Okay, chapter 3 is now up. Now, I've noticed that I haven't gotten a lot of reviews for this. Listen guys, I know I'm not much for reaction stories and to be honest I would like some more feedback. I want to know if there are ways I can improve if there is an area you think I can do better in.
Anyway, on to the reviews.
Edboy4926-Thank you, but if you don't mind, would you please put a bit more into the review with what you mean by awesome. What did you like? What character reactions made you laugh or did you find interesting? A little more than that.
As for series I know, Naruto, Fairy Tail, Young Justice, Avengers, Marvel, Spiderman, Highschool DXD, Soul Eater, Overwatch, and a few others I can't think of right now.
Gabriel2015-Yeah, I figured at some point there would be some funny moments due some areas in the story.
Anyway, on with the show. Action!
Chapter 3: The beginnings of the league.
Batman pressed the continue button as the next segment began to play. Everyone sat back and began to watch. As of the last segment they knew that this whole thing was before the league started. It idly made them wonder just how the goliath of a soldier would interact with other heroes, their enemies, and how he would affect their adventures.
We find John – 117 tossing and turning in his bed, he pants and moans as his mind is assaulted with strange images.
The first he recognizes as the planet Mars, but at the same time it is not the one he is familiar with.
The next shows aliens of humanoid form and green skin and yellow eyes.
These peaceful and neutral images are then replaced with fire, screams and terror; something has struck them, this blurs with images of Reach and the Covenant.
"Hey, quick question," Flash said, "Was it like this for you? Freaky images of a war of Mars?"
The others all nodded. Well, except Diana. She had come to man's world to help them as he she couldn't stand by as they were destroyed.
Lantern answered, "I mostly just saw everything from a bird's eye view."
Superman said, "Truth be told, I wound up having some serious headaches before it finally came through."
J'onn sighed and said, "I'm sorry. There were various countermeasures put together to make sure I couldn't use my telepathic abilities. I had to focus much harder than normal, which resulted in some unfortunate discomfort."
The group of heroes nodded in understanding as J'onn had been captured by the invaders at the time.
Batman said, "What I want to know is what else was there. Mars wasn't the only planet visible. Most likely there was an incident like the fall of Mars."
The others nodded.
"HELP…ME!" A distorted voice pleads to him.
"Who are you!" he finds himself asking.
"THEY ARE…COMING…MUST…FIGHT!" It speaks again.
"Fight who! Who is coming!" he asks with frustration evident.
"THE IMP… ARE CO…ming…free…m"
"Ah!" He wakes up before it finishes.
Later that morning in the medical bay of the Forward Unto Dawn…
John was on his back on a medical table with Cortana and Redeeming both running Bio scanners over him, the Commander was on the side watching.
"The scans are finished Commander." The monitor spoke.
"Well what's the prognosis?" she asked.
"We found nothing to explain this phenomenon." Cortana replied with huff, and with good reason two weeks of these dreams, were affecting her friend and she could find nothing to explain it.
The league members who were affected by J'onn's first message to them, remembered what happened when they received their messages. There were quite a few sleepless nights that resulted from the images that they saw, but they had managed to get back to normal.
"There has to be something causing this?" John said as he stood up, he was starting to wonder whether he was going mad.
"There is insufficient data to support any theories right now, however perhaps the answers lie in the images you have seen." The monitor remarked.
"Possibly, you did mention an alien civilization being wiped out, maybe it is a warning?" Cortana asked.
"Yes but Mars has no signs of ever being habitable, we checked every square inch of that wasteland, there was not even a piece of bacteria." The Commander of the vessel spoke.
J'onn seemed a little upset as he remembered the desolate, red dust covered wasteland that was once the great and beautiful utopia that was once his home. He was brought up from the memories as a hand was placed on his shoulder. He turned to see Superman, one of the few people who could understand his pain.
"There has to be an answer, we are just not looking for it from the right angle yet." John said as he finally moved towards the door.
"Where you headed Chief?" Miranda asked though she had a pretty good idea.
"Armory, to suit up." He replied as he left.
"He is really bothered isn't he?" Keyes asked.
Superman nodded in understanding at the soldier's bothered attitude. The images he saw were not only scary, as they reminded him of the destruction of Krypton, but because he thought he might be going insane, like when he first met a certain big headed interdimensional being.
"Yes he is, I have only seen him that way once, and that was when he had to leave me behind." Cortana replied as she thought to that day, she was not fond of that memory as it was when she faced Gravemind, the leader of the flood, never before had she been pushed so close to rampancy, only John's determination and Medicant's help did she make it.
"Watch his back, something is up and I intended to find out what." She said seriously to the human A.I.
"You don't even have to ask." She replied before she blinked out, most likely to join up with him.
"I have a bad feeling the answer will only bring more trouble." She thought grimly.
In the armory…
John was finishing placing on the helmet when Cortana's avatar appeared.
"John, you ok big guy?" She asked him knowing he was anything but, still she showed concern for him.
"I am dealing Cortana, but truthfully I am not happy with what's happening."
"I can relate, when Gravemind kept attacking I felt like I was caught in a whirlpool with no way out, I didn't know whether I would snap or what." She said as she held herself.
The group was surprised at what they talked about. The league had already gotten it in their heads that the two of them had a very close relationship, so they weren't really surprised by her concern. However, they were beginning to wonder what this "Gravemind" had done to her. It made them wonder what she had gone through.
