Young Justice: The Gold Corps: Shattered,, Chapter 21: Assault
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I don't own either Young Justice or the Green Lantern Corps.
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Chapter 21: Assault
The Team convened in the conference room of Mt. Justice, and accepted the direct link with the Watchtower. "Brother Blood's been active again," said the Martian Manhunter. Spaced around him were the core members of the Justice League: Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman, both Hal Jordan and John Stewart, and the Flash. The only one missing was Batman. Nightwing noticed Hawkwoman was seated in the farthest edge of the communications' pickup. There had been quite a bit of controversy about her continued membership, but, put to a vote, the group had voted that she stay. But Nightwing had noticed that she hadn't actually been on any active missions, and was not usually called, unless it was a class 3 alert, when they needed every available hand. The Thanagarian near-invasion had left a bad taste in everybody's mouth for Thanagarians, even those that had sided with them. Nightwing hoped, as did the rest, that time would heal those wounds. But he knew humans had a notoriously long memory when it came to grudges. "We've evidence of one of his 'churches' active in the San Francisco area. I don't think I need to refresh your memories regarding his past exploits."
No, sir, you surely don't, thought Nightwing. The new Brother Blood was a certifiable psychopath. To call him "bloodthirsty" wasn't mere hyperbole; he literally did drink blood, like a vampire, absorbing something of the powers of the person whose blood he tasted. Nightwing, and others had gone up against him in previous times, and had often been lucky to escape intact. But how could this be of any interest to a team of covert operatives? Infiltration of an organization such as Blood's wasn't a possibility when Blood could literally sniff out agents.
"We've determined at least one center of the Church of Blood's influence. We've conferred with the authorities, and, with a little…persuasion, were able to make them see things our way.
"Basically, this is to be a pre-emptive strike. We're going in with everything we've got. Blood's got magic on his side; Dr. Fate thinks he can counteract that, but he's not sure. None of us really know the limits of Blood's abilities.
"Which is why the decision has come down to this: we take him out. Pure and simple. No wasted time trying to exploit any weaknesses in his organization, or in him. No added danger for our own in trying to capture him and bring him to justice. Just pure brute force."
Nightwing, as well as the rest of the Team sat stunned. This was…unprecedented. "Sir, am I understanding this correctly…this is basically a military operation. Go in, blow up the target, leave?"
"With one caveat, yes. That being, while this is going on, we want your team to go in under the radar, so to speak, and retrieve some operatives the authorities previously sent in, and whom we believe to have been compromised. That is, if they still live. Of which there is a strong possibility that they do not.
"There is no need for subtlety in this endeavor. When you get the word, you are to proceed from the coordinates now being transferred to your files, straight into Blood's complex. And yes, lethal force is authorized. I realize this goes against the moral code of many of you, but remember that Blood's followers have shown themselves to be completely ruthless and utterly dedicated to their master in the past; they will not hesitate to use whatever force is available to them. Transmitting coordinates and timetable now." And with that, the Watchtower signed off.
For a moment, the group sat stunned, around the conference room table. "Did I hear this right," began Kid Flash, "Or are we being part of an actual military-style assault? A D-Day invasion, so to speak?"
"You heard right, Wally." Nightwing was mightily troubled. Superheroes—of which the Team was composed—normally adhered to a code of conduct in any operation that basically stated that life was sacred, and should not be taken, even at the risk of their own. "We're in a state of war."
Later, after the group had dispersed, going back to their respective quarters, Nightwing did some digging. Most of the information regarding Brother Blood's organization was suspect, of course, but he could filter out the truth from the untruth.
While he didn't know for sure, he suspected the Justice League of being in possession of more intel than they were sharing. There had to be a good reason why both they and the Team were to basically go in and nuke the place.
Someone signaled at his door. "Open," he said.
Wonder Girl was standing just outside. "Richard? Gotta minute?"
"Of course." Actually, he didn't, but he had never been able to refuse Cassie Sandsmark anything. Those blue eyes…
She crossed over to the desk he was sitting at. "What's really going on, Dick? I mean…this is a first. I can't imagine Superman going in, authorized to use full lethal force. It's not like him."
Richard Grayson shook his head. "I can't see it, either, Cassie. But I doubt Supes will have to use lethal force. And that's something I should have emphasized to the other members: being authorized to use lethal force doesn't mean we have to use it. Only that it's an option. But you're right; something pretty serious must be at the bottom of all this. What, I don't know." He sat back in his chair and sighed. "And we're down three members: Megan, Rose, and Ray. I'd best give Jaime Reyes a call, see if he wants in…but you can bet I'm gonna let him know what he's getting into before he commits. Captain Marvel, Jr., Zatanna…anybody else I can think of."
