"Now what?" asked Noodles.
"Don't worry. Any minute now, Ojo's gonna draw a picture of all of us smiling and hugging our parents." said Kalita. "Isn't that right, Ojo?"
Ojo simply shook her head. "Oh, that's just great." Noodles said sarcastically.
Some time later, Kalita was called aside by Wild Card, who asked her "Kal, why did you choose me to share the idea of looking at Ojo's iPad?"
"I dunno." Kalita shrugged. "I guess I know how hard it feels when everyone expects so much from you, and you feel like you can't deliver."
"Do you believe I can?" Wild Card asked.
"We all do." said Kalita.
Wild Card snorted. "Tell that to my mother."
Kalita smiled, full of confidence. "I will, right after we rescue her and all the others."
The supply ship entered the Ogima battleship, and the kids piled out. Noodles checked the surroundings and said "All clear!"
"Am I just really small, or is this ship really big?" asked Andy.
"It's enormous." Wheels told her.
"Yeah. How are we gonna find our parents?" Kalita said.
The kids narrowly evaded a guard and Wheels used his supercomputer brain to locate the Justice League. "This way!" he said.
Suddenly, Jon heard something and said "Hey, fellas, does anybody else hear that?"
"What?" everyone said.
"It's below us!" said Wheels. "I can feel it."
A rattling and revving sound was heard from below, and the kids quickly backed into walls. The floor beneath them began to crack and the kids screamed before running away from the tentacles that emerged from the floor. With that, the ship's alarm began to blare. Aaaaa-OOOOO-ga! Aaaaa-OOOOO-ga!
"Which way?" asked Face Maker.
Kalita spotted a door and cried "Over there!"
The kids dashed towards the door but was blocked by a tentacle. Jon used his heat vision to burn it, and it went back down into the hole it came from, making way for the kids. They went through the door to find themselves on a terrace, then Wild Card said "Look at that thing.", pointing at a gigantic pyramid perched upon a whirlpool of energy and connected to the docks by floating pathways. The door under the terrace opened, and President Anami emerged, followed by an alien lieutenant.
"What the heck is the president doing here?" asked Kalita.
"So they're inside this thing? All of them?" Anami asked the lieutenant.
"That's correct." he said.
"How long before the takeover begins?" said Anami.
"According to the Supreme Commander, less than an hour." replied the lieutenant as two guards joined them.
Anami looked skeptical. "That soon?"
"That's what she says, and she's never wrong." the lieutenant insisted.
"You don't have to remind me." said Anami. "Ever wonder why we bother with all this when she already knows how it's gonna turn out?"
"All part of the process, I suppose." the lieutenant told him, and they walked out with the guards.
"What the hell is that?" asked Face Maker, looking at the pyramid.
"You heard him. It's a rocket stuffed to the gills with aliens. In less than an hour, they'll send it down to Earth and start the takeover." said Wild Card.
"Well, then we have to stop them. Let's go." Kalita said, but before the kids could spring into action, the door behind them opened and Granada walked in with two guards.
"Do you children have any idea what you've done? Stealing one of our trains? Turning headquarters upside down? Flying an alien shuttle into outer space. Hmm?" the supervisor began speaking, with an intimidating tone to her voice before she suddenly squee-d and said "Well done! Looks like we underestimated your abilities and your leadership qualities. You took a huge risk, but it was the right risk. Headquarters was attacked just minutes after you escaped. If you hadn't broken out, you would have all been captured. And now you've managed to lead us into the heart of this alien mother-ship? Mm, sooooo proud.", leaving the kids dumbfounded.
"Wait, so we're not in trouble?" asked Kalita.
"Of course not." Granada said. "You are heroes."
The kids cheered in victory, then Wheels said "Kal! Her vital signs are all over the place."
Then Ojo showed Kalita one of her drawings, and the hybrid girl gave a nod of approval.
"Save your breath, Granada. They know." said Anami as he and the lieutenant entered.
"Uh-oh!" said Andy as tentacles came out of the adults' backs.
"Hmm...well, then, round 'em up!" said Granada.
As the Ogima ship descended into Earth orbit, the kids were all thrown into a single cell. Slo-Mo was the last to be thrown in, and Wild Card looked at him dismissively as she said "Quit the pantomime, Slo-Mo. You didn't even scrape a knee."
"Mm-hmm. Oh, good. Just the kind of divisive attitude I've been counting on." said Granada as she walked in. "You kids are just like your parents. The same in-fighting. The same bickering. Putting your own egos ahead of your team." She then looked at Andy before ordering the guards "Take away her water."
