Breathless Chapter Five
Victories and Difficulties
JLA Universe
Gotham City Harbor
Black Canary looked on in horror at the huge creature standing before them. She wondered briefly if Superman or Batman were scared like her. They certainly didn’t seem to be. Sure, Superman seemed to be amazed but he wasn’t shaking or trying to hide. He just floated there in the air a little ways behind and above the creature. She was no longer sure where Batman was. She knew he was there but couldn’t see him.
Great! The beastie was moving towards her! A little help from the muscle twins! Anytime, would be much appreciated! She certainly wouldn’t think them chauvinists!
Superman looked on in amazement at the monster before him. The dark creature seemed to have sprung from some Hollywood nightmare. The creature was made up of some kind of thick viscous material. As he studied it, he noticed that the creature was growing in size, and it was moving towards Black Canary.
Superman flew straight into the monster fists first. There was little resistance to his attack. The creature’s body just enveloped him and suddenly he was inside the creature. He felt a little bit like a piece of fruit stuck in jello.
It seemed the creature had no organs to speak of. It was absorbing matter into itself and growing with each step. And it was still moving towards Black Canary. Superman felt a powerful blast hit the creature. The monsters body rippled from the attack and part of Superman’s arm was exposed for a moment.
Using his x-ray vision he saw that his left side was facing Black Canary and that the terrified girl was standing her ground and preparing to hit the creature a second time with her sonic scream. She seemed to pause for a moment and looked to her left. Superman looked and saw Batman standing in the shadows. He was saying something to the Black Canary. It was difficult to hear through the monster’s weird body.
Superman couldn’t get momentum to spin himself out and the monster didn’t seem to have any pain receptors. He consciously let himself become dead weight. As he had hoped he began to drop. He felt solid footing and was about to spin when he saw Batman throw some kind of capsule at the monsters feet. When it impacted, the monsters feet were instantly frozen in place. On cue, Black Canary hit the creature with her sonic scream for the second time. Only now she aimed at its feet.
The frozen creature’s feet shattered, revealing Superman’s red boots. Almost as soon as they were visible, they disappeared in a blur of red as Superman spun his body out of the creatures at super speed. In a moment he was next to Black Canary and Batman.
The three of them watched as the fallen monster began to rise again. Its scattered body seemed to be re-assimilating itself, all but the frozen pieces that Black Canary had shattered. Superman and Batman looked at each other.
“You have any more of those, freeze, thingy’s?” Superman asked with a grin. He couldn’t speak for the other two, but he felt a strong connection to them. It was a connection he had never felt before. He was enjoying their company and himself immensely. Despite the offensive smelling gook on his suit, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun.
“Not enough to freeze the whole monster. And they’re called pellets, not thingy’s,” Batman answered seriously. Superman seemed like a good man, his good nature and optimism were quite infectious. But for crying out loud! In the last hour he’d been frozen solid and just now swallowed up inside of some kind of slime creature! He wasn’t the least bit shaken up. In fact, he acted as if he had just opened up a Christmas present and found out it was the gift he had been wanting all year but had not expected to get it.
“You can freeze it, can’t you, Superman!?” Black Canary asked hopefully, seeing where the conversation was going. She glanced nervously at the growing monster.
“Yes, Miss Canary. I can,” Superman smiled at her.
Black Canary blushed. “Miss Canary”, he said. He was very sweet and quite a gentleman. Even now he was standing between her and the awful monster. This was very exciting. Ever since Superman had appeared in the news, she had hoped to meet him. He was so good looking on the news, and here she was fighting alongside him! And he had tried to save her twice now! He was so much better looking in person than on television, and he was so big! Of course there was also the Batman. She had never believed that he existed. And here he was as well. The two of them seemed to know each other. That Batman looked quite dreamy as well. Well, what she could see of him, but he was kind of scary. His voice was intimidating and she hadn’t seen him smile once. She had to say though, that as terrifying as the situation was, she felt pretty secure with these two.
She noticed Batman looking at them a little strange. She had to compose herself. She had to get a hold of her nerves. She had to be in control of her voice. She had to sound like a seasoned veteran.
“Ok, Cool! You freeze it with your (what did he call it in the Daily Planet interview) Mighty Breath and then I’ll blast it with my Sonic Scream!” she blurted out. Man! That had just sounded stupid.
“Yes. He can freeze it with his Mighty Breath Thingy and then you can blast it with your Sonic Scream Thingy,” Batman muttered under his breath.
