

"Xander, we gotta get these girls out of here!" Dawn cried as she saved another of the younger girls from being bitten.

"Flash, sir! I mean... save the girls," Xander stuttered a little awe shock.

"It's just Flash dude and it will be my honour," Flash cried zipping away taking the two girls with him and zipping in and out of the battle grabbing every girl and taking them away from the battle.

"Flash sir?" Dawn chuckled, "god you're worse than Andrew."

"Where is our Geeky cousin?" Xander asked as he cut down another vamp ignoring Dawn's jibe.

"SUUUUUUPPPPEEERRRR-MAAAAANNNN!" Shrieked Andrew from over head as he flew through the air, obviously thrown by one of his Slayers, in what could only be described as an Superman suit he made himself from blue onesy pyjamas, which he sprayed an S on and a torn red curtain from the castle. He flew through the air with a sword landing on a horned demon and stabbing it through the chest with a loud squeal, from Andrew.

"And Clark said his costume wasn't lame," Xander said stunned.

"Well, at least his mom put some effort in making it look less lame," Dawn cried as they watched Andrew doing heroic poses whilst fighting a Halok demon.

Alarms screamed through Watch Tower as the monitors flashed red. Chloe looked in horror as a red dot shot across the monitors. "My god," Chloe gasped. "Oliver! Oliver! Do you read me? Red alert!"

Green Arrow fired two arrows down on the demons taking out two of vampires as the demon he aimed for ducked.

"You missed," Faith said as she fired an arrow with her crossbow, "I hope you have better aim than that, G."

"Trust me," Green Arrow said pulling out five arrows and placing them on his bow, "when I say," he fired hitting five demons all five feet apart from each other. "I have good aim."

"We'll have to test your aim on a much smaller target," Faith winked.

"Perhaps," Oliver replied intrigued.

"Oliver! For god sake stop flirting and answer me!" Chloe screamed down his ear through the comlink.

"I wasn't flirting," Arrow growled impatiently.

"Sure you wasn't," Chloe replied coldly, "look I don't care, it wouldn't surprise me," she cried as Arrow opened his mouth to retort, "you have to get everyone out of there! There's a missile heading your way!"

"What?" Oliver cried in horror whipping out a special arrow, only to be used in an emergency, "get everyone out of here!" he called to Faith who looked confused as he fired an arrow in the air, it exploding like a flare leaving a huge fiery signal in the air.

"What's going on?" Faith cried with confusion.

"We gotta get everyone out of here," Green Arrow cried, "there's a missile heading straight for us."

"All Justice League members, evacuate everyone from the castle," Chloe cried down every members comlinks, "we have a missile heading your way."

"I repeat, you got incoming missile coming your way," Chloe's voice echoed down Black Canary's unconscious ear as she lay down on the ground whilst Cyborg blasted at Kal while Buffy dodged his blasts of heat vision, flipping and weaving past the fiery blasts.

"We got trouble!" Cyborg called as he shot another blast at Kal.

"Hello, dodging fiery blasts," Buffy cried sarcastically as she threw a shield at Kal, who shot a blast at it exploding it into pieces, "what more danger can there be?"

"Try a missile heading our way," Cyborg said charging into Kal sending him flying into the wall. "We gotta get out of here. Get Canary. I'll hold him off."

"You really think he'll try and stop us?" Buffy asked sceptically as she picked up Canary.

"Would Clark?" Cyborg replied knowingly. The answer was no, he wouldn't but then they weren't facing Clark, they were facing an insane version of Superman and he wasn't letting anyone escape, "Go! Now!" Victor cried, Buffy turning and running off as Cyborg blasted at the corridor sending rubble and debris down, closing him and Kal in.

"How noble, letting them escape, I commend you," Kal sneered clapping sarcastically, "but do you really think you can beat me?"

"I reckon I can try," Cyborg sneered tightening his grip for a punch, "no holding back."

"It's your funeral," Kal sneered.

"Well, if I'm going out, I'm going out screaming," Cyborg jeered leaping into the air for a punch, "BOOOOOYAAAHHHH!"

"Willow we have to go," Zatanna cried frantically as Willow typed feverishly at the command computer. "We've got a missile heading our way."

"I need more time," Willow snarled impatiently as she typed at the computer.

"Willow, we don't have time we have to go," Giles snarled impatiently as he edged towards the door, "the Amazons, won't be any help if we're blown to bits."

"They can help us," Willow cried urgently, "Twilights attacking us, we need reinforcements.

"We need to go!" Zatanna cried anxiously.

"Willow we can contact the Amazons when we've got everyone out of here," Giles said carefully placing a hand on her shoulder, "but we need to get all the girls to safety."

"Willow, please," Zatanna cried, "what would Fate do?"

Willow froze stopping sanity cleansing her mind.

"Everybody move into the woods!" Xander cried as Slayers pushed past the demons. The unaware demons and vampires attacking the fleeing Slayers as they ran, screams ringing out, screams of terror and screams of pain and death as some are killed. "Flash! Have you got the kids out of here?"

"All taken to safety!" Flash called as picked up the last of the stragglers.

"Lead the rest to safety," Xander cried, "I'll catch up."

"Like you ever could," Flash smirked zipping off to the front of the Slayers to lead the way, the battle nearly empty.

"Dawn? Where are you?" Xander cried as he turned back to the battlefield searching for Dawn. "Dawn? Dawn? DAWWWWNN!"

Superman held his hands up front as he zoomed after the missile, his face clenched with determination as he willed himself forward pushing himself to go faster, pushing himself past the limit as he tried to catch up with the missile as it got closer. He could see it moving over the horizon. The Castle.

"Quick, everyone follow me!" Flash called as he lead the Slayers through the forest, the girls running whilst battling demons, he zoomed at the demons stopping at such speed that the sonic boom sent them flying into trees. It was then that he saw it. The missile rocketing straight for the castle.

Oliver.

Dinah.

Victor.

Z.

No, he thought.

"Everyone run now!" he called knowing what was coming next, he couldn't help. He couldn't help. He was just the idiot who made jokes. He couldn't save them. He had to keep the girls safe.

"Dinah! What happened?" Oliver cried once Buffy appeared from around the corridor. "Where's Cyborg?"

"He stayed behind to fight Kal," Buffy said guiltily.

"Oliver get out of there you haven't got much time left," Chloe shouted urgently through the comlink.

"Quick we have to get out of here now!" Green Arrow ordered urgently turning and kicking the window open, pulling out a couple of grapple arrows firing them into the woods, it was then he saw it coming towards them, his eyes widening with horror.

"Oliver!" Zatanna cried as she, Giles and Willow ran towards them.

Oliver looked back at the approaching missile fearfully. "Z, GET OUT NOW!"

Zatanna turned to the window as she ran seeing what was coming towards them. She gasped with horror knowing what she had to do.

"Z, NOOOO!" Oliver cried as she dived forward towards them.

"DAWWWWNNN!" Xander cried as he ran towards the castle not seeing the missile dropping down and the red blur trailing after it until finally

KABOOOMMM!

AUTHOR NOTE

So we're going full sail to the end and before I do the sequel to this story I will do a story showing the Journey Willow went on to get over he Dark Side as she faces the many magical demons and fiends of the DC and Buffy U :D