John said nothing as he had seen what the flood leader was capable of doing to any forms of life; it existed only to corrupt the living or dead, that extended to artificial life forms too, he was glad the abomination was dead.
"We can only hope this passes." He said to her.
"Why John, I never pegged you for an optimist." She smirked at him.
"I was due, ready?" he asked her as he held his hand out to her avatar.
"For you John always." She replied as she jumped on and he felt the cold sensation he gets when she entered the armor.
"So what's the plan John?" she asked.
"I was going to patrol the city, 6 months ago someone torched a Wayne Tech deep space telemetry antenna, it was part of a series of arsons of other such facilities, I feel like there is connection with the dreams, I want to find it." He replied through their link.
Superman and Batman both remembered that day. It was when they first encountered the alien spies. Superman was still mentally kicking himself for falling for the obvious ploy, but he was trying to fix his damaged reputation after the Darkseid incident.
It also made them interested that he would know that the dreams and the incident were connected as someone would think that they were completely unrelated. At least a normal person would.
"And if there is?" she asked already having a pretty good idea of what would happen.
"Then I will do as Johnson once said "Kick ass and take names"." He replied with a hint of humor.
"Boy do I feel sorry for whoever gets in your way." She said with some mirth in her voice.
After the incident with Grundy and Metallo the league agreed. The Spartan was not someone you wanted to cross.
He went to the communications relay in the corner to talk to the Commander.
"Commander Keyes?"
"Yes Chief?"
"Have a Longsword prepped for departure; I am heading to the surface."
"All right, anything you want loaded into it?"
"Two of everything we got and plenty of ammo." He said in all seriousness.
Batman's eyes narrowed. Judging by the way they were talking this "longsword" was likely a military vehicle, likely a jet. He was definitely coming prepared for a fight, and given what they all knew was coming, he was definitely going to get one.
"Man whoever pissed you off is going to be really sorry for it, but you got it, me and Redeeming will head back to Mars, see if we missed anything."
"Acknowledged Commander."
"And Chief, be careful, something is up, I can feel it." She said with concern.
"I will, good luck to you Commander, hopefully we are just at the receiving end of someone's idea of a joke."
"If we are they will find out what it tastes to have my boots shove up there ass."
John had no reply, but he did crack a small smile.
Later in Metropolis…
John had landed the Longsword in one of the Canyon's that surrounded the city, he loaded up on ammo, grenades, medical and technical supplies, he took his MA5C, a BR55HB SR, his hammer, a pair of M6 Magnums, some Covenant swords, and took to the air while engaging his cloak.
"Sheesh," Lantern said, "this guy is carrying enough hardware to take on a small battalion."
Batman said, "A crime fighter survives by being prepared."
He had patrol the outer parts of the city and found nothing out of the ordinary, so he started to narrow his pattern.
"Seems pretty calm tonight." Cortana said to break the silence.
"Hopefully it will stay that way." He replied.
Sadly, it was just the calm before the coming storm.
"Hey what's that over there?" She asked as she zoomed in an area near the abandoned industrial district.
He saw a figure skulking around; however, the figure seemed to be familiar.
"…Let's check it out." He replied as he maneuvered to land a block away so as not to alert the figure.
Batman raised an eyebrow and he remembered this scene. It was not one of his best moments.
Inside the Warehouse…
The figure hiding in the rafters turned to be the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman, following up on the attacks to his companies space relays, he had found something shocking 6 months ago as a trio of what he thought at the time were researchers were responsible, however this men and woman were not human, he had the bruised ribs prove that, they had access to strange technology, were inhumanly strong, and seemed immune to harm and could reshape their bodies, evidenced when they demolished the antenna and leap to their deaths, only to have bent limbs reset themselves.
Superman had intervened seeing as it was his city, but before he could act he froze, he didn't know why only that he saw strange images, Kent left him a watch to contact him, much to his chagrin, still best to prepare in case things get hot.
"Best to be prepared, eh Bruce?" Superman said, shooting his friend a look.
Batman didn't respond visually, but he was glad that he had kept that watch.
So here he was now following a lead, turns out it was right as he stood on an alcove he found one of the alien devices used to detonate the antenna, he heard a light switch click and lo and behold there below him were two of the creatures now speaking in a strange language, locking up a room.
"What are you hiding?" He thought, before dropping down to get a closer look.
The door was unlocked, meaning the creatures had no fear of reprisal, he took out a flashlight and there in the right corner was something you normally see in an office.
Pods, three to be precise, crimson red with gray vines holding them in place, and inside them were the very researchers who had attack him.
"Is it just me, or does this seem like an old movie moment?" Flash asked, "I mean we find duplicates of human scientists, while the originals are trapped in pods. What was that movie?"
The rest of the league was going to admonish their fastest member, but they stopped when they realized that the guy had a point. This did seem like an old black and white movie moment, but they couldn't quite place it.
He walked closely to them in a calm and collected manner; many would already be feeling terror creep up on them, but the life Bruce Wayne had chosen after the murder of his parents made him witness to the strange and the bizarre, and cruel and terrifying, he had become a man who turned fear into a weapon against the those who would seek to harm the innocent.
He came close to one holding the portly man with a gray mustache, taking out a batarang he sliced through the membrane easily and caught the man as he fell out; he checked the pulse and found it beating.
"They are alive at least, but why go to all this trouble? What is their plan? Why…"
"GRRRR!"
