[The Watchtower
March 26, 19:30 EST]
Nothing happened for the first three hours. The Green Lantern sentries scouted the area around the Watchtower with nothing to report, and the League inside waited on full alert. The communicator chatter remained at a minimum except for status checks from each team's leader and correspondence with the League's three Lanterns – Hal, John, and Guy.
Everyone was quiet for the most part; the Team even refrained from telepathic conversation. Wally was starting to think that he really had read the signs incorrectly. He started composing an apology to the League in his head.
That's when the warnings started going off.
Wally saw the furthest out specks of green light start flashing soundlessly. He stopped rocking back on the heels of his feet and straightened like he'd been electrocuted. His heart stuttered to a halt, and his limbs went numb as his body made the transition to high alert. Beside him, he heard the shuffling noises of his teammates moving closer to the huge windows. The scout Lanterns kept pulsing with light like fireflies relaying the worst possible message.
"They're here," Black Canary said grimly right as tiny white and blue pinpricks of light joined the glowing green specks. It looked like the discharge of Manhunter weapons.
At the same time, the communicator in Wally's ear started filling with people shouting commands and Green Lanterns calling for backup. All of the visible Lanterns closest to the satellite took off to meet the threat head on. Something bumped against his shoulder, and Wally looked over to see Dick pressed very closely to his side. He tried to meet his eyes, but Dick's gaze was fixed firmly on the sudden rush of green comets rocketing away from the Watchtower.
At this distance, it was hard to make out who was who. Wally tried to see if he could spot Hal or John, but the Lanterns were too far away for his eyes to follow. A massive patchwork field of glowing energy constructs blazed into existence as dozens of Lanterns fought back as one. Luminous swords, axes, spears, and countless alien weapons and missiles Wally had never seen before arced and slashed at the incoming host of Manhunter androids.
He watched breathlessly as Manhunter after Manhunter was cut down, detonating in small plumes of fire and circuitry. It just kept going on without any breaks in the destruction. He couldn't see anything of the Manhunters except their energy blasts and explosions, but it looked like a slaughter. And the Manhunters were losing. Badly.
There was no way it was going to be this easy. Wally knew that he'd destroyed 200,000 of them, but there were bound to be way more of them out there.
One of the Lanterns went dark.
Wally saw the green light flicker out and turn into a thin glowing streak that shot off to the side away from the battle. His body went cold. That looked like a ring flying off. Hal had told him once that when a Green Lantern dies, their ring returns to Oa and then goes on to find a new recruit. That meant that a Green Lantern had just been killed.
The distant battle raged on, getting more intense by the second. The Manhunters became larger as they got closer to the Watchtower, and Wally could make out details on their armor now. He couldn't tell how much time had passed; minutes felt like hours. Before they knew it, the fight was right outside the windows. Two Lanterns bifurcated a Manhunter that got too close to the satellite. Both halves rotated aimlessly in space, one of the arms still firing off energy blasts.
A host of ten broke through the Lanterns and charged the windows. It looked like they were about to smash right through the glass when Wally heard the Watchtower power up all around him. Artemis drew her bow and nocked an arrow, Kaldur suddenly had his water-bearers in hand, and Donna pulled the lasso from her belt. Wally started vibrating at a low frequency, still puzzling over the mechanical whirring coming from the walls and floor. Dick palmed two birdarangs uneasily, and Wally could see his whole body tense in preparation.
The Manhunters flew closer, one bringing its baton around to aim at the window. The tip glowed blue-white, and Wally went rigid along with his teammates.
A lightning fast beam of light shot right through the closest Manhunter's chest, frying its core and deactivating it on the spot. Instants later, a flurry of lasers followed the first, cutting into the squad of Manhunters in controlled bursts of pinpoint accuracy. The now motionless androids bounced harmlessly against the glass with detached arms and legs drifting away.
Wally slowly straightened up and looked over to the right where Black Canary and her group were standing. She was staring hard at the broken Manhunters, but her stance was relaxed like she'd known they wouldn't get through. When she noticed the rest of the Team watching her in confusion, she nodded to the space station all around them and gestured to a point on the outside above the view of the windows, "It's the defense system. Mister Terrific's operating it; he'll be able to buy us a few minutes. Watch."
