Supergirl: Identity

[LuckyVic]

Darkseid's insults onnly served to make Clark madder, but he still controled it and used it. He didn't need Batman to tell him that losing control of his anger could be a fatel mistake, especially against Darkside. The hit to his stomach had nearly knocked the wind out of him, it reminded him so much of punches he had taken against Doomsday. "So much for hoping he would have lost a bit of strength since the last time we fought." he thought to himself.

As he looked up he caught the glimpse that Diana had given him, and all though he had no way of know what she thought... he did. However their years of battling along side each other had given them an instinct, much like he and Bruce shared. The Last Son of Krypton feinted as if he was going to punch Darkseid again, but instead he dropped down and initiated a high leg sweep, with his shin making contact with the back of Darkseid's knee.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Diana

...and there, and there, as Kal-El struck...

...lashed out with a leg that could kick continental shelves out of joint...

...kicked at the back of Darkseid's knee...

...hopefully, hopefully, toppling the darksome giant, hopefully, hopefully, throwing him off-balance...

...Diana was already moving.

And hopefully, hopefully, as Superman's kick would half-topple Darkseid, Diana would capitalise on this, would take advantage of Darkseid's toppling, and her Lasso, golden, unbreakable, would lash out like a whip...

Hopefully, hopefully, it would curl 'round Darkseid's throat and even as Darkseid stumbled back Diana would yank his head forward and she would smash her face into his, a headbutt, a brutal parody of a kiss, yanking him with the Lasso and pounding into his face.

(Of course, if Darkseid defended Superman's kick, Diana would be made utterly vulnerable. But she trusted Kal-El.

...and she made her play.)

"H'YAAAAAAAH!"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Darkseid

"What makes you think you really have a chance?"

Darkseid moved away from his comfortable throne in the face of the mountain and hovered in the air for a moment. He had taken the time to remove his focus from their fight and looked down towards the chaos ensuing below. His parademons were being butchered, but they had also inflicted casualties as well.

Good.

He honestly hadn't counted on bringing half of them back with him to Apokolips, and so far it seemed that the Amazonian resistance would prove his assumptions correct.

No matter.

His real target would soon be acquired.

Darkseid returned his attention towards Diana and Kal-El too late, and the Man of Steel punished his detachment with a swift kick to the back of his knee. Diana also capitalized on Darkseid's momentary lapse in judgment by delivering a shattering blow to his head, her lasso acting as a driving force that brought their bodies together.

These humans, and most especially Wonder Woman, were starting to greatly annoy Darkseid.

Though he would eventually regain his composure, Darkseid was finding it increasingly difficult to tackle both at the same time.

But even so, in his mind, he would still emerge as the victor.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Nightwing and Batman fought back to back, side by side. Wave after wave of Parademons fall before them like dark waves against impervious cliffs.

"Holy Dark Armies Batman, what did we walk in on?"

"Less chatter more fighting. Behind you!"

The Batman leaps over Nightwing's head and comes down hard on one of the monsters with both fists.

"Huh, guess I owe you one." Dick pelts a stick into the face of a parademon as it looms over Batman from the side, "Nope, guess we're even."

"Keep your head in the fight Nightwing. Pay attention."

"Holy Bad Vibes Batman, chill. This isn't my first dance ya know. Hrrrrrraaahhh!" One of the demons lunges for Dick as he hurls himself into the air, pirouetting and twirling he drives first a foot, then a knee, then both Escrima Sticks into the beast.

"Huh, nice one." Batman sloughs through a plethora of the parademons. Moving quickly, deftly. What's the game. Darkseid is a mastermind. He wouldn't commit to a single full on charge without an alternative. What is he playing at. Is this a distraction? Does this have something to do with The Girl? Is he behind her arrival, a ploy to keep us off guard? But for what purpose. He knew if he attacked half the league would be here in seconds. What are we missing..."

