Chapter 5: The Battle of Metropolis
METROPOLIS
JUNE 13, 11:14 EDT
Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy arrived in Metropolis by Zeta Tube first, followed by Batman and Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl. Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl followed with Flash and Kid Flash, and then Green Lantern. Aquaman, Aqualad, and Aquagirl showed up in Metropolis next, and then came Martian Manhunter and his lovely niece, Miss Martian, whom Superboy had been dating for the past few years. As the seventeen heroes on Alpha Squad headed for the shoreline, they saw that the Army had sent a great number of soldiers to fight beside the League against Darkseid's invasion. They went to greet the soldiers, who saluted as they approached. General Hardcastle had just arrived, and he greeted the League's founders and their protégés gladly.
"Glad you could come, ladies and gentlemen," he said to them. Then noticing the new faces among their protégés, he saluted them and introduced himself. "General Warren Hardcastle, U.S. Army."
Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Aquagirl, and Miss Martian introduced themselves as well, and then Aqualad asked him, "What is the status of the military units sent to help us defend Metropolis, General?"
"More than 180,000 men strong, son," General Hardcastle smiled proudly. "We're all armed with the new weapons tech the League had shipped to us and our allies to help us fight: plasma impactors, plasma grenades, atom blasters, pulse cannons, energy blasters. The regular works for fighting alongside the world's greatest heroes. As for our vehicles; tanks, ships, and planes, they're more advanced than ever before: more power, stronger weapons. We should be able to stand up to that Darkseid feller with your help."
"Well, we're about to find out, 'cause here comes an Apokoliptan ship now!" called Nightwing.
Looking up to the sky, the Justice League and the soldiers could see Nightwing was right, for out of the rapidly clouding sky, heading straight for the ocean was a huge dome-shaped spaceship composed of black metal with red accents and viewports. As it landed, the water around it caught fire and a great spire rose from the top.
"Be on guard, everyone," warned Superman. "The first assault is about to begin."
...
On board the ship, Darkseid sat on a great metal throne while Desaad observed Metropolis. Granny Goodness was beside Darkseid's seat along with Kalibak, who had come to fight at Darkseid's behest. While the tyrant of Apokolips looked out at Metropolis, Desaad looked at the long-range scanners and then announced, "Great Darkseid, the Earth heroes have sent a contingency of their forces to repel our attack here. They have brought children with them who seem to share their natural abilities, and they are followed by an army of Earthers."
"Why should it be of any concern?" replied Darkseid. "Victory is as good as in our hands even now."
A look of warning entered Desaad's sunken eyes, and he answered, "Superman is leading them."
Darkseid fixed his face into a cruel smile, and he said, "I see. Let the invasion begin."
With that, Desaad activated the Boom Tube Spire, and out from the Tube came hundreds of thousands of Parademons. They were all clad in dull gold high-tech armor with bat-like wings, their ugly mouths were drawn back in hideous grins revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, and their armored heads barely indicated that the horrible creatures had eyes. Already, Darkseid was sure he could overrun the Justice League and the Army, little knowing what awaited his own army.
Suddenly, Desaad said, "My lord, the Earthers are not carrying common arms. They are armed with technology from other worlds, more advanced than we've yet seen on this planet."
"And they are sending their watercraft, which are armed with weapons of equal power to their land vehicles," observed Darkseid. "They were clearly prepared for our conquest."
Desaad was shocked at that and protested, "But how could they be prepared for us if they were unaware of… where we would strike?"*
For once, Desaad gave a different order than merely attacking. He ordered the Parademons, "All warriors prepare for surface attack. Do not trouble yourselves with the Earth watercraft. They'll be dealt with soon enough."
So the Parademon army flew on toward Metropolis while another swarm of them headed for the approaching U.S. Navy vessels, which began shooting at them with quad-laser cannons, radar-controlled missiles, and pulse orb cannons. While the ships kept the back half of the invasion force occupied, the Justice League and the ground forces readied for attack when suddenly the Air Force soared in to render assistance.