His thoughts were cut off by the sudden arrival of a large angry dog; he had only a second when it lunged at him, jaws snapping trying to reach his face, at the same time it was pushing back!
"No dog is this strong!" he thought as he finally got enough leverage to push it back, knocking over a desk at the same time.
"Wow," Flash said, "it looks like even the batman can't be prepared for everything."
Batman answered, "I was expecting humanoid aliens. Not alien dogs."
The group chuckled at the dark knight's response.
He got up and it lunged again, only he was prepared as he jumped onto a pipe and in a move that would make a gymnast green with envy he flipped towards a ledge, as he jumped he heard a sickening crack of the wall, the dog was still alive and unhurt, and then did something even he was not prepared to see.
Flash whistled, impressed both at the caped crusader's athletic skill and at the dog's toughness. The others were now reminded that many of the aliens were pretty resilient.
It climbed the wall as would an insect would, worse it began to change form in to a fanged amorphous creature, its skin was black and white and had two beady red eyes, the caped crusader´s eyes widen at the sheer impossibility of it, this probed costly as it suddenly burst with speed and slammed into him.
"Jeez," Flash muttered.
"I know," J'onn said, "And I believed the humanoid ones were ugly."
Everyone turned to the Martian, surprised at his attempt at comedy. They couldn't help, but let a small chuckled, except a certain member of course.
He hit a pillar then landed on top of some empty barrels, the creature slithered on a pipe then landed on the floor in front of the hero, it attempted a swipe but he dodged it, however it pushed him back with great force through a plate of glass and into a wooden shelf that fell on top of him, he remained conscious enough to pull out the watch Superman gave him but blacked out before pressing the button.
Everyone winced slightly at seeing Batman get knocked around by the alien hound. Batman felt some phantom pains in his side from where the dog had knocked him around.
The creature slowly crept inside expecting to put an end to the intruder, sadly for it that was not going to happen today.
"BANG!"
The creature jumped when it felt crash in front of it, it was alert now, it searched the darkness but found no sign of its attacker.
"WHAM!" "YIPE!"
Was the sudden reaction to have struck hard by something to its flank, it sailed through the air until impacted against the wall, it was hurt now, but still found no sign of the attacker, if this were a more intelligent creature it would have fled by now, unfortunately it was bred to follow orders and those orders commanded it to stay and defend the warehouse, it then made the mistake of trying to finish of the first intruder.
It ran as fast as its legs could carry it and lunged, only to be tackled into wall and held there, it struggled and gave a swipe to bat away the creature, instead a golden glow suddenly encompassed a large being and finally revealed its opponent a large man in green and black armor, its left forearm held it in place.
'Note to self,' Batman thought, 'Attempt to add active camouflage to new suits.'
"Bad dog." He said before he made a fist with his right hand and from the forearm a hiss could be heard and now a blade of energy appeared, it was the last thing it saw before it was rammed into its abdomen.
"Did he just make a joke?" Flash asked, somewhat surprised.
"I think he did," Lantern said.
The creature gave of a high scream as its flesh was cut and cooked by the blade; thankfully the process killed it in less than a minute.
"A little harsh don't you think?" Cortana spoke though not really in disapproving manner.
John shrugged and inspected the animal.
"It's obviously alien from the looks of things; the question is what is it doing here? And what is it guarding?" he asked his partner.
"Maybe the guy under the shelves knows?" She asked in mock query.
Flash let out a chuckle and said, "I like that girl."
Batman glared at the back of the scarlet speedster's head.
John had almost forgotten the man who was attacked; he went to him and easily lifted it of him.
"Well it seems the Batman isn't some creature of the dark, as his opponents believe, what is that in his hand?" she asked as she used the zoom to focus on the watch.
John bent down and picked up the watch.
"Why would he pull out this?" He thought.
"Cortana run a scan on this watch." He said out loud
She did as she was asked and soon gave a surprised gasp.
"This is no ordinary watch there is a high frequency emitter inside, a very advanced one, I think this can bring Superman here, it is stated in the information we found that he has superior hearing." She said
John debated it bringing in the man, then pushed the button, left the watch and cloaked himself once more.
Superman, or more precisely Clark Kent was in his bathroom splashing his face as another bout of terrible images plagued him, he looked himself in the mirror when he heard the signal one of his watches emitted.
"Wait, did you give one of those to watches to that red haired boy?" Diana asked.
Superman sighed and answered, "Yeah. After a saved him people began to believe that we were friends. After he was nearly killed by Metallo and a friend of his, I gave it to him, in case more of them go after him, or if he finds himself in a bad situation."
The others nodded in understanding as being friends with a superhero could be very costly.
As fast as any plane but nimbler he rocketed towards the source, he stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse.
He in went in carefully, no need to just walk into what could be a trap or something else, he was calm until he saw the signs of a struggle, he checked the area where the most damage was and entered the small room there he found Batman unconscious.
He picked him up easily enough, and then saw the remains of the "guard dog" in the corner.
"What is going on here?" he said to no one in particular, however before he could think any more on the situation something happen that no one expected, a meteor came blazing through the sky, carving a path through the park and ending up in the intersection.
Superman flew to the scene with Batman in his arms, he let of a groan so the man of steel quickly spotted an ambulance and placed the man there.
Meanwhile…
John took in the scene before him and grimaced, memories of countless battlefields went through his mind when he saw that meteor hit, or at least what everyone thought was a meteor.
