3 Chapter 3

The heroes who wore costumes merely took off their clothes, since they were wearing their costumes underneath. J'onn merely shapeshifted into what he commonly appeared as, and Ben activated the Ultimatrix.

After selecting the alien he wanted, he used his catchphrase, more out of habit than choice. "It's Hero Time!" and slammed down the dial. In a bright green flash, he was replaced by a creature with a body that seemed to be made of blue stone, save for his arms, head and the two spikes coming out of his shoulder blades, which were made of diamond. "DIAMONDHEAD!" the alien announced.

The rest of the League quickly returned, with Flash wearing a mischievous grin. "Seriously? 'It's Hero Time'? And you're giving us grief over corniness?"

Diamondhead merely looked away. "Shut up." He said petulantly.

"Get ready to ambush them." Batman's glare dragged them back into their current predicament.

All of the heroes went into the shadows just as the door to the manor exploded inwards. Two dozen Thanagarian soldiers marched in. Two of them were armed with heavy cannons, while the rest wielded swords, spears, axes and maces.

Their leader barked out orders. "Spread out," he said, "they're hiding here somewhere."

Before the hawk-people took another step, a green blade sliced through one of the cannons, while several large spikes of diamond pierced the other weapon, rendering it useless.

"Who's hiding?" Diamondhead smirked as he and the League emerged from the shadows.

"Come and get some." Green Lantern's eyes glowed with emerald fire, then he lifted off the ground, avoiding Thanagarians attempting to kill him, while blasting one of them in the face with his power ring.

Wonder Woman used her lasso to catch one alien by the ankles and swung him towards the Manhunter, who simply stuck his arm out, catching the bird-man in the head. Flash weaved through the soldiers, hitting them at high speeds, then rushing away.

One Thanagarian drew a bead on the speedster with his pistol, but Superman crushed both the weapon, and the soldier's hand. As he cried out in agony, Superman said, "Let's use our indoor voice." He then punched the Thanagarian into a stone wall.

Two more Thanagarians were pursuing the Flash, but he avoided every shot they fired. He zoomed around them and spun his arms fast enough to create a small tornado. The twister blew them into the bottom of the giant penny, which collapsed on top of them, tails-side up.

Flash ran on top of the penny. "Tails," he quipped, "I win."

Batman swung from the ceiling on a grappling line, kicking one soldier in the face. He let go of the line to land on the ground. As he did so, he threw three batarangs into the chest armor of three Thanagarians. The blades didn't penetrate, and the warriors hovered in the air with a look of contempt on their faces.

"Your weapons are pitiful." One gloated. None of them noticed the blinking red light on each batarang.

"Wait for it." Behind the Dark Knight, hundreds of eyes glowed in the darkness. Hundreds of bats swarmed the Thanagarians, attracted by the signals emanating from the batarangs. The soldiers were quickly reduced to unconscious, bleeding wrecks.

Diamondhead found an easy fight with his opponents. Their weapons couldn't penetrate his diamond body, and when he shifted one of his arms into a diamond blade, he easily destroyed their weapons, and he was strong enough to easily knock them out.

Soon enough, the fight was over. After tying up the aliens, the seven heroes walked out of the Batcave and back into Wayne Manor. They found Alfred sweeping up the shattered remains of the front windows.

"Mind the glass, sir." He warned calmly, as they left.

Batman turned to Green Lantern. "I want you, Superman, Wonder Woman and Diamondhead to go to the command ship, and shut down the force field."

"And the rest of us?" J'onn gestured to Batman, Flash and himself.

"You're going to help me retake the Watchtower." Diamondhead remembered Batman telling him about the League's advanced space station, in orbit around the planet.

"It's crawling with Thanagarian soldiers," Flash pointed out, "how're you planning on getting inside?"

"With that." Batman pointed outside, where the shuttle that the Thanagarians had arrived in lay waiting.

"Good luck, guys." Diamondhead slapped the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest. "JET RAY!" he cried out as he turned into the manta-like alien. He and the other three heroes flew out towards the direction of the Thanagarian fleet.

. . . .

Batman, Flash and the Martian entered the alien craft. J'onn spent several minutes examining the controls.

"Well?" Batman asked.

"I have no idea how to fly this vessel."

"What's this do?" Flash asked as he pressed a button. A beam of energy fired from the ship, making a fairly large hole in the side of Bruce's house.

Batman moved his face very close to Flash's. "That's. Not. Helping." Batman said through gritted teeth.

J'onn looked up. "I need one of the hawk-men."

It took a few minutes, but Batman brought up their leader, whose name was Kregor, and was one of Talak's chief advisors, and slammed him into the side of the ship.

"You think I'll tell you anything?" Kregor sneered. "I'd sooner choke on your bones."

"Okay by me," said Flash, cocking back his fist, "can I start with these?" J'onn stopped him before he actually struck.

"We're running out of time," the Martian said, "I'll take the information from him."

"I thought you couldn't read their minds?" Flash asked his telepathic friend.

The Martian's eyes glowed as he gripped Kregor's head. "I'll just have to try harder."

Neither Batman nor the Flash could see what J'onn was going through in the Thanagarian's mind, but somehow Kregor's mental defenses were strong enough to affect the Martian's physical body. Slash and claw-marks appeared all over him, and his cape, which was just skin shapeshifted to look like a cape, was torn to ribbons. However, this didn't last long. After only a few more moments, J'onn released his hold on Kregor, stumbling slightly. His wounds immediately began to fade.

"I… I have what we need." J'onn clearly did not enjoy what had just happened.

A few minutes later, the Thanagarian shuttle lifted off, heading towards the Watchtower. As it left, Alfred stepped out onto the yard. He spotted Kregor lying on his side, a small stream of drool falling from a corner of his mouth. It was possible that J'onn's mental attack had left him comatose.

