Author's note: Wow, I'm surprised so many people were pained at the argument between the X-Men, the Misfits, the Joes, and Batgirl and Supergirl in the last chapter! Special thanks to asha-man72, GothikStrawberry, Red Witch, L1701E, Doza, Aaron, Sparky Genocide, Lonegrowlithe, Dante Tigerwolf, pauloj1983, Dru, and AnimationLasi for the wonderful reviews! And if you people think this kind of fighting is intense, wait until you see the hurtful comments and arguments I have planned out between all three groups for the LATER crossovers! Heh heh heh…
Althea: See what you've done, Red Witch? Your universe created more insane authors bent on torturing us!
Oh be quiet! Enjoy this chapter everyone!
CHAPTER 8: Gauntlet
"Why do I have the feeling the fates are conspiring to stick it to us?" Cyclops groaned with his head in his hands.
"Trust us, we're not exactly thrilled with this either, Summers," Quicksilver sniffed as he sat morosely on the ground.
"So now we're trapped on Apokolips with no way back home, and this Darkseid guy's gonna find out Storm's here so he can use her along with Lance and the others too," Tabitha groaned. After the initial confusion, the Misfits and X-Men and the Joes discussed their options and their ideas of trying to track down their kidnapped comrades. Kara and Batgirl, though relieved to see that the other was alright, just kept awkwardly quiet as they refused to make eye-contact, keeping a noticeable distance apart from each other.
"And that Kanto guy's still has that group of H.A.T.E. when Commissioner Gordon and Chief Sawyer showed up," Cannonball added, his voice grim and lines of worry appearing on his face, "And if Kanto's an alien from Apokolips, then that could mean that Gordon and Sawyer are going to be in his line of fire, and he's not going to let them off when they know his real reason why he's on Earth."
Batgirl's head snapped back up, alarmed.
"Then they might get hurt! Wasn't there anyone else who came with you who might have been left behind? People who could give them a hand and make sure that they're all right from Kanto and his army?" Batgirl asked, trying her best to keep her voice free of any emotion, but one could detect the concern she had in her mannerisms.
General Hawk then laid a hand on her shoulder, his voice being compassionate yet determined, saying, "Batgirl, I wouldn't worry. Maggie Sawyer is a wonderful cop and a fighter who will give H.A.T.E. and Kanto the beating he deserves. And Commissioner Gordon is just as tough. They'll be fine. The Joes I sent to help them will make sure of it."
Barbara then felt better, but she did note the uneasiness rising in her instincts when she thought she could detect a little warmth in the General's eyes when he mentioned her father's name.
Did he…? Was it possible…?
No, he couldn't, he couldn't possibly know. Only Batman was that capable of guessing it, Batgirl had to reassure herself mentally.
"But the problem is, where are we going to start looking?" Colossus asked. Spirit sighed.
"We're not sure, and since the only one of us who has been to Apokolips before is Supergirl, we don't know the land very well to even start exploring, and by doing so, we'll be wasting valuable time, and it may be too late as it is now. And since this land of the dead is within Darkseid's power and authority, we are all in a worse predicament, and perhaps even more vulnerable than ever before," the Native American G.I. Joe replied.
"And it's so hot…" groaned Iceman, "There's no moisture here on this planet, so I can't even create a lot of ice to do much good if we get attacked!"
"Hey, on the upside, being under this heat and under the light of three suns gives me a great power boost!" marveled Sunspot as he went into his sun-radiation mode, his body outlined with black and yellow energy, "Heck, the suns' beams here are stronger than the ones on Earth, so it's actually feels like I've got more vitality and energy flowing through me! I can't explain it, but my powers feel…different here!"
"Then that'll probably mean you're stronger here than normal and will probably do a lot more damage once we catch up with those Furies," Boom-Boom said, sincerely happy for Roberto.
"Hey, no fair! How come he gets a power boost on Apokolips?" whined Bezerker.
Sunspot couldn't help but be smug as he repeated Ray's words spoken on the day Live Wire attacked the Mansion, saying, "Aw, don't take it too personally, Ray. I'm sure you'll eventually get a chance to prove your worth in a mission…one of these days."
"Keep talking, and you're gonna have my fist rammed down your throat, Sunspot!" growled Bezerker as he held up a gloved-fist. While they were fighting, some of the other Misfits and X-Men were actually starting attempts to mend the burnt bridges, though it was clearly evident in everyone's minds that the lingering feelings of mistrust and hostility still remained.
"Um…why did you bring Lockheed with you, Shadowcat?" Dragonfly asked a bit warily as Lockheed kept fluttering around the sky, spewing wisps of smoke from his nostrils. Shadowcat then explained.
"Like, I couldn't leave him in the Mansion all alone. And with that one Fury with the crossbow totally using her pet hounds to fight along with her, I like figured that maybe we could so even the odds with Lockheed giving us some totally extra firepower."
"You have a point; considering we're dealing with the Furies, we could use all the extra help we could get," admitted Dragonfly.
Razor then added, addressing to General Hawk, "And we were able to convince Professor Xavier to allow the X-Men to bring their glovatrixes with them in case their powers aren't sufficient enough, along with Forge bringing along his handy bag of gadgets and tricks. Trust me on this, General: if the Furies were able to anticipate our attacks based on what they've seen of the kids' mutant powers, then the last thing they're gonna expect are the kids packing some heat."
"Oh yeah! Jamie told us about that!" Brittany exclaimed, "All the X-Men that were taught by you built their own glovatrix weapons which allow them to shoot a myriad of missiles and projectiles, and from what we've seen of your blueprints, some of those designs are really impressive if not destructive enough to become even Misfit-worthy!"
Jake nodded before he did a slight double take, thinking for a beat, before he raised one eyebrow suspiciously and stared at Brittany, Daria, and Quinn, saying, "Wait a kat-picking minute. How exactly did you three see my blueprints of the glovatrixes? I never recalled showing them to you, and I always keep them under lock and key in a hidden vault in the hangar garage…"
The Delgado Triplets grinned as they intoned sweetly, "You're gonna need a new vault…"
"Now deep down, can we honestly say that isn't much of a surprise?" Rogue groaned as she rolled her eyes wearily.