"You all right John? You're awfully quiet." His partner asked.
"Something isn't right." He replied as the feeling of discomfort he felt upon seeing the meteor grew.
"How bad?" she asked with worry, the knowledge of Dr. Halsey on Spartans told her they never experience fear, only discomfort, and she could tell through their neural uplink that he was feeling it big time.
"Fall of Reach big." That said it all.
"…shit!"
"Reach?" Lantern asked.
Batman said, "When we saw the images earlier, we saw the images of a destroyed Mars as well as an unknown area. It is most likely that 'reach' is an area, or even a planet that was destroyed in a similar event, either naturally or by invaders."
J'onn said, "Given his and Cortana's reactions it is likely that it was caused by alien invaders."
He was right as the meteor gave a hiss as it released steam, then a slime cover insect like leg burst out of its rocky cocoon, then another and another until a bulbous mass came out, it was the same coloration as the creature he killed.
"John it's an invasion!" She spoke with alarm.
"Oh, you don't say," Superman said.
"So it seems, relay a message to the Dawn through the Longsword, tell them to head back, this is just the beginning, I know it."
"What are we going to do?" she asked.
"What we were trained to do." He said to her as he activated his thrusters and took to the air.
"Oh, this is going to be good," Lantern said, getting into the scene.
Superman in the meantime was battling the invader with his fists, the only weapon it seemed to have was a concentrated laser blast from its eye, and it was powerful enough for him to feel it.
Batman had regained consciousness and using his grapple he climbed on board his jet, he fired two missiles at the thing but did not even scratch it, worse yet two more came out of the rock and began to attack as well.
Batman was mentally glad that they didn't show the scene with the ambulance worker. He did not need the scarlet speedster talking about that.
"This is madness, my missiles are useless against them and Superman is barely managing to take down ONE of them, what are they?" he thought as he evaded another laser.
Batman remembered this. Those walkers were incredibly hard to deal with, especially since they were immune to modern weapons. He remembered the frustration and slight helplessness that he felt when he went up against them. He quickly squashed that feel however.
Superman had managed to back one into a corner and cracked its eye before he was blasted back and buried under rubble.
Superman rubbed his chest as a brief phantom pain ran through is body. It wasn't every day that something was capable of hurting him.
John was not having an easy time either these things were immune to his bullets.
"Use the plasma grenade!" the A.I spoke.
"Did she say plasma?" Lantern asked.
Diana looked confused at this, "Plasma?"
Batman answered, "The fourth state of matter. There have been many attempts to have it weaponized, or used a power source, but there haven't been very many successes due to instability."
Everyone looked at the screen waiting to see what would happen.
John evaded another blast and reach into his rucksack for the alien explosive, thankfully his upgrades gave him the right tool for the job, as he pulled out the small object, he chose the closest Walker and maneuvered onto its head, once armed the grenade sticks to the surface and detonates quickly.
"EVERYONE MOVE AWAY!" He yelled to all those close, who didn't need to be told twice, and soon they found out why as bomb exploded and covered the organism in a bright blue substance that was burning away at its flesh, the heat given off was incredible, soon it exploded in a mass of gore.
"Holy shit!"
Lantern's shout was copied by everyone else. Even the usually stoic batman had a shocked look on his face. Those walkers had been incredibly resilient and this man had brought one down with a just a simple grenade!
"I am really glad this guy is on our side," Flash said, getting nods from everyone else.
This drew the attention of the others and Batman who witnessed the event.
"What was that!" he thought furiously though his face did not show it.
John now had a new problem as the other walkers were now targeting the bigger threat, in this case him.
He had evaded blast after blasts up till now, but he could not avoid a fight forever, and did not intend to do so forever.
"Time to bring the fight to them." He spoke as he dove straight towards one the Walkers legs, igniting his wrists blades as he did, he targeted the thinnest section and swung hard leaving a trail of light and a red hot line where he slashed, a few seconds later it slid off them and collapsed, John did not intend to leave it intact, as he pulled off the hammer and from high up dropped at rapid speed while it hummed with power until finally…
"BOOOM!"
It did not even stand a chance as it caved in on itself before exploding.
The league just kept staring at the armored man on the screen. They were completely shocked by the show of skill and strength that only a hardened veteran that had gone through hell several times over!
Batman especially looked interested. He was wondering just who had trained this man. What could make him so powerful? If he had a chance, he would find his answers.
However before he could even get up…
"John behind you!"
He turned just in time to receive a blast of red energy that pushed him into the 8th floor of a building.
Everyone winced at the sight of the super soldier getting blasted into the wall of a building. No doubt that would send the man realing.
Superman in the meantime got out from under the rubble; he saw two of the Walkers down, the Batjet fighting alongside the air force, he was about to return to the battle when he once more hit with messages he had seen before, only this time he finally understood their significance, as if in a trance he flew away, leaving many questioning where he was going, Batman decided to follow.
"I take it that is when J'onn's message got through to you," Diana said, as she saw the strongest man on earth fly away.
Superman just nodded.
With John…
"You must come John, time is of the essence and humanity will need you." A voice much like the one in his dreams spoke, only it was clear this time.
"J…ohn…Jo..hn…John! Wake up!" Cortana yelled at him.
"Ugh…what hit me?" he asked out loud.
"Thank goodness, you had me worried, that blast took half the shield down, and you blacked out." She said with relief for him.
