Note: the villain team 'Axis America' is corrected to 'Axis Amerika' from this chapter onwards.
I don't own DC
Axis Amerika
Hawkgirl and the Legion thugs stopped fighting each other and looked up at the aircraft hovering in the sky.
The next moment the two sides were quick to change targets, as they ignored each other, and turned on the new enemy. The thugs pointed their futuristic firearms up at the sky and started firing while Hawkgirl snarled and pointed her halberd at the JSA'S jet. The Legions' laser projectiles only splashed against the black aircraft, though, leaving it unharmed. While Hawkgirl didn't get the time to close the distance.
"You made your choice," Atom snorted. Following his words the JSA's jet retaliated. With a roar, bullets poured down on the street like a rain of death. The Legions quickly fell into a sorry state as the bullets tore through their ranks easily without any resistance. But Hawkgirl quickly dived to the side immediately the jet fired, hastily avoiding the bullets that riddled holes in the street or whatever it hits.
I frowned in surprise. Frankly I never expected Atom to fire, thinking he was just throwing empty threats. I never expected a JSA member to kill so decisively. I'd noticed this before now and it bothered me, that unlike my perception of superheroes, the ones here are a little too trigger happy. But then again the state of this world, the time period and the nature of the enemy, calls for extreme measures. Maybe merciful heroes in fiction are just that, fiction. In the real world they do what they got to do. This is a dark world, no doubting that so superheroes have to adapt.
Hawkgirl didn't stand still for a single moment as she kept moving. After she desperately avoided the bullets fired by the JSA's Jet, the brainwashed superheroine snarled then flew up, flapping her large wings furiously to gain elevation, she quickly rose above the jet, where it couldn't shoot her. Then she held up her halberd and swooped down.
Bang!
A loud sound rang out as she bashed the jet's sleek left wing with her halberd, in an attempt to down it. But besides throwing sparks, and perhaps leaving a scratch, the jet was otherwise unharmed.
"Now you have done it," Atom said. "How about some knock out gas?"
The JSA's jet turned to target her, but at that moment the Axis Amerika's jet, that was no where to be found until now, suddenly reappeared and started firing at it. The JSA's alien aircraft quickly maneuvered to avoid the projectiles fired by the Nazis and also fired back.
An airborne battle begun in the sky above Metropolis.
"I have had enough of watching!" Hawkman shouted raising his mace up, with a huff he jumped out of the window to a shower of glass shards. He flew towards Hawkgirl.
"You guys should go after him," Hourman suggested.
"What about you?" Green Lantern asked.
Hourman glanced at the windows, "I'll take the stairs,"
I thought Green Lantern, or even myself, could carry him, if he was worried about the height, but since no one pointed that out I kept my mouth shut. On better thought I realized this guy probably isn't worried about the height, he just wanted to do something else and was just making excuses.
"What about you Flash, you can't fly too," I asked playfully as Hourman walked away.
Flash grinned and vanished from sight through the broken window, leaving only three of us behind. "He can handle himself," Wonder Woman said. Then she blinked as she noticed he'd already vanished before the words came out of her mouth.
By the time we went outside too, Hawkman already caught up with Hawkgirl and they were fighting in the sky. More precisely Hawkgirl was doing all the attacking while Hawkman was desperately defending while trying to bring her back to her senses.
"Kendra remember who you are!" Hawkman shouted. Mace and halberd clashed as Hawkgirl attacked again and again.
"I know who I am," Hawkgirl sneered. "I am Shayera the Hawk Queen!"
"What a mess," I said.
"I guess Hawkman and Hawkgirl has a lot of talking to do," Green Lantern agreed. "We should deal with those,"
Following his eyes I saw a group of Nazi villains down on the deserted street below. Or more precisely the cleared up street; the mangled flesh and blood pools on the street was the only sign that the Legion thugs were here. The JSA jet has killed most of them while only a few escaped in panic. Flash was standing in the middle of the street in front of the building we just exited facing the villains with a cold look. Hourman was nowhere to be found be though.
