Chapter Twenty

Watchtower II

Earth Orbit

21:24 – Station Time (EST)

March 14, 2007

"Risky plan," Terrific informed Superman after the Man of Steel had told him that he was going to fly to the dreadnought and try to disable their gun. "Your best option is putting a strike team on board near the gun, then disable it from the inside."

"Why can't he just destroy it from the front?" Wonder Woman questioned.

"It's recessed, the ship has shields and also they could fire it at any time. When you were hit by our BFG that time, it knocked you out cold and that was just a glancing blow. If they fired it and you couldn't get out of the way, there's a good chance it could kill even you."

"He's right," Lantern said over the comlink from where he was outside with Kara and Galatea with the flow regulator. "I suggest heavy hitters that can move quickly and destroy the gun before they can mount a defence or can use it as a threat to stop you."

"How can they use the gun as a threat to us while we're over there if we're inside?" Superman asked.

"They can still shoot at Earth while you're over there. Until it's offline there's a threat."

"Understood. I'll pick a team. Will you be okay looking after our 'guest'?"

"I have Kara with me and I don't think Galatea intends to stab us in the back."

"I hope you're right. You better get on with it."

"Understood. Lantern out."

Superman turned back to Terrific. "Any update on Batman?"

"Still can't get through the interference."

"Keep trying. I better get going to that ship. Have Captain Atom, Barda, Miracle, Atom Smasher and Orion get some suits and meet me at airlock-one."

"Right away," Terrific responded.

Wonder Woman opened her mouth to speak. Superman smiled at her, knowing what she was going to ask. "Don't worry, you're coming too," he told her.

She closed it and nodded.

Superman looked at the harness he was holding. "Let's see if this works."

Metro Tower

Metropolis

21:26 – Eastern Standard Time

March 14, 2007

Things weren't looking too good for J'onn J'onzz. His actions in letting Galatea take the regulator up to the Watchtower hadn't gone down too well.

His attempts to explain the situation had fallen on deaf ears and now for the sake of saving face and potentially the legality of the league in the US, he was allowing himself to be taken into custody.

The league civilian employees were also being taken into custody and the entire Metro Tower was going to be placed under military control.

He wasn't sure what was going to happen to him or the civilian employees next, but they were going to be taken somewhere to be held.

J'onn had tried to plead to allow the civilians to go home, but they had refused to listen. He felt bad for them. To them, this was just a day job. Now they were being arrested for it. It wasn't right. None of this was right.

They had attempted to appease the US government by building the Metro Tower and being more open about their operation. But the distrust remained.

He knew it was only natural that they were afraid of the league. It was a powerful organisation with very powerful members. Some of them alone could easily take on a whole military unit and win. Some could even take on an army, himself included.

This wasn't really the time for this, however, diplomacy had to be maintained. Once they arrived at their destination, he would hopefully be given the chance to explain the situation.

If there was one thing that would come out of this, he knew it would be more restrictions for them. There might even be demands for registration and for the true identities of the masked hero's to be made known to the authorities.

That would never happen. That was the one thing that would cause Heroes to leave in droves. The league would fail.

There was an old human saying that seemed to fit here. 'It never rains but it pours.'

Watchtower II

Earth Orbit

21:28 – Station Time

March 14, 2007

"Hold it still," Lantern told her.

"I'm trying," Galatea responded in annoyance.

"Kara, help me with this."

The three of them were outside in space suits installing the device. They had only been out here ten minutes now, but already the clone was starting to feel frustrated.

"Okay, the top seals are all in place," Lantern said. "Once the lower ones are in position, then we can begin reconnecting all the coolant lines. Then the power."

"Just get it done," Galatea complained. "If those Gordanians or whatever you call them notice what we're doing, they won't waste time trying to kill us."

"You better get used to being out here," Lantern warned. "We're going to be here for an hour at the very least."

"I should have just dropped it off and gone back home," she muttered.

Kara rolled her eyes. "Do you ever stop complaining?"

"Don't like it, you can go back inside," Galatea said. "Are you even helping?"

