Disclaimer: Here I am once again with Part II of the final battle. I'm still in astonishment at the amount of reviews this story has received as a whole, so I want to send a BIG shout out to all that have supported my efforts.
YOU are the reason this story has been such a BIG hit. Thank you!
Like usual I don't own the rights to Marvel or DC Comics.
Chapter XXVI
The Quinjet approached Times Square while the airborne heroes of two Earths flanked it on either side. Captain America approached the cockpit where Batman and Hawkeye were duel piloting the Quinjet. Looking out of the window, he managed to catch a vague but telling glance of Thor and Superman facing down Darkseid on a rooftop. He also noticed Doctor Doom but it was difficult to tell what he was planning. Cap had to let Thor and Superman handle that situation and refocused his attention to Times Square where plumes of smoke were already on the rise.
"Okay, that's not what I was hoping to see." Hawkeye commented.
Black Widow approached the cockpit and stood next to Cap. "What's the plan, Cap?"
"First things first; we need to alleviate the pressure on the ground and help the Fantastic Four and War Machine. But we also have to make sure that the Parademons down go beyond Times Square," Cap quickly pressed his finger to his helmet. "Stark, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Cap!" Iron Man responded.
"I need you and your group to maintain at least a three block parameter around Times Square. Anything gets further than that, shoot it down." Cap said.
"Copy that, Cap!" Iron Man replied.
Cap looked out the window to see Iron Man flying forward with Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Vision and Raven close behind him. He turned back to his group and said, "Okay, while Iron Man and his group are handling the aerial threat, the rest of us will provide ground support for the Fantastic Four and War Machine."
"What about Superman and Thor?" Black Widow asked.
"We'll have to let them handle Darkseid and Doom. There're still civilians running into the line of fire. Flash, take Vibe and Killer Frost and get those people off the streets. I'll take Cyborg and Aquaman and help the Fantastic Four. Hawkeye and Widow, stay with Batman and keep the Quinjet airborne." Cap said.
Bruce Banner stepped up to Cap and said, "You're going to need me out there, Cap."
"No, Dr. Banner. We're going to need the Hulk, so I suggest you find a way to get angry."
The Quinjet made its descent toward the streets of Times Square. Several meters away from the Quinjet, War Machine and the Fantastic Four were still battling the oncoming hordes of Parademons that were either on the ground or airborne. Captain America disembarked from the Quinjet with the Flash, Vibe and Killer Frost rallying behind him. Cyborg and Aquaman took up the rear while the Quinjet ascended back into the sky.
In Times Square, the Invisible Woman shielded the civilians as they ran for cover into a department store. The Human Torch swooped in and blasted the oncoming Parademons and soldiers whenever they happened to get too close. Mister Fantastic shaped himself into a large sphere and rolled over the unlucky troops that stood in his way and the Thing clobbered any Parademon that came near him. War Machine quickly joined him and fired his armaments at the Parademons, but one of the soldiers tried to ambush him.
War Machine saw the trooper coming and laid him out with a vile right cross, but a Parademon tackled him to the ground. The Thing punched the creature off of War Machine while Mister Fantastic snagged another Parademon that was attempting to attack his friend. Another trio of Parademons stalked toward the trio of heroes but just as they were about to attack, a tall man with flowing blonde hair and an orange and green bodysuit, appeared. With his three-pronged weapon, he laid wasted to the Parademons with a barrage of strikes and sweeps and stabbing motions.
Then before the Thing, War Machine and Mister Fantastic knew what was happening, a streak of red dashed around them and laid out the surrounding troops. Then, a young man with high-tech goggles and a woman with ice-colored haired appeared. The young man fired off a strange wave while the woman assaulted the troops with ice shards. It only became stranger where a robotic figure appeared and blasted the ground tank that had emerged from the portal.
The Invisible Woman was losing control of the force field when the red streak appeared out of nowhere and wiped out the Parademons. It was only for a split second that Sue though she saw a man in a scarlet red suit. Up above, the Human Torch wasn't sure of what to make of who these strangers were until the ice woman looked directly at him. She unleashed an icicle barrage seemingly at him and he moved, while a lone Parademon was struck down as it tried to attack him.
The Torch looked back at the skewered Parademon and then at the ice woman. "Uh, thanks?"
"Don't mention it, hotshot!" Killer Frost said with a wink.
Vibe approached after blasting a soldier away and looked up at the Human Torch. "Dude, do you use a special apparatus to generate that amount of intense heat?"
