Chapter 7: Land Downunder

Shayera instantly felt the air whipping all around her as she re-materialised up high in the skies above Metropolis. For the briefest of seconds she began to fall before her wings caught her, steadying her where she was. She gripped her mace tightly as she looked around, having to use her free hand to hold her hair out of her eyes. At this altitude the wind speed was well up there, with a very nasty chill to it. That, though, she could ignore. There were a lot of worse things than her catching a cold that could be about to happen.

She spotted the others all materialising around her, every single Leaguer available who possessed the ability to fly. It ought to have been an impressive sight, so many superheroes arriving so quickly in such a relatively small spot, ready for battle. Fire, Steel, S.T.R.I.P.E., Rocket Red, Red Tornado, The Ray, Doctor Light, Aztek, and that was just some of them who were beaming in. Of course, Captain Atom, Booster Gold and Stargirl were the first to be right there with Shayera having shared her ride down here. That meant that they, like her, were able to watch the terrors of that energy cloud's arrival only seconds after their own.

In fact, it was the sound that hit Shayera first, drawing her eyes to the right part of the skies even further above her. It was a roar of thunder, an incredible noise no storm could compare to. The sudden impact of such pure energy with the particles of the atmosphere did that. It wasn't like a single bolt of lightning being unleashed either. This was constant, an endless stream of power coursing through the air. The noise didn't keep up the same volume, but the roar didn't stop. It was almost as if the cloud was trying to tell the whole world that it was coming, and that they should be afraid.

It wasn't exactly a comforting sight to look at, either, once Shayera had the cloud spotted. It suddenly looked far darker, far more aggressive than it had from space over a video screen. It still looked like a cloud, but definitely a dark one. What was more, the pulsating glow remained but Shayera could now see what was causing it. Lightning-like lines of energy were coursing all around its surface, trailing around it in endlessly changing patterns. Not only did the energy look dangerous enough just being there, but it also looked as if it could be fashioned as a weapon and a shield all at once. It looked like it would be a line of defence that may well soak up any attack unleashed the cloud's way. The whole cloud was massive too, already dominating the sky despite still being some distance away. It certainly looked like it could easily swallow up half a city in one go if it was left unabated, and it also certainly seemed like that was its aim.

The thing was moving closer, slowed by the atmosphere but it was still moving. Just as the Watchtower computer's had predicted, it was moving to were the assemblage of heroes hung in the air, right in its path to Metropolis down below them. The thing was definitely attacking, and it had proved the damage it could do using virtually the strongest of examples. It didn't matter how tough it looked, how tough it was. For the sake of so many, it had to be stopped.

Shayera was determined. It shall not pass.

She started making plans in her mind. They had maybe a few minutes before that cloud was on top of them, looking at the speed it was moving. Shayera wracked her brains fast. The quicker she had the plan, the quicker they could close the distance to fight back and, as such, the further they could keep this thing from the millions of citizens in the city below. Ultimately, that thought made her plan for her.

All the members of the Justice League knew their own powers implicitly, knew what they could each respectively do. They all knew the risks, knew from having seen what happened to Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and J'onn what this cloud could do to them if they weren't careful. They also all knew the stakes, knew just how much was in danger if they didn't do everything they possibly could to stop this thing now. They wouldn't need instructing. With no history against a foe like this there was no bank of knowledge to draw upon to help guide them to victory anyway.

Therefore, for Shayera the best choice of action was for them all to just unleash, and to unleash now. So that was exactly the order that she gave.

"There's no time to waste people! Attack!"

She wasn't just talk either. She didn't wait around for the others to lead the charge. She was the one and only Founder here. She was the one that they would be looking up to, the one who needed to be setting the example, and so she did. She lead the charge herself.

