Chapter 27: Desperate Men
They had failed. The forces they had sent to kill the Martians had failed. And now they had all lost.
The Imperium knew that they were beaten. They knew that the Martians had installed their cage. They could feel that all of their connection to the cloud's control core was gone. After centuries of power, they now suddenly had none. It felt like an entire part of themselves was gone, that it had been ripped clean from them. It was disabling, and it was terrifying. It made them feel even more alone than ever before.
It seemed they had indeed been overconfident after all.
But at least they had had a brief amount of warning. Before their connection to the core had been forcibly taken from them, the Imperium had felt the defeat of their assault force, even in their unified form. They had felt just how close the Martians were to achieving the cut off. That was why they took a very deliberate final action with the cloud while they still could.
They didn't have time to do everything. The beaten force were out there, running from the Martians and their human defenders, but without the core access they would have no way of finding their way back through the vastness of the cloud, no way of tracking the rest of the Imperium down. The Imperium as a whole could maybe have brought them back, but they had other priorities. Without the core, they had nothing. With the core, all they had was revenge. Either way, they were lost, with an eternity of emptiness laying before them. That was why they had to prioritise before they lost all of their control. With an eternity to search, the others would be able to find them again eventually. As for now, they had to get what vengeance they still could.
It may be their last blow, their last attack – for now anyway – but the city below them could still suffer.
It could still suffer greatly.
The fight went on. It seemed endless. It hadn't been going on long in truth. Not much time had passed since the the cloud had emerged from the ocean, and yet it felt like an eternity. A tiring one.
But the fight had to go on. The collapse of the Daily Planet building was enough to make that blatantly clear. The imagery of seeing that rooftop globe falling so many feet to the street below was powerful. Knowing that there would undoubtedly have been some people left in that building when it went made it even more so. It couldn't be allowed to happen again. This cloud had to be stopped.
And Green Lantern was right at the forefront of those efforts. Along with Superman, he was leading the charge. His ring was firing bolts of light out non-stop, in all sorts of directions, wherever it might be needed. To a degree it was working, especially when combined with the efforts of all the other heroes who were up there with them. But then, a degree wasn't enough, not unless it was a full, unequivocal degree. Batman had said that he had a plan to stop the cloud, had said so before they had allowed it back out of the waters. Well he had better deliver on that soon. The city was depending on it.
Metropolis was still emptying. The military were still running the full evacuation procedure. But it was a slow process. For a city that size it would take a long time to get everyone out, longer than they had. Down below, those efforts were clearly visible. A pair of military trucks were down there, marines getting them packed to the rafters with every man, woman and child they could extract from the surrounding blocks. It was yet more reminders that the Justice League had their own job to do.
Another tentacle was forming on the cloud, another arm looking ready to strike. They were pretty much constant now, lashing out in one direction or another. Some were decoys, others were direct assaults. Whichever this one was didn't matter. This was not a game in which the Justice League could gamble. They could not assume, they couldn't guess. They had to view every tentacle forming on the cloud as hostile. They had to view them all as something deadly. Something that they had to engage.
That was why GL had his ring shooting at the tentacle before it had even fully formed. It made a bubble, trapping the tentacle against the cloud's body, stopping it from striking out. Similar efforts from Doctor Light and Stargirl were soon following, trying to sure up his effort. On top of that, Captain Atom had their bubble surrounded by radiation, trying to discourage the cloud from trying to break through. Green Lantern was wary, though. He did not let his concentration weaken or even narrow in the slightest. He focussed entirely on the effort, on putting every ounce of strength he could into holding that tentacle at bay. Those towers below still had people in them and those trucks were holding plenty too. GL would not let them fall as the Daily Planet had.
The problem was, he was concentrating so hard on that that he didn't notice the changes in the cloud. It had suddenly began sparking harder than ever, as if its electrical charge was going into overdrive. He was concentrating so hard that he didn't notice the other tentacles forming either. Forming right behind him too. Forming and lashing out. It was a good job, then, that he wasn't in this alone. If he had been, he would be dead right now. As things were, he had a little help.
The weight crashed against him even before he realised the threat that was pointed his way. It knocked him off balance, pushing so hard that he was knocked across the skies. It broke his concentration, but he did manage to keep the light up there, thankfully enough to keep that tentacle deflected. Even more thankfully, it got him out of the way.
The tentacle whizzed past just fractions away from his face, precisely where his entire body had hung in the air just moments before. Whoever it had been that was paying attention had just saved his life.
