Chapter 6: The Battle of Mexico City

MEXICO CITY
JUNE 13, 10:16 UTC-5

The heart of Mexico was preparing for the incoming siege as well with the Mexican army covering the northwest portion of the capital, their enhanced tanks at the front and their soldiers behind. Enhanced anti-air turrets had also been set up, which made sense since Darkseid's Parademon warriors could fly. At the front, General Sebastian Cortés was awaiting the arrival of the Justice League's force designated to defend Mexico. He wouldn't need to wait long, for Power Girl and John Stewart; the second Green Lantern on the League's roster, arrived in a short while accompanied by none other than Star Sapphire, Hal Jordan's love interest, and a number of other Green Lanterns and Star Sapphires.

Green Lantern was not the only hero affiliated with the Justice League to arrive as Batwoman* and Huntress were being supported on a platform supplied by Lantern's ring. They were recent additions to the Justice League and both had seen their fair share of crimefighting. The Question was also there, having been allowed to go with Huntress on Beta Squad. The only teenage heroes who had gone with them were Long Shadow* and El Dorado*, who were itching to keep their families in the U.S. safe from this threat.

The seven heroes landed to greet General Cortés, who saluted them and said, "Buenos días, Justice League! Thank you for coming."

"Thank you, General," Green Lantern replied. "Is everything ready?"

General Cortés nodded and said, "We stand ready to fight against this Darkseid and his diablo armada. Our forces here stand at 60,000 with tanks and turret trucks, and our fuerza aérea will give us cover while we hold off their advance from the ground."

While General Cortés explained to the League and the protégés that his men were keeping out of sight to surprise Darkseid's attack force, Corporal Miguel de San Pedro noticed something on the scanning device he had been provided and called over the walkie-talkie, "Señor General, we have unidentified target landing less than five miles from Ciudad de México. It must be a ship from Apokolips, like the one that landed in New York."

"We have visual contact now," General Cortés responded. Sure enough, another Apokoliptan ship descended from the sky, which was now covered in clouds that looked like a brewing storm. The Boom Tube activated and a horde of Parademons flew toward Mexico City, roaring, "For Darkseid!" Hell Hounds and Draco-Tanks began moving toward the capitol, and Doom Hawks soon joined the Parademons in flight.

At the order from General Cortés, the Mexican Air Force flew overhead to engage the advancing horde. The Northrop F-5s and Pilatus PC-7s unleashed their frontal assault on the Apokoliptan ranks, soon filling the sky with energy beams that reduced the Parademons and Doom Hawks to flaming hulks that either crashed to the ground or exploded into clouds of fire and metal shards. However, as the Hell Hounds and Draco-Tanks approached, General Cortés signaled 1st Lieutenant Fransisco Gonzales, who gave the signal for the LexCorp sonic missiles to fly. In moments, the Justice League saw the front lines of Darkseid's mechanical monsters receive blows in the joints, causing them to keel over helplessly.

"That's the signal! Let's move!" shouted Green Lantern. With that, he and the other Leaguers and teenage heroes moved out to help as the army of Parademons swept in from the sky.

Green Lantern smashed a couple Doom Hawks with a green-energy sledgehammer, then made a green-energy dragon which chomped on several Parademons and spat them at their counterparts, causing even more Parademons to fall from the sky. He also slingshotted them away and used a green-energy bow to shoot several Doom Hawks away like they were arrows.

As the Mexican soldiers fired their atom blasters, sonic blasters, and plasma impactors at the oncoming Parademons, Power Girl froze their wings with her freeze breath. She blasted them with her heat vision and hit the monsters with all the strength she could put into it. Her attack was swift and fierce, and most of the Parademons fell before they knew what hit them. The Doom Hawks swarmed around her, intending to shoot her down, but their eye lasers only agitated her, and Power Girl tore them apart with ease.

Star Sapphire first created a few violet-energy bears to trample the Draco-Tanks down. Then she tripped a few Hell Hounds with a violet-energy cane and flung them into the air to knock more Parademons out of the sky. Suddenly, a swarm of Parademons armed with Agony Gauntlets pursued her and after a brief chase, they began blasting at her with their weapons. The pain from this red energy was excruciating, making it take all the energy Star Sapphire had not to pass out. Fortunately, Power Girl and a number of other Star Sapphires broke off the attack, and Star Sapphire resumed her attack after Green Lantern used his ring to help ease the sting of the Agony Gauntlets. Meanwhile, the other Green Lanterns were providing support for ground and airborne troops by blasting Parademons and Doom Hawks with green-energy laser cannons and rocket launchers while many other Star Sapphires dealt with the Hell Hounds and Draco-Tanks.

