A/N: Chapter five. This is gonna be about the heroes at their respective fronts/battle stations.
Also, in case anyone doesn't know how to read military/24-hour time (as that's the format I'll be using for story reasons), here's a quick rundown of how it works:
The first two digits represent the hour (00 to 23), while the last two represent the minutes (0-59). 0000 means 12 AM, any time between 0000 to 1159 is also in AM (as this is simply 12 AM to 11:59 AM), 1200 means 12 PM. For any time between 1300 to 2359, just subtract twelve from the first two digits and that's your time in PM. After 2359, it goes back to 0000.
Hope this helps. Now, without further ado!
WAR ON ALL FRONTS
EARTH 1
0803 EST
CENTRAL CITY
"You invade this planet," Barry spat as he and Brainiac walked in a circular direction, looking across at one another. "Join up with Grodd, trash up this planet and my city, slaughter millions, expose my identity, and you slaughter ten thousand people every hour just to get to me. You're even worse than Eobard Thawne."
"I do request you avoid comparing myself to that desperate flop of potential," Brainiac said in a tsk, tsk, tsk tone. "Thawne is an overly obsessive man-child. I am a genius on a multiversal scale with the collection of countless worlds and their knowledge in my mind."
"I'm here to make a deal." Barry said in a rather demanding tone.
"A proposition?" Brainiac seemed intrigued and curious, likely a side-effect of consuming literal worlds of knowledge. "Enlighten me."
"I'll surrender myself to you on some conditions," Barry proposed. "Withdraw all your troops, dropships, and weapons. As well as Grodd and his army. Leave this Earth and never come back. Do it…and I'll surrender myself."
"And if I refuse?" Brainiac inquired.
"I destroy you and tear down everything you have," Barry threatened bluntly. "Starting with his damn ship."
"My terms were already made clear in the message I sent and addressed to your world," Brainiac stated. "Those are the only terms."
"So instead of slaughtering thousands and millions, you'd enslave an entire planet to do with as you please."
"It is a mercy I offer. Parents will see their children grow and children shall have parents to grow with."
"Enslavement or death," Barry spat. "That's all you're offering."
"That is all there is," Brainiac retorted. "Humanity's time on planet earth has and must come to an end. They destroy this planet, taking advantage of it, wasting and polluting it away. Earth will cease to exist and human civilization will destroy itself. It needs purpose, it needs meaning. It needs to be given that and I will be the one to do so. I will be the one to give them their path and they will follow it."
"The only path worth following is the one you choose or make yourself," Barry responded. "It's not to be decided for them."
"Relatively wise words." Brainiac commented, almost impressed.
"I'm gonna say this once and only once more," Barry threatened as he approached Brainiac. "Leave and don't come back…or this will end with you in a prison cell."
"This will only end one way, Barry Allen," Brainiac taunted. "With you and this earth in my grasp…and all of humanity as my slaves."
Barry clenched his jaw. Time slowed down, orange lightning coursing through his body as he ran towards Brainiac. With his right hand balled into a fist, Barry swung a hit to the solar plexus of Brainiac's body. To his surprise, Brainiac's suit seemed to power up as if he had just supercharged it only for a blast of orange lightning to send Barry flying across the room as he crashed onto a metal wall before dropping to the ground. Dazed, Barry groaned as he rolled off his back and onto his stomach and arms.
Before he could get up, Barry suddenly felt one of Brainiac's many metal tentacles from his suit wrap around his neck as he was pulled forward and off the ground. He then screamed in pain as he felt a sharp blade pierce through his body. Barry looked down to see another one of Brainiac's tentacles plunging and twisting a blade into his abdomen, making him groan as blood poured out of him.
"I engineered my suit and technology to counteract your speed as best as I could," Brainiac explained. "Absorbent of energy, even yours. My intellect far outweighs yours, Barry."
"Yeah…" Barry groaned. "But I'm still faster than your damn neurons.
Vibrating his body once more, Barry phased through Brainiac's tentacles as he dropped to the ground, his injury weakening him as he fell to his knees. Brainiac lunged at him as Barry waited for the perfect moment to strike. Just as his opponent neared, Barry rushed away in a flash of orange lightning, but not before unsheathing his knife and slashing Brainiac's armor across his chest. Brainiac let out a half-biological, half-machine-like scream as he stumbled and fell before skidding across the metal floor. A bleeding Barry struggled to get off his knees as he limped, watching Brainiac slowly rise.
