Chapter 25

The power was out in the Wayne building above the ground floor, which was running on emergency power. Helena had to run up the 110 flights of stairs to the roof of the building. She burst out of the door onto the roof and crouched low to do her best to avoid being spotted.

She looked all around her and didn't see any gunships around. She reached the edge of the roof and looked around. The Wayne Tower was one of the tallest buildings in Gotham. The gunships were all flying around at a level below the Wayne Tower. At first Helena surmised they were unconcerned about an attack from above, but as she watched them closely she realized they were not flying close to the tallest buildings. They were concerned about an attack and distanced themselves from the taller buildings to avoid it.

Even though the gunships were not coming close to Wayne Tower, she knew she could still reach a gunship and commandeer it; the question was just how she was going to do that. She could have simply jumped the long distance to a gunship, but she likely would have been seen before she could reach the ship and it would just have to move slightly to avoid her. The other option, which she chose, was to jump to the vicinity of a nearby gunship and use a grappling arrow to catch it. She could then follow the rope to the gunship and take it over.

She took her crossbow out and thought about a grappling arrow. One appeared in the bow and she looked it over. She hoped the arrow's magic would be enough to tear through the gunship's hull.

Helena had been tracking the patrol route of one particular gunship as it circled above the city. There was a part of its route that brought it fairly close to the Wayne Tower. She readied herself for when it came around again, and when it crossed the tower she jumped out and fell towards it. The ship turned it guns in her direction and she fired her grappling hook at it. The grappling hook tore through the ship's hull before it opened. The ship fired its guns at her. She didn't have to block anything as the pilot couldn't get a read on her as she fell. As Helena fell she pulled on the rope and felt it go taut. The pilot of the ship sped off, likely to fly her to the nearest base where the rest of the army could force Helena off his ship. Helena unhooked the arrow from her bow and grabbed the rope as she re-holstered the crossbow. By this time other gunships had been alerted to her presence and several started tailing her.

The gunship she was attached to flew high and quickly started moving around erratically. She guessed it flew high to deprive her of oxygen, and while the lower oxygen level did make her tired, she shrugged it off. She also guessed the erratic flying was done so the other gunships wouldn't be able to hit it. This pilot apparently wanted to live through the invasion. His compatriots did not feel the same way as they started firing their lasers at her.

Helena kept one arm tied around the grappling hook rope and used the gauntlet on the other to block the laser bolts fired at her. The blasts continued to singe her skin, but she tried her best to put the pain out of her mind. As she looked back in order to block the bolts she continued to wrap the rope around the other arm. In this manner she slowly inched her way to the gunship.

Helena noticed the ships following her move away slightly and she wondered what was happening. She realized why they avoided following her when she slammed into a building. The pilot of the ship she was attached to had a plan for knocking her off. Helena tore off a large piece of the building, but didn't lose her grip on the rope. The other ships left her alone and she started wrapping the rope around her arm even faster. When it was clear she was't going anywhere the other ships came up behind her again and started firing at her. She blocked their blasts as before.

Helena had to watch the ships behind her so much she didn't notice any ships coming in from another direction. One ship approached her from the side and fired at her. Most of the blasts missed, but it did get one lucky shot that hit her on the elbow of the arm that was holding the rope. She howled in pain, but was able to keep her concentration on the ships behind her. She saw the ship that had hit her fly past and begin to turn around. Despite the pain she was feeling in her left arm, she continued wrapping the rope around it even faster. When the other ships stopped firing at her she realized she was close to the ship. The pilots apparently weren't as fratricidal as she thought. She turned around and grabbed the rope with her other hand and pulled herself the last few feet and onto the ship itself.

She dug her fingers into the hull of the ship and held on as the pilot flew around in a bid to force her off. She took a look at her singed arms and noticed her charred skin extended to her shoulders on both arms. She tried to forget about the pain as she saw she was heading straight for a skyscraper. She realized the pilot of the ship had not given up on the idea of using a building to knock her off.

In a quick motion Helena flipped to the other side of the ship and tore a hole open in the side. The parademon in the cockpit looked back at her as she grabbed him and threw him out. Helena took his seat and the controls of the thing. Her parents had taught her to fly just about anything and she quickly took to the controls of the ship. She steered it towards the water so she could start taking out the bridges.

The ships that had followed her before started firing at her again. She flew around so they wouldn't have a still target to fire at. Helena reached the water and stayed high over it so she would have more room to move around and dodge the laser blasts being fired at her. As she approached the first bridge she saw the large tanks slowly moving down them. Each tank took up all six lanes of the bridge.

Helena armed the missiles and started flying lower. She lined the ship up with the supports of the bridge and fired the missiles at them. In having to stay on line with the bridge supports she couldn't effectively dodge the blasts fired at her and the ship took a hit. It tore a hole in the hull, but didn't do any significant internal damage.

After she fired the missiles she flew up and over the bridge as the missiles took out the support. She looked back briefly and saw the tanks stop as the bridge crumbled in front of them. She headed for the support of the next bridge and fired more missiles at it. She once again succeeded in taking out the bridge as her ship took a hit itself.

Helena took out all the bridges that led from the mainland to Gotham. She steered for the last bridge that connected Gotham to Bludhaven. She had taken several hits by this point and the ship had lost significant speed and mobility. She lined her ship up with the bridge's support. Right as she fired her missiles she took a critical hit and the ship descended rapidly towards the water. She saw her missiles take out the last bridge as she hit the water.

Helena quickly dived deep as she heard laser blasts hit the surface of the water. She felt lucky they were firing lasers and not bullets. The energy of the lasers would dissipate the moment it hit the water while old fashioned bullets would continue to pass through.

