Author's note: There seems to be some confusion with my universe as to why Big Barda is a part of the female Furies. The thing is, originally, Big Barda used to be a member of the Apokolips and the leader of the Female Furies herself. She wasn't a good guy until "Justice League Unlimited", but I already established that this takes place during "Justice League". Not even the Thanagarian invasion has happened yet, so as of now, Big Barda is still evil and still a Female Fury. Got it? Good! And now, enjoy this chapter of…
CHAPTER 6: Blurry Sides
The Female Furies. Members of the New Gods of Apokolips. Alien humanoids raised under the brutal and masochistic treatment of the sadistic Granny "Goodness" Harkness in her special orphanage when they were girls, with the full intent of breaking and reshaping them into cold, steely, bloodthirsty killers, the pride and joy of Granny herself after years and years of training and conditioning. And in the metaphorical chess game, they were more than mere pawns, almost rooks, protecting Darkseid, their king and master by bulldozing the opposing side with unbelievable swiftness and finality.
Granny Harkness. A matron-figure who could be in all senses a twisted, inverted form of Mother Goose, her wrinkled face and deep, poisoned, bass voice doing little justice to the madness and depravity of her sick mind and black heart of brass. With her knowledge of the psyche and technology along with a morbid fascination of death and pain, Granny could give Magneto a run for his money in cruelty. And like most leaders, Granny was not foolish enough to leave herself vulnerable during battle…especially with her power truncheon at her side.
Big Barda. A robust, strapping woman with long, black hair as black as ebony and with the build and toned, muscular physique of a female body-builder. Along with her abilities of superhuman strength, speed, and endurance, Big Barda has fought and killed countless beings to work her way up to the leader of the Female Furies and was, not surprisingly, Granny's favorite and a possible candidate to be Darkseid's right-hand woman should Granny ever perish or be replaced. And with her Mega-Rod, she could fly and easily destroy an entire skyscraper with a fully-energized blast.
Lashina. Strategist and hand-to-hand combatant supreme. The flexible yet indestructible steel strips that were delicately and carefully wrapped around her torso, arms, and legs were not just for decoration; they were deadly weapons. And like most strategists, Lashina knew when to safely retreat and when to attack, her patterns of fight and flight as unpredictable and direct as the patterns of lightning. Lashina had no qualms about retreating and waiting for an opportunity nor did she have any second thoughts about attacking when one's back was turned. And not only could her steel lashes snap a person's neck as easily as an axe, but they also conducted painful streams of energy to anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in them.
Stompa. A girl who isn't afraid to crush anything or anyone in her path, and given her massive, hulking physique and build, she was in reality a female version on the Misfit, the Blob. Yet she was beyond mere bullying and domination; she loved the power she felt when she could bring down anything in her path, and her specialized Gun Boots were heavy and indestructible enough to kick, demolish, and destroy anything, almost quite possibly compressing matter down to mere molecules in seconds. She was heavy enough and powerful to pound even Superman to nothingness if she truly wished to.
Mad Harriet. If there was anyone who could ever match the insanity of the Joker, Batman's nemesis, this power-spike, claw-toting Female Fury would fit the bill perfectly. A better title for the green-haired and wild alien would have easily been "Queen of Psychos" for no matter what type of order Darkseid or Granny would give her, she would eagerly follow it as long there is the promise of pain and blood and gore and lots of it. And such bloodshed and death thrilled her. In fact, she worshiped the
Bernadeth. The sister of the traitorous Desaad, the simpering, cowardly right-hand of Darkseid himself, and she, though equally cunning and underhanded, was no weakling. She, like Lashina, was an excellent martial artist and could be a force to be reckoned with her knowledge of assassin training. Add the fact that she had red-colored eyes and actual fangs and a demonic-styled hairdo, Bernadeth was a fearsome hag that could have made the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz look like a beauty queen for the Miss America Pageant. And thanks to a few surprises to her trusty Fahren knife, anyone unlucky enough to be stabbed by it would burn and be incinerated from the inside out.
Artemis. With flowing black hair, tanned skin and brown eyes like the purest earth, she could have easily been like the Greek Goddess, a resident of the Fourth Dimension of pure beauty and grace. Yet hidden deep inside was a pure, ruthless killer. Artemis was an expert markswoman and thanks to her bows and crossbow, she could use her arsenal of arrows and shafts, each with unique qualities. And she never left for battle without her trusty cyberhounds, each one genetically engineered by Desaad to be half-organic and half-bionic, their strengths and senses multiplied by ten-fold. And they especially loved fresh meat…
Of course, by now you know about Live Wire and her so called role in this whole fiasco, and her ability to absorb and manipulate electricity in its purest and strongest forms made her very formidable, indeed.
Which leaves the identity of the ambiguous eighth and final Female Fury donning the black uniform with skull and crossbones better left unsaid…for now.
But one thing was sure. This was not going to be an easy battle.
000-
"Furies, execute 'Phase: Recruit'," Granny simply said, and immediately, it was chaos.
The Professor, upon seeing so many enemies at once, tried to use his telepathy to knock all the hoods of Apokolips unconscious, but he was at a loss, almost tragically stuck, as he realized that he could not access their minds, almost being violently thrown out upon the second he tried to use his mind to ambush them. Frustrated, the Professor then sent a telepathic message to the X-Men as they tried their best to fight back, despite being in their civilian clothing.
