Chapter Twenty-One

Military Base

Metropolis Outskirts

United States

21:58 – Eastern Standard Time

March 14, 2007

General Hogan stepped out of his car and was immediately led inside where he met up with Major Shaw, a man who he had called a friend for many years. The two of them had been through a lot together and had formed a strong bond.

"Sir," Shaw began, "four of those ships have entered the atmosphere. Two of them are headed to the US, one to DC and the other to Metropolis."

"The others?"

"Moscow and Shanghai."

"Have we been given the order?" Hogan asked, referring to launching the 'special' planes.

Shaw nodded. "We've been given the order. We need you to confirm."

"I will confirm the order," Hogan said with a nod. "Once I have, we'll show that Justice League that they're not the only ones capable of defending the Earth."

They quickly arrived at the control room where Hogan was passed the orders they had been given. He looked around with a smile on his face. This was where they would prove themselves against these alien aggressors. This was where they would defend their cities without interference from the league and if they got in the way? Well, that would be unfortunate.

"Looks like we're gonna be busting out the hardware," he said. He then addressed Shaw. "Scramble the advanced fighters. Make sure they're armed with the prototype missiles. And tell them that if the Justice League get in their way, they are authorised to knock them out of the sky. This is our airspace, not theirs."

Shaw nodded and made the call. The klaxon sounded and everyone jumped into action.

"The advanced jets are scrambling," Shaw reported.

Hogan smiled. "Thank you LexCorp for your generous donation," he muttered.

He would soon see if their weapons contract was worth it. Though he suspected it was and he would be more than happy to rub their success in the Justice League's collective faces.

Above Metropolis

United States

21:59 – Eastern Standard Time

March 14, 2007

Galatea was pretty happy with her escape. She had managed to not only deliver the component, but she had actually managed more than a few sentences with 'Argo' without them getting into a huge brawl. To her, that was a pretty big triumph.

Now all she had to do was find Emil, which wasn't easy in the dark and it was putting a damper on her otherwise positive mood. It only got worse when she heard and felt the deep thrum. She cast her gaze to the source, seeing one of the alien ships was moving overhead.

"Crap," she said loudly.

This was not at all how she wanted things to go. She wanted to find her dad so they could continue on their way. With an alien ship now hovering over the city, that was out of the question. Her dad could be down there right now and she wasn't going to let anything happen to him, not when she could protect him.

She removed the helmet off of her suit so she had a better field of vision. She rolled her shoulders and prepared to attack.

Just as she was about to shoot forward, she stopped herself to re-evaluate her plan.

Her plan had been to simply fly through the rear of the ship like a missile and knock out their engines. The first problem with that idea was she didn't actually know what kind of defences the ship had. Secondly, if she brought the ship out of the sky where it was, it would fall onto the city and kill people.

Galatea had begun to think through her plan when she heard another sound. She looked back to see what appeared to be military jets flying towards her. She moved clear as they rocketed past towards the alien vessel. They went in for an attack run, firing streams of laser fire at the Gordanian vessel. Their attacks proved ineffective, though, as their lasers were stopped by some kind of energy shield. The enemy returned fire in kind.

Galatea found herself watching in surprise. Firstly, military craft usually fired bullets, not lasers, or at least they were supposed to, and secondly, these military planes bore a striking resemblance to the league's Javelins, except smaller and were painted in US military colours.

She continued to watch as the jets evaded oncoming fire and began to manoeuvre around the larger ship in a way that almost looked like they were trying to draw it away from the city. The Gordanians were having none of it though. The ship stayed where it was and continued to fire its own energy weapons right back at them.

Galatea decided that it was time for her to help. She shot forward towards the ship only to be stopped as she hit the ship's energy shield and bounced off. Angry, she reared back her fist and punched it as hard as she could. The ship rocked to the side. She even managed to dent the hull that was supposed to be protected by the shield.

She punched it again.

The ship moved under the force as it listed to one side, sparks flying out of the side as hull panels came off.

She punched it once more and the whole shield failed.

The Airforce jets' lasers began to impact on the hull. The ship then turned its laser cannons downwards towards the city.

Before they could fire, Galatea flew to the nearest one and tore it off. She then looked around for somewhere to drop it. Not seeing anywhere immediate, she decided to use it as a club and began swinging it at the other turrets, smashing them.

With the only active laser turrets now being on the top of the ship, it began to retreat, accelerating away. The military jets closed in on its tail in pursuit.

