Justice League of Amazons: Fire & Blood
Chapter 8
…
In a puff of blue coloured smoke, Aegon, Zatanna and Shayera reappeared on the Watchtower. Waving away some of the smoke, Aegon spoke. "Still trying to get used to that," he remarked.
"Yeah, but you're holding up pretty well for a first timer," Zatanna said to him. "I remember the first time I travelled via magic. I almost threw up," she added.
"How pleasant," Shayera snarked.
"Yeah," Zatanna said lowly.
Then Diana came walking over to them. "You're back. Where did you three go?" the Amazon Princess asked them.
"We went to my house to get something for Aegon since he's insistent on not being sidelined or kept out of the action," Zatanna replied. "Show her, Aegon."
"To arms!" Aegon cried and his new armour appeared on his body. Diana's eyes widened in recognition.
"Is that the armour of St George?" she asked.
"It is indeed, Princess," Zatanna replied. "I thought Aegon could make use of it, so it'll provide him some good protection out in the field," she said.
"No doubt it will, Zatanna," Diana said, and she looked at Aegon. "How does it feel?" she asked him.
"It feels good, as though it were made for me," Aegon replied. "Although I think because of it being enchanted, it fitted to my size instantly," he said thoughtfully.
"Well, it wouldn't do to wear armour too big or too small for you now, would it?" Zatanna pointed.
"I suppose not," Aegon agreed before calling away his armour. Looking at Diana, he asked her, "Has anything happened in our absence?"
"Nothing too dire, Aegon," Diana stated. "There's lots of burial detail to go through, plus rescuing survivors from planes and ships that had been wrecked when the virus happened," she said grimly.
"I see," Aegon said nodding his head. "Is there anything I can do to assist?" he asked.
"Well, there doesn't appear to be any sort of danger right now, but I wouldn't want to risk exposing you," Diana said carefully.
"Shayera said those words to me earlier, your Grace," Aegon said tersely. "And I will tell you what I told her: I will not sit up here feeling useless and idle. I would rather be out there doing something instead of being what I would liken to a prison."
"Forgive me, Aegon," Diana said apologetically. "I didn't mean to offend you and I would certainly hold you captive," she added.
"See that you don't," Aegon replied. "So, is there anything for me to do? Anything at all?" he enquired.
"We have one or two missions. Nothing too drastic, but I would suggest you take someone with you for it," Diana said.
"Name it," Aegon said.
…
Aegon sat in the front seat of an armoured APC. The APC was part of a convoy carrying some supplies to some towns that had been hit hard by the virus. The supplies were mostly foodstuffs, water and medicine and other necessities. Outside, riding on custom-made motorcycles were Helena Bertinelli/Huntress and Dinah Lance/Black Canary. Also riding in the APC were some female US National Guard soldiers.
To be certain such protective measures were a little overboard, but it was necessary as certain now female-led criminal organisations were trying to take advantage of the state of the world and expand their holdings. And a supply convoy would be a prime target for such criminal sectors to supply the black market and extort communities in need of supplies.
Some of the female soldiers had jokingly made offers of taking Aegon out on a date, but Helena and Dinah stood close to him to ward off those who were not as jesting in their offers. Some still lingered near Aegon but he chose to ride shotgun in the front seat of the APC with the driver who did not make any overtures of a romantic or sexual nature and was more focussed on driving the vehicle.
A ringing in his ear alerted Aegon that either Helena or Dinah were trying to contact. Tapping the small earpiece with a finger, Aegon said, "Huntress? Canary? Is that you?"
"It's Huntress, Aegon. How are you holding up?" Huntress asked through the commlink.
"As well as can be expected, Lady Huntress," Aegon replied with a slight sigh. "I'm starting to think that no-one will be brave enough to attack this supply convoy," he remarked.
"Don't get complacent. That's usually when something is bound to go wrong," Huntress told him.
"Of course. Pray forgive me, Huntress," Aegon said apologetically. "But who would be brave enough to strike at a supply convoy?" he postulated.