Black Canary didn’t hear him. Superman did. He chuckled as he rose into the air. He inhaled and then blew hard on the monster. The monster was instantly frozen solid.
“You’re up,” he said to Black Canary as he touched down again.
Dinah cut loose with her sonic scream once more. The frozen monster shattered into thousands of pieces.
“We need to pick up all the pieces. I want to study…,” Batman paused as if listening to something. Familiar with this, Superman also focused his hearing.
Batman was listening to some kind of emergency announcements; it seemed that this was not the only place a monster had landed. There were reports of creatures in Coast City, Central City and Middleton.
“Looks like our day isn’t over yet,” Batman said looking at Superman.
Superman nodded and then gestured to the scattered frozen pieces of the creature, “What would you like to do with this mess?”
“I’ll only need a couple of samples to test. The rest we should destroy if possible,” Batman answered. He picked up a couple of small pieces and placed them into a small, airtight cylinder he produced from his belt. “That should do it.”
Superman gathered the rest of the pieces into a pile on the concrete. He took one piece and set it apart from the rest. Focusing on the lone piece he incinerated it with his heat vision. After a couple of seconds, there was nothing left. He turned to the pile satisfied that his heat vision would do the trick and incinerated the remaining pieces.
Black Canary gasped in amazement.
Batman seemed thoughtful.
Superman shook his head. “I could have ended this before it even started.” He was a bit disappointed with himself.
Batman shocked them both. “We found out what didn’t work, and we found out what did. We took it down working together, as a team.”
He still wasn’t smiling, but Black Canary was pretty sure he had just given them all a compliment.
“Are you guys going to go stop the other monsters? If you are I want to come with you,” Black Canary stated. She felt as if she had just gained two new powerful friends; she was not about to let them out of her sight and she wasn’t going to take “No, you’re a girl,” for an answer.
Superman looked at Batman, “We should probably split up.”
“Agreed,” Batman replied. “It seems that the creatures have already been engaged at each of these three locations. I’ll head to Middleton. Why don’t you head to Central City, it seems that the creature there is producing fire. Your freeze breath should come in handy against that. If you need assistance use the com-link I gave you.”
Superman agreed, “Okay, and you do the same.” He offered Batman his hand.
Batman seemed stunned for a moment and then took it in a brief, but firm handshake.
Black Canary observed the whole interaction with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. So, apparently, they didn’t know each other as well she had thought and now that they were friends they were ignoring her. “Okay, who am I going with? Because you guys are not going to leave me here by myself.” She said the last very assertively, and waited with arms crossed to see how they would react.
Superman and Batman Looked at her and at each other.
“I would be happy to take you, but with the way that you’re dressed, as cold as it is and as fast as I’ll be flying, I don’t think you’ll be very comfortable. It’s probably best if she goes with you, Batman,” Superman said turning to Batman. “Besides I still feel fairly gross with the goo from the creature, all over me.”
Black Canary wrinkled her nose. She had been hoping to go with Superman, but she readily agreed with his reasons why not, and it was true that he didn’t smell pleasant at the moment. Now that the three of them were friends, she was certain she would eventually have an opportunity to fly in Superman’s arms. With that satisfying thought, she turned from the dreamy and extremely muscular hunk number one to the dark, scary and extremely muscular hunk number two. “So I guess I’m going with you. How do you get around?”
Batman had a somewhat sour look on the visible part of his face. “Come here,” he gestured to her.
Dinah walked over to the Batman. She was a bit taken aback when he pulled her to him with his right arm. His left arm reached up and grasped something she couldn’t see in the dark. “We’ll be flying as well,” he said to her quietly while he held her tightly against himself.
Although Dinah was a bit shocked at his boldness, she realized two things. One: he was very strong; she could feel the tremendous power of his arm and body against hers. And two: his hold on her was not a sensual one. Her two observations were drilled home the next moment when they both shot straight up into the sky.
She gasped and clung tightly to him. Then almost as soon as they had begun they were stopping. She realized that they were inside some kind of jet. Batman let go of her and walked towards the front. He gestured for her to follow him. She did, observing the interior in awe.
“This is yours?” she asked stunned.
“Yes, it’s mine. Have a seat and don’t touch any buttons,” he answered her.
She sat in what she assumed was the co-pilots seat speechless. Batman seemed to be ignoring her.
Batman took the pilots seat, buckled himself in, made sure that the Black Canary was strapped in, and took off. As he set their course for Middleton he contacted Superman via their com-link.