"Apparatus? I'm the Human Torch."
Killer Frost and Vibe exchanged looks before Frost asked. "The who-now?"
"The Hu… do you not know who I am?"
Killer Frost and Vibe collective replied, "No!" – "Not really!"
The Torch muttered, "Well, that sucks."
"Hey Johnny, when you're finished making friends, I could use some help." Sue shouted.
The Human Torch acted quickly and dropped toward his sister. He torched another group of Parademons while Vibe and Killer Frost battled another squadron of soldiers. Vibe blasted a small portion of soldiers back into several obstacles and Killer Frost froze another group. The Invisible Woman took a short look back at the very last civilian to get out to safety before she finally dropped her force field. She focused and dropped the remaining soldier with an invisible blast.
Vibe and Killer Frost approached the Invisible Woman and Vibe blurted out, "You can generate transparent force fields and projectiles?"
Sue looked at Vibe and replied, "Yeah, and I can also render myself and other invisible."
"That is all kind of awesome… and hotness rolled into one." Vibe said as if he was swooning.
Meanwhile, Captain America rushed in with his shield out in front of him and he barreled into a small group of soldiers. The soldiers quickly attacked the oncoming star spangled Avengers and Cap responded with a straight charge. His forward momentum sent him steamrolling into two soldiers, bashing his shield into the face of one and then punching out the second. In the middle of the rest of them, Captain America pummeled them one by one with expertly placed strikes of his fists, his boots and his shield.
A pair of Parademons moved on him and Cap tossed his shield at them. The shield smacked into the face of one Parademon, ricocheted from there and into the face of the second one. Cap retrieved his shield just in time to deflect a blast from a soldier's energy weapon before rushing forward and bashing him away. Once he had an opportunity, Captain America made a hasty approach to War Machine, Mister Fantastic and the Thing.
The Thing pummeled another Parademon out of the way just while Mister Fantastic wrapped up another beast. He pulled away just as quickly while the Thing tossed a vehicle at the Parademon. The airborne car slammed into the Parademon and War Machine flew in and blew it apart. War Machine regrouped with Captain America once he reached the Thing and Mister Fantastic.
"Good to see you again, Cap." War Machine said.
"Likewise, Rhodey." Cap replied just as the Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman joined him.
The Thing looked at the newcomers and asked, "Who're your new friends, Cap?"
"Believe it or not, they're all from another universe. This is the Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman, and they're all members of the Justice League." Cap stated.
"Aquaman? The Flash? What kind of hokey names are those?" The Thing asked.
"What do they call you in this universe, rock monster?" Aquaman asked.
"Why you…"
"Save it, Grimm. They're here to help us save our world." Cap said.
Mister Fantastic seemed to linger toward Cyborg and say out loud, "Amazing! You're body must be comprised of a biomechanical exoskeleton. The properties and abilities it affords must be astonishing."
Cyborg seemed to recoil a bit and said, "Man, I don't know if you're a scientist or just really creepy."
"I'm just fascinated by the technological advances that your universe must possess to created such a remarkable achievement." Mister Fantastic stated.
"I think he really likes you, Cyborg." The Flash claimed, and Cyborg just glared at his teammate.
"Everybody stay focused here. We've still got a lot of work ahead of us." Captain America said as more Parademons and troops and ground tanks approached from the open Boom Tube.
The Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Vibe and Killer Frost approached the group, and Johnny quelled his flames to the astonishment of Vibe. "Whoa, are you sure you're not related to Firestorm?"
"Dude, who the hell's Firestorm?" Johnny asked.
"Never mind. He's Vibe and I'm Killer Frost. Okay?" Frost said.
"Okay, now that we've got the intros out of the way, what's the plan, Captain?" Sue said.
"Stark's leading the aerial assault; he and his team will keep the skies clear of any incoming bogies. Rhodes and Storm, I need you two to join them and maintain a three block parameter." Cap said to the Torch and War Machine.
"Roger that, Cap. Let's get moving, Storm." War Machine said before he took to the air.
"FLAME ON!" Johnny called out, reigniting his flames and taking off after War Machine.
Once War Machine and the Human Torch flew away, Cap continued, "The rest of us will stay groundside and keep the fighting here. We CAN NOT let these things get out of city."
"We're outnumbered, Cap. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need the Hulk and we need him now." The Thing said.
"Trust me, Ben. He's coming." Cap said.