"Where did you get that weapon?" Brainiac snarled, visibly enraged that he suffered any sort of damage at all, the man or machine or whatever he was made of was truly full of himself.
"I'd worry less about where this knife came from and more about what part of your body it's gonna end up in if I were you." Barry growled in response.
With a roar, Brainiac charged at him, rushing all eight of his metallic tentacles with their blade-ended points at the speedster. Orange lightning coursed all over Barry's body as he gripped his knife before rushing at Brainiac. He slashed his blade at the tentacles, cutting off half of them and reducing their capability. Brainiac groaned in response, dazed as Barry took his opportunity. He lunged forward and sank the knife deeply into the cyber-organic being, who screamed in response.
"Sucks when it's you, doesn't it?" Barry retorted.
Barry immediately pulled the knife out, sheathing it as he clenched his fists. At super speed, in mere flickers of orange lightning, he ran around Brainiac in circles, delivering several strikes to his head, being careful to avoid his armor. After about twenty blows, Barry ran a few feet away, making sure to gain some distance before he flung his arm at Brainiac's direction, throwing a bolt of orange lightning as it struck his suit. The mechanism began overloading as orange lightning and blue electricity whirred on it for a moment, making Brainiac scream in pain. His suit shut down as he fell to his knees before slumping to his right as he groaned in pain, unable to get up. Barry heaved deeply, trying to push past his injury as he approached Brainiac. He could finally end the loss of life that the entire world had suffered. Right here, right now. His identity may have been revealed, his days as the Flash may have been over, but now Brainiac was too.
"It's over, Brainiac," Barry spat. "How do I stop the rest of the Dominators?"
"You can't…" Brainiac groaned. "There are billions of them…I will cease this world…"
Suddenly, a blast of blue energy struck Barry from behind as he flew across the room before his body struck a metal wall and dropped to the ground. Groaning in pain, his eyes fluttered as he looked across the room to see Brainiac rising and several Dominators slowly walking towards him. It was the last thing he'd see before his vision blurred, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell off the ladder of consciousness.
CANADA
15 MILES NORTHEAST OF THE US-CANADIAN BORDER
0932 EST
On the streets of a destroyed and wrecked city, filled with debris and damage of all kinds, Oliver, Rene, Curtis, Rory, Evelyn, and Diggle ran through with a unit of US and Canadian troops. They fought through, firing an array of bullets and arrows at incoming Dominators from across all streets. It was chaotic and disastrous. The effects of any 'normal' human war were chaotic enough, an interstellar war with an entire race of aliens with the entire planet of Earth as ground zero? A nightmare fueled into reality. Oliver and his team ran and watched as beams of energy blast flew from Dominator weapons and occasionally took out two to three soldiers in the process. Above them Dominator ships flew and raced against US/Canadian Air Force jets, an array of gunfire and energy blasts flying through the skies.
"Where's that damn aerial support when you need it?" Diggle muttered as they all stopped behind some flipped-over cars and damaged debris.
Oliver held his two forefingers to his left ear. "Arrow to Batman and Lantern, we need aerial assistance now! We're holed up downtown right at the center of the city."
Right next to him, a terrified Evelyn clutched her bow close to her chest, breathing in short, quick, and panicked gasps of air, her chest heaving. She looked to her right as she saw soldiers yelling and screaming firing their guns before blasts of energy took their heads off as drops of blood splattered onto her face. Evelyn let out a scream in reaction, some of the blood splattered to her mouth as she felt the metallic taste of dead men's blood. What was she doing here? She was a seventeen-year-old girl who was supposed to be in high school, doing homework, going out with friends, dating, getting grounded by her parents for sneaking out. Instead, she aided a group of vigilantes in protecting a crime-infested hole like STAR City and now, she was here on the front lines against aliens, watching innocent people getting slaughtered all around left, right, and center. She thought her training was good, that she had prepared herself, that she'd mastered her fears and was ready to face the unknown and even the unexpected. Yet now, in the face of war, tragedy, and death, all she could think about…was wanting to go home. Back to her parents, to her friends, to her school, to her boring, normal life. Anything but this. Jittering and shaking, lost in her train of thought, Evelyn's ears had been ringing, muffling the sounds of gunfire, blasts, damage, and screams all around her. Then, a certain voice reached out to her, one calling her name. The ringing slowly dissipated as Evelyn looked in front of her.