Wally was unsure, but he listened to her anyway and turned his attention back to the fight. Seconds later, another group of Manhunters burst past the Lanterns. This time, an orbital cannon floated into view and launched missiles at the intruders in conjunction with the lasers. They both cut down the squad with ease, but Wally could see more Manhunters swarming beyond the line of Green Lanterns. The numbers were growing so large that they were about to get overwhelmed. He saw the various Lantern constructs start to change more from weapons to defensive shields as they lost ground and were pushed back.
The Watchtower's weapons were busy keeping the Manhunters back, shooting down one after another when they got too close. Every now and then, Wally caught a glimpse of a red cape and knew that Superman was out there wreaking havoc. He saw Captain Atom smashing apart androids right and left.
But they were still coming. The Green Lanterns were scattered now, easily outnumbered twenty to one, but still fighting. And every time, the Manhunters would manage to get just a bit closer before the defenses could shoot them down. Wally tensed up once more, eyes fixed on the windows and the violent light show just outside. Any minute now, one would get through. There were too many. Mister Terrific would eventually miss one, and they'd get in.
"Recogn-"
The Watchtower's announcement fizzled out with a loud, screeching wail of static, and Wally could hear the zeta tubes beside them hum to life. Startled, he looked over to the left and saw clusters of half-teleported figures in each of the three zeta terminals. The blinding beams of light faded, and he could suddenly see fifteen Manhunters standing not twenty feet away from them. Wally stared at them in disbelief. How the hell had they hijacked the zeta transport?! Wally hadn't given up any of the codes when he was tortured. Had they hacked the system somehow?
"Get down!" Black Canary thundered suddenly from behind them.
The Manhunters raised their batons and fired a barrage of energy blasts right at them. Wally grabbed Dick and Zatanna and hit the deck as the blasts soared over their heads, missing them by inches. The others' reactions were much slower. Artemis lifted her bow in front of her and blocked one of the blasts but caught another in the shoulder. Donna jumped in front of her and deflected a few of the blasts with her bracelets while Conner shielded Kaldur, taking two hits for him. Another second later, M'gann was throwing both arms out in front of her and redirecting the blasts away from them with her telekinesis.
Wally heard Black Canary's boots thundering against the metal floor as she sprinted towards them. She stopped just beside Kaldur and Conner, sucking in a deep breath of air and releasing a deafening, concussive scream at one of the zeta tubes. The Manhunters inside were all thrown back together in a heap of twisted limbs.
"Recognize-"
The zeta tubes fired up again, and Wally saw more towering shapes emerging.
"Destroy the zeta tubes!" Black Canary yelled hoarsely. She ran forward and directed another cry at the downed Manhunters. Steel buckled under the force, and the tube started to collapse in on itself.
From the floor, Artemis aimed her bow sideways and fired an arrow into the second zeta tube. It dug deep into a Manhunter's chest and exploded on impact, tearing the Manhunter apart from the inside and cutting into the inner cylinder of the tube. Artemis fired another arrow into the gash of exposed circuits and wires, blowing the side of the tube out and sending great pieces of shrapnel into the tight cluster of Manhunters.
Dick rose from his crouch suddenly, dodging energy blasts and hurling two birdarangs into the control panel of the third tube. They sparked off of each other and electrocuted the whole tube, powering it down before the second wave of Manhunters could materialize. Half-teleported limbs and torsos hit the ground, still twitching and moving around despite missing the rest of their bodies.
"Wols meht nwod!" Zatanna cried, and four of the nine surviving Manhunters started moving as if in slow motion. Kaldur's tattoos flared bright blue, and he started up the flow in his water-bearers. He stepped out from behind Conner and sliced two thin jets of hyper-accelerated water diagonally across one of the Manhunter's cores in an 'X'. The android went rigid for a moment and fell apart into four cleanly severed pieces, the glow in its eye sockets going dark. Kaldur seemed momentarily surprised by the effectiveness of his new weapons, but he recovered quickly and turned on another Manhunter that was sluggishly raising its baton at them.