Anyway at a glance I recognized all of the villains. The bald guy in blue costume, standing in the forefront, is Obermensch, the supposed leader of the Axis Amerika. The one in a green costume with red owl mask, cape and cowl is the 'Great horned owl'. The kid in grey and blue costume and eye mask is his son, Fledermaus. While the shirtless guy with a quiver of arrows strapped to his back is the Italian archer Usil. And the dark furred werewolf who was barring his sharp teeth at us like a rabid dog is Sea Wolf.
The surprise, however, was the remaining two. Tsunami and Red Tornado. Seeing them here gave me a headache. Firstly Tsunami was never supposed to join the Axis Amerika; in Young justice comic the Axis alliance had wanted to recruit her but she'd betray them and later join the young All Stars. Did something change because of my interference or is this reality's Tsunami just pure evil?
As for Red Tornado I don't know the deal with him. Is he brainwashed, reprogrammed or even originally evil too?
"Talking of rag tag teams," I said. Green Lantern gave me a questioning look which I ignored.
Obermensch looked up at us with a smirk as we approached . "JSA with your broken team you still dared to set a trap for the Axis Amerika, do you not fear death?"
"Yet you fell for the trap,"I quipped quickly before someone beat me to it. "Don't you have a brain in that big dome hat of yours?"
The bald man's face darkened. "Greek right? I have heard a lot about you in Berlin. I am Obermensch the Over Man, the man that shall kill you today!"
"Obermensch huh, so you were the one that killed Dr Fate?" Before I could reply Green Lantern cut in studying the man suspiciously.
"Yes I killed the sorcerer," Obermensch nodded proudly. "He tried to flee but I crushed his head in my fists," The villain grinned bringing his hands together as he described how he did it.
"Bah, I don't believe it, Dr Fate cannot be killed by a block head like you! Tell me the truth, it was Wotan wasn't it?"
"Your allies were there too, why don't you ask them?"
"They were there, and saw you clash with Dr Fate but no one saw you throw the final blow,"
"You better believe it Green Lantern," Obermensch sneered. "After all you'd be joining him soon enough. After killing a JSA I found the feeling quite to my liking,"
"Foolish," Diana scoffed in disdain.
Obermensch grinned and turned to her. "You think I can't?"
"I said it is foolish to keep talking to you, you are buying time aren't you?"
"Buying time for what?"
"Are you denying it baldy? Whichever, I do not care how you plan to escape, I'm dealing with you now!"
Diana drew her sword and flew down. She gave a piercing battle cry, with a blur she closed the distance and swung her sword down at him. "Detestable woman!" Obermensch roared quickly twisting his body to the side to avoid the blade that would have surely been a fatal blow if it had connected.
I wondered why Diana didn't wait for our allies - who could join us any time now - before attacking. It is not like her to be this reckless. But since she already made her move we have to support her even if it means being outnumbered lest she gets surrounded. I wondered how I should join the battle to give my side the biggest advantage.
That question was answered when Red Tornado made a move against Diana to support Obermensch. The Android spun into a red whirlwind and swept towards her just as she was overwhelming Obermensch with relentless attacks. I flew down quickly and intercepted him.
The whirlwind didn't stop at my appearance, charging towards me. Unfortunately for the Android unlike the last time we fought I have my powers now. The moment the whirlwind came to me I rushed into its center releasing some of my energy in a circle around me. The whirlwind immediately dispersed and Red Tornado was blown away to crash against the building at the side.
Usil, the Italian archer, pulled his bow and fired an arrow at me. The arrow struck me before I could dodge, but unsurprisingly the projectile just bounced off my jacket making the Italian click his tongue.
"Do you wish to gift him power Usil, or did you forget the briefing?" Great Horned Owl chided casting a wary look at me.
"I was just testing it Grösshorn Eule,"
"What did you find?"
