Same disclaimers as before

Chapter 5: Attacks

Josh sighed, gazing down on the paper. He was sitting on a bench at the Queensland Boardwalk, reading the latest Daily Planet paper; the last one to come out before their building was bottled. He had circled certain jobs in the classified section, but none of them paid as well as the Planet. Unfortunately, since their building was still encased in an impenetrable force field, the Daily Planet was off of print until they could find a new building. Their radio and television shows were still active, but Josh was nervous enough in his writing, being on screen or on air would be too much for him.

With a low grunt, he wadded the paper up and looked around. The boardwalk was fairly empty, but the few people that were there weren't looking at him. He concentrated and felt the fire in his abdomen ignite. The wadded paper in his hand burned away and he quickly dispersed the fire throughout his body to keep it from building up.

Josh looked out over the horizon. The sun was rising and more people were coming to the boardwalk. The Ferris Wheel was already full of kids and their parents celebrating the fact that it was the weekend. Josh leaned back on his bench and closed his eyes.

"Rough week?" said a deep voice beside him.

"Yeah, I was supposed to work at the Planet."

"Oh, tough break!"

"Yeah, plus this alien invasion and…some other stuff going on. It's a lot to handle."

"I can imagine."

"Mmm, how about you?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Building weapons and tools for our glorious leader so we can take over the world; you know how it is."

Josh frowned. "Wait…what?" He opened his eyes and turned to see a massive, hairy gorilla sitting next to him, looking at him with equal surprise. Josh jumped up and stumbled back "Talk-talking gorilla!"

The gorilla drew of futuristic looking weapon. "Human!" He fired and a beam of light erupted from the gun. Josh dodged to the left, but the beam struck a woman walking behind him. She was thrown back with a scream and the boardwalk erupted into chaos. Gorillas emerged from the sea and jumped up onto the boardwalk, some carrying guns, others carrying massive pillars of metal machinery.

People were either chased off the boardwalk or hounded closer to the pillars. In front of Josh's horrified eyes, the people who got too close to the machines slowly grew larger and hairier, their faces morphing darker. After about a minute, they had completely devolved into apes. Josh activated his super speed and dashed towards the Carousel. With a mighty leap, he landed on top of the ride and watched in horror as the boardwalk was overrun.

"What is happening!" he whimpered, "What is this!"

"Hey!" Josh spun and saw a gorilla pointing at him from the ground. The ape raised his gun and fired. Josh raised his arms, but the beam struck him in the chest.

It was like a sledgehammer striking his sternum. Josh cried out as he was flung backwards into the air. He flew over the Carousel and landed with a heavy splash in the ocean. He drifted in the waves in shock before he scrambled to the surface for air. Josh shook his head, trying to clear it off water before he began to swim, as quietly as possible, towards the beach.

. . .

"And over here is our famous Metropolis University Bell Tower!" said the spritely tour guide. Some of the prospective students wrote notes on clipboards while parents snapped pictures of the iconic locations. Ariel, for her part, kept her head down and her arms folded.

Her mother was standing besides her, an arm around her daughter's shoulder. "Oh, c'mon, honey." She sighed, "Look up, you need to be thinking about this!"

"I am, mom." Ariel grunted, raising her head slightly.

Her mother sighed and pulled Ariel away from the group. "Listen, Ariel," she said, holding the girl at arm's length, "I know the last week has been…different. But that doesn't change the fact that I care about you and your future. I just…I just want you to be happy again." Ariel sneered internally. She couldn't remember being happy in a long time, and even the happiness she could recall was counterfeit. On the outside however, she kept her face as neutral as possible. Her mother sighed and pulled her in for a hug. I love you.

Ariel closed her eyes and focused, bringing herself away from the situation.

Man! This place is great! I'm definitely coming here!

I don't know about these dorms.

Hungry. Ariel's eyes snapped open. That last voice had sounded like a raspy old man. Must feed. Give energy to Parasite. Ariel gasped. Her mother pulled away. "Honey? Something wrong?"

"There's something here." Ariel murmured, "Something bad."

Her mother grimaced. "Okay. Should I call the police?"

Sirens rang in the distance. "I don't think you need to," said Ariel dryly.