The Quinjet opened its ramp and Black Widow and Bruce Banner stepped out near the edge. Times Square was down below and two hover tanks maintained a stationary position. Black Widow asked, "You sure this is a good idea, Bruce?"
"Yeah sure. I've done it a million times. Well, I mean one… over Harlem. It almost didn't work." Bruce claimed under some small amount of nervousness.
"Almost?!" Widow asked.
"Uh…" Bruce stammered before he turned toward the cockpit. "Batman, take us higher. I need as much altitude as possible."
Batman did exactly as Banner requested and took the Quinjet higher into the sky. Hawkeye managed to keep the Quinjet from stalling in midair, even as the engines seemed to strain from the climb. The Quinjet reached a higher altitude and Batman and Hawkeye leveled out. Black Widow and Banner, who both had to strap themselves in to keep from falling out, returned to the ramp. They looked down and saw the height they'd climbed, and Bruce tried to catch his breath in the higher altitude. He was secretly hoping he wouldn't pass out.
"Okay, that's high." he commented.
"You ready for this, Bruce? You jump on the count of three." Widow said.
Bruce replied, "I'm ready. Let's do this."
"One? Two?"
Right before Widow could even reach the third count, Batman suddenly pushed Banner hard out of the Quinjet while shouting, "Three!"
Watching in shock as Banner plummeted toward the city, Widow looked at Batman and asked him, "What the hell was that?"
"You were hesitating." Batman claimed. Widow could only look back down toward the city.
Bruce was in free fall with his back facing Times Square and his face literally strained into a misshapen appearance. He could easily hear and feel the air rushing passed his ears. Then he felt it building inside of him; the anger was growing and the outrage was immeasurable to the point of him having almost no control. This was exactly what he was hoping would happen. His eyes, which were briefly closed during free fall, shot open and glowed green. Then he let out a scream of both protest and excitement.
Down below, two hover tanks were encroaching on Times Square with their duel cannons arming up and preparing to fire. Then before the occupants of one of the tanks knew what had hit them, the Hulk literally dropped from the sky. The Hulk started tearing the hover tank apart from the outside to the inside, snagged one of the occupants and tossed him away. The other occupant tried to fight back with a rifle, but the Hulk simply grabbed him and tossed away as well. Then the Hulk continued to rip the hover tank to pieces and sent it into uncontrollable spin.
The second hover tank shifted its guns toward the Hulk, but the Quinjet flew into view and opened for with its guns. The guns cut the hover tank in half, drawing the Hulk's attention and causing him to leap for the crippled tank. He ripped that tank apart like the other one and sent it dropping to the street below. The other tank followed. Both crashed and exploded in spectacular blazes of fire. The Hulk soon focused his attention on the encroaching ground tank. He roared his disapproval and charged forward.
Up above, the Quinjet flew above the streets. Batman had the pilot's chair and maintained control of the jet, while Black Widow had the guns. A squadron of Parademons approached the Quinjet with energy-based rifles and they took as many shots at the Quinjet as possible. Batman pulled of a series of evasive maneuvers, eventually spinning the Quinjet around and facing the Parademons head on. Black Widow opened fire on the Parademons, cutting down several of them at a time.
A hatched opened on the top of the Quinjet and Hawkeye emerged. He was secured to the inside of the Quinjet, and this allowed him to fire off an arsenal of trick arrows. Some arrows caught the Parademons in nets of varying functions and other detonated on impact. Hawkeye still had to hold on to the Quinjet so he wouldn't fall out, but he kept up the arrow assault.
"You know, you could try to keep this thing a bit more steady, right?" he shouted.
Batman replied, "You're welcome to trade places."
Hawkeye muttered, "What a prick!" Then he continued shooting his arrows.
Darkseid leered at Doctor Doom as he sauntered forward, while Thor and Superman stood their ground with baited breath. "You betray me, Doom?"
"Betray is a strong word, Darkseid. It is also highly inaccurate. It was never my intention to share dominion of my world with you. This is my world to conquer and none other's, not even a so-called God." Doctor Doom declared.
"You make a grave mistake challenging my insurmountable might here and now." Darkseid claimed.
"Victor Von Doom DOES NOT make mistakes."
"I beg to differ." Darkseid replied before he fired his Omega Beam.
