Avenging Justice:

Two Worlds Collide

Part XXVI

Earth, New York, New York City

Captain America was holding on for dear life as the Quinjet fell from the sky. Hawkeye and Black Widow were doing their best to keep the descent from killing them all. That left him with little to do, and he made a mental note, to learn how to fly after this. He also had the thought to wonder if they had made wide leaps in safety, since he'd last went into battle in a flying machine.

Hawkeye managed to land them safely enough, only punishing them slightly. Much to the respect of their resident super soldier, Hawkeye was out of his seat, bow in hand. Black Widow beat him, and was the second person to exit the downed Quinjet. The first was Steve, landing in a battle stance, ready for any attack.

None came, but the sound of battle reached his ears quickly enough. Flying war chariots were wending deadly beam attacks on unsuspecting New Yorkers, and they fled in panic. People were screaming, explosions rocked the normally peaceful, if not quite streets. Some people were blown to the ground, others into buildings, and several were trampled by their fellow citizens.

Captain America shouted his orders, and then leapt off a bridge, onto a bus that lifted up as something below it exploded. Running as fast as he could, which would make any Olympic sprinter envious, he jumped and hurtled through the air. Aiming carefully, he turned his mass just enough, to where he landed on top of the nearby NYPD cruiser.

"Get your men to move these people off the street!" Captain America said. "Get them inside or underground. We'll need a five-block perimeter set up."

A sergeant, who had seen too much in just the last few minutes argued, "And just who are you? What authority.."

Before the police sergeant could finish, a Chitauri landed by Captain America, and the hero quickly took it out. Stunned, the officer turned around and started repeating the orders into his microphone. If what he had seen was right, those things were of this Earth, and he wasn't paid enough for alien invaders. Besides, the guy in the spangly outfit seemed to have things under control.

The battle continued as Thor and Loki fought in Stark's penthouse, at Stark Tower. Meanwhile the friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man found himself webbing up two Chitauri as they moved in opposite directions. With a satisfying alien grunt, he saw the two things yanked off their chariots, which crashed in the street below. Somehow, he knew that J. Jonah Jameson was going to blame this on him. Like he could conjure alien invasions with a hand wave! Spider-Man just couldn't catch a break.

A tingling made him leap away, just as an energy bolt hit where he had just been. Sending out a strand of webbing, Spider-Man changed his trajectory and launched himself at his attacker. Below Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye were rescuing some people from an overturned bus. Meanwhile Iron Man was above, attacking any enemy of opportunity, which there were plenty of.

Behind Tony, one of the metal monstrosities started to chase him. The large troop carrier, that looked like a flying serpent, complete with gigantic metal jaws, and gigantic metal teeth, was on his tail. Thrusting forward, he was rewarded with two more Chitauri chariots blew up, as they smacked into the carrier, serpent, flying thing.

"Cap," Tony called out on the earpiece frequency sewn into Steve's mask. "Has Banner made it yet?"

"He just arrived, how'd you know?" came the reply.

"Don't worry about that, just get ready, I'm bringing the party to you," Iron Man catapulted forward, behind him the carrier sideswiped a building.

From below, he heard Nat's voice, "I don't see how that's a party."

Tony didn't hear the rest of the conversation, as a loud roar rebounded off the nearby windows. A green behemoth, angry and strong, brought the carrier down with one hit. The other Avengers rallied around the Hulk, with Iron Man coming in for a landing as Black Widow reloaded and Hawkeye pulled his arrow back.

"Ah, isn't this cute," came the mocking voice of Faora. "They think they have a chance."

Before any of the Avengers could react, Iron Man was thrown through a building, and Non pounded Hulk into the sky. General Zod used his heat vision, and Thor was saved from injury as Captain America jumped in front of him. He hurled his mighty hammer, and it was caught by Zod, only for the Kryptonian to be jerked to the ground. Thor leapt forward, only to have a slim woman in black slam into him.

He struggled in her grasp, recognizing what she was. It was impossible, but the death grip on his throat said otherwise. Somehow these were Kryptonians, they somehow survived the destruction of their planet. How, was something that his father Odin might be able to ascertain. Right now, Thor had a more immediate concern, getting out of this death grip and defeating these interlopers.

With Zod preoccupied with not being able to lift Thor's hammer, Captain America took the opportunity to get in an attack. Slamming his shield into Zod, Steve was surprised when he was thrown back instead. General Zod turned, and launched himself at Steve, letting go of Mjolnir. Captain America barely got his shield up in time, which saved his life. However, it also meant he was sent flying across the cityscape.