"There'd be a few who would have the balls to. Intergang, for one."
"Intergang… what can you tell me about them?"
"Where to start? All the criminal organisations on Earth such as the Mafia, the Yakuza, the Triads, every organised crime has Intergang pulling their strings. The heads of every crime organisation have ties to Intergang or work for someone in Intergang," Huntress explained.
"I read an old newsprint article that Intergang was under influence from Darkseid. Is that much true?" Aegon asked.
"They were under Darkseid's patronage, but that changed when he abandoned them after his plan to invade Earth was thwarted by Superman, and their leader, Bruno Manheim, was killed by Darkseid himself for failing," Huntress said.
"Darkseid… who is he?"
"I don't know too much about Darkseid other than he's an intergalactic alien warlord bent on conquering the universe. Supergirl and Power Girl know more about him than I do."
"I'll endeavour to speak with them about it," Aegon said nodding his head. Another ringing in his comm link alerted Aegon and he tapped it. "This is Aegon, who is it?"
"This is Batgirl, Watchtower sensors are picking up something heading your way," came the reply.
"How many?" Aegon asked as he looked out the passenger window, scanning the horizon for whatever may be coming towards the convoy.
"Just one," Batgirl said. "I'm scanning it now… the sensors show it's emitting an energy signature of some kind… I think… I think it might be a Green Lantern!"
Black Canary then spoke over the comm link. "So, we have a new Green Lantern watching Earth? That's pretty fast!" she said.
"Then perhaps we have a new ally?" Aegon asked, relaxing a little and hopeful for the sight of a friendly face.
"It's coming towards you from the west. You should see it in a couple of seconds."
Sure enough, a bright green glow came in from the west before it slowly faded to reveal the wielder of a Green Lantern Corps Power Ring.
It was a young woman with chocolate brown and equally brown eyes. She wore a dark green almost black uniform with the symbol of the Green Lantern Corps on her chest. And on the middle finger of her right hand was a Green Lantern Power Ring. The woman's expression was unreadable as she looked at the convoy. Aegon watched the woman with wariness in his eyes; he did not like the way the woman was looking at the convoy. Then with something approaching a sneer on her lips, the woman raised her power ring and fired a blast of green plasma at the lead supply truck. The road exploded in front of the truck and the driver quickly shifted gears and slammed the brakes.
With a loud squeal of rubber on asphalt, the truck slid to a screaming halt and the trucks behind it all squealed to a stop as well. The Green Lantern fired a blast of green plasma in the air; the bolt soared up in the air before exploding in a shower of sparks. Then almost immediately, helicopters came flying in, their rotors making chopping sounds as they spun in the air.
"What the hell?!" Helena swore. "Why is she attacking us?" she demanded as she set her motorcycle to auto-pilot and pulled out her crossbow.
"Don't know, don't care!" Dinah said as she too set her motorcycle to autopilot and pulled out a pair of electrically charged batons, the heads crackling with electricity.
Aegon climbed out the APC and the soldiers in the back climbed out, setting their guns to firing mode. Aegon drew his sword and summoned his armour. Some of the soldiers moved to form a protective wall in front of Aegon making him groan in frustration but he could not do anything about it right now as there were more important matters at hand.
The helicopters then released humanoid shaped robots. Dinah recognised the make.
"Z8-A Combat trainers," she noted. "What are these things here for?" she wondered to herself.
Then the Green Lantern spoke in a loud grating voice, "Alright you mooks, get to work!" she commanded and dropping down from the helicopters were women wearing dark fatigues. Helena gritted her teeth as she recognised the uniform the women wore.
"Intergang!"
"Defensive positions!" the sergeant shouted as she aimed down her M16 at the Intergang soldiers and androids. "Mr Targaryen, stay back and let us handle this!" she then said to Aegon.
"Piss on that! I won't sit back and do nothing!" Aegon retorted as he leapt over the line of soldiers and moved towards the enemy.