"Well, at least it's something," General Hawk admitted, "and we're at least better prepared than what I had originally anticipated, so it's slightly in our favor…"
"You mean in our favor, General Hawk," Cyclops said a bit aloof as he indicated solely to the X-Men, "and if I recall correctly, didn't the Misfits and G.I. Joe want to split up from our agenda?"
Multiple then turned on Cyclops angrily, shouting, "Cyclops, will you grow up? Do you honestly want to keep fighting when we're all stranded on an alien planet?"
"The kid's gotta point, homme," Gambit sighed, biting back a grimace from showing on his face, "Remy don't like it any more than you, but we have to face facts that we're all stuck together like this, and unless we wanna get out of Apokolips with our hides, we can't split up again."
"And I agree with Multiple and Gambit as well, Cyclops," Professor Xavier replied as he managed to drum his fingers on the armrests of his wheelchair, "Until we find our students and Logan, we may find it the best if we work together, and that means allowing to share each others' resources to achieve our common goal."
Low Light then glared at Cyclops as he said with bristling resentment, "Just to make you feel better, Cyclops, we're not liking this anymore than you."
Scott simply glared back with his arms crossed over his chest as he muttered, "Hardly changes things considering it still feels like the X-Men are doing most of the work and getting the short end of the stick while the rest of you do absolutely nothing helpful."
Toad had enough as he snarled, taking out his wooden staff, "Speaking of the short end of the stick, yo, how'd you like me to take my stick and ram it up your - ?"
"Toad! That's enough! Things are already rough!" Roadblock snapped sternly.
"And it begins again…" groaned Whitelighter as he tried to get in the middle between Scott and Todd, "Please you guys, stop fighting. Please. If we're going to find Althea and Jean, then we're going to need to work together. And fighting isn't going to help them any faster…"
Cyclops and Toad remained silent, but they still gave each other the evil eye intently.
"And we're going to need to keep an eye out in case Darkseid tries to take Storm away," Beast sighed, shooting Ororo a worried glance.
"But why does Darkseid need six of our friends for?" Multiple asked, astonished.
General Hawk answered, "That I am not sure about, but whatever it is, it can't be any good. All we can hope now is that we can locate Darkseid's headquarters where he's holding our team members prisoner and that he has no idea that Kanto sent us to his planet."
"Uh…comrades, that might not happen" gulped Colossus as he pointed to the sea of blood in the skies, "We're in trouble…"
"Oh geez," cursed Low Light as he, Batgirl, Supergirl, the X-Men, the Misfits, and the Joes could see the massive legion of aerial Apokoliptic Parademons, snarling and wielding energy scimitars as they descended from the heavens to slaughter the intruders.
"We're in trouble," whimpered Magma as the fight began.
000-
"Pretty smart of you, Kanto, cause I sure hafta admit, you've got balls for trying to screw with us all over again," growled Detective Harvey Bullock as he pointed his rifle at the strangely-uniformed Kanto, "Supplying weapons to H.A.T.E. and the Friends of Humanity so that you could get all the information you needed for your louse of a master about the X-Men and the Misfits, all the meanwhile causing enough damage and your own private war to make it easier for you and those Fury bitches to kidnap those mutant kids. And all under the cover of some snooty, legitimate organization here on Earth itself, exactly like you did with Intergang back at Metropolis several years ago when you wanted to test out Superman's strengths and weaknesses over the city."
"And it is such a shame that you were too late in stopping me from acquiring everything I needed for my Lord and Master to harness the power of all life itself," Kanto spoke in a mockingly, tragic tone as he then commanded to his soldiers, "Troops, wipe them all out immediately!"
"Yeah, right, you alien freak!" yelled one H.A.T.E. soldier as he pointed his gun at Kanto, "You think I'm gonna take orders from you and that Darkseid bastard? I may hate these freak-lovers, but that doesn't mean there's any way in hell I'm going to follow you, Tonka or Kanto, or whatever the hell your name is!"
As if on cue, most if not all of the H.A.T.E. faction that Kanto had brought with him to subdue the X-Men were now turned against him. His own followers and using the very weapons built by the alien races of Apokolips. It was highly ironic, to say the least.
"Hmph, they may be bigots, but at least they're sincere and genuine bigots," mused Detective Montoya.
"Once we clear you and the cops out, we'll take over H.A.T.E. and make sure we use the weapons you gave us to keep this planet free of any extraterrestrials!" sneered an athletic woman with blond hair, "Of course, no hard feelings and all, considering you did help H.A.T.E. reach its full potential and get some really prominent financial backers like Lexcorp and Fisk Enterprises, but as you've said so many times before, the only good alien's a dead alien."
"It's really kind of funny if you think about it, huh?" chortled another minuteman as he aimed his plasma-gloves at the blue and yellow clad Kanto, "So any last words, Tonka?"
"Just one," Kanto smiled as he pressed the ruby jewel on top of the handle of his cane once again, "Farewell…"
At once, the majority of the H.A.T.E. army was sent into throes of unspeakable pain and agony, dropping their weapons in torment while clutching their heads and bodies tightly, their faces starting to flush as blood actually began to leak out of their noses and ears. Several toppled to their knees, nearly fainting from the pain. A few of the lucky soldiers who were not affected from whatever Tonka did just stood there, their faces in complete and bewildered shock.
"What the hell is he doing to them?" Commissioner Gordon asked, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.
"Dios Mio!" gasped Montoya as she and the other police officers then saw to the horror that the distressed armed forces of H.A.T.E. were now starting to change, transmute, and metamorphose before their very eyes, their bodies writhing and extending in proportions not naturally possible. A few individuals were literally transforming into weird, humanoids before their very eyes, all of them with grotesque faces, glowing eyes, and hulking, bulging bodies complete with metal armor. Some of the police officers from both Gotham City and Metropolis felt the urge to throw up when they saw the skin and flesh of some of the bigot men and women melt right off like water, revealing their new and deformed bodies of black flesh and metal, crackling with white energy snaked throughout their physiology as the energy altered their cellular structure bit by bit, slowly and painfully. The screams of pain soon gave away to animalistic howls of the damned and insane as the screeches of the H.A.T.E. soldiers no longer sounded anything remotely human. Three or four soldiers (and Maggie Sawyer and Bullock noted that they were barely older than teenagers) were now gaping at what used to be their fellow legionaries in a stupefied daze, and one male young adult was already on the ground in fear, wetting his pants.
