Justice League Nuptials 75
In downtown Gotham, Giganta intercepted Captain Marvel as he flew into the combat zone. Her fist smashed him into the upper floors of Bloomindales. Superwoman and Wonder Girl flew up there and took a look.
Some wondered how Wonder Girl had any powers if the Amazons had stripped them from her. The answer came from the fact that only immortality had been bestowed upon her. Donna Troy was the Daughter of Kaos, the first Titan. Kaos had been there at just after the creation of the world and had marched across her surface unchecked until Chronus had birthed Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. This triumvirate had imprisoned the Titans.
They had escaped twenty years ago and Chronus and Hyperion led a war against the gods. Kaos declined to participate. Instead he chose a mortal life. While the other Titans returned to their prison for all eternity, he abandoned his godlike powers and took a wife. Donna had been born shortly before Ares had killed her parents in an act of revenge.
Diana had found Donna, having been guided by Hera to the child's location, and she brought the infant Donna to Themiscyra. Hippolyta had been more than happy to raise her. No one knew what a heartache the child would be.
Her current partner, Superwoman, was her world's Diana. This Diana, known by her Greek name Artemis, had left her home island after a violent clash with her mother and Amazonian sisters. She travelled to Man's World not as an ambassador of peace and justice but as a conqueror.
Artemis had united a band of super criminals known as the Crime Syndicate. This world's Kal-El was called Ultraman. There were copies of the Flash and Green Lantern as well as a super villain called Owlman. They were opposed by Earth-3's greatest hero, Lex Luthor.
Luthor had defeated all the rest of the Crime Syndicate and was after Superwoman when the Luthor of Earth-1 found her. She'd readily agreed to come with him and begin her path of conquest again. She had all of the powers and training of Wonder Woman so she was a very formidable opponent. Few JLers could go head to head with her.
Captain Marvel appeared in the department store. He was rattled but he was okay. He saw the Amazon and the Titan and knew he was in trouble.
Captain Marvel was of the old school. He didn't hit a woman...even if she was trying to kill you. He could, however, throw them around.
Wonder Girl flew straight at him. He grabbed her by her collar and spun around in a circle, all the while gaining speed and adding it to her momentum. He released her when they'd gone 360 degrees.
She came hurtling out of the store like a rocket and smacked right into Giganta. Both went crashing down, flattening the rest of Saks. They both lay there dazed and confused.
Superwoman saw this and her eyes narrowed. She flew into the store after Marvel. She came at him fists and feet flying.
He successfully blocked most of the punches but the ones that got through were seriously felt. Atlas granted him endurance and he soon realized that he'd need all of it to withstand this barrage. He grew careless though, ignoring the wisdom of Solomon and the fighting acumen of Achilles, and Superwoman took his feet out from underneath him.
She leapt upon his chest and began hammering him with one-two combinations. He'd heard rumors that Wonder Woman had once beaten Superman into submission. Now he knew why. This woman was incredibly strong, worryingly fast, and had the fighting skills of a goddess.
On the verge of blacking out, Marvel did the one thing he could still do: he summoned the lightning. It struck Superwoman and coursed through her body. It ran through her into him and his wounds were healed.
Superwoman slumped over. Her nearly invulnerable body had withstood the blast without injury but she wouldn't be getting up any time soon. This suited Marvel fine.
He flew out of the store to find Giganta back on her feet and Wonder Girl watching his departure. Captain Marvel flew down to the level of Giganta's knees. Coming up behind them, he rolled his body into them, taking her feet out from her again. This time she fell into the street.
Her head came down on the frozen Mary Marvel and broke the ice. Mary climbed out from underneath Giganta's head. Captain Marvel landed beside her, "Are you all right?"
"F…F…Fine." She said through chattering teeth, "N…nev…never better."
She was still shaking when Wonder Girl called out a challenge, "Still think you can take me, Marvel brat?"
"I'll handle this." Marvel growled.
Mary put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him, "N…no. I'll ha…handle this. There…there's a handful of b…bad guys around here. They ne…need you to scoop `em up."
Mary pointed at Freeze, "Start with Mr. Popsicle."
Before Marvel could argue she took to the air and flew straight for Wonder Girl. Mary's reflexes were still slow from hypothermia but she was holding her own. Marvel felt a swell of pride and then he went straight at Mr. Freeze.
