7 Justice League the Corps
Captain Atom unleashed a pair of quantum energy bursts. The pavement beneath Atomic Skull was ruptured and shattered, throwing the Skull to the ground. Captain Atom landed ten feet away and kept a hand outstretched, ready to fire.
Atomic Skill rose. His flaming skull, for which he was so aptly named, had a violet glow in its eye sockets. Captain Atom, while admitting that Atomic Skull never looked good to begin with, absolutely looked like something was wrong now.
"Can't we all just get along?" Atomic Skull pleaded.
"Don't even quote Rodney King," Captain Atom warned, "We're talking apples and oranges here and you're going to be orange juice unless you quietly surrender."
"I can't," Atomic Skull adamantly declared, "I have a job to do."
"And what is that?" Captain Atom sarcastically inquired.
"To spread love to all of these people and bring them closer to one another," Atomic Skull announced.
"You'll be lucky if they don't run away screaming," Captain Atom remarked, "Those that stick around will probably shake you down for loose change."
"Where's your heart, man?" Atomic Skull pleaded.
"Converted into energy along with the rest of me," Captain Atom said matter-of-factly.
"You know what I mean," the Skull dryly retorted.
"Look, I could debate this all day but I'm getting bored so I won't. The point is, are you or aren't you going to surrender?" Captain Atom delivered his ultimatum.
"Aren't," Atomic Skull answered.
"Fine," Captain Atom grimly replied. He fired a quantum burst which hit Atomic Skull in the chest and he went down. The Skull rolled over onto his hands and knees. Rising into a kneeling position, he shook his head a few times. The flames enveloping his head seemed to sputter for a second. Captain Atom could've sworn it happened but he didn't have time to verify it because the Skull rose and turned to face him. The violet glow was gone from his eyes and his demeanor seemed to have changed.
"Trying to kill me, are you? Well eat this!" he lifted both of his hands and fired radiation bursts.
Captain Atom smugly stood his ground. It was radiation. So what? He absorbed radiation for breakfast.
The twin blasts caught him and he felt searing pain. Captain Atom experienced many sensations through his containment suit. Tactile sensory input being one of them. Pain had become a stranger so he surprised himself by crying out while under the barrage.
It was his turn to drop down to one knee. His chest heaved as he tried to compose himself. Atomic Skull chuckled.
"Surprised, Bunkie?" he snidely asked, "Major Force was too. Y'see my radiation has got a biosignature. That means you can't absorb it. You and Force couldn't absorb one another for the same reason. You've always been smart enough to stay away from me but now you're standing in my way and I gotta tell you, your ass is mine."
"Bring it." Captain Atom snarled. He leapt to his feet and unleashed a double handed quantum blast. Atomic Skull responded with twin radiation bursts. The energy collided in between them and like a matter/antimatter annihilation; there was a tremendous release of energy. Bystanders across both sides of the street were stunned and knocked over. Windows melted and cars were fused where they were at.
Steel landed behind Atomic Skull and used his sledgehammer to bash Atomic Skull's head. There was leftover animosity between the two from their last encounter in Bailya. Steel waved at Captain Atom but that wave turned into a frantic gesture.
Bizarro grabbed each of Captain Atom's shoulders and pulled them apart. He ripped the containment suit in half and Captain Atom's essence unleashed itself, bowling Steel over. Steel adjusted his sensors and he could see the radiation cloud that made up Captain Atom was headed back towards the Hall of Justice. Specialized equipment there would detect him and funnel his energies back into another containment suit. The only question was, how much turnaround time were we talking about?
Bizarro shambled on his way towards Steel. His eyes glowed, violet rather than red. He also had giddy smile plastered across his wreck of a face. Bizarro held his arms wide and kept coming. Steel swung his hammer and it connected with Bizarro's jaw.
The macabre clone staggered to his right and then resumed his shambling approach. Steel hit him over the head as hard as he could. It dented the head of the hammer and handle also tweaked. Bizarro went down but he was obviously going to get up as soon as he recovered from…well whatever was making him try and clear his head.
"That was ill advised," the Ultra Humanite said from the street corner, "He was only trying to hug you."
Steel kept his gauntlet blaster trained on the Humanite. Bizarro was up now. The violet glow was gone and so was his smile.