"That blast only took half of his shield?" Lantern asked, in awe, "I'm not even sure my aura could take a blast like that."
"Felt like a herd of Hunters ran over me, how long was I out?" he asked.
The league once again found themselves confused by the terminology. However, they didn't have time to think about it.
"10 minutes, Superman split and Batman followed, though it was strange, Superman acted like he was determined to reach a certain direction." She said to him.
"I think I know where, get the Longsword in the air, I'll meet it there." He ordered.
"John?"
"I found the link." Was all he said before lifting off to meet the fighter plane.
With Batman…
"Well this day got better." He thought as laser blasts pelted the turned over tank he and this J´onn J´onzz were using as cover.
He had followed Kent to a military base, the signs of a struggle evident, he went in and heard metal being pounded on, and sure enough Superman was beating his fists on it, bending it, he thought he had gone mad.
Turns out the reason he blacked out was behind that door as well as a possible solution to this attack.
He was surprised to see another alien there, this one tall with a crested head, and orange eyes, and green skin.
Superman explained that he was calling out for help, warning him, however the machines prevented this, he wondered how until it spoke directly into his mind, an experience he did not like to say the least, when he took notice of his apprehension to his looks and morphed into a more humanoid form, still tall but no longer having a crest but a large brow, he wore a blue cape, crisscrossing red belts on its torso, blue shorts and boots.
"Well, we found another difference in appearance," Superman said, referring to the lack of a shirt on this version of the Martian manhunter.
They headed out only to find a large group of soldiers waiting for them, turns out they were not human as J´onn quickly alerted them, making them change into their true shape and began firing upon them.
"Look out!" The Martian yelled as it phased through his body, much to his shock, tackled the white aliens that made an attempt to their rear, however this cost him as he was blasted repeatedly, weakening him.
"Get him out of here, I'll cover you." He said over the sounds of laser and explosions as he lifted a tank as a shield.
Batman didn't need to be told twice as grabbed the "man" and made a dash for his plane.
He made it inside and strapped J´onn in; he did the same for himself pushed the engine full throttle just as the Kryptonian launched the tank at the white aliens, making the ordinance give off a great explosion.
Both the plane and the hero were leaving it behind when they were intercepted by alien fighters, arm with the same blaster as the ground ones, one knock Superman back leaving Batman to maneuver through the narrow canyons, several fighters were destroyed by the dangerous maneuver, however one of them finally got lucky and blasted the right wing off, things looked bleak until…
"What the…?" Batman asked as the plane was encompassed in a green glow.
"Help has arrived." J´onn said calmly.
"Sorry I'm had to quell a rebellion on Rigel 9." John Stewart assigned Green Lantern of sector 2814 arrived, wearing a mostly black body suit, a green v shape that reached mid chest, in the center of which was a Lantern insignia, green forearms and boots.
"The green lantern, master of badass entrances," Flash said with a grin.
Another ally came in the form of a woman with a hawk face mask, and wings on her back, wearing green pants and yellow shirt that left her shoulders free, she wielded a mace covered in electricity, giving a war cry as she beat the fighters to death.
"Hawkgirl? What is she doing here?" Batman asked.
"I called her." He said before he phased out of the plane to engage the fighter using intangibility to make them destroy one another
The Lantern placed the plane down and fought with blasts of green energy.
Superman came back with a vengeance and fought using strength and heat vision.
Hawkgirl managed to dodge many blast but one strayed in front of her and loosed shrapnel at her, with a cry she fell and was in long for a death blow, fate intervened then as a woman like no other appeared.
"Allow me." She said before she deflected every shot fired with her bracers back at the ship.
Diana smiled as she saw her counterpart arrive. It was only now that she realized that the security around the ancient armor had been lax. Apparently, her mother knew that she would leave in an attempt to save man's world. A decision that she had never regretted.
The woman was tall, with raven hair and quite beautiful to the eye, wearing red boots, golden belt, a one-piece suit of red, yellow, blue and white stars, a golden lasso was on her waist, and a golden tiara on her head with a red star, here be Wonder Woman.
"Who's the rookie with the tiara?" Stewart asked.
Diana sent a light glare towards Lantern who looked sheepish as their first run in was not the best, mostly due to the fact that he assumed that she was just a rookie fighter.
"I´m not sure?" Superman replied as he hefted a fighter and threw it towards a canyon wall.
On the bottom floor a red streak could be seen heading towards the Dark Knight.
"Loose something bats." Said a man in a crimson red body suit, a yellow thunderbolt on his chest, and on the sides of his mask, yellow boots completed the ensemble, the Flash had arrived.
Flash chuckled at his counterpart's joke.
Wonder Woman landed before them.
"Woah! Where have you been all my life?" The Flash asked.
"Themyscira." She replied not getting the joke.
"The Home of the Amazons? I thought that was just a legend?" Hawkgirl said as she and the other landed.
Before she could reply however J´onn spoke in an alarmed tone.
"Everyone Six fighters on the horizon!" He yelled
Everyone tensed, for the battle when suddenly…
"WHOOSSH!" The sound of air being pushed aside was heard and felt as a black jet fighter of unknown design passed them.
"I think we got our answer as to what a longsword was," Batman said, examining the jet with a critical eye, interested in the design and wondering if he could apply such a design or even such systems to his own fighter jet.
"What is that!" John yelled as he had never seen a fighter like that in his life in the Marines.
