I do not own Percy Jackson or Justice League, or any of the media attached to either of them.
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Beta read by the wonderful VixenRose1996 and MasterQwertster.
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Guest Reviews:
Guest (please choose name/nickname next time)
There is a reason Clark fell for Lois ;-)
And yeah, for a host of reasons it is a very good thing Percy did not snap and hurt Lois or worse there. At the same time, also a very good thing that Percy held back still against Superman; although frankly so was the Kryptonian given what we later see of him against Steppenwolf.
Here is the newest chapter! Thank you for your review and support! :-D
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19763939
*Shrugs* I honestly did not feel like majorly changing the plot there, or feel that it would be in-character for it to happen.
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Guest (please choose name/nickname next time)
Oh yes, Percy has accomplished a LOT more than those feats listed in chapter 4. However, Diana only ever got the cliff notes version of events, and that was enough for her. Plus she was not wanting to go into too much detail either, as surviving Tartarus and besting the anti-Poseidon was enough for this talk.
As for a certain trident, well, wait and see ;-)
Sorry for your table. But yeah, for the reanimation I went with canon dialogue, and Barry and Victor were very solemn in the Snyder Cut.
Here is the newest chapter! Thank you for your review and support! :-D
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middleschoolvibe
Very sweet to hear all that! Much appreciated! :-D
LOL no sweat on not seeing the whole Snyder's Cut. It is long. Even when I watched it, I skipped through most of the Lois stuff so as to not be bogged down. Still phenomenal work overall though.
Plot-wise, Percy and Annabeth have not changed too much until about now. Getting Bruce and Diana to change their minds about certain things would be too difficult for one. Now however we are starting to feel the ripple effect as the heroes still have the Atlantean Mother Box secured . . .
Here is the newest chapter! Thank you for your review and support! :-D
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The Second Age of Heroes
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Chapter 7: Battle for Gotham
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Previously:
While the Justice League was able to revive Superman to help them fight Steppenwolf, disorientation from the process made him fly off, and in the confusion the alien invader seized a second Mother Box. In the process, Dr. Stone marked the Mother Box with a thermal signature so that his son Victor, also known as Cyborg, and the other heroes could track it. However, on their way to confront Steppenwolf, they received word he was attacking Gotham City.
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Gold lightning cascading off of his Electro Axe, Steppenwolf brought it overhead and down into the side of the tall building, shattering it into debris, fire, blood, and screams swiftly snuffled out.
The flames from it stuck to the neighbouring homes, setting more of the city rabidly ablaze.
Satisfied, he leaped forward a hundred or so metres to repeat the process.
Overhead his Parademons swerved through the air, shooting into the foundations of more buildings to make them collapse, slaughtering those inside and spewing out more flames and obstruction into the streets, spreading more of the misery and cutting off escape for the panicking Humans.
Oh, some of them resisted. There were always a few with more foolishness than sense. However, their weapons were primitive, requiring several hits to fell a single Parademon, and they were disorganised. Meanwhile his soldiers would kill with a single shot, burning straight through whatever cover the worms attempted.
Smoothly he brought his axe down again, the door before him opening just as he was about to, the inhabitants having just enough time to see their doom.
Satisfied, he moved on to the next, working in a spiral expanding out from the city centre, which he knew from long, long experience would soon have it all ablaze.
A swing, with projectiles pinging uselessly off his back, with the familiar sound of his Parademon's promptly gunning them down behind him. Steppenwolf turned around, only to quickly whirl back as he spotted someone.
Legs caught under a pile of detritus, was a Human with white skin, green hair, and metal teeth. One of their ones with powers?
With long strides he closed the distance and hefted the figure into the air to peer at them, before scoffing. "You're just an ordinary one."
He was about to toss it aside, when they pushed past the pain to speak. Out of a modicum of respect for that, Steppenwolf allowed it. "W-what is this even for? Why?"
"Your protectors are weak. They care for others. So they will come to me."
It took a moment, and then they gaped in clear shock and comprehension, and gurgled out, "This is just to lure out Batman!?"
He had no idea who that was, so assumed it was one of those pests with the final Mother Box.
Rightfully, they took Steppenwolf's silence as his confirmation, and he could see the light fade from their eyes even though they were still alive. It was hope which was dead.
Ah, good, it understands. It even has potential for absolution if—
He jerked his arm to the side to block a hail of more projectiles, using his captive as a meat shield. It gasped out a final breath before he threw it at his attackers to bowl them over for his Parademons to tear apart.
No matter. There were more of this species.
-X/\X/\X-
"There's easily hundreds of them," Alfred continued to report. "Attacking seemingly indiscriminately. There is some resistance from civilians and police, but it's being overwhelmed. And it's taking time for the armed forces to deploy."
"What!? No! Why!?" gasped out Flash.
"To draw us out," rasped Batman, something vicious in his tone, already turning the plane around, and setting for emergency thrust. "To make us tell him where the third and final Mother Box is."
Annabeth nodded, feeling sick."Exactly."
"Because he thinks caring for people makes us weak," growled Wonder Woman.
"And each time he's fought us it's been near Gotham, and there's still enough of a trace of the Mother Boxes there," finished Cyborg in horrified realisation. "My father . . . died for nothing. Worse than nothing since we were lured away!"
"Victor—" began Wonder Woman.
"That's my hometown!"
"Your father acted upon what he knew, and did so heroically!" she cut through with a certainty that was as sharp as it was kind. "What matters here is his intent."
"She's right," said Flash, clasping a hand on a metal shoulder. "Besides, we still needed to know where the other two are."
"And we were all assuming he'd keep to a low profile," added Annabeth.
"Being seen by all those eye witnesses isn't exactly 'low profile'," pointed out Percy.
Shaking her head, Annabeth elaborated, "That could be covered up. They can't do so with this, and he's painted a bull's eye on his back for the whole world to see."
"We made him desperate," agreed Batman without any satisfaction. Clearly they, no he, had misread the alien.
Keeping her silence about that, Annabeth instead said, "Victor, right now we need you to help us figure out what's going on."
Visibly Cyborg took a moment to brace himself, then connected to various networks before projecting a hologram from his forehead. "Here. They're going for maximum collateral damage, destroying buildings for both terror and to trap the people." Before their eyes, orange images of apartment buildings collapsed, setting fire to others.
Everyone glanced at Batman who had joined them from the cockpit, only his expression was stonier than ever. The only hint of his emotions was how tightly he was gripping his fists.
Then Cyborg switched to a map of Gotham itself. "They're spread throughout the city, and what glimpses I have of Steppenwolf show he's on his own." His brow furrowed. "They're especially concentrated along the river."
"Uhm, what," stated Percy.
Mera leaned closer, having a suspicion, yet Annabeth beat her to it. "It's a trap. Draw off two of our heavy-hitters to take them on where they're strongest, trusting we'll divide ourselves to be spread thin."
"We overwhelmed him with teamwork before," concurred Wonder Woman, "so he wants to rob us of that."
"Which won't work," vowed Batman. "We might be split up, but we'll still be acting as one and supporting one another.
"Flash," he jabbed a finger to circle a wide series of blocks where the Parademons were more spread out. "Handle here, and then go here," where there were a lot of Parademons. "Direct people to retreat to where you just cleared out."
"Right!" While the speedster looked a little nervous, nonetheless he knew his speed could cover such a large territory no snap.
"Cyborg—"
"I'm familiar with this neighbourhood," Cyborg cut in, pointing to one place, with lots of hostiles. There was no question in his expression where exactly he was going to go.
"Percy, Mera, take the waterfront."
"Got it," said Percy, while Mera gave a firm nod.
"Steppenwolf's following a spiral pattern," broke in Annabeth, tracing a line of destruction that was nearly hidden by all the other fires and destruction caused by the Parademons.
"You and Wonder Woman intercept him," Batman said without missing a beat. "If you can't beat him, stall him until we arrive."
"What about you?" asked Annabeth, undaunted by the prospect of facing an alien god. Wonder Woman had her own confident gleam in her eyes at the prospect.
"Here," and he savagely jabbed a finger straight into the heart of where the Parademons were located.