The Batman runs through his internal monologue as he fights. Until he comes to a dark figure protecting an Amazon.

"Wraith I presume. We will talk when the battle is done."

With out waiting for reply The Batman launches another blazing salvo on the parademons.

"Yeah know Wraith, is it, you got a pair the size of grapefruit to step on The Bats toes. Hate to be in your... umm.. whatever that is you are wearing." Dick likewise follows his mentor, tearing into the beasts as they go.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

Talk. Yes, we definitely would.

I parried a blow from a creature and returned with a slice that split it in two.


"No problem Batman," I said, blocking another attack and sinking my blade into another demon, which promptly froze solid, then fell apart. "I'll just have my office..." My shield deflected a blow meant for another amazon warrior, "call your office and set things up." I looked over at his partner, noticing the demon leaping down at him, a large battle-axe raised to cleave him. Without hesitating I threw my sword, sinking it to the hilt into the demon, which fell with a crash behind the young man in black and blue. "We can discuss things over lunch.

I blasted another demon with a darkbolt, and blocked another attack with my shield, blasting that one away also.

This did not feel right. They were fighting with intelligence, but with no real objective.

"Look sharp! I think this is just a feint. Keep an eye out for the real attack!

 

[Wyldfire]

The world of Earth's heroes is a large one. One of epic proportions. These heroes have seen worlds end and be reborn, yet one small word, a sound really, can bring everything crashing down for them. One word, four letters.


Metropolis, Star Labs.

BOOM. The tube opened, parademons pouring out, followed by Darkseid's loyal torturer DeSaad.

"Holy shit, Another opening just registered on the systems!" Barabara immediately responded, "Oracle to Black Canary, reroute remaining League members to Metropolis. One or the other is a feint. We have a Boom at Star Labs in Metropolis!"

Before she could continue.....

Titan's Headquarters.

BOOM! Another tube opened with Granny Goodness and the Female Furies exiting it. "Gather the children my dears!" Granny shouted as the Titans still home responded.

"Oh, Holy Hell! Canary, go!" Barabara Gordon's fingers kicked another channel open, "Mister Terrific, this is Oracle. Boom tube opening at Titans, H.Q.! The rat bastards are going after our kids!"

That had cleared everything but Firehawk off the reenforcements Oracle had mustered. She would just have to do, it was all Barabara could do not to weep. But Barabara had her own issues as a text message window opened on one of her monitors. "Hello, dear Oracle. Greetings from Our dark master!" And with that her systems began repelling the cyber assault of Darksied's lackey Godfree.

There were rammifications or gains to be had by each of these attacks. If Granny could get a hold on any of the next generation of Earth's heroes it would be a blow to the hearts of each and every one of Earth's mightiest. If Godfree could destroy the networks of the Oracle it would weaken the intelligence gathering potential of the heroes. That left the least of the distractions. Star Labs in Metropolis was one of the few locations that had his genetic material. It was the only of the feints to work, and it would only have rammifications much later down the timeline. A time when certain beings had faded to myth. A time when the young heroes of a much later year spanned their galaxy, battling evil in honor of him. In that time that genetic material would commit acts of evil in a cold stone mockery of the very inspiration of the youth know as the Legion of Super Heroes. In a time afterwards known as The Great Darkness.

One word. Four letters. Chaos unleashed.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dick grinned a bit looking back at Wraith.


"Tell ya what Wraith... There is this place in Metropolis, Superman brought me there for lunch once. Burgers as big as your head, shakes so thick you need a spoon. Tomorrow, lunch, Ace O' Clubs. Noon. Assuming that the world is still here that is."

Then he was off.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Grace, Valkyrie M, and The Amazons

The pillar that Grace Choi had uprooted shattered in her grasp as a rocket-propelled Hellpit grenade detonated mere yards from her, blowing her considerable frame ass over teakettle.

"Son of a bitch," she growled, picking herself up, wiping her chin with the back of her arm, shaking her head as her ears rang.