"Holy Jesus H. Christ!" Bullock yelled.
"What the hell did you do to them, Kanto? What did you do to them?" Maggie screamed in disbelief. Granted, she hated the Friends of Humanity and H.A.T.E. like the most abhorred plague, but they didn't deserve this! And from what she could tell, these weren't going to be easy beings to fight. Kanto then grinned as he pointed his staff at the SCU and GCPD, the jewel on the head of the wooden stick gripped in his hands.
"Simply, a little insurance to deal with you potential pests," the alien henchman said in a seductively, poisonous tone, "All of the willing men and women who volunteered to ally themselves for the cause of H.A.T.E. and the Friends of Humanity were subjected to several seemingly harmless medical procedures in case I should ever have the need to change them into more suitable forms to deal with the likes of the X-Men and the Misfits."
"You lied to us, you bastard!" sobbed one of the remaining humans of H.A.T.E., tears running down her cheeks, "You lied to us! You said those shots and supplements were to give us precautions against mutants' telepathy and the other proposed biological diseases and plagues that the aliens could carry and pass to us to wipe out our races! You lied to us! You turned my own brother into a freak!"
"More like an improved human-alien hybrid, my dear loyalist…one who is completely steadfast and dependable and will obey my every command. And as for you my dear servants of Apokolips…kill them all."
With a roar, the now modified and foul abominations that Kanto created started to lumber and charge towards both the task forces brought by Gordon and Sawyer, now mindless drones and complying with every whim the alien would invoke upon them. Two or three of them set themselves on their own allies, and three of the four remaining human followers of H.A.T.E. fell screaming as the beast set themselves upon them, snapping and eviscerating them into scattered and acrimonious remains and pulp within seconds. Yet without warning, several steel ninja stars flew out suddenly and struck the cane out of Kanto's palms, leaving his hands immediately and seriously injured, streaked with blood and harsh flesh wounds. Simultaneously, a plethora of feathered darts with tips made of plastic explosives and laced with curare rained down immediately upon the front line of creatures, inserting themselves into the thick hides of the humanoids. And upon contact, they set off a series of tiny, yet excruciating explosions, hacking bits of their flesh at once and leaving their bodies riddled with tiny, smoking, charred puncture wounds.
"What in the name of the Dark Lord?" snarled Kanto as he looked to the source of the attacks.
Maggie and Commissioner Gordon looked to the side along with Kanto with relived wonder to see who had helped them. There, standing in simple battle stances but with their stainless Japanese steel katana swords and weapons at their sides were the G.I. Joe ninjas, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Jinx. Snake Eyes was wearing his traditional regalia of an army uniform complete with a black hood and a silver visor over the eyepieces of his mask while Storm Shadow was wearing a completely white ninja uniform with various patches of black leather sown in to hold his multitude of weapons hidden on his person. Jinx was wearing a plain burgundy-colored ninja attire tied with a black, silken sash around her waist.
"What? Who the hell are they?" Bullock sputtered in confusion. Jinx then called out to Sawyer and Gordon and their squad while Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow then dashed with their swords drawn towards Kanto.
"Commissioner Gordon! Chief Sawyer! We're with G.I. Joe! General Hawk sent us to help you guys out with Kanto! He figured you guys could use the back-up! I repeat, we're ninjas from G.I. Joe! Hawk sent us!" Jinx yelled.
"Good 'ol Hawk," murmured Gordon, smiling to himself before he gave a fierce command to the officers of both the Gotham and Metropolis special-crimes units, "Well, you heard the lady, people! Take down H.A.T.E.! Open fire!"
Everyone complied as Jinx helped the remaining human member of H.A.T.E. escape before the girl could fall prey to the claws of her former friends and allies. Jinx felt her heart go out to the broken, betrayed follower; she had just seen her friends die and not to mention the very beliefs she put her heart and soul into thrown back into her face.
"Holy shit, these things are bullet-proof! The bullets don't even faze them!" yelled Gordon as he fired repeatedly upon the leading H.A.T.E. golem, only to see that its hide was deceptively hardy and resistant, the metal projectiles bouncing off with hot sparks with absolutely no effect.
"And neither are the laser-cannons we brought, Commissioner!" yelled a Gotham City officer as she kept sniping another ogre with her rifle, causing a few minor burns but nothing that could truly drive them away. Maggie then turned to the female H.A.T.E. solider Jinx had rescued, the girl sobbing up a storm.
"What's your name?" Maggie asked sternly.
"Ab-…Abby…" wept the young female, wiping her nose and streaming eyes. Bullock, though he was a bit understanding, had a grim and stone-cold face as he managed to pick up one of H.A.T.E.'s guns, modified with alien technology, and held it in front of the ex-H.A.T.E. follower.
"If you want to get your brother back, Abby, then show us how the hell to use these things," he growled powerfully.
"So, Earth finally has a few worthy opponents," Kanto smiled to himself as he drew out large, wicked-looking twin sabers from thin air, the metal blades pulsating with dark radiation and plasma energy, "You nameless two think you can eliminate Apokolips' number one swordsman and assassin? Let's dance then, you fools."
Without a single word, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow complied as the three engaged in the deadly showdown…
000-
At the same time on Apokolips, things were getting intense as the heroes fought off the demon pack…
"Winds of hell, storm and fire!" Ororo cried out in a gripping and compelling voice as she flew up in the air and used all of her willpower and strength to blow back the multitude of Parademons with numerous typhoons and gales, "Drive them back! Drive them away! Help us stop them from carrying out the damned gods' evil wills of this infernal planet!"
"All right, Stormy! You're doing good! Finish off the landlubbers!" Shipwreck cheered encouragingly from the background as he managed to shoot another aerial solder from the sky with his dual Eagles.
It was incredibly successful, but determined, the Apokoliptic aliens began to fire with their energy scimitars, raining down a massive blitz of energy from above while a large portion then landed on the ground and slowly inched their way towards the group of Earthlings, walking steadily yet surely, ready for some complete and utter carnage. Despite Storm's best efforts, she could not stop all of them…at least not without endangering her students and friends as well.
