Apokolips
October 4, 00:00
Had I gone to the Guardians to solicit their help like I originally planned, I don't think I'd be here actually doing this. They were among the few people who could make significant trouble for me even if they couldn't defeat me.
And this was a big if. These guys defeated the Anti-Monitor, sealed an Emotional Entity, and introduced the concept of Lantern Corps to the universe. Then again, it stood to reason they were already aware of my intentions and didn't care enough to do anything about it or maybe it fit into their "grand plan."
God knows long lived entities like to make far reaching plans.
None of that mattered as I stepped onto the burnt and overcooked dirt that was the surface of Apokolips. Behind me, the team and the members of the Justice League that agreed to come along stepped out of the Hush Tube and joined me.
As for the scores of other tubes posted up in the air and space behind me and all over the planet's population dense spots, fully kitted out Shield agents flew out of them with their rifles and scanners at the ready.
They landed in spread out positions, keeping watch while the rest of their brothers and sisters joined them and did same.
"This… is Apokolips?" John flew to my side while taking in the reddish and dreary scenery. "How does it look so much worse up close?"
"Hm…" I kept my attention on what the Oriole drones around the planet were feeding me. The enemy knew we were on their doorstep and had fielded appropriate responses.
The quiet roar of gunfire ripped through the thin veneer of calm that had taken root and drew every eye to the source. More and more guns joined in unleashing their payloads at the rushing army of monsters originating from all around us.
Behind them, giant war machines with dog motifs and whips of flame coiling out of the canine's maws rolled towards us like tanks. They were already large in number, yet more seemed to be coming from … somewhere.
"Alright!"
My voice, altered to be louder and widespread, reached everyone in the vicinity with perfect clarity.
"You all know your assignments. You all know why we're here. This is not about conquest. This is not about domination. We are here to save lives and we are here to protect. Remember why we do this and remember who we do this for. Trust in your comrades, trust in yourself, and trust in me. No one will die here today. Today, we will be victorious. CHARGE!"
Morale boosted shouts met my speech and jetpacks were fired up by the hundreds at, launching their skilled users into the air. The gunshots resumed as the agents mowed down the monsters that made up Apokolips' twisted ecosystem and armies.
Meanwhile, some agents who preferred close combat instead of going up and staying there, turned their flights into descending arcs. They landed in the midst of the chaos and be it fist, baton, or bladed weapon, the enhanced soldiers in their powered suits ripped through the horde of monsters and parademons with stunning ease.
"Charge? Really?"
I stared at Ron and raised my hand in the direction of the battle. "The enemies are over there."
He chuckled and took to the air in the direction of my gesture, mimicking the other members of the team and the League as they split up into different groups.
Before we made planetfall, an extensive discussion had gone into the roles everyone would play.
My agents were mainly evacuation, but that involved more things than simply spiriting the downtrodden lot to the planet I'd scouted and prepared beforehand. They needed to apply aid to the injured and those too weak to even move.
They also needed to fight the parademons and monsters that would inevitably show up to ruin things. On paper and in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't much. However there were millions of victims, so it'd take a good while.
For the team and the leaguers, they went after specific people and locations. Batman had acquiesced when I told him no one would be coming with me to Apokolips if they didn't have certain upgrades.
Said improvements to his suit and gear is what allowed him to slink away into the shadows and infiltrate the palace before everyone. The master strategist's job was to look for anything that needed attending to since I steered clear of the palace and its environs during my recon.
Wonder Woman and a group of her sisters who had joined Shield, Captain Atom, The Atom, The Hawks, Superman, Flash, Red Tornado, and Nabu all had their roles to play.
First off, apart from Batman, we all agreed that no one should go anywhere alone. Even with Batman, he had a couple of the Oriole drones shadowing him and feeding him important, real time info of his surroundings and the battle.
The targets for the league and the team were Granny Goodness' orphanage, the new God half of the eponymous woman, Desaad, the furies, the prisons, and anything else that needed our direct intervention.
On my end, I watched the battle unfold from the shoulder of a Jaeger. There were ten of the giant robots floating above the battlefield, each of them dealing with the giant machines and monstrosities as soon as they appeared.
Chock full of any and all weapons and capabilities a giant monster fighting robot should have, the Jaegers downed everything bigger than a building in a single stroke. They didn't even need to engage physically, a single shot from their pop-up forearm cannons was enough to vanquish anything in their way.
Things progressed steadily and we slowly gained on the main palace. O
On one of the many invisible screens inhabiting my vision, I observed the evacuations and focused on the percentage count taking forever to reach one.
Apart from that though, I noticed a distinct drop in the population of parademons. Since the population of the lowlies were in the hundreds of millions, it stood to reason that Apokolips would certainly ensure their main troops exceeded or if not possible at least matched this number.
The agents had to put down hundreds of the flying hunks of horrific cybernetic and bioengineering anytime they whisked away the people in a settlement, but those numbers were too low from what I knew.
No matter. We were coming up on the section of the palace where Darkseid himself sat. For this, I stopped the agents and gave them new orders. Hush Tubes sent them away to support their comrades and speed up the evacuation.
They were in the midst of battle, so their sudden disappearances confused the enemies but not for long. They all set their eyes on me and those with me, the fury in their eyes reigniting.
I sent a command to two of the Jaegers in front and continued into the gargantuan hall our target sat in, his posture and demeanor matching the substance his body consisted of.
Behind us, the Jaegers unleashed continuous beams of blue from their forearm cannons, sweeping them across the remainder of the army and war machines, wiping them off the surface of the planet in a manner a duster would wipe a board.
