Central City:
'It's times like this that I wish I could breathe in space,' Barry thought with a frown as he stood at his front door, fingers tapping patiently at near supersonic speeds against his arms while his gaze was aimed upwards to the heavens.
Dr. Fate and Martian Manhunter had chosen to go to space to help after Bruce had fallen through the Boom Tube while the rest of them were stuck on Earth, having to wait for further communication to act.
He himself wanted to help, but while he was the fastest man on the planet and perhaps even the universe, he was still a human that was susceptible to the dangers of the vacuum of space.
His heartrate increased for a moment as he felt a vibration on his wrist, activating his communicator to see the holographic face of Batman projecting from it.
"Bats, everything good?"
"The attacker has vanished, but there has been a development involving a rogue Kryptonian."
"Another clone? Didn't we already have the Light locked up?" Flash asked with a frown and blinked as Batman shook his head.
"Unfortunately, this is a survivor of Krypton. More information will be revealed at the meeting at 10h00 tomorrow."
"Understood," Batman nodded before the projection finished, Flash letting out a soft sigh as he relaxed.
"Everything okay?" He turned and smiled at the sight of his wife opening the front door, dressed in her pajamas with a slight concerned frown.
"No, just got some news from Bats that the threat was taken care of."
"Oh, good. Then, come back to bed. I miss my cuddly Barry."
"Just because my name sounds like 'beary' doesn't mean you should make a pun about it," Barry replied with a smirk as he wrapped his arms around her, making her giggle.
"Oh, please. You love my puns," she spoke with a knowing smirk and he couldn't refute it as he gave a shrug.
"That's tru-"
"Uncle Barry!" Barry blinked as he turned his head, Iris looking past him to see Wally coming to a sudden stop on their porch.
"Hey, Wal. What's u-"
"No time to talk! Monsters! Demons! I don't know what they are! Three miles! You got a second!" Wally fired off before taking off again, Barry following him with a slow blink before turning to Iris.
"Go and come back for cuddles," she replied with a smile as she gave him a quick kiss, moaning as he pulled her tighter and deepened.
Pulling away with a happy smile, she let him go and he stepped back, only taking a split second to get dressed before taking off after Wally.
He caught up with his sidekick/ nephew with ease, the yellow and blue of their lightning illuminating the still streets of Central City.
"Wally! Rundown!"
"The sky just tore open while Arty and I were out! It was like this giant red Boom Tube in the sky and these grey things with wings just started pouring out!" As they turned the corner, Barry saw what Wally was describing as he saw the giant portal hanging above the city centre.
Hundreds of monstrous grey creatures in golden armour with wings were pouring from it like water, all wielding high-tech rifles that rained down torrents of red plasma down onto the city streets.
"Evacuation first! Clear the buildings and make a five mile wide radius! I'll handle the front lines!"
"Got it!" Wally nodded, veering off with a sharp ninety-degree turn as he raced towards a nearby building.
Barry on the other hand accelerated, feeling the lightning coursing through his veins as the entire world ground to a halt. The blasts froze midair, the demon's roars fading to silence as Barry took a deep breath.
Sprinting up the side of a falling piece of a crane, Barry launched himself into the air, diving through a cluster of the monsters in question.
With a flurry of supersonic punches, his vibrating fists shattered their armour and he pulled the citizens they held out of their grasp, tossing them down where a slow moving blue streak of lightning leapt through the air and slowly caught them.
As soon as his feet touched the solid wall of a building, he leapt again, spinning rapidly this time and forming a tornado that swept most into it.
Pulling rubble in as well, he kicked off a piece of it, yellow lightning bouncing in between the pieces of rubble and throwing citizens towards the ground where Wally caught them.
Landing high in the sky and staring at the portal for a brief moment, he leapt towards the rooftop of a skyscraper and let out a sharp whistle.
"Over here, dipshits!" he exclaimed as the world resumed once more, crouching down when some of the demons turned and screeched when they spotted him.
With no hesitation, dozens of the monsters opened fire, but Barry just smirked as he stared at the relentless barrage of red plasma beams at him.
The entire top floor of the skyscraper erupted in a chain of explosions, but Barry was already on top of another, his eyes scanning the gathered group while his mind raced calculated the perfect path.