"Hmph. Megan and Ray? Yeah, loss there. But Rose? Not so much."
"Rose is a good infighter, one of the best ones I've seen, of the non-enhanced group. And it's liable to come down to hand-to-hand, Cassie. That's what that call was all about. The League will be making the major assault from above, true, but anybody we encounter will most likely fight to the death. Remember, we're fighting religious zealots here. And while the party line is the worship of Trigon…" He stopped, eyes widening. "That's it. I hadn't even made the connection. But it's gotta be."
"What, Dick?"
"The reason why everybody's going in like gangbusters. It's the only possible reason. The only one that makes sense."
"What reason is that? Tell me, already!"
"Blood's about to open a portal to Trigon's dimension."
…
"I don't like this at all," said Superman. "We're not killers. We're supposed to help people, not put them beyond help."
"We don't have to like it," acknowledged J'onn J'onzz. "Unless we want Blood to loose Trigon's demonic hordes on our world, we've no real choice."
"We should've told the kids what they could be up against. Actual demons…"
"If we get to Blood in time, they won't be. And they're calling in all Team members in category 3 and above." Category 3 was the category of superhuman strength, endurance, varying degrees of invulnerability, and other powers beyond those of unenhanced humans. Superboy fell into that range, as did Blue Beetle, and Wonder Girl herself.
Superman crossed his arms across his chest, a look of determination on his face. "Well, I for one, will not kill if there's any possible way. And there almost always is."
"And we probably can't," spoke up Hal Jordan. Beside him, John Stewart nodded. "The Corps was authorized to use lethal force, true…against the Sinestro Corps. Our rings will probably not allow us to take a life in this case."
"Very well. Duly noted and logged." J'onn J'onzz's face was unreadable. "But we must let nothing stop us from keeping Blood from opening that portal. You all know how vital that is; if he succeeds, we'll be facing an Apokolips-style invasion. And that simply must not be."
"What about our backup or reserve members, J'onn?" asked Wonder Woman. "The more muscle we can throw at them, the less chance of a necessity of having to use lethal force."
"I've put out a call to everyone whose powers put them in the necessary profile. I doubt the Question has the kind of skills we really need. Captain Atom, Captain Marvel…though I confess I'm hesitant about him."
"Why so?"
"His alter-ego is Billy Batson, a twelve year old boy. I….in spite of the desperate situation we face, I am hesitant to bring him into a situation where he might be called upon to kill someone." Superman and the others nodded. "We could certainly use his power, however. I have also placed a call to Icon and Rocket. I'm concealing nothing from any of them." He sighed, not really wishing to meet anyone's gaze at that time. "And something else I need not conceal: we could easily incur casualties of our own. Blood's followers revere him as a godling, almost, and Blood himself certainly has no qualms about taking life.
"But all our sources agree: this is a matter for the Justice League. Sending in US military would entail a political hailstorm, not to mention a body count of unguessable proportions. We, at least, can claim, quite reasonably, that metahuman activity was involved. But all agree this proactive measure is called for." He looked up, as though suddenly realizing something. "Where is Guy Gardner? I don't recall seeing him around for a number of days now."
The two GLs exchanged glances. "We don't know. A couple of times, we've tried to locate him, but he's blocking our rings. In a sense, he's not answering his phone, I guess you could say. To be totally honest, this didn't cause us a great deal of distress. Guy's at his best when he's nonpresent."
"But now, his power could be used. See if you can't locate him. Now." He tapped the table's controls, bringing up the 3D map of Blood's complex. "Our initial assault will be here…."
Far, far out from Earth, or any other star known to man or the races of men, a small, robot probe careened along in a trajectory that would eventually take it to the northernmost edge of the Milky Way galaxy and beyond. In a few billion years, it might arrive at NGC 6397, a globular cluster relatively near to Earth's Milky Way galaxy.
But suddenly the empty space through it was sailing literally exploded in an expanding wave of energy radiating at nearly fifty-three million degrees Fahrenheit, nearly twice the temperature of the center of the sun. The probe was instantly consumed, reduced to its subatomic particles, unable to even get off an electronic squawk.
The energy blast continued to expand for nearly three astronomical units before reaching the limit of the supplied energy. The shockwave of energy continued to expand outward, but as it expanded, it lost energy. It nonetheless had sufficient energy at five AU's to immediately fry any planet it would have come across, had there been any out this way.