In those mere seconds of flight, Steve Rogers had plenty of time to think. There were thoughts of Peggy, thoughts of Bucky, and the thought that he couldn't give up. His home was under attack, but how did one fight beings like this? Even fighting the Chitauri was challenging, but at least he could harm them. He'd hit that guy, and it had done nothing.

He rolled, getting ready to hit the ground, and hoping to dissipate the force. Maybe he wouldn't be too injured, though he wasn't counting on it. No, if he didn't crack a rib or two, or break his ribs, he'd be surprised.

"Easy now, I've got you," Steve felt his momentum change, and he was gently set to the ground. "We need you in this fight, Captain."

Steve smiled despite the chaos, "Good to finally meet you, sir."

"Pleasure is all mine," Superman said. "My father told me stories of you growing up. I always imagined punching Nazis alongside the great Captain America."

Steve pointed to the big hole in the sky, "I'd say this is big enough for both of us."

Superman saluted, and flew off, "Let's get to work then."

Off in the distance, Steve heard the Hulk's howl, and saw the big black clad man rocketing into the sky. Maybe they had a chance, now that Superman was here. Would he be mighty enough to take on three people like him? Because the more Steve thought about it, these three fighters reacted and had powers similar to Superman. He had to hope so.

Above him a black jet flew by, and Captain America had to check his eyes. It was in the shape of a bat! Just when he thought things couldn't get weirder, he saw that something had been ejected from the bat jet. The item plummeted toward his location, before retrorockets arrested its descent. As it landed, the pod split apart, lowering abruptly a two wheeled vehicle.

"Captain Rogers," a prim, masculine, English accented voice came from the motorcycle. "Please hop on, you are needed back at the battle zone."

"Are you one of Tony's inventions?" Steve asked, looking for the key or how to turn on the motorcycle. Much to his surprise, the motorcycle started up without him needing to do a thing.

"No, Captain Rogers, but I must insist you hop on, timing is of the essence," the voice came back. "The controls are tuned to you now, and please try to bring it back in one piece."

Captain America wasn't about to look at this gift horse in the mouth, "I'm not sure I want to know. Thank you, whomever you are."

Back where the Avengers had assembled, Thor managed to get one good hit in on the woman choking him. Sweet air filled his lungs, and he reached out for his hammer. He heard her laugh as she punched him in the head. He took it, he was a warrior, but he paid her in kind. Slamming his hammer into her head, he sent her rolling across the street. However, she got back up and slammed him with heat vision.

He let out a scream as the burning attack made him falter. On instinct he called forth lightning and sent it out at her. Much to his delight, he heard her cry out in pain. Swinging his hammer around, he went to launch himself at her, when the other attack came back. Thor felt a fist crash into his face. Then someone was thrusting his head into the asphalt street over and over again.

Zod tossed the woman shooting pistols at him. She landed hard on a nearby car. He didn't hear the satisfying snap of her bones, but the breath was knocked out of her. The man with the hammer had hurt Faora. The general knew the man must be an Asgardian, they were one of the few races that could stand up to a Kryptonian.

However, their idea of warfare was antiquated. Honor, fair play, and other nonsensical ideals were lauded. He was bred to be a solider, not to have such weaknesses. Zod would do whatever needed to be done to complete the mission. Still, one like this, with this power, was bound to be affiliated with the royal family. A hostage of that prestige might be worth having, if no other reason than to send a message.

He quickly overwhelmed the caped Asgardian, knocking the man senseless. He saw Faora coming angrily toward their now prisoner. She had a deep hatred of most men, and this fool had actually hurt her. Only his order would hold her back, and Zod wasn't sure he wouldn't just let her tear this idiot apart.

"Hold, my dear," Zod said. "He is beaten."

"He doesn't need all his limbs to be a hostage!" Faora seethed, her repressed anger evident for all to see.

Behind them, they heard a beastly howl as Non smashed the Hulk to the ground, and proceeded to beat the rage monster to a pulp. Every so often, the Hulk would get in a hit, only for Non to repay him with three more. Then to accentuate how out of his league he was, Non slammed the Hulk into several buildings, bringing them down on the Hulk.

All around the Chitauri continued their attack. Iron Man, Black Widow and Hawkeye were doing their best, but they were going to need more help. Above them Spider-Man took out two more, before launching himself into another pair. Shooting his web shooters, he gummed up the works of one chariot. Then while that one was destroyed, he used his punches and kicks to obliterate the driver of another. One of the passengers shot at him, and he barely got out in time. His reward was a nice burn across his arm.