"It's discouraging. We better free Obermensch from Wonder Woman so he can take care of him,"
"Hmm I agree, Tsunami hold him!"
Saying that Great Horned Owl spread his red cape with his arms in a wing like manner then flew towards where Wonder Woman and Obermensch were fighting. With a command in German Fledermaus rushed over to support him. They attacked Wonder Woman from both sides. Usil also aimed at the Amazonian princess.
"Watch out Diana!" I called then lifted my hand intending to throw an energy blast at the archer, but a water hydrant nearby suddenly broke. From it a thick whip of water swung at me.
The water whip hit me straight in the chest, before I could react, with more force than it has any right to have, hurling me across the street. But just as I was sent flying I saw a glow of green light shoot towards Diana's direction and knew that Green Lantern has made his move to support her.
I rolled a few times on the ground before stabilizing myself. What greeted me immediately I rose up was a bald guy flying at me. Apparently Great Horned Owl had successfully freed up Obermensch. Closing the distance the Nazi pulled his hand back and swung out a punch aimed at my chin.
Now I have seen some punches since coming to this world, this one packed some weight. My instinct told me to dodge. I didn't.
My vision momentarily went black and my head ached, a few of my teeth flew out of my mouth, my body shot upwards like a cannon ball. That punch totally devastated me.
It wasn't over yet though. Obermensch rose into the air and flew after me. "James Greek hear this," he said. "I am Der Obermensch the Over Man. You have offended a lot of people in Berlin. Today I shall bring you to your death for killing Parsifal!"
Through dizzy eyes I saw him join both his hands together and pounded down towards my chest. The punch carried momentum like he was swinging a war hammer. My eyes went wide in panic, instinctively I felt I shouldn't let this punch hit me. But I couldn't really control my flight fast enough to avoid, so I improvised by lifting my arms over my chest to block.
BOOM!!
Like a meteor I shot down from the sky towards the ground with terrifying speed. The first punch had hurled me upwards and this one sent me back down. I crashed into the ground rising a shower of soil in the air, bounced off and crashed down again, groaning as I sunk deep into the crater of my making.
From this punch I understood how powerful this guy is. The only reason he'd suffered in Wonder Woman's hand was because she's very agile and well trained. The Nazi wasn't fast enough to hit her, yet her sword could kill him in one strike, that put him in a major disadvantage. But he thrived against a slow opponent like me that possessed no godlike weapon.
Groaning I looked down my body checking why everything was painful. That one blow had broke my right arm, it crooked down dangling uselessly beside me. My back was also hit by the crash and I think I cracked a rib. The pain was so intense that I cursed.
How could he hit so hard?! It had to be said that I had enough energy within my system to keep me afloat when I received those punches so my body was already reasonably boosted. Yet he tore into my defense like paper. What would have happened if I didn't have any energy in my system and took that punch in my baseline state?
I would have probably exploded to pieces from the force. "Shit," I cursed, the thought chilling me.
What surprised me more was that the energy in that punch was actually too much for me to absorb. The fact that the punch had hurt me proved that. Luckily I'd had the sense to block that second strike with my arms, if not I'd probably be dead.
No wonder this guy is so confident of killing me, he didn't claim that out of ignorance like I had first thought. In fact it was because he understood my powers quite well that he could exploit a weakness I never knew about.
It all has something to do with the nature of my powers, how I absorb energy. Firstly I know that at any giving time there's a limit to the amount of energy I can absorb from a blow. So consequently the energy that I can't absorb - at that giving time - hurts me instead, and I have to use some of the energy I'd successfully absorb to heal the damage. Making the remaining energy I have in my body, in the end, negligible.
Yet the more energy I have in my system the more I can absorb in one go; the more energy I can absorb in one go the more powerful the attacks I can nullify. That's why the more energy I absorb, the more invulnerable I become. In theory a hundred percent absorption of energy means I have completely nullified an attack.
