An emergency meeting had been called. As many ranking A.R.G.U.S. officials were crammed into one room with an unhappy Bordeaux, news of Def Con 1 already the talk of the office.

"Talk to me, people. How did we miss this?" the Director demanded, glaring at everyone who had managed to assemble in such a short amount of time. "How did a second alien army sneak its way onto our planet without anyone raising an alert? More importantly, I want to know what we're going to do about it. It's embarrassing enough hearing about it from Lex Luthor of all people while he was showing off his latest toy."

No one had an answer. Many of them had learned about the latest incursion and had only found out their location from the incredibly unusual amount of seismic activity that was happening off the coast of California. Sure, there was a normal amount of seismic forces in that area—San Andreas Fault anyone?—but not in this location, and not at these levels.

Various monitors were already picturing the latest satellite pictures, the area where the aliens were located, and the large machine that was currently blasting some kind of energy beam at the planet. The last time that had happened, Metropolis had been shrunk and the alien responsible dead set on destroying the planet.

"This is unacceptable. There's going to be an investigation; I want to know how this slipped past us; but first, we're going to take care of it, and stop whatever is happening. Am I clear?" Bordeaux glared down everyone she could see, already resenting their presence as well as their latest failure.

It was a good thing there was still time to try and fix things, but there were going to be a lot of uncomfortable questions later.

"So what do we have available? How are we going to fight this?" While the edge in her voice was not as sharp, it was too business and this time, excuses were not going to cut it.

"We can have some jets in the air in the next five minutes," Trevor offered. "We have multiple bases in the state. We can get an army mobilized quickly."

"Get the jets. Get them on the way now," Bordeaux ordered, giving Trevor a nod. To the man's credit, he stood up from his seat and left the room immediately. Obviously he recognized the severity of the situation. "Anyone else?"

"It's too late for the task force to get into place," Waller spoke up. "They're on the wrong coast. However, they did offer some interesting details from their latest mission. None of it is relevant for the moment though."

Figures. It would have been great to have that squad already out west, but they were limited in what they could do about it. Sure, the technologies in the Red Room might have an answer, but again, that was up in Detroit and would still require a flight out there, and the problem was now. That was the biggest flaw with Task Force X; it had to be in position or close to it to be of any help.

"Why don't we just nuke the bastards?" All attention was suddenly on Gunn who was scowling. "Why wait? Let's nuke them back into goddamn orbit."

That summed up a lot of peoples' view on the matter. It helped there weren't too many major population centers where the aliens were, the largest being Jump City to the south. It was well outside the blast radius, though there were always towns and isolated homes no matter where you were in California. A nuke could be a viable option.

Except the President was probably also in on that conference call of Luthor's. Naturally, the bald son of a bitch would be able to convince others to hold back while his new toy went in to try and do all the dirty work. Luthor had a damn silver tongue, and even on his worst day could talk someone into at least doing the least of what that so-called business man wanted.

Somehow, that Amazo android was going to get from Metropolis and get to the other side of the country to face off with the latest alien threat. Could it fly? Who knows? All that mattered was that Luthor would do his best to talk everyone else who had tuned in to do things his way. She wasn't going to be one of them.

"Let's get some nukes prepared. As always, the President has the final say, but at the very least we'll have them ready to launch in the worst case scenario. Waller, take lead on that. You know who to contact to get that much done." Bordeaux turned to the rest of her team who were waiting for her next words. It was a little infuriating right now.

Naturally, someone had to poke their heads in and give the latest of updates. "We have some energy signatures in the area. It looks like the Justice League is coming in."

Because of course they were. How did they miss the aliens too? Weren't they also on the front lines?

As she passed by, Waller said in a low tone of voice to the director, "Speak with me later."

Bordeaux glanced up, saw the look the shorter woman was giving her, and gave a nod in return. Let her guess, Waller knew something, maybe not involving the aliens, but something that was relevant to the situation at hand. She'd find out later and only after she had A.R.G.U.S. doing its damn job.

"Everyone else," she said, her tone of voice getting soft, but all the more deadlier for it. "I want you to get to work. I want a solution, I want this stopped, no matter how we have to do it. Get to work, and we'll find who to blame later. Call up the army, navy, marines, or whoever else, but we need to get the armed forces mobilized and we need to get our nukes prepped. Now get out of my sight."

The rest of the room became a flurry of activity, everyone moving to see about finding some good news for her, and possibly keeping their jobs while they were at it. That left Bordeaux by herself, sitting there and occasionally glancing up at the monitors.

