73 CHAPTER 67

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Double chap if we reach top 5.

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[David Lance POV]

"Azarath metrion zinthos!" Raven muttered as I dashed towards the Android.

{Access: Superman.} The android intoned, his voice reaching my ears moments before the distance between us closed as he dodged Raven's attack, his right hand instantly blurring out of sight toward my stomach, landing a devastatingly powerful uppercut on my solar plexus.

The attack sent me flying out of the building like a projectile, impairing my vision momentarily, but not enough to not notice the android was inches away from me, intending to deliver a follow-up.

However, before Amazo could deliver another attack, his body froze as the magical energy of Raven got a hold of him, stopping his next attack inches away from making contact.

Taking the opening Raven had given me, I quickly muttered a single word that served both as an attack and a message for Raven. "Thanks."

The attack sent the android crashing against the floor with devastating force, leaving me to continue on the flight his earlier punch had sent me.

Vision still blurred and body screaming in pain, I forced myself to focus, carefully rotating my body around mid-air, managing to avert crashing to the ground by landing on my feet, where I immediately evaluated my situation.

Three broken ribs.

And internal bleeding, based on how much blood I was coughing.

And most of that was because of a single well-placed punch, using superman's strength.

That's going to hurt for a while.

Seeing the android had yet to make a move, I reached my utility belt, plucking two items to patch myself a bit.

A Ketamine injection, and an Adrenaline one, before injecting both into my system.

I sighed, cracking my neck, before darting toward the android that was just now coming out of the massive, deep crater my attack had created a few moments ago.

"I can only hold him for a few moments," Raven said, phasing behind me, using her astral form to do so. "I can't attack him; every time I try, he dodges."

I nodded; of course, he would dodge. Raven's attacks were magic based, and this Amazo had nothing to fully defend himself against that, a fact that was apparently clear in his programming.

{Access: Martian Manhunter} The android intoned, phasing out of sight.

Amazo was clearly stronger than us by a massive margin, individually that was, as it could change between modes, overwhelming whoever it was fighting.

However, the android was predictable.

His programming made him prioritize self-preservation over battle observation. Right now, all Amazo needed to deal with me was using superman's powers, yet at times, he would switch between modes in order to block, or dodge an attack, when he didn't need to.

Superman was more than strong enough to tank anything below shouting.

That was weakness one, weakness two was quite possibly the biggest one, and it was the time it took the android to switch between modes.

For every switch of power, the android needed to say something, giving whoever was fighting him around one second before the next switch activated to counterattack in the best possible way.

Now, on a 1v1, this weakness was difficult to exploit.

But it wasn't a 1v1 anymore.

To defeat Amazo, all we needed to do was coordinate our attacks in order to force him into a mode that is advantageous for us by exploiting his programming.

If we played our cards right and made every mode count, we might not even need the League at all, not like the bastards were rushing to come and aid us.

I mean, seriously, two of them move fucking fast, speed of light fucking fast, so where the fuck were they?

"Behind," Raven said, sensing Amazo as the android was about to make his body, using her magic to teleport us to the opposite corner of the street.

"Denied," I muttered, aiming at Amazo.

{Access: Flash} The android intoned, dodging my attack.

"Denied?" Raven asked.

Well, excuse me, Raven, it's very hard to find the right words to use as attacks, and while curse words would fit most occasions, I didn't want to be known as the hero with a filthy mouth.

"Good point," Raven nodded, creating a magic shield around us. "You had an idea. So, what was it?"

I smiled. Of course, she had felt my emotions.

I nodded, pointing at my head. As I eyed Amazo, who had moved behind out and had started running around the shield, really fast, sucking the oxygen out of the area.

Amazo was planning to asphyxiate us.

However, Raven had apparently foreseen that because no matter how much the oxygen levels dropped outside her shield as Amazo ran, inside, we were fine, meaning the shield was a sealed zone with a limited amount of oxygen that, based on the radius of the shield, would easily last us for at least over a day.

"You can do that now?" Raven asked, keeping her shield strong, realizing what I was telling her by pointing at my head.

I was telling her to make a telepathic connection between us.

I nodded, I hadn't tried this with her yet, but I was sure it could work.

I mean, sure, my psychic powers were still very green, making them hard to control; however, my training with Martian Manhunter and Master Kirigi had allowed me over time to have some semblance of control over my own defenses.

Enough control to allow others into my mind for a chat. Sure, I could've told Raven my plan with sign language, but chances were Amazo, or whoever was controlling the android from afar, would understand me, therefore making my plan useless.

`Impressive... even now, I can feel your mind ready to kick me out at any moment's notice.` Raven said after having made the connection.

It felt weird.

But I would explore that feeling later.

{Access: Captain Atom.} The android intoned, realizing his asphyxiation plan wasn't working.

Instead, now opting for blasting the shield with atomic force, slowly but surely making cracks on the shield.

`We need to exploit Amazo's weakness. For every switch between modes, the android needs to say the name of the hero he is about to copy, creating a delay between switches of a second or half a second depending on the length of the name he has to say.` I replied telepathically as Raven focused on keeping the shield together, her eyes glowing white.

