Chapter 7: The Battle in the Air

Luthor had met Joker and Harley at a LexCorp aircraft factory. They were all there. Mercy stood near her boss, like a faithful sentry. But before the billionaire could say anything, the Clown was fascinated by the plant's staggering technology. He stared at the robots identical to the Wayne/Queen/Lex T7 with ecstasy.

"Look at all the toys. Santa's been good to you, Lex."

"Joker, we've got serious problems." said Luthor, with a serious face.

The Joker uttered an exclamation of amazement as he stared at a window overlooking a large hangar with a gigantic aircraft, the Lexwing.

"A flying wing! Twenty times bigger than Batman's and, knowing you, a hundred times as lethal."

"JOKER!" replied Luthor, raising his voice in a bad mood. "Did you bring the rest of the Kryptonite?"

Harley swayed to reveal her round purse.

"Right here, chrome-dome. What's the plan?"

Mercy put on a bad smile with a machine gun.

" Payback." she said, rejoicing.

Harley stopped smiling and appeared furious. But the Joker, much to everyone's surprise, burst out laughing, as if he found Mercy's gesture amusing.

"What's so funny?" Harley surprised her pudding.

"Don't you get it, Harl?" replied the amused Joker. "We're being set up to take the fall."

" He can't do that!" Harley furiously said.

"Oh, no?" said Luthor, amused, snatching the handbag from the jester. "How does this sound? When I heard that one of my robots had been commandeered to kill Batman and Arrow, I personally came here to investigate, and much to my surprise, I found you two with the complicity of Deathstroke aka Grant Wilson."

"It'll be your word against pudding's. I mean, Mr. J's." exclaimed Harley indignant.

But the Joker kept his bad smile, not being worried about the trap of the billionaire.

" Somehow, Pooh, I don't think we're gonna get the chance to say much."

Dumbfounded, Harley stared at her companion while worried.

" You mean he's gonna kill us?"

"No." Luthor replied with a triumphant smile, looking at Mercy with his machine gun. "She is. I abhor violence."

As he opened Harley's bag, a lot of wacky objects appeared, confusing him and his bodyguard. Taking advantage of this respite, Joker took out a yo-yo and threw it at Mercy, hitting her in the face. Harley took the opportunity to pick up the machine gun and played Luthor who had no advantage over the Clowns.

"Now, this is funny, Mr. J," she replied, threatening the bald man. "Except we're never gonna collect our billion bucks now."

"True," replied Joker, playing with his yo-yo. "But I see a delightful consolation prize."

He stared at the Lexwing with interest. Luthor tried to escape, but Deathstroke got in his way.

"Going somewhere, Luthor? You thought you could get away with revealing who I was? You made a serious mistake!"

He wields his sword on the head of Luthor, who remained frozen in terror.

"Since you broke your word, it looks like our deal's over and I can kill you! But not now!" he roared, then he stared at the two Clowns. "I want him to suffer before he dies! Let him see his empire collapse before a long and painful death!"

"That's exactly what I had in mind!" replied the Joker, laughing out of madness.

After capturing Luthor and Mercy, Harley set out to paint the giant LexCorp's aircraft black. She put great black features giving the impression of seeing a gigantic smile.

" Nothing like a nice big smile!" she said with mad pride.

At the control post of the flying aircraft, Luthor was tied to one of the seats, with the Joker and Deathstroke at his side.

"I love to personalize all my stuff." explained the Joker, gloating at the billionaire who has become a hostage.

He went off laughing. Not wanting to give the satisfaction of being powerless in front of his captors, Luthor addressed them a stern glance.

"Very amusing." he said in a calm voice. "So how much is it going to cost me to get out of this?"

"I'm not a material guy, Lexy." replied Joker, with his horrible grin. "No, what I want now is for you to know what it feels like to lose everything you have. Everything you've ever built. Like I lost everything to old Batboy."

"And I lost everything because of Arrow and now you, Luthor!" added Deathstroke. "I still intend to kill that wretched archer, but before— I want to rejoice in the fall of Lex Luthor and all that he has built in his life! Joker and I have that in common!"

Luthor appeared shocked, as the masked mercenary approached his face towards him.

"You destroyed me! Then I destroy you, in return!"

"We're a good pair, Deathstry!" laughed amused Joker.

The command post began to beep. Joker glanced at the radar which showed two points coming to their positions.