He tackled the arctic villain and tried to wrest the gun from his hand. Marvel took hold of the weapon and yanked as hard as he could. Freeze's whole arm came off.
"Holey moley!" Marvel exclaimed, "Are you hurt?"
"Not hardly." Freeze chuckled humorlessly. His chest opened up. Inside was a holster containing a second freezing gun. Marvel quickly reached in and crushed the gun.
In a flash, the gun discharged. Sparks erupted from Freeze's interior and his body went slack. Freeze smiled, "Well played."
His head detached from the body and scrabbled away on spider-like legs. Marvel was horrified, "What are you?"
"A hollow shadow of a man." Freeze said sadly, "Farewell."
He scrabbled off into the shadows. Marvel was too shaken to pursue him. After all, what could a head do?
Over a dozen Legionnaires appeared out of the various stores. They all carried duffels presumably loaded with merchandise. He flew towards them.
Clayface reached out and snared Marvel in a giant tentacle. He slammed Marvel against the ground. Shape shifting his other hand into a giant mace, he began pounding on Marvel.
In the air, Mary landed a tremendous roundhouse and Wonder Girl went flying into multi-story boutique call Pizzazz. Giganta came stalking up behind her. Mary swung around and threw a right cross. Giganta came slamming into the street. This time she was knocked out and didn't move.
Wonder Girl slammed Mary in the back and she was driven into a nearby electronics specialty store. Wonder Girl hesitated, waiting for Mary to come back at her. She heard a sudden rush of wings and she turned in time to see Hawkgirl swing her mace.
She slammed into the ground next to Giganta. She struggled to rise when an emerald bubble appeared over her. She quickly ran out of oxygen and passed out.
"Clever." Hawkgirl admitted, "Shall we gather up the rest?"
"Let's." Green Lantern said and he led the charge.
KGBeast spotted them and he opened fire. Hawkgirl tried to outrun the bullets but one clipped her side. The Man Bat flew at her. She tried to swing her mace but the hitch in her side caused her to throw a blow at half of the speed that she'd intended.
The Man Bat easily dodged the swing. While the Bat was swinging around for another strike the KGBeast opened fire again. Hawkgirl dove at him. With a groaning shout she clubbed him for all she was worth.
The Russian was down but the Bat still remained. Unfortunately for Hawkgirl, she'd come to a landing. The Man Bat repetitively dove at her. Finally, she knocked him out of the sky.
She looked to her side. The bullet had penetrated the chain mail. The bullet had gone clean through but her exertions had increased her blood pressure, her heart rate, and the size of her wound. Blood liberally poured out of her side. She was in serious danger of bleeding out and she knew it.
"John!" she shouted.
Green Lantern heard her and came to rest beside her. His eyes widened as she saw the wound. He encapsulated her in a bubble and lifted off, "We're getting you some attention, Babe."
"Thanks." Hawkgirl gratefully said but her voice sounded worried. Stewart was worried by this. Shayera was generally bold in the face of any danger. For her to even call for help indicated how serious the injury truly was. He vowed that she would get the help that she needed.
Back at the battle scene, Wonder Girl and Giganta were stirring. Superwoman had landed next to them. She looked fairly ragged.
"Want to check on the Marvel brat?" Wonder Girl asked.
"Not really." Giganta admitted while rubbing her bruised jaw.
"I say we finish her off." Superwoman declared, "Her and that oaf of a brother of hers."
"Sounds like a plan." Wonder Girl happily agreed.
"Waitaminute." Giganta pointed to the sky, "What's that?"
Down the street, Marvel had broken free and kicked over a fire hydrant. Clayface was melting into the drainage system. The Key and Two Face tried to assist him but it was to no avail.
Just then Superman and Wonder Woman landed in the middle of the block. Superman coldly surveyed the scene and then made an announcement, "This ends now!"
There was rustling defiance coming from the corner where Superwoman, Wonder Girl, and Giganta stood. Wonder Woman looked to Superman, "I'll handle them."
"The Captain and I will handle the rest." Superman replied.
The Reverse Flash leapt into action and came at Superman. He ran around Superman while delivering a hundred blows a minute. Owing to their momentum, Superman actually felt them and they hurt. He simply clotheslined Zoom and that ended the confrontation.
