Chapter 54

Carol Danvers and Harry Kent slipped into the DEO, to join Alex Danvers. She checked them in and they took a long walk down the hallway.

"I don't know what you did, but you got them," Alex told them. "We knew the Godfreys were dirty for quite some time, but this is finally what we need to take this down."

"As much as I think this is over, it's not over," Harry said.

"Just the beginning, if what their conversation with Lex indicated," Carol said.

Alex sighed. Lex Luthor, that would be a trickier one to bring in and prove. He had an army of lawyers at the ready. Thankfully, the DEO had good legal representation, but could they strike Luthor down? That would remain to be seen.

They turned the corner and came face to face with G. Gordon Godfrey.

"Another sad loss for American freedom. I only speak the truth, and yet I find myself here, amongst these alien criminals….."

Harry slammed his hand against the cell which rattled Godfrey. Godfrey's eyes locked onto him.

"You've twisted the truth for your own benefit. You were in on all of the plans. Your true name is Glorious Godfrey, Darkseid's master of propaganda."

"Clever, Superman," Godfrey said in an oily voice. "Of course, if you were a little more clever, then you should treat me with respect. That is, unless you want to see Superwoman and the rest of the League again."

Despite that threat, Harry did not appear shaken. It was just more confirmation. If Darkseid did anything to them, it would not be because he disrespected a weasel like Godfrey.

"How's his sister?" Carol asked.

"See for yourself," Alex said.

They walked a few feet to Grace Godfrey's cell. Or Amazing Grace, as she was known.

"Obviously, you've figured that bile I spewed was just to rile a bunch of people up. Earth women are easily lead by feminist proganda, because they need a scapegoat to explain how inadequate they are. How pathetic, how weak, how disgusting they are. They're nothing, but a bunch of snowflakes."

"Strong women saw through you," Carol said.

"Perhaps, but strong women who can take responsibility are a minority on your planet," Grace said. "Which is why our plan will succeed. You might have silenced the voice, but people are still distrustful towards aliens. Especially now that another group of them are just knocking on your door. Don't you want to be a hero, Superman? You might salvage your damaged reputation right before great Darkseid puts you down."

Harry said nothing, but they did have a bit of a problem.

"Karen?"

"In position and ready to strike. Of course, this is going to bring the fact that the League's not technically disbanded into the public eye."

"Leave that for now. Earth does not need public relations. They need heroes."

"Agree on that one. We're heading to the mothership. Kara and I are in position."

"And I'll be there soon."

The first fleet of Kree War ships attacked. Supergirl and Power Girl zipped into motion. The ships began to fire on them, with Supergirl dodging them. She cut through the ship like a hot knife through butter.

Power Girl blasted another one of the ships with a concentrated blast of heat vision which rocked the ship back ever so slightly.

"The group troops are down," Power Girl said. "Black Canary, you're on."

Black Canary, joined by White Canary, Zatanna, Artemis, and Rocket made the first wave of attacks on the ground. The Kree soldiers charged, with Black Canary using her Canary Cry to back them off. She cut the line in half which allowed a second team, with Flash, Kid Flash, Jesse Quick, Aquagirl, and Troia to all jump into the battle and engage them.

Cat Grant had been in the thick of things. She had been able to report.

"This is Cat Grant, and we're live on the scene, where the Kree is fighting with what appears to be the Justice League. An alien war ship is about ready to hit the Daily Planet with all it has….but Power Girl has stopped it cold and disabled the cannons."

Several miniature ships fired in for the attack. Suddenly, they had been stopped in green energy bubbles. Jessica Cruz appeared in the area and caused the Kree to escape the ship. Another one bombarded them until Starfire turned up and blasted the ship out of the air with all of the might she could.

The people assembled below looked up and cheered. They chanted loudly for the Justice League. Cat just smiled.

"And now we've got….everyone watch out!"

A piece of flaming debris flew through the crowd. A blur shot through the area and got everyone out of the way while a second blur scooped up Cat and pulled her out of harm's way.

Cat found herself face to face with Superman.

"Hey," Cat said. "I'd get a word with you, but I think we're knocked off the air and you've got more important things to worry about."

"Stay here," Superman said. 'They're sending more."

Cat swallowed a lump and nodded.

"So, call me later?"

A brief smile had been exchanged between the two. Cat allowed things to drop at that, as Superman moved off. Oh, he came a long way and it had been an honor to cover his journey every step of the way.

Round three, with Ronan appearing to lead the charge.

"Superman! Come here you coward! I'm going to rip apart this planet. You got lucky the last time. You won't get lucky again….."

A fist nailed Ronan in the face at super speed. The man of steel himself dropped down. Harry, looked down at Ronan.

"I warned you."

Ronan gripped his hammer and swung for the fences. Harry avoided the swing and caught Ronan with a couple of vicious jabs to the chest. He stuck and he moved, floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. The other Kree near Ronan prepared to fire their cannons.

Impulse, Jesse, Kid Flash, and Flash all disarmed the Kree's weapons. They still had to deal with the presence of warships.

Ronan rushed Superman one more time. Superman dodged the attack and pounded away at Ronan. He grabbed him around the waist and launched him into the air. Superman twisted the arm behind his back and slammed him all the way down to the ground.

Superman pounded Ronan into the pavement. Ronan struggled and Superman stomped on him and punted him in the ribs which sent him smacking into the side of the building.

"It's over, Ronan."

Ronan's face curled into a bloody snarl and he said only one word.

"Hit them with everything."

What remained of the Kree fleet fluttered around their area and fluttered in the sky like angry bees, ready to fire down at a moment's notice. Harry threw Ronan away like a piece of garbage and slammed him down onto the ground as hard as possible.

