Chapter Ten
Fighting To Protect
[Outer Space]
The whistling of the atmosphere faded and the ten figures closed formation, the six glowing figures leading the way, Sinestro in the lead.
"Radio check." Superman said from under his face-mask. "Report."
"Sinestro, I hear you, Superman." "Hal, signal loud and clear." "Stewart, Semper Fi." "Kyle here, loud and clear. Heh, I'm a poet." "Captain Marvel here, wow! We're in space! This is cool!" "Killiwog, ready to hammer them." "Supergirl, ready for anything." "Guy here, care for a date after this is over, Supergirl?"
**I don't think she's your type** J'onn broadcast. **I am detecting the Joining Hive-ship. Sinestro, I am linking to give you it's location.**
"Got it." Sinestro said, giving the Martian a nod. "Alright lanterns, tighten up, let's do our jobs. For the Corps!"
"For the Corps!" half the team responded as they swept onwards.
x
[Paris]
The flare of light would have caused a crowd to form and stare, had they not been fleeing in panic. The three figures that stepped from the flare looked round, quickly assessing the situation, then they rose on a green disc as the oldest one spoke.
"Alan, can you support us and feed us magic at the same time?"
"Not a problem, Zatara." Alan grinned. "I can shield us as well, simply a matter of concentration."
"Excellent." Zatara said as the disc turned into a pale green globe. "Zatanna, you take down the Joining drones while I concentrate on their main ship."
"Understood." Zatanna replied as she turned her attention to the swarm of drones slowly heading towards them. "Wow, I've never felt this much magic before, let's see what I can do with it! Stlob gninthgil!"
Her wand glowed briefly, then a horizontal geyser of lightning blasted out, turning several dozen drones into free-floating atoms. Behind her, her father held out his arms and a long staff, tipped with a silver-glowing crystal, materialised. Pointing it at the main ship, his voice started to sound.
"Trapa llaf slaes lla, tcennocsid sgninetsaf, tsur nori dna liaf rewop..."
The ship seemed to shudder as it slowly sank to the ground, its outer hull starting to shed the protective plates that had protected it from the conventional weapons of the French military.
x
[Gotham]
The drone fell, its ice-encrusted form smashing into pieces and the man who had destroyed it turned his red gaze towards another.
"We cannot let them win." He said emotionlessly. "We must protect Gotham."
"What a hoot!" the white-skinned green-haired man laughed, throwing an arc of razer-sharp metal cards at another drone. The cards sliced deep into the metal and the drone started to retreat. "I'm all for chaos and confusion, but I need an audience! These guys have no sense of humour! I mean, me protecting Gotham! Isn't that just sooooo funny?"
A large drone turned its weapons to target them, then it seemed to stagger as a wooden lance smashed straight through it. A second later, the lance twitched and spikes thrust outwards through its hull.
"Oooh!" the Joker said appreciatively. "I guess it should have stayed off the grass!"
"Less talk, more smashing!" the over-sized masked human said as it threw one of the invading drones into another, causing them both to explode.
"I agree with Bane." a cultured voice said and the speaker pointed its umprella at another drone. A laser lanced out and the drone tried to evade as its hull plating started to melt. "We cannot take advantage of the underworld if there is no world for it to feed off."
"Cobblepot is correct." the emotionless man said. "I need the underworld if I am to ever heal my beloved Nora. These things are not usable for that."
"Just a thought," said a leather-clad woman using a whip, "But these things are firing way too many missiles for their size."
"That has entered my calculations." came the cold reply. "I have no explanation at this time."
A police car screeched up and a familiar figure got out, staring at the scene. A second joined him.
"Commissioner, do we arrest them?"
"No." Gordon said, reaching for the radio. "All units, this is Gordon. The supervillains have broken out of Arkham and are engaging the invaders. Back them up."
"Ooooh!" hooted the Joker. "Jimmy! I didn't know you cared! And all this time, I thought you had the hots for Batty! Where is he, by the way?"
"He's at the Hall of Justice in Metropolis, co-ordinating things." Gordon said, firing his gun at a drone that was trying to approach. "I hear he's got every hero in America mobilised."
x
[Dakota]
Lightning lanced through several of the drones, causing them to explode as the black-skinned young hero flew between them.
"Gear, two more down. How are you doing?"
"The encryption these things are using is ferocious, I can't crack it!" responded his friend. "I'm jamming their communications as much as I can, but it isn't easy."
Before the hero could respond, an explosion sounded behind him. Spinning round, he saw an elongated form reaching out to grab another drone.
"I've got you back, Static!"
"Thanks, Rubber-band!" Static grinned. "Let's show these things they made a mistake picking on us Bang-babies!"
"You tell'em!" a female voice called as a leaping figure landed on a drone and ripped it to pieces. "You provide the shock, I'll provide the awe!"
"Dammit, She-Bang." Satic groused. "I thought you were protecting the east?"
"Dule's on it." She-Bang responded, hurling a shard of metal though another drone. "So's Nail. Come on, it's time to have fun!"