Her mom nodded. "Okay, we should get inside." Together, they ran across the empty street to the library. Ariel's mother pushed open a door just as a monster ran out. It was a purple-skinned, hairless humanoid. Ariel shrieked and stumbled backwards as the purple creature dove at her mother. It sank its teeth deep into her shoulder and Ariel's mother slowly sank to the ground. As Ariel watched, her mother's hair slid back into her skull and her skin began to lose its tone and color.

The purple creature released her mother and looked up at Ariel with a snarl. "Hungry."

Ariel backed up and raised her arms in defense. "Stay back!"

The beast lunged and Ariel cried out. She swung her arm wildly and connected with the creature's side. At that moment, two things happened. First, Ariel felt a sharp pain in her head for a split second and a rush of energy flew through her arm. The creature screamed and was sent flying through the air, smashing into the arch over the entrance to the library and falling to the ground. It lay there unmoving with stone chips falling on it. Second, after she made contact with the creature, Ariel felt a huge wave of pure exhaustion wash over her. It was like she had been exercising for days without stop. Every muscle screamed for relief. Even her mind, which had been buzzing with a strange, pleasant sensation for the last week, seemed duller. Ariel breathed heavily, trying to fathom what had just happened.

Since she had left the Watchtower, she had been working on controlling her telepathy. She had mastered the ability to enter a mind and sort through its contents (learning several unsavory things about her most loathed gym teacher in the process) and how to block the voices of other minds from overwhelming hers. However, Ariel did find it a nice distraction in boring classes to let a wave of foreign thoughts wash over her and emerge herself in a mental sea. Some of her classmates were actually much more intelligent, witty, and creative than she gave them credit for. Others were just as dumb, foolish, and ignorant as she believed.

Ariel stared at her hands. On the Watchtower, Martian Manhunter had mentioned something called 'Tactile Telekinesis'. Ariel had looked that up and discovered that it was being able to move something with your mind, so long as you were touching it. She had tried it several times with heavy objects around the apartment, but she had only succeeded in giving herself a migraine. Now, however, it appeared her powers were growing as there was no way she could have launched that monster into the air with her normal strength. "Mom," she whispered shakily, "What's happening to me?" She looked up and gasped.

Her mother was standing up. Her skin was wrinkled and purple and she looked at Ariel like she was a meal. "Hungry."

"Mom?" Ariel backed up, "Oh, no." There was a violent skidding noise around the corner and Ariel looked over to see an MPD squad car making a cringe-worthy turn. The car was leaning on its two left wheels as it slid into a smooth doughnut behind Ariel before screeching to a stop.

Two cops jumped out with their guns drawn. "Ma'am!" Shouted one, his weapon raised to Ariel's mother's head. "Get on the ground!"

"Wait! No!" cried Ariel, but her mother had already lept at the officers and they opened fire. The bullets hit her mother in the chest and the purple beast she had become fell to the ground. "Oh God! Mom!" Ariel felt tears falling down her cheek, but was completely numb to the sensation.

"It's alright, kid!" shouted one of the cops, "Bullets only put them down for a few minutes. She'll recover." He helped Ariel to her feet, but she kept her head down. "Jesus, she's in shock. Can we get an ambulance?"

The other cop shook his head. "Their all dispatched around campus, and I hear there's some ruckus down at the boardwalk. They can't spare anymore right now."

The first officer sighed. "Okay, come with us kid. They're setting up a perimeter a few blocks away. We got Power Girl from the JSA patrolling the boarders."

Ariel's head snapped up. "Power Girl?"

"Yeah, you like superheroes, kid?"

Ariel stared at the two purple creatures lying on the steps to the library. "They're parasites," she whispered.

"What?"

"Parasites. When I touched one-"

"Wait," interrupted one of the police officers with a nervous look on his face, "You touched one? We have to get you to quarantine!"

Ariel looked up. "No, you have to get me to Power Girl."

. . .

Josh crawled onto the beach. He had always been a terrible swimmer, but good enough to keep him alive. He collapsed in the sand as he breathed, trying to catch his breath. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "Stupid monkeys." He muttered, pushing himself up.

"We're apes, you ignorant fool." Josh opened his eyes and his jaw dropped. He was completely surrounded by a dozen massive gorillas, all of them holding guns on him. He sheepishly raised his hands in surrender, desperately hoping he hadn't wet himself with fear.

One of the gorillas rolled its eyes. "This one is a coward, not worthy of devolution. No prisoners." The gorillas grinned and hooted as they raised their guns to Josh's head.