Andy gasped as a guard's tentacle snatched her water bottle away.
Granada then said "They're too powerful together.", pointing at Rewind and Fast Forward before using her tentacles to separate them. Ojo held her iPad close to her chest but she was told "Oh, don't worry. I won't take away your little toy. I already know what your future is. Imprisonment. Life long." said Granada, waving a peculiar-looking key at the kids. She then walked out of the cell with the guards before locking it with the key.
"How are we getting out of here?" asked Andy.
Kalita gave the toddler a reassuring smile, and waved a construct in front of her eyes. It was the exact same shape as the key, and that was enough. The kids broke out, and tucked themselves into a corner to discuss things. "I bet Miss Granada's been working there for years." said Face Maker.
"They must have hacked the elections and put their own alien in as president so they could set a trap for the League." Wild Card added.
"I'm such an idiot!" Wheels spoke up. "President Neil Anami. Spell Neil Anami backwards and you have… "I'm an alien"!"
"Everyone thinks that the Ogima only invaded this morning, but they've been here for years, planning this takeover the whole time!" Kalita said, realization hitting her.
Meanwhile in another cell the Justice League was in, Victor had just switched on one of the security monitors and the League saw their children on their way to rescue them.
"Damian?" asked Bruce.
"Rewind?" asked Dinah.
"Fast Forward?" asked Ollie.
"Are those our kids?" asked Mera.
That was when Hal spotted the brunette girl with pink skin and yellow eyes. "I...I don't know. Who's that girl?"
"Whoever she is, she sure looks like Sinestro." Clark quipped.
"But...but that's impossible! She has my hair and...wait a minute..." Hal said as realization slowly dawned on him.
Back outside, Kalita asked "Wheels, how much time do we have?"
"18 minutes." replied the robot.
"Then we need to hurry if we want to stop the takeover." Kalita said.
"Us? Are you nuts?" asked Wild Card. "We have to go free our parents and let them handle it."
"No! There's no time for that! By the time we get there, they…" Kalita began.
"Listen, I'm done taking orders from you." Wild Card snapped. "When I woke up, everything was perfect, then you come along and everything's a mess. If Little Miss Sinestro here is who you want as a leader, fine, follow her straight into Alienville. But Face Maker and I are gonna go get our parents." she said as she grabbed Face Maker.
"We are?" asked Face Maker.
"Yes. Right now." Wild Card insisted.
"Girls, we have to stick together." said Kalita, but the two ignored her and left.
"Just forget about 'em." said Wheels. "We need to get to the rocket so I can stop it before it launches."
"How are you so sure you can do that?" Kalita asked.
"Because everything the aliens build is super intuitive to use, almost like it was designed for children to operate." Wheels said. "Get me close. I'll turn it off."
Meanwhile, Face Maker asked Wild Card "I don't understand. Why did we split up? Where are we going? How do you know our parents are this way?"
"Okay, this is good." Wild Card told her.
"What do you mean, "This is good"?" Face Maker asked again.
"Are you questioning my authority?" Wild Card asked back.
"Uh… I don't even know what we're talking about." said Face Maker.
Wild Card groaned. "Really? The confused thing? That's what you're going with?"
"Just as I suspected." smiled Granada. "Falling apart at the seams." She then hmm'd for a bit, then spotted Wild Card on her screen and told herself "We need to get that one. She has so little control over his powers, she's liable to blow us all up by accident." She then led her guards out of the room.
Meanwhile, the majority of the kids were heading towards a door leading to the rocket, but then stopped dead in their tracks when two guards appeared. They turned back and ran away, but the path was blocked and two more guards showed up. "What do we do now?" asked Rewind. "Kal?"
Soon, more guards appeared and Noodles asked Kalita "Why are you so calm?"
"Because we have something they don't know about, a secret weapon." Kalita smiled.
"We do?" asked Wheels.
"Yep." replied Kalita. "Teamwork! Alone, our powers are special, but together we're unstoppable! Slo-Mo, attack! Jon, ice breath! Andy, take 'em down!...Andy?" Kalita stepped aside to find Andy sitting on the floor while the other kids were busy doing their stuff. "Andy, what are you doing?"
"Staying calm." said Andy.
"Well, not now! Andy, listen to me. Shark frenzy." Kalita said, and Andy obeyed. "Everyone, stand back!" said Kalita as Andy the crazy shark began attacking the guards. Kalita decided she couldn't hold back any longer, and fired a construct plane into the wave of aliens.
In their cell, the Justice League was watching it all. "She's a miracle..." Hal murmured.