He warned Harley:

"We have incoming. Bats and Flyboy."

"And I suppose that little Star City's archer is with them!" said Deathstroke. "We must take care of them soon!"

Harley hastened to join the giant aircraft.

"I'll be right in!"

She saluted Mercy, who was gagged and tied up on one of Luthor's experimental robots.

In the skies, Superman flew straight to the laboratory, with the Batwing just behind him. He landed in front of the entrance, while Batman landed his Batwing. Batman, Green Arrow, and Diggle left.

Superman came to them.

"Did you bring a friend?" he asked, staring at the archer's partner.

Diggle stares at Superman with amazement. He had never met him in person before. Green Arrow was delighted to see the astonishment of her ally. Then Diggle got serious again.

"Superman ! It's an honor! John Diggle!"

"Are you Arrow's bodyguard?" assumed the Man of Steel.

"It's my partner," rectified the Green Arrow. "Can we get going, Boy Scout?"

Superman displayed an uneventful face and stared at the huge metal door of the laboratory.

"See anything?" asked Batman, joining him.

"Luthor's been lining his buildings with lead. It blocks my x-ray vision." he explained.

"Well, there's always the direct approach." the Gotham vigilante mockingly said.

"Yeah, do you have a super-force? asked Green Arrow with the same tone.

In a second, Superman smashed the metal door with his super-fist. Satisfied, the vigilantes entered.

"Wow!" exclaimed Diggle intimidated. "I understand why they call him Super!"

"You're learning!" said Batman, delighted.

"Well done, Boy Scout!" added Green Arrow, amused.

The four heroes infiltrated the aeronautical laboratory. They noticed the experimental robots exposed behind large windows.

"So the robot came from the LexCorp!" Diggle wondered as he looked at the killer machines.

"Be careful!" whispered Green Arrow. "They are indestructible!"

"Not like me," replied Superman, who had heard them. "Arrow, Diggle, I have a pretty good ear!"

Green Arrow pouted, while her partner was surprised.

From the Lexwing, Joker had a view of the heroes in the lab. He turned to Deathstroke and Luthor.

"A little distraction would be useful right now, wouldn't you say, Lexy?" said the laughing Clown.

"Launch the robots on them!" ordered Deathstroke. "It should keep them busy while we destroy Metropolis!"

With a horrible grin, Joker pressed a key.

Around our heroes, lights lit and all the robots started. They smashed the windows and attacked the four intruders.

"Oh boy!" exclaimed Diggle as he pulled out his weapon.

"Jeez!" added Green Arrow, pulling out his bow, ready to shoot explosive arrows. "We gotta try to hit their heads!"

On board the Lexwing, Joker and Deathstroke observed the heroes trapped with the killer robots.

"I think your toys can handle this by themselves. Besides, I'd hate to spoil my new paint job." laughed the Joker to his prisoner hostage.

"Get this thing off the ground," said Deathstroke.

Joker looked at the control panel and pressed keys.

"Ignition!"

Immediately, the Lexwing's engines began to roar. Harley hastened to take a seat near her bosses. Then, the Lexwing took off at full speed, shaking its passengers. The flying craft smashed through the walls of the hangar and flew to the skies, with a Joker giggling with madness at the controls.

The launch of the Lexwing had shaken the whole laboratory, shaking our heroes.

The robots fired lasers at them. Green Arrow dodged them, while Diggle fired his weapon at the killing machines. But the bullets had no effect on the robots. The former soldier rushed to safety. Green Arrow fired multiple explosive arrows that disintegrated part of their metal heads.

Superman grabbed a robot and threw it at two others crushing them with his super-force.

A robot used its laser on the Green Arrow, which dodged her. She came to position herself in front of the robot that threw her deadly weapon, but the archer cleared and the laser hit another robot, destroying it.

Another robot hit Superman with its laser pushing him against a wall. Green Arrow rushed to join him and shot several explosive arrows in its head.

"Not time to sleep, Super!"

Grunting a little, the Man of Steel got up and came to catch a robot by one of his legs and used the whole robot as a baseball bat to hit several killer robots.

A robot fired machine guns and shot the Green Arrow, who ran to dodge them. She ran to other robots that received the shots and were disintegrated.

Batman used his gadgets to electrocute, neutralize and disintegrate them.

"Well done!" said Superman, joining him. "Couldn't have done it better myself."