She wasn't hurt: she was tougher than nails. But she was pissed off.

Grace shot to her feet and took two strides and found with narrowed eyes the Parademon that had grenaded her...

Her legs bunched beneath her, mighty legs, and she launched herself high into the air.

She enjoyed the look on the Parademon's face as she shot up into view, hovering in his eyeline for just that moment.

"Ni3hao3, fucktard," Grace growled, and then punched that Parademon so very very hard in the face that the shockwave of her punch alone caused all Parademons within ten feet of the impact to drop stone dead.

With a growl and a grunt, Grace dropped from the sky and landed in a crouch. Broken Parademons rained down around her.

Frozen lightning crackled past Grace's ear and she tensed, but the bolt struck another Parademon's energy rifle, causing it to sheen over with ice and then explode.

Steel sang upon the air as Valkyrie M cleaved her jian one-handed through the throats of three Parademons, and then held up her hand and blew them to shreds with shards of ice.

Twirling, then, her eyes ablaze, she tossed her sword to her other hand and stormed out a column of flame that roasted yet another one of Darkseid's soulless mindless cronies to ashes.

Her sword spun on her fingers and ripped a Parademon from crotch to sternum before swinging back across to take its head off. She pirouetted again and the blade carved The Mark of Zorro into the chest of another foe-- then her blade switched hands --and frozen-solid claws stabbed that "Z"-marked villain through the face.

"How you holdin' up, Val?" Grace crowed, punting a Parademon a thousand yards.

"Fair to middling, Gracie," Rose replied through gritted teeth, pulsing flame from her eyes and pushing back a diving knot of bastards. "Yourself?"

Grace grabbed two Parademons by their helmets and pounded them together like two out of three Stooges. "Could be better. Could be worse."

...a patch of bow-women were regarding Wraith not with fright but with suspicion, trying to figure out how a creature so demonic seemed to be killing other demons. This was not unheard-of, but it was unusual.

(He seemed friendly with The Dark Knight and his First Squire, these were points in his favour, but still.)

"Is he Apokoliptian?" one wondered, ducking an energy bolt. "They sometimes kill their own. Rites of passage."

"I think he looks Czarnian," another replied, with an air of authority, sighting down the shaft of her arrow at him.

"Don't be ridiculous," the first dismissed, "they're all extinct save one."

"But that one has a lot of love-children," the other replied, hardly missing a beat. "I have heard legends of his bastards coming after his head."

Rose hurtled past them, riding a pillar of flame... "Don't shoot the shadow guy. He solemnly swore to use his powers only for Good. (Or some shite, I wasn't listening.)"

"Yeah," Grace nodded, sprinting, hot on Rose's trail, "what she said."

"Oh," the first Amazon murmured.

"Okay," the other nodded, sounding almost disappointed.

Explosions.

Fire and ice and steel.

Knuckles that could crack armour without breaking.

...Rose and Grace were back to back surrounded by a whole new wave of Parademons, and Rose was grimacing and Grace was grinning.

"You ever get the feeling," Rose snarled, holding her jian by the hilt and by the ricasso, "that there's a greater purpose to all of this?"

"I sure could go for a beer right now," Grace replied, "if that's what you mean."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Diana, Cassie, and Artemis

Diana had split her lip cracking her head into Darkseid's impossibly-thick skull, and she'd bruised half of her face, but her eyes were hard and not glazed and those split lips grinned grimly as she watched Darkseid reel from her headbutt.

"Yield," she growled, flicking blood away from her lip with her thumb, "Mighty Darkseid. Either one of us, myself or The Kryptonian, we are a match for you. You cannot stand against both of us. You cannot hope to win this day. Yield!"

Artemis and Wonder Girl flew up to hover behind Diana, Artemis with blade dripping and Wonder Girl with lasso thundering.

"I'd yield, if I were you," Cassie murmured, cut and bleeding and scraped and bruised and hard-eyed and looking every inch a future Wonder Woman.

