Chapter 19
Kell-el smashed into several robots and trapped three others in his green Kryptonite blasts before confronting Wave and Emerald Empress head on. He dodged an energy blast fired by the Eye of Ekron and jumped into the air and punched Emerald Empress. She doubled over, winded, as Wave extended her tentacles of hair toward Kell-el, grabbing and groping at all parts of his body.
"You know", said Kell-el, tensing his muscles in preparation, "you really" – he snapped a lock of hair – "should do" – several other tresses were forced to loosen – "your homework" – now there was only the thickest tuft of hair left, curled around his waist – "on a Superman!"
Wave howled in rage as the last of her hair tore (being hair, she felt no pain), releasing her quarry. However, Wave being Wave, she simply re-grew her prehensile hair, snatched a vehicle from the road, and hurled it at Kell-el. Kell-el ducked, causing the vehicle to smash onto the pavement behind him, and lunged at Wave. However, he had forgotten about Emerald Empress, who now snuck up behind him and had the Eye of Ekron blast him.
Diagonally opposite Kell-el, Chlorophyll Kid was taking out robots by the dozen with his giant beanstalk plant, before Brainiac stopped him personally as he was passing, firing an energy beam that rendered him unconscious. Infectious Lass was already down, knocked out by Hunter early in the battle after his axe sliced her arm, but otherwise appeared unharmed – for the moment.
Stone Boy and Fire Lad were plowing through the robotic soldiers, trying to buy Antenna Lad - who was surfing through all the stations he could find in an attempt to unleash a destructive frequency – some time, while Night Girl stayed in the shadows, which offered her some, if not full, use of her powers.
Colossal Boy had grown to his full height (almost as tall as Brainiac) and was wrestling with Validus, successfully avoiding the latter's mental lightning attacks until Mano swiped at him with his lethal hand, throwing him off-balance and allowing Validus to get a shot at him.
Not far away, Color Kid was changing the hue of Tharok's skin, hoping futilely that the odd combinations would confuse or distract the cyborg, but he only succeeded in angering the villains to the extent that he was quickly punched out.
"Color Kid!" exclaimed Porcupine Pete as he fired quills wherever he could without injuring his teammates. A few managed to poke into the flesh-and-blood villains' bodies or pierce through the unprotected metal armor of a stray robot, but most were simply deflected away.
Polar Boy wasn't having much success either. The most he was able to do was freeze a few robots and crash them to bits before Tyr engaged him in one-on-one combat. Polar Boy jumped and skipped, avoiding shots from Tyr's gun-arm, but he was so focused on that he didn't notice Persuader sneaking up behind him until his large fist collided with his head.
Double-Header was fighting with Ron-Karr, making the most of his two heads. He was able to see any villains or robots coming at him from behind with one head, and keep his eyes trained on Ron-Karr with the other head. He managed to subdue the shape-shifting Neptunian before moving on to a group of robots.
Dream Girl was now battling Hunter, evading his axe as she jumped lightly around him, throwing kicks and punches whenever and wherever she could. She managed to get his axe stuck in the ground long enough to whack the daylights out of him while he tried to extract his weapon, before being pinned to the ground by a large robot.
Lightning Lad was personally combating Esper, firing stray lightning bolts at many a passing robot when the opportunity presented itself. Between punches, kicks, avoidance of Esper's telepathic attacks, and a high voltage of electricity, he kept scanning the large, disorganized multitude of people in the hopes of spotting Saturn Girl, who seemed to have disappeared after taking out around twenty-five robots with a couple of force fields early in the battle.
And Brainiac 1.0 was just standing, watching the fray with a satisfied smirk on his face, solidly confident of the success of his scheme. For the most part, he refrained from the battle, stepping in only when it looked like the Legionnaires might be gaining the upper hand.
After a while, it became clear that the Legionnaires could not hold out much longer. Brainiac was just congratulating himself on a job well done when there was a flash of bright light that temporarily chased all the shadows away, a cracking, thundering sound, and a smell of singed metal and wood. Everyone, Legionnaire and villain alike, looked up to behold the welcome sight of a Legion cruiser, which descended rapidly on Brainiac.
Before he could counter it, so stunned was he by the sudden arrival, the ship conked Brainiac on his head, causing some not very minor damage to his circuits. Cursing, he shook the spacecraft off, leaving it to fall hundreds of feet to the ground, and retreated some way to repair the damage.
The cruiser crashed into the pavement with a sickening crunch, but a hatch opened in an undamaged portion of it not too long after, and Bouncing Boy, Triplicate Girl, Brainiac 5, Dawnstar, Tyroc, Ultra Boy, Element Lad, and Star Boy climbed out, unharmed. The eight of them quickly joined the battle, amid cheers from the rest of the home team.
Despite the additional reinforcements, the Legionnaires could not gain any ground. The villains and robots still numbered over eight hundred, and they were still an overwhelming force, and they kept pushing the Legion back.
"What are we going to do?" Kell-el, now recovered from Emerald Empress' attack, had to shout to be heard over all the noise.