On his vessel, Darkseid and his cohorts saw the U.S. Air Force moving in to counterattack, and Darkseid said with a malicious smile, "Sending fighters? Typical. Now their doom falls."
But then Granny Goodness realized what was happening. "The Earth fighters aren't countering our forces! They're attacking!"
"There's too many of them!"* shouted Desaad.
It seemed so, for as the Parademons soared on with roars of bloodlust, thousands of jet planes; F-4 Phantoms, F-14 Tomcats, F-15 Eagles, F-22 Raptors, and F-35 Lightnings tore through the sky on supercharged engines that could carry the enhanced aircraft at higher speeds than ever before at maximum power. They opened fire on Darkseid's attack force, filling the air with red, orange, and green beams of destructive energy, and several Parademons on the front lines were instantly blasted into oblivion. Hundreds more swarmed after the jets and in moments, hundreds of dogfights turned the now completely overcast sky into a living fireworks display. But here, Darkseid's Parademons were outmatched, for the upgraded fighters flew at thousands of miles per hour and were so adept at dodging enemy fire and outmaneuvering the attackers. Sadly, no soldier in this mortal life is invincible, and some planes ended up being pulled out of the sky or incinerated by the flaming breath of Darkseid's monstrous soldiers.
Darkseid ordered Granny Goodness, "Send a full frontal Parademon and Doom Hawk assault against Superman and his heroes. Release the Hell Hounds and Draco-Tanks on them."
"At once, great Darkseid," replied Granny with a bow.
Meanwhile, Superman and his co-founders and their protégés were keeping a constant watch on the sky, waiting for the opportune moment to fight back. Then as they watched, thousands of other Parademons came at them followed by many more flying machines that resembled fighter jets with skull moldings on their fronts. Then from out of the belly of the huge Apokoliptan ship, mechanized war machines hovered over the ocean towards them. They were either enormous tanks with dragon heads on the ends of their cannons or great metal dogs with blood-red eyes, each of them roughly seven meters tall.
Six hundred yards away on the shore of Metropolis, Superman called to his allies, "All right, everyone! Prepare yourselves!" Then he said, "Superboy, Supergirl, you're with me."
With that, the three Kryptonians moved out to about forty yards from the shore while the others doubled back to take their positions. Then as the full force of Darkseid's army came on, Superman floated up fifty meters above the sea. Superboy and Supergirl took their positions beside him and Supergirl said, "Say when, Kal."
"Now! Clap once as hard as you can!" ordered Superman.
He and his two teen allies clapped their hands together, setting off a vibrational wave projecting out toward the army of Apokolips. The force of the wave was so strong that it shattered the armor of several hundreds of Parademons, revealing that under it, they were nothing more than empty shells of processed organic material. The vibration knocked a few thousand Parademons and Doom Hawks out of the sky and disabled several of Darkseid's mechanical Hell Hounds and Draco-Tanks. More came at them, however, but while the Navy and Air Force kept the rest of Darkseid's attack force at bay, the ground forces prepared to fight.
Superman struck first and sent several Parademons flying with a single blow. He caught some by the collars or legs or wings and hurled them into the streets like rubber balls. That was the signal to fight back, and instantly, the other Leaguers and their apprentices joined the battle. Supergirl and Superboy tackled more Parademons and even a few Doom Hawks and then they and Superman blasted more down with their heat vision. Superboy began knocking a few more Doom Hawks to the ground while Supergirl began swinging a Draco-Tank at more Parademons before dropping it on another Draco-Tank as it belched fire from its dragon-shaped muzzle. As for Superman, he merely lifted a fallen Hell Hound and flung it into the sky, hitting several more Parademons and carrying them into the sea. Another Hell Hound spat fire at him, only for Superman to barrel his way through it unscathed and tear the mechanical monster apart before pounding more Parademons and Doom Hawks out of the sky.