"Helps if you're prepared." Batman replied in a neutral tone.

"As always," Diggle added, joining him.

"Boys, we have another one coming in and it looks bigger than the others," said Green Arrow, staring at a gigantic experimental robot larger than the others.

To their surprise, they discovered a woman tied and gagged in the center of the robot.

"Who is she?" asked Diggle, stunned.

"Mercy Graves, Luthor's bodyguard," said Superman.

The Man of Steel went around the robot to hit it from behind. But the machine spun his body and Mercy's inert body appeared right before him. So the robot used Luthor's bodyguard as a human shield.

Green Arrow and Batman used their grapples to wrap the robot's neck, and fired with all their strength to immobilize it, allowing Superman to hit a wall of the robot, neutralizing it.

Diggle came to rescue Mercy, removing the adhesive tape. The young woman was wounded. He put it delicately on the ground.

"Don't move! You're gonna be okay!"

"Where's Luthor?" asked Batman in a dry tone.

Moaning in pain, Mercy replied:

"Joker and Deathstroke took him in the Lexwing. They said they're make him lose everything he ever built."

"Deathstroke has lost all of his resources and criminal network," said Diggle. "If Luthor exposed him, he'll want revenge."

"And Luthor's built half of Metropolis." added Superman.

"So Joker and Deathstroke are going to destroy the whole town," concludes Green Arrow.

Suddenly, the laboratory trembled and a gigantic droid fell on them.

"Dig, take her!" said the archer to her ally.

Immediately, Diggle left the building with Mercy.

Superman turned to Green Arrow and Batman.

"Go after Joker and Deathstroke. I shouldn't be long."

Green Arrow nodded and followed Batman, who left the lab.

Superman flew into the air and rushed to smash the robot. But the droid unveiled the rest of the kryptonite statue glued to him with tape. Immediately, he moaned in pain. The robot took the opportunity to hit him with one of his legs.

Meanwhile, the Lexwing flew over Metropolis. It floated above the skyscrapers. Missiles came out of the craft and destroyed a LexCorp building.

"That's funny!" exclaimed Deathstroke, delighted.

"How's it feel, Lexy boy?" laughed the Joker at the controls of the apparatus. "Everything with your name on it is going to be rubble."

Luthor gave his captors a sinister look. While the Joker flew the Lexwing laughing and fired several missiles that destroyed the buildings of Metropolis. The ruins fell in the streets of the city. The citizens, panicked, ran to shelter.

Batman flew his Batwing to Metropolis. He and Green Arrow could see the destruction of the city.

"They will destroy the whole city if they continue like this!" exclaimed the archer.

"I'm here," said Batman, firing his own missiles at the flying machine.

The missiles hit the Lexwing without destroying it. The missile strikes shook the entire aircraft.

"Who is attacking us?" exclaimed Deathstroke.

Joker saw the Batwing in the sky from the cockpit and roared angrily.

"Batman. It's always Batman."

"We can destroy him with this flying thing!" said the masked mercenary.

He turned to Luthor still imprisoned in his seat.

"Where are your air-to-air missiles on this aircraft?"

"You're asking me for help, Wilson?" said Luthor, amused and ironic.

Deathstroke waved his blade towards his face, which remained frozen in fright.

"Do you want to die now? If this device falls, you fall with us!"

Intimidated by the mercenary's sharp sword, Luthor mumbled.

"It's a red switch."

The Joker looked at the dashboard where he could see several red buttons. Not knowing which one to press, he used all the buttons at full speed.

Several Air-to-Air missiles were fired from the Lexwing and charged into the Batwing. Batman's craft made a hover to avoid it. Two missiles touched and exploded. The Batwing flew far into the sky to avoid them and they crossed. But one of them touched a wing of the Batwing. The flying apparatus of Batman went in free fall.

Batman tried to control his jet. It was useless. The controls were not responding.

"We're going to have to eject," said Green Arrow. "Otherwise, we will lose them!"

"Hang on!" cried Batman.

The two vigilantes ejected from the Batwing and jumped into the void. Batman used his fingers like claws to cling to a wall of the aircraft. Mia used her grappling arrows to cling to the Lexwing.

Superman was trying to fight the giant robot. But the kryptonite stuck on him kept him from getting over it. The robot hit the Man of Steel, pushing him into the rubble. It took the broken metal door and used it to crush Superman. It did everything to flatten him. That was a mistake. Because the heavy door was made of lead. Which protected Superman from kryptonite.