X-Men, I cannot access their minds! All of the Female Furies are telepathically shielded and as such, they were as prepared to attack us as H.A.T.E. was back at the carnivals! Do everything you can to drive them out, but be careful! We have no idea what they are here for, but do not take one of them by yourselves! X-Men, team up in groups of two or three each to take them down!
Justin was having an absolute panic attack, freaking out like there was no tomorrow, as Lina then did the smart thing as she calmly and rationally as she possibly could turned on her wrist-communicator and contacted the emergency line to the Joes and Misfits' radio-transmission and using the procedure Spirit and Low Light taught her in case of dire emergencies.
"Wavedancer, General Hawk! Code Red! The Female Furies are attacking the X-Mansion! Repeat, the X-Mansion is under attack by the Furies! Code Red! Repeat, Code Red!"
"I've had enough of this! GET OUT, SPAWNS OF MAENADS! You are not welcome here amongst our students and our home!" Ororo screamed in outrage and vehemence, the sight of the soldiers from Apokolips trying to endanger her children sending her to new levels of pure vehemence. Before she could even think second thoughts, the weather-manipulating mutant immediately summoned a gigantic typhoon, cold and dancing with frost, to rain down upon the eight Female Furies. Storm then increased the cold as she pelted the aliens with hail, but Artemis then shot an arrow from her crossbow, nailing Ororo in the shoulder. In torment, Ororo toppled and fell to the ground, stopping the winds immediately, horrifically injured and whimpering and sobbing with an arrow deeply embedded into her upper body, making it extremely excruciating to even move.
"You're coming with us, weather-witch!" Big Barda said, but Cannonball was quicker.
"You leave Miz Ororo alone, you flea-ridden vixen!" the lanky, blond-haired teenager snarled and Big Barda found herself rammed back upon the force of the impact of Sam shooting directly at her with his powers, sending her flying against the wall. Yet to his horror, Big Barda picked herself from her sprawled position against the wall before she flew directly at Cannonball and sent the mutant flying with a single punch. Granny was about to blast some of the New Mutants before a hex-bolt sent the mother-figure of the Furies flying. Roberto looked up to see Wavedancer and the other Misfits and the Joes, all of them fully in uniform, standing in the hole of the dining room.
"The Misfits are here!" he cheered.
"Thought you guys could use some help! Yo Joe!" Althea yelled.
"Yo Joe!" yelled the Misfits and Joes, and immediately, they all rushed in into the fray. Artemis tried to shoot some more arrows at the new reinforcements, but Blob immediately got in their path and blocked them, the pointed shafts bounding off his impervious skin.
Jean then picked up Big Barda with her telekinesis and threw her against the wall again, causing her to smash completely through the building's structure. Snarling, Mad Harriet then rushed at her with her claws outstretched, but undaunted, Jean put up a telekinetic shield before she sent Mad Harriet flying against Granny, colliding against her mentor and sending them both tumbling into a heap.
"Uh, hello?" Jean said mockingly and in a condescending tone, "Telekinetic? Does that term ring any bells with you Female Furies? No matter what you throw at me, I'll just deflect it right back at you!"
"Deflect this, loudmouth!" yelled Stompa roughly as she blitzed towards the X-Girl and punched the telekinetic force-field with all of her strength, and to Jean's horror, though the shield held on (barely), thanks to Newton's Laws of Motion, the force from the Fury's punch transferred directly to the girl and the shield she invoked, and as a result, both of them were sent flying at breakneck speeds. Jean crashed into the wall, blunt pain striking her head, back, and legs before she lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, Kurt managed to teleport Forge into the control rooms underneath the Mansion grounds, and Forge immediately activated the indoor lasers, causing them to come out from their hidden compartments in the walls and started to blast the Furies, using their AI and automatic targeting systems. Undaunted, Granny and Mad Harriet attacked the lasers with ease thanks to the power claws and the power truncheon.
"Oh man, these chicks are trouble!" Forge exclaimed worriedly as he typed several furious commands on the computer console to bring up more lasers to blast the warriors of Apokolips, "They're wrecking the weapons-systems faster than I can bring them on-line!" Kurt, on the other hand, saw on the outdoor monitors, Blind Master and the rest of the Joes doing the guard shift were lying on the floor and badly injured. Cover Girl seemed the least hurt as she shakily propped herself up and knelt by Gabriel's side worriedly.
"Oh dear Father in Heaven, please let them all be all right!" Kurt prayed as he teleported outside next to Cover Girl. Cover Girl was a bit startled, but she pulled herself out of her stupor as she commanded to Nightcrawler.
"I'm going back into the Mansion! Get Justin and tell him to heal all the Joes' wounds quickly before they die from their injuries! Teleport Justin out of the Institute and have him heal all the Joes immediately! And both of you are not to leave their sides until they're all healed! Hurry! Blind Master and Quick Kick are the most serious!"
Kurt nodded as Courtney rushed into the battle. Within seconds, both he and Justin reappeared in a cloud of brimstone. Justin gasped with a hand over his mouth, but with a look of determination, he immediately rushed to his adoptive father's side and bathed him with healing light while Kurt tended to the other Joes as best as he could.