Seeing this, Two Face, the Penguin, The Key, the Gentleman Ghost, the Scarecrow, and the Man Bat panicked. The Ghost dove into the sewers. The Key opened a portal in the street and joined the Ghost. Two Face and the Penguin opened fire and the Scarecrow released a fear toxin while the Man Bat flew away.
Superman and Captain Marvel held their breath. Captain Marvel knocked out the Scarecrow while Superman blew away the fear gas. They then jointly apprehended the Gothamites.
"You go after the Bat." Superman instructed, "I'll handle the sewer crowd."
Marvel grinned, "You're welcome to it."
Having said that he flew away. Superman dove in through the Key's portal and began using his X-Ray vision and super hearing to track down the loose Legionnaires. It only took a few minutes to bag the Key. The Gentleman Ghost had gotten away. When Superman returned to street level, he found Marvel holding the Man Bat aloft by his harness.
"I see we both have consolation prizes." Marvel said happily.
"But one of mine got away." Superman complained.
"How were you going to catch a ghost?" Marvel asked, "The only thing the League has that will hold him is Hawkman's Nth metal net."
Superman perked up, "Thanks. That helps."
"Wow." Marvel breathed, "Look at the ladies fight."
Superman did so and his heart went into his throat.
Down the street, Wonder Woman had engaged the three Legion Ladies. Wonder Girl was good but she was inexperienced. Her youthful enthusiasm made her impetuous and sloppy. Wonder Woman used that against her.
Giganta had already received a beating and was hesitant to join in on this fight. She wasn't participating unless she was directly threatened. Wonder Woman merely made it a point not to engage her and everything seemed fine.
Superwoman, on the other hand, was her equal in every way. They each knew the others fighting style, how they thought, and they could predict each moves. The war was waging and there was no clear indicator of who would win. The problem was that Superwoman had help and Wonder Woman had no counter balance for Wonder Girl.
That all changed when Mary Marvel joined the fight. She landed behind Wonder Girl and tapped her on the shoulder. When Wonder Girl turned, Mary gave her a few seconds to register who her opponent was. She then decked Wonder Girl for all she was worth.
The Amazonian Titan went through two cars, toppled a street lamp, and made a crater in a brick and mortar wall. Mary flew over there to join her. As Wonder Girl regained her footing, Mary began to pound on her. Left crosses followed right crosses. One blow followed another at speeds Wonder Girl couldn't match.
Finally, Mary propped her up against the wall, delivered one last punch then let go and let her fall to the ground. Satisfied, Mary turned to watch the fight. Realizing that Giganta was still a threat she flew up to confront the giantess.
Giganta threw her hands up and shrank back down to her base height, "I give up."
"Really?" Mary growled.
"I swear." Giganta cradled her jaw, "Just don't hit me again."
"Oh, all right." Mary conceded.
A little ways away, Wonder Woman had finally seen a weakness in Superwoman's style. She was too quick to go on the offensive. Wonder Woman made it seem that she'd dropped her guard and Superwoman pounced on the opportunity.
Instead, the move ended with a blow to Superwoman's trachea. As edema set in, the Amazon began to choke. Her vision blurred and then tunneled. Within minutes she'd passed out.
Wonder Woman went to a nearby refreshment cart and retrieved four drinking straws. Forcing them down Superwoman's throat, she secured the villainess's air passage. Now she wouldn't asphyxiate.
"Pretty clever." Mary grinned.
"Amazonian training prepares you for just about every kind of wound or emergency." Wonder Woman said. Nodding towards Giganta, she asked; "What's her story?"
"She gave up." Mary happily reported, "She doesn't want to get hit again."
"No, I don't." Giganta assured her.
"Good choice." Wonder Woman commended her, "It's very sensible. Now, if you'll excuse me."
She strode over to Superman, "Everything's fine now. You can stop worrying."
"I wasn't worrying." He lied.
Wonder Woman smirked, "Of course you were. I'll call L-Ron and then check in with J'onn."
Superman nodded, "Good idea. Do you know where GL and Hawkgirl are?"
"I haven't a clue." She admitted.
"It might be a good idea to page them as well." He suggested.
She gave him a bright smile that made him almost feel giddy, "I'll get right on that."
Superman wasn't sure of what was happening between them but he decided he needed to figure it out soon.