Chapter 3: The Warrior of Darkseid
"Hurry up!" Cassie yelled as she flew down a narrow street, "the other heroes have already gathered. C'mon, we'll miss all of the action."
"Remember, Wonder Girl," Aqualad quickly replied over the com-link, "our job is to offer additional support to the Justice League. You should not be concerned with battle - it is not our priority."
"Yeah, I know, but if it really is 'Darkseid' like they say then i'm pretty sure we're gonna have to fights some of his minions at some point."
"It is not something you should concern yourself with at the moment," Aqualad sternly said, "besides, we need to focus on getting many of the surrounding people to safety."
Wonder Girl silently grumbled to herself before she began to speak again, "where's the rest of the team?"
"SuperBoy and Miss Martian are on their way. I've just been told that Impulse and Blue Beetle have just arrived at the scene."
"Ok, cool," Wonder Girl said as she rounded the corner of a nearby building, "i'll see you there."
"Agreed," Aqualad replied before the com-link call was ended.
Wonder Girl sighed as she travelled above the empty street that had been evacuated not too long ago. Cars were still in the middle of the street and some of them had been left running.
'I hope i'm not too late,' she said to herself as she neared the location that had been given to her via smartphone. She floated over a final set of buildings and saw an area that was surrounded by people, including certain heroes. However, she also noticed something else - on one end, there was a group of people who were situated behind a line of heroes; on the other end was (what seemed like) an army of soldiers that stood behind and underneath a large man on some sort of levitation device. Darkseid. She would recognize that rock giant anywhere, he stood tall and he appeared calm as his hands rested behind his back.
As she flew, she spotted Impulse and Blue Beetle (along with some other heroes) trying to herd civilians away from the massive spectacle. She quickly landed and ran over to help her fellow heroes.
It took a few minutes, but they were finally able to move most of the people away from the location. Being curious of what was happening at the front, Wonder Girl flew over to where most of the heroes were situated and landed next to Green Arrow.
"Cassandra?" The green archer said in a surprised tone, "when did you get here?"
"A couple of minutes ago," she quickly replied, "what's going on?"
Green Arrow pointed ahead of him "Well, Superman is about to go head-to-head with one of Darkseid's goons. Apparently there was some bet that was made saying that if 4 of us could beat a 'warrior' of Darkseid's choosing, he would basically leave."
"Wait, seriously?" Wonder Girl said in disbelief, "We've got Superman AND Wonder Woman, there's no way we could lose."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too….until Superman decided to fight alone."
"He what?" Wonder Girl turned her attention to Superman who had just gently landed on the ground.
"Here I am, Darkseid," Superman yelled as he glared up at the giant, "Now where is your warrior?"
"YOU SURPRISE ME, KRYPTONIAN," Darkseid growled as he returned the man of steel's gaze, "DO YOU TRULY INTEND TO BATTLE ALONE?"
"Yes, I do," Superman sternly retorted, "I can beat any 'warrior' that you may pick."
"Cool…." Wonder Girl whispered to herself as she continued to watch.
Darkseid grinned, "VERY WELL. THEN FROM MY TEAM OF ELITES, I HEREBY CHOOSE….."
There was a long pause, one that lasted long enough to make some of the heroes on edge. Wonder Girl gulped as she tried to imagine what monster Darkseid might pick.
"IZAYOI", Darkseid's voice finally boomed.
There was silence for a few seconds before a figure jumped down from a hovercraft and landed on the ground, about 30 feet from Superman.
There was obvious surprise amongst many of the heroes, even Superman seemed to be taken aback. There, standing a few meters from the man of steel, was a young, blonde boy. Wonder Girl stared, the boy looked to be around her age; he wore some sort of suit, one that looked like it was made for some institution, possibly a school. Over his head were a pair of headphones that neatly rested on top of his hair. The weirdest thing about him was that he was so out of place; even the other members of the Elite wore armor of some kind, but this guy was basically asking to get killed.
"Seriously?" she finally said, "THAT'S who Darkseid chose to challenge Superman? If that's the case, then Superman has already won."
Suddenly a hand rested itself on Cassie's shoulder; she quickly turned to see Wonder Woman staring back at her. "Although I believe in Superman's abilities, it is unwise to underestimate an enemy, Cassandra."
"Oh, right...Sorry," she replied sheepishly.
"Please," Green Arrow said with a smug look, "I'll bet you $50 that Superman will end this in 30 seconds - at the most."
Wonder Woman simply glared at him before returning her attention to the about-to-be battle. She sighed, "If i'm being honest, I don't think that child has a chance. Usually, I can tell when an enemy is powerful, but that boy does not seem like he poses any threat."