Meanwhile, Wanda was sent flying thanks to Big Barda's Mega Rod, and upon retaliation, Lance invoked his power to create several dirt clumps in the form of hands, terra-forming the dirt and earth from outside in the Mansion's gardens, before sending them to crash and pummel the Female Fury. Shipwreck joined in, firing his dual set of Eagle pistols as he kept sending a bombardment of armor-piercing bullets into Big Barda. Now angered, Stompa raised her foot before she brought it crashing down on the floor, and thanks to her Gun Boots, the response was instantaneous. The X-Mansion started to quake, the floor collapsing like wet paper and revealing a gaping chasm that was so deep, it crumpled the foundation below the floor directly to the underground tunnels the Professor had built a quarter-mile underneath the building. And thanks to the earthquake, the Professor, losing his balance, toppled out of his wheelchair as he plunged into the hole. Yet to his surprised relief, he was stopped short of his fall as Blob grabbed the adult by his jacket, saving him from a painful fall, though Blob himself was hanging on barely by grabbing onto the end of a metal I-beam.
"I got ya', Professor X!" yelled Blob, his voice hoarse as beads of sweat started to form on his brow, realizing he was truly stuck.
And the tremor Stompa caused also caused a portion of the ceiling above Storm to collapse, ready to crush Ororo underneath the rubble. Stunned and touching on her fears of claustrophobia, all the African mutant could do was lay there, stunned and scared out of her wits and helpless. Shipwreck immediately dashed before the roof fell.
"Stormy, get down!" he hollered as he shielded the injured and terrified mutant with his body before the both of them were buried under a landslide of wood, plaster, and stone.
"Dad!" screamed Althea before she rushed towards Stompa, "You're gonna pay for that, you fat ape!" Yet to her dread, Lashina caught Althea with one of her steel lashes, wrapping it around the adolescent's waist before shocking her with discharges of energy originating from the metal weapon.
"AAAAAAAAA!" hollered Althea in pain. Lashina smiled wickedly.
"If you surrender, girl, I'll make it easier for you, you army-twit? Whaddya say? Any questions before you come quietly?"
"Just one: which hospital you want me to send the flowers to?" snarled Wavedancer as she let Lashina have it directly with a good, flying hitch-kick to the face, and roaring, Lashina loosened her hold on her steel lash as she held her split and bleeding chin with one hand. With the whip going slack around Wavedancer's torso, the black-and-blue haired hydrokinetic managed to deliver a swift jab into the Fury's face before she besieged her female opponent with a fast and furious combination of punches and kicks. Yet Live Wire then blasted Althea with a powerful electrical attack, causing her to know nothing else as she blacked out.
At the same time, Mad Harriet was destroying the lasers Forge was activating with ease, despite the number or the power intensity of the beams.
"Hah! This is mere child's play, dearies!" Then a quick blur of silver tripped her and furious, Mad Harriet turned to see the white-haired Misfit, Quicksilver.
"Appropriate considering you probably have the intelligence of a child. And you really need to do something about that hair, girl! Green is so out of fashion unless you wanted to give the Joker a run for the boob prize! And wow, you could really use a good wash with Clearasil! I've seen smoother skin on the surface of the moon, and ever heard of something called dental floss?"
"You dare mock me?" growled Mad Harriet. Quicksilver grinned madly; this was too good of a chance to pass up. As if on cue to see how far she could snap, Pietro zoomed out of the room and then back again in a spilt second wearing (unbelievably) a wild green wig and a skin-tight beige uniform exactly like his female opponent was wearing. Mad Harriet's eyes bulged with surprise…and insulted outrage. Was he making fun of her?
"You dare mock me?" repeated Pietro in a whining, high-pitched sort of voice.
He was making fun of her…and copying everything she said.
"Hey!" Mad Harriet exclaimed, growling, ready to pummel and disembowel the mutant Misfit.
"Hey!" Pietro repeated, adding the feminine hands on the waist look at a finishing touch, close to guffawing.
"Cut that out!" Mad Harriet snapped, now getting angry.
"Cut that out!" Pietro sneered.
"Why you little - !" snarled the Female Fury as she tried to slice Pietro with her claws, but the white-haired teenager simply dashed out of range with his speed while still copying everything the Female Fury did, complete with an overblown, over-exaggerated limp right hook.
"Why you little - !" Pietro whined in a girly voice.
"Will you shut up!" screamed Mad Harriet, now started to lose it fully as her swings got more and more wild.
"Will you shut up!"
"STOP IT!"
"STOP IT!"
"Aaaarrrrgggggghhhh!"
"Aaaarrrrgggggghhhh!"
Then Pietro wiggled his eyebrows tauntingly at the war-painted face of the Female Fury before drawling, "Annoying, aren't I?"
"Stand still and die, you little upstart! And take off that wig!" screeched Mad Harriet as she kept trying to impale Quicksilver with her power spikes on her hands as the teenage Misfit dodged her attacks.
Meanwhile, Blob and the Professor could see that the I-Beam they were holding on to was starting to give away, groaning and giving in to the large weight.
"Oh crud," moaned Fred softly to himself as the metal beam at last broke off and sent Blob and Professor Xavier screaming as they hurtled down several stories towards the lower levels towards the metallic catacombs running underneath the X-Mansion as a sanctuary haven. Thinking fast and how multiple times he was taught over and over in the dojo at the Pit by Roadblock and Spirit, Fred managed to do a very noble thing as he roughly grabbed Charles Xavier around his waist and put himself between the X-Men's leader and the floor.
WHAM!
The floor all around the Blob and Professor Xavier had actually crumpled up and risen around them like the upright petals of a wildflower, but thankfully, the metal floor of the secret passageways of the X-Mansion held firm and managed to stop Blob from crashing through the ground. The Professor blinked several times, trying to regain his bearings, before he shakily managed to prop himself up amongst the cushiony folds of Fred's fat stomach. He wasn't hurt in the slightest, not even a bruise.
"My word," the Professor managed to marvel as he smiled, "That was a soft and extremely comfortable landing."