It was then that he saw who it was. Well, he felt it first technically, but he certainly didn't delay in looking. Feeling the feathers was more inspiration for him to see who it was than curiosity alone. He had to see after that. He had to. No matter what facts he had known about the plan, he had worried. No matter how confused his feelings were, he had worried. He had worried that she wouldn't be making it out of this. Now he knew otherwise, but he still had to see her face. He still had to be absolutely sure that she had made it out of her little trip.
It was Shayera. She was alive. And she had just saved him too.
GL was feeling exactly how he knew he would when he saw her again, perhaps even more so given the circumstances. It was a feeling that he had been fighting against for a while now, but it was also a feeling that there just wasn't time for, not with all this going on. Just because those tentacles had missed him, it didn't mean they weren't still dangerous.
"That cloud must have a thing for marines!" Shayera called out over the roar of the energy pulsing down right beside the two of them. She was fully task focussed, staring down at the city below. In less than a second GL had caught up and cottoned on after his near miss. She was staring down at those evacuation trucks, the ones parked up between the towers down below them. The ones that were packed with people as part of the evacuation. The ones that couldn't travel as fast as energy.
The ones that indeed seemed to be the tentacles target...
GL didn't make any kind of comment of his own. He both didn't have to, plus he needed his concentration elsewhere. It was clear that Shayera's comment had been designed to get his attention and to direct his focus. That was because she clearly knew that he was the best hope for those marines down there. Those people's only hope was something quicker than energy that was also strong enough to get them all out of there in a hurry. The light of a power ring fit the bill perfectly. But it was still going to be cutting it pretty close.
The light from his ring won the race. Just. Imagining up a giant shovel, GL scooped up all of the trucks, all occupants included. The people down there had spotted the tentacle coming. In a mad panic they had all dashed for the nearest of the vehicles, scrambling aboard. In fact, it almost looked as if they had already been in a rush to get out of there before the tentacle had even begun to come their way. Considering the circumstances though, GL wasn't surprised about that. He wouldn't want to be on the ground so close to this thing either, not if there was any real choice.
The marines had managed to get the engines running, but the things had only just begun to pull away. There was no way they would get up to speed before they were obliterated if they didn't have help. But at least they had been aware. That meant that GL didn't have to worry about stragglers; there weren't any. The trucks held everyone that the cloud was going after.
It took plenty of effort, but Green Lantern was able to lift several tonnes of truck and people up off of the tarmac. That wasn't all either. He had them shooting forwards, blasting down the street on a track of green light. He had to. The cloud wasn't too happy about its targets not sitting still to die. It was chasing after them, even as GL tried to carry them clear. The race was still on.
Even from here GL could see the asphalt sizzling under the heat the clouds energy emitted, but that wasn't the only way in which the heat was on. Not only did GL have to keep the trucks ahead of the pursuing tentacle, he had to keep his ferrying light clear of it too, the entire line of it. The track couldn't be broken, otherwise those trucks would fall, and GL wouldn't get any second chances to save them. But he dare not lift the trucks skyward either, even if it would erase the problem of the maze that was the city streets. Every second of uplift was a second of putting less distance between those people and the cloud's arm.
At least all of that was what should have happened, how things had looked like going down. Barely had GL moved the trucks around the first corner when that tentacle suddenly halted its pursuit. The entire thing fizzled out, fading back upwards into its main body. It did so slowly too, almost as if nothing mattered, as if none of this death and destruction was actually happening. It limped back timidly, neutrally. GL couldn't believe what he was seeing. However, he didn't exactly stop to look either. He still had a few truck loads of people all in his care. He had to set them down first. Before he even thought to check out what the cloud was up to, GL had to make sure they were down safely on the road again, and were under way again under their own power. That being said, it was hard for him to keep his focus, especially when he heard Shayera's gasp.
"Oh no..."
As soon as GL could he was looking up to see what had gotten Shayera so obviously worried. What he saw made him completely understand why such a brave and experienced battler as her was sounding so scared.
The tentacle that had gone after the trucks hadn't been alone. There had been others that had burst out from that cloud, and all at the same moment. That way there was no way the Justice League could cover them all. All of those tentacles were now slinking back towards the clouds main body, just as the one that had gone after the trucks was doing. There was so many of them. Perhaps it had burnt the cloud out, drained it of too much of its power and force, for the immediate future at least. Whatever the reason, though, it didn't matter.
The damage was done.
From his position, Superman saw as all hell suddenly broke loose. Tentacles burst out from the cloud, flung out in all sorts of directions, just so long as said direction was roughly towards Metropolis.