"Aegon?! Ah, shit, here we go!" Dinah cursed as the Z8s charged towards the convoy.
Aegon readied Blackfyre in his hands as the first Z8 Android came towards him. With a swing, Aegon cleaved the machine diagonally in half before pivoting on his foot and stabbed a Z8 that tried to sneak up on him in the chest. Wrenching his sword free, Aegon hefted a kick into the robot, sending it stumbling back. Aegon turned his head just as a Z8 hit him in the face with a metal fist. Aegon gave a grunt as the android's fist collided with his helmet but luckily the armour held up against the assault. Gritting his teeth in anger, Aegon slashed off the android's arms before kicking its legs out from under it before thrusting his sword deep into its chest.
Dinah leapt off her motorcycle, taking off her helmet before unleashing her famed Canary Cry. The hyper-sonic sound waves made the air ripple as they hit a group of the Z8 androids. The sound waves ripped the metal bodies of the androids apart, reducing them to scrap metal. Landing into a forward roll, Dinah delivered a kick to a Z8's head and knocked it clean off. Turning around and blocking an incoming strike from a robot with her batons, Dinah pushed the robot off before delivering a series of strikes onto the robot's body before throwing a spin kick into the machine, leaving a large crater-like dent in its chest.
Helena fired quarrels from her crossbow at the robots. Each bolt had an explosive tip that exploded as they hit each android. The Intergang mercs aimed their guns at Helena and fired upon. Ducking over the side of her bike, Helena could hear the bullets whistle as they flew over before she swung herself back up onto her bike and fired an explosive bolt at the Intergang thugs. The explosive bolt sent them running for cover. Then one Intergang merc hefted out a larger gun and it hummed with building energy before firing. A large neon red stream of plasma energy arced out of the barrel of the gun. Helena barely jumped off in time as the blast hit her bike.
"Shit, my bike!? You better hope my insurance covers that!" Helena swore as she charged towards the Intergang merc who had totalled her motorcycle. The thug aimed her weapon at Helena who fired a quarrel from her crossbow, this being a simple broadhead tip. The bolt soared through the air and entered the barrel of the gun. This did the trick as the gun began to fizz and kick up sparks, overloading with energy.
The thug tossed it aside before it had the chance to explode in her hands. The merc looked at the ruined gun before she looked up and was greeted by Helena's fist colliding with her jaw. Blood and spittle flew out of the thug's mouth as she hit the ground, groaning before falling unconscious.
Aegon stood, panting for breath as a pile of destroyed Z8's were piled around, their limbs and bodies sliced and stabbed from Blackfyre. Getting his breath back, Aegon hefted his sword into his hands. His arms burned as he lifted his sword but he would not let that stop him. He looked up to see the Green Lantern using her Power Ring to lift one of the supply trucks into the air. Looking over the sergeant, Aegon ran and asked, "Do you have anything to stop her?" He pointed at the Green Lantern for emphasis.
The sergeant looked up and her eyes went wide with surprise as she said, "We got a couple of RPGs. But I don't think they'll take someone like her out!"
"Go and get them! We can't let her get away with even one supply truck when others needs them more!" Aegon ordered and the sergeant gave some orders to one of her corporals who ran off to one of the APCs. Aegon looked at the soldiers and shouted, "Rally to me!" The soldiers looked at Aegon in confusion but the sergeant yelled, "Do as he says!" and the soldiers quickly obeyed.
"Form up in two rows!" Aegon ordered and the soldiers did. "First row is to pick their targets and fire when I give the order!" he said. "Second will then take the first row and fire!" he declared.
The soldiers in the first row knelt down on the ground and took aim. Aegon stood to the side, raising his sword in the air. "Make ready! Aim! Fire!" he bellowed. The soldiers fired a quick burst from their guns, taking down their targets.
"Second rank move up! First rank, pull back!" Aegon commanded. The second row took the front row and aimed. "Ready! Aim! Fire!" More of the Z8s were taken down.
Then one of the corporals ran up, carrying an RPG. "Sergeant! RPG as requested!" the corporal yelled.