Artemis nodded, flexing her fingers around the hilt of her sword and grinning with a glint in her eyes: "She does not always ask twice."

 

[Wyldfire]

Five minutes until land fall. Lorraine Reilly was at her full speed with her density at the lowest she could maintain. Oracle had made it clear that this was vital. She had convinced the Senator that she needed to dust off the costume and go to Themyscira, and that took priority over her seat. Not that much was going on in the Senate at the moment, but she had serious responsibilities that kept her from the Hero scene.

Two minutes to land fall. She'd gone back into semi retirement after Jason had been given probationary status in the League. She hoped that if this was as bad as Oracle had made it sound, that she wouldn't be too rusty.

Landfall. Holy Mother of God! It was a war zone down there. She did one high speed fly by to assess the level of violence and was startled to see that it was as high as it was. Even the Big three were hitting harder than usual.

Lorraine increased her density to just over her normal and flared out her wings to a wider span. As she began to fly through a wave of the parademons she increased the spectrum of the energy wings to a level much higher than normal, cutting through the demons like a scythe. she turned again and accelerated towards another cluster of the demons. No time to play nice with the numbers of the enemies. She would continue with this tactic until it either ceased working or the enemy got to a number that put allies at risk. No need to start an international incident with Themyscira. But one with Apokolips was fine seeing as they started it!

 

[LuckyVic]

Clark let Diana do the talking while he pressed their advantage. He knew that Darkseid would recover quickly. His... their best bet was for him to just let loose. Even more so then he had against Darkseid in the past, more like when he had faught Doomsday. And So as Darkseid reeled from Diana's headbut, Clark swung in a mighty uppercut using both hands interlaced going for the Dark Lord's ribs. After all even a New God had to breathe. If you can't breathe you can't fight.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

"Tomorrow at noon I already have a appointment unfortunately"

I ducked a energy bolt and responded with a darkbolt of my own, blasting the creature back among the ones behind it, bowling them over like tenpins.

"Tell you what, how about, depending on what happens here," I deflected a blast meant for a Amazon, and leaped over her to where my sword was lying. "we either have out little talk afterwords, or atop Wayne tower at midnight tonight."

At that moment about a dozen of them came diving in. Full speed. So I turned out the lights.

Unfortunately, I was in a highly excited state, and deep in my battle trance.

The darkness almost blanketed the entire island in a night with no stars. On the bright side about a dozen demons plowed into the ground at full speed.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dick turned back to Wraith and smiled.

"I will see you at Midnight. I will drag old Bats here if it kills me. Which he might."

Dick continued parrying and striking.

"Who are you, my personal secretary now?"

"Hey, some one has to be the pretty face and it sure cant be you Mr. Grumpy Pants."

"One more word... One more... and these parademons wont be the only things screaming in pain." If you looked closely you could almost see a smile dance across Batman's face. Almost.

Then the lights went out. Immediately in both Batman and Nightwing's cowls an echo location system kicked in. Truth be told, the darkness didn't hamper the Dynamic Duo, for them Darkness was in deed an old friend.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I picked up my blade and looked around. The darkness had confused most of the combatants, friend and foe alike. So I let it go and the sun once more shone over the field of battle.

Something still wasn't right. Then a shadow fell over me;.

I lept to the right, twisting in midair as a enormous figure slammed a axe down into the earth where I had been standing. Sharpened teeth in a vaguely canine snout stuck on a ten foot frame looked at me, then with a howl the beast charged!

Amateur.

I spun in place, slicing the leg off at the knee. The beast crashed down, where I lopped it's head from it's shoulders.

Quite a few Amazons had stopped and watched the fight, which had lasted maybe two seconds. One saluted me with her blade and was back into the fray.

The creatures were being pushed back. From the sounds of what sounded like sonic booms, there was another fight over to the west that put this one in the scope of a playground shoving match.

Something just was not right here.