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The Flying Fox streaked towards Gotham, and the heroes deployed in grim silence to Batman's commands.
"Go!"
Percy and Mera leapt off the ramp into the waters below, right before the burning docks.
A second later, Cyborg followed, carrying Flash in his arms out of the plane, and already several blocks inland. He dropped the speedster off atop the first skyscraper, and accelerated towards his own location, while his friend zipped down to the streets below in a flicker of lightning.
Wonder Woman gave Annabeth a quick glance seeking approval, to which the demigod nodded. The goddess swept her up in her arms at Batman's next "Go!", and sailed off the plane into the cold night air down to the streets below. The pavement cracked under her feet, and the citizens around them, already in a panic, stared at them in horror. Ready to bolt wildly in any direction.
"Be calm," said Wonder Woman with such calm command that there was not defying it. Yet not unkind, as it carried a faith in them. The inability to doubt they would master themselves and listen. For the briefest moment, it cut through their panic . . . and that was all that was needed.
"Grab your families," she continued. "Find those unable to move quickly on their own. Move in that direction—" pointing away from the centre of the spiral Steppenwolf was forming "—and don't stop until emergency services give the all clear. Now. Go."
Eased by her sheer gravitas, the sense of her serenity, they listened.
"What about Batman?" called out one, a big, burly bruiser, even as he swept an old lady into a firemen's carry.
A series of explosions formed an early sun amidst the heart of the Parademon infestation.
Lips twisting into an enigmatic smile, Wonder Woman simply said, "Guess."
-X/\X/\X-
There were many reasons Batman did not kill.
Practicality for one, as a non-lethal vigilante was a lot easier for the police and public to accept than a homicidal one.
How he wanted Batman to be defined: as someone who terrified criminals and saved people.
But most of all, for years it had been his fear of what he might become if he let himself walk down that path. How far he would fall, and what would become grounds to execute someone.
When Dick had died, he had . . . strayed from it. His anger had overwhelmed him, with Bruce taking it out on faceless criminals he had not let himself really 'see' as he fought without restraint. All he saw was rapists and murderers who were alive while a good soul like his son was gone.
Now though?
Now as his city burned beneath him, every man, woman, and child under threat of murder in the name of an alien tyrant?
Batman fully embraced his inner darkness, let the full force of his rage howl through him, as he became an agent of death and destruction beyond anything even Gothamites had dared to imagine.
The heart of his city was where Steppenwolf had begun, where most of the city's elites could be found. Now it was aflame, while the Parademons spread out from there, commanding the skies.
They saw him coming of course, how could they not? Filled with a detached sense of calm, Batman brought up a thermal image scanner and associated software using systems worth millions of dollars to confirm there were no human life signs below.
Lips pulled back over his teeth as he hissed, "Get outta my city you insects."
A simple yet savage flick of his thumb, and he unleashed a storm of missiles all down Main Street, right through the centre of the invading army.
The shades of Gotham shrieked and screamed their vengeance as ten city blocks became infernos and lethal shrapnel.
Hunger unquenched, Batman switched to his machine guns, and pulled to the side to evade a rain of red energy as the aliens fired back. Hundreds of armour piercing pesticide thundered through the night, tearing the bugs asunder and ripping right on through for multiple kills. The bright lights of their alien weaponry revealing all their positions to him, and there was no cover within the sky.
Another switch, and all the floodlights of the Flying Fox lit up the night around him, a beacon of hope to the people below, and goading all the insects to target him. Drawing them away from those the Dark Knight was sworn to protect.
His hull rang with impacts, metal crumpling and superheating. Except the Flying Fox, created and designed by a man with time, money, and genius to spare while preparing for an apocalypse, had built his chariot to standards even the US military would be envious of. To be the perfect vessel for the champions of this new Age of Heroes.
Only the armies of the Dark God were not so easily dismissed.
An army rose from fire and shadows to tear him down.
Which was just fine with him.
-X\/X\/X-
Many people that night would think they were imagining what happened, until others started to share similar stories.
Of how they were being pursued by the winged monsters. Certain they and their families were going to die.
Until they vanished.
Or rather, the monsters went slamming out of the way to crash through walls, windows, or down alleyways, not getting back up.
So fast they could not even see what was happening.
Some people, if they were lucky, got a glimpse of a figure in red armour stopping to make sure they were fine. Others were even more fortunate as he would stop to point in a direction, yelling in a young yet reassuring voice, "Go that way!"
Before they could give thanks, or, admittedly, demand to know what was going on, he would disappear. Running off to save more and more people.
Throughout Gotham, block after block, street after street, this is what people saw and experienced.
Their Dark Knight had been joined by a Red Knight, wielding the speed and fury of thunder upon his heart.
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Blazing through the sky, Cyborg fought against the urge to fly even faster. To remain rational, as he could not go in blind.
Tracking multiple hostiles around him, he calculated the directions and acceleration of various Parademons, and targeted with his own blue plasma weaponry where they were about to be, and started killing.
More were visible down in the streets or on rooftops. Too many.
Spinning in place, he executed an aileron roll, shooting 360 degrees as best as he could.
The aliens died again and again in bursts of blue, only for more to fly up in pursuit.
Screeching filled the air as they came after him, shooting as best they could, yet unable to compensate for his speed while aiming.
While most fliers were focused on Batman, there were still enough to go around.
I can't let myself be tied up with them either.
Of course his strongest weaponry and moves were constrained in this situation. For instance, if this was a deserted town, he could do something like lead a chase, and then shoot a block's worth of buildings down onto his pursuers.
Taking a chance, he checked his spin and glanced back at his pursuers, taking note of how they were spread out. Creating thrusters in his chest, he put them on high burn while cutting his forward momentum.
Metal squealed from the instant halt, and his organic parts tensed and squeezed under the pressure, making him afraid he was going to lose more of his original self.
Undeterred, he snapped his arms out to the side.
Caught by surprise, the Parademons soared right past him as he unleashed wide-spread blasts on maximum output, pasting over a dozen of them.
Unable to stop and celebrate, he resumed course for his chosen location.
What else can I do?
"Alfred," he said, "I'm giving you access to all the computer systems I can. Use it."
"Roger," the butler replied over the com , and promptly signed off.
His sensors reporting no other immediate threats were around, including the streets below, Cyborg risked accelerating further.
A white knight streaking across the sky as a symbol of hope.
-X\/X\/X-
Less than a second after Percy and Mera hit the water, they were rising out of it on a tidal wave as Percy channelled all of his relentless determination into his assault.
For a moment as the water rose out of the docks right before them, a single moment Mera would regret later, she . . . hesitated.
This, all of this, was out in the public for everyone to see. Full-body covering black outfit aside, her powers were very distinctive. If Atlantis knew, she would be charged with treason.
All to save people who were violent and warmongering, inferior to Atlanteans, constantly polluting the waters like she was swimming in right now and hunting the children of the sea—
A child's wail of terror, indistinguishable even on the Surface, rang out, and blue magic flowed out of her body without conscious thought, accelerating the wave.
Lips drawn back in a dangerous smile behind her mask, she said to Percy, "Let's finish this quick!"
"Only way I know how to fight!"
Her power bathed the shore in light, drawing the attention of massacring Parademons and panicking Humans alike.
Then watery hammers of thousands of tons crushed the aliens beneath them, washing away the paste.
A few droplets sprayed the white-faced civilians.
Backlighting those terrified people were torn up and burning buildings from which they had been herded, caught between the monsters preying upon them and the pitiless Atlantic.
But there was more to be seen there. A white couple holding close kids with dark skin that they had carried here. Two youths supporting an old lady who would never have been able to run, one carrying her arms, the other her legs. All of them were scared out of their minds, and yet still managed to do what they could to help one another.
"Do you have someplace to hole up?" yelled Percy, tone booking no arguments.
It was impossible for Mera to see these people as the nightmares her people spoke of with hatred and fear. They were huddled up, hollowed-eyed from the horrors they had just escaped, many still in their pyjamas. Behind them, their homes were gutted, along with many people they had known and loved.