"Easy for you to say, Professor. Ow…" groaned Blob as he was still lying after crashing to the reinforced metal floor with the Professor still lying on top of his bulging stomach. The Professor managed to smile grimly as Blob picked himself off the ground and started carrying the Professor in his arms while trying to rush back up towards the battle as fast as he possibly could.
"My thanks to you, Fredrick," Xavier said. Fred grinned back wordlessly.
Meanwhile, back upstairs…
"Augh! Get them off! Get them off me!" hollered Avalanche in panic as he was besieged by two of Artemis' cyberhounds, Secondus and Teritus, trying his best to fight them off, now completely distracted and inundated as the two heavy dogs pinned him to the ground. With him so distracted, the earthquakes and the Secondus then sank his jowls into Lance's shoulder, drawing blood immediately as he tried to rip of good chunk of his shoulder off while Teritus was doing his best to reach towards Avalanche's throat in order to rip it our, with Lance using every bit of his strength to stop the dog from killing him, though he was weakening as the fangs sunk closer and closer. There was a shriek of rage as Shadowcat leapt into the fray, forgetting her own safety.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" she screamed as loudly as she could for a battle cry as she phased directly into the body of Teritus, and there was a snarl of pain followed by a howl of agony before the cyberhound started smoking, his ruby eyes burning out, as the animal's body toppled over to the floor, dead and short-circuited thanks to Shadowcat. Upon seeing its brother dead, Secondus barked madly, froth gleaming on its teeth, ready to avenge blood for blood. But Shadowcat was now enraged even more. With a snarl like a cat, she punched directly into the chest of the cyberhound as it leapt onto her, phasing her body at the drop of a hat, and upon contact, Secondus met the same fate as its fellow comrade, dead before it even hit the floor.
Kitty then looked at Lance with tears in her eyes. Lance returned the look of relief.
"Lance…" she whimpered, but then Avalanche jumped up and grabbed the surprised Kitty before shielding her with his body.
"Shadowcat, look ou-…AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!" Avalanche screamed before he toppled over to the floor, unconscious, an electrical-paralysis arrow protruding out of his exposed shoulder. Shadowcat looked up to see Artemis aiming another deadly shaft with her crossbow directly at Kitty's heart.
"My hounds!" Artemis snarled with malice, "You killed Secondus and Teritus! You'll pay for that with your life, you Earthling bitch!"
"Not likely!" snapped Lina as she zoomed by the crossbow, her powerful wings beating so fast, they were a blur, and before the Fury could pull the trigger, the alien female was stunned to see that her weapon was neatly and cleanly severed off, useless. When Lina flew by, her wings sliced through the weapon in order to leave Artemis exposed, and now that she was taken aback, Lina then hovered in the air a little off the ground before she then started to hammer her heels repeatedly on Artemis' head, trying to kick her multiple times in the face. Gasping, Artemis blocked the kicks while backing off, but Lina managed to follow the God of Apokolips, still hovering in the air while relentlessly attacking the Female Fury.
"This is for trying to shoot Fred with your arrows, you dog-woman!" Dragonfly snarled as she let loose a powerful roundhouse kick to Artemis' elbow, but now having enough, Artemis somersaulted backwards before throwing several daggers directly at the insect-girl…only to have them fall uselessly to the ground, all of them encased in a heavy block of ice. Bobby was quivering with anger as his hand glowed an artic blue.
The brown-haired teenager glared at Artemis as he made several large, sharp icicles in the air from nowhere, growling, "Nice shot, you Robin Hood knock-off! Now let me show you how to score a real bullseye!"
With that, he let loose the barrage of icy spears, with Artemis trying her best to dodge the deadly shrapnel as Lina then tried to also add on to the attack by spitting globs and globs of sticky silk upon Artemis, trying to blind her.
Meanwhile, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany were teaming up as one, holding hands and hovering in the air as they kept trying to shock Stompa with their psychic lightning, their eyes completely white and pupil-less as they hurled bolt after bolt of the searing energy directly upon the heavy, violent woman. Stompa fought the urge to scream as strike after strike ravaged through her mind. By the Dark Lord, even with the precautions against the mutants' telepathic skills thanks to Desaad's genius, these girls certainly did the unexpected, and considering that they didn't even fight or use their powers at the carnival, this was a completely new and unexpected attack. Stompa then tried to create another cave-in with her Gun Boots, but Multiple was quicker.
"BANZAI!" yelled Jamie as he and twenty other clones tackled the big alien woman and latched on tightly to her arms, neck, and legs, doing everything they could to stop the Female Fury from bringing down the whole mansion, all the meanwhile punching and kicking and doing everything they could to inundate and incapacitate her. Yet with a roar, Stompa then managed to throw off a random clone off her, and the real Jamie screamed before he crashed into the TV set and entertainment system, his body splintering the glass and wood upon impact before he sank to unconsciousness. And now that the original Jamie was down for the count, the other clones vanished into thin air. Trinity was screaming in unison out of sheer outrage at seeing Multiple injured horrifically.
"You'll pay for that, you fat cow!" Daria, Brittany, and Quinn hollered, now insane with ire. Stompa smiled as she got ready to hit the ground with her foot raised high above her knee level.
"And what are you three Cabbage Patch Kids going to do?" sneered Stompa, "Give me a spanking?"