Back out, Kalita was cheering Damian on as he broke a guard's arm but then the arm turned into a tentacle and slithered back into the sleeve. Watching it, all the kids went "Ewwwww!".
All the knocked-out guards used tentacles to get back on their feet, and they pulled shackles from the ceiling to chain the kids up.
"Rewind?" asked Kalita.
"I can't!" said Rewind, indicating his shackled hands.
"We can do it." Fast Forward encouraged him.
"How?" Rewind asked his twin sister.
"Together." said Fast Forward.
So Rewind and Fast Forward combined their powers, and went back in time together. Kalita smirked, and used constructs to get the shackles out of the ceiling.
"Now fast forward, quick!" said Rewind, and Fast Forward used her powers to jump forward in time. Now it was the guards' feet that were shackled.
One of the guards chuckled threateningly before pulling some keys from his jacket, but Kalita fired a yellow beam to knock them out of his hands, then a green tentacle reached out to pick them up and throw them away. "Great job, Fast Forward. Excellent work, Rewind." Kalita smiled.
Meanwhile, in the interrogation chamber, Granada was trying to interrogate a captured Wild Card. "Okay, Wild Card, spill it. What's the big plan, hmm?"
"Well, the plan was to get me close enough to you to turn you into the dumbest alien that ever existed." said Wild Card. "No way! My powers finally worked!"
One of the guards laughed and Granada told him "Keep laughing and I'll blast you right back to Ogima." She then turned to Wild Card and said "We have ways of getting the truth out of you, you know."
"That'd be a first." Wild Card giggled. "Ha!"
Back to the rest of the kids, they had arrived where the rocket was. "We only have six minutes left!" Kalita cried.
"Not a problem. Not a problem. All I have to do is reprogram the rocket's main contr…" Wheels said, but as he attempted to, something enveloped the rocket.
"What is that?" Rewind asked.
"Maybe it's a…a force field?" muttered Wheels.
"No, no, no, we were so close!" Kalita complained.
"But there's no one here but us." said Jon. "Who did this?"
"Me." said a girly voice and everyone turned to look at Ojo.
"Ojo, did you just talk?" asked Noodles.
"I could always talk. I simply chose to observe and listen instead. And what I heard was chaos, dysfunction, disharmony… just like your parents." Ojo said.
"But that's not true. We were working together." Kalita insisted.
"Oh, really? Then where's Wild Card?" asked Ojo.
Kalita paused for a moment then yelled "Hey, Wild Card, old buddy. Are you in the ship's control room yet?"
"I sure am. Just like we planned, old buddy." came Wild Card's voice from above.
"No way!" said Granada in the interrogation chamber. "We have Wild Card right here...right?"
"Booyah!" said "Wild Card" as she turned into Face Maker. "Wow. I gave this plan 50-to-1 odds at best, but you fell for it hook, line, and sinker."
"We got the one with the useless superpower?" Granada exclaimed in anger.
"Got you far away from the control center, didn't it?" Face Maker snickered.
"Go to the control center, now! Go, go. Go! Go!" Granada ordered her guards.
Back in the control center, Ojo said "You were working together?"
"Surprise!" said Kalita. "I even sent him on a secret mission. Isn't that right, Wild Card?"
"Yeah. And when the team leader tells you to do something, you hop to it." replied Wild Card.
"Since when did you accept Kalita as the leader?" Ojo asked in anger.
"Since New Oa, when she told me you were an alien spy."
"Ojo's an alien spy?" everyone cried out.
"Yep." Kalita smiled.
Instantly, tiny tentacles grew from Ojo's back. "You knew." she smirked evilly. "How'd you figure it out?"
"You accidentally gave it away in one of your own drawings." Kalita said. "Your art never lies. You work for Granada, don't you?"
"Au contraire." Ojo said. "In fact, they all work for me."
Face Maker joined in just in time to see Ojo's tentacles. "Holy bagumba!" she said. "Ojo's one of them?!"
"We know!" everyone said.
"And now you can be impressed… and defeated… as soon as I figure out which button removes the shield." Wild Card declared.
"Knowing the aliens, it's probably a big button with a picture of a shield on it." Wheels informed her.
"Oh!" said Wild Card, then pressed the aforementioned button, deactivating the shield. The kids cheered in victory.
"I hate to spoil your celebration but there's two minutes left. Game's not over yet." said Ojo. She then drew a monster from her iPad and made it come to life.
"Uh-oh!" said Andy.
"I'll hold it off, you find a way to stop the launch!" said Kalita. A yellow sword and a green shield appeared in her hands.