I could've sworn that was a smile. The bastard was smiling while we ruined his planet and took away his sources of cruel enjoyment. He didn't even bother to stand up as we drew closer.
This rubbed me the wrong way. This and the reduced number of parademons. Right on cue, multiple red alerts blasted themselves across my senses, hidden screens popping up on their own to show me what was happening on Earth.
Unwilling to show the bastard even an ounce of fear or give him any satisfaction, I kept my expression calm and focused on the alerts, ignoring the stares of the others. Those missing parademons were attacking Earth through Boom Tubes, and they weren't confined to one location.
They were in every country and every city… and they weren't alone. Supporting—well, not really supporting since they were mindless and not even alive in a real sense, were clones of a creature I had hoped did not exist in this reality.
Those hopes were ground to dust as right in front of the Pentagon, two parademons emerged from a Boom Tube carrying a large cylindrical container which they promptly dropped.
It clanged against the concrete of the parking lot and hisses of steam rushed out of ports as the turning of mechanisms unlocked the thing. Yet, the beast within didn't wait and punched its way out, crumpling the cover of the container and sending it flying.
Freaking Doomsday walked out of the giant canister, talk, grey and a mass of muscle covered in wicked bone spikes. I could sense the others around me getting worried so I looked up and met the eyes of the despot.
A grin easily worked its way onto my face and for a split second, the dozens of scanners I had on him noticed his eyelids narrow so slightly they might not have moved at all.
"Activate the Doomsday Protocol," I said out loud, the words reaching farther than this room. The Oriole drones on Earth received my command and went to work containing the uncontainable.
Focusing on what was in front of me, I waved and all ten Jaegers raised their forearms. I looked at the confused league and team members with me and uttered one word.
"Ladies and gentlemen, attack."
Cannon fire shook the walls and the death of Darkseid began in earnest.
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Apokolips
October 4, 01:17
For as long as she knew what words meant, Kate had been a military brat. She breathed it, lived it and even worshipped it a little. While most kids lived in single homes with both parents, she moved around a lot as a child, going wherever her dad was stationed.
And unlike most that hated it, she loved it and had it all planned out. She'd graduate, join the army officially and work her way up the ranks just like her dad and his dad.
It was a simple yet ambitious dream, one that looked unbearably naive in hindsight to Kate. She felt so stupid when she imagined it now. For not calling the number in the letter mysteriously delivered to her room way earlier.
Because whoever wrote it—she knew now that it was her current boss—had been right. Being a woman already set her back in some ways and with brass who held outdated views. However, being an outspoken lesbian on top of this?
That was like someone being tried in court for drug use doing a line while on the stand. That person hundred percent would be seeing the world from outside a cell.
So the inevitable happened and she got kicked out, not unpleasantly, but in soulless corporation terms. Oh, we have to let you go but don't say anything else you'll be blackbooked.
After months of drinking herself stupid and sleeping with any skirt that whisked her way, Kate sobered up a bit and finally called the number and it went through this time. She met with Elliot, they talked, and the rest was history.
She embraced his Black Widow Project with open arms, unknowingly satisfying his minor itch to recreate the Shield he remembered. That was three years ago.
Now, she was a level 8 agent with over a hundred successful missions.Her rank meant she could put together a squad of agents and undertake any mission she deemed fit, as she did for this campaign.
There were seven of them—Kate included—in this squad. Two of them were with the lowlies in the poor excuse of a settlement they'd found, tending to the wounded and sick and guarding the portal while it whisked away the people.
The portal stood out in stark contrast against Apokolips, its boxy, blue-lined edges and the picturesque view from the other side bleeding through its wide, bus long width.
Above the circular formation of rock outcroppings jutting inward and providing shadows dark enough to hide the lowlies from passing monsters and flying parademons, Kate stood with the rest of her squad, keeping the parademons and monsters at bay.
Wrist mounted guns spitting out thin streams of red barked on her wrists. She waved them around and dropped the parademons out the sky, and for every one that she dropped, another took its place, their incited, bee-like behavior blocking the already dark sky.
A few of the ones lucky enough to not get hit belched flames that gravity delivered right to her feet. With precise footwork and multiple well-timed dodges, she weaved her way out of the rain of rock eating fire, as more of the demons took the lack of bullets to the face to join in the fun.
This brief lapse allowed many to descend and others, go low enough to try and skewer her with their weapons. She gleefully met them head on, the first to reach her getting its spear knocked to the side with a flying spin kick.
Two more spins and kicks followed, each one higher than the last. Kick two knocked the gun in the parademon's other hand aside and the third struck its neck, snapping the thick, short thing.
Ducking right as she landed, she grabbed the spear of the fallen demon and threw herself into the next parademon, running it through and piercing the one behind it too.
While the strike and successive kills turned into a messy fall, she leapt high and backflipped, unleashing a storm of bullets on the enclosing demons.
The fight went on till her people down there gave her the all clear.
"Alright ladies, we're moving," she sliced through the neck of an approaching monster with a wing she'd ripped out. "You know the drill."
The duo down there closed the portal, grabbed the device that opened it and flew up. Kate and the four that were fighting stopped and fired up their own packs.
They deactivated the Aggro modules that'd been recently added to their suits and each retrieved a pebble shaped grenade from their belts. Being able to keep an enemy's attention on you and not the people you were trying to save was good and all, but what if you needed to get away once you were done?
Enhanced by their airborne positions and the strength afforded by their cybernetics and suits, their throws sent the aggro bombs far enough for what they had in mind.
Their effects were seen immediately when the parademons chasing and firing after them turned around and flew in the opposite direction, their rage stoked by the detonations.
Kate watched them go from over her shoulder before facing forward and confirming their next stop.
"I love this job."