"That's right! And here's the paddle!" yelled a voice above, and Stompa looked up, diverted at the battle cry, as she saw to her horror, a familiar blond haired girl flying out of nowhere and rushing directly at the Female Fury with a clenched fist. And before Stompa could even flinch, Supergirl's fist met the Fury's chin with a fabulous uppercut, sending the heavy alien in a graceful arc upwards towards the sky.
CRASH!
Stompa flew back fifty feet or so, crashing through the walls of the X-Mansion and landing none too gently onto the front garden of the Institute. Dazed yet apoplectic, Stompa wiped the blood dribbling out of her mouth as she then recognized the familiar red, white, and blue costume along with the huge "S" on the girl's uniform, hovering in the air alongside Trinity and glaring.
"Supergirl!" Stompa snarled, "I'm gonna enjoy ripping that pretty, little head of yours off!"
"I take it she doesn't like you?" Quinn asked, half-amused, at their new friend.
"I've had a few run-ins with this pig-faced tank before," Kara said calmly as she cracked her knuckles, "Mind if I join in on the fun of pounding her flat?"
"The more, the merrier," Brittany said cheerfully before all four girls immediately assailed and assaulted the Fury together with numerous, stinging kicks and jabs. Stompa hollered in rage as she did her best to fight off the teenager alien and the eleven-year old ninjas-in-training.
At the same time inside the Institute, Scott and Rogue were doing their best to drive out Big Barda and Granny before there was a sudden shriek as Pietro dashed off from the neighboring room, hooting wildly.
"HE GAVE ME A WEDGIE! THAT ROTTEN, LITTLE HUMMINGBIRD JUST GAVE ME A WEDGIE! I'LL KILL HIM!" Mad Harriet screamed in the background.
"Woo hoo, woo hoo, woo hoo hoo hoo!" Pietro laughed, imitating Daffy Duck, as he dashed off with tantalizing slowness in an attempt to aggravate the alien female even further as the green haired Mad Harriet chased after Quicksilver with her claws, her glazed eyes now twitching and a puff of froth building at one corner of her clenched jaw.
"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! NO ONE DARES GOOSES THE QUEEN OF PSYCHOS AND GETS AWAY WITH IT! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU LITTLE, PINT-SIZED, ALBINO TWERP, YOU'RE DEAD! YOU HEAR ME! DEAD!"
"Well, Queen of Psychos, you've just met the King of Nutcases," Rogue muttered, rolling her eyes as she flung the coffee table directly at Big Barda's head.
"Strangely enough, I can't argue that," agreed Scott with a funny look on his face.
Logan, on the other hand, was not exactly having fun himself. For the entire time after he helped free Colossus from Lashina's whips, he was immediately targeted by the unknown, enigmatic girl wearing black and bearing the badge of the skull and crossbones. For the entire battle, Wolverine did his best to drive the Female Fury out as he did every martial art tactic, judo move, and military training procedure he could remember to take her down, his feral, animalistic instinct rising dangerously, but to his surprise, the girl avoided every move with fluid, deadly grace while returning the favor with powerful hits of her own. Damn, she was strong. She even drew blood several times while Logan had yet to deliver the first noticeable injury on his assailant. Then spotting an opening, he ducked the flying roundhouse punch-kick combination, seeing her right side exposed, and with a snarl, Logan rushed by with his claws.
Slash!
The Female Fury didn't scream, didn't even whimper, as she fell to one knees while holding her bleeding right side-abdominal, now exposed with three horrific lacerations, all of them deep and serious, as Logan then swiveled around for another strike.
"Ready for another round, darling?" he snarled, his eyes glazed with blood-thirst, before Logan's sharp nose then picked up the girl's scent and his eyes widened in horror. Dear God, it couldn't be…
"You!" he exclaimed, in pure shock and stunned beyond belief and comprehension, not sure how to take this. The girl didn't answer as she readied herself, but Live Wire came to the rescue as she zapped Logan with every bit of power she had behind his back. Logan howled in anguish and suffering in the levels of infinity, and that gave the skull-and-crossbones girl the chance she was waiting for as she delivered a left cross directly into Logan's head as hard as she could, causing his skull to crack back.
Logan toppled to the floor, blackened, smoking, and bleeding, but unconscious and still alive and breathing weakly despite the deadly ambush. Live Wire smirked at the strange, young Female Fury.
"You gotta learn to watch your back, kid," she sneered in a condescending manner. The other girl just snarled as she hefted the heavy body of Wolverine over her shoulder, surprising those all around with the amount of strength she was capable off despite her smaller and thinner frame.
In the interim, Bernadeth was trying to stab Cover Girl and Razor with her knife now magically transformed into a Fahren sword, and with such a sharp and deadly weapon, both the kat and the G.I. Joe were trying to find a way to tackle her without being stabbed, but luck was now on their side. There was a sudden blur as something small and disc-like flew by.
Clang!
Bernadeth was outraged to see her sword was now knocked out of her hands and pinned securely against the wall, embedded into the surface thanks to a yellow and black Batarang fastening it deep into the wooden wall, making it quite stuck.
"My sword! How dare you desecrate my holy weapon!" hissed Bernadeth as she readied herself in a combative, self-defensive pose, and this gave the chance for Batgirl to spring out of the shadows and to knock back the Female Fury with a flying forward kick.