Bullets that could hurt me when I have little to no energy would bounce off my skin harmlessly when I have enough energy in my body, because I have successfully absorbed 100 percent of their kinetic energy. Now take a Darkstar bullet for instance, it has hundred times more energy stored in it than an ordinary bullet, so it could still harm me when the ordinary bullets couldn't because I could not absorb all its energy.
It stands to reason that with enough energy in my body even the Darkstar bullets couldn't harm me.
In this case, if ordinary punches are like ordinary bullets, Obermensch's punch is like a Darkstar bullet. I can't absorb all the energy in the attack - at the moment - so it can harm me. Worse, even the energy I manage to absorb from it wouldn't give me any boost as most of it will be consumed to heal me just like that time with Per Degaton. That's the weakness Obermensch is exploiting to overcome my cheat like ability.
Hearing a sound I looked up - two aircrafts went past above me. The greyer one - belonging to the Nazis - seemed to be losing, judging by the trail of smoke behind it as it fled. Good, I thought then grimaced from the pain as I tried to get up.
Overwhelming power is the counter to my powers, who would have thought? But it is not all bad, I still have a fighting chance. The truth is that if I only depended on the energy from my opponent's attack to sustain me I'd be finished today. But unfortunately for the Nazi bastard I have another source of energy.
Gritting my teeth through the pain I controlled the energy in my body and redirected more to my right arm. Quickly it started healing, the more energy I poured the faster it healed.
In just a few seconds my arm was fully healed. At this point most of the energy in my body was consumed and I was back to a puny baseline in strengh.
Fortunately on each my wrists are Booster watches. When I flicked all two Boosters the energy they gave me was more than enough to rise afloat and lift buildings. Flying out of the crater I looked at my surrounding searching for my opponent.
More of the All Star Squadron were arriving and has surrounded the Axis Amerika. Besides we, the original six that came here, more than a dozen had appeared, most of them jumped off from that JSA jet in the middle of battle. Among them was Firebrand, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Black Canary, Wildcat and more, so the villains were badly outnumbered.
Which is great but I saw no sign of the villain I was supposed to be fighting. "Up there!" Someone said to me. I turned to see Firebrand pointing at the sky. Following her finger I finally realized why Obermensch hadn't pressed his advantage and continued fighting me, it was because he had decided to flee.
Seems like Diana was right to not give the bald villain time. For all his wild talk Obermensch wasn't stupid; after realizing that he fell into a trap, he never intended to fight in the first place, and just wanted to escape. All those tough words were actually a diversion.
"I confronted him after he defeated you, but instead of fighting me he just took off," Firebrand said with a teasing smile under her red eye mask.
"He didn't defeat me," I grunted. Then I shot up intending on chasing the villain, but someone beat me to the punch. I saw a blur approach the fleeing villain from the north and rammed into him. The villain came flying back to crash down the street blowing up another crater.
Hovering in the sky the Spectre only spared me a cold glance then flew away towards another direction, presumingly after the Nazis' fleeing aircraft.
I shrugged then flew towards were Obermensch crashed. Immediately I reached the edge of the crater I suddenly jumped back. The next moment a figure appeared from the crater punching at the spot I was just standing. It was Obermensch, his eyes were red with anger and madness.
"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" He roared.
"No you won't," I scoffed measuring the distance between us. I didn't have the confidence of fighting him blow for blow so I decided to end this quickly. For a while back a way to end a battle decisively had eluded me, but after giving it some thought I realize I do have a way.
In fact I already used this move once before, and it was my very first fight in this universe. That's right I am talking about the move I used to take out Solomon Grundy!
Clenching my fist I started channeling energy towards the fist. Unlike the first time that I used the move, that it took a while to load the energy, this time backed by my many practice this past few days, it took only a moment for my hand to start vibrating proving that it was reaching the limit of energy it can hold.
Obermensch roared again and charged at me. I took a deep breath. Around me the heroes were busy fighting other villains. Powerful moves, weapons and energies of different kinds flew to and fro causing explosions everywhere, but to me everything fell into the background except the approaching villain.