". . . The boats?" offered one young women who screamed of being a 'lady of negotiable affection.'
Percy glanced at a slow ferry and a few freighters in the distance. Then he turned the other way to look at a series of expensive yachts behind an intimidating barbed wire fence.
A wave snapped away the fence, and every boat lit up as the engines turned on.
"Get aboard."
Needing no second telling, the frightened crowd ran for salvation.
Percy and Mera stepping between them and a city which looked like a warzone. As those people hurried by, they whispered thanks to their saviours.
"Stop polluting the water," Mera said tartly, eyes on the lookout for more threats. This was supposed to be the highest concentration of Parademons, so where were they?
"Please do," agreed Percy.
Then like a swarm of ants the aliens came.
Dozens of them.
Having spent the time mustering her power, Mera screamed and flung her arms forwards, the ocean behind her flinging hundreds of knives of solidified water to skewer clumps of them at a time.
People were still trying to board though, open and exposed on the streets.
Face contorted in concentration, Percy raised a wave of water over the refugees to serve as a barrier for them, steam erupting off with every hit.
Massive fists smashed away groups of the aliens and entire buildings.
"P—!" She cut herself off from saying his name. "Be careful!"
"No one was in there!"
Despite her shock and scepticism she fired more spikes despite the drain it put on her. Thankfully then it clicked that if he could control the water within people, he could sense where they were too.
Inhuman reflexes made him duck around a few plasma shots, and his wristwatch expanded into his shield to hold against the ones he could not.
Abruptly the assault ended, the Parademons retreating while taking pot-shots at the defenders.
Every building around Percy and Mera was flattened, and the ocean dragged back corpse after corpse into its embrace as waves flew wilder than a hurricane.
The wrath of two of Poseidon's line unleashed together in harmony.
Only the gaping ruins of the streets around the city still loomed before them, pitch black with the sky shrouded in smoke and smog, as the aliens disappeared into the darkness.
"Can you sense—"
"They don't have water in them," he cut her off. "Or, not really. It's weird. They're weird."
". . . They got us here, and now they're luring us in, away from the bay."
"Yep."
"At least a hundred of them."
"Yep."
"You're going after them, aren't you." It was not even a question, she knew with resignation. His father's blood aside, if the stories were anything to go by, nothing she had seen about this man labelled him as one to turn away from danger.
He looked back to confirm all the civilians were aboard, and at another mental command the yachts sped across the bay to the bright lights of Metropolis. Another little tweak, and the engines were going beyond their safety limits for more speed. Nothing that would risk the people he was saving, only that some rich folks would have to replace some melted components later.
. . . The people aboard would have to handle braking themselves.
"Don't worry though," he reassured Mera once that was handled. "I'm not that much of an idiot."
Despite herself, she gave him a Look.
"Hey!" he said with mock-offence, reaching deep into his gut.
Another wave rose out of the bay behind them.
"Can you put some blue into that?"
"What?"
"Make it light up. Just enough so it lights up blue. Make them think that's our big attack."
Frowning, she did so as it grew higher and higher.
"Now run while they're distracted!"
Without waiting, he dashed forward, crouching low and keeping to the shadows himself. She followed without question before it dawned upon her.
Indeed, the first Parademons they encountered were staring up at the massive glowing wave, paying more attention to it and gaining more distance from the bay.
Two spikes of water to their heads removed any further concerns for them, as the duo raced inland to continue their battle.
-X/\X/\X-
Satisfied with his ongoing destruction as he came down from another leap, Steppenwolf landed and braced himself, instincts already on guard.
He sniffed the air, slowly circling as he took note of how no one was here like the previous locations. Homes visibly emptied, and items dropped on the ground as if in haste. On guard, he hefted his axe.
Muzzle silenced and masked, three armour-piercing 5.7x28mm bullets hit him straight in the left eye.
Each round bounced off, yet even for him it made him blink and twist away.
An Amazonian goddess hit him with the power of a tank, shield slamming into his left side to throw him off balance. Her Lasso latched around his right foot in the same motion, and she yanked to make him leave the ground entirely.
Spinning a full rotation and crunching his body, he brought his axe around at her head.
Ducking under it, she put her Lasso back on her belt, and leapt for his face even as his back hit the ground.
His shaft knocked her aside, her sword leaving sparks flying across his chest armour.
Skidding back, she risked a glance at her sword, and confirmed the mystic, mythical blade was untouched.
With more grace than he should have, Steppenwolf was back on his feet.
Charging, she made several powerful swings which he parried in turn, backing up a few steps before he shifted his stance and went on the offensive. Punishing blows which she needed her shield to save herself with. No wasted moments, and pure strength to overpower her.
More bullets from a different vantage point hit his eyes, interfering with his vision and making him hesitate enough for Wonder Woman to slam his axe aside with the edge of her shield and make another attempt. Disengaging, he moved back so he was no longer being shot.
Something crunched under his foot, and he heard a beeping sound before it exploded. The ground beneath him gave out simultaneously with the concussive force pushing his foot up.
Taking advantage, Wonder Woman broke under his guard again, knocking him onto his back. Except this time he grabbed her right shoulder, pinning her down against himself. She cried out in pain at the spikes tearing into her flesh.
Sword useless, she dropped her shield and channelled her divinity into her left Bracelet, and slammed it against Steppenwolf's arm as he readjusted his grip to cleave her open.
The impact of orange energy and flying sparks broke her out of his grip, and made him drop his axe.
Whipping out her Lasso, she retrieved her shield, while he leapt for and retrieved his more distant axe.
A faceoff as they stared each other down.
"Tell me, Amazon," he said. "Why did you abandon your own sisters, only to cast your lot with these creatures clinging to their puny lives?"
Wonder Woman tried to keep her face impassive, yet found herself taking deeper and deeper breaths.
"You weren't there to protect them from me. And sadly you could have."
With a cry of rage she threw herself at her opponent.
He advanced upon her in turn with long strides, swinging his axe.
Blocking him with her shield, she rode the momentum to swing her sword at his forward foot, only for him to knock it aside with his axe.
"And you can't even save anyone now," he snorted in contempt. "You displayed your weakness for all to see when you prioritised rescuing those prisoners over stopping me. You let me lure you out with this, and then be divided. No matter how many of my soldiers you kill, the others will be overwhelmed, and I only need one of you to drag out the knowledge of the whereabouts of the third Mother Box."
"Or keep us from moving it about," she taunted, only her heart was not in it.
He kicked her flying back, and jumped up to come down with his axe crackling with power.
Stabbing her sword into the ground and planting her shield onto her back, Wonder Woman struck together her Bracelets of Submission to send him flying with an eruption of divine energy.
Buildings around them crumpled inwards, jagged cracks through the pavement before her, and she caught his sharp exclamation of pain.
She could not do so endlessly though, to say nothing of not wanting to level the very city she was fighting to save. So the goddess knew she had to rely upon her blade and wits to win this.
As fast as she could she ran towards her plummeting foe, and made her own leap. Steppenwolf rolled with his fall, and stood up as she passed overhead, glowing axe clashing against her sword to protect his face.
He spun around to face her, only for a sharp pain to catch his left hand. The sensation of a blade biting into his flesh.
Knowing his limits, he committed through a flow of swings, catching a glimpse of the blood upon his unarmoured fingers.
"So the little vermin you call a friend has more tricks," he hissed. "Only not enough to stop me."
As if in retort, shots from a Parademon rifle impacted off the back of his knee, the heat making him stumble once more. Reflexively he punched the Amazon away, lacking the proper force behind it to do more than send her back a few metres, and her shield had taken the brunt of it anyways.
More shots now to the back of his head, and his frustration showed. While he could find her if he had a moment to concentrate on her scent, Wonder Woman was not giving him it.
Honestly though, Wonder Woman wished she had properly considered learning to master her godly powers better while she had had the time. For all that she could turn herself and others invisible, she had never developed the control and concentration to do so mid-battle.
But we don't need to beat him, she knew. Annabeth and I only need to stall him long enough for the others to arrive. That's our advantage over him.