Shayera gripped her mace tight as her wings were flung back, sending her surging upwards and onwards as fast as she could fly. Even over the sound the cloud was still creating, she heard the crackle as her mace's own power built, saw the light of its own energy casing coming into existence. There were many things that her powerful Nth metal mace had destroyed, many things which had otherwise seemed relatively indestructible. She was determined to prove this cloud to be another of those things. She could tell without looking that the others were hot on her tail, but she was definitely going to be the one to attack first. It may well be wishful thinking, but Shayera still hoped that she alone would be enough.

It didn't take long to cross the distance. Soon she was quickly having to halt her charge, not wanting to fly straight into the approaching chaos, actually having to slowly fly backwards so that it's approach didn't swallow her up. She wasn't wanting to wind up like the four laid out, possibly dead, up on the Watchtower.

This close, the noise was increasingly deafening from the cloud. Shayera, though, blocked it all out. She made her own noise. She unleashed a furious yell as she hurled the fully charged mace at the cloud–

Only to have it pass right through...

It didn't do a thing to slow or damage the cloud, not a damn thing, despite discharging all of its built up power. Shayera quickly and distraughtly had to pull her mace away before the encroaching cloud got hold of her hands. In fact, she had to fly back entirely. It turned out that she needed a plan after all. If the mace did nothing, then there was nothing she could do. She could hardly punch this thing. That would definitely take her out of the fight. But she also wouldn't give up. No, now she had to provide the back up to the rest. She had to hope that one of them would have more luck.

As she flew away, still facing the cloud every part of the way. She began to look around, began to check up on all the rest, desperate to see them being more successful and that she wouldn't have to risk doing something totally desperate and stupid. She could see Red Tornado trying to blast the thing away with his aerokinesis, Stargirl shooting at it with her staff and Fire trying to burn it all away and break it apart with her flames. to name just a few of the efforts.

But she didn't get the chance to study it in too much depth. It was then that her comm link buzzed. She only just heard the sound over the roar of the cloud, quickly flinging a finger to her ear to activate the comm. She was hoping it was good news. She was hoping the Leaguers still on the Watchtower had found a way to use it to save the day. She was dearly hoping that she and the others in the skies wouldn't even be needed.

"Tell me it's good news!" she had to shout out so that whoever it was on the other end could hear her. "We sure could use some down here!"

Green Arrow's voice rang back to her. It sounded like he was definitely busy working away while talking to her, which at least meant that those on the Watchtower were still trying some things out to stop this cloud still glaring before Shayera's eyes. Still angrily glaring. However, Arrow's voice had no traces of victory, no joy to it. There were no signs that he was pleased, that the world was saved. Instead, there was only traces of the opposite.

"We could use some up here too," the comm mimicked Arrow's voice, faint over all the other noise, definitely glum. "Nothing that we've tried has worked yet, and we've tried plenty so far. We'll keep going, though. I called about something else. The marines are on their way."

"And what are they gonna do?" Shayera growled back. "Bullets and bombs will just pass straight through this thing if my mace did! And if it can alter the part of it that's actually solid like the scanners said they'll have no chance of doing anything!"

"The people have to try something," Arrow pointed out in response. "They can't just sit around on their asses every time and wait for us to do all the saving for them. I've shared everything we know with them, anyway. Don't worry, they know what's going on. They know this isn't something that they can shoot their way out of the old fashioned way. They're the last line of defence in case the Justice League can't stop this cloud. And they're there to try and get the people of Metropolis as clear as they can as fast as they can."

That made sense. Sometimes Shayera could get so lost in what she was doing that she lost sight of the overall picture. Now had been one of those times. She had been so caught up in stopping the cloud that she hadn't thought of contingencies. If Metropolis was the cloud's target, then they had to get the people out. They had to get them clear and hope that the cloud wouldn't just follow them. That the military could take control of. Them doing so meant that the Justice League didn't have to give up any excess manpower to do it themselves.

"Good," Shayera muttered, the earlier anger in her voice lessened. Of course, it wasn't gone entirely. It never was in the face of such a potentially dangerous fight as this. "We'll try to hold this thing off as long as we can at least. Hopefully we'll do more than that."

