Chapter 17: The Sky is Falling

Snapper Carr was frankly amazed that he was still alive. He could have sworn that the aliens were going to kill him once he told them about their leader, that the foe had died years ago when the Justice League defeated the invasion of Earth.

The Imperium had hurt him though. Badly too, seemingly taking great pleasure from doing so. For a species whose usual form wasn't exactly solid, they could sure pack one hell of a wallop. Snapper had been on the receiving end of plenty of blows, and more. He was sure his skin was nearly completely black and blue now, that at least some bones were cracked and broken. His face was surely a mess, with at least one eye swollen shut, the other half way there too. He was convinced that under his own power he would be completely unable to move.

However, it wasn't under his own power that he was travelling. The aliens were dragging him, dragging him through some sort of facility. He had no idea where he was still, hardly any idea what was going on around him. He didn't have the energy left in him to look around, all those reporter's instincts nullified by the pain, and the fear of more to come.

But even without looking he could make out the lights. He was being dragged past scores of them, row after row of person-sized blocks of red, feet trailing across a perfectly smooth deck. Only when the pair of Imperium dragging him suddenly stopped did Snapper even raise his head to see why. Even that took him a moment.

He was next to some sort of pod. What it did Snapper hadn't a clue, but his mind was still sharp enough for him to realise that all of those lights that he had just been dragged past were similar pods to this one. Only those ones had been activated already.

"This is the last one," he heard one of the aliens hiss to the other. "All of the captives are in place now but him. Let us hurry so that our vengeance can begin."

The other didn't say anything in response, not verbally at least. Snapper felt it as the two arms wrapped around him ungainly hoisted him up high into the air, over the threshold of the pod. If Snapper had any energy in his body at all then he would have felt compelled to fight what was happening, would have felt that what was happening needed fighting. Alas, in his state he could do no such thing.

Before he knew it he was settled within the thing, a seemingly organic shield forming around it, enclosing him in. He groaned then. That might have sealed him within this thing, but it also sealed the aliens away from him. Snapper allowed himself to feel some relief at that, even if he knew that this ordeal was far from over.

But the relief was remarkably short lived. Barely had his groan began than he felt the tubes pierce his flesh, embedding themselves in under his temples. They felt almost like they were going straight for his brain.

Snapper couldn't hold off the screams. He didn't even try to. The pain was so intense it was ridiculous, his head feeling suddenly as if it was being split apart with a rusty pickaxe.

And things were only worsened as he felt the mental scars forming too, felt what was truly happening around him as a mind suddenly touched so many others.

As he realised that the aliens had just turned him into a living battery, ready to power a weapon that could very well destroy the world.

A weapon that was imminently about to try and do exactly that...

General Mulligan was still marshalling his troops, still getting this evacuation organised, but there was still a long way to go. They had to keep going, to get these people clear. Time was not on their side, whatever the cloud did. Either it would move to strike again with the Justice League unable to stop it, or Mulligan's weapon would be ready in time with all the collateral damage it would wreak. Either way, Mulligan knew that the city was about to take a big hit.

But with the weapon still being prepped, evacuation was definitely the focus right now. Over in the distance the Justice League were still plotting, still scheming some way of their own with dealing with the cloud. Mulligan was not about to interrupt them again. They'd had their chance. Now he had to do this whole thing his way.

"Sir, teams are reporting that another ten-block radius is evacuated!" a young communications officer suddenly declared from beside Mulligan in the command centre tent, listening in to the status reports the soldiers in the city were issuing forth. Mulligan couldn't share the optimism that was in the officer's voice, though. Not yet.

"There's still far more than that to go yet, son," he muttered, knowing that he wasn't exaggerating. A city the size of Metropolis with a population exceeding eight million would take days to clear properly without all the chaos that had befallen it. They had only just scratched the surface.

It was then that he looked to the skies. He didn't know why he chose to do so at that time, he didn't know what made him feel the need to. However, he timed it just right to see, to see as that cloud began to move again.