He had acted fast, just as so many of the Justice League had done. The skies were lit up by all sorts of lights and sights as so many tried to stop so much power from hurting so many more. The League's effort, simply put, was remarkable. They had already put so much into the fight that it was remarkable simply that they had this much left still to give. Yet these were people that Superman was more than proud to call his friends and allies. So typically of them, with other people counting on them they found a way to fight on, to push themselves to levels they had never reached before.
Between them all they had managed to stop the majority of the cloud's attacks from getting through. One way or another they had stopped them, their powers being pushed to the maximum, but they had done it. Prioritising helped, with the attacks on the already evacuated areas being allowed through to focus on saving life over matter, to focus the League's energies on where they were truly needed. The fact that they managed it all without any warning or organisation was simply beyond words, but these people were Earth's fore heroes for a reason.
However, no matter how impressive their defence was, there was simply no way that they could prevent every one of the cloud's assaulting tentacles from making it through. To his horror, Superman saw as another of Metropolis' tallest and most occupied buildings was hit.
Already it was looking bad. Just as before, the building had been struck relatively low down. Not quite street level as with the Daily Planet, but it was close enough. Just as before, it didn't look like the upper floors would be left standing for too much longer. Already Superman was hearing the screams of the people inside it. It was deja vu, at its worst.
But there was one major difference to what had happened the last time. This time the cloud had halted.
Superman saw it happen. It was only a few seconds after when those tentacles had struck, or when they would have all struck of the League hadn't been there to stop them. Almost in slow motion, each of those many attacking arms was retreating back into the main body of the cloud, a main body which itself had suddenly gone still and silent. Superman thought he could guess why. Of course he couldn't know for sure, but he had a very strong feeling that this was Batman's plan beginning to unfold.
Either way, he wasn't going to deny this chance. There was no way of knowing exactly how long this was going to last. There was every chance that any second now that cloud could try to attack again. Of course if Batman, Wonder Woman and J'onn had a say then that wouldn't be happening, but right now Superman couldn't afford to take the chance. Right now he had to use these seconds to save the day again.
"GL, keep that thing covered!" Superman was quickly instructing down his comm. "Organise it with the others. Drive it back out over the way if you can. I'm going to try and help out those people down there!"
"We're on it Superman," GL's voice sounded out back in his ear. "We're on it. Be quick."
Superman shared that sentiment. So much so that he didn't even bother replying. Instead he was just grateful that speed was one of his many powers. Right now he was putting it to full use.
And hoping that he would manage to get those people all out in time. Before either the building fell, or more were put at risk.
General Mulligan saw it all from his position. He saw as the cloud practically exploded energy all across the city. From street level he couldn't see the extent of the damage that resulted from the mass assault, nor could he really see how effective the Justice League's defensive efforts proved. Those things were both irrelevant to him though. The fact of the matter was that that cloud was still there, and that major damage could be done.
No matter what any of those so called heroes said, Mulligan's mind would not be changed. That thing had to be destroyed, once and for all, never to return. It needed exterminating. Any collateral damage would be insignificant compared to the threat that thing held.
Only moments after the cloud's sudden all out assault, the entire thing seemed to suddenly go quiet. It's attacks suddenly halted, as did the entire cloud, now just hanging there over the city like a deadly omen. Once again, though, Mulligan didn't care. It had attacked too much already. He saw no reason to believe that it wouldn't be doing so again.
Unless they did something about it.
"Lieutenant, get me a sitrep on the package," Mulligan ordered to the younger officer sat in the command tent just behind him, though he kept his eagle eyes up there on the sky as he did so.
"It's just seconds out, Sir," the officer was quickly replying, having been keeping tabs on the warhead from the instant of its launch. "Our teams on the ground report they're all bugging out. We'll be lighting it up any moment now."
Mulligan felt himself slowly nodding as he heard that, though he still kept staring up at that cloud, that cloud that had already done far too much damage. That cloud he had to destroy.
"Good. And not a moment too soon."
He hadn't been the only one to race to the rescue of the people inside the latest skyscraper to be struck by the cloud's deadly energy. Flash had charged in too. That was a real blessing. With Flash running in shouting something about getting the place clear before anyone could shout Jenga, it meant that Superman could instead buy them all time. With his speed and capabilities Flash could be trusted to get the people out so long as he had enough time. Granted Superman could help him directly and cut time that way, but then there would be no way to at least try and ensure they had enough time to save everyone. This way, they had some chance of doing that.
For Superman was literally holding up the entire tower. He couldn't simply lift it clear and carry all the people to safety, not without risking people falling out of the building or causing other serious harm accidentally. But he could hold it in place. He could counter the rocking off the building as it threatened to fall. He could ensure that the structure was upright for as long as physically possible, and hope that that would be long enough.