"Now, you two! Help me take her down!" Batgirl yelled as she started to attack Bernadeth. Despite not knowing the black and yellow costumed vigilante, Cover Girl and Razor knew the red-haired girl couldn't handle this by herself and that she was attacking their enemy, and shooting each other a look, Jake and Courtney nodded in unison, agreeing silently. Bernadeth now truly was in a bind as she kept trying to block the three-pronged attack by Razor, Batgirl, and Cover Girl all at once. One opponent was easy enough, especially with her Fahren knife at her side, but now the battleground had changed, especially with her weaponless and fighting an X-Man, a vigilante, and a Joe at the same time. Batgirl snarled as she did a side-kick to Bernadeth's face which made the alien stumble back, and Cover Girl swiftly moved in with an elbow jab followed by a backhanded fist and left hook. Taking the first punch, Bernadeth blocked the second hit and tried to deliver her knee into Cover Girl's stomach, but the female Earthling simply smirked and strafed to the right, avoiding the foot by several inches. And that allowed Jake to deliver his foot into Bernadeth's side, his clawed toes scratching deep. Bernadeth shrieked in rage as she let go of Cover Girl's arm which allowed Cover Girl to deliver her knee into Bernadeth's stomach. Stumbling back, Bernadeth doubled over which allowed Jake to deliver a downwards hammer-punch on top of the Female Fury's head which was followed by a high-kick by Batgirl directly into the alien's face. Bernadeth screamed with murderous rage as she was knocked backwards, her face now smeared with blood before Jake knelt into an automatic sniper's position and aimed his glovatrix directly at his opponent.
"Bola missile…AWAY!" the kat roared, and upon an instant, the Female Fury was tied up with several cords of metal wire as the missile wrapped and encircled around her waist like a lasso, pinning her arms to her sides. This allowed Batgirl and Cover Girl to leap into the air and deliver two simultaneous kicks into the soldier's chest, knocking her down.
Seeing enough, Granny aimed her power truncheon high in the sky at full power, knocking all the Joes, the X-Men and the Misfits back, sending them flying off their feet by the energy discharge. All of the heroes were stunned and disoriented which made it the perfect time to flee.
"Retreat my dears! We have five of the six! We shall return!" Granny commanded, and upon the order, all of the Furies (with Big Barda grabbing Bernadeth to safety) escaped through the Boom Tube Big Barda summoned. All was silent as a grave. The Female Furies had left as swiftly as they came. The X-Men and Misfits were furious as the Joes helped try to take account with Fred still holding Professor Xavier in his arms. Shipwreck was trying his best to allow Ororo to lean on him as he helped her extract herself from the rubble. Kitty then gasped in worry.
"Lance! Professor, Lance is gone! He's missing! I can't find him anywhere!" Spirit looked immediately concerned while Piotr was bitter, almost scandalized at Kitty's concern. It was apparent he was not happy. The Professor closed his eyes as he sensed for the familiar thought-pattern before his eyes widened in alarm.
"He's not on the grounds, Kitty. He has vanished! And so have Logan, Jean, and Wanda!"
"No!" exclaimed Pietro in horror.
"Althea's missing too! Those witches took her!" snarled Shipwreck, at a loss and baring his teeth.
"And we can't find her! We can't track her signal of her communicator with the Mass Device, Dad! She's out of range!" Quinn said worriedly, looking close to crying.
"The Furies," murmured Supergirl, "They must have taken your friends to Apokolips in the Fourth Dimension. They're now on another planet." It was then that the Joes, X-Men, and Misfits noticed the new strangers and were immediately suspicious, but General Hawk raised a hand as he emerged from the outside area where Justin and Kurt were tending to the Joes.
"Hold it, everyone. They're not our enemies. In fact, these two are part of the Justice League, albeit indirectly," he stated, easing the tension.
"Who are you?" Professor Xavier asked, frowning at the two mysterious helpers.
"I'm Batgirl and this is Supergirl," the red-haired masked bat-vigilante answered in a professional, brisk and calm tone despite so many humans and mutants ready to pounce on them, "We came to help you with Apokolips and the Furies…"
000-
Fire. Heat. Something red-hot and emanating powerful waves of intense, burning sensations all around her semiconscious body. It was somewhat like being placed on a cookie sheet inside a red-hot oven.
"Wanda? Wanda, can you hear me? Oh Wanda, wake up, please!" a girl's voice rang in the background, vexed and nearly desperate, making the Scarlet Witch's head throb even worse, and desperate to escape the migraine,
Wanda groaned as she managed to swim out of the sea of blurry grey to vivid color, "Nnnggghhhh…"
"So…was that even English?" Wanda could hear Lance's voice ask from a little bit off to her right, trying to be light and whimsical but failing miserably, concern and panic in his narrowed eyes.
"Alvers, do me a favor and shut up! It was not even funny!" the girl's voice snapped back, and now that she was more lucid, Wanda could make it out as the voice of…Jean?
"Hey, don't tell me to shut up, Red!" Lance could be heard as he snarled back, "Let's not forget you also have a tendency to not know when to keep your mouth shut like how you were when you told Kitty how she made the better choice by dumping me or saying I deserved to be locked in jail for killing my adoptive parents in self-defense!"
"Hate to tell you this, Alvers, but it isn't a crime to tell the truth!" Jean snapped sarcastically.
"Your version of the truth, if I might point out, Jean!"
"Avalanche?" murmured Wanda as she opened her eyes only to see her male Misfit teammate turning to face her. Avalanche was in his Misfit black and red uniform, but to Scarlet Witch's amazement, he was bound tightly by rings and rings of solidified purple, plasma energy, pinning his arms to his sides, and actually being levitated over a pit of…
"Yikes!" gasped Scarlet Witch as she saw that she and Lance were both hovering over a pit of fire, the flames actually bright orange and white, so hot it was starting to chafe her soles of her boots, and upon a second look, Wanda could see that she too was imprisoned by rings of energy and hovered over the bottomless fire well.