-X\/X\/X-
The sky above Gotham was nearly entirely lit red from the sheer amount of firepower the Flying Fox was swerving around.
Every headlight was gone, smoke and flames billowing off of it.
Sparing another quick glance at the flashing alerts upon his computer screen, Batman made a quick series of adjustments to keep in the air a little longer.
The constant impacts shook the whole vehicle, and half the cockpit window was gone. Through the din he could hear the whistling of wind from holes in the back.
Bullets were out, and missiles expended, yet he still had a few other tricks left.
Swerving and sliding through the sky, he came out underneath another batch of the insects, and deployed his flares. It was messy, and most missed, but half engulfed them. The lucky ones had their eyes burned out, while the rest were outright fried.
"And Alfred said those ones where a bit extreme," he smugly said to himself over the blaring alarms.
With the sky lit up, and the rest of the aliens covering their eyes from the flickering spots, he rammed through another dozen with the sheer force of his multi-ton ride.
His starboard engines gave out.
Grunting in frustration, Batman's fingers flew over the keyboard, firing off a manoeuvring jet on that side to check him from spinning. Hitting the emergency thrust, he aimed towards an empty intersection with fires all around it. Flicking another switch, he activated the one feature totally unharmed throughout this.
"COME AND GET ME IF YOU DARE!" his dark voice roared from the speakers which echoed across the city even as he went down in a ball of fire. One last challenge to draw as many to him as possible.
Impact.
Air bags deployed, and his entire body screamed at the punishment he was putting it through. The Flying Fox actually skipped over the asphalt to dig a second trench down the road.
At the very instant it stopped moving, Batman reached over to yank the cord which immediately retracted the air bags, and pulled himself out of his seat. Strong and sure despite his crash landing as he brushed it off and continued the mission.
"Master Bruce!" said Alfred sharply over the coms.
"I'm fine, Alfred."
"Oh thank goodness," said Flash, voice sounding distorted.
"Well good to know since the whole city saw you going down," said Cyborg a bit tartly.
Briefly he considered what he would say if it were Robin with him, before deciding on "Sorry. Don't worry about me, keep saving people.
"They're here."
He could hear them all outside, chittering away, some firing the odd pot-shot at his plane as if making sure it was dead.
Well, no way it was flying him out of here, so he made a few adjustments to the surviving mechanisms while also snapping up some gear.
A squealing noise of tearing metal announced the insects mastering their courage as they yanked open the ramp.
Guns raised, a half-dozen advanced into the dark cargo-bay.
Blazing headlights blinded them, as something that was more tank than car rumbled to life. A monstrosity of 7,000 lbs of blackness and dedication.
The Batmobile roared over the Parademons, swinging around to send more of them flying into the burning buildings.
He was going to need to save his bullets.
Finishing his U-turn, he drove into the night.
A flying horde pursued, a score of them flying right over the Flying Fox as it self-destructed.
-X/\X/\X-
For all that Alfred wanted to grab his shotgun and go out into the streets to kill some bugs, he knew that was not his duty.
Not because of his age, but because the place he could save the most lives was planted in front of the Batcomputer, fingers flying for all they were worth.
Camera feeds were hacked into to provide footage. Not only was he using Master Bruce's Batman satellite hovering over Gotham, he also threw caution to the wind and broke into the Wayne Enterprise satellites for additional coverage.
A quick check confirmed the National Guard and regular military were mobilising, only they were still taking too long. Clearly no one had properly passed along any warnings about Steppenwolf's appearance today. Last night. Whenever!
Tracking com signals, Alfred tried to keep as close an eye out where everyone was to coordinate Master Bruce's team. Only he dared not risk distracting them; if they called he would have an answer immediate for them, not before.
"Well at least I'm not waiting around wondering what's happening to them around the world in Russia," he muttered to himself.
-X\/X\/X-
Cyborg landed with more force than intended, too distracted by the sight of his home street in flames.
The smell of burning flesh.
The taste of ashes on his tongue.
The heat upon what little remained of his skin.
The sound of people scream—
Weapons deployed, Cyborg ran around a corner, and instantly tagged all the aliens chasing people.
"RAAAAAH!" he roared, firing shot after shot from his arms.
A warning blip from his sensors, and he deployed another arm on his back to fire to his left, seamlessly covering his blind-spot even as he marched forward.
He moved in a daze, predicting and sidestepping bolts of plasma as he picked the aliens off like he was in a video game.
Suddenly it was over, and he was alone in the street except for the people crouched down on the ground looking up at him in awe.
"Get everyone moving that way," he ordered firmly, his rich local accent reassuring them. He turned to find the next street he should go to.
"Vic!?"
Freezing, Cyborg recognised the voice.
A moment when his life hung in the balance—
And he made a choice.
Slowly he craned his head back, flesh-side first. "Still here, Sal. You get your kids someplace safe."
His old neighbour did not let it drop though."But—! Your mother, is she—!"
"Dad could only save me. Now go," cut in Vic with the same tone of command he used when wrangling his old football team into line. No hesitation as he accepted his father's intentions, no matter what Vic had been left with.
He was not broken.
"R-right!"
"Vic!" called out someone else. "The fires!"
Ah, hmm.
What's the point of missiles and super-guns if I can't put out a fire?
Concentrating, he readjusted his arms, and they released some sort of foam which extinguished the flames.
That's more like it.
"I need more targets," he said over the radio.
"Sending you coordinates," reported Alfred.
White flames lit up under his feet, and Cyborg took off back into the night, putting out fires as he went.
-X/\X/\X-
It was excruciating for Flash.
He had to balance between 'as fast as possible' to save people, yet had to keep slowing down to manoeuvre through the tight streets and actually, y'know, stop and save everyone! And not accidentally kill the people he was trying to save by giving them lethal whiplash or something.
If not for the moving laser-shots —No, that's wrong. It's plasma! Gotta be!— you would think everyone was standing still as he saw the world as if through blue-tinted glasses.
One woman he had to watch as the plasma ate through her chest in slow motion before he could arrive. With a grimace he looked away briefly before shoving a Parademon into another plasma shot before it could hit who was presumably her daughter.
It was not even a fair fight really, as the Parademons could not see him coming, and had no defence.
Which to be honest, was Flash's type of fight. Always had been when using his powers.
Deep down he was no warrior, and what mattered most was stopping the bad guys. Which these aliens unequivocally were. With no prisons to hold them in.
In what was mere seconds for him, twenty of the aliens were dead or down, and he was bent over hands on his knees to catch his breath.
For the crowd of people, it was all over in an instant.
Done in a flash.
Heh, that's not bad. Possible catchphrase? Those are cool, right?
Motion.
Jolting up, he realised that everyone had turned to him.
"What's going on!?"
"What do we do!?"
"What do they want!?"
Screaming and crying from children and all too many adults.
Desperately he waved his hands overhead, and somehow that did the trick as they settled down enough for him to be heard.
"Everyone, we're handling this! Just go—" he looked over his shoulder to confirm where he had come from "—that way!" he pointed with both hands.
"Who are you?" asked one teen, voice a little shrill with terror.
"We're, uh—"
Quick Barry, think of a good name!
"We're the Justice League! Here to save the day!"
Dangit Barry, that's a horrible name!
"But they killed Batman!" cried one terrified woman.
"No! No, he's fine," said Flash as reassuringly as possible. "He radioed us afterwards. Up and still at it."
"He just won't die," groaned one guy with a lot of tattoos over his face. While Flash did not want to stereotype, this guy screamed 'gangster.' "And all that . . . This whole time he's just been playing with us!"
Well, who knew what blowing up several city blocks would do for Batman's rep?
"Yes, yes he was," improvised Flash. "Now how about we get moving before he comes over here to yell at you?"
He had very mixed feelings about how that was what got them all moving again. Ah, it was probably more a Gotham thing. And that they were more familiar with Batman. Right, not important.
The world hyper-slowed down once again as Flash was off to save more people.
Please don't remember that lame team name!
-X\/X\/X-
Empty buildings erupted in sprays of water as plumbing burst, throwing debris around.