Began to move back towards the city.

"And we might just be out of time."

The glowing stopped after only a matter of seconds, the spell that Fate, Zatanna and the rest had just placed on her clearly doing its stuff. Shayera wouldn't normally volunteer to be tinkered with with magic, but this wasn't a normal situation. There were people trapped in that energy cloud that needed help, and damn it she was going in there to help them. If that meant that Fate and his little wizards needed to put a spell on her so that they could keep track of her in there, then so be it.

Reaching out, she snatched her mace back from the clutching hands of GL where she had dumped it to make sure its Nth metal didn't interfere with the magics. Ever since he had failed to talk her out of this he had been right there, trailing her around like some sort of lap dog. That made Shayera feel more annoyed at him. If he was being protective then he should have known damn well that she could take care of herself, that she liked taking care of herself. If it was...something else, then he should damn well have said something weeks ago and stopped acting like such a child. Damn him!

"It is complete," Fate announced what she had already realised, drawing her attention back to his faceless mask. "Everything is in place. You are now a conduit which we can use to detect the presence of other minds, a link with which we can extract them and return them to their bodies. You will likely have to get in close proximity to them within the cloud for us to separate one mind from the next, but we cannot say for certain until you are inside. And do not worry. Via the connection we shall have no trouble extracting your mind back to your body from the cloud once you enter it. Once the time is right."

"Right, well I better go let the General know. Gotta keep the people up to date with what we're doing after all. They're the public officials here," Arrow piped up there, briefly interrupting. He had been watching things unfold in silence up to that point, but it was clear what he would do. His left wing motives were never particularly hidden. He moved away after that, not waiting for any kind of confirmation or dismissal. However, barely had he gone than someone else spoke up in his place.

"You can still back out of this. You don't have to be the one to do this."

That was GL who had spoken, still trying to talk her out of this, still looking petrified at the thought of what she was about to risk. However, Shayera was far from being ready to change her mind. He still hadn't given her any kind of reason to.

"I'm doing it," she returned, voice full of both fire and finality. That was all she said to GL, not wanting to look at those green eyes longer than she had to right now. Man, what a paradox that was. She so loved those eyes, even when the mind behind them was making him a total jerk. Instead she turned back to Fate and the other magicians, facing them even when it wasn't them that she was talking to. "Be ready then. I'm going in. GL, if you're so determined to stick close you'd better not slow me down. And you'd better not be too indecisive to catch me when that thing takes my mind away to... wherever it'll go."

"I will," GL instantly responded, sounding determined at last. At least he wasn't hesitant there. Once she was in the cloud, Shayera knew that her body would end up as limp as the four founders up in the Watchtower's Infirmary, only hers would end up with a long old fall. She needed someone to catch her. He may have too distant for far too long, but at least GL was going to be there for her now, when she may fall.

"Then there is nothing left to say other than to wish all of us good luck," Dr. Fate wrapped things up. However, his voice trailed off for a moment there. It had been the witch Zatarra who had looked up first, but it was infectious. Once Dr. Fate looked up into those skies, Shayera couldn't help but match the movement.

And it was then that she saw that the cloud was moving too. It was coming in for another attack. Time was up. If they couldn't pull this off, time might be up for everyone.

"Couldn't have timed that any better," Shayera growled under her breath, gripping her mace tighter than ever. She still didn't look to GL as she addressed him louder with her next words, though this time it was partly because that cloud had her full attention. Partly. "Come on, John. We gotta go."

The moment had been such a nice one too. She should have known that the chaos was going to go and bloody erupt again and spoil it. Today really was one of those days. Hell, today had just become the epitome of 'one of those days'.