"Evelyn!" Oliver yelled one final time. "You okay?"
The girl gulped and shook her head. "N-no. I - I - I can't do this. I can't."
"Yes you can, yes you can," Oliver encouraged as he held her arm. "Hey! Look at me. I know what you're feeling. Believe me, I do. A lot of us have felt it. Fear. I know you're scared, I know you're terrified. But if you get through this, just this, I promise you it's over. Evelyn, bravery isn't the absence of fear. It's fighting against it, knowing you're still afraid."
Evelyn swallowed a small lump in her throat as she quickly nodded. She wasn't entirely convinced, but it was somewhat enough to get her back in her senses. A band-aid to temporarily stop the bleeding.
"Just remember what I taught you about these situations," Oliver said. "Load, fire, duck. Load, fire, duck."
"Load, fire, duck." Evelyn repeated with a nod.
Oliver nodded back as he and Evelyn loaded a couple explosive arrows before firing them at a herd of Dominators closing in at their location. The arrows went off upon impact on the ground as a small explosion sent the group of Dominators flying and dazed. Curtis sent out his T-spheres as they sent out blasts and electric shockwaves, further neutralizing the dazed Dominators and targeting the ones that were coming. The very few remaining soldiers returned fire in an array of bullets alongside Diggle and Rene, who did the same with their pistols. Oliver and Evelyn fired arrows occasionally while Rory simply hid with them. His robes were more for close-range combat, all he could do now was wait and keep an eye out for any Dominators approaching the group behind them.
"Guys?" Rory called out as he looked in the opposite direction of where the firepower was.
Oliver and the others turned around just in time to see a Dominator dropship diving awfully close to the ground as it began blasting the entirety of the street in front of it as an aerial attack. The array of blasts got closer and closer to the team's position, approaching them in seconds.
"Take cover!" one of the soldiers yelled as everyone dived away before the blasts of energy reached them and debris flew everywhere along with dust.
Oliver's ears were ringing, the sounds of everything around him muffled as he was on his back. Grabbing his bow, he turned to his right, sprawling onto his side. He paused upon immediately coming into contact with the lifeless body of Evelyn Sharp next to him, her head almost completely severed off her body, which was filled with shrapnel and gaping holes as she bled out. Her eyes were glassy and her skin was pale. Oliver had no words, he knew it was no good. All he did was reach forward with his hand and gently close her eye lids, allowing her to rest. He couldn't bring her back or save her. Hell, he couldn't even give the poor girl a funeral and her body would be left behind in a damaged battlefield full of debris for an unknown fate. But this - this was the very least he could do.
Oliver limped and struggled, shards of metal splattered across his right leg. He leaned against a piece of debris as he looked around him. The remaining soldiers of the unit were all dead, Diggle was nicked in the shoulder with some debris but was mostly alright, Curtis laid on the ground lifelessly with a gaping hole in his chest and his destroyed T-spheres by his side. Rory laid on some debris, several metal poles plunged through his body as a result of the blast, two went through his brain, one through his heart, and three more through his abdomen and legs. Rene was alive but had a critical leg injury that impaired his ability to walk for the moment. Oliver and Diggle exchanged a glance of worry with a hint of defeat as Diggle regretfully shook his head. The archer sighed.
The trio looked around as a horde of incoming Dominators closed in, surrounding them from all sides. Three of their friends were dead, along with an entire unit of soldiers they had come to fight with and protect. Now here they were, surrounded by the enemy, nowhere to hide, run, or fight. All they could do was await their fate. Suddenly, an array of bomb blasts struck several of the Dominators as they were sent flying and dazed. Oliver, Diggle, and Rene looked up and to their right as a certain bat-shaped plane a flying green man with a ring made their way to them.
"About fucking time…" Rene groaned weakly.
Hal swooped in as he generated several, large, green-growing turret guns with his ring, firing them at the Dominators. The horde stood no chance and dropped like flies while the Batplane landed close enough to them.
"Go!" Hal ordered. "I'll cover you."
Thea came from the back entrance as she fired a few of her own arrows, explosive, electric, anything she could to help hold off the horde. It was like fighting off an army of zombies. A few go down, several more show up and they get closer.
"Get in!" Thea yelled.