Before anyone could react, a red blur shot between the apes, moving faster than a blink.

"Hey, fellas!" said the Flash with a friendly wave besides Josh, "Don't you need these?" The guns that the gorillas had been holding were now in a pile on the shore behind Flash. Josh nearly tripped over himself when Flash appeared next to him, but he now stood steady. The gorillas, for their part, made the right choice and ran away like little girls. "You okay, Josh?"

Josh gulped nervously, but grinned, "Yeah, I was about to get 'em with a one-two but you showed up and ruined the fun."

Flash smiled. "What can I say, I'm a killjoy." A vibrational hum cut through the air and Flash's grin disappeared. "You hear that? Teleporters. They're bringing in the cavalry." He turned to Josh. "Listen, Josh, I know you said you didn't want to be a hero, but I need your help on this one."

Josh hesitated for a moment, but then he heard a child's scream in the distance. As he listened, the scream morphed into a violent roar as the child was devolved. "What can I do to help?"

Flash looked over at the boardwalk and at the pier. "There," he said pointing, "By the Ferris Wheel and Carousel. Those are the teleporters. Destroy them before they can bring in more soldiers. See if you can destroy some of those devolvers on the way."

"And you?"

"I'm going after Grodd."

"Grodd?"

"Gorilla Grodd. He's just a hyper-intelligent ape with mental powers and dreams of global conquest. No biggie." The Flash disappeared in red blur, but was back in less than a second. "Almost forgot," he said. He held something out to Josh who took it anxiously. It was a black domino mask. "I know you aren't going to stick around as a hero, but you should keep your identity secret."

"Right," said Josh. The mask attached to his face with some kind of adhesive built into the fabric. It felt like silk on his skin, but also very natural.

"You got this?" asked the Flash.

"I-I think so."

The Flash shrugged. "That's all I can ask for. Stay safe." He sped off, leaving a trail of kicked up sand in his wake. Josh breathed deeply and activated his super speed. He concentrated and the fire built up in his stomach. He turned to the pier.

"I must be insane," he muttered, "Lock me in Arkham and throw away the key." With a deep breath, he ran forward, his arms outstretched as his sleeves burst into flames. His limbs were white hot and his feet set off a shower of sparks with every step. He ran up the wall of the stone pier and onto the boardwalk. Faster than any gorilla could react, he shot forward, his arm slicing through a devolver machine like a hot knife through butter. The machine exploded behind him as he ran forward, cutting through the next machine and the next. It took him less than a second to reach the end of the pier, a series of explosions going off behind him as the machines blew up. He skid to a stop next to the Carousel. There were two gorillas hunched over a tube-like device that was emitting the humming sound.

"Hey!" Shouted Josh. The gorillas looked up at him and grunted in surprise. They raised their guns at him, but Josh was too fast for them. He ran his fingers over their guns, melting the barrels and rendering them useless. The gorillas roared and jumped over their machine. Josh dodged between them, scorching the cement ground they stood on. Both apes howled in pain and leapt away, their bare feet smoking. With a grin, Josh raised his hand. "Hay-ah!" he brought it down with a mighty karate chop, splitting the tube in two with his molten-hot hand.

He looked up and his smile fell. Across the pier at the Ferris Wheel, massive floating platforms were appearing in the sky, each loaded with dozens of gorilla warriors, roaring for battle. "Oh boy." Josh cracked his knuckles and knelt down. The fire in his stomach spread through his blood. The gorillas began to jump off the platforms to the pier. Josh ran forward, letting a blazing fire trail behind him. He ran circles around the gorillas that were on the ground, trapping them in flames. Gorillas kept dropping, however, and eventually he just ran back and forth in a straight line, cutting off the Ferris Wheel from the rest of the pier with a wall of fire.

Josh stopped and looked at his wall with pride. His satisfaction was short lived as the massive platforms drifted over his fire and began dropping gorillas besides him. He quickly kicked the closest one in the chest, using the fire in his legs to knock it off the pier. In the sky, more platforms were forming. Josh grimaced and crouched down. Like a bullet from a gun, he shot forward through his fire wall. Before any of the apes on the far side could react, he ran headlong through the teleporter tube, causing it to explode behind him as he ran vertically up the Ferris Wheel. Beams of light shot by him as gorillas fired at him. Josh reached the top of the wheel and, without stopping, jumped. He flew into the air towards the closest platform and he landed on it with a roll and a grunt.