Lois Lane hadn't listened in on what the Justice Leaguers had been discussing, feeling it best to just leave them to it when the entire city was at stake. Even if her reporter's instinct was telling her otherwise, Lois stayed out of it. But she wasn't running away. She was not letting all these nearby military men evacuate her with all of the other people nearby. She would be sticking this one out right to the end. After all, Superman could always swoop in again and save her life. He had done it plenty of times before, he could always do it one more time.

Of course, once the Justice League had finished their pondering, Lois had wanted to leap right in there and find out all the juicy gossip. She had watched as the one who used to get called Hawkgirl walked off to one side, plenty of the others going off with her to do one hero thing or another. However, Superman hadn't gone with them. He'd come back over to see her, to see Lois. Clearly he wasn't an integral part of the League's plan of attack. That had surprised Lois, considering all the things that man could do.

Superman had spent the few minutes seeming rather awkward. It was abundantly clear to Lois that there was something that he wanted to tell her but he just couldn't find the words, instead always venturing off on some tangent that clearly wasn't on his original course. The fate of Bruce was an easy one for him to go for, playing on the fact that Lois still cared about what happened to that man, however dark he was. She had tried to egg Superman into telling her more, though, once she had heard more about how Bruce and the rest were still alive, but none of it had worked. Of course, things weren't helped by the fact Lois also had the sense that it was the situation that was inspiring Superman to get this far. It was odd to see it in him, but there were traces of worry there. She had wanted to inspire him to talk, but she had also wanted to avoid letting those traces of worry fester and build.

But then things had gone and meant he couldn't get around to it. Things always got in the way. Lois guessed that she should have expected all that, getting so involved with these superheroes, this one in particular. They had both heard the noise as the military and the other Justice Leaguers began dashing about with an increased sense of urgency. That had been the signal for them both to look to the skies and see the cloud moving in, Superman doing so all too readily.

"Superman here," he suddenly blurted out beside her, cutting himself off from another stuttering attempt to say whatever it was he wanted to say. He was talking to his communicator, Lois could tell, though it was still odd whenever he did this. As he was talking, Lois saw the ex-Hawkgirl and the Green Lantern launch themselves off into the skies and into action again. "Yes Captain, I've seen it, I'll be right there. Hold it off as well as you can."

Superman turned to face her then, his comm call clearly over.

"You've got to go," Lois said the words for him. "Don't worry, you can tell me whatever it was you wanted to say when you get back."

Superman's face was hit with surprise there. Clearly he had thought that he hadn't been letting on at all with all his awkward attempts at starting conversation, but Lois was sure that even someone who wasn't an award winning investigative journalist could have picked up on it. However, she also knew that she couldn't leave him stood there in surprise. The world clearly needed him, more so than she did. For now anyway. Because of that, she snapped him out of it with a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Get going. Save the day. Again."

Superman nodded then, but his tongue was still too tied to say anything more as he lifted off into the air, slowly at first and then with incredible speed. She watched him go as best as she could, but he had quickly become a red and blue blur, becoming lost in the chaos as people – flying heroes included – began swarming everywhere in the panic of that cloud coming in again.

As he went Lois couldn't help but think that for a man of such power the Man of Steel could really be so timid sometimes. Never from a fight of course, but when it came to other things... It could get quite frustrating on occasions.

Especially when Lois felt she had already figured out what it was he was trying to say, and had been waiting months now to just hear him say it.

Well, he had better damn well make sure that he and his team beat this thing. She'd hate for them all to go out without him finally getting around to it.

Batman marched, leading the group away from that centre of the energy that had consumed them. He was well aware of the others keeping stride all around him, but he didn't bother stopping or even paying any attention to them, not even Diana, not now. Now, despite all that the last minutes had brought up to distract him with, he had to concentrate. He had to plan. He had to know exactly how he was going to pull this off. They didn't have far to go, but every second of the journey had to be put to use. They only had one shot at this.