Batman tossed several Batarangs at the incoming Parademons and took down at least six in one fell swoop. He threw a few magnetized explosives at some incoming Draco-Tanks and in an instant, the lumbering death machines were blown apart and left useless metal hulks. When more Parademons came on, Batman pulled off every martial tactic in the book with calculated precision: he punched, kicked, judo-threw, judo-swept, and hit pressure points. Nightwing was having difficulties of his own, for he was surrounded by a small horde of Parademons. However, he never lost his cool. Nightwing simply pulled out his Escrima fighting sticks (which he had capped at both ends with hyper-tasers) and hit one of the monsters under the chin. The Parademon recoiled in pain, and that boosted Nightwing's confidence. He struck at them with his fighting sticks and kicked at them, taking care to dodge the fire that spat from their fanged maws. Then when one of the Hell Hounds approached, Nightwing saw Robin throw an explosive down the mechanical beast's throat. It went off with a boom and the Hell Hound collapsed with a dismal groan. Batgirl leapt over to Robin as he jumped from the Hell Hound's shoulder, and then the two teenage heroes whipped out their Bat-staffs and began walloping more of the monsters and occasionally flinging gas pellets into their fanged mouths.
Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl were putting up a terrific fight as well, punching and kicking at Parademons and tipping over a few Draco-Tanks. Wonder Woman roped a few Doom Hawks and hurled them into the ground, smashing them to pieces. Then she noticed four Draco-Tanks trying to move toward the U.S. Army's lines from the left flank and called, "Wonder Girl, take down those tanks!"
"I'm on it!" the girl replied. She fought her way through more Parademons and when she was closer to the Draco-Tanks, she soon had an idea. Wonder Girl used her own lasso to wrangle a Doom Hawk and she rode it like a cowgirl on a bucking bronco. Then she roped other Doom Hawks and swung them into the Apokoliptan tanks, which exploded and came to a halt.
As the Justice League held the line, General Hardcastle took his walkie-talkie and ordered every soldier and vehicle operator, "All right, boys! Light 'em up!"
All at once, the streets of Metropolis became alight with energy beams as Darkseid's forces came on. Several Parademons were hit by soldiers with plasma impactors and were enveloped in heat before being reduced to fragments of metal and tissue. For those that landed, the soldiers tossed plasma grenades which the creatures curiously picked up, only to be blasted to ashes. When the Doom Hawks came down upon them like deadly vultures, another soldier under General Hardcastle's command; Captain Walter Tresdale, signaled the three-cannoned Trident tanks to fire. The Doom Hawks were hit with sonic energy that ripped through their forms and sent them sailing to the ground with garbled metallic moans. More American soldiers who were positioned on skyscrapers fired missiles on the Apokoliptan invaders which generated extreme cold on exploding, sending the monsters careening to the ground.
Meanwhile, as Superman and the rest of the Justice League's Alpha Squad fought on, Flash sprang into action. Parademons armed with vibro-pikes, fire-whips, and Agony Gauntlets landed and prepared to fire on the other heroes when the Scarlet Speedster raced down the streets at a speed of hundreds of miles per hour. He hit each of the creatures with a light punch, but his speed and the durability of his bones and muscles left considerable dents in their metallic bodies. When more came on, they fired on Flash and he nearly stumbled, but Kid Flash caught him.
"What's the plan, Flash?" he wondered.
"We hit them hard and where it hurts," Flash answered.
And with that, the two speedsters took off at a thousand-mile run, striking and tripping Parademons as they went on. Then Flash ran around one of the Hell Hounds at a faster rate, creating a small trench. Needless to say, he wore the ground so much that the mechanical monstrosity fell into a sinkhole made by its own weight. Kid Flash was now leading some Doom Hawks on a merry chase when some more Draco-Tanks got in his way. It looked like he would end up killed here, but before Flash could do anything, Kid Flash ran between two of the tanks and escaped. The Doom Hawks weren't so lucky and collided with their ground-roving counterparts, resulting in a raging conflagration.