"Ditto, sweetheart," Green Arrow returned, matching her tone. "And if we've got anyone to spare up here we'll send them down to lend the military a hand. Just so you know, your last pieces of back-up are on their way."

Even as he was saying it, Shayera saw the two flashes of light off to the side, even against the backdrop of bright blue where the sky wasn't tainted by the energy cloud. She didn't need to turn and give it a proper look to know who it was, but she did so anyway. GL and Superman wouldn't be missing this.

She had barely turned her head when Superman was charging in to join the rest assaulting the cloud. Of course he would be fighting even harder than anyone else there or anywhere else. This went far beyond the fact that he was the single most powerful being on the planet. It was because it was his city down there at risk, the one that he had protected from the day he had created the mantle of Superman.

GL however, hesitated before charging in himself. Shayera caught sight of him looking around rather desperately, and she immediately knew why. Her feelings on that situation were hazy. They had been for a while now. She loved John Stewart. She had done for years. During her self imposed exile and while he was so firmly with Mari, she had never stopped loving him. Even now she hadn't stopped, despite John managing to piss her off like no-one else ever could with his new-found inability to decide what it was that he wanted. One second it seemed like they were set to get back together, then the next he would make it seem impossible. For too long that had gone on. It was making every day a chore for her. She still loved him, she wanted him back, but everyday he played her on only to change his mind made her want to unleash her mace into his rugged face. It didn't help that she was falling for it every single time he did something that suggested to her that he still loved her too.

And right now was one of those moments. He was checking that she was all right. It was only after he had spotted her and the flash of relief crossed his face that he joined Superman in leaping into the throngs of the fight.

Damn that man for doing this to her. Damn him.

"I see them, Arrow," she forced herself to say, failing to hide all the emotions that were racing through her from her voice. "I've got to go. Things are getting pretty hairy down here. We need all hands to the pumps."

"Same here," Arrow repeated. If he had registered that there was a completely different reason that Shayera wanted to end the conversation, he wasn't showing it. If he had realised that just that fleeting glimpse of John Stewart had made her want to go and bash...something apart in rage, he didn't let on. "Give it hell."

Green Arrow then clicked off the comm before Shayera could do it from her end. She paused for a moment after that, allowing herself time to react. She had to get at least some control back before the anger that had built up in her meant she did something foolish. However, such efforts were futile as soon as she saw the green light being flung against the darkness of the cloud. Just seeing that part of John Stewart had her fully pissed off all over again.

There was nothing else for it. She would have to fight angry. If it were any normal fight that would surely spell doom for her enemy, would mean there would be no stopping her from tearing them limb from limb should she so wish.

But this wasn't a normal fight. In this fight, she could only hope that the anger would be enough to keep them alive.

And from the way that she now noticed that the cloud was still moving forwards despite the Justice League throwing everything at it, she could not prevent the thought whizzing through her head that that was a rather slim hope.

"Lane!"

The well familiar voice of Perry White reverberated around their floor of the Daily Planet. Lois instantly looked up to see him staring across at her from the door of his office, the excited look on his face that he had whenever there was a big, multiple paper-selling story happening out there. However, Lois had actually beaten him to it.

"Big, scary cloud in the sky being engaged by the Justice League. I'm already on it, chief!" she called back to him. She had plenty of her own sources out there. She didn't need to rely on Perry White's to hear before the public that the government were dispatching the marines into the city. She had got the call just moments ago, literally the very second after she had finished typing up the other story she had been working on. Of course, this one could well make that one pale in comparison. She didn't understand how a cloud could be so dangerous as the situation was making it seem, but it was her job to find out.

Besides, she had a personal stake in this too. She had no firm knowledge as to what it was that had gone so wrong that Superman had had to cut their date short so solemnly, but now she definitely had the impression that this cloud had something to do with it. More than to just to get her hands on what could be a Pullitzer worthy story, she wanted to be on this so that she could keep a close eye on Superman and make sure that he didn't get himself into trouble. She wanted to be on this story to find out what had gone so wrong before, to make sure the other member of the Justice League that she had once been very close to was all right as well.