"I don't know!" bellowed Lightning Lad. "Just hold them back the best you can, and pray for a miracle!"
Just then Saturn Girl crashed to the ground from a direction that seemed to suggest she had been near Brainiac.
Exclaiming in shock, Lightning Lad eliminated the three robots directly in front of him and helped Saturn Girl up, asking anxiously, "Are you all right? Where have you been?"
Saturn Girl shook her head to clear her thoughts and started fighting the throng of opponents facing them with her telepathy. "I'm fine", she said between attacks. "I tried creeping up to Brainiac, but he discovered me and tossed me back. My force field managed to cushion the impact."
"You went after Brainiac alone?" exclaimed Lightning Lad, firing a particularly powerful bolt at Esper, who was attempting to approach Saturn Girl.
"He was watching the battle!" Saturn Girl yelled back. "I saw an opportunity, and I took it, but it didn't work!"
The fight, which could now appropriately be called a war, was quickly turning ugly. Three villains (Hunter, Esper, and Ron-Karr) and almost three hundred robots were permanently out of action, but so were several Legionnaires, including Dream Girl, Element Lad, Chlorophyll Kid, Infectious Lass, and Antenna Lad. A few others were also temporarily down for the count, leaving only Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Bouncing Boy, Kell-el, Dawnstar, Star Boy, Tyroc, Ultra Boy, Porcupine Pete, Double-Header, Fire Lad, Night Girl, and Stone Boy to battle Tyr, Wave, Emerald Empress, Tharok, Validus, Mano, Persuader, seven hundred robots, and Brainiac 1.0.
The Legionnaires and villains were tiring, but the robots were not, and these kept attacking the former without mercy. Tyroc destroyed about a hundred robots with the shrill frequency Antenna Lad had been searching for before he'd been knocked unconscious, and he even managed to fry a few more circuits in Brainiac's mechanical suit, delaying the evil Coluan even more. However, Bouncing Boy and Dawnstar were quickly taken down by sheer numbers, and Lightning Lad was out of action for a few minutes after Tharok got him with a cannon blast.
More reinforcements arrived in the form of another Legion cruiser, this one bearing XS, Timber Wolf, Chameleon Boy, Karate Kid, Blok, and Matter-Eater Lad. Unfortunately, Chameleon Boy and Karate Kid had been injured enough in their previous battle that they were unable to help. XS flatly ignored Timber Wolf's advice to stay in the cruiser, and, with a bandage on her wounded shoulder, came out with him, Blok, and Matter-Eater Lad.
Several more robots were obliterated, and Mano and Persuader were eliminated from the battle. By now the tide was swiftly turning even more decisively in Brainiac's favor. Even when Cosmic Boy, Superman, Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, Invisible Kid, Shrinking Violet, Nemesis Kid, and Wildfire (Chemical King was not fit to fight) arrived to help, the vast multitude of the remaining robots, despite suffering substantial hits and losses themselves, kept weakening the ranks of the Legionnaires. Eventually it got to the point where there were 250 robots and three villains (Tyr, Validus, and Emerald Empress) remaining (not counting Brainiac 1.0) and only twelve Legionnaires (Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Superman, Blok, Brainiac 5, Shrinking Violet, Invisible Kid, Kell-el, Sun Boy, and Nemesis Kid) and two Subs (Porcupine Pete and Double-Header) still standing.
Then Brainiac 1.0 did a surprising thing – he halted the battle.
"That is enough", he said in his chilling, thundering robotic voice, causing everyone to stop fighting. "This war is pointless, and I will not tolerate it any longer. I could have digitized all of you at the very beginning, but I did not, because I wished to see truly the full extent of your folly, and how far you would go. No more. You are obviously outnumbered, Legion, and you are tiring ever more quickly. Admit defeat and stop trying to interfere with my plans, and I will let you live. Continue to fight, and you will all be eliminated in the blink of an eye. Choose now."
Compete and utter silence followed his words. The Legionnaires were faced with an impossible choice: continue fighting, and die – for they knew they would stand no chance once battle recommenced – or give up, and allow Brainiac to take over the universe. Either path would result in the same thing. However, they were forgetting the third and key option.
Saturn Girl turned grave, determined eyes to Lightning Lad, who alone was beside her where she stood, in front of Legion HQ (the other Legionnaires were scattered all over the place).
"You know what has to happen", she said quietly. Lightning Lad remained silent, unwilling to say anything.
Saturn Girl glanced upward, at Brainiac 1.0's huge, menacing figure, then back at Lightning Lad.
"I have to fight him alone."
A/N: Yes, the big fight! Next chapter will come the mano-o-mano battle between Saturn Girl and Brainiac 1.0. I can promise you it's going to be surprising - I think. Thanks to Devilbunny, Dangerzone, and TheEclipse for reviewing. Also to The Violet Rose, whose review I received in another private message. Hey, I'm loyal to my reviewers.
Disclaimer: Do I look like I own this? Oh, wait, you can't see me...