Far, far away, on a small blue planet, Stacey McAllister woke up from a sound sleep. The silver ring on her finger was chiming in a way she could hear only with her mind: Beware. He is here.
The Unity is threatened.
…..
"Alright, people, listen up. This isn't gonna be like any other mission we've been on. This is a straight strike, we go in, and take down anybody in our way. Our objective is to get to these holding cells. Intel says our people are being held there, if they're still alive. And I have to warn you: we don't know what shape they'll be in. I think you all know about this new Sebastian Blood; he's like nobody we've ever faced. It would be just like him to leave mutilated corpses—or perhaps not corpses—for us to find. Just so's you know.
"We'll send our Alpha team —Superboy, Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl, and Batgirl-in through these tunnels. They lead upwards into the lower parts of the complex. And yes, they're probably bugged and armed. Be on your guard.
"Beta team—me, Arrow, Aqualad, Wally, Zatanna, Artemis, Bee—I need you to go in here. And, Zatanna…I need you and Captain Marvel Jr. to hold off altogether and be ready. If Blood doesn't throw something magical at us, I'll eat this table. With A1 steak sauce. So I need you two to be our magical backup. Don't protest; you may have to rescue us all. Wally, I need you to run recon…"
"Not again!"
"You're the fastest; you can get in and out before the enemy can even blink. Just don't try to be a Rambo. We need intel more than we need a dead Wally. Got it?"
"O—kay. If I have to…"
"You have to. Now, here's our timetable…at precisely 0500 hours the League is gonna go knocking on Blood's door. Here's hoping we catch him in the rest room or something." He smirked. "Actually, I'd kinda like that."
0500 hours, Thursday morning: The still of the coming dawn was shattered by a series of explosions centered in the air over Blood's fortified "church." The building itself had been built on a solid mass of rock, which had been tunneled into and attached to the main complex, strengthening it against just such activity. The purpose of the air explosions was to knock out any physical defenses Blood had in place, and to serve as cover for the incoming Justice League members.
The reverberations of the explosions had not ceased when Superman, Hal Jordan, Wonder Woman, Hawkwoman, and the Flash materialized in an area that had been identified as an empty space large enough to serve as the initial battle zone, and possibly Blood's throne room. It wasn't, and immediately, both Superman and Green Lantern began using their senses and sensors to determine the greatest troop concentration.
And even as they were doing that, over two thousand of Blood's own shock troops began pouring in from all directions.
…
Down in the tunnels, Superboy's team heard the upper areas ring as the explosions rocked it. "No need for subtlety now," he said, "just go, go, go." They dashed off, down the dimly lit corridor….
….Just as the first of the automatic laser barrages began to fire from their concealing nooks.
Beta team: They could hear the explosions and feel the massive reverberations in the ground. Nightwing checked the map in his head. A touch to the communicator on his uniform. "Wally? What'cha got?"
"Don't take that first tunnel we talked about; place is lousy with laser barrages. Fortunately, their aim isn't too good, but there's plenty of 'em. I'm not seeing anything—whoops!" There was a staticky hiss.
"Wally? Wally! Talk to me!"
More static. Then, to Nightwing's intense relief, he heard Kid Flash's voice again. "I was about to recommend that alternate route, but it's mined. Threw me off for a nanosecond there. I'm now at the third one…it's awfully shakey looking, though. But these infogoggles the League gave us aren't showing anything. I'm gonna go down to the end…"
"No. Come on back. We'll take that one, with our heavies in front….but if you see anything out of the ordinary…."
"I sure won't stop to post it on Facebook."
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Main hallway: the League was hard pressed to fight back against the oncoming zealots. Even though they'd been authorized to kill, none of them had, so far. Wonder Woman was privately hoping they'd not have to.
…
Down a corridor none of them had been aware of, the Hunter crept silently. He could hear, and sense, the war going on around him with senses far better than anyone except Superman. He could tell, from senses even the Man of Steel did not possess, where Blood's throne room was. If he could just get there, while the heroes distracted his prey….
He came to a larger enclosed space. Ranging senses told him that the center of Blood's power was not far from here. He carefully surveyed the area, then, with the lightness and agility of a hunting leopard, dropped to the ground. Hopefully, this would be relatively easy, and he could be gone before the humans arrived….
"You would disturb the Unity." A calm, female voice jerked him out of his daydream.