The gorillas there raised their weapons wordlessly and opened fire. Josh breathed deeply and dodged between the beams. He felt the fire rushing through his arms and ran straight towards the nearest ape, his arm pulled back in a textbook haymaker. The gorilla went flying, giving Josh time to engulf his hand in fire. He plunged his fist into the platform and the flying device shuddered. It slowly shut down and drifted to the side, knocking another platform off balance before falling to the ground in a flaming wreck.

Josh jumped off the platform just before it touched down, the forward momentum and force of the explosion throwing him through the air. He cried out and spun in the air. He slammed into the wooden 'Queensland Boardwalk' sign at the head of the pier. He groaned and fell the ground, wooden planks falling around him. He struggled to his feet and leaned against a bench.

Looking up, he saw that he was surrounded by angry, armed apes. "Um…sorry?"

. . .

The perimeter was just a few wooden police blockades cutting off a few roads. Behind the blocks, reporters hounded frightened students for interviews. Occasionally, there was a cry of fear as a purple parasite broke through the blockade, but they were quickly shot down by police and thrown over the barriers.

The two officers dropped Ariel off at the perimeter and drove off to find more survivors. Ariel ran past the blockade. Immediately, she was given a blanket and a water bottle by a passing nurse. "Excuse me," she asked, "Where's Power Girl?"

The nurse checked her watch nervously. "She left to find the source of this madness. I need to go. There are some doctors who're working on a cure." Ariel nodded and bit her lip. Power Girl wasn't there. If she got too close to a parasite, her power would be drained and the parasite would get kryptonian superpowers. Ariel gulped and dodged through the crowd, looking for a place to hide. Finally, she found an abandoned ambulance and quickly dove inside, closing the doors behind her.

"Well?" Ariel spun and gasped, scrambling at the door. Before her stood Raven, her arms crossed and her hood raised. "What are you going to do?"

"What are you doing here?" Ariel whispered. The door refused to budge.

"I'm a hero. There's a crisis. Do the math."

"Then do something!" Ariel gave up with the door and backed herself into a corner.

Raven shrugged. "No can do. I'm a mental projection of your imagination."

Ariel groaned. "Great, now I'm hallucinating."

"Hallucinating," agreed Raven with a nod, "Or maybe just thinking with a conscious."

"What?"

The projection of Raven pointed to the shelf above Ariel. It held rolls of bandages and a pair of scissors. "You want your mother back? If Parasite gets his hand on Power Girl's abilities, he'll level the surrounding blocks."

Ariel took the bandages and scissors. "What do you want me to do?"

Raven smiled. "What needs to be done." Her form drifted away into shadow and she disappeared. Ariel carefully measured the bandages and wrapped it around her head. She put her hands over her eyes and removed the bandage, keeping her hands over where her eyes were. She quickly cut out rough circles in the cloth and re-wrapped it, making a make-shift mask.

Ariel tried to open the ambulance, but the doors were stuck. She sighed and laid a hand on the door, focusing. The door clicked and opened, the lock broken by her powers. Outside, the crowd had grown larger and more chaotic. Nobody noticed when a girl exited an empty ambulance. They did notice when she drifted into the air.

"Oh boy," muttered Ariel as she steadied herself in the air. She had experimented only lightly with her ability to fly. She had only drifted a few inches off the ground in the shower before. Now, she was at twenty feet and rising.

Hey! Look at that!

Must be one of those new heroes.

She'll help us!

Ariel closed her eyes and shut out the voices. She opened them and leaned forward, putting her arms out straight. She gently flew forward with a series of shaky jerks.

It took her a while to reach the Bell Tower. When she finally got there, she looked up and immediately rose. It was easier to go up and down than to go in directions, she found. She hopped up to the top of the Bell Tower and landed easily on the observation deck. Luckily, it was empty, likely due to what amounted as a terrorist attack on the campus. Ariel sat down and leaned against the balcony, closing her eyes and letting the voices in.

Help! Help!

It's the Parasite! Run!

Daddy? Where's my Dad?

When I get my hands on Parasite-

Ariel's eyes snapped open. It was Power Girl, she had found her. She was in the computer labs. Ariel jumped up and flew into the air, diving down towards the entrance to the labs. "Hang on, Power Girl, I'm coming."

