The building exploded, and everyone froze in shock. Then the ten metal monsters came screaming into the open air, and Wonder Woman was the first to recover.
"Everyone, charge!" She yelled over the com link, and then the area devolved into chaos.
The pair of speedsters charged the nearest robot, which looked like a combination of a spider with a tank, long legs supporting a heavily armed and armored center. The thing was moving fast, firing a plasma cannon at them, forcing Flash and KF to separate and go around the monster. They threw out vibrating hands, trying to shake the thing up a bit, but as soon as they got close the metal plating started crackling with electricity. The speedsters pulled back their limbs and tried to figure out another strategy as Aquaman and Aqualass joined them on a wave of water from a nearby fire hydrant.
Zooming through the air above, Rocket homed in on a robot that reminded him of a swordfish, except that it had wings and was launching metal nets and cables at the heroes around it. One such net came straight at him, prompting the teen to pull up and activate his force bubble. The shudder from impact nearly had him lose concentration, especially when the tendrils of the net started wrapping around his sphere.
"Rocket! Move!" Icon bellowed, coming in to grasp the cables and pull them away from his alternate partner. As soon as there was enough of a gap, Rocket took down his shield and hurried away from the grasping tendrils.
"I'm clear!" He called, and Icon tightened his grip, pulling the robot out of its trajectory and swinging down towards the ground. It smashed into the monster the speedsters and Atlanteans had been trying to disable, and the four waved up in acknowledgement to him.
Supergirl hated monkeys. So glaring at the robot charging her down, built like a lithe primate with three stinger-tipped tails, she growled and summoned up as much anger and frustration as she could.
And then channeled all of it into her fist and down at the monster's head. It compacted with an awful crump sound, but the body kept moving. Supergirl twisted her body, managing to just barely get out of the thing's path - only for one of the tails to lash out and stab through her left leg. Gasping at the unexpected pain, the clone was dragged along several yards before Captain Marvel caught the robot and held it in place. Then there was a flurry of motion as someone landed beside her and ripped away the now bloody tail
"Oh, Hera," Wonder Woman breathed as she took in the wound, and the harsh green glow emerging from cracks in the appendage she gripped. "Superman! Stay away from this one, it has kryptonite in the stingers!"
"What?" The Man of Steel's startled voice came over her comm. link. "Where's Cailin?!"
"I have her, but she's been injured, so I'm taking her to the Bioship." Rising into the air, the Amazon princess flew towards the secluded spot a few blocks away where the vehicle was waiting in camouflage mode. She didn't get very far before another robot broke away from the tag-teaming Lanterns and Thanagarians, and made straight for her.
This one had the appearance of a dragon, and opened its mouth to begin firing massive energy blasts at the Amazon. She ducked and swerved as much as was possible with the injured teen in her arms, but eventually Wonder Woman was caught by the backlash of an explosion hitting the ground. Tumbling away, Supergirl was torn away by the impact, and the two of them ended up a fair distance away from each other.
Cailin shakily raised her head as the dragon landed right in front of her and several of its chest plates began to whir and shift. Her eyes widened as an opening was created, revealing two grabber arms that extended from the robot and began to reach for her.
WHAM!
Superman landed on top of the limbs, smashing them flat into the ground.
"You want to back off now." He snarled to the dragon, before launching forward and knocking the massive thing over. Cailin felt a grin cross her face, even as she dropped her head back to the soot-streaked ground.
When the explosion went off, Apollo and Green Arrow had hurried to skirt around the battlefield, shooting at the robots but mainly running for the burning building. When he skidded to a stop beside what had been the main entrance, the teen was unsurprised to find his friend Zetenni desperately moving rubble away.
"Senots elbmurc!" He yelled, causing the jagged piles in front of him to shatter into pebbles and dust. Once the way was clear enough, Apollo laid a hand on the slim magician's shoulder, silently telling him to wait. Then the pair of archers slipped inside to start searching for their missing teammates.
"Bombs must have been situated in the middle of the building, for the fallout to look like this." Arrow muttered. Apollo winced - the martians were supposed to have been at the central elevator, with the other two not far behind them. The two of them managed to get past some lines of flames with minimal singing, avoiding the weakened sections of wall and ceiling, trying to get to where the infiltrators had last been.
A sudden rumbling made them pause in place.
Harsh red lights flickered on at the end of the damaged hallway, and both archers were forced to dive to either side as another robotic monster rolled past at break-neck speed. Apollo caught a brief glimpse of a rhinoceros like outline, but with off-road tires instead of legs.