"Oh no!" Iceman gasped as he tried to use his powers to create a wall of ice to block the attackers from getting to close to them, only to find out that he could barely invoke enough artic energy to cause a damp mist, "I'm iced out!"
It should have come to no surprise, really. With the excessive heat and lack of water molecules in the exceedingly dry air, there was no source of humidity anywhere that Bobby could use to create ice from, which left him completely vulnerable as the other X-Men, Misfits, and Joes fought back the mass of aliens as best as they could. Iceman yelped as a group of four Apokoliptic soldiers then all fired simultaneously at Bobby from different angles, all ready to converge directly upon and obliterate him. Yet Iceman was not alone…
"Iceman, watch out!" yelled Blob as he immediately got in front of the teenager before the energy-blasts could strike him. Iceman flinched at the white-hotness of the energy discharges as they struck Blob with full-force, but to the Parademons' surprise, Blob, though his front section of his belly was still smoking, remained standing and pretty much intact.
"Back off, ya' buzzards! Leave him alone and try picking on someone your own size!" Fred bellowed fiercely, and upon the tone of challenge, the Parademons immediately forgot their former target as they quickly set themselves upon Blob. Considering that the emissions from the energy scimitars had no effect, the squad then directly charged upon the gigantic Texan as they all stabbed him fiercely in the gut and torso with their blades. Bobby winced. Yet Blob just smirked as the Parademons then realized with confused horror that though the heads of their spears were directly embedded into the folds of his stomach, no blood came out. In fact, the very crevices of Blob's fat made them quite firmly stuck, and now, the aliens were weaponless. Blob then brutally grabbed two Parademons by the necks, causing them to howl with pain, before he flung them at the other two with a considerable amount of strength. With such great force, all four were sent flying by twenty feet or so before they collided painfully against a rock wall, causing it to crumble upon impact and leaving the four bruised and battered and unconscious bodies of the four soldiers lying lifelessly among the rubble.
"You all right, Iceman?" Blob asked a bit hurriedly as he managed to use the muscles of his stomach to push the four, jutting spears out of his body. Iceman, though a bit rueful, nodded. Blob then couldn't help but smirk as he tossed a scimitar to the X-Man so that he could use it to temporarily defend himself.
"Not bad for a Fat-Boy, huh?" Bobby's face reddened as he looked incredibly scandalized. Blob then called to Nightcrawler and Beast, both of whom were nearby and dodging energy blasts as he tossed two of the acquired weapons to the two X-Men.
"Hey, Mr. McCoy, Nightcrawler! Think you can use these?"
"Mein Gott! Ich bedanke mich, Fred!" Kurt exclaimed happily as he and Beast grasped their new gifts.
"Nightcrawler, team up with me and help me rid the infestation from behind!" commanded Beast, and Kurt, realizing how he was trained before in the Danger Room, nodded once before he leapt onto Beast's back, piggy-back style. After scanning the field with his eyes for several seconds, the teenager teleported in a puff of black brimstone. Within a second, both Kurt and Beast reappeared upon the back of one of the numerous Parademons in the crowd before they both jabbed the scimitars into the alien, causing a furious discharge of yellow plasma and blood upon contact. The Parademon howled once before it died and began to drop from the sky. Yet immediately, Beast and Nightcrawler teleported off that Parademon and reappeared again on another Parademon before cutting it down. After three attempts, the others in the legion got wise as they tried to go for the offense, but upon seeing that the enemy was now guessing to their scheme, both Kurt and Hank split immediately. With his graceful agility and powerful legs, Beast nimbly leapt upon neighboring attackers without hesitation, using their backs as steeping stones and giving lethal jabs with his blades in their heads before jumping off and continuing his trail of destruction on the next victim. And Nightcrawler was as equally elusive as he kept disappearing and reappearing at random, evading each shot the Parademons fired on him. And every time Kurt materialized out of the blue, he took out a soldier with his scimitar before the other warriors could do anything to stop him.
Within minutes, thanks to Beast and Nightcrawler's help, the horde of mindless, Apokoliptic combatants were thinning little by little. And nearby, Rogue was doing fine on her own as well…
"Git' ready!" Rogue snarled as she flew into a tightly packed group of Parademons in the sky and started wailing on them, using whatever martial arts she could to pummel them out of the sky and debilitate them from attacking her friends. The Parademons were truly taken aback as they weakly tried to counterattack. By the Dark Lord, not even Big Barda herself could measure up to the temperamental fury Rogue displayed as she struck wildly and dangerously, in a frenzy and sending each monster flying by the second. The Parademons were at a loss and stuck when they saw that being at such close quarters with an enemy made it vain to blast her, at least not without striking one of their own. And thanks to Rogue's invulnerability, stabbing her was as equally ineffective. Rogue then grabbed the remaining Parademon by the throat, sucker punching it in the stomach three times before delivering a final hammer punch onto its head and decking it so hard, it came crashing down to the ground and made a deep crater upon impact, dead.
Professor Xavier was in no trouble as Cover Girl, Blind Master, Spirit, and even General Hawk used a variety of martial skills and fighting techniques to overpower and render several aliens unconscious. Even though the Parademons were telepathically shielded, the Professor could still send telepathic commands to the X-Men, the Joes, and the Misfits, giving them valuable insight of the battlefield and making their team-up efforts all the more successful. And General Hawk was soon discovered to be an incredible sharpshooter as he took a stolen scimitar and blasted back as many of the aliens as he could, never missing once.
Dragonfly then saw a Parademon charging directly at her from the sky, its scimitar raised, but Batgirl came to the rescue…
"Oh no, you don't!" the red-haired girl yelled as she shot a wire from her miniature Bat-Grappler, the line and hook ensnaring the Parademon around the legs within an instant, and with all of her strength, she grunted as she pulled back. The line immediately went taut as it yanked the hulking monstrosity backwards. As expected, the Parademon was truly surprised as it felt its feet jerk out from underneath and sending it crashing to the ground, just a few feet away from Dragonfly.
"Batgirl, thank you!" Lina cried out gratefully, and enraged at being made a fool out of, the alien snarled like a mad beast as it glanced back to see who tripped it, but Batgirl then got a brilliant idea as she called to Rogue who was flying directly over her.