 

[Wyldfire]

Oracle and Huntress.

Barbara was throwing up firewalls and security protocols. Her custom virus protection was working overtime. This should not be happening! If Godfrey was using Apokolyptan tech he should have over run her systems in no time. But he hadn't, which meant for some reason he was using Earth tech. How long has he been on Earth to build a system of this caliber?

That doesn't matter. What matters is why was this even happening? Barbara didn't consider herself a major player, but Godfrey obviously did. He had been here on Earth for sometime and it seemed that Oracle had been in his sights for that whole time. Now she had to squirm out of his grip. She could figure it all out later, if there was a later.

Her anti viral works were making headway, slowly but it was still headway. The firewalls were holding, and her other system defenses were working. She was holding the attack back.

Not too far away the Huntress had hit a restock cache and was on her way to the tower when the attack came. She had just finished a leap to one rooftop from another when the blast hit where she would have been in a heartbeat. Whoever it was had miscalculated. Their mistake. Hell was in no mood to play. Too much had been happening too quickly and Gotham was getting to be a bit too busy in the tourist trade for her likes.

She turned to face the intruder and almost laughed. Almost. Facing her was some freak of a dude, tall and lean, built like an athlete. That she could handle, but, the costume was what had her almost laughing. He was dressed in all green and brown, in what could almost be seen as an honest to god Errol Flynn Robin Hood costume. It made the high tech blaster look out of place.

He laughed himself as he said "Beware damsel (That was it. Hellena was going to kill this freak), you have the misfortune of being the prey of Steppinwolf, the huntsman of Apokalips."

The last word brought Hell out of her rage. Apokalips. This freak was a New God. This wasn't going to be easy.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

The fight against Superman and Wonder Woman was beginning to wear down the ruler of Apokolips, but if there was one thing Darkseid never really understood the concept of it was surrender.

The ruler of Apokolips would never surrender.

Not to a Kryptonian under the light of a yellow sun.

Never to a human.

Bruised and beaten, Darkseid could still dish out as much pain as was given to him.

"I will not," Darkseid muttered, refusing to yield.

At least... not until he obtained that which he came for. His eyes momentarily glanced down towards the form of a young female Kryptonian that was battling his forces on the ground.

Darkseid managed to "catch his breath" again and he clenched both hands together before smashing them into the side of Superman's head. The proud Kryptonian was sent reeling for a few moments, though it would take more than a simple bash like that to knock him down for good.

"Hrmph. Loser," Darkseid mocked as his eyes began to glow, and a wicked grin spread across his face.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Though Kara Zor-El found herself without any friends nearby, her strength was more than a match for the parademons that Darkseid sent her way. Her muscles rippled with unbridled rage and she broke their ranks, her heat vision leveling any number of creatures that into her view.

Kelex tried to remain close by, but Kara was too proud and naive to recognize the danger she was literally flying into.

"They're really starting to annoy me," she complained.

Suddenly the blond Kryptonian felt a powerful jab strike her back. Electricity coursed over her body as she fell to the ground, turning to look back at the parademon that attacked her.

He only saw the angry look on her face for a brief moment before being reduced to dust.

Yet Kara had no time to savor her victory.

More and more parademons swarmed around her, driving against her with everything they had. The heightened strength of a demon alone was no match for a skilled hero, but the combination of hundreds of parademons would be sufficient to overcome nearly any obstacle.

It was under their combined might that Kara Zor-El fell, and they quickly opened up a portal back to Apokolips, dragging her along with them.

Once Darkseid noticed the portal opening, the grin on his face became even wider. The fire in his eyes dissipated, displaying for a brief moment the cruel mercy of the ruler of Apokolips.

"Know that I am not without mercy."

Darkseid opened up a boom tube behind him, and he floated back towards its mouth without ever losing eye contact with Superman.

It was time to go home.

The portal closed as Darkseid went inside, leaving Earths forces to contend with the remaining parademons that were still ravaging Themyscira.