“Superman.”
“Yes.” Superman answered.
“You’re going to want to get rid of any of the alien residue that you have on your body as soon as you can. I would suggest doing so before you engage the next creature,” Batman advised.
“Understood, that is a good idea,” Superman answered. Almost to Central City, Superman stopped and turned north heading for his Fortress.
Syndicate Universe
Floating Fortress
Ultraman was furious.
He had left Di-ana bound. She should not have been able to escape!
He scanned all of the rooms to see if she was hiding. He knew that she wasn’t. He would have heard and smelled her by now. Her heart beat and aroma were unmistakable. He did, however, find her signal/teleporter device.
She would be completely healed from their last session together by now, so if she was not bound she would have full use of her powers. Without her signal device/teleporter she would have to fly wherever she decided to go. Two possibilities came to mind, the Daily Planet and her home on Themyscira. It was also very possible that she was with Owlman again. It mattered not. He would find her eventually. She would regret defying him.
Jur-li decided to check the Daily Planet first. He wouldn’t go as Ultraman. It would have to be as Lieutenant Clark Kent. He changed in a blur of motion and then teleported down to an alley next to the Daily Planet, in his military uniform.
JLA Universe
Coast City
Hal stood between Penny and the monster. The green energy of his ring crackled as it enveloped him in his costume and clothed him within its protective aura.
The grotesque yellow creature was staring at him. There was a tangible malevolence to the tar black eyes and the twisted face. It stood at the edge of the water, a good three yards from Hal, sizing him up. He apparently, registered as something of a threat, because the monster launched itself with incredible speed at him.
Hal reacted instinctively, almost without thought. As the creature attacked, Hal simultaneously shot straight up into the air. A giant green hand scooped up Penny and half a dozen deadly green lasers fired at the monster. He continued to fire into the creature as it landed where he and Penny had been a moment ago. As Hal deposited his pretty date a safe distance up the beach hidden from view, he realized that his counter attack was having no affect, whatsoever, on the obscenity below him.
He remembered Kilowog’s warning. It had barely registered. He had been busy getting his butt handed to him by the beautiful and ferocious Boodika at the time.
“The ring doesn’t work on anything yellow, Poozer,” Kilowog had said. Hal heard him, but he had been suffocating between his lovely teammate’s thighs, his body pretzeled backwards over his legs. The back of his head had been almost touching the soles of his feet.
At a signal from Kilowog, Boodika had let Hal up. The lust of battle had been plain on her face. This was not a game to her. Hal for his part had just stayed where he was, certain his back was broken. Kilowog had finally helped him up.
Hal had tested his joints and his range of motion surprised, that he could still move. He looked over at his lovely pink teammate, and sighed. He had had the privilege of having his face buried between Boodika’s delicious thighs but hadn’t been able to enjoy them! He had been too busy trying to get oxygen! One of these days, he promised himself. He was determined to turn her lust for battle into a slightly different kind of lust. She was a tough one, but he was confident that he would eventually get her to crack.
Hal’s mind returned from the wishful and dangerous tangent it had taken. The monster had again launched itself at him. Thinking of his friend, Ollie, he created a giant crossbow and shot a wicked looking arrow straight at the creature’s chest. The arrow simply dissipated on impact with the creature.
Great! Of all the colors in the universe! What was the use of having a ring that could do whatever you willed it to, unless of course, you were up against something yellow! What kind of freaking weakness was that!
He could just imagine the scenarios:
“Green Lantern! Save me!”
“Sorry, ma’am, can’t help you. He’s wearing a yellow jacket.”
“Green Lantern! Help me. My husband is pinned beneath our car!
“Sorry. No can do. Next time make sure you don’t buy a yellow car.”
Sheesh! It was beyond pathetic!
Hal was beside himself with frustration and rising anger. He had spent the last five minutes uselessly flying around the monster blasting it with his ring to no effect.
He had to figure out some way to stop the creature. It seemed to be losing interest in him. It was looking up the beach towards where he had hidden Penny. It was about to start in that direction when it was suddenly distracted by a loud commotion a little bit inland.
Hal looked to see the light of television news camera’s flashing. Now there were reporters on the scene!
The monster started towards the reporters and the crowd of people that had begun to gather around.
Desperate to stop it, Hal changed his tactics. He ripped up a bench with his ring and launched it at the monster with all the power he could will into his throw. The bench hit the creature’s right side, nearly folding it in half. It dropped to the sand and for a moment lay still. The crowd began to cheer and Hal was feeling rather good about himself when he noticed the creature starting to get back up.
