Chapter 72: Judgment Day

When Green Arrow and Black Canary rode into Starling City, they barely recognized it. The place was swarmed with soldiers (both formal and informal) each diligently preparing for the battle that was to come. Battlements were raised, tanks rolled down the asphalt streets, orders were shouted — it slightly resembled those picturesque scenes made in war movies, the kind that were vividly cruel and rosy at the same time.

But this was no war movie. Even now they could see the slightest hints of disorganization, the panic. This wasn't a conventional war after all. They didn't have days, weeks, months before they met their enemy. They didn't have enemy strongholds to siege upon, to starve out. There weren't even any rules of war that they could adhere to, because their form of war was so very distinctly different from humanity's.

They flew in gigantic ships that could warp from one end of the galaxy to the next. They teleported onto battlefields, not marched, and when they did, it was as individuals, not in formations. They didn't use bullets, but laser beams, not shields, but forcefields. They spoke with their mouths and their minds, and could take control of others given the right materials and enough time.

The Dominators were the very manifestation of every negative alien stereotype out there. If not for J'onn and the distinct lack of a significant extraterrestrial presence on Earth, this could've flared something far worse come the aftermath. Perhaps it was time Supergirl unveiled a portion of her origins to the public. To cut off any resentment and discrimination before it could build into a real problem.

But that is for another time. Green Arrow thought, as he parked his motorcycle to the side. None of that mattered if they lost this war.

Nothing would matter at all.

A tall, stout man with dark skin greeted them upon arrival, introducing himself as General Roy Stewart, the man charged with leading the forces currently stationed in Starling. He had greeted them amiably and had assigned them to different parts of the city. Green Arrow would be alongside the general himself in the downtown area. Black Canary would be in the other side of the city, in the Glades, with the SIC and some of the trusted police, who would help coordinate troop movements.

Which is how she ended up standing next to Detective Quentin Lance, waiting for Armageddon to begin.

"Are you sure those sticks of yours are going to help?" Quentin asked quizzically as they stood on the streets with the other soldiers, waiting for the ships to break atmosphere.

Black Canary looked down at her tonfa, and then flicked on the electricity. Quentin stepped back a bit as the familiar buzzing sound assaulted his ears.

"Ah, I see." The detective gave an approving nod. Canary beamed at him, but before she could reply, the people around them began shouting. They looked up at the sky to see ships teleporting above the city, one by one. The defenders of Starling City tensed, readying themselves for battle.

'Be careful. Please.'

Barry stared at the text Iris had sent him, resisting the urge to rub his fingers against the screen. Right now, he was in one of A.R.G.U.S.'s most secure locker rooms in Central City base. He was already dressed in his suit, the devices stored in a bag on his back with numerous calorie bars similarly hidden on his body. Of course, that was no means enough to travel the entire world; there were hidden caches of similar cargo hidden about in just about every major city, with a map of their locations loaded into a special phone that he was also taking with him. With the current situation, some of the caches may have been compromised, so they had elected to place more caches than what was necessary in every city, just in case.

"You ready?" Kara asked, entering the room. She had just seen Astra and Firestorm take off into space, ready to deal with the Metabomb.

"As much as I'll ever be." Barry exhaled. "You?"

Kara shrugged. A beeping noise broke any further conversation; Kara took out her phone and narrowed her eyes. "We're approaching saturation. It's time."

Barry nodded. He took his regular phone and placed it into one of the lockers, taking care to take out the phone that Amanda had given him and strapping it into the pouch on his back. Beside him, he could see Kara do the same. The two siblings took deep breaths in tandem with each other, exchanging a final nod before bursting away in a bout of super speed.

When the first Dominator appeared in front of him, Black Lightning didn't think — he blasted it with a fist full of electricity before aiming for the next one. It wasn't long before the men and women around him followed his lead as more and more Dominators materialized on the ground. Within minutes the area surrounding him had become a war zone, and he often had to dodge both friendly and enemy fire.

It decidedly reminded him of his early days as a vigilante: attacking members of the Hundred, interfering in shootouts between gangsters and policemen alike, ducking around corners after everything was over… All of that, of course, wasn't exactly comparable to an alien invasion at the surface, but in practice it was very much the same.

There was chaos everywhere, people shouting out orders, bodies littering the ground; these were all hallmarks he was intimately familiar with. Hallmarks that haunted his dreams, that helped to keep him away from this life for so long. He may have quit because Lynn couldn't handle the sight of his haggard body collapsing onto their bed every night in pain, but it was trying to process the trauma of everything he saw that kept him from entering the thick of it all again.

Until his girls were taken and Tobias Whale reared his ugly head again. Until the Justice League came, promising their support in exchange for his. Until he heard of the Dominators, and realized that this had become so much bigger than him, than his family, than Freeland. He wasn't a fool; he knew that entering the wider world of superheroics could end in his death.