The signal which Reign had been waiting for. She took the skies and obliterated the Kree Warship. Her fellow World Killers obliterated the Kree right in front of the Justice League. The attack had been quick, but brutal. The Kree gasped their last breath.

"Let it be known that you are not the strongest that there is," Reign said. "Along with humans. You're fragile as well."

Reign's eyes turned to the crowd. The assembled members of the Justice League stepped in. All of the World Killers formed a line around Reign. They would destroy anyone who stopped their plans to cleanse the Earth of those who would get in the way of their goals.

"You will fall. Your champions first."

"Mom!"

Blue Beetle stepped into the crowd. For a brief second, the World Killers turned their attention to Blue Beetle. Reign raised a single hand to stop.

"Your mother is dead. Out of respect for her, I'm giving you one chance to leave."

"No, she's not, I thought I was gone, but Superman brought me back," Blue Beetle said. "Please, just come with us. You don't want to be that monster's puppet."

"Do you think I'm a puppet?" Reign asked. "No, my human identity was the thing that held me back. The thing which caused me to be weak and not achieve my full potential. You will not be told again, child. You will stand down."

The Blue Beetle's armor retracted and Ruby Arias stood before the crowd.

"Mom, please."

For a moment, a flicker emitted into Reign's eye. Her expression softened into something less harsh. Then Reign took back over.

"We should kill her," another Worldkiller said.

Genesis, in Sphere Form, stepped in. She locked her glowing eye with Ruby who set her jaw and nodded. Empowered by the piece of the Starlight, Genesis blasted the Worldkillers with a power beam. The sheer force took them down to the ground, crippling them in an instant. Screams of agony escalated from the attack on the Worldkillers.

One of the Worldkillers rose and rushed towards Ruby. Only for Reign to attack her and slam her down to the ground.

"Ruby, run!"

A figure kicked Ruby to the side and jumped on Sphere's back.

Grail retracted a blade and impaled her sphere form straight through. She detached the Starlight crystal from the device and forced Genesis to return to her human form in shock. Grail lifted the blade to further wound her, only to find someone fly in and nail her as hard as possible.

Superman, stood in front of her. Grail rose to her feet and wiped the blood from her mouth.

"Finally, a challenger."

Grail rushed Superman with a drawn blade. The Man of Steel dodge the swings of the blade and cracked Grail across the back of the head. He grabbed Grail and threw her down to the ground. Grail caught his arm and twisted it down. Such power, but Superman rolled his way out of it. He sent a gale force of super breath at Grail. Grail dodged the attack and threw a miniature explosive into the crowd.

Thankfully, Supergirl and Power Girl were on crowd duty. This made Superman focus on Grail. The two traded punches, and blocks as well. Grail went for the leg of Superman. Superman rolled out and sent her flying, a few feet away. Superman flew directly at her and slammed his fist into her chest.

Grail slumped against a building and then popped up one more time. She pulled out a Kryptonite Knife. Superman dodged the attack and headbutted Grail down to the ground. He threw the knife out of harm's way and then grabbed her around the waist. He wrapped his arms around her body. Grail flipped over him and took a cinderblock to try and nail him with it. Superman punched through it.

The armor reflected two blasts of magic. Harry would have to do this physically, which was fine with him.

Superman dodged her attacks and hit two jabs to the side, one to the leg, and another to the side of the neck. He took Grail down in a half-nelson choke and caused her to fade to black.

Grail's body slumped down to the ground, twitching from the choke which Superman put her in. Harry stepped back and levitated some of the debris out of the way which allowed some civilians to get out of there.

A loud boom opened. A group of Parademons exited the portal. Followed by the Female Furies. They rushed forward and engaged the Justice League in battle.

Yet the Boom Tube remained open. A few more Parademons stepped out, along with the elite trio of Stompa, Mad Harriet, and Lashina. They all parted like the sea and stepped back. Things got cold, as a dark and imposing figure appeared in front of them.

Darkseid.

A blast of energy through Darkseid's eyes sent Superman slamming to the ground. Darkseid grabbed the back of his head and smashed his face down onto the ground hard. Then, with one solid stomp, Darkseid brought his foot down on Superman and cracked his back with severe force.

"Earth's hero."

One more stomp for good measure, and the trio of Furies secured the Worldkillers and head off. Darkseid faced off with the members of the Justice League and did not say anything else.

Grail got up to leave with them, only to find the door, or Boom Tube in this face, shut in her face. Leaving her stranded on Earth.

Flash cradled Genesis in her arms and zoomed her off. Kara and Karen came over to join Harry, who could not get up to his feet.

"I can't...feel my legs," Harry grumbled.

Kara gasped in horror and looked about ready to freak out. M'gann bolted from the crowd and kneeled down to Harry. The anguish Harry felt made her break down into tears.

Thankfully, Kara was more than able to keep a level head.

"We'll get you help," Karen said. "Just hold on there."

"No, we have to go after them, Claire, the others," Harry grumbled. "I must."

No matter how much magic Harry channeled, he could not heal himself. He collapsed to the ground, like a puppet with his strings cut. For the first time, defeated, utterly defeated, and utterly broken.

With them preoccupied with Superman, Grail took her leave. Darkseid proved what he thought of her and his callous dismissal of her, for losing to Superman filled her with rage.

"Did we get the Worldkillers?" Harry asked while they secured carefully to a backboard.

"No," Karen said. "I'm sorry, Darkseid took…..don't move, you couldn't fight him, not now."

Karen gently squeezed Harry's hand out of reassurance.

"If I can't, then who can?"

Those answers went unspoken. The sense of optimism they had, from the Justice League returning, had a dark cloud fell over their world.