"ARE YOU READY, KRYPTONIAN?" the thunderous voice of Darkseid boomed.
"Bring it on, Darkseid," Superman firmly replied.
"AND YOU AS WELL, IZAYOI. ARE YOU READY?"
The blonde boy simply smiled and nodded.
"VERY WELL," Darkseid said with a smile, "THEN LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"
Superman confidently took a step forward, "I'm sorry to have to do this to you," he said to Izayoi, "it's nothing personal."
Suddenly, there was a blur of blue and Superman appeared directly in front of the blonde boy as he landed a direct punch to his face.
"Woah," Wonder Girl said with admiration, "he's so fast! The kid didn't even have time to react!"
"See, I told ya," Green Arrow said with a smirk, "Now about my 50 bucks…"
He turned to face Wonder Woman and stopped when he saw the look on her face. It was a look he hadn't seen before - a mixture of surprise and horror.
He turned back around and quickly realised what she was staring at.
The boy who Superman just punched (in the face) was perfectly fine; he didn't have a scratch on him.
Superman was bewildered and stared at the boy who was now smiling.
"I'm sorry, but was that supposed to hurt?" Izayoi said with a snicker.
"If you really want to hurt someone," he continued, "then do THIS."
Izayoi quickly buried his fist in Superman's gut, launching him into a nearby building. The side of the building exploded and crumbled due to the sheer force of Superman's body.
"What the Hell was that!?" Green Arrow said, obviously surprised.
"Did he just punch Superman into a building?" Wonder Girl gasped.
Just then Superman flew out of the rubble like a rocket and headed back to Izayoi. He landed on the ground and quickly sped to the blonde teen; he tried to throw a fist at Izayoi, but it was easily blocked. Suddenly, Superman felt a sharp pain in his jaw and realized the boy had just delivered an uppercut.
Superman stumbled back and caressed his jaw before laser beams were then shot from his eyes. Izayoi quickly raised his hand and blocked the red beam with his palm; he then began to push back against the attack and slowly approached the man in blue.
He got to within a meter from Superman and used his palm to cover the man of steel's eyes. Then, with his other hand, he delivered a thunderous punch to Superman's shoulder, who then fell to his knees in pain.
"Arrrghhh! WH-WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Superman growled as he clutched his shoulder.
"It's very easy to fight once you know how the human body works," Izayoi said as he stared down at the man of steel, "all I did was knock your arm out of your shoulder socket. Funny thing about this is that the person who experiences this feels intense pain. It appears that you are no different."
Superman glared up at the teen before he was suddenly knocked up into the air by a swift kick to the chest.
"Now then," Izayoi said, ignoring all of the surprised and horrified looks, "Who's next?"
Superman landed back on the ground with a loud 'THUD', unconscious.
"You monster!" somebody suddenly shouted.
Izayoi slightly turned to see a young blonde girl, about his age, wearing a black sleeveless shirt and some red sweatpants. She was glaring at him, but it wasn't the look he was normally use to, this one was intense and...personal.
Suddenly, the girl lunged at him with such ferocity that it almost caught him off guard.
"Cassandra, don't!" yelled a man wearing green. But it was too late.
Izayoi easily caught her punch and quickly rotated her arm behind her back. He stared down at her for a few seconds, examining her. She was obviously powerful, but untrained; her movements were stiff and didn't have any technique behind them.
He then looked up at the group of heroes and scanned their faces; many of them looked quite young while others seemed to be significantly older.
"You," he said, his attention back on the girl who was now struggling to get out of his grasp, "how many more of you 'heroes' are there?"
"Screw you!" she yelled as she continued to struggle.
Izayoi released his grasp on her, knowing that she wouldn't talk if she was restrained. She quickly jumped back to get some distance from him.
"I'll ask again, how many heroes are there. It appears to me that your planet poses some threat to Darkseid, so I would like to know how many are there like you."
"There are enough to stop villains like you!" she said as she spit in his face.
Izayoi sighed as he calmly wiped the saliva from his face, "Ok, that was both gross and incredibly necessary."
He turned around and jumped up to the hovercraft closest to Darkseid.
"You should have killed her," the Grey Warlord said as he watched Izayoi land next to him.
"Yeah, but that wouldn't really be fun, would it?" He said, causing Darkseid to slightly grunt.
"Anyway, I know about your plan, and i'll go along with it - under one condition." Izayoi said with a smile.
End of Chapter 3
Author's Note: This was a fairly long chapter, but I initially intended to add more to it. I eventually settled on putting many of the ideas that were meant for THIS chapter into the NEXT chapter, so…...yeah. Anyway, please leave a comment if you liked it! Later! :D