Now that he knew he could hurt it he knew he could beat it. He flew straight to one of the news crews. “I’m going to need to borrow your news van,” he informed them with a devastating grin.
The reporter lady nearly swooned and the camera man just smiled stupidly at him. Taking their response as a yes, he lifted the news van, checking to make sure that there was no one inside of it, then he launched it full force at the monster just as it gained its footing.
Once again the creature crumbled to the sand this time with a ton of metal on top of it. Hal was not done. With his ring he dismantled the van. Plastic and metal lay strewed over the sand around the creature. Hal lifted the gas tank and slammed it down on the stirring monster and then ignited it with his ring.
He encased the creature and the gas tank in a protective dome of green energy just as the tank exploded. He watched with satisfaction as the yellow headache was reduced to ash. Hal gathered the remaining pieces of the demolished van and deposited them next to the news crew to whom it belonged.
As the crowd cheered their hero’s victory, Hal reassembled the news van. “It’s all here; you’ll just have to get a new gas tank. Thanks for helping me by the way.” With a happy grin, that just wouldn’t disappear, he flew to where he had deposited Penny.
She was still unconscious. He picked her up gently in his arms, looking at her pretty face and figure. She was breathing. With a sigh, knowing that his plans for the night were now ruined he flew her to the hospital. He landed with her just outside of the ER. He deposited her in front of a swamped and frustrated triage nurse.
“She was attacked by a giant, yellow alien. I don’t know how badly it injured her but I can’t stay. There might be more creatures out there. Her name is Penny,” Hal almost shouted out the information to the nurse. He hoped that his stretching of the truth would get Penny the quick attention she needed.
He was amazed when the triage nurse and several of those waiting to be triaged smiled at him and pointed at the news.
There was some footage of his brief battle with the creature. Thankfully all the footage was of the latter part of the fight; the part where he had finally gotten the upper hand. He had to admit he did look good in his skintight uniform and being on television would do nothing but improve his popularity. His cheerful thoughts were interrupted by reports of similar attacks to the one on the beach in Middleton and in Central City. It seemed something had happened in Gotham as well but apparently someone had already taken care of that creature.
Hal smiled at the group of people waiting their turn and walked out to the parking lot then having made his decision he launched himself into the air and headed for Central City. The city had a hero called the Flash. He had wanted to meet him for some time and this was as good an excuse as any. Maybe after they destroyed the creature there they could move on and tackle the monster in Middleton together.
Concentrating his will, Hal sped towards his destination.
The pretty young girl began to stir as she regained consciousness. She was in a strange room. Her handsome date was gone. She was in the hospital! She sat up in a panic.
A nurse walked into the room and noticing she was awake greeted her.
“Hi, Penny, glad to see you’re still with us,” the nurse chirped.
“My name isn’t Penny, its Meredith,” she answered.
Syndicate Universe
Syndicate Satellite
Power Ring, Johnny Quick, Ocean Master, Nuclear Man, Major Atom, Lightening and Iron were gathered waiting for Ultraman, Superwoman and Owlman.
“Why aren’t we waiting for Molecule Man and Protex as well?” Major Atom asked.
“Molecule Man has great inventions and gadgets, but let’s face it. The man is a complete coward. We don’t need him for a fight. We could definitely use Protex’s help, but we haven’t been able to locate him. Anyway he’s unpredictable and disgusting,” Power Ring answered.
Johnny Quick spoke up. “I hear what you’re saying about Ray, but the man is a genius. What you wanta bet he could come up with some gadget that could destroy every last one of those ships without us ever having to lift a finger.”
The others all agreed with Quick. Power Ring conceded the point. “We’ll run it by Ultraman when the rest of them get here.”
Silence reigned again for a bit. Ocean Master spoke up. “We should plan an attack that doesn’t include the others; their obviously not as interested in victory as we are.” His voice had a strange wet sound too it. It was almost as if he were constantly about to spit a batch of pooled saliva but just never got around to it.
Most seemed to agree with this train of thought although at least half of them were a bit concerned that Ultraman might lose his short temper if they did not wait for him.
They finally decided that Quick would go after Molecule Man since he would not be going into space against the invaders anyway. Those who could travel in space would plan their attack with and without the help of Ultraman.