Galatea grinned to herself. She was rather pleased with how that had gone. She headed north-east and dropped off the turret in a junkyard, before returning to the search for her father.

Then she heard a deep boom and the shattering of windows. She turned around to see the military jets firing some kind of missiles at the Gordanian ship. More impacted and the ship rocked and began to slowly fall out of the sky as it began to descend towards the bay.

That's when she noticed something coming out of the underside of the ship. She squinted to get a better look, only to regret it a moment later. Coming out of the ship were streams of Gordanians with what looked like jetpacks on their backs.

"Don't they give up!?" she yelled to herself as she turned back around to engage.

Watchtower II

Earth Orbit

22:01 – Station Time (EST)

March 14, 2007

Mister Terrific glanced around behind him, watching as the Javelins descended towards Earth. Both him and Flash were outside the station. They had taken over from Lantern and Shayera, hoping to get the BFG online before disaster struck.

"I've connected everything," Flash said regarding the flow regulator, before adding, "which wasn't easy in this space-suit. You need to make these things easier to move in. I think I've nearly worn several holes in it."

Terrific looked back around at the device. Sure enough, they all appeared to be connected. "I'll check them and make sure they're in properly," he said.

"Go right ahead," Flash said. "I'll just float here and wait."

The world's third-smartest man. Or perhaps second now that Luthor was out of the picture, checked Flash's work. He found that they were all secured properly just as the Speedster had said.

"Our work out here is done," Terrific said.

"Y'know, if I'd been allowed to do this in the first place, I would have had it done in five minutes and we wouldn't have had to have sent Superman over there to that big bad ship."

"Probably not," Terrific agreed.

"So is it ready to fire?"

"We still have to run a diagnostic on it."

"Grrreeaaat. How long does that take?"

"A few minutes."

"Why does everything have to take so long?" Flash complained.

"Let's just get inside," Terrific said.

22:03 – Station Time (EST)

Koriand'r, also known as Starfire in English, reached for a button.

"Don't touch that!" Nightwing snapped.

The two of them were in the nest, looking at the many monitors. Most of them showed nothing due to the interference from the Gordanian dreadnought. The rest either displayed the damage to the watchtower, the Gordanian ship or the Earth.

She pulled her hand away. "What does it do?"

"I'm not sure, so don't touch it. It could de-pressurise the deck for all I know."

"That's okay, I can survive in a vacuum for a long time," she informed him.

"Well I can't," he responded.

"It seems there's a lot you can't do."

He glared at her from behind the mask. She looked back at him with her bright green eyes. He couldn't help but smile. "Well erm, yeah. I guess you're right," he said, not even remembering why he had been angry with her in the first place.

He looked back to the monitor station. He had been working on breaking through the interference, which had so far not proved fruitful. Though he believed he was now onto something. "The communications blockage is being caused by a low-level energy field being produced by their dreadnought," he said more to himself than to. "I think I might be able to get around it."

"Unlikely."

Nightwing looked around to see Terrific stepping back into the room.

"Really?" Nightwing asked. He pressed a few keys and the words 'METRO TOWER CONNECTION ESTABLISHED' appeared on one of the screens.

Terrific's mouth fell agape. "How in the hell?"

"Firstly, you were probably over-thinking the problem. Secondly, I have a few tricks a learned from a friend," Nightwing said.

His mood suddenly fell at the unintentional own mention of his friend. When he had last seen Barbara Gordon, he had departed in less than friendly terms. He felt guilty about it, but also believed it had been the right decision. At least at the time. Now? He was starting to think that perhaps this whole thing, especially with joining the Justice League had been a mistake.

Terrific took over from Nightwing. "I'm going to call the Metro Tower."

The answer they got wasn't what any of them expected.

Stood on there on the monitor was a man in military garb.

"Who are you?" Terrific demanded. "Where's J'onn?"

"The Metro Tower and all of its assets have been seized by the US government," the man replied.

"What? Why?"

"That information is classified above my clearance level," the man replied stoically.

"Get someone who does have clearance!" Terrific demanded.

"Unfortunately we are busy with a perceived invasion." The call ended.

"He cut me off!" Terrific said slamming his fist down.

"He was rather rude," Starfire added. "We should go down there and teach him some manners."

He looked around at her, then to Nightwing, then back at her. "Wait, I thought people were joking when they said you could suddenly speak English."

"Yes, it was Nightwing who gave me what I needed to speak your language."

"Wow, you must be one hell of a linguist," Terrific said to the bluebird. "How did you get her to learn English so fast? That must have been one amazing crash course."

