Hall of Justice
Multiple boom tubes opened in the briefing hall as heroes poured into the room, including both Green Lanterns, Shazam, the Teen Titans, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Batgirl, Batwing, Hawkman,Steel,Superboy, Constantine, Zatanna, Aquaman, and Mera.
Batman, Supergirl, Superman, and Wonder Woman,who had arrived a short while ago when Cyborg alerted them,watched as Nina finally appeared inside the hall, accompanied by a strange alien-looking creature, Terra, five huge boxes, and… Deadshot?
How was he alive?,what happened to his face?,and most importantly what was he doing with Nina?
The Justice League members who had been at Belle Reve that night all thought the same, but chose not to pursue the matter for the time being.
While the others were puzzled by Deadshot's situation, Wonder Woman's gaze was firmly fixed on Nina,or rather, her current outfit.
It looked almost identical to hers.
But instead of red and blue, Nina's consisted of golden bracers, a black suit with golden accents, an eagle design on the chest, and a golden tiara.
She looked every bit like an Amazon.
But she wasn't,do why was she wearing that armor?,And where did she get it?
Diana used to wear armor like that growing up, before switching to her current colors.
Slowly, pieces began falling into place in her mind.
The uncanny similarities between Nina and Thena,even down to their personalities,and now this…clearly, there was more than met the eye.
There was something she was missing..but she couldn't quite grasp it.
Before she could approach Nina, Blue Beetle spoke.
"Ayo, Nina… who and what is that?" he asked, pointing at Zetsu.
"Oh, him? This is Zetsu, a friend of mine," Nina replied.
"I would say nice to meet you, but it's not, rude bastard," Zetsu said.
"Whoa, hey dude, I didn't mean to offend you,I was just curious i didn't mean to offend you," Blue Beetle said.
"Yeah dude, not cool," Beast Boy added.
"Yeah dude, nor cool," Zetsu mocked.
"As if you'd like that question asked to you,with that green skin. And you, with that lump on your back," Zetsu added.
Before the two boys could fire back, Starfire stepped in.
"I apologize on their behalf. Their mouths can become quite unfiltered when they get excited. My name is Starfire."
"Well, it is nice to meet you,unlike them," Zetsu said. "My name is Zetsu, by the way. Brother of Swamp Thing from another mother."
"Boys will be boys," Raven muttered.
"Tell me about it," Terra added.
"How are you, anyway?" Raven asked.
"I'm good, I guess. How about you?" Terra replied.
"I'm doing fine. Where's your father? Shouldn't he be here to lead the attack?" Raven asked.
"He's off-world on some business. But with Nina here, and the whole League assembled,and more allies coming,I think we have this in the bag," Terra said.
"…At least, I hope we do," she added.
And just then, Thena appeared with a group of Amazons. She was also wearing battle armor similar to Nina's, and at the forefront, beside Thena, stood Hippolyta.
At their sudden appearance, all chatter in the hall quieted down.
Nina walked toward them and turned to Thena.
"I told you you could do it. Part of achieving things is believing you can achieve them," she said.
She then shifted her gaze to the Amazons behind her, then to Hippolyta.
"Thank you for answering my call," Nina said.
"If what you told us is true, then this war concerns us all. We will not stand idle while the world burns," Hippolyta replied.
Just then, Superman cleared his throat, getting the crowd quiet.
"Thank you all for responding so quickly," Superman began. "Most of you already know what this is about, but I want to make sure we're all on the same page."
A hologram appeared in the room, depicting an image of Apokolips.
"This is Apokolips, the home world of Darkseid,a power-mad despot who recently destroyed the Watchtower and wiped out entire cities less than an hour ago."
"Apokolips phased into our dimension, destroyed the Watchtower, then phased out again," Batman added.
"This can only be interpreted as a prelude to war. Darkseid aims to conquer Earth and crush it under his heel," Wonder Woman said.
"Seems like we've got an intergalactic Churchill," Constantine muttered, whispering to Zatanna, who quickly shushed him.
"I want to make this perfectly clear,we are facing an existential threat to the planet. We can't allow him to launch a full-scale invasion of Earth… so I suggest we take the fight to him," Superman said.
"I'm sorry, but that's a terrible idea," Nina said, drawing the attention of the room as she stepped forward. "It's bordering on stupid. This is clearly what he's expecting after what happened on his first attempt. Going to Apokolips is akin to willingly walking into a trap."
She finished, just as Superman was about to argue back,when Batman spoke.
"What do you suggest then?" he asked.
Nina took a deep breath, her expression turning serious.
"The creatures you know as Doomsday that attacked weeks ago were just prototypes. And now Darkseid has managed to create a mass-producible fusion of them with Parademons,much stronger, faster, and more durable than a Parademon, but still controllable."
"How do you know this?" Cyborg asked.
"That's not important right now. What is important is that he has a lot of them. Tens of thousands of them," Nina said.
Murmurs broke out across the room as they finally grasped the disparity of the situation.
"It's going to take everything we've got to pull through this. Luckily, since these creatures are half-Doomsday, they now have a new weakness,susceptibility to kryptonite-based weapons. And we've made preparations accordingly," Nina said, pointing toward the crates she had brought.
"After destroying the Watchtower, Darkseid expects us to come to Apokolips to prevent casualties on Earth. That way, he both leads us into a trap and can send part of his forces to dismantle Earth's remaining defenses while we're gone. So we'll turn that notion upside down and wait for him to come to us."
"How do you propose we do that?" Constantine asked.
"It's risky, but it's better than walking into a suicide mission. I'm sure he's watching for any major movements on Earth right now. So we will force all income forces fo a single controlled kill zone in Nevada,the most isolated location where we can still fight effectively,it should make our intent clear that we are not coming to him."
"Who's going to fight him if he shows up? Last time, Max was the one who fought him, and I suppose he's unavailable at the moment," Flash asked.
"I'll fight him," Superman said.
"No. None of us can fight him and expect to win," Nina said firmly. "Max will be back anytime from now. I'm confident I can buy more time than any of you till then. What I need you to do is give everything you've got against the Paradooms."
She paused.
"And I'm going to be realistic with all of you,I don't expect everyone here to make it out of this unscathed. This may very well be the last time we see each other."
"But what I do know is this,we've got this. We are Earth's only hope. We can't lose. We will win, no matter what. That I know for a fact. But to make it happen… we'll have to give it everything."
End of Chapter
You can read up to 10+ chapters at Patreon.com/Darkerknight.