Ojo drew more monsters and soon, they all came to life as well. "It's not an it. It's a them!" cried Wheels.
"You better hurry!" Kalita said, then began rallying the other kids. "Come on, everyone. Time to show these stinkers what we're made of!"
Meanwhile, aliens opened the control room's door by force and Wild Card said "Come on in. It's broken. I mean it's open."
"Ya better keep that shield down!" said Kalita.
"Don't worry, I'm on it." said Wild Card.
"Oh, yeah?" Granada asked her. "What are you gonna do, hmm? Turn into a Minotaur?"
"Sure… if that's what I want. I can control my powers now. Working with Kalita helped me realize I was so busy trying to prove everyone else wrong when I should have been concentrating on proving myself right. She believed in me. Now I believe in myself." Wild Card declared.
"Yeah, right. And you think that's enough. Believing in yourself." Granada scoffed.
"You think so? Well, then, let's dance!" said Wild Card.
Back down, Kalita gave out orders. "Everyone spread out! Slo-Mo, attack! Andy, water slide!"
Slo-Mo charged forward. Rewind and Fast Forward combined their powers to make him fast. Sped up, Slo-Mo punched one of the monsters repeatedly and it howled in pain. "Did you see that?" said Barry, looking at him from a monitor. "That's my son!"
"It was too fast for even me to see." said Clark.
In the control room, Granada ordered her guards "Attack!"
"Flight!" Wild Card said, then floated out of the way. She then turned into a Minotaur and rammed one of the guards into a wall before turning back into herself and shot lightning at more guards. "Electric fingers!"
Granada gasped.
"Now, my personal favorite..." Wild Card said as the rope tattoos on her arms began to glow. "Lasso of truth!" Golden ropes shot out of her arms, and in an instant, Granada and the guards were all tied up.
Back outside, Andy used her own sweat to make the pathways slippery, and the monsters fell off them into the whirlpool below. She then cried, "I'm running out of water!"
"Come on, kids. I know you've got it." said Hal as he watched the kids fight.
Kalita made some blades and fired them at the incoming monsters, knocking them out as well. Then Andy ran out of water and cried "I'm out. I need water."
"Andy, look, this rocket is covered in liquid metal!" Wheels informed her.
Andy made a cry of joy, then pulled the liquid metal off the rocket to make a pretty impressive shark. The shark charged at two of the monsters and swallowed them.
"Go, Andy, go!" Mera cried as she and Arthur embraced in joy.
"Not so fast." Ojo told the kids and made more monsters. That was when Kalita realized she had to act—fast! She made a yellow tightrope between two pathways and lured the monsters to it.
"I got this." she told herself, and inside their cell, the Justice League saw it.
"She's leading by example." Hal gasped. It reminded him of in his rookie years, when the Green Lantern Corps were working together to liberate a planet from a race of space conquerors and Sinestro had been a wonderful leader, fighting at the forefront.
That was when Dinah began singing.
There's a hero,
If you look inside your heart,
You don't have to be afraid,
Of what you are,
There's an answer,
If you reach into your soul,
And the sorrow that you know,
Will melt away.
And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive,
So when you feel like hope is gone,
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you.
Kalita's construct disappeared at the same instant Dinah finished singing, and the monsters fell into the whirlpool but Kalita quickly flew to safety.
"Hey!" cried Diana, proud of Wild Card through and through. "Did you see that? Did you see what my daughter just did?"
"Unfortunately, I was too busy looking at my own cool kid." Arthur said.
"How's it going, Wheels?" asked Kalita.
"It's all good, boss! All we have to do is swap out the ignition chamber's motherboard with one that'll tell the device it launched even when it didn't. That way we fooled it…" Wheels declared.
"How long?" asked Noodles.
"I did it just now. Now put it into the ignition chamber up there." said Wheels, and handed it to Noodles who made a move but then a tentacle came out of Ojo's iPad, knocking it out of Noodles's grasp.
"Oh, no!" cried Wheels as the faux motherboard fell on the bottom of the whirlpool. "Noodles?"
Noodles made a grab for the faux motherboard but even with his mutant gene, the whirlpool proved too deep to reach.
"Leave it to me!" said Kalita, then snatched it back up with a construct.
Wild Card saw it all from the control room and decided to join the others in celebration. "So long, suckas!" she told the immobile aliens before teleporting to where the other kids were.
"Girl! You actually teleported!" said Jon, and the two did a high-five. Noodles swapped the motherboard with the faux motherboard, then the front of the rocket opened.
"What's happening?" asked Kalita.