"Yes, she's helping," Lantern said. "All you have to do is hold it steady until both seals are in place and it's clamped in."

"Once we've done that, then can I go?" Galatea asked, though she wasn't hopeful they would say yes.

"Not until it's fully installed," Lantern told her. "So sit tight and keep your mouth shut."

"Charming," she mumbled.

"Says you," Kara scoffed.

There was silence for several minutes. She watched as the two heroes slowly did whatever it was they were doing. It was agonizing. Were they going so slow just to antagonize her, or was it really that delicate a procedure?

Finally, Galatea couldn't stand the silence any longer. "So, um," she began. "What would happen if you fired the energy gun without this gizmo?"

"The safeties would prevent firing," Lantern answered absent-mindedly, as he moved the final seal into place.

"If they were disabled?"

"Well, right now it still wouldn't fire. There are internal components that aren't installed. Hopefully, they will be by the time we're done."

She sighed in frustration. "Okay, if every single tiny component but this one was installed?"

"It regulates the flow," he said not at all answering her question, as both he and Kara moved over towards the clamps and moved them into place.

"How come the clamps go on after the seals?" she asked him.

"Because they'd be in the way." He looked to Kara. "My clamp's in place."

"So's mine."

"Next step is the coolant lines," Lantern said. "Which is the slowest part."

"Great," the clone mumbled. She was really hating this and wanted it to be over as soon as possible. "Don't you have the Flash up here? Couldn't he install this in like a second."

"Yes, but he's not competent with stuff like this," Lantern said.

"I'll be sure to tell him you said that if I see him," Galatea said.

"Would you just shut up?" Kara demanded. "We're trying to concentrate here."

The clone shrugged. "Whatever," she said but did as she was told. Talking was only delaying them and it was already taking far too long.

21:37 – Station Time (EST)

"We don't have much time," Superman told the space-suit clad team that consisted of him, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Big Barda, Mister Miracle, Atom Smasher and Orion. "One hour is in less than ten minutes and once the hour is up they said they'd fire on another city. There are a few choices from here, the primary being Tokyo. We cannot let them fire on another city. Let's go."

The team moved past a glaring Shayera. Wonder Woman briefly paused. "I know you want to come along, but we still need defence here."

"I know," Shayera said sourly. "Just take that gun offline."

"We will," Wonder Woman assured her.

Shayera folded her arms. "Remember what I told you about the holes in their shields between cycles. You can get through if you're lucky and you won't even set off any alarms."

"Until we tear a hole in the hull," Barda said.

"We need to be heading off," Superman said.

"Good luck," Shayera called after them.

They all stepped into the airlock and Superman activated the stealth device.

"As I understand it," Superman began, "we need to all be in contact with each other or this won't work. So I guess we all hold each other's hands."

Barda shot a rather unpleasant glare his way.

"Sorry," Superman said apologetically.

Captain Atom moved in front of Superman. "How good is that stealth field?"

The Man of Steel was confused by the question. "What do you mean?"

"We don't know if they'll be able to detect me. I am a living nuclear reaction after all. I give off a lot of energy even with my containment suit."

"He has a point," Orion said. "He could be like a flare on their sensors."

Superman opened the inner airlock again. "Shayera," he called out.

She nodded. "Yes?"

"I need you in your space-suit."

She smiled. "I'll get it right away," she said as she began to head down the corridor.

"I need you down helping Lantern with the installation."

Shayera stopped dead and turned around, her smile replaced by a frown. She had hoped they had decided to let her go with them. To say she was disappointed was an understatement. "Right. So you don't want me coming with you?"

"No, I need Kara. She'll be replacing Captain Atom."

"Sure," she said. "I'll go fetch her."

"No time for that. She'll already be with us by the time you get down there."

"Fine," Shayera said resting her hands on her hips. "Anything else?" she asked bitterly.

"No, that's it."

21:40 – Station Time (EST)

"I can't just leave her alone," Kara uttered to Superman over her communicator.

"I can handle her," Lantern told her.