As another horde of Parademons landed, Batwoman leapt to confront them. She flung Batarangs at them, tossed gas pellets down their empty throats, and even tasered them. When another swarm of the monsters landed, Batwoman punched them with brass knuckles on her gloves and kicked them hard. Her blows were precise and the monsters ended up damaged, but before she could strike again, the Parademons she had wounded tried to take her with them by literally falling apart. Fortunately, Batwoman jumped out of the way to join Huntress, who was shooting arrows that were like Green Arrow's at a few more groups of Parademons.

"I don't usually use trick arrows in my crimefighting," explained Huntress. "But for an emergency this big, I'm not taking chances."

"You know, technically, we're taking a very big chance trying to fight this invasion anyway," retorted Batwoman.

Their brief conversation was interrupted by a Hell Hound that was lumbering toward them. Sadly, Huntress' arrows could not slow it down and Batwoman's taser had no ill effect. It seemed as though the two superheroines were going to be trampled when an energy bolt hit the mechanical beast in a neck joint and it crashed to the ground in a heap. When Batwoman and Huntress turned, they found that the one who had saved their lives was the Question thanks to him picking up an atom blaster from a wounded soldier. He stayed beside Batwoman and Huntress and together they held off another attack from Darkseid's army.

General Cortés ordered his soldiers, "Fire on them!" Once the order went out, the ground forces, led by Colonel Luis Marcello, fired on Darkseid's Parademons and Doom Hawks with plasma impactors, atom blasters, and plasma grenades. Soldiers in towers and behind walls of rubble opened fire to disorient the attacks. As the Draco-Tanks advanced, it was realized that they only shot fireballs, which gave the Mexican soldiers and the Justice League a boost of confidence. At a signal from Colonel Marcello, a few quad-laser tanks, quantum rocket tanks, and ion static turrets opened fire and ripped the Hell Hounds and Draco-Tanks to pieces.

As a squad of Draco-Tanks approached him, Long Shadow took a deep breath and concentrated internally. As he did, the sounds of laser fire and explosions mingled with the shouts of his elders in the Justice League and the cries of wounded soldiers began to fade. A great heat and light seemed to grow in his chest, and then a deep, rising note of song filled his ears. Then before the startled eyes of the soldiers and the Justice League, Long Shadow manifested his astral form, his "long shadow", and he made it bigger than he ever had before: exactly a hundred feet tall.

Long Shadow simply picked up the Draco-Tanks and dropped them on the Hell Hounds, and the fire that they spat at him did little more than sting the astral form he had projected. The Doom Hawks blasted at him with lasers, but their shots only stung him as well, and they were knocked out of the sky or crushed in fists of glimmering golden light. For a moment, even the Parademons were surprised, and those that were armed with laser pikes or Agony Gauntlets fired on Long Shadow. The pain was less intense than it would have been if Long Shadow had not used his power, but it was still agitating, and so Long Shadow fought back and swatted the monsters away like flies.

On the ground, El Dorado was busy teleporting himself to and fro and giving the Apokoliptan invaders a hard time trying to flay him within an inch of his life. He teleported on top of a Hell Hound, which ended up hit by a Draco-Tank. Next, he took a quantum blaster and fired at several incoming Doom Hawks, scoring a couple glancing hits which had spectacular results. Suddenly El Dorado had to teleport away from another horde of Parademons, who were then swept up in crossfire between the Green Lanterns, led by John Stewart, and the Mexican army. Suddenly he felt something strike him on the back and send what felt like lightning and fire mixed together up his body. El Dorado turned and found more Parademons looming over him with evil smiles written on their ugly faces.

It looked like the battle was about to become a fight to make a stalemate when Huntress pointed to the sky and called out, "Look!"

The defenders did, and what a sight did they see! From a wormhole in the sky came hundreds of American jet fighters to aid the Mexican fleet, and they began cutting gaps in the Apokoliptan lines. At the same time, several Atlantean soldiers emerged from the river Lerma-Santiago and began attacking Darkseid's forces with mystically-charged spears, tridents, and swords. El Dorado and the other heroes smiled as the Mexican army fought back with rejuvenated vigor beside their Atlantean allies, and then he got up and grabbed a Parademon's laser pike.

"Adios," he said with a wink, and then teleported away just as several laser strikes blasted the monsters into oblivion. Then El Dorado yelled back before resuming fighting, "And that's what you get for trying to stab me in the back!"


A/N: I had Tye Longshadow and Eduardo Jr. appear in this fanfiction as they would members of the Outsiders. Batwoman is also a member of the Justice League as Batman had her added as a new recruit in January of 2014 according to this story.

Translations:

- Buenos días- Good morning
- Diablo armada- devil army
- Fuerza aérea- air force

Hope you all enjoyed this scene of the Justice League's battle against Darkseid. And stay tuned, 'cause the League's next line of Earth's defense will be in Japan!