Obermensch closed the distance and I punched out releasing the loaded energy on impact. A crack rang as my fist connected with his face. Purple light burst outwards, flashily, Obermensch was sent flying back.
The villain crashed against a building, breaking through the wall and fell in.
After I followed through I found him half buried in a pile rubble, passed out. His face was carved in badly with blood oozing out of his flattened nose but he was still breathing.
At the same time my fight ended the battle around me was also rounding up. It was a complete rout, in the heroes favor. The outnumbered villains had no chance against the combined might of the All Star Squadron and the JSA who were more than twice their numbers.
Now that I think of it it wasn't really that surprising that we won comfortably. Perhaps the moment the villains took Hourman's bait they'd already lost.
After arresting the villains half of the heroes - assisting the FBI - escorted the villains to Alcatraz prison, while the rest of us proceeded to the JSA HQ where Hawkgirl and Red Tornado were secured in strong cells.
It was celebration mode alright! The victory was huge. Not like we threw a party but we were all in a good mood and you could see it on everyone's faces.
It wasn't only because we caught some Nazi villains. The thing is firstly, we responded well to Dr Fate's death, secondly, we brought back Hawkgirl, and thirdly none of the members of the Axis Amerika that were responsible for Dr Fate's death escaped.
It was a perfect victory.
However that night we heard bad news. Gundra had escaped Alcatraz prison. The odd thing was that no one could tell how she escaped. Apparently the guards on patrol found her cell empty just after sunset. The cell door was still closed and there was no attack on the prison facility itself. Furthermore besides her none of the other prisoners - even the new ones - escaped.
Of course I'll like to blame it on the JSA's or even the Squadron's incompetence, but after arresting the Axis Amerika we'd expected the Nazis to make a move on the prison facility holding so many of their people and buffed up security.
Usually two heroes are enough to stand guard in the prison after repeated attacks on the facility but today the top sent out eight. Yet none of those heroes sensed or saw anything as Gundra made her escape, making a complete fool out of the All Star Squadron.
The possibility of magic - a teleportation spell - used to take Gundra out was also out of the question. If the Nazis could free their people with teleportation magic no Nazi criminal would still remain there right now. It was impossible, that's because Dr Fate and the Spectre had warded the prison with anti teleportation spells long ago.
The most likely possibility is that it was the the prison guards' doing. At least that's what I think Hourman is thinking. But somehow I felt that that wasn't it. I had a feeling that Gundra's escape is linked to Dr Fate's death.
Or perhaps a particular Speedstar. We'd wrecked his base fighting the Axis Amerika yet we didn't even get a glimpse of him. Perhaps Eobard Thawne is finally making his move.
xxx
It was a few days later that I decided to take the bull by the head and move my life forward.
Walking through the front gate I looked around the courtyard as I followed the butler towards the manor house. I had to use my identity as a Mystery Man to secure this audience so I should have worn my costume to make it more convincing, but at last I decided to wear a neat black suit instead, just to make a good first impression. Well the little 'magic trick' I performed at the gate had sufficed to prove my identity, but the costume could have made it easier.
Even with that the security personnel didn't let me bring the drone I came with into the estate.
The Wayne family's butler - that's all he said when he introduced himself - was a heavyset tall man. Middle aged and bald. Beardless but for a thick well styled mustache above his mouth. He wasn't good looking however, which was the fault of his pebble like small eyes, large nose and thick mouth. In truth he looked like a cartoon character. He wasn't Alfred Pennyworth definitely.
The butler opened the door and let me into the mansion then took his place standing guard by the door. "Please have a seat, the Master will be here at any moment,"
"Sure," I said sitting on the couch. I smoothed my suit and crossed my legs by habit. The wide parlour had a dark decor, with a tall vaulted ceiling. Dark red carpets covered the floor, full set knight armors stood upright by the side, and expensive paintings hung on the walls. The room showed both the elegance and wealth of the owner. As expected of the richest family in Gotham.