"Just a couple of floors left to go, big guy!" Flash's voice rang out in Superman's comm piece. "Hang on just a little more before you're shouting timber!"
"Just don't dawdle, Flash," Superman returned. "It's certainly time to live up that nickname you keep bragging about."
His voice was strained as he said those words. Even a man with the strength to potentially move planets didn't find it easy to hold up an entire building. However, at the same time his voice wasn't as devoid of hope as it may have been. That cloud was still unmoved. In fact, a quick glance over his shoulder told Superman that GL and the rest may actually be making some progress in driving it back, without facing any resistance. Superman was really starting to think that Bruce, Diana and J'onn were pulling this off. He was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, just so long as the people in this building weren't soon experiencing the darker meaning of that phrase. The fact that Wally was here with him now only encouraged Superman further. He had seen the people of Metropolis starting to awaken already, but seeing Flash, one of the cloud's first victims, back in the real world was such a relief, especially as he seemed to have made it out unscathed.
But of course, this wasn't over yet. There were still more people inside that thing, including both a race long thought lost and some of Superman's closest friends. How he dearly hoped that these next moments would bring him even more relief, even more joy.
Yet it seemed fate had another twist to unleash, another move to play in this giant game of chess. Barely had Superman begun to think those more positive thoughts than he first heard it, thanks to his enhanced hearing. It was a faint whistle at first, signalling that it was still fairly distant, but Superman had heard enough of them in his time to instantly recognise it for what it was. He was also good enough at putting the pieces together to figure out what it was for. The military had clearly been unhappy that he and Captain Atom had been unwilling to simply destroy the cloud, regardless of the innocent lives doing so would cost. Apparently they had taken matters into their own hands as a result.
A missile was coming in fast, a missile that was no doubt designed to destroy that cloud, once and for all.
That cloud which was still over the city and the innocents it still contained.
That cloud that still held the Martians, Bruce and Diana...
And there was nothing that Superman could do about it. He couldn't move. He couldn't leave the tower, not now, not without sacrificing everybody who was in there. But that missile had to be stopped, and Superman knew that there was no way he would be able to talk Mulligan down, not in the time that they had.
In short, it was up to the others.
"GL, come in," Superman's voice was ringing out in his ear. He sounded worried. Very worried. "You might not be able to see it yet, but trust me, we've got incoming. There's a missile on its way. The military must have launched it. I'm guessing they've figured out a way to take out the cloud, probably based on our earlier efforts. GL, you've got to stop it."
He didn't need to say why. GL could figure that part out for himself. And Superman was certainly right. The General had gone and gotten too itchy on his trigger finger. He had panicked, and that was threatening to ruin everything. GL couldn't let that happen. He agreed whole heartedly that this cloud was something that needed removing from the Earth, but this was too early, too rash, too damaging. Especially when the Justice League were so close.
Right up until the moment when that call had come in he had been working with the other flight-enabled heroes, using their respective powers to push the cloud back now that its resistance seemed to have halted. It was slow progress, but at last it was actually working. That cloud was moving back, back towards the waters. It just wasn't doing so fast enough. It was still over the city. If it was destroyed there, all who were below it were gone. GL quickly ran things through in his head. Even with his hearing, if Superman was registering the missile now then GL could figure out that there wasn't time. They wouldn't have the cloud clear of the city before it struck, even if Batman, Diana and the rest had been able to get out of there in time. That left only one option.
"I assume you heard that," he said, speaking directly to Shayera hovering right at his side. She had been there ever since the cloud's final, multiple assault on the city. GL hadn't failed to notice that. She hadn't said anything, but she had also made no effort to move away. In fact, since there was nothing she could do to help in the efforts pushing the cloud, it seemed she was very determined to stay with him right now. GL got the sense that there might have been one near miss too many, that despite it all... No. No, he couldn't afford to think along those lines right now. Those thoughts were ones for when he didn't have people to save.
"Every word," Shayera answered him, sounding firm. Immediately GL knew that no matter what she said next, he wasn't about to argue with her. "I'm going with you."
All GL could do to respond to her was nod, before flicking on his comm. "Captain Atom, take charge up here. Keep driving that cloud back. We've got another situation that Shayera and I have to go and take care of."
"Just when we think its starting to run smoothly," came back the drawl of Captain Atom's response. "Good luck, Sir."
GL had the feeling that they might be needing it, but he resisted saying so. He knew that he had spent enough time here already. Instead, he knew that it was time to act.