"Where are we?" Scarlet Witch cried out.
"We're on the planet Apokolips, Wanda. The Female Furies and their Granny kidnapped us and took us here after they attacked the X-Mansion," Jean said.
"You all right, Wanda? Nothing broken or anything?" Avalanche asked, concerned. Wanda had to admit she was touched by the fact that Lance seemed more concerned about others' safety over his own, especially when she saw the dried blood that formed a telltale stream from Lance's nostril and right temple along with a good portion of his uniform torn from his shoulder.
"No…I don't think so," Scarlet Witch replied as she tested flexing as many joints and limbs as she could think off, grateful nothing cracked or screamed at the effort, "but…ow! My side really hurts and for some reason, the left side of my face is numb."
She then saw Lance's face blanch slightly at this comment. That was not a good sign.
"How bad is it?" Wanda grimaced flatly.
There was a slight pause before Jean answered wearily, "I'll put it this way: be grateful you're alive and leave it at that."
Wanda turned to see that directly across from her was the red-haired X-Man, also incarcerated with the rings of energy, and immediately, the female goth could see Jean's foot which was badly broken, at a slightly odd angle and blood was dripping out from the fabric covering her toes, already soaked.
"Your foot!" exclaimed Wanda. Granted, she normally resented if not disliked Jean and her attitude, but this was serious, and considering that they well all being held prisoner over a flaming pit to Hell, they needed to get help and fast. Jean managed to give Wanda a very grim, weary smile.
"It actually doesn't feel that bad, actually," she tried to admit, "and I think the polymer-cloth covering my foot is slowing down the bleeding enough so that I can hold on longer than expected. And on the upside…"
At this, Jean gave a smug smile as she finished, "…you should have seen what I did to two of the Female Furies before that fat one subdued me."
Althea's voice then popped up with a touch of amused surprise, "Well what do you know? Little Miss Perfect Jean? Admitting she loved sticking a Fury or two and making a joke while not moaning and groaning how much these Apokolips creeps scarred her beautiful body? I'm in shock."
"I guess this is one of those times where we either laugh or we cry," Jean did her best to shakily smile although deep down, she wanted to sob. She was really scared at this point and being abducted by aliens who were possibly even more brutal and evil than Magneto and Cobra Commander was enough to make her quiver inside. Wanda turned to her left to see that Wavedancer and Wolverine were also incarcerated. Althea was a bit in bad shape, with her uniform ripped and second degree burns covering her body where Lashina's whips seared into her skin along with a swollen lip, and on the other extreme, Wolverine, not surprisingly considering his healing factor, was looking pretty much intact and unharmed.
"Wavedancer? Wolverine!" gasped Wanda, "You're here too!"
"Yeah, got knocked out thanks to Live Wire and that witch carrying the steel whips. I swear, when I get the slightest chance, I'm gonna punch those two tramps so hard, their faces are going to be permanently turned inside-out," Althea growled.
"I'll be glad to help you on that one, Althea," Logan said gruffly before he noticed that Althea had the faintest glimmer of tears in her eyes among her flushed, furious face and furrowed brow. Logan then guessed what she was so upset about.
"They'll be all right," Wolverine said as compassionately as he could, which was a foreign act for him really, "And your Dad knew what he was doing. He protected Storm from the Furies and fought like the best of us, and chances are, he's managed to scrape by that cave-in without anything serious. He's a fighter too, just like you, so I know he's made it out in one piece. Try not to worry about him and concentrate on trying to escape out of here during our crisis."
Wolverine then took charge as he turned to Jean and Lance as he said shortly, "Jean, Avalanche…you two regained consciousness before any of us. Did you happen to see if any other X-Men or Misfits were taken away along with us?"
Jean shook her head, partly in relief as she explained, "From what we can tell, it's just us five right now, and from what thought patterns I've managed to pick up, I guess that it's only us five that have been taken. Wherever the rest of the Joes and Misfits and X-Men are, they've probably most likely left alone and abandoned them when they retreated from the fight. From what I can tell, they were only interested in capturing us and making sure that they finished the phase called Recruit."
"And from what we can tell, we're the ones these Apokolips guys are after," Lance said in addition, "But we're not in deep water just yet! We overheard this Darkseid guy wasn't too pleased that he let one of the targeted mutants go free, considering me and Jean heard that he needed six mutants to execute this final phase. Whatever these Furies and Darkseid want with us, they can't do it until they get the last mutant for their plans."
"Any ideas who?" Althea asked. Jean gave her a broken look of worry.
"It's Storm. We're sure of it because we heard the helper named Desaad promise Darkseid he will get Kanto to get the weather-witch for his plans and to beg him to spare his life. Unless I'm mistaken, we don't know any other mutant who's a Misfit or an X-Man who can control the weather."
"So we're safe for now at least for now," Lance exhaled wearily, but he did not forget the emphasis on the shakiness of the last two words of his sentence.
"You mean until the Furies try to regroup and catch Storm again, and they're not gonna have any second thoughts about killing whoever stands in their way to get her," Logan muttered darkly before adding with a touch of remorse, "Not even her…"
Before Jean could ask about who Wolverine was referring to, Wanda then piped up, "They might actually have a better chance next time. Before I was knocked out, I saw two new people helping the Professor and the Joes fight the Furies fight alongside the X-Men and the Misfits! You're not going to believe this, but I saw Supergirl and Batgirl, in the flesh! They were at the Mansion helping us fight them! I think they found out about Live Wire joining Apokolips, so they must have done a little investigation which led them to us!"