Fountains of over-pressurised water lined the streets creating a constant downpour. A warzone of torn down buildings, pit holes, and thick mud everywhere, casting a darkness beyond the worst days of Gotham. As if the city had been transformed into one of the worst battlefields of the World Wars.
No light to see by except for the distant glow of burning streets and eyes of his enemies, Percy swung his sword through a Parademon's leg and spun around to take the hands of another. Ducking back under swinging claws, he disembowelled a would-be ambusher.
Raising his shield, he rushed another trio, red shots impacting off his shield before he leapt over them. Swinging down he split open the rightmost head and twisted in landing to sever the spines of the other two.
Mera ducked and whirled about herself, a glowing blade of solidified water in her hands as she severed limbs. Throwing it into the chest of one alien, she quickly created another.
Abrasions and cuts covered her face and arms.
Percy's own clothes were in tatters, great rents in his armour, and wounds visibly closing at an accelerated rate.
More rushed them, itching with the urge to swarm the water duo and render them limb from limb.
Stomping his boot down, Percy targeted the sewer-line beneath them, and used as much of the Earthshaker as he dared, collapsing the street before him. They fell screeching until silenced by the water gushing down after them with enough force to knock them senseless and drown them.
Without stopping to look, he threw himself to the side and cut down a Parademon coming for Mera's back she had not even seen.
Shrieking with fury at their defiance, the aliens poured out of alleyways around them, and more appeared upon the rooftops above them, guns primed.
Surrounded, scratches on her face, and weeping tears in her clothes, Mera panted, "It was an honour to serve by your side."
Her words, her certainty that this was it, made his own rage surge even higher. The turmoil and tension building up within him.
Only never overtaking him.
His anger was but mere fuel.
And even it was a paltry thing compared to his need to reach his wife. Any despair withering before the knowledge she was fighting a god-slayer.
I'm coming.
The storm within his chest exploded out of him as wind and water, tearing down and flattening everything around him and Mera for a twenty-metre radius.
A howling wrath that threw buildings and bodies to crush and smash aside over an ever greater distance.
Throughout it all, safe within the eye of it all, Mera could only stare at the icy calm on his face.
In a blink it vanished as he lowered his arms.
Percy Chase-Jackson sucked in deep breaths for a few precious seconds, before his face hardened further and he stomped through the mud without a word.
Despite her own exhaustion, Mera waved her hand to solidify the mud before them so they could move faster.
The silence was broken by a familiar chittering, as more Parademons flew towards them.
"Oh c'mon!" snapped Percy.
-X/\X/\X-
"Note to self," muttered Batman. "Next version has rear-firing weaponry."
A small army of Parademons was on his tail, and he had no way to shoot at them. He could swerve the Batmobile side to side a little, yet mostly he was relying upon speed to dodge their shots. As it was, a few still pinged off the side of his car.
Of course, at over 150 mph he could only risk moving so much.
"Alfred, are Mera and Percy free to talk?"
"No clue, sir."
"Put me through to Mera, she's less likely to be doing something reckless."
"Batman?" went Mera's voice a few seconds later, sounding tired.
"I'm leading the rest of mine towards the harbour. We'll finish them off together."
"I— alright. They've led us away from the bay, but I—" A few grunts crackled over the radio, and he waited. "They'll probably follow us. Got to go!" The signal cut off, yet he was satisfied.
A large building appeared before a T-intersection with no way through: the local Red Oak Hotel. The whole branch of those hotels could be found across the eastern seaboard, and were very fancy, especially with their stain-glass windows.
Bruce would know, he owned the franchise.
Had been on first-name terms even with a lot of the night staff there.
Now it was a gutted death trap, still burning away.
Snarling, Batman fired the cannon, blowing a hole straight through what had been the lobby, elevators, and everything else on the first floor. He barrelled through the collapsing rest, even as behind him the entire twenty-story building crumbled down upon his pursuers.
He liked to think the ghosts of Mark and the rest took some vindication in that.
Unfortunately there were even more aliens after him, with enemy reinforcements coming in at the sides.
Fortunately they were not smart enough to consider any strategic withdrawals. In fact, their losses only spurred them on all the more.
One came out of an alleyway, slamming into the side of his vehicle, and he snapped a fire hydrant off. Deftly he corrected himself, only more were swarming now, knocking into him, and even pulling themselves atop.
Right then.
Throwing what little caution he retained to the wind, he accelerated to 205mph in a heavily urbanised environment as he manoeuvred through streets he knew like the layout of his own house.
They were now moving out of the zone he and the team had designated as heavy Parademon ground though, and into where the aliens had not yet hit though.
Another building appeared at the end of the road, and with seconds racing down he could see people on the sidewalks outside, hurrying to flee. More were likely in the buildings themselves.
An impossible choice to make.
Trapped between the monsters and those he would die to protect; only it would be pointless if they were still left vulnerable to be devoured after those monsters were done with him.
Except Batman was all about preparation.
Years and years considering every possible danger and threat, and thinking of solutions. Strategizing his way around them. Learning what he needed to solve it. Inventing the solution if need be. Practising them.
And this was his city.
"DOWN!" bellowed the speakers, and everyone dropped without thinking.
Hammering the brake and spinning the wheel, he made a turn at 205mph, vision going grey at the edges from the crushing g-forces.
Smoke bellowed out of the Batmobile's sides to cover the street like fog.
Most of all, as expected his sheer momentum meant a perfect turn was impossible, spinning him around so now his guns were facing towards the aliens.
Machine guns shredded the insects by the dozens as he drove in reverse, and they fixated upon the clear threat he presented them. Leaving the civilians safely ignored behind.
A running car-fight at night while driving backwards at high-speeds while who knows who or what would be down the roads risking him running over? In Gotham?
Child's play.
Even Robin had not been allowed to drive the Batmobile until he had proven he could do the same.
"My city, my rules," he hissed back as the aliens came for him and left their dead littering the streets. Adding their blood and bones to a place which clutched those things tight and dragged them down deep into its grim soul.
-X\/X\/X-
Moving on foot now, Cyborg stopped to inject a spiked-probe into the pacemaker of an elderly woman, adjusting it to get her back on her feet.
"Thank you, thank you," gushed her son, hefting her back up onto her feet.
"Keep moving that way, and turn right onto Elmwood," ordered Cyborg. "Flash has cleared that street. Keep moving towards Metropolis."
"Hah, now we know it's the end of the world if we're willingly going there!" said a pale-faced teen, obviously trying to make light of the situation to hide their fear.
Snorting, Cyborg said, "They may be obnoxiously cheery and neat freaks, but at least they don't wake up honest citizens in the middle of the night."
That got a round of barked laughs, despite the stress in them. It did the job though, as they started moving, with Cyborg slapping shoulders as encouragement and to keep them going.
A ping on his sensors, and he turned around to see about twenty more of the aliens flying up, guns raised and prime.
Having picked up more experience, he fired a flash-bang missile to blind them, and jetted to the side while firing.
Plasma impacted where he had been a second ago, and in turn their shredded corpses rained down.
A shriek, and he turned to see a dozen more coming from the side.
Gunfire erupted behind him, and a storm of bullets brought the Parademons to a crashing halt.
Turning, Cyborg beheld Commissioner Gordon in his signature hat and coat, while around him was an army of cops. About a third were in riot gear, more clearly having been out on patrols, while the rest looked like they had just run out of bed.
Around them were many more people brandishing an armoury's worth of weaponry. It even looked like more than a few gangsters and outright mobsters had shown up, wielding their own guns.
A roar of engines, and around the corner came a line of army trucks doubtless from STAR Labs, and out poured all the soldiers from there.
Police cars bearing the Metropolis logo pulled up, packed full with grim-faced patrolmen. A few faces from yesterday's mess at Superman's memorial even.
All of them looking up to Cyborg for direction.
Well, he carried this city with all its grit and spite down into his blood and bones as much as any of them, and knew precisely what to say.
"GOTHAMITES!" he bellowed. "ARE YOU GONNA LET THESE OUTTA-TOWNERS MESS WITH OUR CITY!?
"NO!" they roared back in defiance and fury.