The real fight had yet to begin.


A cloud of steam had begun to cover the immediate area around the World Engine. The massive alien machine continued to generate pulse after pulse, firing each one into the ocean below while causing tremors that grew stronger with each passing minute.

Superman kept himself as calm as possible. Recent events aside, here was something to both distract himself and unite the League as one. The infighting was stopped for the time being while this latest threat to their home was now front and center. Later, when there was time, he would be doing a lot of soul searching. There was much about recent events that were…disturbing, and yes, he would face every action he did and every word he said, but right now Earth needed to come first.

Upon first seeing that machine in the sky, he had heard Hawkgirl make a swear. Something about not believing, yet knowing it was right in front of her face. According to her, Thanagar had believed the World Engine to be a myth.

It looked pretty real right now.

Taking point, Superman glided his way to the beach, the rest of the League following after him. There was another addition, the group of teens who were being supported by the recent T.I.T.A.N. Initiative were joining. This was their show, they were the ones to report this whole thing. How it had built up so quickly, he did not know, and neither did the teenagers, but that could also be figured out later.

The Kryptonian slowly came to a stop as he spotted the alien force. It was an army and there was no other way to describe it. Orange-skinned troops stood on the beach with plasma rifles aimed right at them. There was something else that did catch his attention, and that was how there were more of these invaders floating in air, much like how he was doing. Also armed with those rifles, the weapons were aimed from a higher vantage point. Also, as if there wasn't enough, there was a small fleet of small spaceships, fighters by the looks of them, and they surrounded the World Engine from all sides.

These aliens, Tamaraneans he had been told, had come prepared and armed to the teeth. In fact, standing at the fore in front of the grounded troops stood a massive specimen. The beard easily distinguished him and the large cudgel that was held with two massive hands rested the head of the weapon on the sand. A scar marred the right eye, discoloring it. This had to be the leader.

"Hell, it's that guy again," Flash grumbled. "Somebody else handle him. I will not let him kiss me again."

Kiss? Wait, what? No, not right now, he could find out that story later.

"I remember saying that if you brought no trouble here, you would be welcomed," Wonder Woman stated, stepping ahead of Superman. "Was your meeting at the Watchtower a farce?"

The large Tamaranean showed no sights of intimidation. "My sorries, but I do not lead my people. You will have to speak with my…the Grand Ruler."

"What, did you sneak him here too?" Hawkgirl demanded.

"No, I decided to skip your immigration service so that I could get to the chase."

It was a feminine voice and Superman lifted his head to see the slim figure slowly descend herself. While she did not land on the ground, she continued to hover above her land troops, a white cape pressing against her back and wafting on either side of her thanks to the forces the World Engine was unleashing behind her.

The black hair and eyes really made her stand out amongst the Tamaraneans and the head gear that must have signified authority was the only one that could be seen on any Tamaranean. She seemed to radiate confidence to the point it could be confused with arrogance, her arms crossed in front of her a display of assertiveness rather than defensiveness.

"You are the Grand Ruler then?" Wonder Woman stated more than asked.

A smirk on those reddish-orange lips was condescending. "Translated to your language, I am Grand Ruler Blackfire, and what I engage in is more important than you'll ever know. You may be the first line of defense this planet has, but I recommend you find your loved ones and spend what little time you still have with them. You will not interfere with this little operation and none of my people will let you either. So avoid the fight and enjoy the time you have left. My final gift to you and yours."

Superman didn't need to see Wonder Woman's face to know what the expression was. Her words gave that away. "This is our home. We will not let you terraform it as you see fit."

The confident smirk faded into a blank expression. Dark eyes left Wonder Woman, searching through assembled heroes until, "You told them. You would betray us, your people, for them?"

The Grand Ruler's attention was on the only Tamaranean on their side, Starfire as he recalled the name. Starfire looked uncertain, shrinking in on herself, but she rallied, "It is not right to take someone else's home. I hoped you would understand that."

"She's right," Hawkgirl cut in, holding her mace aloft. "This isn't your planet to do with what you want. You want to pull one over on us, you're gonna have a fight on your hands. Either turn that damn thing off, or get ready for a fight."

It was a laugh that was a mix of a chuckle and a giggle. "Are you serious, Thanagarian? Unlike your last invasion, we Tamaraneans are true warriors. We know what we're doing. We're not Kalanorians nor are we Gordanians. We are more than a match for what you can fight us with. Go ahead, try. It will at least make this entertaining until we reach the point of no return."