JLA Universe
Central City
Tabitha Simmons was staring up into the sky. Slowly, it began to dawn on her that she was on the ground. She tried to think of why she would be on the ground outside. Gradually she began feel the cold. She turned her head and saw a baby carriage turned over just inches from her. There was a baby lying partially in and partially out the carriage. It was facing her. It was a beautiful boy. His face was very red and it looked as if he were screaming but there was no sound.
Tabitha suddenly realized that it was her baby! They were both on the ground, and she couldn’t hear anything! She sat up to look around the park.
Just a few feet from her she saw a large, dark grotesque creature. It was moving towards her and her baby. It touched a tree and it went up in flames. She couldn’t hear herself but knew that she was screaming for help.
There was a moment of intense disorientation, the briefest sense of something red and yellow and she found herself two blocks away from the park. Her baby! She started to panic then suddenly her baby was right in front of her.
She cried out in relief, at the sight of her crying baby. She lifted him into her arms, thankful for the miracle that had rescued them from certain death in the park.
Tabitha noticed others close to her all peering intently towards the park. She looked seeing the flaming tree and the monster there. She was beginning to regain her hearing. It seemed that everyone here had been in the park just seconds ago.
It was dark now and hard to see details from two blocks away. Apart from the flames coming from a couple of trees and the smoking creature Tabitha could see little else as she stared hard, clutching her baby to her breasts. Then suddenly she saw them.
There were two figures, one in red the other in yellow. They stood before the creature. Their bodies crackled with energy. It seemed they were enveloped in lightening. They had seemingly appeared from nowhere to face the creature. Tabitha instinctively knew that she was looking at her miracles.
The monster noticed Tabitha’s miracles as well. It gave off a sound that came off as something between a bone chilling laugh and a roar as it reached for them. They were no longer there. Tabitha lost sight of them but noticed that the energy that seemed to surround them seemed to grow and intensify and encircle the creature.
Within seconds the monster stopped smoking and its flames disappeared. A few seconds later the creature stopped moving altogether. It looked like a statue. The red and yellow miracles were again visible before the monster. They touched it. The solidified monster seemed to tremble all over then suddenly it exploded. The energy that surrounded the creature kept the debris from flying outwards. Instead, all of the pieces fell to the ground giving the impression of a crumbling statue.
Tabitha realized that she had been holding her breath. Slowly her heart rate started to return to normal. Others had been watching as well. She and her baby weren’t the only ones the miracles had rescued. People began to clap and shout.
The miracles turned, the yellow miracle waved and then they were gone.
Syndicate Universe
Owlman moved silently through the empty corridors of the science building. He was certain that Ray was gone but there was a chance that the monster Protex was still in the lab. He had taken a suspicious interest in Molecule Man’s work and had become his assistant. His interest in Ray’s scientific work was suspicious to Owlman because he knew that the White Martian’s basic drive was to breed and eat and dominate. It appeared he was the last of his kind. It seemed that this knowledge gave him a voracious appetite for human flesh and a powerful desire for human females.
The majority of the Syndicate members were used to both seeing and perpetrating all manner of crimes and evils on their fellow humans. Of these, only a few had seen the remains of the White Martians victims. It had turned even their stomachs.
He had been given fair warning. Discontinue killing humans or he himself would be destroyed.
Given the monsters mind boggling abilities, the threat seemed almost laughable. The creature’s strength and speed were nearly that of Ultraman’s. In addition Protex was a powerful telepath, he had the ability to become invisible, intangible, and he could shape shift, seemingly into any form he chose. But for all his amazing powers, the creature had a most convenient weakness, fire.
Both Ultraman and Superwoman possessed heat vision. Owlman himself always had a flame throwing weapon on his person and he, Superwoman and Johnny Quick were immune to mind control.
There had been no more disappearances of females that could be linked to Protex ever since he had been warned, but Ultraman did not believe for one minute that the creature had stopped. He figured that whatever it was doing with Ray, it was somehow beneficial to him.
Owlman went through his mental routine, closing his mind to all outside influences, control and detection as he continued moving towards the lab like a deadly shadow.
The Lab
Superwoman saw that the light was on in the lab so she pushed it open. She was pleased to see Ray bent over a machine jotting down information.
“Ray, I need your help,” she said sweetly.
Ray gave a nasty grin before turning around. “You don’t know how pleased I am that you are here. It will most definitely be my pleasure.”
Superwoman studied the bookish man amused by his sudden confidence. Most men seemed to become confident around her as long as Ultraman was not present.