She looked over at him, then to the clone. "You better behave yourself," she warned her duplicate.

Galatea rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I will. And say hi to Steel for me if you see him."

Kara ignored her as she flew off. Meanwhile, Lantern continued working on the coolant lines.

"So, how come it takes so long to plug all this crap in?" Galatea asked after a few minutes of silence.

"They're large and there's a lot of them," came the response.

She turned as a winged figure approached them in her spacesuit. Galatea then looked back to Lantern. "Your girlfriend's here."

"Shayera isn't my girlfriend," he said without pause.

The former Hawkgirl stopped by Galatea and addressed Lantern, "What do you need me to do?"

"Help me install the coolant lines."

"On it," she said, promptly moving off to do just that.

"Do I still need to hold it?" Galatea asked.

"No, the clamps are in place," Lantern told her.

"So, what do you want me to do?" she asked, bored out of her mind.

"I want you to just stay there and wait."

"I could help you," She offered.

"No, it needs to be done properly."

"I'm not an idiot. You have three lines left to connect, which at your current speed will take another ten or fifteen minutes. I can shave some time off that."

"Two is enough. Any more and we'll get in each other's way and it will end up taking longer."

"Have it your way," he grumped.

Galatea turned and looked down at the Earth. It was a nice view, seeing the clouds roll over the large ocean. It was enough to almost make her forget that she was up here to help fix a giant death gun.

She glanced over at the large Gordanian dreadnought which still looked quite large even though it was nearly sixty miles away. She wondered if Superman and his team could disable their gun in time. If not, she would get to see if fire first hand.

She looked back to the two 'heroes' as they worked. They were paying her no attention, putting all their focus into what they were doing.

Slowly she began to move away, hoping she didn't draw their attention. She had done what she came to do. She had delivered the device and she knew they were not planning on letting her go. Not when they had her in their grasp.

Lantern looked up at her and she heard his voice over her suit's internal speaker. "Going somewhere?"

She didn't wait to see what his next move was. She shot towards Earth as fast as she could.

21:44 - Station Time (EST)

Shayera watched as the clone shot off like a missile. In near a blink of an eye, she was gone, shooting off towards Earth.

Lantern made a move, but Shayera waved him down. "Let her go. We're busy with this."

"She's dangerous."

"And she can wait," She urged. "This can't."

He got back to work. Shayera looked up and watched him for a few moments, before looking back down as she put the final seal of the coolant line into place. She then went over them before heading to the final line.

"I'll start on the first power line," he told her.

Shayera glanced up at him, then back down at what she was doing. "So, how's Mari?" she asked in an attempt to start small-talk.

"I'm not going to talk about my personal life," he said, flat out shutting down that line of conversation. "Especially not with you."

She stared down as she turned the small seals, slowly locking the line into position. She then glanced back up at him and bit her bottom lip, then tried to focus back onto what she was doing.

After a minute or two, she looked back up at him. "Remember when we first met?" she came out and asked him.

"Yes I do," he responded absent-mindedly. "Hard to forget the Imperium."

"If it wasn't for them, we'd still be separate heroes doing our own thing."

He glanced up at her. "Would we? Or would your people have destroyed Earth?"

She shuddered at the thought. "I guess it was good we did come together. There's a lot of times things would have gone badly for Earth if we hadn't. I don't think they appreciate how much we've done for them."

"No," he responded as he focused on what he was doing.

"I'm sorry John," she said earnestly.

He looked back up at her "Why?"

"I'm sorry for everything that happened. I fell in line because I was a soldier. I fell in line because they were my people. But they lied to me. They knew that I would be tainted by this world and they lied about what they were building. I shouldn't have sided with them against you. I'm sorry and I know I'll never be able to live it down."

"You think you're tainted?"

"Maybe the wrong word. But I couldn't let them just destroy it."

"I know and I forgive you."

She smiled. "Thanks."

He rubbed his hands together. "I don't mean to be rude, but we really need to be getting on with this."

Shayera nodded. "You're right," she agreed as she put her focus back into her work.