It was a challenge. This Blackfire wanted a fight, if only to delay them for however long she needed. There was a virtual cloud of steam that obscured the World Engine by now, each pulse it emitted breaking through the cover. There was no telling when this point of no return would be reached, but he wasn't about to let it get to that point.

"It doesn't have to be this way. We can talk," he tried, because every effort to avoid violence had to be taken.

"Talk is a tool for the victors and no one else," Blackfire cut in, shooting that hope down. "Talk is a luxury that the weak never have. Only when you are standing over the fallen do you talk that anyone can talk, and that is because you are telling them how the terms will be. The fallen can only accept whatever mercy is offered, if there is any to be offered."

"Sounds like we're not gonna talk this out and kumbaya about it later," Flash muttered. "Guess we gotta fight them."

"Regrettable, but we have no choice," Wonder Woman agreed as she bent her legs, ready to charge.

The smirk on Blackfire's face only grew. "To battle then? Try not to make this boring." Abruptly, she swung out an arm, and as if that was a signal, the Tamaraneans both on the ground and in the air began to fire.


The litany of plasma rifles fired, their beams racing in hot pursuit onto the forces of the Justice League.

In an instant, a green beam fired out in front of them before it erupted into a semi-circle shield, one that took the brunt of the plasma beams. Green Lantern floated in the air above Earth's defenders, the first line of defense.

As if in response, the Tamaraneans began to spread out, encircling them. In response, the Green Lantern spread his shield out until both sides met with each other, forming a dome around them. Unfortunately, this had the result of sealing them off from countering the invaders, who were now firing plasma rifles from all sides.

Thankfully, John Stewart didn't look the least bit fatigued. He did recognize their position though. "We're going to need to do something about those plasma rifles," he announced. "We can't just sit here while they fire those weapons until the World Engine's effects reach us."

"I'll take care of it," Flash declared. "Just give me an opening, half a second tops."

John nodded before he did as the speedster instructed. At one point, the green construct opened up, then immediately shut as soon as it formed. That was all the time Flash needed as he raced out.

Throughout the ranks of the Tamaraneans, a red blur raced by. One after the other he dashed through the lines, the number of plasma rifles firing decreasing until it came to a complete stop. The Tamaraneans had stupefied looks on their faces as they gazed down at their empty hands.

And then Flash reappeared, standing in front of the shield with his hands on his hips. "That's one less thing to worry about!" he declared. "Let's take 'em—"

Before he could complete his sentence, a Tamaranean had stormed right up to him. Whether it was hubris, or Flash just didn't see them coming, but the Tamaranean threw a punch right at his face, cutting him off. Flash was suddenly thrown backwards, his back slamming against the green shield construct. He hovered there with his arms and legs stretched out in front of him for a moment before sliding down its rounded surface until he sat on his ass on the sandy ground.

"Owww," he moaned as he raised a hand and rubbed his jaw. "Guys, these guys—" he began to half-whine, half-warn when the same Tamerean planted his feet in front of the speedster, holding another fist up.

That's when J'onn countered. Going transparent, he passed through the construct, only solidifying the moment he was on the other side. Before the Tamaranean could attack Flash again, the Martian slammed his own fist into the orange-skinned alien, sending him flying backwards into the mass of his comrades.

Green Lantern abruptly ended his shield construct, and the League went on the offensive. Superman charged headfirst into a formation of Tamaraneans, bowling over them like a bowling ball into pins. Fire unleashed a stream of fire, followed by Black Lightning firing his electricity.

As the Tamaraneans were thrown aside, or electrocuted, the ones that were engulfed in flames emerged unphased. They were quickly intercepted as Green Lantern launched a giant boxing glove construct, crushing them to the ground.

However, despite this initial success, many of the Tamaraneans that had been attacked got back onto their feet, looking no worse for wear. The only ones that were slow, or did not get back up were the ones fried by Black Lightning.

"Reform!" Blackfire's voice proclaimed, a commanding order from the Tamaranean leader.

In response, many Tamaraneans took off into the air, reforming formations, while the ground units pulled back to resume their own formation.

"All aerial members, take the airborne forces!" John Stewart countered. "Ground forces, break the lines!"