But what kind of man would he be if he chose to turn his back on all of this again? When there were threats to the world like this?

Grunting, Black Lightning spied on a group of Dominators cobbling together, trying to overwhelm a nearby squad. With great effort, he charged electricity into his right arm, blue energy dancing around his body as he gestured towards a nearby car. He lifted the car and thrust it forward, the automobile hitting the invaders like a bowling ball.

A happy man. He thought. And a selfish one too.

Not for the first time, Vixen wondered if it would've been better if she had left the Anansi Totem with Kuasa. Then she thought better of it — while it may have been Kuasa's birthright, it was one with no purpose. Zambezi was gone, dead. And Vixen highly doubted that with their village a husk, Kuasa would be selfless enough to use it to protect the world in its stead.

No, she would've used it for revenge first, like she had with the Water Totem. And then she would've used it for far more selfish pursuits, to futilely fill the hole their family left behind, a hole that her revenge would've never been able to satisfy. Because revenge was all Kuasa had lived for all these years, with no focus on what happened beyond that.

Meanwhile, with the totem in her hands, she could do this.

The familiar silhouette of a gorilla shadowed her, and with a roar, she grabbed the arms of one of her assailants and spun around, knocking down two others before throwing the Dominator down to the ground. Another silhouette appeared around her, this time of an elephant, and Vixen followed up her assault with a definitive stomp!. Immediately, the Dominator's head caved in, and it ceased to move.

Yes, there were times when Vixen wondered if keeping the Anansi Totem with her was for the best.

But — as she looked around for enemies to take out, for comrades that needed help — it was times like this that reminded her that it was.

If the people of Hub City had to describe the Martian Manhunter in one word, it would be 'reserved'.

Granted, all the members of the Justice League were reserved to some extent, but they tended to emote occasionally, even the infamous three that covered the lower half of their faces. Martian Manhunter, meanwhile, never displayed emotion; his famous interview explaining the death of his planet was the first time any member of the public had seen him expressing feeling whatsoever, and even that was rather subdued. If it weren't for the clear pain in his eyes, people might've even claimed he was making the whole thing up.

Now, whatever doubts about the Martian's sincerity had been put to rest. No amount of acting skill could fake the pure hatred and rage on his face as he tore apart Dominator after Dominator with uncharacteristic savagery. Under normal circumstances, his fellow soldiers would've found it disturbing, damaging the superhero's currently pristine reputation. Considering that the Dominators were a genocidal race of world conquerors that were currently invading their planet, however, many of them didn't particularly care and even silently cheered J'onn on as they fought side-by-side with their city's protector.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

There was a beat of silence.

"How about now?"

"No."

More silence. And then…

"What about—"

"By Rao—NO! WE ARE NOT THERE YET! ASKING EVERY TWO SECONDS IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE THAT!" Astra all but screamed as she whipped around to face Firestorm, teeth gnashing. Firestorm simply held up his hands in surrender, leaning back into his chair in a show of submission. Satisfied, Astra turned away, facing the vast expanse of space once more.

You're really pushing your luck right now, Ronald. She is as powerful as Kara, remember? Angering her would not be a wise discourse.

Ronnie snorted, ignoring the sharp look Astra shot him. Relax, Professor. I'm only trying to lighten up the atmosphere. We've been stuck in this ship for close to an hour and the silence was killing me. And besides, if she tries anything, Kara will hunt her down and carve her up like a pumpkin.

Oh? Ronnie could just feel the old man lifting his eyebrow. Am I not a sufficient companion? Do I bore you, Ronald?

Ronnie thought to himself for a moment. … Do you really want me to answer that question?

Ronald!

"We're here." Astra announced, unintentionally saving Ronnie from what would've been a very uncomfortable conversation. Firestorm leaned his head forward to look, spotting the familiar sight of a Dominator ship, and grinned.

"Oh, I am so going to enjoy this more than I should."

Short, and not my best chapter, but I couldn't keep on leaving you guys hanging. There's only five or so chapters left in this act anyway, so once I get the motivation the Dominator arc should be done within a week.

The only thing I want to comment on is the Stein/Ronnie relationship. It's a lot more vitriolic, as you can see, thanks to the different circumstances of their merging compared to Stein/Jax. Another reason is because Stein views Ronnie as more of an equal to him than Jax. That's not a knock on Jax, but he didn't really get to develop his intelligence until Rip made him the Waverider's mechanic. Ronnie, meanwhile, was the chief engineer of the Particle Accelerator and is engaged to Caitlin Snow, a verified genius and someone else Stein would view as a peer. He's presumably much smarter than Jax is, at least at this point.