"I do believe you're on your own now," the Humanite walked away, leaving Steel in the path of a freshly enraged Bizarro.
The Question pulled his Charger up to the curb where J'onn was standing. Beside the car, on her motorcycle, was the Huntress. J'onn motioned for Nightwing, Ulla, and Catwoman to step up.
"You are our reconnaissance team. I want eyes on the UN and the Women's Dorm," J'onn ordered.
Nightwing and Ulla climbed into the charger while Catwoman mounted the bike. Nightwing grinned, "Your call."
Huntress decided for them, "We've got the UN. You take the girls,"
The bike revved and roared off. Question turned to Nightwing, "I guess we're investigating the break in,"
"Works for me," Nightwing replied. He turned around to face Ulla, "You okay back there?"
"These back seats are huge compared to my MINI," she was awestruck.
"I take it that's a 'yes'," Nightwing quipped. He turned to the Question, "Are are we going to get to the 5th Avenue Dorm? They're rerouting all the traffic from Times Square. The streets will be clogged."
"Simple. We go through Times Square," Question replied.
"You could get your car munched," Nightwing warned.
Question shrugged and stomped on the accelerator, "It's a risk."
Hawk, Dove, Red Tornado, Vigilante, Vixen, Wildcat, Commander Steel, Hourman, the Shining Knight, Mr. Terrific, and the three Super Friends corralled and then battled Major Disaster, Big Sir, Riddler, Penguin, the Shade, Ragdoll, Clock King, Blackrock, Dr. Polaris, Calendar Man, Count Vertigo, Cheshire, Cheetah, Queen Bee, Bronze Tiger, Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Plastique, Heat Wave, the Trickster, Golden Glider, the Top, the Weather Wizard, Catman, Mammoth, and Shimmer. Meanwhile Starman and Booster Gold faced down Ultraman. Hawkman opposed Kestrel. The Ray and Stargirl went after Black Mass and Volcana. J'onn assisted Steel in his struggle against Bizarro. Superwoman, Multiplex, and the Reverse Flash went unopposed while Anna countered the Enchantress and Tala and Atom Smasher squared off with Giganta.
Shayera hammered at Donna with her mace. Wonder Girl tried flying away but Shayera doggedly pursued. Getting above Donna, she brought the mace down with as hard of a two handed stroke as she could. Donna went tumbling into the concrete plaza, mere yards away from Owlwoman's prone form. Shayera swooped in for the kill when a violet hand suddenly swept her aside.
Donna looked for her mysterious benefactor and discovered four Sapphires hanging in space near her. Three were obviously aliens while the fourth looked human but there was something about her body language that rang alien.
The four landed around her and the first, a blue skinned woman with fiery red hair held out a hand. Donna grateful accepted and was helped to her feet.
"Thanks…?" she left it unsaid as an invitation for the blank to be filled.
"Miri," the flame haired woman said, "Miri Raim. I was happy to help. We all were."
"Can you help me with Wenonah?" Donna pleaded, "She's a much better leader than I am."
"That much is obvious," the blonde almost human snorted, "If we didn't have sheer numbers on our side we wouldn't be able to hold off those two men."
"And you would be?" Donna archly inquired.
"Dela Pharon," she replied with equal attitude.
"Don't mind Dela," a yellow skinned woman said, "She thinks she should be our Queen rather than Carol. I'm Race by the way."
"Is that a name or a description?" Donna inquired.
Race smiled, "It's my name silly."
The last woman also smiled. Her skin was a darker blue than Miri's and her hair was coal black. The most distinguishing thing though was her eyes. They were violet, which was no surprise with this crowd, but they had no irises or pupils. She also wore an elaborate headband, much more ornate than Fatality's rather utilitarian one.
Donna recovered, "And your name is?"
"Miss Bloss, but you can simply call me Miss," she happily revealed.
Shayera came swooping in. Donna erected a shield that the mace bounced off of. Donna still felt the blow though, it was that powerful. She pointed at Dela, "You're with me. You two, wake up Wenonah and get her back into the fight."
"Why should I follow you?" Dela asked, eyes narrowing.
"You want to prove you'd make a better Queen? Here's your chance." Donna appealed to her vanity and it worked.
"Follow me." The Xanadorian said as she lifted into the air.