He was right, they needed this gun online an hour ago and even once they had finished with the power lines they would have to run a diagnostic then re-align everything which would add another half-hour at the least, an hour at the most.

Only once all that was done was the weapon ready. Then came the second problem. Once they had fired, the station would be without power for a few minutes. That meant that it would be open for an attack.

Shayera glanced up at the dreadnought. "I hope you get that gun offline," she whispered as she remembered Superman's current mission. "Good luck."

21:48 – Station Time (EST)

Superman drew back his fist and put it right through the airlock door. He then proceeded to tear it open.

"We're in," he told the others.

"Good," Barda said smiling. "I've been waiting for this."

Kara looked at her in amazement. "You were literally just fighting them over on the Watchtower. You want another go already?"

"Yes, I do."

"Let's just get in and destroy the gun," Superman urged as he flew inside the airlock. "No getting into fights unless we have to."

The others joined him inside. He turned to them. "Prepare yourselves. Once I punch through the inner door, there'll be some decompression as air escapes.

"We're ready," Orion said. "Stop wasting time. They'll already know we're here."

Superman put his fist through the inner door and tore it off. Air immediately began to rush past them as they pushed their way inside.

"We head forward as quickly as possible," Superman said. "Don't let them get in your way."

Everyone acknowledged as they moved forward. They all briefly paused as an emergency bulkhead sealed behind them, stopping the escape of air.

They continued on, heading down a series of meandering corridors.

"Do we know where we're going?" Barda asked growing frustrated.

Superman shrugged. "We keep heading forward. We'll get to their gun eventually."

Barda was about to retort when a voice echoed through the corridor. "Halt or I will fire on the planet."

Instantly they did as the voice commanded.

"How should we proceed?" Wonder Woman questioned quietly.

"If you do anything, I will fire on your planet. Millions will die."

That single threat meant that they were essentially stuck where they were. They couldn't continue or go back.

"They're using the gun as a threat," he told the others after a moment.

Kara nodded. "That means they won't fire it, though, doesn't it? Because when they do, we'll move to destroy it."

Barda rolled her shoulders in anticipation. "I'm sure enemy soldiers will be on their way to either kill us or take us all prisoner," she told them.

"Their captain will not allow us to fight his men," Orion warned. "He will tell us to give up and surrender, or he will threaten to use the main gun on Earth."

Superman didn't like that notion one bit. They couldn't allow themselves to be captured or else the Gordanians would be free to use their weapon. If they stayed ad fought, then they would use the weapon as a threat to make them give up and be caught. They were stuck, trapped in a no-win situation.

"We'll have to delay them," Kara said. "As long as the Watchtower's BFG is online before the Gordanians have the opportunity to fire on Earth again, we can disable it."

"The Watchtower won't fire with us onboard," Superman said.

"Green Lantern, Shayera and Flash are in charge over there right now," Orion said. "While Flash will object, if either Shayera or Green Lantern think that the Gordanians are going to fire and they have the Binary Fusion Cannon ready, they will use it against the Gordanians. They are soldiers, they will do their duty."

Superman wasn't so sure, but that wasn't important at that moment. "Okay, for the time being, we wait here," Superman ordered. "If they want to bring the fight to us then let them. But we can't be captured or let ourselves be detained."

"Even if they threaten to destroy another city if we don't give up?" Miracle asked.

"If we're put in a cell that can secure us, then there's nothing stopping them," Wonder WOman pointed out.

"Do they have a cell that can even detain us?" Orion asked. "I doubt they've encountered Kryptonians or New Gods before."

"Or Amazons," Wonder Woman added.

They looked at Atom Smasher who had been silent up until now. "Or people who can change size and mass," he added.

"So what are we doing?" Barda questioned.

"Wait and see," Superman repeated. "They'll make the next move"

"What if their next move is firing on the planet?" Kara asked.

"Then we attack," Barda said.

Superman ran his hand through his hair. "It's our duty to stop them from firing. But if we move they will fire."

"You think if we stay here they won't?" Barda asked sceptically.