The U.S. soldiers were having some problems at this point as more Parademons and Draco-Tanks bore down on them. They hit the creatures with everything they had, but it seemed that they would be overtaken when suddenly, a green-energy buzzsaw cut through the Draco-Tanks, catching the attention of friend and foe alike. Green Lantern was in the air, power ring at the ready, and he gave a peace sign to keep the men inspired.
The Parademons howled and flew up toward him, allowing the soldiers to keep their attention focused on the incoming attackers. As they came, Green Lantern only smiled, and began luring them into the path of the Air Force, where most of them were pelted with fire from the ships and the jet fighters. As more Parademons pursued him, Green Lantern fired a green-energy cannon to throw them off when he heard a voice on his comlink come in. It was General Trevor.
"I see you out there, Lantern," Trevor said from his new F-40 Phoenix jet. "Move to the right to draw them off. I'll take the leader for you."*
So Green Lantern did while knocking the rest of his pursuers away with a giant green baseball bat. As he lured the Parademons away, Steve Trevor flew over them in his Phoenix and zapped the lead Parademon, which vanished with a shriek. Then Green Lantern returned to the rest of his friends and resumed pelting Darkseid's monster agents with green-energy missiles, bowling balls, safes, and even trains.
On the ground, Aquaman had his hands full blasting Parademons with his trident. He struck them with lightning bolts from it, froze their wings to weigh them down, and he even used the water mains of the city to wash them away. The Sea King's efforts paid off well, but when a few Hell Hounds came at him, he found that he would need a bigger wave. Fortunately, General Hardcastle along with Private Jason Bard blasted at the monsters with atom blasters, and the Hell Hounds were blown to shreds. Meanwhile, Aqualad and Aquagirl were back to back with four Hell Hounds surrounding them. Aqualad said softly to her, "Tula, if we do not succeed here today, I want you to know that you will always be the love of my life, on the surface or under the sea."
Aquagirl couldn't help herself. She blushed at Aqualad's display of affection, but then she said, "Well, we are going to live through this, Kaldur. But we have to keep our heads in the game for now."
"Right," her friend replied. "We will try a new tactic to begin with."
With that, Aqualad used his water bearers to draw water from several manholes and form a wall of it around himself and Aquagirl, who then proceeded to use her Atlantean magic to form shapes of sea animals. Aqualad then set them loose on the mechanical hounds, which were swathed in water and mystic energy and collapsed, powerless to fight. Then Aqualad and Aquagirl squared off with some of Darkseid's Parademons, with Aqualad forming the water on his water bearers into a sword and shield and facing the monsters like a gladiator and Aquagirl hitting them with bolts of magic.
As for Martian Manhunter, he was using his telekinesis to send Doom Hawks falling into the streets or clip the wings of Parademons. He shifted his density to avoid being hit by the energy from Apokoliptan weapons, but he did have to move to avoid the flaming breath of several Parademons and Hell Hounds. Manhunter's strength also proved valuable; he kicked a Draco-Tank on its side and dropped a Hell Hound on another, then used his psychic powers to give another swath of Parademons headaches that sent them careening toward the waiting soldiers. Miss Martian fought with all the skills her uncle had taught her, but at one point, she got caught in a blast of flame. Fortunately, Superboy put out the fire and helped her recover from the slight but sharp pain, and then the two lovers rejoined the battle.
On board Darkseid's flagship, Desaad, Granny Goodness, and Kalibak looked on the battle in anger and disbelief. But Darkseid was, for once, stunned. He had no idea that the Justice League had been training apprentices to fight beside them for the greater good, and the fact that the army he saw was armed with technology that could help them win was even more stunning. Still Darkseid believed that victory was still in reach, unknowing that elsewhere on Earth, his conquest was seeing other problems on account of the Justice League and Earth's other countries.
A/N: I gave General Hardcastle the first name "Warren" because his first name is not known to me. It also sounded like a fitting name for him. Also, Superboy and Miss Martian are a couple in this story since the Young Justice characters are the ones I'm most familiar with.
Hope you liked the first battle of the Justice League against Darkseid. Feel free to rate and review. Please keep it constructive, and you'll see the next battle against Darkseid's armies really soon.
