Chapter 5: Wood and Stone

LONDON
FEBRUARY 14, 05:12 GMT

It was well before sunrise when Batman was in sight of England and in the vicinity of London. As he guided the Batwing lower, he saw offices and apartments ripped apart, telephone poles snapped like twigs, and citizens running for cover. Batman activated the exterior lights on his homemade aircraft and noticed huge footprints in the road that appeared to have toes on both sides of the feet.

Batman followed the trail until he noticed small bursts of flame below, which the computer readings told him were tanks. Some had already been destroyed, but thankfully, no one was in those tanks. Circling around, Batman saw the Appellaxian that had landed in England, and this one was as confusing to behold as it was frightening. This creature had a body made of wood and it too was vaguely human-shaped, only it had a bulbous cranium and its glaring red eyes were quite slant. Its arms were like the limbs of a dead tree in winter and roots grew from its brow and its joints, and it also had feet with roots growing on it.

Though the wooden creature was being fired at by the British military, the shells only seemed to aggravate it, for it gave a rustling wail and then crushed one tank underfoot just as the soldiers operated it escaped. The other tanks pulled back to avoid a similar fate when Batman came at the monster with the same steely look emblazoned on his face.

"Timber," he said coldly.

Batman primed the main weapons and then fired a Bat-torpedo, which lodged itself in the wooden giant's left leg. A split second later, the torpedo shot from a line while leaving its point behind, and the wooden giant was anchored where it stood.

The creature only roared and plucked the point from its leg and the wound sealed quickly. It lumbered forward and began swinging its branching arms to swat the Batwing out of the sky. Batman had expected this and executed a perfect barrel roll before releasing a few Bat-smoke bombs. They exploded in the wooden giant's face and clouded its vision, giving the Dark Knight the perfect opportunity to strike with the missiles.

The wooden giant creaked and groaned as the missiles exploded against it, but the damage dealt was equally short-lived as strands of sap knitted the wounds together. Batman took note of this and considered his options. After a brief moment of thought, he had an idea that might end the invasion if he and the others could get it to work.

He readied the Batwing's armaments for another flyby attack, then flew at the wooden giant and began pelting it in the face with the Bat-cannons. It would seem ironic coming from Batman having firearms aboard his personal jet given his personal experience, but these cannons fired explosives that latched onto the target before detonating. This gave the Dark Knight some comfort knowing that his methods of attack were not so callous as a common thug's.

Batman then released a Bat-rocket net which wrapped itself around the creature's legs so that it tilted on the next step it took and crashed to the ground with a thud that resounded throughout the vicinity. With his opponent down, Batman circled around and fired another round of missiles. He succeeded in disorienting the wooden monster and hovered for a moment when Superman's voice crackled in the radio.

"Superman to Batman. I just drove one of the Appellaxians out of Buenos Aires," he said.

"Good," Batman replied simply. "I'm almost done handling the one that landed in England. As soon as this one leaves, I'll meet you back at the Batcave. When the others finish their parts in this mission, we'll reconvene and determine how to make certain this threat is permanently neutralized."

"Understood. Superman out."

Batman was glad to hear of Superman's success, but he had to return his attention to the matter at hand. The wooden giant was attempting to get free of the net by stretching its long legs to snap the fibers. It eventually succeeded, but Batman already had a method in mind that would hopefully get the creature out of London and keep it out.

He lowered a jetpack-like object the size of a car from the belly of his jet and activated it. The boosters roared to life and Batman took aim at the creature's torso. He fired it, and the jet unit hit the wooden beast full in the chest and carried it across the city despite the creature's efforts to force it away. With the press of a button, Batman allowed the jet unit to gain altitude, and in a few moments, the monster was being flown over the Thames River until it was over the sea. Then the jet unit shut down and the wooden giant plunged into the English Channel.

Batman saw the creature resurface, but he was exceptionally calm as he watched it float out of the sea and fly away. With his part of the plan handled, he began the journey back to Gotham to meet with Superman.

The job isn't done yet, but it's a start, he mused in his mind. I for one hope the others are having just as much luck.


REGINA
FEBRUARY 13, 23:04 CST

Green Lantern had been assigned to chase down the stone giant that attacked New York the day before. Following the energy trail it had left behind, he came into Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. He liked this as he thought it would be pleasant to take a vacation there at some point in the future. Maybe he could invite Carol to go with him if she wasn't too busy.

But that can wait, he thought. People everywhere are counting on each of us to stop these creatures. I only hope I'm not too late.

Fortunately, Green Lantern saw that he was on time, but for all the bad reasons. There was already a great deal of damage done, and he could see that the Canadian military had moved out to stop the Appellaxian stone giant from tearing a new swath of destruction through the capital of the province. Their efforts were proving futile and they had already taken heavy damage despite no severe injuries.

"I've got to stop that stone hulk before it rips up the whole capital!" he urged himself. With that, he put on more speed and then hovered in front of the monster's face.

"Hey, Rocky! Come and get me!"

That got the stone giant's attention as well as a roar that made the windows of buildings in the vicinity shatter. Thinking quickly, Green Lantern lured the creature away from the military forces to the area where the creature's trail of destruction had already been carved. There were no civilians, so the Emerald Knight had little to worry about.

"Now I'll show you what we Green Lanterns are really capable of," he said with a cold grin.

With that, he created a huge sledgehammer and began pounding the monster everywhere he could. His attack was well-planned and the stone creature was thrown off-balance. But then the creature reared up and belched its lava at him, but Green Lantern shielded himself with a green-energy umbrella.

Then he flew around the monster and began blasting it with his ring, but though he left a good bit of damage on its torso and legs, those wounds quickly healed and the monster began swinging its great arms, intending to knock Green Lantern out of the sky. It did manage to do so, but the quick-thinking hero nullified the blow with an energy shield.

Green Lantern was in the sky once more and he attacked the stone creature again, this time with a green-energy pumpkin the size of a television. It hit the beast full in the face and splattered, which prompted Green Lantern to construct more. He hit the monster with more green pumpkins until it roared so loudly that he had to put up another shield to muffle the sound.

The stone giant lumbered towards the green-clad hero and tried to take hold of him, but Green Lantern merely flew out of the way and tripped it with a green-energy cane like the kind in cartoons that pulls bad acts offstage.

"Now I got ya!" he crowed.

But this time, the stone giant had the drop on him, for it got into a kneeling position and then swatted him like a fly. Green Lantern was fortunate that he put up another energy shield, but the blow jarred him so he could feel a dull ache in his abdomen. He shook his head to clear the stars dancing in his skull, then a snarl curled his lips.

"All right, dirt bag! You asked for it!" he shouted.

With that, Green Lantern used his power ring to create a green-energy spaceship and began blasting the monster with missiles and laser cannons. He stayed out of range of the stone creature's hands and projected a forcefield around his construct to repel its lava attacks.

"Come on! Get out of here already!" urged Green Lantern.

It seemed as though what he hoped for would never come. But eventually, Green Lantern left so many dents in the stone giant's body that it finally stood up and lumbered away before floating into the air and flying away.

"And stay out!" Green Lantern shouted after the monster with a laugh.

As the soldiers below cheered, Green Lantern dissolved his construct and flew back toward Gotham City to find Superman and Batman. He hoped that this conflict would be over soon, but his gut was telling him that working with fellow heroes could be more beneficial than fighting crime on his own. This set him to thinking as he headed for his home nation.


A/N: Now that Chapter 5 is up, Chapter 6 should be along in a week or so.

If you are confused about the different dates and times, there is a site for information on the various time zones which I used to prepare the settings for this fanfiction. Please feel free to rate and review, and have fun reading!