Superman was starting to feel nervous. He wasn't sure what he should do.

Luckily Wonder Woman did. "We hold position," she said before turning to Miracle. "You're an escape artist, correct?"

"I can get out of anything," he replied. "Nothing can hold me."

"Does that work both ways?"

"It can," Miracle said with a smile. "And I can do it without being detected."

"Then you'll be the one that gets to the gun and shuts it down," she said.

"I can get to it. As to shutting it down, I have no idea if I can do that."

"Just pull the cables out," Barda suggested.

"Yeah, I could end up getting fried if I did that," Miracle said.

Barda passed him her sceptre. "Then use this. We will wait here."

"I'll call you if I need help," he said. He then pointed to the ceiling. "Someone put a hole in that. There's an access-way I can use."

Superman looked up with his x-ray vision. Sure enough, there was an access-way above them. "How did you know that?"

"Because I know," he answered without answering.

Superman flew up to the ceiling and put his fist through it before tearing a chunk off. Miracle wasted no time disappearing inside.

"Let's hope they didn't notice that," Kara mused, gesturing to the hole in the ceiling.

"We'll find out soon," Superman responded, knowing that they probably knew something had happened.

So far no Gordainian troops had turned up to fight them. None of the heroes were stupid, though. They knew that the chances were that the enemy was surrounding them at that very moment and was preparing to strike.

They just had to wait for the attack to come and hope Miracle had disabled their gun by then.

21:53 – Station Time (EST)

Zatanna was fiddling with her hat while Nightwing stared cautiously at the two Tamaraneans who were talking in the corner in their own language.

"They should have taken me with them," Zatanna commented.

Nightwing looked at her confused. "Who should've?"

"Superman and the others. I don't think they appreciate how powerful magic can be. I could have blocked the gun from firing with a spell. Or at least tried."

"Couldn't you do that from here?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "We're too far away. I need to be closer and that's not going to happen. Not now anyway."

He nodded. "While you're dwelling on that, I'm here wondering why the hell I'm even up here."

That took her by surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Fighting space aliens isn't my thing," Nightwing said. "Anyway, where did Metamorpho go?"

Zatanna put her hat back on her head. "I think he went to help Terrific."

"And why are we waiting down here?" he asked her.

"Because the Gordanians might still send another boarding party," she pointed out.

"We'll be ready for them if they do," Nightwing said, watching Koriand'r as she hovered next to her brother.

"She's pretty," Zatanna commented, noticing where his attention lay. "Don't you agree?"

He looked at her. "Huh?"

"She's attractive, don't you think."

"She's interesting," Nightwing conceded. "But that's all."

"Just a curiosity, huh?"

He looked at the magician. "What are you implying?"

She smirked at him. "Absolutely nothing."

"Don't believe you," he said. He then sighed. "Maybe you're right. There is something about her. I just don't think it's what you think it is."

"And what do I think it is?"

"Puppy love or some crap like that."

"Awww, someone's getting defensive," she teased. He glared at her, which only made her chuckle. "Kid, I've been glared at by Batman. Once you've been on the receiving end of that, no one else's compares."

Nightwing looked away. Being seen as beneath Batman was the story of his life. Now here he was again, part of the league beneath Batman. Some would say it was irony, but they were misunderstanding what irony was. It was more like some twisted sort of fate. That he was destined to never escape his mentor's shadow.

"Hey, I didn't upset you did I?" Zatanna asked with genuine concern in her voice.

He looked at her. "I'm not easily upset." He looked back to Koriand'r, or Starfire as she had said her name translated to.

Zatanna was right, she was attractive. But he couldn't pursue any sort of relationship, especially with someone who would probably be gone in the next week.

No. Just like Bruce, he was destined to walk the Earth alone and he knew it. In a sad sort of way, he even enjoyed it. To be self-sufficient and have no one else depending on you and to not need anyone else to depend on. He revelled in the solitude, even though he knew it was messing up his head. Humans were social creatures and while alone time was healthy, it shouldn't be all the time.