Conner launched himself at another Manhunter and tackled it to the ground. He pinned it down with his knees and shoved his hand right into its chest with a loud screech of tearing metal. Donna lassoed another that went for his back and lifted it into the air, swinging it high into the wall with a cry of effort. The roped Manhunter hit the Watchtower's steel panels and flattened against it. Donna twisted in mid-air and swung the Manhunter over her head and into the floor, brutally finishing the job.
Wally sped right at one of the Manhunters that had escaped Zatanna's spell and grabbed its arm, using his momentum to throw it away from the others and into the third zeta tube that Dick had disabled. Inside, some of the crippled Manhunters still had their cores intact and were able to shoot their batons and pistols. Wally ducked under an energy blast and vibrated his arm to the correct frequency, thrusting it into the wall of the zeta tube and dragging it all the way to the back and through the other side. He darted out of the tube and beyond the blast radius just in time. It went critical mass a second later and ripped apart, crushing the Manhunters inside.
He saw Vixen touch a stone fox face totem around her neck, and an invisible energy wrapped around her entire body. She agilely dodged her way through the volley of energy blasts that a Manhunter fired at her and leapt into the air, delivering a powerful kick to its head. The Manhunter fell onto its back, and Vixen was on it in a second. Her clawed hands slashed at its chest, tearing deep gashes into the metal with each swipe until she had the core in her claws.
Atom Smasher grew larger and taller until his head was almost brushing the cavernous ceiling of the observation deck. He snatched up a Manhunter in two massive hands and ripped it in half with ease, shrugging off the energy blasts hitting his knees like they were nothing.
M'gann caught one with her mind, smashing it into a second Manhunter that Fire was melting. There were only two left now. Dick front flipped over one as it swung its baton at his head. He landed on its arm and pulled a birdarang from his belt, lodging it into the Manhunter's back and jumping off in a roll. The razor sharp projectile detonated in both directions, blowing out the Manhunter's chest and taking off its head.
Kaldur finished off his second kill with an assist from Black Canary, who kicked the Manhunter's legs out from beneath itself and set up the opening for Kaldur to carve the core out with his water-bearers. She got to her feet, breathing heavily from using her powers so extensively and tossed her hair out of her eyes.
"Destroy all the zeta tubes!" Black Canary ordered into her communicator, breathlessly warning the rest of the League and trying to give them a heads up – that is if they weren't already under attack from the four other zeta tube locations in the Watchtower. "The Manhunters can get in through them!"
Wally heard Green Arrow, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Black Lightning respond on the communicator and the sounds of massive force destroying metal before the transmissions cut off.
"They're trying to trap us in here," Fire said in a thick, Brazilian accent. The light green flames engulfing her body died down, and her facial features returned to normal.
Donna floated back to the floor, drawing her lasso in as she landed gracefully. Kaldur used his water-bearers to direct the water he'd used back into his pack, and Zatanna seemed to be trying to internally shake off the attack. M'gann was close beside her, and Wally would've bet anything that they were speaking mentally.
"That's fine," Black Canary said grimly, moving to inspect Artemis' shoulder. It was a little burnt, but wasn't bleeding, and she seemed able to move it alright. Black Canary pulled a small bottle of emergency burn spray from her jacket and quickly treated the wound. "None of us are planning on running away."
Outside, the battle was becoming even more deadly. Wally could see Hal now, battling seven Manhunters by himself and steadily losing power in his shield as relentless waves of energy blasts washed over it. A ghostly translucent Martian Manhunter flew to his aid. He came up behind two of the Manhunters and thrust both arms through their cores, becoming solid once more and ripping out fistfuls of wires. That gave Hal a free side that he could put his back to and drop his shield.
He put all of his ring's energy into one powerful sword construct and cleaved the other five Manhunters right in half. An instant later, three more Manhunters were on him, colliding with the force of a bus and knocking him completely out of view of the windows.