Floating in the center of the cavernous room was a female figure wearing a black and silver uniform, with a silver helmet obscuring her features. She had wavy brown shoulder length hair, and was currently pointing at him with her right closed fist, upon which was mounted a glowing silver power ring. A silver glow surrounded her.
He snarled. "Not another ring wielder! You're surely not one of Blood's followers, are you?"
"I fight for the Unity. You would disturb that. I cannot allow you to continue."
He immediately went on the offensive, extending his arm-blades, charging them with disruptive energies. "Try to stop me!"
"If you wish." With that, a globe of silver energy surrounded him, cutting off gravity, rendering him weightless. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the globe containing him crashing upward into the rocky roof overhead, smashing it completely out of the complex altogether, and flying away into space….
The Justice League was making its way relentlessly through the corridors towards Blood's main command center. They'd managed to render the troops that had initially attacked them unconscious by main force, with the GLs providing a kind of moving fortress while Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash disarmed them at superspeed. Even so, those disarmed troops had fought on, right up until rendered unconscious. Superman was proud of his teammates; so far, there had been no deaths.
But he was reasonable enough to know that, given these odds, it would not remain so.
In the command room, the being now known as "Brother Blood" watched impassively as the strike team moved ever closer to him. Now, really, this was just really too much.
He sighed. He guessed it wasn't totally their fault; the original Sebastian Blood had certainly not garnered much in the way of good will from anybody. Blood sacrifices? Torturing prisoners? Executing anyone who disagreed with you? Didn't the stupid human see that there were better ways to get the job done? But noooo. Had to go and do practically everything in the book to get himself hated and feared. And he could have been a powerful political figure! He could have been elected to the office of world ruler! If only he'd tried. Well. Things would be so much better now that somebody intelligent was in control.
Well, he'd have to deal with these intrepid heroes. Of course, unlike them, he had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that, should they fall, the US government probably had the complex targeted by some heavy ordnance, possibly nuclear. After all, they were trying to stave off an invasion from a demonic dimension. It was what he'd do.
But he couldn't just let them blast and bludgeon their way into this complex without taking some measures. It just wouldn't be dignified, and he had appearances to maintain. "Brother Koth, ready the failsafe option. And instruct the brethren that now is the time to evacuate."
"I hear and obey, milord." With a click of a switch, a great door opened up in the floor, allowing a sphere of energy to float into the command center.
Time to go, thought the new Brother Blood, even as he seated himself in his own personal evac pod….
The Justice League was still fighting the zealots, when they noticed them withdrawing. "Something's up," said Superman. He used his X-ray vision to see ahead, and his eyes widened at what he saw. "Everybody! We need to get out! That maniac has set a pulse bomb to go off!"
The team had managed to converge on the level of the prison cells. True to their intelligence, many of the prisoners were in no shape to walk, and Nightwing's blood boiled when he saw what had been done to them. He felt a little better about the lethal force sanction…"Nightwing!" J'onn's voice came through, "get your people out, and now! There's a pulse bomb about to go off in the command center!"
A pulse bomb? About to go off? And with them so far inside Blood's complex?
It occurred to him that there was a term for their current predicament: dead meat.
…..
"We have to get the kids out!" Wonder Woman was adamant. "They're still in there!"
"We've warned them. There's not a lot we can do. Superman, you try to tunnel your way to their last known coordinates. Captain Atom, can you contain that energy?"
"Only if I'm right up at it." He flew off, following Superman, who'd already headed back into the base. Orders or no, he'd do anything he could to save lives.
….
"Okay, people. Closest way out is straight up, right through Blood's tactical center…and right past the bomb." The others were hanging on to the former prisoners, some of whom needed help walking. "It's our only chance. Zee? I need you to blast us a way out from above. Beetle, what've you got that'll shatter those rock formations?"
"Ultrasonics." And Blue Beetle began to reconfigure his armor to produce a cannon powerful enough to smash the igneous rock overhead….
High over their heads, the universe's only Silver Lantern arrived at the command center, seeing the suspended globe, and the countdown timer on the control panel beside it. She gasped as she realized what it was about to do. Lives would be lost, sorrow would result. Many would be separated from their loved ones by death. The Unity would be greatly disturbed.
Superman flew into the control center. What he saw made him hitch a breath: a girl, a young woman, wearing a silver and black uniform and wielding a silver power ring, was projecting a sphere of silvery energy over the increasingly glowing pulse bomb sphere. From the look on her face, it was posing a tremendous strain on her. "Miss! Come on! We've got to get out of here!"