"Good, because if the marines are needed as well as the Justice League, this ought to be one heck of a danger. The people will want to know all about it!"

"I said I'm on it, chief," Lois returned again, fully understanding the situation here. It was the very fact that it wasn't just the Justice League involved that had her so nervous, that had her starting to worry about Superman and the rest. There wasn't much that they couldn't handle alone. If they couldn't now, then this thing, whatever it really was, must be tough. "I'm about to hitch a ride now to go and get a closer look."

"Keep me informed," Perry returned to her, not wasting any time. He had been in the journalism game even longer than she had. He definitely knew how it was played. When news was breaking there wasn't time to stand around discussing it, not when you could be on hand witnessing it. That was why at Lois' words he slunk back into his office and left her to get to work. His head had only just ducked back behind the door frame when Lois began dialling her phone. After only a couple of rings, her call was answered.

"This is Snapper Carr. Make it quick, I'm in a hurry," the voice of the well known TV reporter spoke up out of the receiver. He indeed sounded as if he was in a rush. Just from what she had heard from those couple of seconds Lois couple deduce that he was talking while on the move.

"Snapper, its Lois at the Planet," she returned, wasting no time herself. "I know you'll have heard about what's going on up in the skies. I know you'll be getting in your helicopter to go and get some pictures, to report live from the scene. I want in. I want a seat on your chopper."

"I'm not giving up my story, Lois," Snapper quickly responded, no time for etiquette and pleasantries.

"I'm just asking to be an observer," Lois immediately attempted to assuage what was clearly the stumbling block in Snapper's mind. "I know you'll be getting the best view of this thing that civilians can get. I want to be there to see it. I'm not interested in sabotaging your report. I'll sit quietly in the back so long as I can see. Papers are my game. I'm more than happy to leave TV to you."

Snapper paused, in speech anyway. It was clear that he was still walking as he mulled over the offer. "Fine. We'll pick you up from the roof of the Planet ASAP. But I'll hold you to what you said. Just so you know, I'm agreeing to this because I'm expecting to be able to go even closer now with you aboard, what with your good buddy Superman always around to save you if something goes wrong."

"Just tell the pilot not to get so cocky he's acting stupid," Lois answered, though she was glad. She had her ride. "I'll be waiting by the time you get here. See you soon."

Snapper didn't wait to see bye. The phone was already clicking off. Lois quickly reset her receiver, grabbing up a pen and paper as well as a camera, knowing that Snapper wouldn't be so willing to offer up a second seat for a proper photographer. She didn't wait any longer than that. She just stood and swept her way out of the room, heading for the stairwell to the roof.

She knew that this ride would likely be dangerous, but then a lot of things were in the life that she led. She had long since proved that she could cope with danger, especially with the friends she'd made over the years. This danger now was just another she would overcome for her own cause. She would find out what was going on up there, and she would keep her watchful eye on the heroes she cared about.

One in particular, even if he still hadn't gotten around to telling her the obvious truth.

It didn't take long for it to become apparent to Superman that the others hadn't had any success yet in the time before he and Green Lantern had arrived. Some things were slowing the cloud down slightly, such as the winds created by Red Tornado or the radiation given off by Captain Atom. However, nothing was stopping it. The cloud just ended up moving around whatever the Justice League threw at it, or powering its way through. It was insatiable, irresistible, relentless.

And things hadn't changed one jot since the two of them had arrived, either.

Superman's first choice when facing a foe for the first time was always to try and talk them down, to find out what the villain actually wanted and to see if there was a peaceful solution that all could be happy with. His second was always to let his fists do the talking, to unleash a reasonable amount of his almighty strength to show the foe that he, the Justice League and the Earth were not to be messed with.