"Batgirl? Supergirl?" exclaimed Wavedancer, "I've read about them in their files! They're good guys and despite not being as powerful and skilled as Batman and Superman, they could be a great help! And if we can't get the Justice League to help us right now, they'll be a great help right to the guys back home!"
"But we need help right now, Althea," Logan said curtly before turning to Jean and asking, "And chance you can use your powers to break us free? Any of you kids?"
Jean shook her head, saying, "I tried for the past fifteen minutes or so while you guys were out, and no matter how much I try, I can't use my telekinesis to get us out. Whatever these things are that are holding us, they're stronger than they look. I can't break them or even get them to budge in the slightest."
"And I'd doubt that earthquakes can help free us, not that it does much good anyway since I'm out of direct contact with the Earth…" and at this, Lance shivered.
"Lance, you OK?" Wanda asked. Lance nodded, but his psychometry with the Mother Earth was giving him the willies, literally.
"It's this planet," Lance explained with a somber tone, "I can't explain it, but…this whole place, this Apokolips…it's dead, empty. It feels like…like there's no spirit, no life, no heart of the world that keeps it alive like our planet Earth feels like. I guess that's another reason why I would be powerless here; there's no living earth and rock for me to use."
"And there's no water source for me anywhere, so I'm out," Althea said, realizing things were looking grim. Logan just kept silent; with his claws bound to his sides, he couldn't cut past the energy links holding him in place. Scarlet Witch then powered up slightly, blue wisps of chaos energy dancing between her fingers.
"Let me try a hex-bolt," she muttered, her face twisted in concentration, "If I can just blast it just right…" And with that, the black and red haired Misfit managed to hex the rings surrounding Wolverine, but unfortunately, it didn't quite have the effect in mind. The instant they struck the purple energy rings, their prisons all crackled with life before they let loose a furious and painful discharge of plasma, making it a very agonizing several seconds.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Althea, Lance, Jean, and Wanda screamed as they were slightly electrocuted by the purple energy. Logan managed to hold it all in before the energy disappeared and they were all left, gasping in pain and slightly singed.
Logan barked, "What the hell do you think you were doing, kid! Were you trying to barbeque us!"
"I'm sorry, I thought I could get us out! It didn't work!" protested Wanda angrily and in slight embarrassment.
Then a cold, deep voice spoke from above, "Do not even attempt to try again, Scarlet Witch. The next time you do so, those rings could kill you…and I would want you mutants to still be alive for my plans."
They all looked up to see a figure standing at the edge of the fire-pit they were all imprisoned in, and even with the light shining behind the hulking behemoth, silhouetting his face in the shadows, the Misfits and X-Men could guess that this alien must be Darkseid, recognizing him from the various photo documentation Maggie Sawyer and Commissioner Gordon showed them. His red, pupil-less, fiendish eyes just glowed faintly with the fires of the Omega Effect as he watched the five, captive mutants. Unafraid, Wolverine struggled at his bonds, wishing he could just kill Darkseid right then and there, as he roared with as much anger as he could muster in his voice.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER, DARKSEID! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!"
Jean, Lance and Wanda looked at Logan with puzzled, shocked faces. Who on Earth was Logan talking about? Althea had a look of suspicion cross her countenance as she started trying to think, having a slight inkling of how this related to the eighth and unknown member of the Female Furies…
Darkseid then gave a sick smile of contentment and appeasement as he stated emotionlessly, "She is one of the Furies now, Wolverine, and as long as the brainwashing from Granny Goodness remains, I shall find it best to keep her until she becomes expendable…which may be quite soon in the near future. After all, her main reason for her recruitment was because she is the only one would could possibly capture you and the rest of the chosen six mutants."
"What?" growled Logan, trying with all of his might he could break free from his restraints and pounce on the alien leader right then and there. The malicious megalomaniac gazed at each one of the five mutants with a sickening, morbidly interested smile of satisfaction before he turned around and gazed at a large elegant pedestal in his palace chambers. There, resting on top of the black stone and metal, was his pride and joy, the crystal he had received several months ago in turn for trading in the life of his worthless, adopted son, Kalibak to those power-hungry fools on Earth…
"It's quite simple: once we obtained that weather-witch, the X-Woman Earthling called Storm, I shall be able to use you six mutants to help me gain infinite power and limitless control over the terms of life and will itself…"
"Then you're out of your mind, you sick maniac!" spat Lance, "There's no way in hell we'd ever help you! Once our pals and the Joes find us, they'll pound you and the Furies into the ground for screwing around with us like this!"
Darkseid didn't even turn around to face the geokinetic as continued to caresses the galactic treasure in front of him with his eyes, visions of unlimited power and the fate of all life in every universe created in the power of his hands.
"I highly doubt it, you young fool," Darkseid said as he lovingly gazed upon the M'Krann crystal in the room, "I highly doubt it…"
Author's note: Well, well…quite an interesting development, won't you say? Check back next Friday when tensions rise as the X-Men and Misfits and Joes argue and take separate paths while Batgirl and Supergirl also get caught in the crossfire of the split. Yet as the investigation goes further and further, the X-Men and Misfits will soon realize that all their paths will meet eventually as things take another turn for the worse…
X-Men, Misfits, and Joes: AGAIN? How many times are you going to put us through this torture?
Oh be quiet! Check back next Friday for the chapter "Difference Of Opinions", and until then, read and review! Constructive criticism welcome!