Chapter 19: The Tide Rises

Superman was pushing the hordes of Parademons back without so much as breaking a sweat while Superboy and Supergirl were keeping more Parademons and scores of Doom Hawks from attacking the ground forces from the air. At his side, Batman and Wonder Woman and their protégés were focusing on safeguarding the flanks of the squad as the hideous Parademons continued to pour out from the ship's projected Boom Tube in great numbers. The advance of Darkseid's Hell Hounds and Draco-Tanks was slowing down as his Parademon forces were proving to be more efficient, but the Justice League and their allies were slowly beating them back all over the world, and the worst blow to Darkseid's army was happening in Metropolis at that moment.

Batman dodged the vibro-pikes and clawed hands of six Parademons before he attacked with jiu-jitsu and tai chi. After punching them with his brass knuckles and kicking them hard in their weak spots, Batman doused them with an oil capsule before tossing a few black balls that burst into flame and torched the extraterrestrial monsters. He ducked and rolled to avoid some more vibro-pikes, then hurled electrified batarangs that shocked several more Parademons into submission. Then he pulled out a portable high-frequency sonic generator and used it on a few hundred Parademons, resulting in the creatures having their armor blown off by the force of the soundwaves. He regrouped with Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl and together they repelled more of the invaders.

Superman punched thousands of Parademons as they came and sent the creatures flying back at speeds that pulled their bat-wings apart and bowed their armor due to the compressed air. He blasted more of them with his heat vision, blew them away with his super-breath, froze them with his freeze-breath, and occasionally kicked them away with equal force. Then when he saw Superboy and Supergirl moving into the charge, Superman joined them and together they plowed the ranks of Darkseid's Parademons as easily as a lawn mower through grass.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern led his fellow Lanterns into battle against Darkseid's invasion, now stronger than they had ever been thanks to the arrival of the Blue Lanterns. As he and the other Green Lanterns landed to drive back another regiment of Parademons, the Apokoliptan creatures set up a protective shield using Father Boxes. However, Arkkis simply fired his power ring and the green-energy beam splintered the shield to pieces, forcing the attacking Parademons to scatter. When the ones armed with vibro-pikes tried to subdue the Green Lanterns with energy blasts, the green-energy flames surrounding them made the lightning-like beams feel like hot water. In response, the Green Lanterns constructed green-energy turrets and fired back, destroying several of the monsters and forcing more Parademons to fall back. They used green-energy drills, tire jacks, and steamrollers to overpower some remaining Hell Hounds and Draco-Tanks before taking to the air to help the Air Force fend off more aerial attacks. However, the Justice League's attention was diverted when a smaller Boom Tube opened above the street, and Granny Goodness and Kalibak emerged from it.

Granny looked at the hulking creature and said in a sickly sweet voice, "Dear Kalibak, you have been a good lad by living in your father's service. For that, Granny thinks you deserve a special job in our conquest of Earth." Then she said with a vicious grin, "Kill them all!"

Kalibak cracked his large knuckles with malicious glee and prepared to charge. But as he did so, he was suddenly swept off his feet by Wonder Woman, who then somersaulted backwards to face him and said, "You're not going anywhere, monster, expect back where you belong."

The hulking Kalibak rose up and sneered, "How kind of you, Amazon, to offer yourself as the first of your kind to die here."

He charged and tried to slam Wonder Woman to the ground, but this time, she was ready for him. She blocked each of his punches, then seized him by the collar and flung him aside like a sack of potatoes. Though he landed in a seemingly bulldozed heap of rubble, Kalibak rose up and roared like a lion before charging at Wonder Woman again. This time, he caught her by her long, dark hair when she tried to sidestep, but as Kalibak dragged her through the streets, a cable shot out from behind and wrapped around his free hand. And holding the grappling gun that fired the cable was Batman.

"You?!" howled Kalibak.

"Sorry, Ape Man, but your master's scheme is already falling apart," Batman said coldly. "He would do well to simply go back to Apokolips unless he wants to continue wasting his military on us."

"Never!" Kalibak howled. "This world belongs to Darkseid! Hail Darkseid or die!"

"Not interested," the Dark Knight replied.

Kalibak threw Wonder Woman aside and then snapped Batman's cable and charged at him. But as he lunged, Batman dodged and rolled and then managed to retrieve the Father Box from Kalibak's belt.

Batman called through his comlink, "Superman, you have to go after Darkseid yourself! Take him down, and we have a higher chance of stopping the invasion!"

"Roger that," the Man of Steel confirmed. "Superman out."

Superman reached Batman as fast as he could, and before anyone could stop them, the two superheroes entered the Boom Tube and transported themselves aboard Darkseid's vessel. It was time to end the threat of conquest here and now. However, Batman had dropped Kalibak's Father Box after he and Superman entered the Boom Tube, so it was unlikely that they would return.