Helena stayed deep under the surface as she didn't want the parademons in the ships to be able to see her. She knew they would be hovering over the water waiting for her to surface for air. Helena swam as swiftly as she could towards the shore of Gotham.

Helena's lungs burned as she felt the need for air. She took off her cape and let it float to the surface. When it reached the surface she saw several laser blasts tear it apart. She floated up on her back and peaked out of the water with just her nose and mouth. She took a deep breath and then dived back down again.

She figured she was close enough to the shore and could make it on the one breath. Her lungs once again burned as she entered shallow water. She took a breath in the same manner as before and took a second to scan the sky. She didn't see any ships around so she figured she was in the clear. She ran out of the water to see she had come ashore on a beach junkyard that had a sewer pipe nearby.

She began to run towards the pipe when she was hit by laser blasts on her back and her left leg. She caught herself from falling and continued to stumble towards the pipe as she turned back slightly to see what had hit her. She saw two gunships racing towards her as they continued to fire their lasers. She blocked their blasts with the gauntlet on her left hand as she grabbed the crossbow with her right.

She continued to limp towards the safety of the pipe as she blocked their blasts. She imagined another arrow with a grappling hook on it. When the ships were right on top of her she fired the arrow at the ship to the right. She then imagined the other end of the rope attached to another arrow and fired that arrow at the one on the left. Both arrows stuck to their targets as the ships flew by. Helena grabbed the rope with her left hand. When she reached the pipe she grabbed it with her right hand and held on as the ships tried to continue flying. Helena's shoulders were almost ripped out of their sockets, but she held tight to the rope and the ships rammed into each other when the ropes wouldn't let them fly any farther.

Both ships went down in flames. Helena looked back out over the sea and saw more gunships heading her way. The two she had destroyed had apparently called in some reinforcements.

Helena knew she had to seek safety in the sewers quickly. Her entire body ached from the laser blasts she took, but she tried to keep her mind about her. The pipe was thin, but she knew it would be just big enough for her to fit through. She grabbed her crossbow off the ground and thought of another grappling arrow and fired it into the pipe. She felt it grab onto something and she had it pull her through the pipe and into the sewer. When she fell into the sewer water she felt some relief as her burns were momentarily cooled a little. She sat up and with her one good leg scooted herself up against the wall of the sewer.

She listened for someone to come after her. She could hear the parademons walking up to the other end of the pipe. They talked to each other in grunts that she couldn't understand. She knew with their broad shoulders they wouldn't be able to fit through the pipe, but wasn't sure if they had any robots or weapons that could follow her. They talked some more and then some shots were fired down the pipe. She heard them walk away and guessed they were going to forget about her. They likely had no idea how to reach her.

Still aching all, over she forced herself to stand. She guessed no one would come into the sewers looking for her, but she still had to get back to the Batcave as quickly as possible. Her left leg hurt as she tried to walk and her right arm hurt as she tried to support her weight against the wall of the sewer. She knew it was going to take her forever to reach the safe house under Wayne Tower. It was miles away and she could barely limp along. She had no choice as she couldn't radio anyone and give away her position. Dread filled her as she thought that there might not be anyone left to radio.

Diana floated through the abandoned farmhouse as she looked out the windows. She couldn't land as her legs were too injured by laser blasts to support her weight. She felt herself starting to get woozy over the loss of blood. One of the female furies had slashed her real bad on the back. It tore her costume apart so badly she was half naked with her breasts exposed. Her modesty was the least of her problems, though.

All her Amazonian warriors had been surrounded and captured. She alone had been able to fly away and headed for this farmhouse to take refuge. She had been able to move so fast the forces of Apokolips didn't see where she went. Diana looked out all the windows and saw the barn where she had parked the invisible jet was nearby. She thought about flying straight for it, but wasn't sure if there were any ships around that might spot her. She was feeling weaker over the slow leak of blood out of the wound on her back and new her lack of strength would make it hard to fly fast enough to avoid detection.

As she thought about what to do she heard a distant explosion. She floated over to a window that looked out in the direction she heard the explosion. She saw a battleship over a demolished farmhouse. It seemed to her they had guessed she was hiding in a farmhouse or barn and were destroying every building within the area. She knew she was going to have to just fly to the jet, she couldn't delay anymore.

Diana flew out through the back door and headed for the barn with the jet. She looked back and saw the battleship was heading her way. It was firing lasers at her, but she was so far away and traveling so fast they were nowhere near her. She pulled out the controller for the jet as she entered the barn. She opened the loading ramp and flew in, closing the door behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief as she was now safe in an undetectable vehicle.

She made it to the cockpit and sat down, feeling more relief. She leaned over the controls and took a moment to rest. The cut on her back felt even worse now that she had less adrenaline running through her body.

She leaned back and activated the scanners. The battleship was almost right on top of her. Her moment of rest had almost cost her and she had to turn on the engines quick. She flew out of the barn just as the battleship stopped over it. The ship fired its guns and destroyed the barn. Diana circled around to see what the battleship did. It headed back in the direction of the base. Diana guessed that they believed they had killed her. She set course for Wayne Manor and collapsed over the console as she let the auto-pilot do all the work.

Maril and Rex stood on the bridge of their flagship. They looked around at the console displays that were keeping track of the positions of the ships around them. The admiral of their fleet was running around checking on things. While the infantry was an even mix of Tamaraneans and Thanagarians, the Space Force was almost entirely Tamaraneans. Rex and Maril hoped it would not cause any friction among their troops.

The admiral came up to them and addressed them, "We are in formation, Your Highnesses. We are just awaiting your command to enter hyperspace and head for Earth."

Rex and Maril looked at each other. Rex nodded at Maril and she turned back to the admiral. "Give the command to the rest of the fleet. Take us to Earth."