"Rogue, think you can use this creep as a way to clear the horde above?" Batgirl yelled encouragingly as she tossed the Bat-Grappler to the gothic mutant. Rogue grinned wordlessly as she took off high in the sky with the snare firmly in her gloved hands, and screaming, the Parademon was dragged along by its legs, the steel wire still firmly entangled around its ankles and leaving it quite stuck. Rogue then dove into another condensed group of warriors above, barreling her way through directly in the midst.
"Let's play 'round-the-world', sugah!" Rogue declared in a strong voice as she started to spin like a top with the reeled-in alien still hung out on the grappling-wire like a fish. Anyone who has played the famous around-the-world trick with a yo-yo knows to make sure you have a clear and wide, open space unless if you didn't mind causing a passerby a slight concussion. Rogue was pretty much doing the same thing, except that she didn't mind the aliens getting caught in the path of her makeshift weapon, with the still screaming Parademon on the end of the line. As a result of her spinning tactic, not one of the Parademons were out of danger as the line caught them by surprise and sent them flying, some even being neatly decapitated by the sharp metal wire. And within minutes, Rogue gave a grunt as she sent the last of the army reeling to the ground before throwing the ensnared Parademon she was holding in her hands to a fire-pit below. Her area of the skies was pretty much clear now.
"Easy win," she snorted to herself with simple pride.
Meanwhile, back to back, Boom-Boom and Magma were surrounded by three Parademons who had finally managed to plant their feet on the ground, despite Storm's assault using her hurricanes, as they advanced towards the two Earthling girls with their scimitars glowing and crackling with energy.
However, if the aliens thought that Amara and Tabitha would be an easy kill…they were sorely mistaken.
"'Mara, let's give these creeps the heave-ho!" Boom-Boom said, winking at her partner, and recognizing the signal, Magma grinned as she grasped Boom-Boom's hand tightly with hers. Like magic, thanks to countless training sessions with Wolverine's martial arts classes and Cyclops' persistent eye in the Danger Room, Magma and Boom-Boom teamed up their attacks simultaneously, as friends and as sisters. Amara took a running start and took a flying leap towards the Parademon in front of Tabitha, while Tabitha grasped Amara's hand with both of hers and swung the Roma Nova princess with all of her strength. Like a baseball bat, Magma was veered violently towards the Parademon right before it was about to fire with its scimitar, but Boom-Boom was faster, and without fail, Amara's feet struck the Parademon's head with full, blunt force, cracking it's head painfully to the side. The Parademon screeched in an unearthly, demonic, high-pitched tone as it clutched it's bleeding face with its metal claws. The other two Parademons were livid at Magma kicking their fellow ally, but the two X-Girls were far from done. Before the enemy had a chance to strike, Magma quickly landed back on her feet after being swiveled around, positioning herself directly behind Tabitha's back again before she quickly summoned two fireballs in her hands and flung them in quick succession at the other two opponents, the flames scoring a direct hit in their faces, any organism's weak point. Taken aback by the searing heat and light, the two Parademons were temporarily blinded as they screamed and rubbed their charred and burnt faces painfully. Meanwhile, Boom-Boom managed to grab the first Parademon's energy scimitar from the floor before gripping it firmly and using it to sweep the alien off its feet, leaving it to crash back on to the ground on it's back, stunned. Without pausing, Boom-Boom then used the energy scimitar to blast the two Parademons that Magma had managed to confuse earlier with her fireballs, and on cue, the weapon had beautifully sent the two aliens flying back far (over a hundred feet) before they fell into the bottomless pits below in the distance. The remaining opponent was still shakily trying to rise, but a single time-bomb as large as a basketball and a fire-blast stream kept him down permanently.
KABOOM!
"Guess these aliens don't know not to pick on girls," Magma giggled as she saw the Parademon's charred and messy carcass topple back down to the ground. Tabitha and Amara then gave each other a series of high-fives before ending the celebratory moves with a hip-bump, whooping, hooting and cheering all the meanwhile.
Meanwhile, Cannonball got his own scheme as he flew around the skies, ramming the legions back and forth like a powerful battering ram. Flying back down to the ground, the blond-haired country boy then grabbed several large rocks and boulders as big as beach-balls, and using a considerable amount of upper-body strength, Sam managed to deliver his treasures to Gambit and Colossus.
"Hey, Colossus, Gambit! Think you can use these to start the fireworks on these greenhorns?" Cannonball crowed as he gave them to Piotr. Remy suddenly had a mischievous smile on his face.
"Oui, Sam! Remy know exactly what you'd be thinking!" Gambit smiled as he touched both of the rocks Colossus was holding, charging up the stone with molecular bio-kinetic energy and causing them to unstably glow and quiver from the threat of energy building up to cause a molecular combustion. With a grunt, Colossus heaved all the rocks, one by one, at different and various points in the sky, and the Parademons were immediately taken out by the force of the kinetic-bombs. Like Cannonball had just said, it was as stunning and brilliant as a fireworks display, only Parademons were being killed left and right.
"Back off, you little parasites!" yelled Supergirl as she flew circles around the evil soldiers, blasting each one as quickly and efficiently as she could with her heat-beams, the tine yet powerful streams of light shooting out of her eyes exactly like Cyclops. Though it was painstaking and slow, each airborne troop died under the powerful gaze of the alien adolescent. There were too many for her to deal with entirely in this manner, but at least Kara could lessen the throng a bit. Even taking care of one of these soldiers could help turn the tide of the war.
While Xi managed to bring a Parademon down to its knees with a well-placed kick to its stomach, his eyes wildly rested upon a nearby hole of fire, the mouth of the pit spewing a pillar of inferno that was at least thirty feet tall and likely at temperatures that rivaled the heat of lava. Then Xi got an idea as he called out to one of his teammates.
"Quicksilver!" yelled Xi hoarsely as he pointed to the column of heat, "The fire pits! If Supergirl's heat-beams can hurt these aerial troops, then they aren't fireproof!"
Quicksilver's eyes then widened as he caught on to what Xi was suggesting he could do, and he whooped, "I'm on it! Good idea, Xi!"