 

[LuckyVic]

"KARA!" Superman yelled out as he saw the young woman that could be his cousin swallowed up by the boom tube.

He then turned to face the creature he had come to see as pure evil. The anger in his eyes was evident since they never stopped looking at each other. "This fight is between you and me Darkseid leave her out of this!" He yelled as he took off heading towards him as fast as he could. But he wasn't fast enough.

Superman let out a loud primal scream that could have shook mountains. He was so angry, not just about what Darkseid had done to Kara, and the Amazons. But that he had failed to stop it. He then looked at the Parademons that Darkseid had left behind and before he could think he found himself acting.

He attacked them with a furousity that none have ever seen from him before.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Amazons, Wonders, and a Valkyrie

Phillipus stood atop a battered temple, encircled by Parademons, separated from Ariadne and the others, but with teeth gritted she fended them off on all sides...

She glanced up and saw Firehawk blaze above her, and she arched her eyebrows as her axes cleaved a Parademon into three neat pieces...

"Good to know," she called out, not knowing for a fact that the American could hear her, "that in times of crisis, territorial disputes can be laid aside and co-operation can be reached!"

Darkness fell, and rose again, and chaos reigned.

For a moment, Rose panicked, as the darkness was so nearly complete that even her enhanced vision couldn't penetrate it. But then the shadows parted, and Rose breathed a sigh of relief even as she impaled a gurgling Parademon on her jian...

Grace's elbow came down on a Parademon's back, driving him so hard into the ground he vanished completely from sight into the crater. "Is it just me, or did your new friend with the scary purple eyes just go crazy and blind us all?"

Rose's fist came up spitting great molten globs of white-hot heat and Parademons screamed as their armour melted and fused. "Benefit of the doubt, Gracie. My Uncle John says he's a big warlord where he comes from, I'm sure it's part of some great big, Sun Tzu-esque master tactic."

"'Master tactic,'" Grace harrumphed. "I've seen better tactics on Supermarket Sweep."

Then the sky tore open, a great thunder like The Dawn of Creation, like The Voice of God commanding that Light should be... except no, there was nothing holy about this God's voice.

Rose glanced upward, as something twisted in the core of her being and worry surged to the forefront of her soul.

"He's gone," she breathed. "How could that possibly not make me feel better?"

And it was true, he was gone, but so was The Girl.

So was Kara.

And Kal-El, The Last Son of Krypton, the last unimpeachable bastion of hope and justice and truth in the world of Men, came apart at the seams. He had sought truth, he had sought justice, he had hoped for hope, and Darkseid had stolen all three of these things from him in the single act of kidnapping Kara Zor-El.

He lost it, barreling down into the ranks of the Parademons, thundering them apart like a wrathful god.

"No way," Cassie breathed, shaking her head. "All of this was-- all of this-- the last time Darkseid invaded, the last time he failed, he just resurrected his Parademons with the wave of his hand, just to show his power, just to show how meaningless their lives were. And this time he's not even bothering. That's how much of a ruse this was? How much of a distraction?"

"He has achieved," Artemis agreed, eyes wide and face pale and jaw muscles constricting, as she saw the swath of destruction Superman was causing, "his objective. More than one, it would seem. He has stolen Superman's cousin. And he has stolen Superman's conscience."

Diana said not a word. Her sky blue eyes clouded over, seeming almost grey...

And then she flew down after Superman, teeth gritted, determination etched into her every beautiful feature. She hurt like Hell from hitting Darkseid but a Superman unleashed upon her Island could crack its very foundations and as much as she hated the idea of stopping a warrior such as Kal-El from beating on Parademons, she had Amazon lives to consider. First and foremost.

She blew down from the skies and tackled Kal-El as hard as she dared, flashing a length of her Lasso across his chest, trying to rein him in with a segment of its unbreakable strength. "Kal! This isn't working! There's too many of them, and they're just covering his escape! We have to finish this, somehow, now and all at once! The sooner we can eliminate the Parademons, the sooner we can gather our forces and mount a pursuit, but this isn't working!"