But he knew this could work. He knew it was their only chance, their only chance of saving everyone up here as well as everyone down on the Earth. And Batman honestly knew that right now he was the only chance to pull it off. Yes, he would need the others help to fend off what would surely be scores of the invading aliens. Yes, they would need J'onn's telepathy. And yes, the others were not exactly stupid. But right now Batman's mind was most definitely the best weapon that they had, and not only because of his genius intellect.

It was because he, far more than the rest, understood fear. Fear was the tool he used everyday, his greatest weapon against the scum and villainy that eternally plagued his beloved city. He had dedicated his life to using fear against those who so often threatened the innocents with it. He knew what made even the lost minds of non-corporeal aliens scared, or at least he could easily figure it out.

And he would do exactly that. He would use the changing environments of the cloud's innards to show the Imperium that they should be afraid, and he would use that fear to weaken their power on this cloud. He would use the cloud itself to show the Martians they had no reason to fear the Imperium. He would use the cloud itself to inspire them to stop this attack before it could do some serious damage.

However, a few steps before they escaped the range of the glowing light of the core, something happened that made it clear that they wouldn't pull this off as quickly as they had hoped. They wouldn't be able to stop all of the damage. The cloud suddenly vaulted around them, making Batman have to momentarily pause to make sure he kept his feet. All around him the others did the same, at least one pair of hands grasping hold of him as the others also tried to maintain their balance during the momentary shake.

But it wasn't one like before. This one was different. This one wasn't the cloud being torn apart. Batman quickly concluded what it must be, even before J'onn's telepathy allowed him to confirm it.

"The Imperium have launched their next assault," the Martian declared, a real note of panic in his deep voice. Batman turned to face him, forcing his mind to concentrate ever harder when he saw the hand that had grasped him was highly feminine despite its strength.

"Then we can't wait any longer," he firmly stated. "Make contact with your people J'onn. Make sure their listening in on what's about to happen, and listening closely. And while you're at it, make sure the Imperium can hear where we are and that we're planning to fight them. Draw them here. We'll be ready."

"Order us a pizza too while you're at it, big guy. I'm starving." Flash's speed applied to his voice too as he got in just before J'onn could answer, typically with an off-the-cuff, pointless comment that made Batman want to give him the glare. Luckily for Flash there wasn't time, even for that.

"It will take me a moment," J'onn got in straight afterwards. "Keep moving to where you need to be. I shall catch up shortly."

Batman did not need telling twice. Wonder Woman and Flash hesitated slightly, not so willing to leave J'onn behind, but Batman had the advantage of knowing that they wouldn't be doing so for long. J'onn would be pursuing them in no time, helped out by his ability to fly, and they still had a little way to go to ensure that that energy core couldn't give the Imperium a beacon to the world beyond the one Batman was about to create for them.

Of course the other two were soon caught up with him again courtesy of their powers, Flash even darting slightly ahead with a passing comment Batman knew wasn't worth paying attention too. However, he couldn't ignore Wonder Woman as she gently squeezed his shoulder as she too walked past, offering him a warm smile clearly meant for encouragement, surely knowing what he was thinking – particularly after their little trip in the core, and into each other's pasts.

But Batman wished she hadn't. He needed to think straight. He needed his mind to be its usual dark hell to pull this off. He didn't need her light infecting him now. For once, the world didn't. That was why he had to work harder than ever to fight away the feelings she inspired in him with just the simplest look, why he had to keep his face stony and grim.

The cloud would soon be at Metropolis all over again. For all the people's sake, Batman was determined.

They would be ready. He would be ready.

Holding guard in the skies exactly as Superman had instructed, Captain Atom had spotted the cloud was moving in at the very first flicker of motion. With that, he hadn't hesitated to engage, his actions alone giving all the other Leaguers up there in the skies with him the signal to follow his lead. It didn't matter what had happened last time they engaged this thing. In fact, last time meant they had to fight it all the more. They couldn't let more people die.