"Zetenni! Get out of the way!" The teen yelled desperately over the roaring of the flames and the deep rumbles of the robot. Back at the opening, the young magician readied himself.
"Tfil dna worht!" He growled when the monster machine was almost upon him. The tires left the ground, soaring up into the air over Zetenni's head, then started to turn sideways as the mystic force threw the robot onto the ground again. It smashed hard, bouncing and rolling for a little ways. On one last landing, the central body of the thing broke open, and a limp green form dressed in blue and black came falling out.
"Mar'gann," He breathed, raising a hand to activate the League communicator tucked within his ear. "Guys! I think these things are trying to kidnap the Team-" Sharp pain from his wound caused the magician to interrupt his own words with a cry.
"Tel, tel og." The words were weak, but there was enough power behind them to force the tendril that had grabbed him to release its hold from his leg. A whirring noise from behind him had Zetenni ducking just in time. Steel cables retracted again into the monster that came around the corner of the wrecked building. This one had multiple cable limbs extending from a central cone that, even as Zee watched, began to spin in place. The cables extended out and hardened, moving so quickly that they formed a deadly fan that started moving towards him at a sprint. With his still sore leg, it was all the magician could do to duck and try to dodge.
A tendril of water snaked its way under the fan and around the central cone, then tightened into a cord that pulled the robot off course. Zetenni fell against the rubble, breathing heavily, as Aqualass' waterbearers and Aquaman's fists managed to tear apart the spinning monster. Then the grown hero was helping him up as Kaldura headed for Mar'gann.
"League, we need to keep these robotic monsters from leaving the field of battle." Aquaman said sternly into his own communicator. "Zetenni is correct, they have specialized weapons and containers for the removal of the Team."
"Then we need to get them out of here." Captain Atom replied. "Black Canary, Plastic Man, circle around to Aquaman's position and head for the Bioship. Superman, stop punching the dragon, grab Supergirl and fly, Rocket and Icon follow him. Flash and Kid Flash either run on your own steam or get to the Bioship as well, Green Arrow-"
"We can't leave the building just yet, Atom - Apollo and I found J'onn, he's down for the count. And Robyn and Batman are still in this mess somewhere."
"Then we'll help find them." Kid Flash said, and before anyone could say otherwise, she and Flash had run past Zetenni and Aquaman.
"Speedsters," The King of Atlantis muttered, even as Black Canary reached their position. She spared a quick glance of concern towards the opening, then moved to help Aqualass lift the unconscious Martian Junior.
-CC-
Robyn couldn't help a slight groan as pain was the first thing she registered upon waking up. So not asterous.
Carefully cracking open her eyelids, the teen scanned her surroundings. Square room, plain grey walls, darker grey door without a lock or even a handle. Next Robyn turned her attention to herself. Metal restraints holding her arms behind her back, and keeping her fingers in immobile fists. That was new. Similar cuffs were around her ankles, attached so closely that walking would be impossible. Maybe she could manage a bunny hop...
Blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes, Robyn also noticed that her utility belt was gone. No surprise there. Only idiots ever forgot to remove it, and the people who'd set up the trap at the facility were definitely not idiots.
Up and down her body, Robyn could feel the bump and bruises from her brutal impact through one wall and into another, courtesy of the unexpected explosion. Batman had thrown himself over her, preventing any burns or cuts from shrapnel, but even he couldn't defend against knocks to the head.
The teen sighed, hoping that wherever she was being held, the others weren't prisoners as well. With luck, they'd all gotten away, and were even now planning a rescue, because it was pretty clear she'd need an extreme amount of luck, nothing short of a miracle, to get out this place by herself. Nothing to do now but sit back and wait for something to happen.
Almost as though her thoughts had been spoken aloud, a speaker system crackled to life, emitting a chaotic laugh reserved just for Robyn's worst days and nightmares.
"Hello there, little birdie! Guess who got to come along to this world just to treat you to a taste of home!"
Scratch what she'd thought before - Robyn would need a miracle just to get out of here alive.
Guess who's trip got horribly cut short? Darn blasted cold fronts and their rotten timing...
Hope you guys appreciate this chapter - took me forever just to work out the kinks in it. I might get another update posted this evening, or it might not happen until tomorrow; all depends on how motivated I am this afternoon to write.
So, read, review, let me know what you all think! Audience feedback is very important for motivating these fingers to fly across my keyboard.
-Triscribe