 

[LuckyVic]

Clark resisted her for a few moments, but eventually he began to hear what she was saying to him. He relaxed and allowed his reason to take over instead of his anger. "Your right Diana." he acknowledged as he looked around.

The island was swarmed with parademons. Even with the entire league and all the reserve members, it would take them awhile to clear the island of these invaders. And that was a luxuary they didn't have since the league and its reserve memeber were spread out all over the world trying to fight off Darkseid's forces. That's when the idea came to him. "I have an idea, but I need either a piece of glass, a crystal, or a jewel with several facets." he told her as he pulled off the tattered remains of his cape and tossed it to the ground.

The fight with Darkseid had defiantely left him hurting. With his uniform being the prime example of this. Holes in his pants, and his shirt ripped in odd places. Anyone that saw him could see that he had been through a war already.

 

[Wyldfire]

Firehawk had slowed down to a crawl as the shadow's left and she could see that the battle was still raging and that there was a Themysciran in a bad situation.


"Good to know," Phillipus called out, not knowing for a fact that the American could hear her, "that in times of crisis, territorial disputes can be laid aside and co-operation can be reached!"

Lorraine swooped in a tight circle clearing the parademons away from the Amazon before saying "I'm honored to be of help, although I do confess that I wouldn't have known about this in time to help if it weren't for Oracle."

She continued to circle to keep the enemy away from the woman. "There would have been more here to help but it seems this wasn't Big Bad's only target."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Diana and Kid Flash

As Superman relaxed from his madness-- perhaps it was the calming effects of The Lasso of Truth, after all, they had once returned Ares himself to sanity, but Diana chose instead to believe in the strength of Kal-El's character... the side of him that was Clark Kent --Diana breathed a sigh of infinite relief. And then she did what, arguably, she did best of all. She listened to him.

Even as she listened, she half-distractedly deflected a few disruptor bolts with her bracelets, bouncing them back at Parademons and a couple of those half-man half-lupine shocktroops. (What were those, a new mutant strain of Dog Soldier?) Screams and yelps were all she needed to hear to tell her they'd been cancelled.

She listened to Superman's request, and she frowned softly. At first, she had trouble grasping what he was searching for, and then she hesitated as her own not inconsiderable intellect combined with Athena's Wisdom-- "You need... refraction? You need a prism?"

Her tongue ran over her teeth and she glanced around herself, wondering if a solution would immediately present itself. Perhaps something from one of Io's experiments, or one of the meditative crystals used by the priestesses?

But then a golden-orange blur screamed by, all fists and feet and fury, and with razor-sharp huntress eyes she could see who this was.

He paused in a knot of Parademons, cracked his knuckles for an instant...

...and then performed a surprisingly complex t'ai chi move that took several of them down. "Northern Water Style!"

And another, a Single Whip, Pushing Hands manoeuver-- "Southern Water Style!"

--he windmilled his hands and took out all the Parademons that were around him save one-- "Foggy Swamp Style!"

...and then with doubled-up fists he cracked that sole remaining Parademon over the back of the head, suddenly behind it far faster than it could turn. And as it toppled: "That's called Sokka Style. Learn it!"

Diana flew to him with all of Hermes' speed, grabbed his arm. "Bart. Kid Flash! Superman needs a prism. Can you get him a prism?"

Bart hesitated, opening his mouth as if to demand an explanation, his face a knotted mask of puzzlement. Then his mouth shut, and realisation dawned, and he vanished from Diana's grip as though he had never existed.

...he returned in a moment, carrying a very strange and psychedelic-looking pair of goggles, and he was in the middle of a conversation with himself: "'Are not gross bodies and light convertible into one another, and may not bodies receive much of their activity from the particles of light which enter into their composition?'"