Without the thing being frozen, Captain Atom's powers weren't anywhere near as effective as they had been before. They certainly weren't tearing the cloud apart any more. No tentacles were falling to lead to the doom of the innocents still down below. The powers of the others weren't working either, but still they had to try. They had to try more combinations of their powers, more than they had tried before. They had to hope that they would find some combination that would put an end to the cloud's assault. But that alone wasn't enough. They had to find one which wouldn't threaten as many lives as it aimed to save.

But they hadn't found one yet. They hadn't even slowed the cloud down. Despite it having risen high into the skies, the cloud was fast approaching Metropolis all over again.

And this time it looked all the more angry. The energy rippling around it was far more intense, far more numerous, the very colour of the cloud blackening to give the whole thing an aura of true menace. It looked like it meant some real business. It looked like it was more than ready to do some real damage.

Which made Captain Atom all the more desperate to stop it.

A second later, he saw the flash of blue and red coming up to his side, accompanied by a searing red blast of heat aimed straight at the cloud. Once again it did nothing, but at least it gave Captain Atom some hope.

Superman had arrived.

"We have a plan Captain!" Superman was instantly shouting as soon as he was at Captain Atom's side in the skies. "We have a plan, a plan to get the people out of that thing! Then we can try and destroy it again, but we have to buy Shayera and the magician's time to act!"

"On it!" Captain Atom returned, though he wasn't sure exactly how he and the others were going to pull that off, even with the endlessly powered Superman up there with them.

But as the cloud got ever nearer, tentacles of energy looking like they were getting ready to strike, he knew that they damn well had to try. Spotting Shayera, the one Superman had just said held the key to this, flying up fast towards the cloud just inspired him all the more.

He was right on her heels from the second she took off, not allowing her to even get a couple of metres ahead. John Stewart was going to make sure Shayera made it inside that cloud safely, for the sakes of her and the world.

And for his own sake too.

They weren't wasting time, flying hard and fast straight for that rapidly descending cloud. Shayera's eyes were locked on it, not even the merest glance back at GL as they flew. He knew she would be focusing about know, that she would be using the sight of that cloud preparing to attack again as even further motivation to ensure she got the job done. He also knew that wasn't everything, not by a long shot. Damn, why did things have to go and get so complicated? And why was it always happening right at the same time that the world was ending? Despite being focused himself, GL couldn't hold back from silently cursing his luck.

But it was a good job that he was concentrating. That cloud was practically at the city. GL could see Captain Atom and the rest were already engaging it, aided by Superman whose intense speed had gotten him high in the sky quicker than either GL or Shayera could go. However, he could also see that all of those heroes weren't having much luck at slowing the cloud down. Hardly any at all in fact.

There was not a thing that any of them could do to stop the blasts of energy the cloud suddenly sent surging right towards the city.

A blast that GL and Shayera just happened to be in the way of.

It was reactionary, a desperate move. GL knew from the last attack that his power ring wasn't going to be able to stop that energ. He also knew that that tentacle could not be allowed to hit its target.

He could just tell. He could tell that this strike wasn't Shayera's way into that cloud. This strike was intended to kill, and kill many. Worse, its was big enough and fast enough that it appeared that Shayera wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time, even with her near instant reaction.

So GL had done the only thing that he could. Summoning up his will, he sent a blast of green light forward, using it as a lever to pry Shayera out of the way of the tentacle. He flipped her into the air, high out of the way as the power came crashing through, so intense that it thundered through the air.

Newton was the saving grace for GL himself. Pushing Shayera upwards with the strength that he had meant the opposite force dragged him down. He only just made it, feeling the blast of energy almost ripping the flesh from his back as it burned past only fractions away from him.

But the same couldn't be said for some of the people of Metropolis. Spinning in the air as he continued flying onwards, GL saw as the tentacle of energy surged straight into the nearest of the city's towering skyscrapers. And it didn't just envelop the structures as before. It wrought utter destruction. Glass was smashed, metal and concrete wrought apart, the tip of the tower torn clean off and sent tumbling down into the streets far below. In just a single second everything had fallen even further into chaos. With just one second one of the tallest buildings in America had just been smashed apart. It was a skyscraper on the side of the city furthest from the evacuation point.