Granny Goodness was more than confident that Darkseid would kill both Superman and Batman, but Kalibak was beside himself with rage. He rounded on Wonder Woman, who was back on her feet, but his first strike went awry as the Amazon princess seized him by the arm and threw him over her shoulder with ease. Kalibak tackled her, but Wonder Woman was ready for that. She merely twisted her body in midair and slammed Kalibak on the ground. He managed to trip her, but Wonder Woman back-flipped to avoid his pounding fists. She walloped Kalibak from behind with a smashed-up car and then knocked him to the ground with a hip strike before binding his wrists with her magic lasso.

"Submit, beast!" she demanded.

Kalibak only growled in response and snarled, "Apokoliptans don't surrender. Whatever world we come to, it belongs to Darkseid."

"I don't think so," Wonder Woman answered. She used the other end of her magic lasso to retrieve Kalibak's Father Box. Then before the slow-witted creature could react, Wonder Woman activated the Boom Tube and then flung Kalibak through it, sending him back to Apokolips with a blood-curdling roar of hate.

As Wonder Woman hung her lasso on her belt and prepared to resume the battle with the rest of the Justice League, Granny Goodness charged her with her Mega-Rod raised to strike while shrieking, "No! NO! You heroes ruin everything!"

Granny Goodness never got the chance to strike, for seemingly out of the blue, Supergirl shoulder-tackled the Apokoliptan menace and sent her flying for thirty yards. Wonder Woman saluted Supergirl, who smiled and then flew off to take on Granny Goodness herself.

The dazed Granny Goodness rose from the smoking wreck of a Hell Hound and saw Supergirl hovering overhead with a disgruntled frown. While Granny wanted more than anything to kill Supergirl on Darkseid's orders, part of her wanted to break the girl's spirit much like when she was brought to Apokolips against her will three years earlier and brainwashed for a time into serving him. Besides, Darkseid had promised her that she would be allowed to train Earth's younger heroes to serve him in his conquest of the cosmos.

Granny said to Supergirl in a falsely sweet voice, "Child, why do you resist me so? Everything Granny did was for your own good."

"You're lying!" Supergirl answered angrily.

"Don't be foolish, girl," Granny Goodness replied with a pretended chuckle. "All children on Apokolips know that life is meaningless unless it is in service to Darkseid and love is a tool that the weak use to entice the simple-minded. If you knew that Darkseid's will is all that matters, you would thank me-"

Supergirl felt the heat rise in her chest with every word Granny Goodness spoke, and she sharply cut Granny off and spat, "Shut it, you wicked old witch! Your Darkseid didn't take Earth before and he won't do it this time either!"

Granny Goodness made a sound of mock offence and said, "Ah! Such effrontery!" Then she said to another crowd of Parademons, "My pretties, defend your Granny's honor. Kill her and be quick about it!"

The Parademons charged Supergirl, but just as before, she punched and kicked with all her might and knocked the first line into a few buildings at least a mile away. She blasted more of them with her heat vision, froze them with her freezing breath, and performed martial art attacks that soon broke off the Parademons' attack on her with ease. Granny Goodness shrieked with incalculable anger and bellowed, "You'll pay dearly for this, you little Kryptonian scum!"

She charged at Supergirl, who merely gave a back kick and sent Granny Goodness flying into a skyscraper's entrance doors. However, Granny was back on her feet and running for her again. She dodged Supergirl's heat vision, but her freeze breath forced the Apokoliptan villain to shield herself behind a half-broken wall. Eventually, Granny Goodness managed to tackle Supergirl and started punching her face, but the Kryptonian girl bent her leg and kicked her hard in the stomach.

Now Granny Goodness was mad. She leapt at Supergirl and aimed a few punches at her, missing four times, but her next attack was more successful: she grabbed hold of Supergirl's long, blonde hair and tried to drag her to the ground, only for Supergirl to land on her side and then grab Granny's arm and pull herself to her feet. She was red in the face and her eyes were glowing with heat.

"So you want to fight dirty, do ya?" Supergirl growled as she seized Granny Goodness by her cape. "All right, Granny! I'll crush you good, you old hag!"

In a flash, Supergirl took off at a run and dragged Granny Goodness through the streets at super-speed, and she did not stop until she flung the old wretch against a fallen Draco-Tank and then slammed her back and forth against it until Granny Goodness slumped to the ground in a swoon. Thinking quickly, Supergirl took the Father Box from Granny's belt and opened the portal, and Granny Goodness vanished with a shriek.

With Kalibak and Granny Goodness out of the way, Wonder Woman and Supergirl crushed the Father Boxes to prevent them from being used again and resumed their defense of Metropolis. But while the battles continued to rage in Metropolis and around the world, Superman and Batman were preparing to face the greatest threat.


A/N: Hope you all enjoyed seeing Wonder Woman and Supergirl give Darkseid's cronies the backside-kicking they earned. Next chapter, we'll see Batman take on Desaad, and then: the biggest battle between the Man of Steel and the Tyrant of Apokolips!

Prepare for Batman's time to shine, folks, with the next big Star Wars callback coming soon!