Regaining his strength, Superman struggled against the lead wall held by the robot.

"Lead-lined door. I'll have to thank Luthor."

He pushed the metal door against the robot with all his might, pushing it through the walls of the laboratory to the outside. Superman pushed the robot against a rock face. The door fell, revealing the giant robot crushed against the wall of a cliff. The hanging piece of kryptonite broke into a thousand pieces and fell into the void.

The Joker continued to fly the Lexwing, rejoicing in the destruction of the Metropolis buildings. He smiled as he continued to fly and destroy the entire city, before being suddenly caught by Batman, his sworn enemy, which made Harley gasp in horror. Green Arrow threw himself at Deathstroke, pushing him to the ground.

"ARROW ! YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN YOUR CITY!" he shouted with rage.

"Grant Wilson, you have failed this city! " scolded the archer.

She wanted to use her bow, but without someone to fly the aircraft, the aircraft trembled causing the two fighters to topple.

Panicked, Harley contemplated the Joker against Batman, then Deathstroke occupying with Green Arrow. The Lexwing was unmanned.

"Who's flying this thing?" cried the Joker's accomplice as she took control.

Unfortunately for her, she didn't know how to fly the Lexwing. The controls exceeded her skill level.

Seeing Harley's reaction, Luthor became angry.

"Do something, for God's sake!"

But that didn't help Harley master the Lexwing. She disguised her eyes and let chance decide for her.

"Eenie, meenie, minie, mo!"

She pressed a random button. But apparently, it was the wrong touch, because the Lexwing veered straight to the ground. Soon they would crash on Metropolis.

Harley screamed in terror, totally unable to fly.

The Lexwing was in free fall to the ground, when Superman came flying at full speed, and grabbed the aircraft from below and used his super-force to fly it to the sky.

Green Arrow fought Deathstroke. She wanted to shoot an arrow, but the mercenary tripped her, knocking her to the ground.

Batman and Joker continued to struggle. The Clown took out his bag of marbles. Before he could use it, Batman hit him with his foot, dropping his explosive marbles to the ground. They rolled to the ground and exploded when they crossed.

Superman came in from below the ground by smashing it. Batman came to him.

"It's gonna blow! I'll get Quinn, you take Luthor!"

He came to the Green Arrow, helping him get up.

"Where is Deathstroke? He must be captured!" she exclaimed, looking around her.

"He ran away! It is too late! We have to go! Everything will blow!" said Batman taking her by the arm.

"Deathstroke is even more dangerous than before! We must find him!" insisted the archer.

"Green Arrow ! We must go or we will all die!" exclaimed Batman forcefully. "Your city needs you alive!"

The green vigilante noticed the explosive balls on the ground and finally decided to follow the Dark Knight, also noting the first time Batman called her Green Arrow.

The Dark Knight lifted Harley, taking her in his arms. Superman had seized the seat where Luthor was still trapped and left the aircraft in super-speed taking Luthor with him.

Batman, holding Harley in his arms, dropped into the hole on the ground that Superman had made. Green Arrow fell into the hole.

Once outside, in the sky, Batman, wearing Harley, revealed a dark parachute. Green Arrow clung to his arm and a rope from the parachute. The parachute slowed the descent of the three people.

"You'll have to tell me how to hang a parachute on you," said Green Arrow, clinging to Batman's arm and one of the parachute's wires.

The Joker, who was still on board the Lexwing, scrambled to put on a parachute when a jolt dropped him to the ground. He watched with horror as his own ball-shaped grenades rolled to the ground and exploded.

He laughed madly at the sight of his own explosives.

The Lexwing had several explosions on all sides, then eventually disintegrated in the sky and fell into the ocean under the looks of Batman, Green Arrow and Harley Quinn.

"Pudding!" cried the accomplice of the Gotham Clown, watching what remained of the flying craft crash into the water.

"At this point, he probably is!" said Batman in a neutral tone.

Harley stared at him in tears.

"Literally," added Green Arrow, observing the same thing they did.

The burning wreck of the Lexwing fell into the ocean and produced a gigantic explosion that dangerously approached the three people.

"Superman ! A little help, please!" shouted the Green Arrow as the flames approached them.

Superman, who was flying in Luthor's seat, grabbed the parachute and took everyone safely to Metropolis.

Thanks for reading.