The side of the city most likely still to be populated...

He couldn't know for sure, but looking at the damage GL was sure innocents had just been killed. Perhaps a lot of them in one fell swoop. However, no matter how much he disliked the fact, he was more concerned with the one than the many. With her on the opposite side of the tentacle, he couldn't see through its power-emitted light to tell whether he got Shayera out of the way in time. No matter how much faith he had in her, he was still scared, scared she might have been that tentacles first victim...

But as he surged around the energy tentacle still spewing forth energy into the increasingly crumbling skyscraper, he felt hit by relief. Shayera was still alive, still flying, still fighting. More, she had pulled ahead of him, much further ahead. Looking back had clearly slowed GL more than he had thought. He was still a good distance away, but Shayera was practically at the cloud now.

And it was clear that she was still not going to look back, even though there were no guarantees she would ever make it out of that thing alive...

GL fought to catch up, to be close at hand to catch her once that cloud claimed her mind, and to hope that the entire body of that thing hadn't become as dangerous as that tentacle was. He had to keep going, and pretend that Shayera's refusal to even look at him didn't hurt. He had to be ready.

Even over that distance he heard her war cry go up again. Without slowing down, Shayera plunged in headfirst, straight into the belly of the beast up ahead, mace swinging wildly just in case she could do some damage on the way in.

Despite knowing it was coming, GL felt the fear grip his stomach as she disappeared into the midst of the cloud, the worry that she was gone for good. It felt like forever until he saw her form again, even though it was only fractions of a second. His eyes were well peeled for any sign when he spotted her limp form plummeting fast towards the very solid ground from out of the cloud's underbelly. She was clearly unconscious, though whether that was as planned – or something worse – remained to be seen. Either way, GL had no choice but to surge after her.

With his ring projecting at the speed of light, it was easy for him to send out a giant-sized baseball mitt and catch her, stopping her all too rapid fall. But he didn't end there. He had to get Shayera – or her body at least – out of there. He had to get her away from the cloud, away from all its dangers. He had to make sure she was safe. He had to make sure that she was alive, and via the old fashioned way at that. He couldn't just rely on magic right now.

Closing the distance between light and man, he was quick to note that she wasn't scarred and burned as those who were electrocuted looked. She looked just as Batman, Diana and the rest had done before. Physically untouched, yet lifeless. Lifeless enough that Lantern's worry remained strong. He had to get her clear.

"Green Lantern to Watchtower!" he yelled into his comm device. He knew Mr. Terrific would be listening, knew that the man would be getting the message instantly. That was why he didn't bother waiting to hear him reply before getting to the point. "I assume you know what the plan was. Shayera's gone in! Beam her...body up there now! I want her checked by the docs! I want to know her minds in that thing and that she's not... That she's not..."

GL couldn't finish that sentence. Thankfully he didn't have to. Before he got any kind of vocal response Shayera disappeared from his ring-emitted hand in a flash of light, teleported up to the waiting staff of the Watchtower. She was transported up to the help she could well need.

Or, perhaps, the help it could be too late for.

"Got her GL," Mr. Terrific's voice rang back at John. "Don't worry, we'll look after her. Good luck down there."

"Yeah..." was all GL could say before clicking off the comm. It took him a full minute to get over all of his feelings about what he had just been through in the last seconds, about what he had just seen. But he was chosen to be the Green Lantern for a reason, and no matter what had just happened, he still had a job to do. Remembering that smoking wreck of a skyscraper, GL quickly turned to fly back to the action, to assist Superman, Captain Atom and the rest in trying to stop the thing, however he could.

And – hopefully – to buy Shayera the time to save them all.

Providing she was still alive herself.