Doctor Doom quickly erected a force field to deflect the Omega Beam. The Omega Beam seemed to zigzag from the force field and all around the immediate area, in turn forcing both Thor and Superman to either avoid the attack or deflect it. Darkseid pushed forward with a sustained assault, while Doom pushed forward with a more sustained defense. The Omega Beam continued to zigzag all around Thor and Superman, but Thor suddenly found an opening.
Thor launched himself toward Darkseid with his hammer out front, and Darkseid ceased his Omega Beam at precisely the wrong moment. Thor landed a heavy blow that pushed Darkseid back, and then Thor continued the assault with a barraged of hammer blows. Thor landed a strike that sent Darkseid to one knee. Winding up Mjolnir, Thor went for an overhead strike, but Darkseid fired his Omega Beam straight down toward the ground where it instantly zigzagged back up and it struck Thor in the chest. Thor was sent flying into the air by the Omega Beam, which moved like it had a mind of its own, and sent Thor crashing inside of an adjacent apartment building.
A lone tenant, an old man of ninety years or so, stared at Thor as the Asgardian tried to recover. "Hey, you punk. You better have the money to pay for the damage to my apartment."
Thor looked at the hole and then at the old man and said, "Sorry about that."
Meanwhile, Darkseid was upright again just as Superman landed a brutal punch to his face. Pressing his advantage, Superman pummeled Darkseid and forced him back step by step toward the edge of the roof. Darkseid backhanded Superman all the way toward the opposite edge, but Superman fired off a blast of heat vision that went across the ground and struck Darkseid. Darkseid was stunned again and Superman flew right into him, only to be caught and bashed in the back of the head.
Darkseid was suddenly surprised by Doctor Doom blasting him with an energy projectile. Dropping Superman, Darkseid unleashed another Omega Beam and Doctor Doom retaliated with a sustained energy blast and pushed forward toward Darkseid. Darkseid pressed forward and at the same time, was surprised that Doom was able to withstand his Omega Beam. The two titans pushed and pushed until they were within reach of each other. Then Doom landed a hard right punch that actually brought Darkseid to knee.
Darkseid was even more surprised by what had just happened. "Impressive! Very few mere mortals, save for Superman, has ever truly challenge me so evenly."
"Then you've underestimated MY insurmountable might, for Victor Von Doom is no mere mortal." Doom boldly claimed.
"A minor setback that is easily remedied." Darkseid replied before lunging up with a straight punch.
Doom seemed to sidestep Darkseid's strike and somehow countered it with a mighty throw that sent Darkseid to the ground with a heavy thud. Darkseid recovered just in time for Doom to close on him and land an expertly placed right hook. Doom pressed his assault with a series of blows that actually managed to push Darkseid back. Every blow, be it a hard punch or a straight kick, landed exactly where Doom wanted it. Darkseid attempted to retaliate in any way with his own strikes, but Doctor Doom had more that enough wherewithal to counter.
One of Darkseid's strikes was countered and Doom threw him right back toward the center of the roof, and then Doom launched himself at the despot. But Darkseid fired his Omega Beam, forcing Doom to bring up his force field again. Superman recovered and attacked Darkseid with his heat vision, while Thor returned and blasted Darkseid with a lightning bolt. The sheer forced pushed Darkseid back further toward the edge of the roof, and the two heroes and the one villain ceased their assault to regroup.
Doom said to Superman, "I do not require your assistance, alien."
"You're welcome all the same." Superman retorted.
"Stand fast. We're not finished yet." Thor said as Darkseid was standing back up.
Darkseid stand tall and put his hands behind his back. He stated, "This has been an entertaining exercise, but an ultimately pointless one. My armies shall take this planet and reshape into an image befitting a true God. And you, you Avengers and the Justice League… you shall fight as one. But in the end, one by one, you shall all fall."
"You may be right, Darkseid. But as long as even one of us is still able to draw a breath, we will never stop fighting." Superman declared.
"Then you shall die, Kal-El. Those who fight to their last breath shall not seen as martyrs, but as examples that those who challenge my rule." Darkseid claimed.
Thor gripped his hammer and shouted, "Are you going to keep talking, or you going to fight?"
But Darkseid cracked a sly smirk and replied, "I need not have to, Thor. I merely needed to keep you occupied."
Superman, Thor and Doctor Doom all looked back behind themselves at the giant command ship that was leading the invasion. An assortment of gun implements trained on the three and opened fire on them. Doctor Doom moved out of the way while Thor and Superman took the full brunt of the assault. Thor and Superman both leaped up into the air even as the guns followed their movements. Thor launched himself hammer first toward the command ship, taking out one of the implements before landing on the hull. One of the implements righted itself toward Thor as he was calling down a lightning bolt, and Thor quickly blasted it to pieces.