She walked up to him sensuously and grabbed onto his lab coat and looked down into the smaller man’s eyes. “This must be kept between us. I want no one else to know. Do you understand?” Her eyes glowed red to emphasize the seriousness of her demand.
Protex was almost licking his lips at their closeness and contact. He visibly flinched when her eyes glowed red. She laughed at his discomfiture, and explained what had happened to her earlier that day with meeting Superman. She left out the details of what had happened between her and Ultraman.
Protex had to control his enthusiasm. This was working out much better than he’d planned. He mumbled some scientific nonsense having to do with calculations for inter-dimensional travel and having to be precise to get the destination right. She seemed suitably impressed.
Ray seemed so full of energy and willing to help. Superwoman almost laughed at how he seemed to be falling over himself to fulfill her wishes. What she could not get with the promise of her body she could always get by threat of force. She had been sure to offer him both. She was desperate.
Ray was asking her to stand on a circular pad with wires running to a large complicated looking device. She stepped onto it facing the wall. She hoped this would work. The thought of seeing Superman again excited her. She closed her eyes remembering him.
She felt a sudden explosion of pain then darkness claimed her as she slumped unconscious to the floor.
Protex bent over her making sure to bind her wrists. While he knew he was more than a match for her in strength, she was, with the possible exception of Owlman, the best hand to hand fighter he had seen and she possessed heat vision which alone would undo him. Now she was helpless. He had his prize. He was sure to achieve his goal.
Protex was about to begin when he heard a noise. Turning, he saw a shadow moving towards him. Panicking, he punched the teleporting device. Instantly he and Superwoman disappeared in a flash of light.
Owlman stood in the space where, a moment ago, the monster and Superwoman had been. He had not been fast enough. The creature had sensed him too early. He had to figure out where they were. He began to study the displays on the instruments in front of him. He had almost given up when he saw a familiar word flashing at the bottom of a display.
It said Fortress.
JLA Universe
Middleton
Diane Meade stood staring open mouthed at the monster in front of her. She had seen many terrifying things in her life. Due to her line of work she had the unenviable privilege of seeing evil that humans were capable of perpetrating on each other. This monster scared her more. Not because she knew it to be worse than anything she had ever seen, but because it was the unknown. It certainly seemed bent on death and destruction.
The creature was a good fifteen feet tall and seemed to be a grayish color, although it was hard to tell since it was already dark. The monster lifted one the cruisers like it was nothing to throw. Diane drew her weapon and ran towards the monster firing into it. She shouted for everyone to fire on it. As she stopped to reload she noticed that John was no longer next to her.
She had no chance to look for or wonder where John had disappeared to as the creature, which apparently wasn’t the least bit inconvenienced by multitude of bullets striking it, decided to hurl the cruiser at her. She was frozen in place watching as her death descended on her.
John shifted to invisible when he saw the creature land in the street. Sinking into the ground he sped towards the monster. He would have to take it down quickly to insure that his partner and teammates were not hurt. Diane’s bravery had always impressed him. She was cautious to a fault, but she would not hesitate to put herself in danger in order to protect her fellow teammates.
Here she was drawing the creature’s attention to herself to save her frozen teammates.
As the creature hurled car at Diane, J’onn took on his Martian form and shot up out of the ground between the creature and his partner. Catching the cruiser easily he hurled it back at the creature. The creature tumbled back several meters. J’onn pressed the attack.
As the creature started to rise J’onn smashed it back into the ground. He tried to scan its mind. He was shocked to find nothing. It had no consciousness! There was no soul.
The monster was again trying to rise. J’onn allowed it to. It reached for him and grasped him about the head. The creature seemed to be of a rocky nature. As it squeezed, J’onn went intangible and phased through the monster. Coming out behind it, J’onn ripped the head of the monster clean off of its body. As the body fell to the ground J’onn ground the head to powder between his mighty hands. The powder slipped from his hand onto the body and J’onn hit it with his Martian vision. The monster was quickly vaporized.
J’onn was satisfied that his enemy was vanquished but concerned at the ease with which he had dispatched it. He would have to investigate more but for now he had to make sure that his partner and everyone else were fine.
Diane stared in disbelief for the second time that night. She had seen a large green man save her from certain death. He had dispatched the creature with ease. The tall green figure was before her. He was large maybe seven feet tall. The body was thick and devoid of hair. She looked up into his face. The eyes were completely black, large and incredibly sad. They seemed able to look through her very being. The face was perhaps the most serious face she had ever seen. She was shocked to discover that she felt no fear of this giant green alien. Sure he had just saved her life. But she had no idea why. Then he spoke to her.