He fiddled with the goggles for a moment, cracking open circuitry and extricating a remarkably complex and rugged looking refractive glass, a prism.

"'The changing of bodies into light,'" he seemed to reply to himself, "'and light into bodies, is very conformable to the course of Nature, which seems delighted with transmutations.'"

"Sir Isaac H. Newton," Diana mused. "'Opticks.'"

Grinning sheepishly, Bart nodded as he handed this prism to Superman. "Borrowed an old pair of Rainbow Raider goggles from The Flash Museum. I, uh. Miiiight need to return 'em 'fore Wally knows they're gone, so be gentle with that widget."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Phillipus

Lorraine swooped in a tight circle clearing the parademons away from the Amazon before saying "I'm honored to be of help, although I do confess that I wouldn't have known about this in time to help if it weren't for Oracle."

She continued to circle to keep the enemy away from the woman. "There would have been more here to help but it seems this wasn't Big Bad's only target."

Firehawk handily dispatched the snatch of Parademons that bedeviled The Chancellor of Themyscira, and Phillipus took the opportunity for a deep breath, a pause for reflection, a selah.

She looked out upon her Island with pained pained eyes whilst Firehawk continued to provide her a respite.

"So heavily orchestrated," she murmured. "There were other targets? But this was Darkseid's focus, he entrusted its success to none of his minions. This was... he knew She was coming. This was no coincidence."

Her eyes, already brown as the rocky Earth, narrowed and hardened stonier still. "He knew She was coming."

 

[Wyldfire]

"So heavily orchestrated," she murmured. "There were other targets? But this was Darkseid's focus, he entrusted its success to none of his minions. This was... he knew She was coming. This was no coincidence."

Her eyes, already brown as the rocky Earth, narrowed and hardened stonier still. "He knew She was coming."

Lorraine had no idea who "she" was but it fit Big Bad's M.O., she sighed. Seeing that she'd finished off anything around Phillipus and herself, she touched down and reduced the size of her energy wings. "He hit us in one low place and one that had Oracle in fits. He hit A S.T.A.R. labs site in Metropolis and a play for the Teen Titans."

The thought of the kids being grabbed gave her a shudder despite the carnage surrounding the two women. Firehawk had not been playing by the standard "hero" rules. None of the Parademons she had hit would be sent to any sort of prison.

Back to business. "So who is this "She" that He knew was coming?"

 

[LuckyVic]

Grinning sheepishly, Bart nodded as he handed this prism to Superman. "Borrowed an old pair of Rainbow Raider goggles from The Flash Museum. I, uh. Miiiight need to return 'em 'fore Wally knows they're gone, so be gentle with that widget."

Clark took the prisim from Kid Flash, he wondered if he should tell the young man what he was upto and that it might be possible that the.... widget might not survive. But he decided against that and simply looked up to the sky and with a gentle rocking of his knees, he gracefully rose into the air.

He continued to rise gaining speed the higher he went. Then began to look down until he thought he was high enough. He brought the prisim up til it was in front of his face. He calculated the optimal point he would need and then began to pour his heat vision through one of the facets of the lens.

Hunreds of beams emerged and unleashed themselves upon Paradise Island, specifically the remaining Parademons. Clark used his telescopic vision in combination in order to avoid hitting anyone he didn't want hit. But when he was done each one of Darkseid's Parademons had received a concentrated blast of heat vision to their temple and killed through a labotamy.

When he stopped he could feel how drained he was. Using his heat vision so intensely was a huge drain on the solar energy he had stored within his cells. So instead of returning to Paradise Island immediately he rose high and higher, until the atmosphere of th Earth was no longer an obstical between him and the sun's powerful rays. He just remained there feeling it's healing and reenergizing power. Once he felt back at full strngth he returned landing virtually in the same spot he had taken off from. "Thank you son." he told Kid Flash as he returned the prisim to him. "Becareful with that it still might be a bit hot."