"I think I know." Superman said as he looked on.
"Cortana target lead fighter, and arm a pair of Scorpions short fuse."
"..."
"Primed and ready John, fire!"
John did not need to be told twice as he pushed the button.
Two rockets were released from the fighter and sped at the lead fighter so fast it could not dodge, exploding on impact.
"One down five to go," Flash said, on the edge of his seat.
The others fighters decided to take out the more immediate threat.
"You've got a few admirers on your tail." Cortana mused.
John was not rattled, as he pushed the engines to go faster.
The heroes saw this and commented on it.
"No way! That thing should be flying apart at that speed." Flash commented.
The others were surprised. After looking at the scene they realized that the speedster's statement was true. They had seen a few fast jets in their time as heroes, but they never went that fast. If they did, then they risked being torn apart by the speed of the wind, or the engine overheating. Now, Batman was really wanting to get the system for his jet.
"It is him." Superman said as his suspicions were confirmed.
"Who?" Stewart asked.
"The Spartan." Batman answered.
John in the meantime had to evade blasts from the remaining fighters, pushed ahead and turned to shoot his cockpit, John would have none of that as he fired both the 110 rotary and 120 mm ventral guns, under the circumstances bullets would fail, but these were design to combat similar fighters as well as Seraph fighters in the air or space, the results were seen as the penetrated the hull and blew it to bits.
"And another one bites the dust," Lantern said with a smile.
"John, you got one in front the other back" The A.I spoke.
John nodded and tipped the nose up and was passed by the other fighter, he locked on the targets and fire one Scorpion for each, leaving only one fighter.
This one got on his tail fast firing for all its worth, John barrel rolled and swiveled side to side evading the blasts.
"This guy is getting on my nerves." Cortana said in irritation.
"Then let's get rid of him." He replied as pushed the engines to max and turned toward the cliff face.
"Okay is this guy insane?" Flash said, shocked. At that speed he would be lucky if he didn't turn into cliff pizza.
His thoughts were mirrored by the others, who had not expected him to try such a daring maneuver.
"Is he nuts! He is going get splattered all over the cliff!" Hawkgirl said unaware of the plan, they ducked as the fighter passed fast.
The fighter also went after at top speed.
"This is going to be close!"
When the earthen wall was close he pulled back hard that it nearly broke the controls, he cleared it by 2 ft from the edge, and the same distance the fighter missed and blew in a shower of flames.
"Talk about cutting it close." Flash said for all to hear, some nodded at that.
Flash agreed with his counterpart's statement and said, "That guy is either incredibly brave, insane, or has the greatest luck ever! I mean, I know I can be reckless, but I don't think I'd ever try my luck at that."
"Time to talk to the crowed John." Cortana spoke.
"Leave a copy to circle the plane."
"You got it."
Cortana worked quickly and when finished reentered the armor; John headed down and grabbed the weapons he used in Metropolis.
He walked and opened the back entrance, the wind rushed by as he had to maintain altitude to keep it flying, so he was a good 2 miles up.
"You're not going to repeat the same stunt you pulled back on our Earth, are you?" Cortana asked.
"Would you like me to?" he replied with as much humor he could.
"Hmm…Nah, too much excitement is bad thing."
He shrugged before jumping out in a nosedive; he activated the engines at the mile mark and rocketed towards the group who watched on.
Finally, he spins forward and landed with a soft plop, he reached back and grabbed his MA5C pointed away from the heroes, no matter how long he lived he would not go into an unknown situation without a weapon, years of experience and instincts are not denied with the life he has led, this of course made the group tense, except Superman, Batman and J´onn.
"Now that is how you make an entrance and an impression," Lantern said, impressed by the sight of his entrance to the heroes.
The rest of them were surprised he was carrying weapons. Most likely, he was used to carrying them.
"Now," Flash said, "Time for some first impressions."
"Whoa there, cowboy! Holster your weapon and identify yourself." John spoke with authority.
The scarlet speedster face-palmed at the Lantern's words. Lantern himself sighed in annoyance. After seeing all that, he knew that the Spartan wouldn't bow down to just a voice laced with authority.
John walked until he was two feet from them, weapon still in his arms.
"I said holster your weapon!" he repeated with growing anger.
"Way to introduce yourself there GL," Flash said, earning a light glare from the will using hero.
"Superman it is good to see you again." John said to the man of steel, ignoring Stewart.
Everyone couldn't help, but laugh slightly at seeing the lantern being ignored like he wasn't even there.
"Did you not hear me?" The former Marine nearly yelled.
"Yes I did, and no I will not, only my superior officer, unconsciousness or death may relieve me of my weapon, you are not my superior, I am awake and alive, so no I will not." He said in tone that clearly said he was not going to bend on this.
J'onn said, "I believe that is what they call, a burn."
Lantern simply grumbled to himself.
This got some reactions from some of the people.
"I sense a warrior's spirit in this man; could he be a true Spartan?" Diana asked.
"This guy's got guts." Flash thought.
"I don't know if he is that brave or that stupid?" Hawkgirl
"This man is not going to give in to Stewart's demand." Batman.
"We have no time for this." Superman thought.
J´onn remained quiet, and Lantern was two seconds away from blasting him with his ring.
"Enough I sent for him as well as the others." The Martian said to break the stalemate.
"So it was you who sent the dreams?" John said more than asked.
"Yes, I sensed you could be of help, so I telepathically called you." The Martian said.