. . .

Josh panted, his breath catching up to him as the fire in his stomach struggled to stay alive. The entire boardwalk was in flames. The gorillas were in full retreat, fleeing from the fire-demon that could move faster than their guns could shoot. Josh raised his arms and made spinning vortexes with them, blowing the oxygen away from the flames, putting out most of the ones close to him. He gulped and fell over, his muscles screaming from exhaustion.

"Need some help there, friend?" A gust of heavy wind blew the rest of the fire on the boardwalk out to the river, putting them all out at once. "Here." Josh felt metal at his lips, pouring in a sickly sweet liquid. He gulped and immediately felt his body relax. His muscles stopped groaning and the fire in his stomach grew back up to a sizable heat.

Josh looked up and gasped. "Su-Superman?" The man of steel grinned down at him. "What did I just drink? What's-"

"Easy, friend," said Superman, "I just gave you Soder Cola, instant rejuvenation in a can." He helped Josh to his feet. "Did you do this?" He motioned at the scorched boardwalk.

"Yeah," said Josh, rubbing his arm nervously, "Sorry, but there were these talking gorillas and-"

"I know," said Superman grimly, "Flash has been captured."

Josh's eyes widened behind his mask. "What?"

"Yeah, Gorilla Grodd has him in his headquarters in a warehouse next to the fire department."

"So, you'll get him right?"

Superman shook his head. "They need me at the Watchtower. Brainiac might try another invasion attempt this afternoon; we've been seeing a lot of activity in his fleet this morning."

Josh gasped. "But what about Flash?" Superman gave him a slight grin. "No." said Josh. "No, no! I can't do it!"

Superman shrugged. "You're the only one who can. We have a major crisis down at Met U and the situation in space. The League can't spare anyone right now."

"But the Flash! He's a founding member!"

Superman nodded. "And now, he ne needs your help."

Josh grimaced. "Oh God, this is insane! I'm just a journalist, what can I do?"

Superman laughed and laid a hand on Josh's shoulder. "You can run faster than a bullet and can burn hotter than a volcano; figure it out." He gently flew off into the air

"Wait!" cried Josh, "I'm not a hero!"

Superman grinned at him. "Could've fooled me!" He shot off into the sky, nearly breaking the sound barrier as he did.

Josh sighed and rubbed his hands. "Could've at least left me some of that Soder Cola." He muttered, "Now, where's that warehouse?"

. . .

Lex stared at the screen. "What am I looking at here?"

"It's an outrage!" declared the Joker, his usual grin absent, "A blatant rip-off!"

"Oh, grow up," muttered Circe. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. They were in the Inner Sanctum, a massive holographic screen in front of them. The Joker paced back and forth, ranting to himself.

Lex simply stared at the screen with mild interest. "A villain outside of the Society," he murmured, "This could be interesting."

"Interesting?" said the Joker, "Interesting! This is plagiarism, pure and simple!"

"Perhaps," countered Lex, "Or maybe this is someone new, someone with exobytes, unclaimed." On the screen was an image of the Wayne Enterprises Building in Gotham. The top floor was on fire and the rest of the building was spray painted in large, white letters 'ANARKY'.

. . .

Batman was looking at the same image on the screen of the main Batcave supercomputer.

Robin stood next to him. "What does it mean?" asked the boy wonder.

Batman remained emotionless. "It means we have a new player in the game."

. . .

Circe checked her nails. "How's that prodigy you were working with, Lex?"

"He's doing well." Lex didn't take his eyes of the screen or his hand from his chin.

"He's from Gotham, isn't he?"

Joker grinned. "You know, Lexy, I could use a little song bird to help me my Anarky problem!"

Circe barked a laugh. "I thought you were all about anarchy, Joker?"

The Joker scowled and glared at her. "I'm all about my anarchy, Circe dear. This is some killjoy activist with no funny bone! No panache, no gravitas! He gives us psychopaths a bad name!"

Circe rolled her eyes. "And you would be the authority on that, wouldn't you?"

Joker puffed his chest out with pride in response.

Lex turned to the others. "Regardless, we should get in contact with this Anarky. I'll send in someone to look around for him. Now, if you'll excuse me," he stood up and straightened his tie, "I have an experiment in Metropolis that should be coming to a close."

. . .

Who's feet do I have to kiss to get a review around here?