"SHOW THEM WHAT WE'RE MADE OF!
Swirling around, he spotted more of the alien wannabe tourists and opened fire, while an armed mob of angry Gothamites followed him as a wave of bullets and violence.
-X/\X/\X-
Against a larger, stronger opponent, conventional wisdom was to rely upon agility to win the day.
Unfortunately, Steppenwolf knew this as well, and was fast and skilled enough to negate this advantage.
As she fought the alien behemoth, she could only dodge so much. Every swing he made of his axe was wide and powerful with zero wasted effort, able to kill her with a single blow.
She grunted as her shield took another hit, directing it aside and moving in. Only to duck under his punch so the best she could manage was to scrape her sword against his torso.
His knee clipped her in the shoulder, and sent her flying into the side of a building.
Red shots from one of Steppenwolf's own former rifles smashed into his face, making him scream in fury and a touch of pain. His efforts to turn away made Annabeth instead target his hand, only for him to pull it aside so her shots missed.
Grunting, Wonder Woman pulled herself free, and prepared for another attack.
Roaring, Steppenwolf leapt for where the shots had been coming from, seemingly leaving himself wide open, only she knew it was a trap.
Moreover, she knew Annabeth knew the same.
He brought his axe down to blast debris and dust around, while Wonder Woman heard the familiar whisper of one of Batman's grappling hooks reeling in the demigod to right beside her.
An explosion erupted before Steppenwolf throwing fire and sound into his face so that by the time it cleared he only had a moment to widen his eyes before an apartment complex collapsed down upon him.
"Architecture," whispered an invisible Annabeth with a touch of malicious glee.
The warlord broke his way out of the rubble, and the hairs on Wonder Woman's spine rose at his furious silence.
She was right in front of him, except instead he turned away to leap into another building, and tore his way through to the other side.
Horror filled Wonder Woman as she snapped out her Lasso to swing after him. Instantly she calculated that they were moving away from where their other team members were, and she feared to know how much Steppenwolf was keeping aware of the ongoing battles across the city.
The faint snap of a grappling hook behind her meant Annabeth was following, yet too far behind. They were being split up.
Even moving as fast as she could, Wonder Woman already knew she was too late as she heard the screams.
Amidst a crowd of people, Steppenwolf brought his axe down and tore apart and fried everyone within half a block.
She landed ten metres away from him.
Sweat drenched her torso, blood from her multitude of cuts dripping down her side, she stood surrounded by those she had failed to protect. Mocking her.
While in turn Steppenwolf had only a few cuts and minor burns to show for the entire fight. He was not even looking at her, appearing vulnerable as he took the time to drink in the sight of the dead littered around them, and then the burning city stretched out around them. Only then did he deign to look at her, and his calm, even, grating words chilled her to the bone.
"I watched your island burn," he said without preamble. "Your sisters begging for their lives. As did your mother."
How could he know!? she thought as the blood drained from her face as he cruelly cut to her heart. How could he know!?
"Liar," she managed weakly, except even she could hear the fear and doubt there.
Spirit torn and unbalanced, she hesitated as Steppenwolf rushed her again, only barely managing to raise her shield to defend herself from the mighty two-handed stroke which sent her flying through a building.
She skipped and broke through a line of cubicles. Hauling herself up, she realised she was in an office space. Along one wall was a sign reading, "Wakewater Life Insurance Company: A subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises."
Great, she thought, refusing to take that as an ill-omen.
He smashed through the wall, scattering desks and thin walls before him as he rushed her, even as the floor crumpled away behind him.
Refusing to fight surrounded by obstacles, she dashed to the main pathway, and ran for her life towards the windows, leaping through to the streets below.
Only to realise her unforgivable error as she landed before a crowd of more people trying to seek shelter even as their city turned into a warzone threatening to consume them all.
Not daring to move, Wonder Woman spun around and brought her shield up to block the savage blow like a meteor. The ground crumpled beneath her, shoving her trapped into a hole in the pavement, shield dented.
Confined and body screaming, she could only stare up as Steppenwolf raised his foot to crush her—
A block of C4 hit him in the face and detonated.
Raising her shield in time, Wonder Woman rode out the blast, and flexed her muscles to make space.
Shaking his head, Steppenwolf stopped to sniff for some clue, and then plasma hit him in the face once more. Snarling, he tracked where it came from—
Gold flashed over his vision as the Lasso of Hestia looped around his horn and Wonder Woman yanked herself out of the ground, sword cleaving through the space between them.
He backhanded her aside, sparks flying as she struck his armour, but she still managed to still block his axe's attempt to cut her in twain.
"EVERYONE RUN!" screamed an invisible Annabeth.
"You only delay the inevitable!" bellowed Steppenwolf. "The Great Darkseid is nigh! With His arrival you shall find absolution!"
"Not a chance," said Wonder Woman, raising her blade high.
She could not use her Bracelets here with so many vulnerable innocents around.
Well, no, she could.
But only by becoming the very sort of monster she fought.
If not even worse.
Whatever the cost, be it their very lives, she and Annabeth would hold the line here.
Whatever. The. Cost.
-X\/X\/X-
Kansas
Feeling life settle back into his bones, Clark Kent hugged his mom and fiancé tight, secure in the feelings of love they shared between themselves.
Knowing that just for this one moment, all was right in the world.
-X/\X/\X-
Still driving backwards, Batman raced through the streets of Gotham.
The Batmobile rocketed with impacts, and a glance at his rear-view mirror confirmed that he had driven right into another pack of Parademons.
Worse, they were on his car.
Locking the wheels, he spun in a circle to fling them to their deaths against the buildings around them.
Even more landed the second he was facing forward again.
With their bare hands they tore the guns out of their mounts, and started digging claws into metal alloys which had withstood glancing hits from their alien guns.
"Critical damage," announced the Batmobile computer. Alarms blared, and in a matter of seconds his cockpit was ripped open to reveal their snarling faces.
Driving one-handed, he shot them off with his own captured rifle of theirs.
At over 200mph he swerved as more of the insects threw themselves at his car, while his multitasking was stretched to its limit.
Ominously the Batmobile tilted as a tire went out, and he drove past three Parademons so close he could feel the brush of their claws against his cowl.
This'll require perfect timing.
Dropping the gun into his lap, he armed, targeted, and fired his remaining missiles with a quick few switches.
Rockets burst straight up into the night and tracked back down.
Flares burst free into faces, just as fiery death rained from above.
All as he yanked hard upon the wheel to bring his car around more than it could actually handle while stomping upon the brake.
It flipped into a spinning hunk of metal spitting more flares, his ejection seat missed by his pursuers who flew around the corner despite being half-blind. Insects from the way he had been coming were similarly impaired and they flew into one another. Panicking they clawed and savaged their fellows in a panic.
Amidst this, Batman swung to the ground on his grappling line, landing on his feet with bandoliers of explosives covering him, and an alien super-rifle in his hands.
-X\/X\/X-
Annabeth's bone-blade cut once more into one of Steppenwolf's fingers, and then threw herself aside as his axe spun where she had been.
Blood flew, yet not nearly enough, and while Wonder Woman drove him back a few metres, he quickly reasserted himself.
His flesh is too thick for me cut more than a few muscle fibres at a time, she concluded dispassionately.
This was not the sort of enemy Annabeth was readily able to face. Wielding power on par with the Giants, largely immune to her weapons, and not the sort she could undermine with words either.
Not that she regretted her choice in being the one here supporting her friend.
Unbeknownst to Alfred (this was one of the times it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission), she was tapped into a lot of his feeds and reports as she multitasked, and it was clear that the others were essential where they were.
It was hardly ideal or 'fair,' but what about their lives was?
It was their job to make it fair.
Once more Wonder Woman aimed a killing blow at Steppenwolf's head, only his guard remained too strong, managing only a sparkling cut against his chest.
Wait.
The entire battle raced through Annabeth's mind with perfect clarity, and she bit back a curse.
Every time Wonder Woman's sword hit his chest, she had been cutting the exact same spot.