As the Tamaraneans began to regroup in the air, Diana launched herself towards them. When the enemy was forced to pull back, one did not let them re-establish their formation. They needed to be kept off-balanced, forced to continuously respond to the opponent.

Next to her, the Amazon sensed Hawkgirl keeping pace with her, her mace held low crackling with electricity. There were a few others she took note of that joined them, like Firestorm, Green Lantern, and J'onn, and she was certain there were others.

There was just no time to identify them as she collided with the first line of Tamaraneans. She barreled right into one, leading with both of her fists held out in front of her. She forced her opponent backwards, ramming him through the subsequent lines of his comrades until she broke through.

Stopping her flight, she drew a fist back before throwing an uppercut, one that snapped the Tamaranean's head back. Rising up into the air, she kept her arm extended, but bent it at the elbow. She then dropped down, delivering an elbow strike to her foe's face, the force of her blow sending the orange-skinned alien falling to the beach below.

As Diana turned to face another, she saw Superman's Heat Vision streaking through the sky, a Tamaranean taking the brunt of it with their body as they were pushed backwards through the air. She had a feeling the last Kryptonian would have joined the airborne battle. She saw flashes of light shortly after, airborne Tamaraneans that had kept their plasma rifles due to Flash being unable to reach them. They were chasing after Superman, firing their weapons, their aim slightly off as they missed him. That momentary distraction left her wide open for a Tamaranean to confront her, landing a blow to her face.

Suddenly, she knew what Flash had felt when he had been struck. The strength behind that punch was astounding! In fact, it was damn near close to her own level of strength, perhaps even equal to it. As her head snapped back, she decided to keep leaning back, swinging her legs up.

She felt the toe of her boots slam on the underside of her foe's chin, snapping their head back just as they had done to her. No doubt they were stunned just as she had felt.

The Tamaranean didn't have the same time as she had to recover, however. At that moment, Hawkgirl came swooping in, smashing her mace on the side of their head. The additional electrical damage caused them to cry out, spit flying out of their mouth.

Ending her flip, Diana then surged forward, bringing a leg up so that she could ram her knee into the Tamaranean's gut. The force of the blow caused them to bend over, knocking out whatever air was left in their lungs. Clasping both hands above her head, the dark-haired woman then landed a jackhammer blow to the back of their head, their body going limp against her. Lowering her leg, Diana watched the Tamaranean fall through the air until they landed on the ground below.

"Nice follow up," Hawkgirl complimented.

"Thanks," Diana replied. "Be careful fighting these Tamaraneans. They hit as hard as I do."

"Then I won't let them hit me," the Thanagarian responded before she took off for another foe.

While the confidence was appreciated, the hubris was not. There was no time to correct her…Sister about this. Turning her attention away as the redhead took on another Tamaranean, Diana soon spotted Firestorm close by, blasting a torrent of fire from his hands at his own foe. However, the Amazon could not help but notice how unphased by the flames the Tamaranean was, who was pushing forward through the fire without so much as protecting their face. In fact, she had seen something similar with the ones Fire had attacked earlier. Were they immune to fire?

Not willing to wait to find out, Diana pulled out her Lasso of Truth and began to twirl it over her head. She then threw it, letting the golden rope uncoil until it reached her target's foot. The lasso wrapped around the Tamaranean's foot and ankle, tightening in an instant.

That's when Diana pulled as hard as she could on the Lasso. Immediately, the Tamaranean was yanked away from Firestorm. Spinning around, Diana swung her captive until they crashed right into three of their comrades. The Lasso instantly released its hold as she called it back to her, her blue eyes focused as the Tamaraneans kept their position in the air, though they were doing their best to untangle themselves from one another.

So Diana charged at them. When she was done with them, they would be lying on the ground like so many of their comrades, and then it would be onto the next ones.


One didn't need binoculars to see the fight going on with the Tamaraneans. The firing of plasma rifles indicated just where they were. Couple that with the powers of the League, from Heat Vision, Martian Vision, fire, electricity, and some magic courtesy of Zatanna, and the entire beach was lit up by the fight.

Batman only watched long enough to ensure that the Tamaraneans were fully consumed by the battle. He switched targets to the floating spaceships that surrounded the World Engine. None of them had made a move to join the fight, keeping up their positions. The cloud of steam that seemed to swallow up the World Engine also hid many of the other ships, so there was no way to get a true count of them.

They were clearly the last line of defense and would only engage when there was no other choice. Unfortunately, that kept them between him and the World Engine.