“Please do not fear me, Diane Meade,” the deep gentle voice pleaded.
She realized suddenly that he had not opened his mouth and that she could still hear the words echoing in her head.
“Why not? Who are you? Why are you here?” she asked.
“I am here to help,” was his short reply. He seemed about to elaborate when he took on a contemplative look, as if he were seeing or sensing something far away. “I am sorry. I must go. If you will allow me to I will return and explain.”
“Yes, return and explain if you can,” Diane replied without thinking.
The green giant nodded his thanks and then flew off into the darkness.
JLA Universe
Arctic
As Kator Hol and his four wingmen approached the creature they set their pulse rifles at maximum. Their mission was to eliminate not capture. The creature noticed them suddenly and letting out an ear shattering scream, leaped at them. Two of his wingmen lost their pulse rifles as they instinctively covered their ears at the painful sound. Kator and the other two fired their weapons.
All three scored a hit. The creature dropped back down to the ground its body pulsing with energy. It convulsed a few times then lay still. The five wingmen landed. This was definitely a desolate and cold place. Their suits and nth metal armor kept them warm but still it was not a place any of them would wish to stay in for any length of time.
Kator kneeled to study the creature they had just killed, while his four wingmen set up a defensive perimeter. The two who had dropped their weapons had quickly recovered them. As Kator studied the creature, he realized that it looked like a giant ice cat. He touched it tentatively with his energy blade. The creature instantly broke open. Kator stared in bewilderment. There were no organs.
Up in the ship Shayera and her brother had watched the battle intently. Five more wingmen were ready to drop at a moments notice. The battle seemed to be over almost as soon as it had started. Kantos sat back with a sigh of relief. Shayera continued to watch. She would not be satisfied until her fiancé was back safely by her side. The four wingmen had formed a perimeter looking out away from the tunnel the creature had crawled out of and Kator was kneeling studying the fallen creature intently with his back partially to the tunnel in the ice.
A small movement caught her eye. She looked to the tunnel entrance. “Kator!!!” she screamed into the com-link.
JLA Universe
Somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle
The orange and green clad figure of the king of the Atlantis sliced through waters of the Caribbean as he moved at incredible speed towards the spot where moments ago something had crashed into his home. He had left his sword and trident back at the cave that had served as their honeymoon home away from home. His beautiful bride had started after him and then returned to retrieve them for him and was even now making her way to him at a slightly slower pace.
He hadn’t been seriously concerned at first. Just curious to see what kind of debris had fallen from space into his home, but as he got closer he sensed the unease and fear from his ocean friends. He was now over the spot where the object had hit.
He dove down. At first everything seemed normal and then he started to see debris coming towards him. As the distance closed he realized with horror that the debris was the body parts of his ocean friends. His horror was replaced with a burning rage. Whatever was harming his friends would not be harming them much longer. Picking up speed he plunged on down following the trail of death.
The newly wed Mera, followed after her impetuous husband as fast as she could. She reacted in horror as well at seeing the pieces of their friends floating towards the surface. She feared for her husband’s life. She knew his power but also his rashness. She continued following the macabre trail knowing that she was quickly approaching the end of her quest.
She felt the conflict well before she saw it. There were less body parts, more bubbles, she could feel her husband’s rage and could actually hear what sounded like a high pitched scream. She tensed as she was suddenly swimming through more blood and a dark type of tissue.
Then she saw them. She fought to control her fear and surged forward to join her husband as he and a handful of sharks fought what could only be described as a living nightmare. She was still some distance away.
The creature was a pale grey. Its eyes were as black as the depths they were in. It was presently about twenty feet long. Its head was almost humanoid, the mouth and snout were slightly elongated. Teeth that looked like blades filled and protruded from its mouth. It had the torso of a man. The arms were long and thick. There were three fingerlike appendages with thick black claws. The rest of the body seemed to taper off into a wicked looking tail. The end of the tail was bladelike.
Her husband was coordinating the attack. Three sharks were viciously attacking the monsters tail, while her husband and the remaining two concentrated on the head and torso. The creature slashed and snapped with tremendous speed. Mera telepathically announced her arrival to her husband.
The king glanced up at her just as the creature broke free gutting one of the sharks and slamming one clawed hand into him. Mera struck the creature in the chest with a sharp hard water construct. It released her husband instantly and sped away into the darkness, dragging the gutted shark behind it.