A shift of her position confirmed a line across his armour, one she had just recollected deepening. Wearing down his defences from somewhere Steppenwolf considered impervious.
Only we can't coordinate on it without him overhearing! She must've thought it up on the fly after the first one!
Her mask was all well and good for concealing her identity, yet next time —Not that Percy or I are doing this again!— she was going to have a way to talk without risking giving her position away.
People were still running away around them, and their battle shifted streets twice already as Steppenwolf aimed to overwhelm Wonder Woman without distractions.
Covered in her blood and relentlessly defiant, Diana was more of a Goddess of War than Ares or Athena had ever managed to be.
Only she can't continue this forever, knew Annabeth, trying to think up an angle.
A car gave her an idea. Shooting out the lock with her silenced FN P-90, she stabbed her knife into the keyhole and turned it, thankful it was an older model. With a rock on the brake, she sent it screeching towards Steppenwolf. He skipped back, doubtless expecting more explosives, unaware she was nearly out of them.
Hopefully the owner's insurance would cover the damage.
And had more ambitious plans in mind, as still invisible she leapt off the roof of the car onto his chest.
He stiffened at the impact, and her hands bled despite the metal plates in her gloves as she grasped onto the spikes to hold herself there.
Unable to see Annabeth, Wonder Woman made another flurry of attacks while Steppenwolf tried to shake off whoever was clinging to him.
It was a wild, reckless plan, one deserving more of her Seaweed Brain, except it was the only way. The canny alien was keeping too alert for her sneak attacks to expect a frontal assault.
She stabbed upwards with her drakon-bone sword at his eyes, and sensing the rush of air he snapped his teeth around to lock onto her blade. With a flick of his head her weapon went flying, and she pulled herself around under his arm as he tried to brush her off, and kicked away. More spikes on his arm scratched her as she held tight onto her hat.
Wonder Woman's eyes widened at the explosives left planted over the growing-cut she had been leaving.
"Boom," hissed Annabeth, hitting the detonator.
The explosion barely staggered Steppenwolf, and he made a calculated swing at Wonder Woman as she leapt at him. Switching to her Lasso and sword though, she used his horn again to pull herself over his axe, and managed a shallow cut to his face, barely missing his eye.
Snarling, he punched her away, missing how on her backswing she struck the same place upon his chest once more. A growing gash which had just been minutely yet decidedly softened by the last of a certain demigod's pyrokinetics.
Plasma erupted into his open mouth, making him gag, and Annabeth switched positions to snipe again.
-X/\X/\X-
"Got the Metropolis boys helping escort the non-combatants back," grunted Commissioner Gordon.
"For the best," said Cyborg, stomping alongside him. Although he felt a little guilty for excluding them from his earlier speech, even if this really was more of a Gotham thing. Well, surely they got that they were not the outsiders in this context? Maybe say something later.
"What do I call you by the way?"
"Cyborg."
"Right, nice and easy," said the top cop, and veteran of the Marine Corps, hefting his plasma rifle. His iron authority and the fact that every Gothamite was looking to him for direction meant that even the military colonel present was following his lead. "You're even chattier than Batman is."
". . ."
"Hpmf," went Gordon with a small smile, doing nothing to alleviate the darkness in his eyes.
The lights were out on this stretch, and their army kept swallowing up bewildered stragglers, sending those unwilling to fight in the right direction to safety.
"Need a sit-rep," sent Cyborg to Alfred.
"Last major pocket of resistance in this part of the city is up ahead, but I don't know how many there are. They're taking out the cameras."
Frowning, Cyborg addressed the Commissioner. "They're getting smarter. Looks like we're walking into an ambush."
Giving a sharp nod, the man turned to a mob bruiser with a list of scars across his face. "Have your people flank through the alleyways. Keep in sight of one another at all times, and keep your eyes on the rooftops."
"Sounds good, Commish," rasped the crook. "Just like trying to handle the Bat." Sneering with an eagerness for violence, he drew back to direct his lot about.
"Bullock," barked Gordon next.
"Sir," said a heavy-set man in his pyjamas with a bullet-proof vest thrown over. Despite his girth, his gaze was as steady as his grip on his shotgun.
"You watch our backs. Make sure nobody sneaks up on us."
"Right."
Hustling forward, they turned into a lit-up block full of confused people hurrying away from the distant fires, and staring at their phones in confusion, waiting for the internet to come back on, or an emergency texting or radio alert or something.
Oops.
Quickly Cyborg blanketed the whole city in signals informing them there was an emergency and they were to evacuate to safety, and giving directions where he could.
Gordon shot him a sardonic look as all the phones started beeping, before telling the crowd to get moving. More people started to come out of the apartments lining the streets.
"What's happening Commish!?"
"Wow! What's with that guy? Hey, buddy, you one of them superheroes or something?"
"This what the pigs're spending our tax dollars on?"
"Whole city's burning!" shouted Gordon, cutting through them all. "It's an alien invasion like those Kryptonians! Follow our people to safety! Leave everything, and focus on saving each other!"
Ignoring their complaints and calls, he strode through the crowd, the grim men and women following sweeping their gazes everywhere. This silent testament to the seriousness of the situation shutting people up more than yelling ever would.
"Anything?" whispered Gordon, eyes sweeping the sky.
"Nothing," muttered Cyborg, frowning in concentration. "They're here, but—"
His singular eye shot open in horror.
"They're—!"
Screams of terror cut through the night, followed almost instantly by the sound of shattering glass.
Broken pieces rained down upon everyone below, as Parademons stormed up to apartment windows from inside, and began shooting down into the kill-box.
A rain of red plasma slaughtered people around Cyborg and the Commissioner. Some out of habit tried to grab cover, only to be gunned down as they moved, or after discovering how paltry their protection was in comparison to Batman's.
Yet the survivors did not go out gently into the night, returning the favour with all the hate, defiance, second amendment rights, and love of the people they were fighting to protect.
Many people still within their apartments resisted, especially if their own families were still inside. Those who shot at the monsters in their homes with their own guns were vaporised, while those who attacked with kitchen knives or furniture were tossed down to the streets below. Inspired by it, some Parademons started throwing sofas next at the Humans, cackling all the while.
Desperate, Cyborg rocketed up into the air to draw fire and to make his own precision sallies back at the aliens. Plasma missing him tearing up the buildings, and he feared them collapsing down on everybody.
He was clipped, sending him spinning into three more shots, which made him scream even as his jets there were destroyed.
On instinct he poured power into his foot-jets to rise even higher. Goading them into finishing him off when he was their greatest threat.
Glimpses of the mob bursting into rooms to take on the Parademons in close quarters flashed across his vision and he ducked and weaved, unable to concentrate enough to shoot back accurately.
More plasma charred his formerly-pristine body, and he could feel his body temperature rising as his vision went dark.
Howling in defiance he reversed course and came down like a thunderbolt into the nearest occupied apartment, right into the face of the alien.
If he died, he died on his feet with the mother of all quarterback tackles!
-X\/X\/X-
Batman threw a beeping explosive at a trio of Parademons who had chosen to land to shoot him.
Unable to confirm they were down, he tracked two more of the insects and how they were holding their rifles. Through years and years of experience, he calculated where they were aiming, and ducked and weaved to not be there.
Rolling to the side he snapped up his stolen alien rifle to make two precise kill-shots to drop them.
Instincts screaming at him, he fired his grapple to the side without looking, and pulled himself away from another barrage aimed at his back.
Whirling, he fired four more shots to put them down, and threw a smoke grenade to duck into an alleyway.
Three flew in after him, only to die in another fireball.
A moment later, he was on the rooftop. Two bugs shot at him, but he blocked them with his vambraces, and fired from his hip. As they fell, he rushed for the edge of the roof to fire down at more pursuers.
There were still at least two dozen left though, with who knew how many more on their way.
As much as he hated to admit it, finishing this pest control on his own might be too much.
Only he dared not distract the others from what they were doing.
Grimly he swooped back down into the fight.