Oliver and Diggle carried Rene inside the Batplane before Thea followed them in. At the cockpit, Batman closed the back door before taking off. Hal retreated, following the plane before using his ring to phase through the wall and enter.
"That's all of us," Hal sighed regretfully. "At least, those who made it out."
Batman put the plane on auto-pilot as it took them to a higher and safer altitude before getting up and meeting with the others.
"Evelyn, Curtis, and Rory?" Thea asked dreadfully as Diggle shook his head.
"They're gone," Oliver shook his head. "The unit we were with was wiped out too."
"We never had a chance," Rene groaned, barely able to stay conscious through his severe leg injury. "This whole thing was a damn suicide mission…"
Before he could continue any further, Rene dozed off, resting from exhaustion and blood loss. Hal utilized his ring to seal the man's injuries.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Thea asked.
"Not here," Batman advised. "Even with Lantern, we don't have enough firepower to cause any damage to the Dominators without risking more damage and innocent lives. But we can't call away everyone and deal with this one front at a time."
"What do you suggest we do?" Diggle asked wearily.
"Head to Egypt," Batman responded as he was met with looks of surprise. "The energy signature there could be a promising lead. It matches the kind we've been getting from Dominator dropships and even Brainiac's mothership. If I'm right, there could be something there for us."
"What're we hoping to find?" Oliver asked.
"Best case scenario? A weapon," The Dark Knight replied. "Or at least something that can help us turn the tide. Whatever it is, it's not with the Dominators, and I have a feeling we want it to stay that way. We'll head to Egypt and meet up with Barry to investigate. Assuming he's there and not on Brainiac's ship."
"What if he isn't?" Thea asked, sounding worried, she liked Barry, both as a person and a hero.
"Then God help him from whatever bullshit he's gotten pulled into this time." Oliver muttered under his breath, unable to hide any concern over his friend.
PARIS, FRANCE
0940 EST
LOCAL TIME: 1540 HOURS
Kara flew through the skies, her red cape withering behind her aggressively due to the winds and the high speeds. As she flew, she used her heat vision, lasering several Dominator dropships that flew past and towards her. On the ground, Arthur and Diana assisted the soldiers as they ripped through several dominators. Their sheer strength and combat speed far outgunning the Dominators' physical capabilities. Occasionally, they would dodge several light-beam blasts, their reaction time allowing them to do so. Diana and Arthur went back to back as a herd of hundreds of Dominators encircled them, approaching the duo slowly.
"You know, old friend," Arthur whispered, an idea clicking in his mind. "I think it's time we tested that new trick of ours."
Diana smirked, her mind going off with the excitement of a little schoolgirl. "I thought you'd never ask."
Instantly, Diana whirled around and drew her shield to the air as Arthur leaped upward. He held his trident above him before bringing it down directly onto Diana's shield. The result was a sonic boom with a white light, which spread for several miles on end, knocking down and clearing through waves and waves of Dominators. Not only had they gotten out from being surrounded by Dominators, but they'd given the French, British, Spanish, and German troops an opening to emerge from their trenches and advance. Kara landed beside Arthur and Diana as the trio watched while a barrage of tanks, soldiers, and military aircraft advanced towards a large Dominator ship that flew over a mountain.
"That's where the Dominator dropships are coming from on this front," Diana noted. "If we take that out, we can cripple their aerial advantages here."
"Kara." Arthur ordered.
"On it!" Kara replied before flying off as she headed for the Dominator ship.
NORTHERN JAPAN
0945 EST
LOCAL TIME: 2245 HOURS
At night, near the beaches on the eastern side of Japan, several Japanese troops ran across the fields with tanks riding through the night. Every few seconds military aircraft and Dominator dropships would soar above at high speeds, trading shots in gunfire and Dominator blasts. Sara piloted the Waverider as it went after Dominator dropships, taking them down, while also serving as aerial support. On the ground, Nate, Ray, Amaya, and Mick were huddled in a circle back-to-back as they fought their way through several Dominators in the dead of night. Nate turned his skin to steel, easily tanking physical strikes from Dominators before sending them flying with punches of his own. Amaya utilized her totem to form numerous spirit animals, having them serve as guards for the team as they fought through miles and miles of warfare. Ray sent off blue blasts with his suit and occasionally shrank down before resizing as an attack method against approaching Dominators.
Mick had his own plan as he ran off a few feet away from the group before hopping onto a moving tank, standing at the very top. He held out his gun and released a wave of fire, frying several Dominators on the way.