"We have the RPG! Your orders, Mr Targaryen, sir?!" the sergeant asked.
"Aim for the Green Lantern! Stop her from getting the supply trucks!" Aegon hollered as he cut down a Z8 that got too close for comfort. The corporal loaded the RPG and aimed it at the Green Lantern before pulling the trigger. With a burst of ignition, the rocket propelled grenade zoomed up towards the Green Lantern who spotted it and created a bubble shield. The rocket exploded on impact and the Green Lantern was unharmed in her shield.
"Is that the best you jarheads have got?!" the Green Lantern mocked before she fired a blast at the soldiers and Aegon. Aegon leapt out of the way and the soldiers took cover but one was not so lucky and got caught in the blast. The young soldier screamed in pain as she suffered some burns and no doubt a broken bone. Aegon ran to the young woman's side. "Get the Maester!" he cried out.
Dinah looked over to where Aegon was beside the wounded soldier and she shouted to Helena, "This isn't working! We need back-up!"
Helena nodded before putting a finger to her comm link. "Watchtower, this is Huntress! We are under attack by Intergang mercs and someone armed with a Green Lantern Power Ring, we need assistance right fucking now!" she shouted.
"Watchtower to Huntress, we are sending you back-up right now. Nearest unit is over ten minutes away! Can you hold out until then?"
"Well, tell that unit to hurry her ass up! We're getting creamed here!" Huntress spat before cutting off communication just as an Intergang thug tried to stab her with a combat knife. Grabbing the assailant's wrist, Helena gave a brutal twist, snapping the bone and the thug dropped her weapon with a cry of pain. Helena then slammed her forehead into the thug's nose, breaking it with a gush of blood. The thug stumbled back, clutching her ruined nose with her unbroken hand.
Helena then flipped the thug onto her back, grabbing her leg by the ankle and gave a vicious twist. The thug screamed in agony before Helena slammed the heel of her boot into the woman's solar plexus, driving the wind from her and rendering her unconscious. Helena looked at the other thugs who were being taken by Dinah. Cracking her knuckles, Helena sprinted over to help her fellow Gothamite with the remaining Intergang thugs.
Aegon stayed by the injured soldier's side as a field medic quickly applied some first aid to her. "Keep her talking and lucid! She could fall unconscious!" the medic told Aegon who then spoke to the injured soldier.
"Are you alright, my lady?" Aegon asked the young woman. "We're going to fix you up now! It's going to be alright," he said. "What's your name?"
"A-Alice… Lance Corporal Alice McKenna, Mr Targaryen… sir," the young woman said through her pain.
"It's nice to meet you, Lady McKenna. I'm Aegon Targaryen," Aegon introduced himself. "We're going to fix you up. Just hang in there, alright?" he asked.
"Yes… Yessir, Mr Targaryen," Lance Corporal Alice McKenna replied with a smile.
Then a bright green glow emanated from behind Aegon and he turned around to see the Green Lantern standing behind him. "So, you're the guy, huh?" the woman asked condescendingly. "You look like just about every guy I've ever met in my life!" she said bitterly.
Aegon stood to his feet and held his sword ready. "Who are you? I'd like to know the name of the one who would steal from those who need it most!" he said coldly.
"Maria Contranetti, but you can call me the Militant Comedienne!" the Green Lantern replied as she formed a sword construct with her power ring and she launched herself at Aegon who raised his sword in time to block her attack. Maria Contranetti attacked wildly with her sword construct which made Aegon smile inwardly; it was clear she had no real skill with a sword which could work in his favour.
Parrying the Militant Comedienne's strikes, Aegon then spoke, "Why do this? Why attack and steal from others when you could help them?" he asked.
"Ha! As if! All my life I had to work for what I wanted and I barely got any recognition and squat for it! It was because of men like you that I was stuck at the bottom of the barrel!" Maria said. "But when I found this Power Ring, well, I decided that I wasn't going be working for what I wanted, I was just gonna take it!" she declared.