Within seconds, a silver, blurry cyclone encircled around and around the pit endlessly, going at speeds in the thousands, and with Quicksilver's speed, the winds started to pick up, increasing in intensity by exponential proportions by the second. And like clockwork, the column of flames from the fire pit immediately was broken loose as the stream of fire, guided by Quicksilver into the sky, set itself upon a massive portion of the Apokolips army. With the wild heat spreading chaotically in all directions, the Parademons could not outrun it and all they could do was helplessly scream as the heat burned them to ashes. Upon viewing the annihilation of the opponents, Quicksilver rushed back down to the ground and ceased his assault, and the flames retreated back to the fire pit, leaving the army with heavy losses in a matter of seconds.
"Ah, yet another brilliant move done by fabulous, moi!" Pietro said in a haughty voice to Xi, dripping with arrogance, "Just where exactly would you be without me?"
"A lot happier that there's one less pervert around the world, that's what!" Supergirl snapped, overhearing this overblown statement, as she flew by while pounding a Parademon repeatedly with her fists, ramming it backwards.
"Oh, don't deny it! You know you want me!" Pietro grinned back sweetly.
"Drop dead, you little, albino hummingbird!"
"Real smooth, Pietro," Xi sighed sardonically, rolling his eyes, as he managed to leap upon the shoulders of a passing by Parademon and snapping its neck cleanly before it had a chance to react.
Cyclops watched another Parademon shriek its death cry as he blasted it out of the sky with a fully-powered optic blast, the huge, spanning bean cutting the alien into two and desecrating its remains to almost nothing as the solar energy consumed the alien entirely. However, for every one Scott destroyed, five or six more took its place, and there was a plethora of backup warriors, ready to finish what their fallen comrade had attempted. Cyclops then knew he had to try a different tactic, and immediately, he knew what to do. The X-Men's leader had always prided himself of having an eye and an inborn ability for mathematical tricks and geometry, and countless sessions in the Danger Room ever since at a young age only further honed that skill. Cyclops waited until the right moment, when he could get a clear view of the position of every Parademon within his range of sight, calculating the various speeds and arrivals to the exact points in space, and fired an intense optic blast. In a flash, the beam refracted and bounced off each Parademon, one by one in a spectacular jagged line, until at least thirty or so of the aliens had fallen prey to a single discharge from his visor.
"Whoa!" Bezerker gasped as he saw the mass of aliens crumple to the ground, the sky raining with dead bodies, "Cyclops, how'd you do that?"
"I haven't tried a stunt like that for ages," Cyclops simply said as he blasted back another Apokolips warrior, "It's nice to know that the old skills haven't atrophied…"
Sunspot was truly in his element, and thanks to the increase in the suns' radiation on Apokolips, the dark-haired, Brazilian mutant could shine in this brawl. Like a comet, he streaked all along the skies, blasting back any Parademon with power blasts of sunlight radiation, and even though many Parademons tried to grab the Earthling teenager and dog-piled en masse, Sunspot wasn't the least bit hindered as he threw them off with ease thanks to his super-strength.
"Looks like turkeys really don't know how to fly!" laughed Roberto to himself as he sent several back to come crashing down to the ground thanks to several judo throws. Storm then cried out as three Parademons managed to sneak up on her from behind and blasted her with their scimitars. Ororo gave a soft cry before she lost consciousness and toppled from the sky, yet the alien trio flew down and grabbed her before she could hit the ground. Batgirl then surreptitiously took a strange gun out of her yellow utility belt before she fired upon Storm's body…
"STORM!" the X-Men and Misfits screamed as they saw the lifeless form of the weather-witch being taken away by the three Parademons, and viciously enraged, Shipwreck managed to take a flying leap and tackle the group abducting Storm before they could get far off the ground. The three Parademons roared in consternation as they viciously tried to buck the brawling sailor off their backs while keeping a tight grip on their bounty. To the Joes' horror, the Parademons were ascending into the skies as an unbelievable rate, rising higher and higher into the air, and Shipwreck being unwillingly carried. If he fell, it would have been a lethal drop to the ground.
"Shipwreck, you dumb moron, let go! They'll kill you!" raged Cover Girl as Rogue, Sunspot, Cannonball and Supergirl pursued after them. Yet the G.I. Joe sailor showed no intention that he heard as he kept raining blow after blow on the heads and backs of the Apokoliptic aliens.
"Get yer mitts off of her, ya' overgrown, parasitic seagulls!" Shipwreck roared as he then enveloped one Parademon with a lethal chokehold.
Crack!
The Parademon went limp as its head lolled to the side, broken in two, and now dead, it was no longer flying under its own willpower as it started to plummet back to the ground far below…and taking Shipwreck with it. Unbothered by the death, the other two Parademons speedily flew off with their prisoner as Shipwreck nose-dived to his doom along with the dead body of the alien.
"Don't worry, we gotcha!" yelled Sam as he and Kara managed to firmly grab the sailor around the waist and safely brought him back down to the ground. Rogue and Sunspot looked back in the skies, but the Parademons had vanished with Storm; they were the only survivors of the army that had managed to escape.
"Shipwreck, are you all right?" Fred asked worriedly.
"No! We lost her! We tried to stop them, and we lost Storm!" raged Shipwreck.
"No they didn't!" Batgirl said as she held up her black gun, "I managed to shoot a Bat-tracer onto Storm's body before those things carried her away! With any luck, we can trace the signal to where they're taking her!"
"And if they take Storm to Darkseid, then you can bet that's where we'll find Jean and the others too!" Cyclops said, catching on, "Batgirl, good thinking! We'll be able to save them now!"
"Here, give me your tracer-device," Quinn said to Batgirl as she held up her scanner in plain view, "With our scanners, we'll be able to increase the range of the frequency-signal so that we can trace the signal to the other end of this planet if it comes down to that. It'll be a lot more accurate than your handheld tracer's antenna."
"I dunno…" murmured Batgirl as she dubiously handed the apparatus to Trinity who at once connected it to their scanners via three pink cables, "The Bat-Signal is specifically created and encrypted so that no one would be able to trace nor hack into the private frequency, and it registers at such a high…"
"Got it, we have Batgirl's tracer on radar," chimed in all three girls at once, and upon this assertion, Batgirl's jaw just dropped in shock.