"Burn, freaks! Burn!" Mick roared before laughing wickedly.
"At least someone enjoying himself." Nate muttered.
"How's it looking down there?" Sara asked through comms.
"Not bad," Ray exhaustively knocked out a Dominator with a punch. "But not great."
"I'm getting some pretty huge energy reading around this area," Sara paused. "It's quite something."
"Could be a bomb," Ray noted as Mick joined back with the rest of the group. "We better check it out."
"How far is it?" Nate asked.
"Fifteen clicks North of here. Make your up there," Sara ordered. "I'll meet the rest of you there."
"What about the soldiers?" Amaya asked worriedly.
"Help as many as you can on the way." Sara responded.
"On it," Ray acknowledged. "Let's go, guys. We got fifteen clicks of hell to get through."
"English, lab geek." Mick muttered exhaustively.
Ray sighed in annoyance. "It's about ten miles."
CENTRAL CITY - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1000 EST
Wally and Jesse sped back into the cortex of the main STAR Labs facility where Harry, Cisco, Caitlin, Joe, and Iris waited by the main desk of computers as the duo returned.
"We cleared out a few of the gorillas from Fort Johns," Jesse sighed exhaustively, her hands on her knees while Wally slumped against the wall and sat on the ground. "There were a lot, but not all of them."
Joe and Iris immediately went to Wally's side while Harry helped Jesse to a chair. Cisco immediately took his goggles, gloves, and other gear. Caitlin took notice and went to his side.
"You're thinking about going out there." Caitlin realized worriedly.
"I have to," Cisco declared as he pointed at an exhausted Wally and Jesse. "They can't hold out Grodd and his army on their own. Certainly not with the Dominators here and Barry off-grid."
"It's too dangerous out there, even for you." Caitlin urged.
"Which is why I have to go, Cait. Barry wouldn't stand by and let this city or the people in it suffer longer, I won't either. We need all hands-on-deck."
"What're we even supposed to do?" Wally asked. "There's too many out there."
Cisco sighed as he desperately thought of a plan. "Joe, I'm taking you to CCPD, gather up as many of the cops and officers there and we're gonna breach them back here. There's plenty of weapons, gadgets, and other gear in this facility and STAR Labs archives that can help us against the Dominators. We just need people who can use them."
Everyone looked at Cisco with anticipated looks of disbelief.
"You want to bring them in here?" Joe asked.
"Cisco, we can't just let them all see this!" Iris argued. "What if they discover Barry's identity by being here?"
"What choice do we have?" Cisco demanded. "The whole world's gone to hell, the Dominators have taken it, Central City is being torn apart by them and an army of telepathic super apes. The two speedsters we have can barely handle it and we might not take back our world for days, weeks, or even months! Hell, we might not succeed at all. All I know is that we need all the help we can get and at any cost."
"He's right," Harry agreed. "Bring the CCPD in. This is bigger than Allen's identity being risked. Even he would agree."
Joe sighed. "Fine…let's go."
"We'll come with you," Wally tried to say before being forced to sit back down by his father. "But Dad-"
"No, son," Joe ordered in a fatherly tone. "Get some rest."
"I can help with what's going on out there." Wally argued.
"I know you can," Joe nodded. "But you ain't kicking any alien's ass if you're winded."
Wally then saw Joe's point, realizing his stance.
"I've got Cisco and Harry with me," Joe said. "That's enough."
"Let's go." Harry advised as Cisco opened a breach before the three of them went through."
A/N: This is probably a good stopping point, cause I don't want the chapter to go on for too long. I might start addressing only 1-2 side plots (out of the five you can see here: Barry and Brainiac, Central City, and the three war fronts) per chapter going forward to avoid my chapters being too lengthy. At the same time though, I don't want my chapters to be short or less than 2500 words, so it depends honestly.
I know Brainiac already revealed Barry's identity to the world with his message, which invalidates Team Flash's concerns about bringing the CCPD in for fear they'll find out Barry's identity, but you have to keep in mind this: none of the heroes or allies (aside from Lyla and Barry himself) have seen that message.
Also, only Batman, Hal, Diana, and Arthur know that Brainiac wants Barry and they haven't told any of the others this information. Not even they know Barry's identity has been exposed. Hence why I involved Iris' little tantrum over potentially letting the entire CCPD uncover the Flash's identity.