Superman moved on the command ship and unleashed his heat vision to take out another of the implements. He also let a lengthy scorch mark across the hull of the ship. Superman was surprise by an Omega Beam but recovered before he returned his attention to Darkseid. Darkseid fired off another Omega Beam, but Superman moved faster than the Beam could follow and managed to get close to Darkseid. He landed a heavy punch that staggered Darkseid and followed up with an onslaught of punches. Darkseid eventually countered with a full spinning backhand that sent Superman crashing down into the ground of the roof.
Thor pushed forward and cracked Darkseid in the face with Mjolnir, following up with a series of brutal swings. Darkseid still recovered and responded with a hammer blow of his own. His hands were clasped together and he bashed Thor in the face. Thor was thrown to the ground and back on his feet instantly, but Darkseid blasted him with another Omega Beam that carrying Thor from the roof. The Beam turned sharply toward the streets below and sent Thor all the way down where he landed hard and left a crater in the asphalt.
Back on the rooftop, Darkseid sauntered toward his command ship when Superman attacked him once again with haymakers. Darkseid avoided one such haymaker and drove his knee into Superman's jaw before he pull straight down by his cape. Superman had no idea where he was at that moment as his cape was draped over his head, and Darkseid brutally stomped on him. Reaching down and grabbing the Man of Steel by his hair, Darkseid hoisted Superman up and made doubly sure to cover his eyes to keep him from using heat vision.
"You fought bravely as you always do, Kal-El. But as it has always been in the past, ultimately, you fall." Darkseid said as he proceeded to strangle Superman.
Out of nowhere, Darkseid was struck by an energy blast that knocked both him and Superman. From across the roof, Doctor Doom was approaching them with both his arms outstretched in front of him. Superman was already the first to his feet while Darkseid was still down to one knee. Doctor Doom continued his approach with a sustained energy attack on Darkseid to keep him ground anytime he was close to getting back up. It wasn't long before Doom stood over Darkseid, who body was simmering from the energy assault. Superman stood beside Doom as Darkseid was down.
"Thanks!" Superman said.
It wasn't long before Doom suddenly spun around and blasted Superman across the roof and near to the edge. "Do not mistake my assistance for the turning of a new leaf, alien."
But as soon as Doom turned around, Darkseid grabbed him by the fabric of his cloak and hoisted him straight up. Darkseid fired the Omega Beam at point blank range and at a sustained rate. Superman could only watch in complete shock as Doom seemingly took the fool force of the Omega Beam without even attempting to fight back. Darkseid ceased his attack and then toss Doom toward the other side of the roof. Doom plummeted to the street below and crashed down onto a parked car, completely destroying it on impact.
Still in utter disbelief but reminded of the last time Darkseid murdered someone in cold blood, Superman lunged at him with every ounce of strength he had in him. Darkseid was ready for the Man of Steel's attack and responded with another Omega Beam that catapulted Superman straight up into the sky and out of sight. With Superman out of the way, for now at least, Darkseid levitated back onto the hull of his command ship.
"Now my armies of Apokolips, the time has come to take this world as the first of many to remade in the image of your Lord Darkseid. Let no one stand in your way."
As Darkseid was now standing atop his command ship, Thor was stirring down below in the streets. He sat up in the crater that was made in his landing and then steadied himself on his hammer. Thor looked up at the command ship as it was hovering high above the city and hordes of Parademons spread out. A Boom Tube opened directly in front of Thor and two hover tanks and a ground tank lumbered out. Standing up, Thor prepared to face down the new threats.
Superman was unconscious above a planet Earth that wasn't his own. But this Earth had a yellow Sun just like his Earth. He only needed a moment to drink in its rays. Soon enough, Superman's blue eyes shot open and within another moment, the Man of Steel was on the move and bolting back toward the Earth.
You're not getting rid of me that easily, Darkseid.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Note: That's going to do it for Part II and… (gasp) Did Darkseid just KILL Doctor Doom? WHAAAAAAAA!
The Hulk is back in action, while I added some of the usual witty banter between Vibe and Johnny Storm.
Plus… a cameo of a certain individual whose name escapes me. I think he's some kind of creative genius, but I'm not sure. (giggles)
Anyway, leave a few reviews and I shall hopefully return soon with Part III. Peace out!