"Wha- ? How did - ? You three - ? But…but that's impossible! No one can break into Batman's radio-frequency! It's never been done! No one's ever been able to come close to hacking into the Bat-wave!" Batgirl stammered.
"Your Batman hasn't dealt with the likes of Trinity yet, so try not to be too surprised to see what the Triplets can do given the time and effort," Low Light grinned.
"And they're fast, but not fast enough to escape detection!" Daria said in a serious voice as she held up her scanner to ship to blip on her radar-screen, "And with our pinpoint accuracy of the same transmission and teleportation technology we use for the Mass Device, they're heading east-northeast of our position! If we follow them now, we'll be able to find out where Jean, Lance, Wanda, Althea, and Wolverine are being kept!"
"Well then, what are we waitin' for?" Rogue snapped as she pointed at the second wave of Parademons approaching from the distance, "I'm not sticking around to be a good candidate for target practice to those nut-jobs! Let's move!"
000-
"Wow, these weapons really have a kick!" murmured Sawyer in surprise as she used the sonic bazooka that the H.A.T.E. soldiers had previously used before on Iceman and Razor of the X-Men back at the carnival. Like magic, the sonic waves blasted back the deformed creatures and sent them flying. Thanks to Abby's help, the Gotham City and Metropolis Special Crimes Units were able to properly use the very alien weapons given to H.A.T.E. by the extraterrestrial technology of Apokolips and simply used it back upon Kanto's army. And with these newer and more powerful weapons, the host of aliens creatures created by the Apokolips swordsman were quickly subdued. And Kanto was having quite some difficulty as well against three ninjas.
Clang! Katang! Skink! Katang! Ting, ting, shink, katang! Clang!
The very energy swords Kanto was wielding were especially lethal, made to weigh as light as feathers yet were as unbreakable as adamantium, and with the flickering wisps of plasma dancing around the blades, they were hot enough to melt sand into glass within a few seconds of contact. Kanto himself had used lasers and painstakingly forged the swords until the very edges of the blades were only a mere molecule wide, sharper than any razor and possibly harsh enough to cleave a very skyscraper in two. Yet the alien was confused, befuddled even, as he pursued and relentlessly assailed the three G.I. Joe ninjas, amazed that the Joes' very swords could withstand the strikes he made with his superior weapons. Jinx then caught the look of perplexity on the assassin's face.
"Surprised, are you?" she growled as she expertly parried Kanto's saber before executing a quick double thrust followed by an upwards, backhanded slash towards the torso (yet Kanto successfully blocked it), "I guess you've never dealt with adamantium and Japanese steel before, you ignorant jerk of a swordsman! They're just as strong as anything you can come up with from Apokolips, and trust me, us ninjas aren't exactly stupid when we deal with arrogant warmongers like you!"
Then using her sword as a supporting cane, Jinx managed to pivot her entire body on her sword before placing a blunt kick into Kanto's face, causing the alien to stumble back, disoriented and distracted, which was exactly what Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow had been waiting for. In a frenzied and blurry show of clashing swords, both the Joes unremittingly barraged Kanto with numerous techniques, both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow complementing each others moves in a eerily beautiful and impressive dance of swords and knives. If Snake Eyes struck high, Storm Shadow struck low. If Storm Shadow used his twin daggers, Snake Eyes switched to his twin swords. And amazingly enough, if Storm Shadow had a katana in his left hand and a dagger in his right, Snake Eyes would arm himself with the exact same weapons with switching them in opposite hands. And Kanto was now truly stuck as he realized he was getting himself over his head while his raids and assaults became more wild, a sure sign of panic. If he tried to stab one of the ninjas, the other would expertly and stoutly block the blow for their comrade, leaving the other one free to harm him. By the beasts of Apokolips, there had never been a swordsman who could even match up to a fraction of these warriors from G.I. Joe!
Snake Eyes then took a chance, and when Kanto thrust both of his swords, Storm Shadow parried and caught them in a firm grip with his two katana-blades in a crisscross trap, leaving Snake Eyes free to dive with his sword at Kanto's side.
Slash!
Kanto roared with anger and outrage as his right side was now heavily bleeding, with a laceration that was deep enough to slice through his flesh and actually stop at the lumbar region of his backbone, nearly halfway to separating his lower half of his body from his torso. Storm Shadow then struck as he expertly flipped over Kanto's head and brought down both of his swords upon the alien's back…
Slash!
In one synchronized move, both of his swords completely cleaved Kanto's back into three quarters, his uniform now in tatters as he felt the winds blow slightly on his gruesomely exposed backbone and organs. He tried to swivel around and blast the two, but then Jinx, using a hook and metal chain, expertly knocked out the energy blades from Kanto's hands from the distance, leaving him now weaponless and taking a turn for the worst as Storm Shadow kicked Kanto firmly in the sternum, sending him crashing back onto the ground on his back. Snake Eyes leapt into the air, unsheathing his twin katana from his back as silently as the cherry blossom falling on the soft grass underneath the cherry tree in spring.
Pak!
Kanto howled in agony, anguish and suffering of the highest degree as he was now fastened to the ground by his wrists, and to Maggie and Gordon's slight disgust, the alien leader was now helpless as Snake Eyes leapt off Kanto's chest and admired his handiwork. Both of the ninja-swords had been driven through Kanto's wrists and embedded them deep into the concrete and steel of the street, pinning the enemy firmly. In a sacrilegious way, Kanto was almost similar to Jesus when he was nailed to the cross…except in this case, the alien swordsman was nailed to the pavement of a city street with Japanese katana.
Storm Shadow then took out a wicked dagger from his belt before he brought it within a centimeter of slitting Kanto's neck completely, saying in a low tone, laced with poisonous anger, "Bring back the X-Men. Tell us how to bring back the children…"
Kanto, loyal to his master until the very end, just sneered, coughing up blood as he weakly rasped, "You are too late, you Earthling fool. The Dark Lord will finally use those worthless mutants to his advantage, and nothing will spare them or your pitiful planet from a fate worse than -"
SPUCK!
Storm Shadow made sure Kanto wouldn't be able to ever finish that sentence…
000-
"Storm!" cried Althea, Lance, and Wanda as the two Paratroopers managed to bring back the barely conscious X-Woman to Darkseid's throne room where the other five mutants were being kept. Storm barely could put up a fight as the aliens caged her in the same bindings the others were being held in.