Unfortunately, for good and for ill, this was his life and he would live it out. Just like the Dark Knight, this was what was destined for him.

Or was it?

21:56 – Station Time (EST)

Metamorpho stood next to Terrific inside the nest. Metamorpho was checking over the internal security feeds. They wanted to find out who had taken the Javelin earlier and had gotten themselves killed. They already suspected who it was, they just needed to confirm it.

"Too bad the cameras in hangar bay two were disabled," Metamorpho said.

"So, you haven't found out who took it yet?" Terrific asked.

"Not yet."

There was a slight gust of wind as Flash entered the room with them. "I've accounted for everyone but that Thanagarian guy. He's gone."

Metamorpho pointed at the screen to a pre-recorded image. "I have him. Looks like he did go to the hangar deck."

"And got himself killed," Terrific said.

"How did he get to a Javelin, though?" Flash asked. "The whole hangar was a vacuum."

"Not sure, but he managed it," Metamorpho said.

"So what do we do with the Tamaraneans now?" Flash asked. "Wasn't he supposed to take them home?"

"No. One of us was to take them all home. Besides, we can figure that out later," Terrific said. "Looks like we have other problems. The other four smaller Gordanian ships are descending into the upper atmosphere."

"Why?" Flash asked, moving over to them. "What's made them do that?"

"I don't know," Terrific said. "But we'll find out in a moment, because we're getting a call." He pressed some buttons and the audio came over the speakers.

"You think sending your men here will stop us from destroying your cities? When they are in position, my ships will open fire on you precious world. I do not need the main gun to destroy."

"That's the end of the call," Terrific said.

Flash rubbed the back of his head. "Did Superman take their gun offline?"

"No, it still appears to be operational," Terrific replied.

"I don't understand, then," Flash said. "Why can't he fire?"

Metamorpho looked at the screen that displayed the dreadnought. "Because if they do there's nothing stopping our strike team from destroying it. I doubt Superman and the others know that the four smaller ships are entering the atmosphere."

"You mean he's holding Earth at ransom?" Flash asked. "But isn't he already doing that?"

"Yes," the shapeshifter acknowledged.

"Makes sense," Terrific agreed. "The Gordanian commander probably told them to stop what they were doing or he'd shoot at Earth again."

"My thoughts exactly," Metamorpho said.

"Can we talk to them?" Flash asked. "The strike team I mean?"

"Unfortunately no," Terrific said. "There's no response from Superman or the others. We're probably being blocked like they are with the surface."

"We should prepare Javelins," Metamorpho suggested. "We need heroes down on the surface."

"Won't they be shot down?" Flash asked.

"Not when most of the enemy ships are no longer in orbit with us," Terrific responded. "I'm going to have the watchtower's position changed so the hangar bay is facing away from the dreadnought. We launch the Javelins then try and take those ships down. It will be annoying, though, because we'll have to get them aboard via airlock. The hangar's still decompressed."

"Are we sending everyone down?" Flash asked

"Almost everyone," Terrific said. "We really need Lantern and Shayera down there, but they're busy with the gun."

Flash thought for a moment. "Who else knows how to repair it?"

"Me and Steel do," Terrific said. "But he can fly, so he's perfect for taking on one of those Gord ships."

"You and me should see to the BFG," Flash suggested. "You tell me what to do and I'll do it in a-" the speedster grinned. "-Flash."

"Green Lantern specifically instructed me to never ever let you touch that, or the reactor, or anything else that has the potential to explode."

"That's because the thinks I'm stupid," Flash said distastefully.

"Childish, cocky and arrogant. Not stupid," Metamorpho corrected. "Regardless Flash is right. Terrific, you and Flash should fix the gun. It would have been already operational if you two had been working on it."

"And who man's the nest?" Terrific asked. "Providing we convince Lantern and Shayera to let Flash anywhere near the BFG."

Metamorpho smiled. "Nightwing of course. He's the only one left on the station that I think could handle it."

"If you think he can," Terrific said. "We better hurry, though, I doubt those ships heading down to Earth are going to wait for us to mobilize."

Updated December 2017