Thankfully he hadn't forgotten everything for his own background with the marines. It meant he could figure out to a degree how the military people would be thinking, how they would be acting. It meant that he was able to figure out where the missile Superman had heard would have been launched from. It meant that he was able to figure out where this new threat would be coming from.
It meant that he was able, amongst all the vastness of the skies, to locate the weapon.
He couldn't see it yet, thankfully. He didn't have the enhanced vision of Superman. If he had been able to see the missile, then it would almost certainly have been too late already, what with the speed such weapons travelled at. Instead, it meant that they still had a chance, so long as they could get out there and intercept the thing in time.
"Come on!" GL was hurriedly instructing Shayera, before he was darting away, using every ounce of will to travel as fast as he possibly could in the direction where he knew the missile would be. Shayera was hot on his heels, wings thrust back for maximum propulsion, mace at the ready already. They may be travelling on a collision course, but this was still a race. And it was one that they couldn't afford to lose. Yes, that missile would have been designed to save lives, but now, GL knew, it would only cost them. This wasn't the right play. It had to be stopped.
He didn't know how long the flight went on like that, but he hoped it was a long time. Still, his gut was shouting at him that it maybe wasn't as long as they might need. Either way, it was the time that they had, and it was all that they had. For now, he could spot the missile.
For what it was, it looked big. Obviously Mulligan wasn't about to take any chances. It seemed that he had ordered a rocket packed with enough material to ensure that there was no way that cloud could survive. GL didn't want to stop and think about what that could mean for the people still in Metropolis, including the General's own men. He definitely didn't want to think about what it would mean for Batman, Wonder Woman and the Martians still inside that thing. However, there was one plus that he couldn't miss.
A bigger missile meant it was a bigger target. It gave them more of a chance to ensure that that missile didn't do its job.
Despite its size, the thing was travelling fast, as rockets do. By the time that Green Lantern had properly picked it out it was practically on top of them. GL had to stop in a hurry to make sure that he didn't sail right on past the weapon, but even as he did so he had his ring firing. Not knowing exactly what this missile was, not knowing what kind of collateral damage it could do, he knew that they had to be careful, but he also knew that this thing had to be taken out. Luckily, it wasn't the only missile GL had ever had to deal with. That was why he knew not to just detonate it. That was why he knew to go for the innards.
Shayera had faced missiles before as well, but thankfully it seemed as though she was aware enough not to go for her usual blunt force approach. GL saw her latch onto the missile as it sailed by, clutching on to its tail fins in order to keep herself perfectly steady alongside the thing. Then, with her mace sparking, she began to pummel at the missiles rear, clearly intent on trying to force it off course for if GL's own approach failed. A missile sailing harmlessly out over the oceans would be as good as a missile disarmed.
But GL had the strong feeling that the disarmament approach was not one to be given up lightly. He too was keeping tight near the missile's body, and this close he could see that the thing's size wasn't purely due to excess innards. It's casing looked thick, plenty thick enough, perhaps even fully lead lined. It seemed almost like the military had tried in a hurry to make sure that this wasn't a weapon that the Justice League could take out. That made GL doubt whether Shayera's attempt would actually work, but with his ring he was sure he could cut his way in. Just so long as he had the time to do so.
Again using his military experience, GL could figure out where all the mechanisms of the missile would be, both the triggers and guidance systems. His plan was to take them out, just as he had done with the control chips of those rockets that had threatened Gorilla City what seemed like an entire age ago. To do that, though, he needed access. That was why he was cutting, using his ring as if it were a welding torch, drawing out a circle of metal from the topside of the missiles casing. It was slow work. It had to be. He had plenty of metal to get through, but at the same time he dare not go too far and into what lay beyond. He had some idea of what this missile was, even if it was all guesswork. Captain Atom's radiation had been a key ingredient in the damage that had been inflicted on the cloud before. That meant it was entirely plausible that there was radioactive material inside the missile. While the missile was still travelling fast, and fast towards civilisation, that would be radioactive material that GL dare not unleash. If he did, he could accidentally turn this thing almost into a kind of dirty bomb. That would be even more damaging than just leaving the missile alone to strike.
Despite all that, he was still hurrying. On the briefest of glances upwards, he could see the city beginning to loom large again up ahead, cloud and all. It wouldn't be long until they were back there. Realistically, he had to get this done before then. Otherwise it would likely be all for nothing.
"Having fun up there?" Shayera called out to him. She sounded rather impatient, frustrated too. Her own effort was clearly not working. Even more clearly, she was hoping that he'd shout back that that didn't matter. GL, however, couldn't do that yet, not with it still a work in progress.