"Logan? Children?" she managed to gasp out, her head swimming in a sea of pain and dizziness.
"We're here, Ororo. Don't talk, cause it looks like you've been put through the wringer. Just take it easy…" Wolverine whispered encouragingly.
Jean was furious, tears of helplessness and rage brimming her green eyes as she screamed at Darkseid, "You coward! You had to depend on your soldiers to kidnap and overwhelm her! Why are you doing this to us! We never did anything to you or even heard about the Justice League! So why are you doing this to our friends and family! Why do you even need us?"
"Because the oracles from a neutral source on Earth said that one day, the spirit of the M'Kraan crystal will bond with two members from your parties, from both the Misfits and the X-Men," Desaad said cryptically, "so since they were willing to provide to my Dark Lord the location of the crystal, it was simply a matter or time before we needed to discover which mutants of both the X-Men and the Misfits could have enough potential to bind with the guardian spirit of the crystal without much danger to us. With the guardian free and leaving the M'Kraan crystal vulnerable, my Master will be able to harness the power of the crystal to control the very will of life thanks to the Anti-Life Equation that shall surely be found within its blessings of creation."
"Are you trying to reveal all our secrets to these plebian Earthlings of the Third Earth, Desaad? Do you dare go against my authority of handling these mutants personally, you lowly, insignificant insect?" Darkseid asked in a low, deadly tone as he glared at the helper. Desaad cowered as he groveled for his life.
"No, no, no…my dear and benevolent Lord and Savior of all! I dare not usurp your will and authority! Please forgive me for my temporary thoughtlessness!"
"Nuts," muttered Lance to himself, "Looks like he's not going to blab the rest of his plans to us in some boring yet insightful monologue. Looks like Darkseid is actually aware of the 'Evil Overlord's Handbook' or something."
"Lance, this isn't some generic horror movie! We're all in danger now!" Wanda snapped.
"And now, let the fourth and final phase begin," Darkseid intoned as the M'Kraan crystal was lowered in the center of the circle of six mutants in the fire-pit, "Let the fates give me what is rightfully mine as I reclaim it for the glory of Apokolips."
"Not likely, you jerk! Get away from our sister!" yelled Quinn, Daria, and Brittany as they, the Misfits, and the Joes along with Batgirl and Supergirl rushed into the throne room of the Apokolips god.
"Trinity! The Joes and the Misfits!" cried out Wanda.
"Hey, so what are we? Chopped liver?" snapped Forge.
"You shouldn't have come!" Althea yelled hoarsely, "You guys shouldn't have came! Don't you see! It's a trap! Darkseid wanted you to find us! He knew Kanto sent you guys here anyway!" Darkseid just smiled as the doors and windows to the room sealed themselves with a resounding bang and crash. Now the heroes were all truly trapped with no way out.
"Granny, Furies…" the ruler of Apokolips growled lowly, and on cue, Xavier, Supergirl, Batgirl and the rest of the untied heroes could see Granny, Big Barda, Mad Harriet, Lashina, Stompa, Live Wire, Bernadeth, and Artemis emerge from the shadows, fully armed and with grisly and hideous smiles of bloodthirsty vengeance.
"This isn't good!" whimpered Multiple as he shivered, "We're surrounded!"
Then the Professor's eyes widened in horror as he spotted the unmasked eighth Female Fury, wearing her black, skintight uniform depicting the skull and crossbones and now displaying streaks of red war-paint on her glazed, murderous face. The Professor had seen that face before…
"Dear Lord! It's X23! She's one of the Female Furies!" Professor X cried out, aghast.
The X-Men gasped sharply, recognizing her at once, and General Hawk's eyes widened as well, recalling the files he had read about Hydra.
"That's Wolverine's clone?" gasped Quicksilver.
"Yeesh, this is gonna get ugly!" gulped Fred.
"Who?" asked Razor, thoroughly lost.
"That's X23, comrade Razor! She's a female clone made from Wolverine's DNA! She was created by the terrorist organization, Hydra, and she's got all of Logan's powers and even her own adamantium skeleton! Trust us, she's a lot tougher than she looks! When she stormed into the Mansion before you came, she took out everyone and incapacitated them single-handedly…and that included the teachers and Professor Xavier!" Colossus explained in a rush.
"My name is Deathstrike!" snarled the human mutant girl upon hearing Piotr call her by her former name, unsheathing her claws from her hands and foot with a final snikt, "X23 was my old name before Darkseid gave me his blessings! Now, I am Deathstrike! Lady Deathstrike!"
"Oh dear…" Beast murmured in dread.
"What the hell?" blurted out Shipwreck, but Logan shouted to them as hoarsely as he could.
"Darkseid brainwashed her!" he hollered, "X23 was captured by that Granny witch and he recruited her to help even the odds for his Furies to come capture us! She isn't in her right mind! She's been brainwashed! "
"Considering she's your clone, Logan, I'd doubt she was even in her right mind to begin with," muttered Razor to himself.
"I HEARD THAT, HAIRBALL!" yelled Wolverine in insulted outrage.
Darkseid then smiled as he said in a cold tone, "Furies, execute 'Phase: Reclaim'. Kill them all…"
Author's notes: Check back next Friday for the chapter, "The Final Phase" people! If you think the previous battles were intense, THIS will be the big one! This will be the battle royale! This will be the final battle! This will be the most dramatic turning point in the war between good and evil! Don't miss the fight between for the Misfits, the X-Men, the Joes, Supergirl, and Batgirl versus Granny and her Female Furies! Read, review and constructive criticism welcome!
Scott: Wait a minute! How is THIS fight supposed to be any different?
Sam: So far, we've faced anti-mutant and anti-alien bigots…
Jake: Dark Kat and his evil alliance…
Althea: Gideon and his Whitelighters…
Wanda: And now Apokolips and his hordes of soldiers not to mention the Female Furies! Exactly HOW is THIS battle going to be any more dangerous and embarrassing?
Two words, everyone: "PHOENIX SPIRIT"…
X-Men, Misfits, Joes, Supergirl, and Batgirl (groan): Oh no…
Toad: We aren't going to live long if he keeps writing THIS kind of torture, yo!