Wally took a deep breath and tried to force down the panic and concern welling up inside him. He turned away from the windows and focused on Dick instead to keep his mind busy. He couldn't let himself get distracted. Hal was a veteran hero and one of the League's big guns. He could handle himself. Wally was only going to get himself hurt if he accidentally let his guard down because he was worrying about someone else.
"Do not forget to put up your shields," Black Canary finished with Artemis' shoulder and held up a gloved hand to show the sturdy metal loop around her wrist. "We can't afford to make any mistakes. This is life and death up here."
Wally looked down at his arm in surprise. Sure enough, his shield was on his glove, inactive and quiet. He felt alarm jolt him upright. He'd totally forgotten about it! Wally quickly activated the shield and heard the invisible barrier expand around him. When he glanced at his teammates, he found that they were all doing the same thing. It was more scary than embarrassing, but fortunately no one else mentioned the reckless oversight.
"And remember what Kilowog said," she kicked a deactivated Manhunter onto its back and bent down to retrieve a long energy staff from beneath it. "If you see a Manhunter weapon, take it. There's no reason to waste our own ammo when we have theirs."
As soon as she said that, both squads started sifting through the wreckage and tried to salvage whatever weapons they could find. Wally zipped over to one of the smoldering zeta tubes and scooped up an energy pistol that had skidded free of the crushed Manhunters inside.
The pistol felt odd in his hands. He wasn't really a gun type of person, but the other weapons would be too heavy for him. He needed to be light on his feet. Plus, as he'd discovered when he was escaping from the Manhunter base in Siberia, he had pretty decent aim.
Artemis went for the pistols as well, but Zatanna and Kaldur chose the same as Black Canary. Conner and Donna bypassed the weapons altogether. They would probably only get in the way; both Donna and Conner were more effective without them. M'gann unsurely levitated a staff with her mind and turned it over to inspect it. Dick went straight for two smaller batons and slid them into the holsters strapped to his thighs. They were only a little longer than the eskrima sticks he sometimes used, so he wouldn't have any trouble adjusting to them.
Atom Smasher bent down to pick up a heavy energy staff with two fingers and brought it up to his masked face. It looked like a toothpick compared to him. A hysterical bubble of laughter tore free from Wally's mouth unbidden, and everyone looked at him. He shut up quickly and looked down at his feet sheepishly, "Sorry…I don't know…"
"No," Black Canary suddenly grinned at him mischievously, resting the baton against her shoulder and placing one hand on her hip. "That's good. We want to keep our morale high. It's more important than you'd think."
"How about a wager?" Vixen languidly picked metal shavings from her claws. She crooked one finger right at Kaldur and sent him a devilish smirk. "Let's see which squad can do the most damage, shall we?"
Kaldur's answering smile actually helped Wally feel more at ease, "I would say that we have an extensive lead then."
"Consider it a handicap," Black Canary chuckled with her head held high. "Just wait for the real fighting to begin."
Atom Smasher cracked his knuckles ominously, and it sounded like boulders tumbling down a mountainside. Artemis scoffed, "Please! We've got Kid Mouth on our team, and he's already taken out more than all of you combined."
Wally's team rallied behind that, but he just sort of half smiled awkwardly when Fire and Vixen eyed him up to assess the statement. He still wasn't really used to this, and he was kind of wondering what it said about all of them that they were trying to have fun with something as dangerous as the apocalypse. Dick bumped his shoulder reassuringly and laughed at Black Canary's team, "We'll let you have a head start if you want – since you're so disadvantaged and all…"
Vixen grinned widely and looked like she was about to counter with a retort when the whole Watchtower jerked violently like something massive had rammed into it. Everyone was knocked off their feet and thrown to the ground from the sudden force. Wally hit his head on the metal tile and lay dazed for a minute while a deep, bone-vibrating alarm started going off above them.
"What is that?!" M'gann asked from the floor. Beside her, Conner was gripping both ears with his eyes screwed shut in pain.
"It's the air pressure alarm!" Black Canary yelled over the blaring noise. "It means the hull's been breached!"