"Time of my life," he grumbled back without distracting his focus. The circle was almost complete. He was almost through. He was almost at the missiles controls. But then again, the missile was also ever closer to the city limits...
At last, even over all the sound of rushing air, he heard the chink as the piece finally became loose. GL felt like celebrating even that, but instead he pressed on. With the merest flick of his wrist he had the chink scooped up, flinging it into the air. The winds took care of the rest, carrying it clear away. That left GL his opening, and barely with a moment to spare. He did hesitate. He did not wait even the merest fraction of a second before he was reaching in, grasping hold of the guidance chips and trigger mechanisms. One hard yank and it came free, ripping clean out of the missile casing. Just to be sure, GL crushed everything that was in his hand. That ought to do it.
The missile instantly began to plummet, dropping down from the sky as if all propulsion was gone. GL watched it go, but he didn't leave it. He still couldn't stop to celebrate. Even disarmed this missile could still be deadly. Radiation was never anything to underestimate. He couldn't leave that missile to just fall. It had to be made safe.
That was why he gave chase. That was why he used his ring to catch the missile, and to gently raise it back into the sky. But he made it in time. Just about but he had made it. He was literally a stones throw from the city by the time he had that missile halted and under control, sat on a bed of green light. As he hovered there, Shayera came up to his side having released her grip on the missile when it began to fall.
"Nice catch," she spoke, though her voice sounded forcefully neutral. Glancing at her, GL could see she wasn't even looking his way, apparently not able to. Damn he would have to settle this. Damn his destiny.
But, it turned out, looking away was a big mistake. It seemed his knowledge of the military was outdated. It seemed he had made a big mistake.
That missile wasn't quite as disarmed as he had thought.
The sudden whine was his clue. However, by the time he had looked, it was already too late. By then, the second rocket had launched.
The first, the main shell, it had all just been a decoy. It was just a carrier, a delivery system, ferrying the true weapon in close to the city. Now that the original rocket had lost its thrust, it must have been the second's signal to fire. Before GL could do anything, it was firing clear of its neutralised shell, blasting towards the cloud above the city once more.
Green Lantern desperately shot at it, desperately tried to destroy it, now. Alas, it was just too small, and too close to the city. He had to try to launch it, to catapult it away, to change its course somehow. Over the city, he just couldn't destroy it, or many would die, he was sure of that. And now it was over the city.
Now GL was desperate. Both he and Shayera were giving chase, but there was nothing that she could do. She couldn't get close to it, not at the rate the missile was travelling. With the range of his ring, GL was the only chance of the two of them. But this smaller missile clearly had a more advance guidance package, perhaps even some kind of drone technology allowing it to be piloted. Either way, it was taking an evasive flight path. Either way, GL just couldn't hit the damn thing, not in the way that he knew he must.
Either way, it was getting ever nearer to that cloud. There was only one chance left.
"Green Lantern to all League personnel!" he roared down his comm. "We've got a missile incoming! Divert it at all costs! Do not let it hit the cloud! Do not let it detonate above the city!"
But it was too late. Up ahead, GL saw some of the other League heroes turn. They were so close now that he could literally pick them out. He saw as Red Tornado tried to blow the thing away, saw as Stargirl tried to scoop it away, saw other such efforts. But the General had clearly been intent that this missile would get through. No doubt there was some old Cadmus file somewhere behind it, or perhaps the weapon itself was a relic of those days. Whatever it was, now, all too late, it was perfectly clear that this missile had been designed to ensure that the Justice League would not be able to stop it a hurry.
And that was exactly what happened. To his horror, GL watched it evade all of those defensive efforts. To his horror, GL saw the missile make it into the cloud.
To his horror, GL saw the missile detonate.
At first there was the sight of the blast. Then the sound hit. But it was no volatile boom as many may have expected. More of a strong fizz. The missile didn't end in a ball of flames. It just broke apart, the various sections crumbling away and falling back out of the cloud, down towards the city that was still below it all. Yet it left plenty behind. Gas was filling up the thing, cold looking gas. It was freezing stuff, it was freezing the cloud. After all, before it had been the combination of cold and radiation that had torn off an arm of the cloud. And radiation was hardly a visible thing...
Already the signs of damage were visible. Already the cloud was looking fragile. The freezing gases did not stay visible for long, for the cloud had turned a rather vivid shade of pale blue very quickly. Not only that, but cracks were appearing in it, running from top to bottom, side to side, cracks which seemed to be leaking...something. And all of that had happened in the near instant since the detonation of the missile. It looked like pieces of the thing were ready to fall off at any moment, just as that original arm had done. It looked like the entire thing was about to die.