`I see. I understand the idea. You want to force Amazo into a mode we destroy in a single attack.` Raven replied through the link we had made, quickly catching onto my plan. `I can't hold the shield much longer; I will move us out of here.`

`Modes, Flash, Superman, Captain Atom, and Wonder Woman, are the ones that hold a power advantage over us. We need to force him into one of the following modes, Martian Manhunter or Black Canary,` I continued explaining as Raven teleported us away from Amazo's, but not far enough to lose the Android's attention.

`Martian Manhunter? That mode seems pretty... resilient to be in our target list,` Raven replied.

{Access: Superman.} The android intoned before flying towards us.

"Back off," I muttered, attacking Amazo, before running to the left as Raven flew to the right, separating our advance into one of two angles as we continued our telepathic planning. `Yes, Martian Manhunter is one of the most durable heroes the League has, but the android doesn't use his powers unless he has to phase through an attack or elongate a part of his body, which is mostly his arms...'

"Azarath metrion zinthos!" Raven said, creating hundreds of magical ravens that flew toward Amazo as she replied. `I see... I understand your plan now; you want to use the interval between switches while he's phased.`

`That or punching his head off with a single strike if he ever accesses my sister's mode, but seeing as he hasn't used it once during this fight, is safe to assume his programming is telling him that doing so is futile,` I replied, throwing a few explosives at Amazo to get his attention.

`He normally copies Martian Manhunter when he wants to dodge or do a surprise attack,` Raven replied.

{Access: Flash.} The android intoned, turning his head towards me, moments after the explosives I had thrown had gone off, quickly closing the distance between us, tackling me into a wall, before turning toward Raven. {Access: Captain Atom.}

`I am aware, so let's give him something to dodge; before that, though, how small can you make your portals?` I replied telepathically, a grin on my face as I jumped to my feet.

Raven, who was currently clashing with Amazo, beams of magic colliding with atomic forces, smiled, sending a wave of understanding through our link.

I smiled; that was all I needed to know. Now, it was time to see if my idea would work.

Taking a deep breath, I rushed toward Amazo at my maximum speed, throwing in the way a few smoke bombs to get his attention away from Raven. Once I did, and the Android had turned to face me, using Red Tornado's power to clean the area of the smoke, I grabbed one of his arms, throwing a hard punch at his face, putting all my weight into it.

The blow knocked the android's head to one side, and I quickly followed with a few extra hits.

{Access: Superman.} The android intoned, stopping one of my punches with a single hand, the grip of his metallic cold hand forcing me to my knees as the ground beneath us cracked under the pressure before the android punched me into the ground with his other hand.

Jaw dislocated, I inwardly smiled through the pain, seeing a big portal open behind him, a beam of magic coming out of it, as another portal opened beneath me, one small. Meaning my opportunity to strike would come soon.

{Access: Martian Manhunter.} Predictably, the Android switched to the mode we were expecting in order to dodge a point-blank blast of magic by letting it phase through him. Now, it was all a matter of him switching modes without resetting his density first, {Access: Captain Atom.}

The android froze, completely unable to move, thanks to the small portal hovering inches behind his head, my arm coming out the portal, piercing his head, that now crackled in an electric show, before exploding, the body of the android soon falling into the ground.

I smiled.

The plan had worked; the portal Raven first had opened had gained Amazo's attention moments before he had pummelled me to the ground; being that her attack was magic, and it was at point blank range, Amazo's programming had opted for using Martian Manhunter's power to avoid any possible damage, allowing Raven to open two more portals, first one behind me so that I could fulfill the part of my part, and then one behind his head, to connect the portal I was using to one within the Android's range, all in under a second, fully capitalizing in the interval between switches.

`We did it...` Raven said through the link, and I could tell that she was happy.

`We did... Fuck the League,` I replied as I jumped to my feet.

`They are here,` Raven replied, and I could feel through our link that she was annoyed with them having arrived so late.

I sighed, placing my jaw back into place before eyeing the League as they slowly descended toward us.

"It seems our help wasn't needed," Superman was the first to speak.

It wasn't needed!!?!

I will be bedridden for at least two weeks after the pain killers I pumped into my system wear off! And that's the forgivable part; what really pissed me off was that they had taken so long to come when Oliver and Dinah had been the ones to call them in the first place.

Had Raven and I not intervened, there was a chance they would've... I rather not think about it.

I rather think as I was thinking that the android wanted the League to come and had, for that reason, kept my sister and Oliver alive.

~Yes, we managed, but we weren't the ones to call for help, were we?~ I signed, glaring at him.

"There's a lot of destruction in the city," Giovanni muttered, looking around the place, seeing the damage my power had done to the city.

`I don't like him...` Raven said through our telepathic bond.

`Take me to my sister and Oliver, if you can,` I replied, walking past Superman before he could reply to what I had told him; as I stepped through a portal, Raven had created the moment I had asked for it. 

I was sure they had a reason for the delay, probably a good one, but right now, I didn't care to hear it.