Just as the butler promised I didn't have to wait long before the sound of footsteps came to my ears. I stopped studying the room and looked up to see a middle aged man in dark suit and bow tie walk in. The man was slender with a huge mustache of his face too, but he wasn't bad looking like his butler, instead he gave one the impression of a refined gentleman.
"They said a JSA person was looking for me," the man said.
"Your are Richard Wayne?"
"You don't even know the face of the man you came to find?"
"Well I'm new in town," I rose to my feet, took a step and offered my hand. "I am James Greek, nice to meet you Mr Wayne,"
After we shook Richard Wayne sat on the couch opposite me before telling me to sit. I sat back after thanking him perfunctorily.
"So what brings you here Mr Greek, I hope it isn't bad news?" After settling down he asked.
"Bad news?"
"Well when the JSA visits you can't help but be nervous that your life is being threatened by an evil witch or something,"
Oh it is just like seeing the cops at your doorstep, no one will find that comfortable.
"Actually I'm from the All Star Squadron not the JSA, so rest assured it's not anything grave," I joked then got serious. "Infact I'm not here for Mystery Man related matter, but for personal business of our mutual benefit,"
"Oh? alright," Richard Wayne lifted an eyebrow, skeptically seizing me up. He was staring at me like I am scam artist but it didn't phase me.
"Yeah, I have the knowledge and you have the money, don't we make a perfect duo for a partnership? "
"What do you mean?"
I grinned. "What if I told you that I can make the most powerful aircraft in the world Mr Wayne?"
Richard Wayne frowned then gave me a smug smirk that seems to say 'got you'. "... Let me guess you want me to give you some money?" He teased.
"Nah," I waved my hand placidly. "We ain't at that stage yet. Can you have your people bring the drone their confiscated at the gate?"
"Okay," Richard Wayne turned to the man standing by the door. "Did you confiscate any... of his belongings? Bring it in,"
"But..." The butler hesitated. "Pardon me Mr Wayne, we don't know the purpose of that device, it could be something dangerous,"
"Just bring it here, a Mystery Man don't need tricks to harm us,"
"Yes Sir,"
I rose to my feet. "Why don't we step outside too,"
"If you say so," Richard Wayne agreed quickly. Obviously curious what I was thinking about.
With that we went outside to wait in the courtyard. The thick line of trees blocked the sight of the walls of the estate from here so I couldn't see the gate, but the part of the paved walkway, that curved into the woods, that I could see was perfect for what I planned.
Before long the butler returned carrying a wide contraption in his hand. I had him place it on the paved ground before facing Richard Wayne. "This here is a drone Mr Wayne,"
"A drone... I have heard it somewhere before, what does it do?"
I stooped down to get the remote I had stuck on the drone's right wing with a tape. "A drone does a lot of things," I said.
"What things?"
"Military stuff. Surveillance, attack and transportation. The most important thing about a drone, however, is that it's an unmanned and unpiloted aircraft,"
Wayne nodded. "I know this thing, assault drone huh... but I thought there are supposed to be bigger than this, if I'm not mistaken,"
I get his point. After all in this era drones are basically converted manned aircrafts, so of course they'd be larger, as large as the ordinary aircraft it was converted from. "They are, but mine is different,"
Without any more delay, using the bulky remote, I started the drone under Richard Wayne and the butler's gaze.
The drone moved forward using the paved path as a runway. Soon the little aircraft rose up into the sky. Using the remote I navigated it through the dark evening sky joining the bats gliding to and fro. Richard Wayne didn't say a word the whole time, but I could see the gleam in his eyes when I was done, he liked what he saw!
After that demonstration we went back inside. This time Mr Wayne was more polite to me, as he offered me a drink, then we sat down and talked business.
]
Thanks for reading..
GNX, well that's an album. If you love words you love Kendrick, eh?
Link: Pat - treon. - com - / - Ensii99