"The takeover is happening." Ojo said, and the Justice League walked out of the rocket.
"Wait a minute. So our parents were in the pyramid all along? But I don't understand. What's the takeover?" asked Kalita.
"The takeover of power… from your parents." said Granada as she arrived with Anami and the lieutenant, having broken free. "You see, the next generation is always an improvement from the last."
"Things are not heading in the right direction on your planet." said Ojo. "And you children are inheriting Earth's problems, and need to be able to fix them, sooner rather than later."
"It's in the best interest of the entire galaxy that life on Earth survives and thrives." said Anami. So, we infiltrated both your government and League headquarters so we could train you and accelerate the transfer of power."
Once again, it was Ojo's turn to speak. "As you've seen from today's events, it's not enough to be strong, powerful, or even magic. If you do not use your strengths together and with good judgment… you are doomed."
"But I don't understand. The clock hit zero. We were one second too late!" said Wheels.
"The supreme commander knew down to the second exactly when the takeover would happen." said Anami, gesturing to Ojo.
"Your guess was close, Wheels, but not quite right. Everything on the ship wasn't designed for children." said Ojo.
"O-o-h, NOW I get it! It was designed by children!" Wheels said as realization hit him.
"Yup. On our planet, the children are in charge." Ojo told him.
"And you're the ruler of everything?" asked Kalita.
"Yes. Just as I knew you would be a natural leader. It's why I drew you at the front of the class. So, from one leader to another, as we each head off to face the challenges of the universe, can we count on you to not just help save your planet… but the entire galaxy?" Ojo spoke.
"You have our word." said Kalita, and the two leaders shook hands. "If you need us, we'll be there."
"Thank you." Ojo smiled as the League reunited with the kids. Damian and Face Maker ran into Bruce's arms, and Jon into Clark's. Diana was patting Wild Card on the back, while Noodles stretched his arms to give J'onn a welcome back hug. Andy received a kiss from Mera and kicked Arthur hard, much to his delight.
Rewind and Fast Forward were swept into a four-person hug by Dinah and Ollie, and Dinah told the twins "You're so wonderful together. I am so proud of you."
"How do you feel, son?" asked Victor.
"I feel super." said Wheels.
"Put it there, buddy!" said Barry as he put up a hand, and it took some time for Slo-Mo to do a high-five but Barry said "What the…You're so fast!"
"Hello, Dad." said Kalita as she walked over to Hal.
"Dad?" asked Hal. "Who are you to call me dad?"
"I'm your daughter." replied the hybrid girl. "Kalita Jordan-Sinestro."
"No way!" said Hal, but the proof was right there. "You're really my kid? And his?"
"I am." Kalita smiled. "We have a lot to talk about."
This was the day our heroes fell...
But others did rise.
As for the Ogima, they'll be back, and when they call on us for help, we will be prepared.
We will be ready.
Unstoppable-The Score
There's a moment in your bones when, when the fire takes over.
Blood is running, heart is pumping as the battle gets closer.
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh,
They could say what they want now,
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh,
'Cause we'll be screaming out...
We can be heroes everywhere we go,
We can have all that we ever want,
Swinging like Ali, knocking out bodies,
Standing on top like a champion,
Keep your silver, give me that gold,
You remember when I say,
We can be heroes everywhere we go,
Keeping us down is impossible,
'Cause we're unstoppable,
Oh woah, we're unstoppable.
Oh woah, we're unstoppable,
Every spotlight, every sound bite,
Everybody who gave up,
Is just a fool for wanting it more,
Than anybody against us,
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh,
They could say what they want now,
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh,
'Cause we'll be screaming out,
We can be heroes everywhere we go,
We can have all that we ever want,
Swinging like Ali, knocking out bodies,
Standing on top like a champion,
Keep your silver, give me that gold,
You remember when I say,
We can be heroes everywhere we go,
Keeping us down is impossible,
'Cause we're unstoppable,
Oh woah, we're unstoppable.
Oh woah, we're unstoppable.
(Bridge)
They can say what they want now, (oh)
'Cause we'll be screaming out...
(Ooh ooh)
We can be heroes everywhere we go,
We can have all that we ever want,
Swinging like Ali, knocking out bodies,
Standing on top like a champion,
Keep your silver, give me that gold,
You remember when I say,
We can be heroes everywhere we go,
Keeping us down is impossible,
'Cause we're unstoppable,
Oh woah, we're unstoppable.
Oh woah, we're unstoppable.
Oh woah, we're unstoppable.
Oh woah, we're unstoppable.
Oh woah, we're unstoppable.
We're unstoppable.