But right now neither of them were an option, not while he still had some of his sanity left. That left his other powers as his only real choice. The problem was that neither his freeze breath nor his heat vision did a thing to oppose it. Neither did flying around the cloud at maximum speed to try and create a whirlwind to blow it away. The cloud always managed to adjust its energy or shape to undo whatever it was Superman tried, be it to melt a frozen chunk or to power past any vortex of swilling air.

Green Lantern wasn't having much better luck either. His power ring was creating a barrier big enough to run the entire length of the onwards crawling cloud. It worked to some extent; the cloud was completely unable to power its way through the light. However, the cloud wasn't stopped by John's ring either. It just pushed on against it, keeping moving, shoving John Stewart on ahead of it despite all the incredible will power John was putting in to stopping it.

After yet another effort to use his mighty breath to blow the cloud away had failed, even though this one was in conjunction with Red Tornado doing likewise, Superman flew back for a second to take in the bigger picture. Shayera wound up doing the exact same thing at the exact same time, flying so that she hovered in the air right at his side. Together they could see the rest of the Justice League continuing on with the various efforts, increasingly through joint ventures, with John still battling away against it with his ring.

"It's definitely slower," Shayera was the first of the two of them to make a comment. In itself that sounded like it was a good thing, but such surface truths rarely held when you looked at the situation a little deeper.

"But we're already throwing everything against it," Superman voiced those issues. "And it's not close to stopping yet."

He looked back behind him after saying that, in the direction of the cloud's path. In all his various efforts against the cloud, Superman had been sure to move with it, to keep himself from getting caught up in it. If Wonder Woman and J'onn could be so affected by it with all their respective durability, then he could easily be too, even if he did have slightly more. He couldn't risk going in there, not when he couldn't be sure if his chances of success were any greater than remaining on the outside.

The thing was though, with the cloud pushing him and the Justice League endlessly backwards, they were now getting dangerously close to Metropolis. Superman could now easily make out the world famous globe atop the roof of the Daily Planet, without even having to focus with his various vision enhancements. The entire city was getting closer and closer to being swallowed up by this thing. All those people couldn't just fly out the way like the Justice League heroes were having to do. Millions of people were getting very close to at least falling into the same state as Wonder Woman, Batman, the Flash and J'onn, if not worse.

Millions of his people. Lois included.

They had to stop this thing.

"We have to try something new," he added to his previous statement, determined to keep hold of all hope that he could. "Perhaps if we unleash everyone in unison. Perhaps combinations of our powers that we haven't tried yet. Something has to work."

Shayera was quickly nodding her head in concurrence, but whether that was through shared hope instead of belief in the plan Superman wasn't sure. It didn't really matter. All that mattered was that the Justice League were willing to try. Even if it cost them everything in doing so.

With that both heroes flew back in to the heat of the action, ready to unleash their powers on the endlessly surging mass of energy once more. As he did so, Superman once again noticed how the cloud seemed to be requiring more energy to keep going on, that it was moving slower than before.

But it always seemed to find more energy, more reserves to keep advancing on Metropolis. There was the briefest of moments when it almost looked like the others had finally managed to stop the cloud, but then it surged onwards, for ta second having even more speed than before. Superman didn't catch what had caused such reaction, but from how the cloud surged onwards afterwards, that was probably a good thing. They just didn't have enough distance left to risk giving the cloud more power in their efforts to stop it.

They badly needed some new ideas. It was just a shame that the people most likely to come up with some, whether knowledgeable, brilliant or just so insane that it might have worked, were the exact same ones who were lying brain dead in the Watchtower's Infirmary. They sure could use Batman, J'onn, Wonder Woman and the Flash right about now. But they weren't bad themselves, even if they were yet to prove that here. They would just have to do the best they could without the others.

And hope that it was enough.

A/N:

I know this is a tad later than promised, but last week releasing it on match day coincidentally saw Man United play well, and I'm hoping for the same trick to work tonight!

Anyways, here you go, new chapters up. Let me know what you all think.