Alfred, remembering how the alien had struck him when he and his ilk had intruded upon the Wayne household, merely glared and said, "I'll have to ask Master Bruce to not leave trash in the yard."

. . . .

Watchtower

As the stolen shuttle neared the Watchtower, J'onn shapeshifted to look like Kregor. Activating the communication systems, he spoke in Kregor's voice.

"Shuttle Elipson-sixteen, requesting entry." He sent a code to the waiting Thanagarians. "Confirm docking code."

"Docking code confirmed." Came a response as the Watchtower's docking bay opened. "You are clear to come aboard."

When the shuttle landed, 'Kregor' stepped down the ramp towards a pair of waiting Thanagarian guards.

"We weren't expecting you, sir." Said one in surprise.

"There's been a change of plans." Said the Martian, as he shapeshifted into a creature that resembled a blue Cyclops.

He quickly subdued the two guards, but more entered the docking bay. One prepared to open fire, but he was disarmed when a batarang disabled his weapon, and Batman punched him in the face with an electrically-charged set of brass knuckles. The rest of the Thanagarian garrison was swiftly defeated by Batman, the Flash and the Martian Manhunter.

. . . .

Thanagarian Fleet

It was quickly apparent to Jet Ray, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern that they had been detected. They might have been tipped off by a swarm of fighter-craft surrounding the flagship that was hundreds strong.

"Pretty bad odds." Commented Wonder Woman.

"For them, maybe." Was Jet Ray's response.

Superman agreed. "Yeah. They don't stand a chance."

To say it was a battle would have been a lie. It was a beat-down. Superman and Wonder Woman simply flew through the fighters, their enhanced durability allowing them to be unaffected by the impacts, while leaving a trail of falling wreckage behind them. Green Lantern and Jet Ray took down any stragglers, the energy attacks used by both Jet Ray's neuroshock blasts and Green Lantern's power ring easily cutting through the metal of the fighters.

Most of the fighter pilots saw Superman and Wonder Woman as greater threats, and focused their attacks on them. Nobody on the outside seemed to notice Green Lantern cut his way through the hull of the flagship and make his way inside.

. . . .

Watchtower

Batman, Flash and the Martian Manhunter stood over the unconscious bodies of the last Thanagarians on the Watchtower.

"Okay," said the Flash, "the Watchtower's ours again." He ran over to Batman, who had been using one of the computers while the other two had been fighting the soldiers.

"So where's your secret weapon?" He asked the Dark Knight.

"You're standing in it."

Flash's eyes widened. "Wait… you mean we're gonna…"

"Take the Watchtower out of orbit and drop it right on top of their little science project." Finished Batman. He gestured to the fallen Thanagarians. "Get them to the escape pods."

As the heroes dragged the soldiers away, the Watchtower's engines pointed the massive station towards the coordinates that Batman had programmed into the navigational systems. The three moved as quickly as they could to get the Thanagarians to the escape pods. Thanks to the Flash, it was quick work.

"Are these the last of them?" asked J'onn.

"Yep," said the Flash, as Batman began to silently back out of the pod, "the 'tower is completely pest-free."

"Good." Was all Batman said as he pressed the launch button. The doors closed and the pod launched, with Batman still on the Watchtower.

Flash and the Martian rushed to the communicator. "What are you doing!?" demanded J'onn.

"I can't risk having the Watchtower burn up on reentry. I'll have to guide it in manually." Batman paused for a moment. "Gentlemen, it's been an honor."

The heroes in the escape pod bowed their heads in sorrow, knowing that Batman had just consigned himself to death.

. . . .

Thanagarian Flagship

The first that anyone knew that John Stewart was aboard the flagship was when he burst through the lower decks, blasting any Thanagarian in his way. Using security cameras, the soldiers on the bridge, including Hro Talak, could see what the Green Lantern was doing, and where he was going. At the sight of the human's face, Talak ground his teeth. He hated John Stewart. That man had stolen the love of Shayera Hol away from him. She had even betrayed her people, warning the Justice League of their plans, and even giving the Lantern back his ring. For her treason, she had been imprisoned in the brig. He had tried to reason with her, told her that the only way for their people to survive was if the humans died. Instead, she had decided that Earth's people were more deserving of her love. One person on Earth in particular.

"Intruder alert!" one of the bridge officers cried into the ship-wide communication. "All security teams to engineering!"

"Belay that!" barked Talak, as he strode towards the door, his axe in his hand. "Green Lantern is mine."

Had Talak stayed on the bridge for a few minutes more, he would have seen Wonder Woman slam a fighter through the hull surrounding the bridge. She quickly flew through the hole that she'd created, followed by Jet Ray. After subduing the bridge officers, Diana picked up a sword and marched through the door, followed by Jet Ray. Unfortunately, there were two separate paths leading towards engineering.

Wonder Woman looked at her alien friend. "You ready?" she asked.

"Give me a second." Jet Ray slapped the Ultimatrix dial on his chest. In a now-familiar green light, Jet Ray was replaced by an enormous, brown and tan dinosaur that stood on two legs. "HUMONGOSAUR!" he yelled.

Diana smirked. "Flash would love that one."

Humongosaur grinned back. "I'll bet." He looked at the forked path. "Whaddya say? You go left, I go right?" Diana nodded. "Great. Let's see who gets to the shield control thingy first."

Wonder Woman gave a small laugh. "You're on." Giving an Amazonian war-cry, she rushed down her path. Not to be outdone, Humongosaur let out a roar and charged down his own hallway. Woe to any Thanagarian in their way.

. . . .