"No…your people…coming up from below. Get them to safety." She gritted her teeth. "I…will hold back this destroyer. The Unity will be preserved!"
"Unity? What-*" Just at that moment, he sensed Zatanna's magical displacement waves, meeting up with Jaime Reyes' own ultrasonics; a section of floor gave way, and Nightwing and the others began to climb out of the hole thus created.
Superman got on his communicator. "J'onn! Emergency! Can you focus on and teleport everyone within a fifty foot radius of me?"
"Not right there, I can't. The energy from the pulse bomb is building too rapidly. You'll all have to move at least two hundred meters away."
"Go," said the girl in silver, even as Nightwing as his team watched in amazement. "I will hold this back. The Unity will be preserved! Now go!"
Superman realized there was nothing he could do. Captain Atom flew in, taking in the situation. "We have to get these people out of here, Kal-El!"
"Can you help her? Can you hold back the energy?"
"I'll try! Get the others to safety! Go on!" And Superman ushered the team members and former prisoners down the corridor.
"You should go, too! You could be killed! That would disturb the Unity!"
"Unity, right," he shouted over the rising whine of the bomb's building charge. "Well, how about we both just don't die. That would work, too, wouldn't it?"
At that exact moment, the pulse bomb went off, blinding them both and slamming them against the cavern walls, bringing down the roof of the cave over them both.
From the outside: The Justice League and the team members watched in horror as the bomb demolished an entire city block. "Captain Atom! Captain Atom! Come in, please!"
"Oooh…." Superman's ultrakeen sense of hearing heard the groan, and in an instant, he was there, shifting the rubble off of Nathaniel Adams, and helping him stand. "Man. My head's gonna ring for a week." Then he looked around. "The girl! Where….does anybody see the girl?"
Superman scanned around, even as EMTs came to take care of the prisoners. With regret, he saw that some of Blood's followers had been killed in the explosion…but there were surprisingly few of them. They must've received some sort of evac signal. His regret was accompanied by a sense of rage towards Blood; setting off a bomb in the middle of the city?
And yet, he had to admit, they, the Justice League, had done much the same. "I don't see her. J'onn! Check this area for any energy signatures, anything unusual."
"So doing, but I'm not picking up anything. What's the sit-rep?"
Superman quickly filled him in, even as he flew Captain Atom to the waiting Justice League EMTs. The Team members were seeing to the prisoners, and Kal-El felt his temper rising when he saw how they'd been treated. There was no excuse for that sort of thing. None.
….
On a hillside overlooking the city, the dark warrior gazed out at the rising column of smoke. Once again, his quarry had eluded him, mostly due to those meddlesome heroes. He knew they thought they were doing a good thing, but when somebody has a cancer, you don't blast the whole area with a shotgun. You go in with a knife. A sharp knife. And you cut it out. Couldn't they see that?
Now he was back to square one. Well, not quite. He knew now that "Brother Smith" was now inhabiting the body of "Brother Blood," and presumably exercising the powers of that form. He didn't see how this could be anything other than a deliberate move on the part of the psionic entity. And although he'd seen no evidence of it, he didn't doubt but that "Brother Blood" now wielded a yellow power ring. So that added to his already impressive arsenal. Clearly, the entity was seeking to acquire powers and artifacts of power, here in this place and time when such powers appeared to make good sense to have. And were so readily available.
His attention was drawn by a small moan from a thick copse of bushes, at the base of the small mountain where he was. An ordinary human wouldn't have been able to hear it, but he hadn't been ordinary since the last ice age. He immediately jumped down, bounding down with the grace of a gazelle, his enhanced vision seeking out the source of the sound.
The girl in the silver and black uniform was lying, halfway propped up on her left side, her hand to the side of her head, as though to feel through her silver helmet. He watched her for a minute. She was clearly stunned, but didn't seem to be hurt. Good.
He went over to her, and stood beside her, watching her for a moment. He thought about killing her; because of her, a monster still walked the Earth. But….
She was not his enemy.
He moved closer, taking caution in case she should she regain full consciousness and see him as a foe. "Can you walk?"
"I…I…"
"I'll take that as a 'no.' Come on, let me help you…"
"I, I must preserve the Unity…" She spoke as if in a dream, the voice of one talking in her sleep.
"Right, the Unity. Well, let's preserve the Unity over here, okay? It's a little more comfortable…" And he moved her over to the side of the mountain, to a softer spot on top of some thick grass. She is not my enemy.
To be continued…