-X/\X/\X-
No time no time no time no—
Flash shoved the man out of the way in a flying tackle, grabbing him close to tuck and roll with him. Fire burned against his side as the plasma grazed him, making him scream—
The blue tint vanished and the world sped up, leaving Flash sliding across the ground holding the stranger close even as his back burned from him carving a divot through the asphalt.
Biting his lip in pain and tasting blood as he did so, smelling something burning underneath him. Legs too numb to feel while he could only lay there, bells ringing in his ears.
Two Parademons marched up to stand over him, and they were grinning with their sharp teeth as they raised their guns. Dragging it out.
Barry wasgoingtoseehisdeathcomingsoslowandhewassoslowgetup!
Two blasts of plasma—
Erupted out of the chests of the aliens, and they collapsed down.
Releasing a whimper, Barry pushed himself up enough to see a woman, face lined by age and worry, two kids clutching to the back of her shirt, lowering the gun with shaking hands. A dead Parademon he had dealt with upon arrival lying near her.
"Nks," he croaked out.
More people rushed over, pulling the unconscious man out of his arms, and confirming he was okay.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" asked one man in a nurse's outfit.
A young man broke the seal of a water bottle and offered it to Flash, which he immediately guzzled it down.
Coughing, he rasped, "Get me up."
Carefully they did so, and he was overjoyed to learn that while his legs lit up with pins and needles, he could stand. Sort of. He was leaning on a guy built like a truck.
Then his mind caught up, and he looked at the empty bottle still in his hand.
Who carried that with them while running for their lives?
Seeing his obvious confusion, the guy who gave it to him, just screaming being a school nerd, nervously said, "I got it from the cart." And then he pointed at an abandoned hot dog cart standing nearby.
"Food. Please," grit out Flash in what he thought was a reasonable tone, although the way people jumped into action, they may have misinterpreted it and his expression. Swallowing back the agony for a second or two, he managed what he hoped was a more polite tone, "I've got some healing to do."
-X\/X\/X-
Percy stabbed the Parademon through the throat, and whirled on the spot to search for more.
There were none.
Lowering his shaking arm, he took in the sight before him, dimly taking in how he was standing upon a mound of corpses.
Before them on the horizon, the city was full of fire, and the smoke blocking out the dawn.
Mera collapsed to sit down upon another body, sucking in deep breaths.
The entire harbour and docks was nothing but a wasteland now.
Dozens, hundreds of bodies littering the ground around them, atop of whatever ones had been washed away.
Distantly he felt horrible about how that would further pollute the waters, and resolved to fix that later.
Whenever that was.
Blurrily, Percy reached out with his senses, and staggered to a piece of debris. Groaning with the strain, he flexed his knees and lifted up a large piece of drywall with his own hands.
Underneath, cowering in the mud, was a kid.
Weakly Percy pointed vaguely towards the bay. "Go that way. Safe-ish."
The boy or girl scurried out and hurried away.
"Right," said Percy, stumbling forward a little more, grabbing a battered cup and holding it to a pipe weakly spitting water. He gulped down several cups, and felt his energy restoring.
A scuffing sound heralded the arrival of Mera, and she accepted it from him with the sort of reverence as if it were a jewelled chalice.
"Now what?" she croaked, throat still parched despite the amount she had guzzled.
"Keep going, and see if we can find a car or something," he said adamantly. "Morning's not here yet."
-X/\X/\X-
Switching tactics, Steppenwolf scrapped his axe-head against the pavement to send debris flying at Wonder Woman. Raising her shield to cover her eyes, she missed his overhead swing which threatened to buckle her knees.
As he pulled back for another strike, she leapt up—
It was a feint, as his massive, alien paw grasped her sword-hand in a crushing grip.
Despite crying out, she rammed the edge of her shield into the elbow of his axe-arm.
He kneed her flying, holding on tight so her sword slipped out of her grasp, and he flung it the opposite direction. Turning, he kicked a fire hydrant so it went spinning through the air.
Moving before her conscious brain caught up, Annabeth threw herself to the ground to avoid being killed by it as smashed through the brick wall she had been standing beside.
Seeing her hands before her, she knew she had lost her Yankees cap in the rush.
"There you are," hissed Steppenwolf with satisfaction. "I could smell your weak blood."
Knowing she could not possibly outrun him, Annabeth briefly considered the Fake Surrender routine before concluding it would buy her nothing. For someone who saw compassion as weakness, only strength meant value. As she was 'weak,' he would never believe she knew something of value, considering Wonder Woman a much more likely source of information.
"What makes you think you think your master won't lose a second time," she shot back, hoping to at least anger him. While not risking saying Darkseid's name aloud lest that carried power like other godly names back home.
Growling, he closed the distance and raised his axe.
In a golden blur her Death struck—
Perfectly timed Annabeth leapt up passing by the weapon, feeling burns from the crackling tendrils of energy it emitted.
The concussive force from his hit would have been enough to throw her over his head alone, except she had left her rifle behind to burst open in a spray of plasma.
Heat washing over her legs, she twisted into a summersault and kicked the back of his head as a springboard to flip through the air.
He whirled around—
And Wonder Woman stabbed him through the chest with Annabeth's drakon-bone sword.
Steppenwolf roared in shock and pain and hate as he felt it dig past the bone and draw blood.
Like Annabeth, the Amazon kicked off of him to evade his swinging arms, being sure to draw the blade so it tore out through more flesh and broke the last of the thin metal gouge she had carved into his armour.
Snarling, he stumbled back, raising a hand to feel his chest, and see the blood painting it.
His blood.
With a cry, Wonder Woman threw herself at him.
In answer, he threw his axe at her.
Surprised, she barely managed to bring her battered shield up in time, and it knocked her aside.
Distantly Annabeth had to appreciate the sheer calculation behind his move, as hitting the Amazon deflected the axe so now it was coming straight at her. Throwing herself aside, she just barely managed to dodge it. Firing her grappling hook, she then pulled herself even further.
Only to look back in horror.
There had still been people trying to flee the fight, and Steppenwolf's weapon had torn a family apart.
The father was dead, and the mother maimed until Steppenwolf landed on her. The poor woman burst like ripe fruit underneath him, and the nightmarish being plucked up their screaming child in his clawed hand, easily encircling their head as he silently threatened to crush it.
Hefting his axe in his other hand, he chuckled at her and Wonder Woman's expressions.
"Ah, fools like you always falter when your youths are threatened. Now," and his voice shifted to carry an undercurrent of absolute malice and that he was absolutely done with both of them. "Where. Is. The. Mother Box?"
The fate of the entire world, or the life of a child sobbing their eyes out in front of them, doused in the blood of their parents.
Everything slowed down as Annabeth struggled to find an angle out of this.
"It seems you're not taking me seriously enough."
Shrieking child still in one hand, he charged Annabeth, and she instantly knew Wonder Woman was too far away.
Without looking she fired the grapple behind her, only to know from the impact her blind shot had failed.
Refusing to give up, she retracted it even as she tried to start moving. Searching for some sort of weapon to save herself.
Something was attached to the grapple by the weight.
Twisting her head, knowing it might be the last thing she saw, her vision turned to see a hole in a far wall—
And Wonder Woman's sword rocketing towards her in the hooked end of the line.
Dropping the tool, she raised her hand to snatch out of the air her last hope.
Steppenwolf's axe came down at an angle she could not dodge.
Wonder Woman's cry of denial as she tried to reach them.
The sobs of a child who knew they were going to die.
Annabeth's stormy-grey eyes did not blink.
An explosion of golden light—
—And Annabeth screamed.
-X\/X\/X-
Author Notes:
Before anyone asks, no I have not seen the Flash film yet.
.
The bit about the hotels is drawn from AO3's "Wayne Enterprises" by Unpretty, who generously went and created a framework for the whole overarching company Bruce runs, and offered for others to use it. I have been planning on doing so for a while, although this was an earlier experience than anticipated. If you are on FF, I recommend going to find it. For the AO3 people, will be in the 'Inspired By' section.
Unpretty: now your work is indeed retroactively justified! Many thanks! Also, I found your whole writing of how the Wayne family fortune was created utterly hilarious. You made economics amusing and engaging! :-D
-X-
Please Review, and I will get back to you!