Fatality homed in on John. Mary suddenly shoulder checked her and she went tumbling into the floor. Galatea used her ring for the first time and created a giant hand that grabbed Mary and held her tight. She squeezed the hand but the Endurance of Atlas kept Mary from passing out. Finally Tea flew up to her and began unloading one left cross after another.
The blows became harder with each attempt until Galatea was hitting Mary as hard as she could. Mary's nose bled and her lips split well before she finally succumbed. Sick at heart, Galatea gently lowered her to the floor and disincorporated the hand. Carol was at her side in an instant.
She placed a hand on Galatea's shoulder. Tea flinched. Carol made shushing sounds as Tea began to cry.
"Take heart, dear sister. As I understand her gifts, she can heal herself with a single word. She will eventually learn to forgive you when our cause is complete and love rules the day," Carol soothed her.
"I really hope so," Galatea managed to fight back the tears; "She's one of the only friends that I have."
Carol turned her around, easy enough since they were floating twenty feet in the air. Her kindly smile was benevolent, "That's not true. You have us. We will love you always."
That only unleashed a second torrent of tears. Carol held her close and waited for her emanations of love to take effect.
John used his ring to expand his personal field and slide the rubble off of him. He had to give this Fatality one thing, she was sneaky. He didn't see that move coming.
He got to his feet and the wall next to him began to reflect a violet light. John turned to find Fatality preparing for her next move, if she had to have a move.
"Are you willing to yield?" she asked.
"Are you kidding?" John asked sourly.
"We don't have to fight, John Stewart. I no longer have a grievance with you," she said.
"Because now you love me," John said pessimistically.
Fatality perked up, "Why yes."
"I'm not buying it." He declared.
She looked wounded, "Truly?"
"Truly," he declared.
She constructed an armored figure that wielded a sword. John followed suit. The two figures clashed in between them. Swords struck one another, a feint high then a stroke low. A parry and a thrust followed a twirl. John's construct sword was thrown high and then her sword slashed into its ribs. The constructs were of course linked to their respective rings. Each blow to the body channeled negative energy into the ring bearer.
After six unsuccessful attacks and getting zapped by violet energy, John realized that this student of the Warlords of Okaara was better at this game than he. Changing up, his construct faded even as a massive force beam lashed out and drove Fatality through the walls into the General Assembly.
Carol took note of Fatality's entrance. Its manner bespoke of greater measures that had to be taken. She summoned Maewen and Arven. Fatality joined them in the air. Galatea composed herself and got ready to face John.
He flew into the grand rotunda, "Give it up, Carol. You and your Sapphires can't win. Even if you beat the Green Lanterns on this planet, you still have Hal Jordan and the entire GL Corps to contend with. That doesn't even mention the other Lantern Corps."
"You still feel you can control, don't you?" Carol countered, "I'm about to show you something you won't want to control."
"Love?" John asked sarcastically.
"Love," Carol reverently replied, "Sisters, we need a conversion chamber for Mr. Stewart."
All five Star Sapphires unleashed their ring's, or stone's, light. A crystal chamber formed around John and emanation of the Violet Light of Love washed over him. He began to feel a warmth in his chest. Visions of Shayera filled his mind and his love for her overshadowed all else. His concern and care for his fellow Lanterns and JLers also threatened to overwhelm him.
The need and desire to surrender to these feelings, to simply let go and embrace them, made his heart and mind swim. Doggedly though, his sense of will took over. His need to control the ring and master its power became his lifeline. Even his love for Shayera, which overshadowed all else, was sacrificed in his need to be free.
The conversion chamber shattered and an emerald light flared across the chambers. The Star Sapphires were protected by their personal fields. They braced themselves for a renewed conflict but John woozily stood for a moment and then collapsed.
"Is he…?" despite having dreamt of his death at one time, Fatality couldn't bring herself to believe that Stewart was dead.
"No," Galatea said, "His vitals are strong and he's still breathing."
The three aliens looked at her and Carol smirked, "We really must get everyone up to speed on your remarkable attributes."
She gathered her followers, "We're leaving now and gathering our sisters as we go."
"But our mission…" Arven said.
"These are our delegates now. They will continue our work for us," Carol happily said.
"So we're leaving Earth as soon as we gather the others?" Maewen asked.
"Almost," Carol's smile was almost predatory, "There's something of mine that I intend to collect first."