That did not sit well with John as his mind contained military secrets that could not be allowed into the public, J´onn sensed this though.
"Yeah when you think about it, that might not have been a good idea," Superman said his fellow alien survivor.
J'onn nodded in understanding. On Mars, telepathic use, and shapeshifting was something that was more common on earth. Plus, since his planet wasn't a warrior race, they didn't have need for military secrets. It took a while for him to be used to it. Though, there were still rules about how telepathy could be used.
"Fear not, it is forbidden for my people to enter unwilling minds, I only glimpsed your intentions and the kind of man you were, nothing more."
That eased him a little.
"Thank you for that, you may call me Spartan – 117 or Chief." He said.
"Are you in the military?" Hawkgirl asked as she eyed the armor and weaponry.
"In a manner of speaking, that is all I will divulge for now, once the crisis is over we shall see how much you need to learn."
Batman nodded. If he ever wanted to give anyone any information he had to make sure that they were either ready for it, and that they could be trusted.
"Are you part of some alien race?" Superman asked.
"No, I am human; again I shall prove that later, for now I am unfamiliar with two of you." He said as he looked at the Amazon and the Martian.
"My name is Diana, princess of the Amazons." The raven haired spoke in all seriousness.
"…Interesting." Was all he said to that.
"Awful long way from home aren´t you?" Flash said, though not complaining.
Diana remembered how Flash had flirted with her when they first met. Luckily, he stopped after a few attempts…had caused her to nearly break his nose.
"Themyscira is protected by the gods, but I could stand idly by as the rest of the world was in danger." She said.
"It was lucky you showed up when you did." Superman spoke but J´onn intervened.
"No, not luck I telepathically contacted her just as I did the Spartan."
"Look I'm usually pretty quick on the uptake but can someone please tell me what the heck is going on here?" Flash asked what many chose not to ask yet.
The Martian paused to prepare them for his tragic tale.
Superman welded the wing of the Bat Jet, and when finished Diana asked the man to continue.
Cortana paid close attention to every detail.
1000 human years Mars was habitable, they were peaceful and advanced, but then they came, it was unknown where they originated from, but their intentions clear as they wanted the lush world for themselves, though pacifists the Martians soon learned how to wage war in an effort to drive of the invaders, but centuries of warfare decimated the planet, his people hunted and either captured to be fed upon for their physic energies like parasites or killed.
J'onn felt a familiar pang in his heart as he remembered those days. He lost his wife, he children, and all of his people. He was brought out of the painful memories by Superman, one of the few people who could understand his pain. After a moment he smiled.
They stole their shape shifting abilities, erased their civilization, until finally a handful of survivors launched a desperate attack, they fought their way into the heart of their citadel, until only J´onn remain to release a powerful nerve agent that left them in a catatonic state, the price paid for this victory however was J´onn became the last of his people, so he took it upon himself to guard the creatures, but when astronauts came and released them during his hibernation period, with nothing to stop them they planned to add Earth to their list, barely escaping he came to deliver a warning only to be captured.
"Wait, those astronauts never said anything about finding life on mars." Flash spoke.
"Hmph! Some pencil pusher in Washington must have decided it should be classified information." Stewart added.
"No, I don´t think that happened." Spartan said suddenly.
The league was surprised to hear the input coming from the Spartan.
"What do you mean Spartan?" Batman asked wondering what he saw that no one else did.
"Think about it, two astronauts arrive on Mars, stumble upon the find of the century, only this find wakes up and is not peaceful, do you really think a species that lived to conquer others would allow their presence to be known?" He said making the other come to a terrible realization.
"You mean…?" Wonder Woman asked in horror.
"Yes, those men never left the planet alive, and who was it who pushed with the demilitarization of the planets nuclear arsenal? Who was it who was made a national hero, thus enabling his entry into a place of power?"
"Senator Carr." Superman said as the final piece was placed.
Batman mentally slapped himself as he remembered that day. It was pretty obvious after everything became clearer near the end of everything. If he had been given enough time, he probably would have figured it out, but he had been distracted by a few other things.
"Exactly, J´onn you said the invaders are shape shifters correct?" he asked getting a nod in response.
"Then that means they have infiltrated and weakened the planets defenses, first they take the ability to see them coming by knocking out the deep space arrays, then they take out the defensive capabilities, put it all together and we have a recipe for an invasion no one is capable of facing." He finally said.
"Like hell! We got to stop them before it's too late." Lantern said as he raised his fist in defiance and his eyes glowed with power.
"You really don't like being powerless in these situations do you?" J'onn asked the galactic peacekeeper.
Lantern nodded as he remembered the day he got his ring when his friends in the marines were killed.
"It may already be too late." The last Martian said in an ominous tone.
"Cue ominous music," Flash quipped.
And that prediction seems to be coming true as all over the world, the invaders struck, and the world's military forces weakened by the ploy used against Superman, proved them to be no match against them, however the nightmare had only just begun as from the craters massive tendrils suddenly broke out and reshaped themselves in to strange shaped objects, from a hole in the bottom a drill pounded into the Earth and in a scene similar to a morbid heartbeat, smoke and debris were expelled into the atmosphere.
The heroes watched as a cloud rose on the horizon.
"What was that!" Diana spoke in alarm.
"It´s begun." J´onn said in finality.
"What are they doing?" Hawkgirl asked as she looked to the green man for answers.