The moment one dove towards him while the others opened fire again, he shot forward, the world pausing once more as he leapt onto the demon's back.
Kicking off it with a sharp shockwave that cracked its armour and broke its wings, he grabbed onto the legs of two floating above him. Flipping around and shattering their armour as well, the speedster bounced from demon to demon, easily dismantling the group with a grin.
However, as he got to the final one, his eyes widened as he turned his head, staring at the seven other portals that slowly opened across Central City itself.
Kicking the last demon into the portal above him, the world continued as he landed on top of a building, overlooking the monsters raining down as well as the hordes more that stormed from the portals.
"All League members, this is Batman!" Flash looked to his communicator on his wrist as it turned on. "We are under siege by an army of rogue alien entities making use of unregistered Zeta-Tube portals!
Your orders are to focus on protecting the civilians! I repeat, focus on protection and evacuation!"
"This is Flash. Copy," Barry spoke over his communicator before lowering it, brilliant golden yellow sparks of electricity flickering at the corners of his eyes before he shot forward.
The world froze entirely as he ran through the streets, running alongside Wally whose eyes widened as Barry slowed down a bit to talk to him.
"Change of plans! You focus on the north and I'll focus on the south. We're carrying everyone out to around thirty miles from the city!"
"Got it!" With a nod, Barry veered off towards the residential areas of Central City, picking up an entire family from their beds and carrying them out to the outskirts of the city miles away.
Placing them down, he turned and ran back, leaping over a demon and knocking it out while grabbing the child it had in its grasp. In a fraction of a microsecond, he carried the child and his parents towards the first family.
Back and forth he went, thirty houses entirely evacuated in the span of a second before the demon he had knocked out could even hit the dirt.
Grabbing a sleeping elderly couple and putting them on the back of a truck, he did the same for a teenager, a startled kid and a group of young girls at a sleepover.
Pushing against the back of the truck, he pushed them out of the city and next to the other families, turning and running back.
However, his eyes widened as he looked, staring at the multitude of orbital beams that punched through the clouds. To his surprise, they were aimed at the portals that kept spawning the demons, watching as each eviscerated numerous hordes while piercing through to the other side.
"All League members, this is Paragon! Orbital cannons have been sent out to help keep the demons at bay!" Chris' voice came through the communicator as he slowed down. In the meantime, clean up the remaining demons and evacuate your cities."
"We'll talk more on your methods of deterrence later, Paragon. For now, thank you."
"I know, Bats. I'll send ships to pick you guys up. We can use the Unity Sphere as a base," Flash had never felt so relieved for Chris' rules of 'blast-first-ask-questions-later' as he ran, catching up to Wally.
The two of them made quick work of the army and continued their evacuation drill, both coming to a sudden stop inside of the city.
"Hah...I've...never had to run...that much," Wally wheezed as he stumbled, Barry catching him while feeling a bit out of breath himself.
"You got everyone?"
"Thirty miles...next to yours," Wally nodded, gulping in tons of air with a smile as Barry wrapped an arm around his shoulders and ruffled his hair.
"Attaboy. Where's Arty by the way?"
"With my mom and dad. I made sure to put Aunt Iris with them," Barry nodded before he turned as he heard static approaching. He smiled as Jay came to a stop beside them, his eyes scanning the area before locking onto them.
"What the hell is going on in the city?" Jay asked and Barry just sighed as he looked up at where the beams of the Unity Sphere's orbital cannons kept the monsters at bay.
"I wish I could tell you, Jay."
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On the Unity Sphere:
Control Room:
"Ha! As I said, you all are due for a reckoning when Lord Darkseid retur-Mhhmmhm!"
"Thank you, Rae," I spoke with a smile as Raven bound the ball gag back around Kara's mouth, who looked indignant as she was tied in the centre of the room with kryptonite chains.
"No problem at all. I'm actually beginning to enjoy this."
"That's not good," I chuckled at M'gann's words before my smile faded as I looked back to Earth, watching as the Sphere continued to unleash a steady stream of plasma blasts down into the Boom Tube portals that had let the parademons through.
"Sphere, what's the status on the orbital blaster's reload cycles?"