And it could just take so many of the city with it. GL knew all too well the effect a piece of the cloud had on a human life when it was torn from the cloud. He didn't want to see that again.
Time had all but stood still ever since that missile had made it through, for GL anyway. Almost certainly it was shock. Even ex-marines turned intergalactic peacekeepers turned global heroes felt it. At times like this more than ever. Perhaps it was also something to do with anger. He was feeling plenty of that too right now, all of it directed at the military. Short sighted, ill tempered fools. Just when it looked like the League was going to pull it off. They'd gone and thrown it all away. They had gone and made things a whole lot worse. And General Mulligan would probably go and be praised by the Senate for this...
But he wouldn't be praised by everyone. There were some people who would never get the chance to, much less be likely to want to. And some of them were Mulligan's own men. For it didn't take long for the first chunk of the cloud to fall. It happened pretty much in slow motion, yet before any of them had a chance to truly react to stop it. Some tried, but even a terminal cloud still packed plenty of energy. That burst through every defensive effort against it. More than that, it burst through everything it struck on its way down to the ground.
Including those very same evacuation trucks that GL had managed to rescue only minutes earlier. All the people on board included.
They might not even be the only ones to have already lost their lives. Looking at the state of the cloud, looking at the damage that had already been done, GL hardly dare think about how things might be inside it. More than that, he hardly dare think about how the people might be inside it...
The Justice League were acting. As soon as they could, and however they dared. GL saw it begin. He saw the efforts, saw his friends and allies resume the attempt to keep pushing the cloud away, only now trying to hold all the pieces together at the same time. He saw them continue to try and get the cloud away, out over the bay, away from any innocents below. And he saw just how futile their efforts were looking to be. He could already see it. That cloud wasn't going to move far enough, not in the time they had, not without breaking apart and ruining everything. The thing just looked far too fragile for that.
And yet they had to do something. They had to try. All of them.
Lantern saw the flutter of movement from out of his eye corner, only just in time. He was just in time to stop her. Just the sign of her moving was all the warning that he needed. He could figure the rest out without even needing to think about it. Shayera was not the type to just stand idly by while everything else was going to hell. When it was her friends who were at risk, she definitely wasn't that type. She'd been into that cloud and made it out once already as well. From her point of view, she must be thinking that she could do so again, that she could take the risk even after the missile had hit, if it would mean she had a chance of saving the rest. But GL knew different. It wasn't that he didn't want to save them, he would give everything to do that, but he wasn't about to throw lives away for nothing either. Right now, if they were still alive then the best chance for Diana, Batman, J'onn and all those Martians was to speed up the original plan. If anyone else went back in there, at best they would slow things down, and at worst... GL didn't want to think about the worst.
That was why he stopped her. Just as she was about to fly past him, soaring head first towards the dying cloud, his reflexes took hold. Whipping himself around, he practically tackled her in the skies, grasping hold tight. Typically, she was fighting him immediately.
"Shayera, stop! It's too late! You can't help them!"
"Like hell I can't!" Shayera screamed back at him, trying everything to break the lock he had put around her with his arms. Her face was bearing all the signs of desperation, perhaps even already some of the signs of grief. "Let me go! I have help them! Diana, J'onn, Batman! I have to save them!"
"You can't!" GL argued back, though it was more of a plea. He was feeling plenty of his own desperation now. Desperation that suddenly made a whole lot of things a whole lot simpler. It was a desperation that made up his mind. "Their only hope is to save themselves! And that's if they still can. Shayera, please! I... I can't lose you!"
"Oh, please, you've made it perfectly clear that that's a card you've no right to play! Now let me g–!"
She didn't finish her sentence. GL didn't give her the chance to. He knew that he now had only one way to convince her, and it was a way he took. It was something he should have done a long time ago.
John kissed her. A deep, passionate kiss. A kiss that completely tossed destiny aside. A kiss that said more than words ever could what GL had finally decided. He would follow his heart. To hell with puppetry. He loved her. And he would not let her sacrifice herself like this.
As soon as their lips touched Shayera had stopped fighting him. By the time they parted, GL no longer needed to hold on to her. He did so anyway, though. He liked having her in his arms. He had missed it in all this time. Why? Why had he waited so long? Why had it taken the world falling apart to make him realise?
"I can't lose you," he repeated, stressing the word. He spoke with such softness, such compassion that it could have been easy to forget all about what was happening just a short distance away. "We have to have faith in our friends, Shayera. There's nothing we can do for them now. I know I took my sweet time, but I hope I'm not too late. I love you Shayera. No matter what's gone before, I always have. And I cannot lose you now."