She rushed to her husband’s side. He did not seem to be badly hurt. He called back his shark friends and took his sword from Mera.
“Keep my trident,” he communicated to her telepathically.
She smiled at him. He was very protective of her. While she did not posses his raw power, she did have the ability to manipulate and control the very water itself. She was certain that she would be all right without it but she would indulge him and hang on to his trident.
The trident was the king’s most deadly weapon. It was nigh indestructible and capable of firing focused energy beams. She wished that he would use it himself but he was always more comfortable with his blade.
The king tested his limbs, cleared his head then communicating to his ocean friends to continue the pursuit, they all sped off into the darkness after the monster.
JLA Universe
Themyscira
It was dark on the island of paradise. The majority of the Amazons had gone indoors. The beautiful queen stood at her balcony staring out at the ocean. She prayed to her goddesses for wisdom and guidance. It had been long since she had felt dread, but tonight she felt it. A change that she had no wish to embrace was just around the corner, and she feared she would lose her daughters.
She had always known that they were destined for greatness. But this was too soon! Her eldest was barely eighteen to say nothing of her youngest. She had forbidden Diana from taking part in the competition to be held on the morrow. Diana was always the obedient one, so she did not worry or expect her to defy her. Had it been Donna, she would have worried and put a guard detail on her as soon as the request had left her mouth.
She dreaded the Oracles words. It seemed that the attack on her Amazons by some great evil and the tournament were tightly entwined. The strange bodies falling from the heavens did nothing to ease her fears.
She made sure that the city was tightly guarded, that her soldiers were alert and that all had been accounted for. She walked down the hall to her daughter’s quarters and entered to check in on them. She found her youngest playing with her short sword. At the sight of her mother she quickly set it down and rushed to her, hugging her hard for the second time that day.
The queen smiled, returning her little one’s embrace. She looked around the room and not seeing Diana started to panic.
“Where is your sister, child?” she asked her youngest.
“I’m right here mother,” Diana answered as she floated in through the balcony window. She was upset that her mother had denied her request to participate in the tournament but she had accepted the answer graciously. Still she had hoped for another opportunity to convince her mother otherwise.
“What were you doing outside, Diana? It is after dark!” The queen almost yelled but she was filled with relief as well at the sight of her eldest.
Both her daughters looked at her bewildered. They had never been forbidden from being outdoors after dark within the palace walls. “What is the matter, Mother?” they both asked simultaneously.
“I was just on the balcony, looking out at the ocean. It seems much quieter out there tonight and I was wondering why. Do you think it could have to do with what we saw fall from the sky today?” Diana answered and asked. She noticed that her mother seemed distraught and her emotions went from hurt to concern.
“It is nothing, my daughters. Just your mother panicking for no reason,” she lied.
Diana touched her mother’s arm. “Was it something the Oracle said to you today? Is something going to happen to us?”
Queen Hippolyta stared into her eldest’s eyes. “You truly have the wisdom of Athena, my child. Yes I dread what will happen to our home soon but most of all I dread anything happening to either of you. You are my little lights, my sun moon and stars. I do not know if I could live if harm were to come to either of you.”
“Nothing will happen to us, Mother. We’re both very strong and we can fight!” Donna reassured her.
The queen laughed softly and held her youngest fiercely. “Yes, I know that you are, my child. Anyone wishing to harm either of you will be in for a big surprise.”
That was exactly why she was so concerned. She, herself, and her Amazon warrior’s were fierce and powerful and immortal. Her two daughters possessed strength and abilities gifted to them by the very goddesses themselves. And yet the Oracle had said that a small group of men would deliver them from a great evil. Just how powerful was this evil. Apparently more than her warriors or her daughters could handle. So then this made their rescuers even more powerful?
Diana interrupted her depressing thoughts. “Stay here with us tonight Mother.”
The Queen smiled at Diana. “I think I will. However, we will not be up all night telling stories of battles and gods and goddesses. Tomorrow is a big day and your queen must be rested,” she warned them.
JLA Universe
Midwest
Batman and Black Canary were flying over an uninhabited wooded area when Batman’s sensor’s picked up a strong heat signature. He banked the jet to get a better view of the ground.
They saw a small farm in flames. There were people running. At first it seemed they were running from the fire then they both saw a large hulking creature pursuing them.
“Looks like we’re going to be making a slight detour,” Batman said to Black Canary as he set down the jet.