There had been a reason for the Justice League approaching the Tamaraneans out in the open. It was so that a small strike team could board the World Engine and attempt to shut it down. That team was led by the Dark Knight, along with their more computer savvy members. Steel was with him as well as the Titan's Cyborg. Providing a way in was the job of Captain Atom and Raven, also doubling as muscle should they need it. Ice was also present, though she was earning a curious glance from Steel every so often.

Captain Atom was at Batman's side, studying the battle like him. They had positioned themselves further down the coast, but well in sight of the World Engine. "They seem to be even," the former military captain remarked, his arms crossed over his chest.

Batman spared the battle a glance. He couldn't help but observe that their stronger members were fighting in the air, which left their ground forces being pressed back. That was a poor division of forces, but so long as they kept the Tamaraneans distracted, that was all that mattered.

"I'm not seeing a clear way in," Captain Atom added then, confirming what he was seeing as well.

"Me neither," Batman agreed as he stood up from his kneeling position, placing the binoculars back in the pouch on his belt. "Those ships will be a problem the moment we make a move."

"How do we get rid of them?" Ice asked.

"We could shoot them down?" Cyborg suggested.

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of us sneaking on?" Raven countered, giving her fellow Titan a side-glance. There was an undercurrent of sarcasm there, Batman detected. "Wouldn't the ships target us if we attack them?"

"I guess they would," Cyborg admitted.

"Which means we need someone to draw their attention," Captain Atom announced, cutting off the teenaged conversation. Though it had valid points, the delivery left something to be desired. "I'll volunteer for that mission."

There went some of their muscle, which Batman was reluctant to give up. Unfortunately, he couldn't see any other way aboard that massive ship. It also took away one of their flight-capable members.

So he turned his attention to Raven. "Would you be able to transport us to the World Engine if Atom successfully draws the ships' attention?"

"I can do that," she confirmed.

"Alright, do what you have to do," Batman told Captain Atom. "We need an opening in their defenses and we can't be picky how we get it. Just don't get yourself killed."

"Understood." Captain Atom then lifted off of the ground. He then launched himself towards the ships, arms at his sides.

As he approached the ships, Batman then said to Raven, "Be ready. We only have one shot at this."

The girl nodded in response before she held her hands out. A black energy flowed out from beneath her cape and washed over the rest of the team, turning everything black. It took Batman a moment to figure out she had formed a bubble much like Green Lantern did when transporting the League. The key differences were of course this bubble was solid black, its occupants only identifiable by white outlines. All of them were washed away of all color.

That was when Captain Atom reached the defensive line of the ships. Raising up one arm, he fired a nuclear blast, one that sliced off the back of one of the ships. Immediately, there was an explosion before the rest of the craft went falling to the sea below.

As the rest of the ships went into action, one wasn't able to retaliate as Captain Atom rammed right into it, bursting through its hull. He reappeared a moment later on the other side, another explosion that knocked the ship out of the air.

Curving upwards, Atom fired more of his energy beams, attempting to shoot down the other spacecraft. By now, they were taking evasive maneuvers, avoiding his beams save for the ones that couldn't get out of the way. Other ships began returning fire, causing Captain Atom to fly even higher into the air, going into his own evasive maneuvers.

Which left the sea clear of any Tamaraneans. "Go!" Batman ordered, and Raven took off, sending their magical bubble flying over the water. She seemed to have seen what he had as she kept them low.

As they drew closer to the World Engine, the water became more choppy. Another pulse was sent into the planet, sending water flying high into the air, washing away the cover of steam. Waves of water were sent rippling out, thirty, forty feet high. This forced Raven to raise them up into the air, curving their trajectory until they were going vertically. By now, they were flying up alongside the large alien machine.

"I'm not seeing any entrances," Steel reported as he studied the side of the World Engine carefully. "I think we're going to have to make our own way in."

"Consider it done," Raven announced. Suddenly, they stopped their ascent, right before Raven pushed their dark bubble against the side of the machine. There seemed to be little resistance as the black surface seemed to cut through the steelwork like a knife through butter. Sooner than expected, they had breached through the hull and found themselves within the World Engine.

The black bubble then lost its form, flowing back towards Raven until it disappeared within her cape. "We're in," she said in a deadpanned tone.

"Great," Cyborg muttered. "Why do I get the feeling this isn't a good thing?"

Batman ignored the commentary. Activating his comm link, he announced, "Strike team has breached the World Engine. All points enter the second phase."