"No crashing was involved, he-" Nightwing began waving his arms frantically and she went quiet before she grew concerned. "What is wrong with you Nightwing. Are you having a seizure?"

"I think he wants to keep something between you and him," Terrific said with a smirk. "Anyway, where's your brother?"

"With the Zatanna magic woman," Starfire responded.

"Wait, Zatanna went in a Javelin," Terrific said. "Tell me he hasn't gone down to fight the Gordanians?"

"Maybe," Starfire said.

"You're the ones they're after. You should have kept him with you."

"He believes that once the Gordanians have been defeated I shall return to Tamaran with him. That is why he went down there."

"Well, aren't you?" Terrific asked.

"No. I wish to remain here."

"You want asylum?" the genius questioned.

"No, I am sound of mind," she said misunderstanding.

"No, what I mean is do you want our help and do you want to be allowed to stay on Earth?"

"Yes I do," she said excitedly.

There was a sudden change in air pressure as Flash shot into the room. "Eggheads down below say the big gun is ready."

Terrific nodded, then glanced at Nightwing. "We should be able to get a message through to Superman and the others now. Not sure if they'll be able to respond though."

Gordanian Dreadnought

Earth Orbit

22:06 – Station Time (EST)

Superman and his team were in the middle of a fight when Terrific called them and gave them the information that the BFG was now back online. Now all they had to do was wait for Miracle to take the Gordanian's gun offline.

It didn't take long. Miracle appeared among them, dropping out of the hole in the ceiling.

"Done," he said.

Superman finished throwing two Gordanians into a group of others nodded. "Time to leave then."

"We should take out their captain," Barda said as she sent an opponent flying back with a hefty punch. "Then the rest of the officers."

"No," Superman disagreed. "We fall back. Without their gun, they can't do much from up here."

Superman shot his heat vision towards one of the Gordanians energy weapons. The end melted and the green alien turned and quickly retreated.

"Don't underestimate them," Orion warned as he knocked down three combatants at once. "Barda is right. We should remove the command structure from this ship."

"We're going to give them the chance to retreat," Superman said, as he knocked the blade out of his new opponent's hand.

"You're naive," Barda scoffed.

"He's an optimist," Argo said, defending him.

"Overly so," Wonder Woman added.

Superman opened his mouth to say something when the Gordanian captain's voice echoed through the ship's speakers "You will all pay. I do not need a gun to destroy you."

"We need to stop him," Orion warned.

"They are desperate now," Barda added.

Finally, Superman was about to relent when they got another call from Terrific. "The dreadnought is now on a collision course with the station. Either you alter its course in the next minute or we're going to have to shoot it. If they hit this station, they'll tear it to pieces"

Superman knew there was only one real way out of this.

Watchtower II

Earth Orbit

22:07 – Station Time (EST)

The four of them, Terrific, Flash, Nightwing and Starfire saw it change course and begin its approach. Terrific shook his head. The enemy ship had shields, while the Watchtower's were still offline. If they hit them, he knew that they would smash the station to pieces.

First Terrific called Superman to tell them of their predicament. He then gave the command to reorient the station and aim the cannon directly at the oncoming ship.

Then he waited until he couldn't wait any longer.

With one last command, which was agreed on, albeit reluctantly they began to charge the Binary Fusion Generator for a full discharge.

Gordanian Dreadnought

Earth Orbit

22:08 – Station Time (EST)

They fought their way back to the airlock. The enemy, while particularly fierce, was no match for the leaguers. Superman forced the previously sealed bulkhead open and the Gordanians ran for cover as the air began to rush out into space.

The seven heroes headed out of the airlock and away from the ship as it accelerated towards the Watchtower at an impressive rate.

Superman turned to Argo. "I'll need your help," he said pointing to the rear of the ship.

She nodded and followed him as the rest moved well out of range, anticipating the Watchtower firing its BFG.

It didn't disappoint.

The stream of energy blasted out of the bottom of the station and struck the front of the ship. It was like watching a car hit a tree.

The dreadnought's shields flared up and collapsed and the beam struck the hull. The front crumpled from the massive explosion of energy that followed and the rear of the ship overtook the front as it went into a spin.

Unfortunately, it was still heading for the watchtower, albeit now uncontrolled. That's where Superman and Argo came into play. They gripped the rear of the ship and began trying to slow it down.

It wasn't until Wonder Woman joined them that they were able to alter its course and let it tumble harmlessly past the Watchtower.