"Primary thermal systems are operating at 64% capacity," Sphere replied with a low drone. "The shell of lunar dust around the Unity Sphere is stable and the blasters are not siphoning more energy than is being restored at an efficient rate through cosmic radiation."
"Good. Keep the pressure up and be ready to end all blasts the very moment the portals close up. Also, keep the kinetic rail cannons on standby. I want you to blast them the very moment Darkseid decides to open a giant portal."
"Affirmative. Standing by."
"This is not how I thought our Saturday would go," I muttered, exhaling softly while leaning into my command chair. A relieved groan escaped my lips as I felt M'gann's hands against my temples, soothing the headache with her telepathy.
"Sphere can handle everything. You can rest now."
"I will, but I just need to make sure everything goes smoothly," I replied, smiling as she sighed before I looked over to Raven who grimaced.
"Something the matter?"
"N-No, just a headache."
"A headache from you could be the equivalent of a nuke, Rae. Is it Klarion?" I asked and felt somewhat relieved as she shook her head. "Good, because we could not handle his chaos right now."
"I'll be fine. I've just never had to work this hard ever so I think I just need to lie down for a minute."
"I'll take you to the residential areas. As for you-"
"The moment everything is over, I'll go and rest," I cut her off with a smile, chuckling as she nodded before kissing me. Pulling back with a soft pop, our eyes drifted to Raven, who blushed as she walked over.
I just chuckled as she leaned down and gave me a quick peck, her eyes widening as I pulled her back and deepened the kiss. A muffled moan escaped her and her eyes fluttered as my tongue slipped into her mouth.
When I finally pulled back, she looked completely breathless, her violet eyes wide and dazed as M'gann hid both her smile and the bright red blush on her face.
"Once we're done with this, there's a lot more where that came from," she just stared at me before spinning around, pulling the giggling M'gann with her as they left the room.
"Mmmhmm! Hhpffhm!" I turned my head to look at Kara, who let out an indignant grunt while staring at me with an affronted gaze.
"Oh, be quiet. When you get a boyfriend, you'll get to do that too," I spoke and snickered at her horrified look.
"King Chris, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and Martian Manhunter are approaching on a league-branded ship."
"That's fine, Sphere. Open the docking bay and let them on," I replied, undoing Kara's chains from where they were attached to the ground.
Then, I tied them around her body, ignoring her angry, muffled shouts and wiggling as I picked her up onto my shoulder.
"Alright, then. Time to see what's wrong with your brain, cousin."
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Apokolips:
"It appears, sire, that the Kryptonian slave has been captured by the boys you fought," the woman with the axe that had nearly killed Match spoke with a frown, her gaze focused on the ground as she knelt on one knee.
"It's troubling to lose a valuable asset at this stage, but fear not, sire. Our soldiers have brought back many to be made into more parademons," Desaad spoke from the side of Darkseid, who looked out at Apokolips' landscape.
Pillars of light came through from the Boom Tube portals and flew out into space, thousands of parademons trying and failing to enter through them.
Thousands more were flying towards his castle, carrying terrified humans that he would make better use of when they were puppets to be wielded as part of his army.
"Where are my sons?"
"Kalibak is currently undertaking an extermination mission to the Volkreg star system. As for Grayven, we have called him back from his long-term mission to the Vega system. He will be arriving shortly," Desaad replied, watching as his lord just stared.
"The anomaly."
"The one that dared to interfere in your attempt to retrieve the Warworld for yourself?"
"Yes, it is due to him that they are able to keep my army from finding a foothold on their planet," he replied, before turning to the kneeling woman. "Go back to Granny Goodness and tell her to contact her doppelganger on the planet. It is time to light the signal for the second step."
"As you command, my lord," Big Barda spoke with a nod, rising and rushing back into the castle as Desaad turned to their lord.
"What is your next step, sire?"
"The Earthlings wish to stop us from attempting to find a foothold on their planet. That is good. We shall simply march on them with the full might of Apokolips before they can find the time to contact any allies for help."
A/N: And we end it here. Not even lying, this took days because I was struggling on how to continue it.
Anyway, next chapter: Apokolips Wars III
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!