"Static..." Gear said, "I've just been contacted by Batman..."
x
[Central City]
The red blur whisked away the fleeing pedestrians as in the skies, Wonder Woman and Steel fought alongside each other with the ease of long practice.
"This is not going well." Diana said as she hurled a drone across to Steel, who smashed it with a well-aimed blow of his hammer.
"We're holding the line." Steel said, pausing to fire a bolt of energy at a drone trying to attack Diana from behind. "We have to trust the others. You and I both know that you can't fly as fast as those in the main team."
"I know, but I should be up there." Diana complained as she grabbed two more drones and smashed them together.
"You are needed here." Steel said, glancing down at where the ground-attack drones were falling apart. "Wow, the kid's good. If he could fly, he wouldn't need us."
x
[New York]
The Batwing slashed though the cloud of Drones, guns firing.
"Heavy concentration at zero-three-two." Batwoman said and Nightwing nodded as he hurled the Batwing through a screaming turn.
"Missile four away! We're running low on ammo!"
"Batman has a re-supply point nearby." Batwoman said. "Sending the location to your HUD now. What the..?"
Several drones exploded and Nightwing and Batwoman looked across to see a blue-clad girl flying alongside them, holding a glowing golden staff. On the other side, a figure in a white armoured suit nodded to them.
"Who are they?"
"I don't know, but I'm scanning to see if they have radios." Batwoman said. "They can hold the line while we re-load."
x
[Metropolis]
Batman frowned as his fingers danced over the keyboards and the screens changed in response to his commands. A comment from one of the screens made his pause, and he reached for the radio.
"Hawkgirl."
"Kinda... busy here!"
"Those things are firing too much ammo. I need one disabled so I can find out how they are doing it."
"You don't ask much, do you?" she replied, weary humour evident in her voice. "How we doing?"
"Holding the line, so far. Us and everyone else." Batman said. "Prime team has commenced assault."
x
[Outer Space]
Sinestro scowled with concentration as he projected a drill-head from his ring. The four human lanterns fused their powers to create a motor which spun the drill-head while Killiwog applied power to push the construct hard againt the hull. The six figures ignored the battle raging round them as they worked to penetrate the hull of the starship.
"I don't need the Wisdom of Solomon to know that we're in trouble!"
"Keep fighting!" Superman said, backhanding a drone so that it smashed into a second, the impact reducing both to sparking wreckage. "The Lanterns are almost through, we need to buy them more time!"
"Easier said than done." Supergirl said as she punched clear through another drone. As it floated away, she glanced at her gauntlets. "I love these things! I'd have bruised knuckles by now if not for these!"
"We're through!" Sinestro exulted. "Lanterns, move!"
The six of them flowed in, then a curse sounded and they retreated, yellow light illuminating them.
"Dammit, we can't fight in there, the Hive has reconfigured!"
Supergirl, Marvel, J'onn, with me!" Superman ordered as he flew into the hole. "Lanterns, keep our backs clear."
"Those poozas won't know what hit them." Killiwog rumbled.
"Yellow light." Supergirl noted as they entered the ship. "Huh, we have strange rocks, they have yellow light. What's the plan?"
"Smash our way to the Hive Queen and persuade her to retreat." Superman said. "If she refuses... we kill her."
**That should cause most of the drones to shut down.** J'onn noted. **A good plan.**
"Heh. You try keeping up with Batman. You soon learn how to plan."
"What are his powers? Why isn't he here with us?" Marvel asked and Supergirl laughed as she punched through a security drone trying to grab her.
"He has no powers, but that makes him more dangerous than us."
At Marvel's confused glance, she elaborated. "He uses his brains, and he has trained his body to the peak of himan ability. He doesn't rely on a power like most heroes, for many of us, our powers become a liability. We rely on them so much, we have problems if they're somehow negated. Most meta's cannot actually fight. Get past their powers, and it's game over for them. Batman knows this."
"She's right." Superman said, using his laser vision to burn through a door that had slammed shut ahead of them. "I may have perfect memory, but Batman's the one who taught me."
**He is formidable.** J'onn agreed. **I could not read his mind. We are there.**
Superman slowed and the other three arrayed themselves around him as they looked at the giant organic thing in front of them.
**The Hive-Queen. I am trying to communicate with it, but...**
J'onn's statement suddenly became superflous as hatches around the central chamber opened and security drones started to flood in.
"Not good."
x
"This is Daily Planet Live with breaking news! The invasion is over! The Hive-ship, from which the invasion was directed has been destroyed, with all ten of the heroes who went up returning in triumph. Although the world is now counting the cost of repairing and rebuilding, the mood tonight is optimistic. We faced the end of the world, and we survived.
"Diana of Themyscera gave a short comment. She said that the heroes would aid in helping those left homeless or injured by the invasion, and that a fuller statement would come in a fortnight, by which time the current emergency should be satabilised..."
x
"Interesting." Batman mused, examining the remains of the drone spread across the workbench. "Steel, we'll need to run a few tests, but if I'm right..."