"Clearly! And how did you fall in with Intergang?" Aegon asked as he parried another strike from Maria.
"I took control of it! And I wasn't gonna let anyone tell me otherwise!" Maria said proudly as she thrust her construct at Aegon who sidestepped the thrust and swung his sword at Maria's cheek. The environmental body shield surrounding Maria protected her from Aegon's sword, but the force behind it was enough to stagger her.
"Bastard! If you left a scar?!" Maria shrieked just as a hyper-sonic concussive wave hit her and sent her flying back into the hull of an APC. Aegon looked over and saw Dinah and Helena standing there.
"I had it under control, just so you know," Aegon told them.
"Yeah, well, it was taking too long," Helena replied. Then the APC exploded and a giant mecha construct stood up in the ruins of the APC.
"That's it! I've had it with you mooks! Y'all are bugging me out! I'm gonna snuff yer lights out!" Maria shouted from inside her mecha construct's speakers before raising one foot to stomp on Aegon. Then with the booming noise of the sound barrier being broken, something hit Maria's mecha construct hard, causing it to stumble and fall over with an almighty crash.
And floating in the air was Kara Zor-El/Supergirl who was dusting off her hands and said, "That takes care of that."
"Thanks for the assist!" Dinah called out to the young Kryptonian woman who nodded in response. With a frustrated yell, Maria flew up into the air and yelled, "Goddamnit! You broads are wylin' on my style! Can't make a dishonest buck if you're here to ruin everything!"
"Come quietly and you won't get hurt… much!" Kara said as she cracked her knuckles and her eyes glowed with heat vision.
Maria seethed before launched a large hand construct and grabbed one of the supply trucks and hurled it into the distance. Her eyes wide with shock, Supergirl flew after it, managing to catch the truck just in time before it could hit the ground. Carefully balancing it on her hands, Kara flew it slowly back to the convoy and set it down gently. She then looked around and asked, "Where did that bitch go?"
"She hightailed it outta here," Helena answered. "Wonder who she is and how she got her hands on a Green lantern corps power ring?" she said out loud.
"She said her name is Maria Contranetti, the Militant Comedienne," Aegon then said with a sigh. "As for how she came into possession of a power ring is beyond me, but from what I read, a power ring chooses its owner. Unless of course I am mistaken?" he theorised.
"Maria Contranetti? I think I've heard that name before," Dinah said putting a hand to her chin thought. "Where did I hear that name?" she asked herself.
"Well, regardless, it looks like Intergang has new leadership who is in possession of one of the most powerful weapons in existence!" Helena said with frustration in her voice. "A bad combination if you ask me," she added.
"Well, at the very least, she didn't make off with any of the supply trucks, so now they can go to where they're needed," Kara said, looking to the positives of the situation.
"You have our thanks, Lady Kara," Aegon said to her gratefully with a smile.
Kara blushed pleasantly and said, "It-It was nothing!" She bit her bottom lip as her stomach did a little flip seeing Aegon smile at her.
"C'mon. Let's just get this convoy on its way and head back to the Watchtower," Dinah said to them. "The sooner this is over with, the sooner I can enjoy a nice hot bath," she added.
"Could not agree more, Canary," Helena said as they began to help with the convoy and the injured.
…
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! The eighth chapter of this story done and dusted. I hope I delivered in this chapter in regards to some action and Aegon getting a little taste of what fighting in the DC world is like. And we've seen the introduction of a new enemy to the Justice League; Maria Contranetti the Militant Comedienne! If the name is familiar, it is because she is a character from the two issue series JLA: Created Equal; to give you a brief description, Maria is basically a Third-Wave FemiNazi who came into possession of a Green Lantern Power Ring and uses it to take what she felt was denied to her throughout her life.
Could you imagine the possibility of Maria teaming up with Aresia to finish what Aresia started and subjugate the entire world under the pretence of freeing women everywhere? It would not bode well for anyone.
Anyway, not much more to say, so I'll just leave this here and I'll see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.