The dreadnought managed to right itself, then unexpectedly, it broke orbit and went into hyperspace.

"They're gone," Argo said almost in disbelief.

"Not yet," Superman said looking down at Earth. "There are still ships down there and that's where we'll be heading next."

"First though," Wonder Woman began, "we should check in with Terrific."

Above Metropolis

United States

22:10 – Eastern Standard Time

March 14, 2007

"We're coming in hot," Green Arrow told the others.

The Javelin was full of heroes, which would soon be splitting into two. An air team and a ground team.

The air team would consist of S.T.R.I.P.E, Stargirl, Steel and Hawkman. The ground team would consist of Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawk, Dove and The Atom.

Steel was already at the Javelin's hatch. "Those that can fly are with me."

Stargirl jumped up. With S.T.R.I.P.E close behind in his smaller, more agile suit, which he had designed with a little help from Steel.

"You're going to be ranged," S.T.R.I.P.E told Stargirl.

"I don't need babying, Pat. I know how to fight."

"Courtney," he warned. "You're staying ranged away from the fight."

She gripped onto her cosmic rod, preparing for the fight ahead. "We'll see," she mumbled.

"Gordanian ship has crashed into the bay," Canary said. "Counting maybe a hundred Gordanian troopers in the air."

"We can handle them," Steel said assuredly.

Arrow slowed the Javelin down as Black Canary gestured. "Those jets look familiar."

"They look like smaller Javelins," he agreed. "I wonder how they got the design?"

"We'll figure that out later," Steel said. "Looks like they're having more than a bit of trouble with the flying Gordanians."

"Who knew they had Jetpacks," Green Arrow commented.

"We need to get out there." Steel said as he turned to Hawkman. "You ready?"

"I'm ready," the man responded.

"Hold on," Arrow said. "Who's that flying around?"

Steel peered out of the cockpit window. He suddenly got a bad feeling. "We'll find out soon," he said, already suspecting it was the clone.

"Drop point," Arrow said. "Get out there."

"Let's go," Steel said as he moved back to the hatch and opened it.

The four air combatants flew out of the Javelin and Green Arrow immediately looked for a place to put it down.

Steel flew forwards, taking point with Hawkman close behind, while S.T.R.I.P.E tried to keep Stargirl back and away from direct combat.

The unknown person flying around approached them and quickly became known. Steel grimaced inside his helmet. The last time he'd had an encounter with her, it hadn't gone too well for him.

"Look who it is?" she said flying alongside him. "How's the suit?" she asked Steel. "Looks like it's more in one piece from when I last saw it."

"We're here to stop the Gordanians," Steel said, ignoring the barb regarding how the last time the two had met, she had smashed his suit nearly to pieces. "Either help us or get outta our way."

"I was helping, but those military jets are a bit liberal with their laser fire. Seems they were trying to shoot me as much as the Gordanians."

"I wonder why," he mumbled.

"Nice," she said to him with more than a hint of sarcasm. "So, we gonna do this?"

"Yes we are," he responded. "But I'm keeping an eye on you."

"Keep both eyes on me if you want," she replied with a smirk as she shot off forwards to engage the Gordanians once more.

Above Washington D.C.

United States

22:12 – Eastern Standard Time

March 14, 2007

Vigilante pulled back on the throttle to slow down their velocity as they got a sensor reading on their enemy.

Vigilante didn't have an astounding amount of airtime logged in the Javelin, but he had been trained how to fly it and he did it well. At least in his opinion. The problem the others were having was that his flying style was a little crazy.

The team all packed into the Javelin consisted of Green Lantern, Captain Atom, Zatanna, Speedy, Fire, Ice, Waverider, Zatanna and somehow Ryand'r had been brought along.

"Looks like the Airforce boys have some new toys," Vigilante said gesturing. Small, strangely familiar US Air-force fighters were surrounding the larger Gordanian ship, which was not only returning fire on them but taking a few shots at the city below.

Vigilante pushed the throttle forward. "Let's skim that ship. Rustle 'em up a bit."

"No," Lantern said, but it was too late. The Javelin skimmed a little too close to the enemy ship and they bounced off their shields, causing everyone to bounce around in their harnesses.

"I told you not to do that!" Lantern shouted at him.

"Easy there," Vigilante said. "No harm."

"There will be if you keep flying like that."

"Calm it, I get ya. I'll behave. Bringing us in ready to drop y'all off."