As another took aim, Iron Man blasted it out of the sky, "Well don't just sit there, there are more to squish."

"Really, you made that joke?!" Spider-Man quipped back. "I tell you, only in this city can portals open and nobody bats an eye."

"What about Metropolis," Iron Man blasted another Chitauri, while Spider-Man took out another.

"They have Superman," the web head said. "Speaking of which, where is he?"

As if to answer that question, a grand sonic boom rebounded off nearby buildings. A blue and red blur slammed into General Zod. Much to Iron Man's relief, he saw Thor was still alive, just badly beaten. He had one more issue though, and that was an incoming call on his suit, but one that he couldn't verify.

"Tony," came Captain America's voice. "I'm on my way back. What is the status of our team?"

"We're in shambles Cap," Tony responded. "Hulk's getting pummeled, Thor's down, and I've cocky web slinger up here."

"What about Nat and Cint?" Steve asked next.

Iron Man double checked, and blasted another Chitauri, "They're about to be killed by a very angry beautiful lady in black."

He blasted toward them, and intercepted one blow, before using his repulsors to blast the woman attacking them. She laughed at his pitiful display and nearly tore his breastplate armor completely off. The world spun as he was sent bouncing down the now ruined street. He barely caught sight of the woman following him. Of all the things that were to cause his death, he should have figured a beautiful woman would be connected to it.

Earth, Kansas, Smallville

"I must warn you, these images are pretty graphic," the national newscaster explained.

Images of chaos showed, explosions and energy weapons fire, people running and screaming. Martha and Jonathan Kent felt a familiar tingle of fear ripple through them. This wasn't Metropolis, but they knew Clark would be there. As if to confirm this, they saw a blue and red blur blast through the city scape. They were proud of their boy, but worried that one day he'd meet something tougher than him.

Beside them was a stunned Kara Zor-El and Diana Prince. The alien teen watched the scenes of devastation, and there was real horror in her eyes. She looked to Diana, hoping to find someone to give her an idea of what to do. Kara knew what she wanted to do, she wanted all this to go away. It had just been a few days on Earth, but watching the people fleeing in terror, it brought back a bad memory. A memory of a skull shaped ship coming for whole cities.

Kara stomped outside, "No, not this."

"Little one, stick here with the Kents, they're good people," Diana said as she came out. "I know where I need to be."

"Wait!" Kara called out. "I'm coming." Before Diana could argue, Kara went on, "I'm not about to let my cousin face that threat alone. I'm going."

"That is why I'm going," Diana said gently. "Superman is a champion, but he will never battle alone."

"He won't, I can help," Kara said defiantly. "I've learned so much from you, but I don't need that for this. I just need to pound these creeps to mush."

"Then you are going to need this," came the voice of Martha Kent. She held up the armor taken from Kara's ship, modified with a skirt added to the leotard like armor. "Clark got this way too, so you be careful. I made it more modest, can't have you running around with bare legs!" She turned to Wonder Woman, "No offense."

"None taken," Diana laughed. "Ready?"

Gone were the farming clothes, and Kara was dressed in her modified Kryptonian battle armor. To the people of Earth, the material looked like skintight clothing, but it really was durable stuff. Back home, it would be worn under more heavily armored pieces. Here though, it was enough armor, due to the special powers the yellow sun gave her people.

True to Mrs. Kent's words, a thigh length skirt had been added to it. Her red boots came just below the hem of the skirt, giving her knees a small measure of protection. Her red cape flowed in the air, the family crest on it stitched in yellow. On her chest was her family crest, similar to, but slightly different than her cousins. It felt right to wear it, and for the first time in days, she didn't feel directionless.

"Now, that is a Supergirl," Jonathan said, as he ambled down the porch. "We don't have the right to tell you not to go, but come back will you?"

Supergirl smiled, "I will Mr. Kent." She was glad her cousin had found them. Of all the people to raise him on this world, she couldn't think of anyone better.

"Call me, Jonathan," he replied back. "We're basically family."

Kara nodded, and began to fly away when she felt a hand on her leg. Turning around, she was puzzled at why Diana was holding her back. Had she forgotten something, was Diana wanting her to stay behind?

"Mind giving me a lift?" Wonder Woman asked. "I figure you can fly about as fast as he can, and get me there quicker."

Kara laughed, "Sure!"