"The invaders are nocturnal; they want to blot out the sun to live in perpetual darkness." He said in a grim tone
"Friends of yours?" The fastest man asked in humor at the Bat.
Lantern booed in a joking manner at the speeder's counterpart's bad joke.
"This is no joke." He snapped back.
"What´s the big problem can´t you just whip up some more of that nerve gas." Flash said as he moved to the Martians side.
John felt there was a good reason why he had not done that.
"Unfortunately no, the gas can only be made from a rare Martian plant, I brought a sample with me but it was destroyed when I was captured" answered the green alien with the same monotone voice.
"In hindsight I'm glad we didn't," J'onn said, gaining everyone's attention, "We would have no idea of knowing how the gas would have effected humans. The damage to a single person could be toxic, especially if it got into the atmosphere."
This made everyone realize that the Martian was right. It had effected the invaders a particular way. They had no idea what it would do to the different biology of the humans.
"Uh, what´s plan B?" The young hero asked lamely.
"We'll have to take out those factories." Diana broke the silence.
"I agree with her. They should be our top priority." The Spartan spoke as he heard all he needed.
"This is no job for amateurs or hotshots in fancy Tin suits" Responded the lantern voicing his displeasure, ignorant of the can of worms he just opened and cutting off Diana's reply.
Diana sent a slight glare towards the Lantern for his comment. The man felt her glare and didn't look back, not wanting to see the woman glaring at the back of his head.
"TIN SUIT!" a very angry female voice suddenly erupted from the Spartan shocking the others.
Everyone else jumped at the sound of Cortana's voice coming from the suit. Their conversations had only been between one another, so they had no idea that she could communicate with anyone aside from the Spartan.
"Oh boy." John thought.
"Chief I would like to have word with Mr. Light bright." Cortana said in a tone that said refusal was not an option.
"Be gentle." Was all he sent before opening his palm and placing it at eye level for everyone to see.
Suddenly a light appeared and then a woman seemingly made of light appeared, she had short hair of a violet hue, and wore a white body suit that left nothing to the imagination, she suddenly hoped off of the Spartan´s hand and grew to a life size proportion that passed Hawkgirl by an inch, one thing was for sure she was not happy at the lantern.
They didn't know that she could do that either outside of the ship.
"Where do you get the balls sir to question him!" she asked rhetorically.
"You know what? I don´t care, but this man has gone through more shit than anything you have ever faced in your life busting alien drunks or whatever the hell it is you do, he has been beaten, cut, shot, burned and god knows what else before I was assigned to him, he does not deserve to take your crap, the only reason he has not beaten your neon green ass is because he has lives by a strict code of military conduct, something you know nothing about if your record is anything to go by, and yes I know all about you." She said quickly, turning red as she did, making John wonder if she was going rampant, she was not done however.
Flash whistled as he saw Cortana tear into the Lantern. It was pretty funny to see him get ripped apart by an AI.
"If you so much as had an iota of the loyalty he has you would not be such a bitter crank, so do us all a favor and suck up whatever pride you have and let him and her…" She said as she pointed at a wide eyed Diana "…help out, or else I´ll find a way to have that stick rammed up your ass turned sideways." She said before turning back into miniature form and jumping onto her friend's hand, before she left though she looked at the shell shocked man and motioned two fingers (pointer and middle) towards her eyes then pointed at Stewart, the message being "I am watching you" she then disappeared.
There was a silence before they all laughed. Batman even allowed himself to chuckle a bit. Lantern just hugged and slumped down in his chair having had his but handed to him by an AI.
No one really could say anything at that demonstration of female fury, and John just counted down until…
"What in the name of the maker was that!" Hawkgirl yelled.
"That was my partner." He calmly replied.
"What is she man?" Flash asked as he tried to understand what just happen and not burst out with laughter at the dressing down Stewart got.
"She is an artificial intelligence who aids me in combat, she has been my eyes and ears through many trials, and she is also my friend." John said in determination.
"Aw thanks John!" She said through the speaker.
Batman made a note never to anger her, as well as research who could have made such a being.
"Why that little b…" Stewart never finished as the muzzle of and advanced looking rifle was shoved in his face.
"Don't..." The Spartan spoke.
"He certainly does have the spirit of a true Spartan," Diana said, as she watched John stand up to the Lantern.
"Enough, John we are going to need all the help we can get."
"Fine, sorry to you both." The black man growled before he continued.
"Tactically we will have multiple objectives, so will need to split into teams." He said as he called upon his military knowledge, John silently agreeing.
"Dibs on the Amazon." Flash moved fast next to the princess who gave a wide eyed impression.
"I will go with…" the Spartan started.
The video stopped, much to the Flash's displeasure.
"Oh come on," the speedster complained, "We were just getting to the good part!"
Batman said, "We might want to stop for now. We can see the rest later. I have a few tests I want to be able to run."
Batman then shut off the device and got up, walking towards the lab.
The group knew that once batman set his mind on something there was nothing that could stop him. They decided that they should just let the man do his tests. With that the meeting was disbanded and everyone went about their business.
In the lab, Batman pressed a button the machine and images were projected right above it.
His eyes filled with interest and curiosity and went through them.
Cut! Okay chapter 3 out of the way. With that I'm going to be changing my focus to "The first of his Kind" and "Omniverse Ninja". Now then, let me know what you think and how you think I can improve or do anything better. See you next time.