Lantern made his way towards the rear. "Flyers, get ready for drop-off." He then looked to Zatanna. "You try and keep the Tamaranean kid out of the fight."

"Me?"

"You're the one that brought him along."

"I couldn't get rid of him. He followed me to the hangar bay," she told him. He folded his arms and glared. "Okay," she relented. "I'll try, but I'm not promising anything."

The Javelin slowed and Lantern opened the hatch. "Let's go."

Above Shanghai

China

11:12 – China Standard Time

March 15, 2007

"I can't believe they're accepting our help," Vibe commented as he sat in the co-pilots seat beside Dr Light.

"Drop off point in thirty seconds," Dr Light informed the others, not paying attention to the comment. "Sand, you take the controls."

She briefly put it on auto-pilot as they swapped. She made her way to the hatch. She briefly looked at Shining Knight who sat by his winged horse, which took up a lot of space in the cabin.

"Justin, Tornado, Booster. Get yourselves ready, we're going heading straight out into combat." She looked right at Booster Gold. "And don't screw it up."

"Careful," Sand warned, addressing Light. "That Gordanian ship is taking out the Chinese aircraft with relative ease and they seem a bit reckless in their attacks."

"Understood," Dr Light said as she opened the hatch. "We'll try and take out the Gordanian ship's shields."

"What do the rest of us do?" Elongated man asked.

"Not a lot you can do right now. Their ship is still airborne and I doubt the Chinese will stop attacking even if we got you onboard that ship. The best option right now is to bring it down, then deal with them on the ground."

Elongated man nodded. "I gotcha. We'll be ready."

High Above Moscow

Russia

06:12 – Moscow Standard Time

March 15, 2007

"We've been ordered to turn around," Commander Steel; not to be confused with Steel, said as he slowed the Javelin down.

Shayera who was in the rear getting ready to jump out and fight growled. She then looked at Rocket Red. "You better get us some permission."

"She's pissed," The Ray whispered to Starman.

"She's always pissed," Vixen said, having overheard their comment.

"I'll try," Rocket Red said in his thick Russian accent. He went quiet as he communicated with them, unheard inside his suit. He then spoke up. "I will be joining the Rocket Red brigade," he told the others. "You're still ordered to maintain current altitude."

"Good job, Red," Shayera said, her tone oozing with sarcasm as she opened the hatch. "Get going, we'll give one of the others some help if they need it."

Rocket Red saluted her before jumping out of the Javelin. Shayera sealed the hatch and looked forward to Commander Steel. "Can you get the Metro Tower on the line?"

"No, still no response."

"I'm going to call the Watchtower, see if they know what's going on. Meantime, head for the US. Maybe they're willing to accept our help."

Watchtower II

Earth Orbit

22:14 – Station Time (EST)

March 14, 2007

Superman watched the news-feeds as they received them All over the networks were reporting on the attacking alien ships. "Do they know their commander has left the star system?" the Man of Steel asked after a few moments.

"No idea," Terrific said. "Maybe not."

"We have to get down there," Superman said.

"All the functioning Javelins have been launched."

"Any good news?" Wonder Woman asked.

"We got a call from Atlantis. They picked up Batman, Plas and Wildcat. Then told us not to drop our trash into their ocean."

"They called Batman trash?" Wonder Woman questioned.

"I think they were referring to the Javelin." Terrific paused. "Getting a call from Shayera."

"Okay, let's hear it."

"Shayera here. Russia is a no-go except for Rocket Red. We're heading to Metropolis. Do you know why the Metro Tower isn't responding?"

Superman sighed, having learnt the news only moments ago himself. "The US army has taken it over."

"You're kidding. At a time like this? Did they give a reason?"

"No reason. I want you heading to DC, Metropolis ship has been downed. Drop off as many as you can and have the Javelin sent back up here."

"Teleporter still not online?"Shay asked.

"We've fired the gun which means the teleporter won't be ready for use for another half-hour," Terrific explained.

"In that case, we'll get to DC then I'll have Commander Steel head up there and bring the rest down."

"Understood, Watchtower out." Superman looked at Nightwing and Starfire. "I need you to stay up here and help Terrific."

Nightwing nodded. "We can do that."

Superman gestured to the rest. "Let's get going. We need to be ready to depart." He then turned to Terrific. "Hangar deck still out?"

"Yes, it is. We used the airlocks to get them onto the Javelins."

"Then that's what we'll do. Tell Commander Steel to dock with airlock one. That's where we'll be waiting."

"Acknowledged."

Updated December 2017