Shayera took a moment to respond. When she did, it was as if she was speaking through a lump in her throat. "You're right. You did take your sweet time. I'll not let you forget it. Now you'd best go help the others try and hold that thing together for as long as you can. I'll go help evacuate the people still alive down below. And... I'll see you on the other side."
She didn't repeat GL's sentiment, but then she didn't have to. It was relief that was hitting her as much as anything, that much was obvious. She had never made any secret of how she felt. She didn't need to say it. But what she had said was something more important to GL. She had relented. She wasn't going back in. She was trusting Bruce, Diana and J'onn.
And she was prepared to give them another go when this thing was done.
She pulled him in close before she was gone, though. She kissed him this time, with such pent up passion that it was clear she had been waiting a long, long time to do so. When it was over she didn't look back. She merely flew away, swooping down towards the city below. For one incredibly long second, GL watched her go, before he too was forced to turn back to the action. He soon had the power of his ring firing towards the cloud, ready to help try and drive it away as one unit.
If only this situation hadn't been so dire, he would definitely have felt like smiling. As it was though, with Shayera safe even his love for her couldn't be his strongest of emotions. It may have finally broken through his doubts, but right now, in this moment, Green Lantern was feeling plenty of worry too. Being with Shayera, well that would seemingly have a bright future ahead, now that foreseeing the end had forced him down the path he had foolishly fought for so long.
But the future for many others wasn't looking quite so bright right now, including a bunch of his closest friends.
J'onn. Bruce. Diana. Boy, were they in some real big trouble.
A/N:
Evenin' all. Long delayed posting here but stuff got in the way and, as you can see, kind of a biggy this one. As usual, please let me know what you thought. Any and all comments are welcome!
On a different note, there is a fair amount left to play out on this story but I have started to look at what'll happen next. I definitely don't intend for this story to be the end of the tale started in The Shroud of Fear. There will be another sequel. Precisely when I'll do it is the issue, both due to time constraints (as evidenced by the delay in posting this chapter) and the fact there's a completely original story I've been working on for a long, long time now and I really want to focus on it and get it finished first.
Which brings me to an idea that I've had; turning my FanFiction series into a kind of expanded universe similar to comics or the way movies are going. Simply put, between when "Above and Beyond" ends and its sequel begins there is scope for spin off stories, each focusing on a smaller group of Justice League characters – one or two Founders in each story and one or more of the others as support – and their exploits in that time. I've even had some ideas I'm rather fond of of what those stories filling the gap could be (one's lead by Batman, one Wonder Woman, one Supes and Flash and one predominantly Shayera with a bit of GL and J'onn), but without having all the time in the world I'm not going to be writing them.
So to keep the story and character development going that I've been building here on top of the excellent DCAU while I'm away from it, my idea is for other FanFic writers to take up the mantle and take these extra stories on. Like I said I have ideas of how I personally would do them so it might be better to have folks who want to write something but don't have the idea themselves yet, or just someone who wants to step into the world I'm building upon, but all takers would be welcome. Original ideas of your own would be welcome too, but I'd have to clear them since I know what happens in the sequel I've got in mind and what might happen in the other ones in the interim. You know, continuity and all that.
For now all I'm after is judging how much interest there is from you folks - and any others who aren't reading this who you think might be keen - to write these spin-offs, for want of a better term, within the universe of my stories. I've got my plot ideas jotted down and these can be made available to any interested parties, including those who have their own idea and want to see how it compares to what I have (just please don't ask for the plots if there is no interest on your part as someone else might want to write it and I'd hate to give away spoilers).
If it makes a difference I can say that I'd be prepared to offer ideas, help the writer develop their ideas and Beta it (as well as keeping it in continuity), but if you want to write one I'll completely hand over the reigns and let you run with it, just with the proviso that I check it before anything goes up. So either let me know by PMing or in the review (though it might be best if interested guest readers get an account on here so I can respond directly to said interest). Once I know the levels of response to this idea and when my story here is closer to the end, I'll let you folks know what's happening.
If no-one's up for it that's fair enough, but if you are then that's just grand. And who knows, if we can put together a connected universe that's good enough, works all the characters well enough, gets a strong enough audience response and tells stories that go beyond just what we all want for our personal favourites, maybe, just maybe, the remote possibility that someone over at DC and Time Warner pays attention may come to pass.
Stranger things have happened...
And after that essay (and a quick reminder of the fact I've asked for some reviews for my story as well as your thoughts here), peace out y'all.